Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

Illustration texts

None are Invulnerable

If the angel Lucifer could become the devil, none of us are invulnerable. (Source not found)

When Your Ministry Outpaces Your Character

I heard of a youth worker who led a spectacular ministry, with about 600 youth attending his group. Other youth ministers tried to emulate what he was doing, and wanted to find the secrets to his success. But today, this same youth minister lives on the streets as a cocaine addict. Beware! If our ministries outgrow our personal lives, none of us are immune from personal disaster.

Character vs. Compulsive Perfectionism

I heard a speaker tell of a fellow pastor who was so perfectionistic that he would measure the distance between his hangers in order to keep them evenly divided. The pastor always kept his door locked, asking visitors to wait a few minutes before he allowed them in. Someone finally discovered that the pastor would take off his pants while in his office, so as to not wrinkle them. ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

Ben Franklin's Character

Benjamin Franklin was influenced by his early exposure to the Puritan Cotton Mather. Mather ?proposed to himself each day the performance of some specific good.? Later, Franklin says that he would begin each morning by asking, ?What Good shall I do this Day?? and concluded each evening, at ten o?clock, by asking, ?What Good have I done today?? Franklin also acknowledged that Mather?s Bonifacius (1710), usually known as Essays to Do Good, had ?an influence on my conduct through life.? (Autobiography) ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

Ben Franklin's List of Virtues

While today?s ambitious people concentrate solely on developing their marketable skills, Benjamin Franklin took his character development seriously. While young, he wrote a list of virtues, and a strategy for obtaining them. (When using this as an illustration, you may wish to mention a couple from his list as examples. I?ll give you the entire list. I preserved the capitalizations as he wrote them.) ?1) Temperance. Eat not to Dullness; Drink not to Elevation. 2) Silence. Speak not but what may benefit others or yourself. Avoid trifling Conversation. 3) Order. Let all your Things have their Places. Let each Part of your Business have its Time. 4) Resolution. Resolve to perform what you ought. Perform without fail what you resolve. 5) Frugality. Make no Expense but to do good to others or yourself: I.e. Waste nothing. 6) Industry. Lose no Time. Be always employ?d in something useful. Cut off all unnecessary Actions. 7) Sincerity. Use no hurtful Deceit. Think innocently and justly; and, if you speak, speak accordingly. 8) Justice. Wrong none, by doing Injuries or omitting the Benefits that are your Duty. 9) Moderation. Avoid Extremes. Forbear resenting Injuries so much as you think they deserve. 10) Cleanliness. Tolerate no Uncleanness in Body, Clothes, or habitation. 11) Tranquility. Be not disturbed at Tribles, or at Accidents common or unavoidable. 12) Chastity. Rarely use Venery but for Health or Offspring; Never to Dullness, Weakness, or the Injury of your own or another Peace or Reputation. 13) Humility. Imitate Jesus and Socrates.? In order to progress in these virtues, he made a book, allotting a page for each virtue. He worked on a virtue each week, keeping score of the failures in that area. Franklin lived out many of these virtues, especially early in his life, when his frugal, industrious life allowed him to retire early and devote himself to inventions and public works. But he eventually gave up working on his pride, assuming after so much failure in this area that it was unconquerable. Also, he failed in his moderation in later life, become rather obese. Perhaps this shows that some virtues can only be obtained through a close attention to God, who seemed to be more on the periphery of his life than the center. (From Benjamin Franklin?s autobiography, pp. 91,92) ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

He Changed Dad's Life

A boy related his background to Doc Fortosis at Ben Lippen school (My quote is not exact) "My father used to arrive home drunk, beating my mom and us children. When we saw the door handle turn, we would run to get under the bed. Sometimes we would make it, sometimes not. But one day dad came in and he was changed. We still didn?t trust him, figuring it was some sort of trick. But day after day, he remained faithful to this new life. The drunken rages were gone. We looked forward to his coming home each day. We could hear him praying in the room next to us each morning, but didn?t understand who he was talking to. We asked mom, ?Who is it that dad talks with every morning?? She replied, ?What do you mean?? We said, ?Whoever it is, he sure has made a change in daddy?s life.? ? Copyright 2002 Steve Miller - All Rights Reserved

Plato on Character

?When men speak evil of you, live so nobody will believe them.? (Plato)

Point One Way, Head the Other

Too many in the church are like straight pins. They point one way but head the other. (Heard from John Wesley White.)

Better Men, Not Methods

The church is looking for better methods. God is looking for better men. (E.M. Bounds)

Barclay on Discipline

William Barclay wrote, "No one ever reached any eminence, and no one having reached it ever maintained it, without discipline." (The Gospel of Matthew, Philadelphia: Westminster, 1975, p. 280)

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