Youth Staff Application Packet

In This Packet

Letter from Pastor David 3 Our Vision ..... 4 Our Target . 4 Our Strategy..... 5 Our Ministries .......... 6 What We Believe ...7 Philosophy of Ministry . 8 Application ..... 10 Leadership Covenant ...... 12 Background Consent Form .. 13 Volunteer Release ..... 15

Dear Prospective Volunteer, Thank you for your interest in becoming a part of our Youth Staff here at PRC. In the following pages, you will learn about who we are, what God has called us to do, and how you can be a part of this vibrant and exciting youth ministry. The late Mike Yaconelli, founder of Youth Specialties, and a true Champion of youth ministry once said, Youth Ministry is about bringing teens into the presence of God. Youth workers are NOT social workers. We are NOT counselors. We are NOT family fixer-uppers. We are NOT performers. We are NOT programmers. We ARE just people who love teens, love Jesus, and want teens to love Jesus! That is perhaps the best definition of a true youth leader. The job description of youth leaders is simply to love God, love teens, and help teens love God. I am excited about what God is doing among our teenagers. I hope that you will prayerfully consider joining our team of adult youth workers. We are just normal people who have decided to use the gifts and talents that God has given us to help teens love Jesus. Our students deserve our very best could that be you?

Serving This Generation,

David Brown

Our Vision
We are youth in ministry hydrating the world by sharing the Living Water of hope and healing to impact all generations by developing legacy leavers for Christ that boldly lead others into a relationship with our Lord.

Our Target
6th-12th Graders
Community Crowd

REACH

CONNECT

SERVE
Core

GROW
Congregation

WHO are we trying to target?

COMMUNITY represents youth who do not attend church anywhere CROWD represents youth who come to special events and activities CONGREGATION represents youth who come semi-regularly but may not be connected CORE represents youth who are connected and released to minister

WHAT is our purpose?

HOW will we attempt to do this?

Special Events, Friendship Evangelism Challenge Hydrate Caf, Open Gyms, Life Groups Life Groups, Sunday School, Discipleship One Student Leadership Team, Hydrate Worship Gatherings, Wednesday Missions

TO REACH EVERY YOUTH TO CONNECT EVERY YOUTH TO GROW EVERY YOUTH

TO SERVE EVERY YOUTH

Our Strategy [the how]

Everything we do in youth ministry is intentional. From building relationships through fun events to discipleship in our Life Groups, all activities are intentional for reaching our target youth and developing them into leaders. Reach, Connect, Grow, and Serve is a continuous cycle reproducing life in the youth ministry. Once a youth is serving, they will reach someone new and the cycle starts over with the new convert.
REACH REACH

SERVE

Core Youth

CONNECT

SERVE

Community Youth

CONNECT

GROW

GROW

Simply put, the strategy for our discipleship process is: 1. To find out where our potential youth is on our target (Community, Crowd, Congregation, Core) 2. Use the intentional structure of our youth ministry to REACH them and build a relationship (Hydrate Worship, Lock-ins, the Current, etc) 3. CONNECT with them and build trust with that relationship (Caf, Open Gyms, Life Groups, etc) 4. Challenge them to GROW (Life Groups, 101, 201, 301, Sunday School, Hydrate Worship) 5. Release them to SERVE (In any of our ministries at PRC)

Our Ministries [the tools]

Deeper Roots Biblical education for discipleship. Hydrate Caf An intentional time to build connections. Life Groups The backbone of our youth ministry. They create an
atmosphere where youth can feel connected and challenged to grow in their walk with the Lord in a personal way.

Hydrate Worship Youth-Led worship gathering: camp-like

atmosphere where the youth reach out to their friends through drama, multimedia, music, testimonies, and a relevant Word.

Open Gyms Intentional times to connect and bond through sports and
other activities.

Special Events Opportunities for the youth to invite the Community

youth for us to build relationships and get them connected to Hydrate.

Retreats/Camps Special times to pull away from the influences of

this world and ignite a spiritual revival in their personal lives.

Discipleship One: Dare 2 Dive Deeper is a mentor program

challenging youth to investigate the life of Christ and know the basics of following Him (Chapter 1-The Dare), be able to defend and confidently share their faith(Chapter 2- The Dive), and become empowered to serve by discovery their gifts (Chapter 3-The Deep).

