Video Transcript: Phase 2 Culture - Harambee

We've been talking about creating a culture, and we are now going to move into  what we talked about decoding, and the importance of being able to  communicate the gospel in terms that kids understand, getting to the ideas that  they have, and then decoding the scriptures in the sense of coming up with,  what are God's ideas? What is the Scripture teaching? And then we talked about modeling and how important it is that we are good role models. We, we model  that which we speak we this is a, this is, in a sense, a it is. It's a high and holy  calling. It really is. You're working with the future generation, and you're working  with young people who are who are in trouble, who are at risk, and what you do  with that population can make a tremendous difference for Christ in this  generation and the next. And so modeling becomes very important. You are very important. But now want to get to Harambee. And like I said, Harambee is it's  the place where leadership development really begins. Is in Harambee. It's the  name that I use for the regular weekly club meeting. I stole the name from from  John Perkins. John used that word to describe aspects of his ministry, and I  thought it's such a great word, I just went ahead and acquired it. The Harambee  moment is the moment where you are working with your multitude. Again,  Jesus, he had, he spoke to the multitude. He had 12 Disciples that followed him, and of the 12, there were three that were closest to him. Well, I would describe  Harambee as your multitude, that is a group of kids that come together on a  week by week basis, and you're meeting with them, you're having fun, you're  eating food, but you're also getting them to think and helping to introduce them  to the God who loves them. So they are your multitude, and they they cut, they  have they're in different places. They're they're all very, very different. But they're hearing this message from their engaging. They're engaging different needs for  the day and where God is at. They're engaging those they're the multitude. And  Harambee is when you're shaping young minds. You're shaping them by  causing them to think, causing them to open up, and causing them to say, Okay, where is God in all of this. And here's what I think, here's what's been ingrained  in me, here's how I've had to respond to what's happened to me in life. Where is God in all of this? Okay, so the Harambee moment. It's a focused time of  engagement around a felt need. Don't get me wrong, as I shared earlier, you  can have your your fun activity, your discovery activity, your discussion, but you  are it is a focused time of engagement around a felt need. You're scratching  where the youth are itching. Remember, I shared with you that illustration when  working with a youth leader, and he was talking about some of the struggles he  was having, and I finally asked him, Are you scratching where they're itching?  Are you are you identifying? Are you speaking to their felt need, their real need?  And he had to say, No, the Harambee moment is when you are scratching  where youth are itching, and your goal is to present God's perspective in a way  that touches the group's felt need. Now, just as a preacher might share a  message, and that message would impact people, the hearers in different ways, 

it will speak to various needs at the same needs the same time. That's the same thing that happens in your in your youth club, that you communicate in such a  way. the kids will take that and apply it to their particular their particular need. So the Harambee moment, focusing on the youth. This really is your servant  leadership moment. You are focused on your young people. This is a critical  time, and time is respected and time frames adhered to. Talk a little bit about  time. Dr Grounds, John Perkins was speaking at Denver seminary, and Dr  Grounds was the was the president at that time. And John went to Dr Ground  and said, How much time do I have? He's going to be speaking at Chapel. How  much time do you have? Do I have? And Dr Ground said, well, take all the time  you need, but when you're done, stop. I thought that was humorous that that Dr  Ground say, oh, take as much time as you need, but when you're finished, stop.  How many times have we sat through a sermon or a youth talk that should have  stopped 10, 20, 30 minutes before time is important. And it's not a time for a  lecture, it's a time of discovery. And so because of that, you're creative in what  you do, you're create. You have creative engagement, lively discussion, what do you think and why? The actual meeting, there's a fun activity. There's a  discovery activity. There is a discussion and there is a talk to again, the fun  activity is an activity that basically draws kids in to be together. When they're  finished with that activity, they've kind of forgotten about what they came from,  and they're now there with you. The discovery activity should be an activity that's tied to your discussion. It could be another game, or it could be something else,  but whatever it is, it gets them thinking about what the discussion topic is going  to be. And then when you get to the discussion again, honest Honest dialog,  honest answers to honest questions. But at this point in time, you really are  listening to them. You're listening to what they think and your help. You're trying  to understand, and you're you're spouting back to them, okay, this is what you're so what I'm hearing you say about this situation is, this is what you believe.  These are your ideas. That's what I'm hearing you say. You want to be very  clear. You want to know what they you value, what they think, not their thinking  may be right, it may be wrong. Doesn't matter. What matters is you're valuing it  you want them to think, because in a moment, you're going to talk to them, and  when you talk to them, you're going to take everything that they have shared  with you that you're going to condense it into a single idea, and then you're  going to share with them, because you already anticipated this. You've already  spent time with the kids. You already know you have a sense for what their felt  need is, and you've already gone to God and to the scriptures and say, Hey,  God, what do you think about this? What are the central ideas for you? If you if  Jesus were here talking to them, what would he say to them? And you've  already thought that through and you thought about it to where you can share  with with with it, with it, with illustration, with all those other things you can share. The central idea of this is where God is at in all of this. Okay, I want to come 

