TOYM part 2 - If you said it once, you didn't say it

Another thought on youth ministry is this: If you said it once, you didn't say it. Let's face it, as communicators and spiritual leaders we want our listeners to change into spiritual giants based on the one talk we did. We do! We think based on the message we teach tonight, its going to form spiritual giants by the time our talk is over. We think because we just taught on purity, they will now live purely. We taught about honoring authority, so they will be the most respectful people in the world. We think because we teach about prayer, next week the prayer times will be power packed!

But in reality, that's RARELY the case. We teach about purity on Wednesday and by Thursday evening, we're counseling people about their porn addictions. We teach about anger and self-control on Wednesday and we're at their homes with their parents on Friday discussing why they just got suspended from school for fighting. If you said it once, you didn't say it yet.

The generation we lead is the most advertised to generation in the history of the world. Marketers say that you have to hear their brand name 5 times before it registers. So in the minds of the people we lead, you have to say it atleast 5 times to say it once. This is part of the reason why we teach in series and not just one-hitter quitter messages. If we can drive the point home over the course of a few weeks with verbal, visual and written cues (preaching, bulletins and videos is how we do it), then I can say what I have to say ONE time.

So I've learned to be patient and say the point alot. Eventually it registers. But if I only said it once, I didn't say it.