What We Believe
1. We believe in salvation through confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. (Acts 4:12; Romans 10:9-10; John 14:6) 2. We believe that there is only one living and true God. There are three persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Genesis 1:2, 27; Matthew 28:19; I John 5:7) 3. We believe the Holy Bible to be the inspired Word of God. (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:20, 21) 4. We believe Jesus Christ, conceived of the Virgin Mary, is the only begotten Son of the Father. Jesus was crucified, buried and rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is today at the right hand of the Father as the Intercessor. (Luke 1:26-33; Hebrews 7:25) 5. We believe we are justified (declared righteous under the blood of Jesus) when we repent of our sins and believe in Jesus Christ. (Acts 13:38, 39; Romans 5:1; I Corinthians 6:11; Mark 1:5) 6. We believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with speaking in other tongues, as the Spirit gives the utterance, to be the initial evidence of this experience. We believe in the operation of the nine Gifts of the Spirit and encourage our people to live so that these gifts may be manifest in their lives. (Acts 2:4; Acts 10:44-46; Acts 19:6; I Corinthians 12:411) 7. We believe in the freedom of worship with every form of expression being done in decency and in order, not drawing attention to oneself. We define order in our services as following the anointing of the Holy Spirit through the pastoral leadership on the stage. (1 Corinthians 14:33, 40) 8. We believe in water baptism by immersion in water in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 3:11; Matthew 28:18-19; John 14:6) 9. We believe in divine healing for the body. However, we encourage and do not condemn medical science. (Acts 3:2-12; Acts 5:15, 16; James 5:14-15) 10. We believe every blessing we receive from God comes through the merits of The Atonement (Jesus complete sacrifice for us on Calvary). (Romans 5:11; James 1:16, 17) 11. We believe in the Second Coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. (Acts 1:10, 11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 1:7) 12. We believe those who die outside of Christ will be punished in an eternal Hell, but those who die "in Him" shall share in His glory in Heaven forever. (Daniel 12:2; Matthew 25:46; John 5:29; Jude 1:7) 13. We believe in the sacredness of marriage between one man and one woman and family commitment. We promote strong family values. (Ephesians 5:31-33; Ephesians 6:1-4; Hebrews 13:4; Matthew 19:5 Leviticus 18:22; Genesis 2:24)

Our Philosophy of Youth Ministry

Grace-Based
The teen years are some of the most fun years in life, yet they are also some of the most difficult. Kids are going through unbelievable amounts of change - physically, mentally, emotionally, sexually, etc. Kids have plenty of places for receiving condemnation. The church must be a place where the hurting and confused can come and find the love and acceptance of Jesus. Teens will not be beaten down when they make mistakes (and yes, they will make them!). Nor will the Bible be used to tell them how bad they are. Rather, we will lovingly walk with them and guide them, through the Holy Spirit, into the truth of the Word of God and help them develop a growing love relationship with Jesus, not an unhealthy and unbiblical view of Him.

Belief in Students
The Bible is full of young people who accomplished great exploits for the Kingdom of God. In I Timothy 4:12 Paul says to Timothy, Dont let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Teenagers can be leaders in the here and now!

Students CAN Hear from God Personally

Teenagers are in a moldable season of life where their physical senses are developing in new ways. In the same way, we believe students spiritual senses are developing. (I Samuel 3) Opportunities will be sought which help students learn disciplines that will help them tune their ears to Gods voice above all other distractions in life.

Relationships are the Key to Successful Student Ministry

Leadership is about influence. Youth leaders are called to influence teenagers for the Kingdom of God. We cannot impact people we do not know. Without relational capital, we cannot help teens to grow and change. Change happens most effectively in the context of community. Therefore, we will model and encourage life-giving relationships.

T.E.A.M. Leadership [Teen Empowerment Adult Mentoring]

The best people to reach students for Christ are other students. It is imperative that we seek to empower students to move in the ministries that God has called them to. II Timothy 2:2 says, And the things you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these pass on to reliable men who will be able to teach others also. This verse is at the crux of the call to being an adult leader in the youth ministry. It is critical that students have people who have gone before them to mentor and coach them as they are growing and maturing. I call this T.E.A.M. Leadership (Teen Empowerment, Adult Mentoring). The two must go hand in hand.

