Me: For those who might not know you, tell us a little bit of your story.DC: Wow where to start. I great up in Houston, TX, went to high school in Sealy, TX. My parents divorced when I was about 9, I have one older brother who is two years older than me. I went to college at Notre Dame on a football and baseball scholarship but only ended up playing football. During that time I was attending Granger Community Church (where i'm currently employed). After Notre Dame I went to the NFL where I was with the Miami Dolphins and the Cincinnati Bengals before leaving the NFL to go pursue Student Ministry. On December 1st of 2006 I came on staff at Granger as the Director of Student Ministry and as of December 1st 2009 I accepted the additional position of also being on the Senior Management Team for our church...still sounds weird to say that.
Me: What book(s) have most shaped you?
DC: I have a hard time reading ALL the way through books but even still here's my short list of books that have "SHAPED" me. Channels of Spiritual Power by Frank Laubach, Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard, the Spirit of Disciplines by Dallas Willard, and Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley.
Me: You are a blogger. What have you learned through blogging? Favorite blogs?
DC: Through blogging, I've learned that everybody has something to say and an agenda to push. For me, that's frustrating and awesome at the same time. Frustrating because I HATE that it usually includes self-promotion (I believe we can be profound without having to try to take credit for EVERYTHING we say...to me that's a sign of insecurity...there I go with my agenda again...) AND i think it's awesome because lots of people have some amazing things to say and are never given the platform to do it. So, I love that blogging levels the playing field for some unlikely people to be able to say unlikely things and make an impact on those of us who are too self-consumed to give them our physical ear or platform. I could care less about ratings, followers, etc. but I LOVE the content on some blogs.
DC: Through blogging, I've learned that everybody has something to say and an agenda to push. For me, that's frustrating and awesome at the same time. Frustrating because I HATE that it usually includes self-promotion (I believe we can be profound without having to try to take credit for EVERYTHING we say...to me that's a sign of insecurity...there I go with my agenda again...) AND i think it's awesome because lots of people have some amazing things to say and are never given the platform to do it. So, I love that blogging levels the playing field for some unlikely people to be able to say unlikely things and make an impact on those of us who are too self-consumed to give them our physical ear or platform. I could care less about ratings, followers, etc. but I LOVE the content on some blogs.
Me: Most embarassing moment from the platform?
DC: Wasn't really embarrassed by this, but it was hilarious!!! I was preaching to a room full of high schoolers here at Granger when I threw my shoulder out of socket AND split my pants from the crack of my crotch in the back ALL THE WAY DOWN to behind my calf WHILE explaining an illustration and still had 22 minutes left in my message to preach!!!! It was great. So instead of calling it quits because I was just getting started, I held my arm in place, set it on the coffee height table I was speaking from and kept on preaching. BUT I began to sweat profusely because my body was reacting to the pain!!! I was literally DRENCHED in sweat by the time that 22 minutes was up. I didn't tell crowd until the end after I had prayed. Then I picked my arm up off the table and let it fall and that was all she wrote. The crowd was grossed out and laughing like crazy, I was a sweaty mess and in CARAZY pain by this point...and on top of that the fact that my pants had ripped in the back meant I had to walk sideways (more like a side shuffle) all the way off the stage! [ha]
Me: Where do you turn for inspiration (besides Christ Jesus of course)?DC: For Life: My wife Brooke and my family (my parents and brother). For Ministry: I usually look to our main weekend services here at Granger to get inspiration as they throw away better ideas than I can ever come up with. From there I just scour the blog world and see what's crackin in other student ministries!
Me: Considering you are a youth pastor, what is the most notable advice you would provide other youth pastors with?
DC: I would definitely say, forget what everyone else is doing and start with "WHY DID I FIRST WANT TO DO YOUTH MINISTRY?" and from there build a ministry that honors God through that passion...THEN surround yourself with people who can help you build the rest of what needs to happen so the ministry thrives. Here's why I believe that is important: People are drawn to passion. If we could all focus on doing what we are most passionate about than doing things we feel obligated to do because the ministry down the street or on the web is doing it, we might actually be more productive.
Me: Catch us up to speed. What exciting things are going on at Granger?
DC: Right now Christmas Season around Granger is in full swing. In Student Ministry we're doing a series called "Christ's Passion for his Bride" talking about how as Christ's Bride we're intended to be the Salt of the Earth and Light of the world. We got some sick object lessons we're doing with those weeks and also some sick videos and song specials planned ("Pure Bride" by Leeland and "I Receive" by Israel Houghton). 'Big Church' (weekend services) are doing a series called Christmas Carol this off the chain. You can check the gccwired.com to check those out. We have our annual "Food Drop" around the corner in early January where we pack, load, and deliver 75 tons of food to the Michiana area (our student ministry jumps in with the rest of the church and serve in this effort). Some of our Christmas offering is going toward breaking ground on our Commons area at our Granger Campus (our student ministry participate in this as well). Not to mention our Christmas Eve services that are sure to be powerful.
Me: Give us three of the best (yet maybe underrated) resources available to youth pastors today...
DC: Best resources for me are our students and parents. Sounds odd and underrated but nobody knows what we need to be doing for our students growth better than our students and their parents so we use them as resources all the time and build the ministry around that. Resources people could buy, I think the usual suspects Simply Youth Ministry, Youth Specialities, and Student Life are good.
Me: What are you currently dreaming about?
DC: I'm currently dreaming about how I can best contribute to our Senior Management Team after accepting that role Tuesday December 1st. As far as my dreams for Student Ministry: I'm dreaming about how to build a hybrid ministry. A ministry that does all forms of Shepherding well. Right now i'm focused on these three areas: 1. Corporate Shepherding (Big Group gathering style) 2. Personal Shepherding (Where everyone feels they are PERSONALLY being shepherded by someone.) 3. Reproductive Shepherding (Still working on what I want to call this one, but this is really about 'giving away the shepherding that you're receiving.)
Me: What is something that most people don't know about you?
DC: I played saxophone most of my life and was a soloist in my high school concert band...and I'm not ashamed of it (hahaha!)
For more on DC Curry, follow his blog at http://www.currystew.org/ or his twitter www.twitter.com/dccurry.
Labels: Leadership, Life on Life, Youth Pastors
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