Jason Lamer grew up in a Christian home, and Christianity/church has always been apart of my life.
From the mouth of Jason:
I first became a Christian when i was 7 years old. I realized that i was a sinner and that i needed to accept Jesus as a Savior. There was a time while I was a senior in High School that I hit a spiritual dry spell where it seemed that he could not "feel" God. But it was in that time that he really forged a relationship with God that went beneath surface experiences.
He went to North Central Bible College because he admired Dr. Meyers leadership and caring personality. He recognized the call of God on his life.
At North Central he was a Pastoral Major but after graduation he became a youth pastor. He felt that his calling was to an Evangelist, and go to church to church. He first felt this call at 13 when he was baptized in the Holy Spirit.
Before his first ministry position he interviewed with at least 4 pastors and some of them never even responded. It was not until June that he actually received a FT position in a rural area (one of the poorest, and highest in teen pregnancy) in PA.
There was not a lot of money to do ministry so the best that he could do was something that came from the main pastor: find a need and meet it! Even in the youth ministry this was a driving philosophy! We went from a philosophy of hoping people would come to church to figuring out where the hot spots were an going to them.
An example is the concept of welfare: Actually welfare was developed in Fayette county. Once we identified the target and the need we developed something that looks like Convoy of Hope but before that was actually established. We utilized individuals who had trucking companies and partnered with grocery stores, hair cutteries, and we provided services in parks to those who were in need. While the people came for there health care and food there was opportunity to express everything that they were going to get for free which was directly tied into the free gospel and love and grace of Jesus Christ! We would see about 2-3 families a year come into the church and make decisions for Christ.
This was one of the ways we developed incredible reputation and relationship with individuals in the community.
Another ministry outreach we did was a parade: we were invited to a parade after contacting the mayor; at the end of the parade people were invited to head over to the youth group to view a commemorative video of the highlights of the basketball team that year. No one raised there hands to get saved but we did build reputation with individuals in the community.
One of his biggest philosophies regarding style or methodology in Youth Ministry is to be relevant but/and relational. Making phone calls, inviting students to hang out at the house, but once the youth began to grow we could not have them all over so we developed third degree-discipleship small groups.
He prayed to God that he would touch lives and be purposeful about ministry and not just take up space...He told Jason to impact the schools in the county. One of the ways we began to impact schools was to step in when emergencies happened. A girl died in an ATV accident and Jason called the school and let them know that they were praying for the school administration and the students; a few months later another student died and he made the same call. It just so happened that all of the grief counselors for the school were out at seminars and they asked Jason to come in and do grief counseling. It went great, under dire circumstances...the counselor realized that Jason was offering the students something that the other counselors could not and she got his contact information and any time something would happen he would come in and help out!
He began to do High School assemblies yearly which eventually led him to begin to do work with the 7 Project.
Now Jason represents Youth Alive and uses Prayer Zone Partners, Campus Missionaries, Campus Clubs, and the Seven Project as strategies to get the message of Jesus Christ to the Youth across the nation!
The 7 Project is primarily motivational: and talks about making good choices. Stories, tricks, and stuff only go five minutes each. The school administration picks 6 topics of 13 that the project can come in and teach on. The seventh topic is all about Christ: it is at a local youth group...food is available, there are games and prizes: 50% of students who participate in the evening even give their lives to Jesus.
One of the difficulties that are encountered after people give their lives to the Lord is follow up and helping to plug in these youth students into local churches. The 7 Project tries to put the face of a local pastor or youth pastor with and alongside of the 7 Project so that students can get comfortable being plugged into. 7.0 is based on the rictor scale which measures earthquakes. With these 7 elements eh 7 project will have long-lasting and greater impact on the students and the community.
7 elements required before 7 Project will come is:
- Network- involvement of 3 other churches; preferably not the same denomination.
- Serve- identify the need(s)
- Disciple- identify the teens. challenging students to look at their schools as a mission field. What will you do to reach them?
- Plan- identify the how to.
- Evangelize- identify the opportunities.
- Resource- identify the helps. Are you reading, and staying educated.
- Grow- identify the person (YOU) What is your motivation for wanting to do the 7 Project.
Too many times there are hands raised but they never get plugged in. I think that it is great that the project seems future focused, not just to have an event but impact and change lives.
Most of all I m impressed with his passion for students and his desire to seek and save students who are lost.
I feel that, he is attached to reality and that he has an adequate understanding of "life" and the difficulties that can come about when beginning ministry especially when starting out!
I am inspired to work with schools and develop and cultivate relationships with willing administration and counselors who also desire to speak into the lives of young people. It is also comforting to know that when I start in a position of ministry that there will be the opportunity to work with leadership that will come along side and help establish scaffolding that will hold up under the pressure and weight of the many people that need ministered too in our communities! I am under the impression that Jason and his team would bend over backwards to help youth pastors who are willing to take the steps necessary to reach those who need to hear the Gospel and freedom of Jesus!
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