Family First
The Bible is very clear that spiritual training is first and foremost the responsibility of the family unit, specifically parents (Deuteronomy 6:1-9). In light of this, we view youth ministry as supplementary and complimentary to the familys training initiatives. This could take on several forms in the operations of the youth ministry. If a student ever has a scheduling conflict between a family activity and a youth function, the youth ministry always defers. We will also seek to provide avenues whereby parents and teenagers are trained in healthy family relationship and empowered to maximize their relationships.

Purpose Driven
We never do things for the sake of doing things, this would be in vein. But in everything we do we must identify the purpose(s) that we are seeking to fulfill. Our purpose is to Reach, Connect, Grow, and Serve: each youth activity must fulfill one of our purposes. Even if we have an open gym night, the purpose of fellowship and relationship building (Reach/Connect) must be identified and promoted to the youth so they catch our purpose driven vision.

Patience
Jesus told a parable about two men who built two houses, one on the sand and one on the rock. Both houses looked great, but when they were tested (both by the same elements) one stood strong and the other fell with a great crash. The main point that Jesus was making was regarding building our lives upon the rock of His Word. Cheap houses can be built quickly. Lasting houses take time. Digging into the sand and cutting through rock take different lengths of time. We will build something that will last for generations to come, and it will take time.

Pray Hard, Play Hard

Life in general should be fun. When it is time to get serious with God, we focus on Him with all of our hearts and we take those times in His presence very seriously. When it is time to cut loose, we are going to have more fun than should be legal. A healthy balance of serious and goofy is a must in youth ministry. Students today need to see that being a Christian can be, and should be, fun as well as the most intense life journey one can go on.

Youth Staff Application

PERSONAL INFORMATION
Name: ____________________________________________________ DOB: __________________ Address: __________________________________________________________________________ City: ____________________ State: ______ Zip: _________ Phone: ______________________ Marital Status: _ Single _ Married _ Divorced _ Re-married _ Widowed

Spouse: _______________________________________ Years Married: _______ Children: _______________________________________ Age: _______ Children: _______________________________________ Age: _______ Children: _______________________________________ Age: _______ Children: _______________________________________ Age: _______ Children: _______________________________________ Age: _______

EMPLOYMENT
Place of employment: ______________________________________________________________ Immediate Supervisor: ________________________________ Phone: ____________________ Describe your position & job responsibilities: ______________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________

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BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Were you a victim of abuse or molestation as a child? _ No _ Yes Have you ever struggled with homosexuality? _ No _ Yes Have you ever been convicted of or plead guilty to child abuse or a crime involving actual or attempted sexual molestation? _ No _ Yes Any other felony? _ No _ Yes If you answered Yes to any of the last three questions, please attach a brief explanation.

CHURCH INVOLVEMENT
Are you currently a Regular Attendee or Member of Peerless Road Church? _ No _ Yes How long have you attended? ________________ Are you currently a member of another church? _ No _ Yes Church: _________________________ Previous Church Information: _____________________________________________________ Dates Attended: ________ Church: _______________________ Phone: ________________

Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? _ No _ Yes Briefly describe your salvation experience: ________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________

Have you been: Water Baptized? _ No _ Yes When? ___________ What gifts does the Holy Spirit most frequently give through you? ________________________________________________________________________________

COMMITMENT & INTERESTS

_ Sunday Mornings _ Sunday Nights _ Wednesday Nights _ Wherever Needed Most _ Special Events Chaperone

_ Other: __________________________________________________________________________

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Youth Staff Covenant

The 5 Cs of being on our leadership team Calling [anointing] Character [integrity] Competency [willing to learn and grow] Chemistry [team Player, gets along with others] Commitment [priority]
After observing the ministry, spending time in prayer and discussing with my family the 5 Cs of being on the youth staff, I am willing to commit to the following, and I would appreciate consideration to serve as a youth leader for the next year: I acknowledge the lordship of Jesus Christ and that I have a personal relationship with Him. I am committed to growing and maturing my relationship with God through quiet times, active attendance at church and accountability relationships. I am committed to making choices and living a lifestyle that is both consistent with the Word of God and above reproach, knowing that my lifestyle is a model for students. I am committing to the student ministry for at least one full year. I will attend all required meetings. I will make a committed attempt to find at least one other adult volunteer for our growing need in the youth ministry. I have read and understand our vision, target, strategy, what we believe, and the philosophy of ministry for our student ministry. Because I am making a significant commitment and my presence is important, I agree to be faithful and on-time to the meeting(s) and gathering(s) I commit myself to. I am committing to serving in the following area(s): __________________________ _________________________ __________________________

Time of commitment: Start: ____________ End: ____________

________________________________________________________ Signature

__________________ Date

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Permission to Obtain a Background Check

(This form authorizes the church to obtain background information and must be completed by the applicant The church must keep this completed form on file for at least five years after requesting a background check.)

