My Ministry Philosophy

UPDATE: Just wanted to point out that I'm now employed at Lake Stevens AG. It's an amazing church and I love it here. You'll notice that I deleted the post with my resume, I'm keeping this one and Tiff leading worship because I think they're things people will still be interested in, but I'm no longer looking for work.

What?!?!? Pastor Jeff is blogging again?!?!? Here I thought he was spending his days relaxing poolside, waaaaayyyyy too busy to blog. Well, to all you naysayers out there I say "Ha, I'm not to busy to blog, in fact I'm not doing anything at all (so if you want to get together, leave a comment, e-mail, IM, text, call, snail-mail...)".

In my continued quest for employment, one thing I'm sure will help me is to post important info about me on this blog and label it for quick searching by potential employers. Maybe I'm wrong, but it's one of the things in this situation that I can control, so I'm gonna do it.

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My Ministry Philosophy can be summed up pretty simply. "Loving students and equipping them to change the world." I know it's not the most catchy slogan, but it really captures the essence of our ministry pretty well.

Any ministry must be powered by Prayer, it's the engine that keeps us running. Sometimes the most important things can get overlooked, and prayer is definitely the most important thing. As a youth pastor I'm acutely aware of this. If we allow prayer to fall off, it doesn't matter how many cool programs we start or how much we hang out with students, in the end it won't make a lasting impact on their lives. And that's the reason we do this, to equip them to change their world.

If we had to limit ourselves to teaching students to do one thing and do it well, we would teach them how to study the Bible. Tiffanney and I are passionate about discipleship, especially one on one, relational discipleship. We love having students into our home, playing video games and discussing the Bible with them. Tiffanney often times takes students with her grocery shopping, and I try to take people with me when I attend school sporting events and such. I want the students to see who I am, that I'm a real person, and yet I love God, and He has impacted my life in a powerful way.

Our youth services focus on Worship and the Word. We have fun, use technology, and play games when they're appropriate, but the reason we're there is to encounter God, and to teach the students how to meet with Him. This is also why there is an emphasis on the altar in our ministry, because that's where they will make their decision to follow God and where they will find the power to walk with Him throughout their lives.

We love going to camps, retreats and missions trips. On these outings we've seen powerful things happen in the lives of teens. At our last summer camp alone we had 6 students baptised in the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in other tongues. We've seen healings, salvations and students called into the ministry through camps and missions trips, so we place a high priority on sending students to those events.

To sum everything up, our goal again is to "Love students, and equip them to change their world." We will do this by getting involved in their lives and placing them in environments where they can meet with God for themselves. In doing this, they will learn what it means to follow God and share Him with their friends.

-Jeff-

Tiffanney Leading Worship- Audio

Here is a link to Tiffanney leading worship. The sound quality is bad, but it will give you an idea of what she sounds like. She is an amazing worship leader and knows how to flow with the Spirit during a worship service. Hope you enjoy!

Download Tiffanney Graham - Worship


-Jeff-

My Latest Sermon

Download Jeff Graham - 1 Samuel 15


This is a Sermon I had the opportunity to preach on Memorial Day weekend. It was really a fun time and a great service. The power of God moved during the service and it was cool to be apart of. One quick note: I haven't listened to this download to make sure everything sounds okay. If you listen to it and there is a problem, please leave a note in the comments and I'll fix it when I get a chance.

-Jeff-

Saying Goodbye

I'm writing this Saturday night but I won't be posting it until Sunday afternoon. Tomorrow we will be announcing our resignation as the Associate Pastors of Oakville Assembly of God. It is a bittersweet time for us as we say goodbye to all our family here in Oakville, yet we're eager to see what God has in store for us. This is not a new development, but something that God has been stirring in our hearts for several months now. We knew for sure that He was asking us to stay here during the pastoral transition, and to be the interim pastor for that time. Now that Pastor James has been here for several months we know that God is pulling us in a different direction, but at the same time I've been dragging my feet because I haven't wanted to leave. I can't count the number of times I've paced back and forth in the Sanctuary at OAG and thanked God for bringing me to this church, yet now after three years we're set to embark on another journey. Thank-you to all of our church family, you've been a tremendous blessing to us, we wish you well and will pray for you often.

-Jeff-