At the heart of the gospel is the idea that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). Though it can be hard to admit our finitude, dependence, and weakness, these are the very places God loves to enter in. Here are some of our favorite articles and podcasts that remind us of the sufficiency of Christ in our weakness.
Articles:
Confessions of a Struggling Youth Minister: Weariness, Weakness, and Grace- Sarah Nixon
Your credibility in ministry doesn’t come from your ability to have your act together. It comes from the mercy of God (2 Corinthians 4.1). You aren’t chosen because you’re a pretty package to carry the gospel, but because the cracks in your clay jar are the perfect display of the sufficiency of Christ (2 Corinthians 4.7).
Seeing God’s Beauty in Our Weakness– Creagh Goings
What the world sees as weakness is actually a beautiful picture of God’s grace. We serve a God who loves us in our weaknesses, not despite of them… He desires not to leave us to ourselves, but to embrace us as we realize our frailty and desperate need for His strength.
How Parenting Out of Weakness Strengthened My Relationship With My Teen- Kristen Hatton
So to love [my daughter] well is to stop trying, and to simply point her to the only One who can fix us all. Of course, it isn’t easy to relinquish the reins of any control I think I might have, but he’s showing me that his power is made perfect in my weakness. (2 Cor 12:9)
Dear Youth Minister, You Need Help. Ask For It. -Rebecca Lankford
The perfect life and obedience of Jesus on our behalf frees us from having to know how to navigate life on our own. The gospel of grace allows us to do what we in our own strength never could—to come to terms with our limits so that we might see the complete sufficiency of Jesus, our Helper
Styrofoam Cups- Mike McGarry
God has not called us into ministry because we were too good to refuse. He has called us in order to show His power through our weakness. We shouldn’t be surprised when our true colors show, this is God’s way of keeping us humble and reminding us who’s really running the ministry
Podcasts:
Mark Upton on How to Find Hope When People Take You Where You Don’t Want to Go
In his plenary talk at the Rooted 2017 conference in Dallas, TX. Mark Upon speaks on John 21:15-19 as a beautiful picture of how Jesus delights not in our strength, but in our humble dependence on him.
Julius Kim on Gospel Pilgrims: A Life of Suffering and Hope
In another plenary talk from our Rooted conference in Dallas, TX, Julius Kim speaks on 2 Kings 4:8-27 and God’s strength that supplies grace for weary gospel pilgrims.
In this conversation, former and practicing youth ministers discuss how and why burnout happens, as well as offer hope for those currently in the throes of burnout.
“Little Easters” with Robert Row
The teenagers we serve will undoubtedly experience all varieties of let-downs and disappointments. How can we offer a message of hope? Robert Row, the student ministries coordinator of SeeJesus, joins this episode of The Rooted Youth Ministry Podcast to discuss this very topic. Robert shares how the arc of Jesus’ own story included “being emptied,” “taking on the form of a servant,” “being found in human form,” and “becoming obedient to the point of death” (see Philippians 2:7-8); only after this “low point of the J-Curve” was Jesus exalted through the resurrection (see Philippians 2:9). Robert then shares how THE Easter story connects to the stories of our students – how, for every “little death” our students may face, there is the promise of a “little Easter.”
In addition to our blog and podcast, our Rooted Reservoir subscribers have access to the past training videos we develop for our Rooted Regional Groups. This month we invite subscribers to view Scott Sauls’ video on “From Weakness to Strength.” If you’re a subscriber, head on over to the Rooted Reservoir site and you will find it in your library within the Rooted Regional Group Videos. Find out more about our upcoming Rooted Regional Group on November 10, 2022.