In the interest of safety and security I, the undersigned applicant (also known as consumer), authorize Peerless Road Church through its independent contractor, LexisNexis, to procure background information (also known as a consumer report and/or investigative consumer report) about me, prior to, and at any time during, my service to the organization. This report may include my driving history, including any traffic citations; a social security number verification; present and former addresses; criminal and civil history/records; and the state sex offender records.

I understand that I am entitled to a complete copy of any background information report of which I am the subject upon my request to Peerless Road Church, if such is made within a reasonable time from the date it was produced. I also understand that I may receive a written summary of my rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Signature: ________________________________

Date: _________________________

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Identifying Information for Background Information Agency

(Also known as Consumer Reporting Agency)
Print Name: _____________________________________________________________________________________________

First

Middle

Last

Other Names Used (alias, maiden, nickname): ______________________________________________________________________________

Current Address: ____________________________________________________________________________________

Street /P. O. Box City State Zip Code County

Former Address: _____________________________________________________________________________________

Street /P. O. Box City State Zip Code County

Dates:__________________________

Social Security Number: __________________ Drivers License Number: ________________ Date of Birth: ______ Gender______

Daytime Telephone Number: _____________ State of Issuance: ____

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VOLUNTEER RELEASE AND WAIVER OF LIABILITY

I, the following terms: , the volunteer, herby freely and voluntarily, without duress, execute this Release under

Waiver and Release. I hereby release and forever discharge and hold harmless Peerless Road Church and its successors and assigns from any and all liability claims, demands, and causes of action, of whatever kind of nature, either in law or equity, which may hereafter arise from my participation with the Youth Ministry of PRC. I understand and acknowledge that this Release discharges Peerless Road Church from any liability or claim that I may have against Peerless Road Church with respect to any bodily or other injury, illness, death or property damage that may result from my participation as a volunteer. I also understand that Peerless Road Church does not assume any responsibility or obligation to provide financial assistance, including, but not limited to, medical, health, or disability insurance, in the event of injury, illness death, or property damage. Insurance. I understand that except as otherwise agreed in writing, the Peerless Road Church does not carry or maintain health, medical, disability, damage, liability, or other insurance coverage for the benefit of any volunteer and expressly disclaims the responsibility or obligation to so. As a volunteer, I am expected and encouraged by Peerless Road Church to maintain medical, health, and all other applicable insurance coverage for my own benefit. Medical Treatment. I hereby release and forever discharge Peerless Road Church from any and all claims, demands and causes of action whatsoever that may arise or may hereafter arise on account of any first aid or other medical treatment rendered in connection with volunteer activities. Assumption of Risk. I understand that my participation with Peerless Road Church and/or any project, activity or event sponsored, managed, arranged or promoted by, or otherwise affiliated or associated with Peerless Road Church may include activities that may be hazardous to me. I further recognize and understand that such participation may involve certain inherently dangerous activities. I hereby expressly and specifically assume the risk of injury or harm in the activities and release Peerless Road Church from all liability for injury, illness, death and/or property damage that may result. Photographic Release. I do hereby grant and covey unto Peerless Road Church all rights, titles, and interest in and to any and all photographic images and video or audio recording made by or on behalf of Peerless Road Church or made with its consent, during my participation with Peerless Road Church and/or any project, activity or event sponsored, managed, arranged, or promoted by, or otherwise affiliated or associated with Peerless Road Church, including but not limited to, any royalties, proceeds, or other benefits derived from such photographs or recordings. Other. I expressly understand and agree that this Release is intended to be as broad and inclusive as permitted by law, and that this Release shall be governed and interpreted in accordance with the laws of Tennessee. I agree that in the event that any clause or provision of this Release shall be held to be invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such clause or provision shall not otherwise affect the remaining provisions of this Release. This Release is entered in to voluntarily and knowingly on _________________________.
Date

Volunteer Signature

Date

Print Name

Witness

Date

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