This past week I ran across a youtube video that was being discussed on Seth Godin’s website. He was discussing this video in the context of tribes. As I watched it, I couldn’t help but see girls ministers. Sure the video starts with one crazy dancing guy. Then finally another crazy guy joins him. It takes about a minute before a 3rd crazy dancing guy joins…but this guy is when a spontaneous movement begins. As you watch this video, see the beginning of a movement take shape, and then I want to begin a conversation about how we invite people to “join the dance” of girls ministry.

So as you watched this video, maybe you feel like the 1st guy…God has completely caught your heart and planted the vision for girls ministry in you but no one around you is joining you or supporting you. But you just keep on dancing.

For you that are reading this and feel like the crazy dancing guy…I want to tell you to keep dancing and pray that God will send you some other people that share the mission and vision of helping teenaged girls and families of teenaged girls. Pray that God will send you someone else to “dance it out”. 🙂

Imagine how that crazy dancing guy felt when his passion caught the attention of someone else. All of a sudden, he wasn’t alone anymore. YOU NEED ANOTHER CRAZY DANCING GUY! In fact, you need to surround yourself with them. Start sharing the mission and call that God has placed on your heart with friends and family. Share your prayers for girls in your church with your pastors, your youth minister, your women’s minister. Usually, when someone does this in our church, they get pointed to me—why? because people have heard my heart for girls ministry so much that they know this person and I belong with each other because we’re dancing the same dance.
So keep on dancing, but don’t try to do it on your own. You will tire and quit the dance. You need a dance mob—not a spotlight.

Finally a 3rd dancer joins after about a minute. And when he joins, something happens—the movement really begins. People rush from all areas of the place to get involved and join the dance. So in this analogy—whose your 3rd dancer? When I watch this video I can’t help but think that God is the 3rd dancer. I’m so guilty of forgetting that God created the dance…and I often times leave Him sitting on the sidelines…I sometimes think that my frantic dancing will be enough to get a movement started. All it will do will burn myself and my 2nd crazy dancer to a tired mess.

I wish that girls ministry and movements in general happened as fast as this…and then again–I know that the infrastructure to continue to grow is important to build in order to support all that God wants to do. God knows and will provide the infrastructure of leaders and parents if we continue to rely on Him and include Him in the dance. Perhaps I’m being overly spiritual with this video but I know from our own experience with girls ministry that movements of leaders and depth within our students truly begins and expands when we lay our plans before God and ask that He move in the hearts of girls…parents…and leaders.

My prayer is that girls ministers everywhere would keep dancing even though sometimes they may feel alone. No matter what happens…keep asking God to send people your way and just be prepared that when the crowd comes…they may not be what you expected and they may not dance where you want them to dance…but ask God to help shape you to be the girls minister He needs in order to grow a meaningful movement that truly nurtures teenaged girls to be healthy women now so they are not broken later.

Now get to dancing!