A STORM Is Coming

Would you like to reach teens that have never been in church before? Would you like to share Jesus with students who have never heard about Jesus as Savior? Would you like to increase your Student Ministry attendance for one night by double or triple? Would you like to increase your average attendance by 10% or more? Would you like to take more unsaved students to Superbowl to hear the Gospel? “STORM” IS THE ANSWER!!!

STORM (Sending Teens Out Reaching the Masses) is not just an event, but a process of getting the students and adults of your church excited about evangelism. If you follow the evangelistic STORM event with follow-up, it becomes a process for discipleship and long term growth. The discipleship process is easier with the right tools. The first tool that we recommend is a powerful little book by our LCM director, Mike Calhoun. It is called First Steps – The Adventure Begins (See the Product Catalog, page 19). Order several of these booklets ahead of time so you can give them as free gifts after each person has made a decision at the STORM. Following the STORM two other discipleship tools should be used: Biblical Beliefs and Growing Biblically in Your Faith. These booklets appear and are also described in the Product Catalog also on page 19.

In your planning meetings, you need to do the following:

• You should schedule a date (during STORM month). My favorite time to conduct a STORM is on a normal Student Ministries meeting night. However, you must realize that your STORM will need to start about two hours before your normal meeting time.

• You should engage a speaker. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Your speaker needs to be able to do three things.

1. Communicate the gospel in a clear way.

2. Share or preach with excitement.

3. Give a clear invitation for the students to receive Christ. (I would encourage you to have your Area Missionary speak for you; especially if you never had a STORM before.)

• You should schedule a room/place that will hold up to three times your normal attendance.

• You should choose a “hook”. This is usually food, since students like to fellowship over food. Oh yeah—so do I! Two of the favorites are pizza and ice cream.

• You should choose who is going to do the orientation with your drivers and students. Not sure what to do? We have the answer with a STORM DVD. The orientation DVD will be with two crazy, awesome guys: Aaron and Kyle. They will make your orientation fun, informative and motivating.

• You should find people who will help (from your church—not just from your leadership team). Remember if you are a small church each person can double up on responsibilities. Below are some areas to think about:

1. Supplying and serving food for teens and workers before the orientation.

2. Supplying and serving food after the Student meeting.

3. One driver for every two students of your average attendance. The drivers need to be at the orientation with the students two hours before the normal meeting.

4. Hospitality People will greet and sign in the students. They will also have extra activities for those who are brought in early—like Volleyball.

A STORM Manual is also available to help you. The STORM Manual will help you with the detailed planning. The manual will also go over follow-up ideas to continue the impact of your ministry in each visitor’s life. The DVD has three video clips. The first is a promotion skit. The second is the actual orientation that you can use on the night of the STORM. And the third is for counselor training. DVD and the STORM Manual are available from your Area Missionary. Gospels of John, Decision Cards, Misty tracts and beautiful STORM T-Shirts are available in the Word of Life Product Catalog. This article is not intended to help with all the detailed planning; but, its intent is to give you the big picture from which you can plan an awesome fall event that can dovetail with Superbowl and start a process of ongoing outreach through new teens introduced to your Student Ministry. Whether you see 1 or 51 teens trust Christ as Savior, your efforts will impact your Student Ministry for God’s glory.

Plan now to be a part of National STORM outreach September – October 17

[Ken Dady is the Word of Life Missionary in western Ohio and northern Kentucky. He has run dozens of STORM meetings and seen hundreds of students trust Christ. His heart beats for evangelism. Ken and his wife Pam make their home in Bellefontaine, OH. Questions and comments about STORM may be addressed to Ken at kdady@wol.org.]

Christian Service Ideas For Children

Christian service is such an important part of a child’s spiritual growth. Too many of the children in our world today are growing up with a “me” focus. As we promote Christian service within Olympians and Gopher Buddies ministries, we are trying to teach the children to have an “other’s focus.”The Olympian Christian Service Manual and the ideas given to Gopher Buddies for Christian Service are a great place to help the children focus on the needs of others. As you enter the spring season, here are some examples of ways the children can serve:

Tree Planting – Find out when your state celebrates Arbor Day and then plan to participate for a Group Christian Service. Check with your parks department and schedule a time to plant trees with the children at one of the local parks. As you and the children come in contact with others at the park, invite them to attend your church.

Pack It Up – Visit www.childrentochildren.org and then contact the social service agency in your community to see if you can work out details for your Olympians and Gopher Buddies to participate in a project similar to the “children‐to‐children”project. Ask if you can place a Bible in the duffel bags as well as a stuffed animal.

Food Drive – Have the children bring in canned or boxed foods for a homeless shelter, rescue mission, or Baptist Children’s Home. After the food has been collected, get the children involved in helping to pack up the boxes for delivery to the organization.

Fun Flowers – There are so many ways to create beautiful faux flowers from tissue paper and chenille stems. Have the children each make a flower and create a cheery card to attach to it. Plan a field trip to a local nursing home and allow the children to help distribute the flowers.

Flower Garden – Collect money from the children for a few weeks and then go and buy flowering plants for a senior citizen or for a nursing home. Take some of the children with you so they can participate in picking out the flowers. If possible, allow some of the children to participate in helping to plant the flowers.

Give a smile! – Cut round circles from construction paper and have the children creatively make smiley face cards to distribute to children who are in the hospital. Purchase some little stuffed animals that can be given along with the cards.

Spring Cleaning – Check with your Pastor and see if there are some senior citizens who could use some extra help with cleaning and yard work. Make sure you recruit additional adults to help, assign the tasks, and then “divide and conquer.”This is a great way to be a testimony in your community!