back to time, respecting the gift of time. I know that in different cultures, and, you know, different places, people have differing views on time. Some say, oh, it's  not that big of a deal to, to start, to start late, and it's, it's not that big of a deal to, you know, we can. Work off of a different time system. And really, in some  cultures, the situation is such where you do, wait and you do and you do, things  happen over a much longer period of time, because relationships are important,  and some and cultures differ on just how important that is. I don't think I'm I'm  really speaking to that. What I am saying is that time is a trust and a  stewardship. We all exist in time, and so because and because we're leaders,  we should use time well, and so the time that we have with young people, we do not want to abuse we want to use it to its maximum impact, its maximum effect.  What you want to do with a youth club is you want to make one hour feel like 20  minutes. Have you ever been to a movie? There are some movies you go to and the movie is an hour and a half long and you feel like it should have been done  an hour ago. Then there are other movies you go to and it's an hour and a half  long, and the hour and a half is done, you're going, Wow, I'm still in it. I'm still  there. Well, you want your youth meeting to be like that. You want to so be in  control of time that it's used well. So now that doesn't, you really don't want your  youth to be watching a clock. You don't want them to do that. You want them to  be so engaged and so excited about what they're doing, and that when it's done, they're going, Wow, I could go an hour longer, but you don't, because you  respect time and you want that sense of, Wow, this is great. I'm coming back  next week. So it's about treating time as a stewardship and as a trust and as a  tool that you can use to be effective in your communication with young people.  So the meeting, fun activity, discovery, activity, discussion and talk to all with a  respect for time now the preparation. There are certain elements within a talk,  that talk to part where you are now addressing them. There are certain parts to  that that are important. One, you make sure you surface a need. Second, you  discover what the big idea is. You need to know what the central idea is. You  need to choose an opener. How are you going to how are you going to start? I  love what Francis Schaeffer said. Oppose wrong beginnings. You need to have  a beginning that captures their attention. You don't want to hem and haw into  what you're going to say. You want to be clear from the very first choose your  first statement well. And then you also want to think through your transitions and your big idea illustrations. You want to illustrate, but you also want to move from  one section to the next. You want to be conscious of it. If you're moving from  your opening statement to your first statement, it could just be just jumping right  from one to the other. It could it could be some kind of a statement in between.  Whatever it is, it's intentional. You've thought through your transitions so you  move through your talk smoothly, and you have illustrations that match your  point. That's important to have that and then have an application. What are they  going to do now that they've heard this? What are you going to challenge them 

to do? Give them some kind of application, go home. Based on what we talked  about, I challenge you to go home and tell your parents that you love them.  Simple application, but it's something that it's something that these these  elements in in the talk, as you put these elements together into a talk, and that  talk, again, I'm speaking as an American and American culture, and I don't think, I don't think the talk should be more than five minutes. I really don't. I think in  five minutes you should be able to say what needs what needs to be said, No  hemming, no hawing, no dancing around. You're clear. This takes preparation,  but it's important preparation because of your mission. This is what you're about  doing week after week after week, the Harambee moment