More Than Dodgeball | Youth Ministry Blog by Josh Griffin

Josh GriffinMore Posts 3 Common Youth Ministry Pitfalls

Had a chance to getaway with some of our youth ministry leadership team the past couple of days and really process some of the common pitfalls that youth pastors face as they navigate ministry. My mind has hovered around3 particularones thatI’ve personally witnessed in my recent experience in youth ministry:

Overspending or misuse of church funds
In appropriate relationships
Compromising staff/church policies

Let’s talk money
Want to avoid the common pitfall of mismanaging money? You need to know how to budget – for your church and yourself. Make sure you know your church’s culture for spending, get informed on spending expectations, what is or isn’t OK to purchase, and your church’s accounting policies and best practices. What is the real story behind the budget line you were given at the annual meeting. Save your receipts. Turn in reports on time. Be generous with scholarships and stingy with things that directly benefit you. Make handling money a top priority and honor the tithe money people sacrificed to give.

Let’s talk boundaries
I’ve seen several youth workers leave ministry recently because they didn’t stay faithful to their spouse, or flirted with danger as an unmarried youth worker. Don’t fall into this common trap! Don’t become another of the alarming youth ministry statistics. Allowing the possibility in your mind is the first step in a downward spiral that ends with compromises, secrets, lies and eventually your job. Make sure you have someone who is allowed full access to your online world and has the freedom to call you out if and when they see warning signs you might be in danger.

Let’s talk staff covenants
Many churches have a signature-required lifestyle covenant you agree to when you come on staff or take on a volunteer leadership role. Your integrity is on the line when you break that agreement. If you agree to it – no matter how absurd the rule may be – stick to it! Signing a covenant like this than publicly derailing it is a sign of immaturity and lacks integrity in your leadership.

Handle church financial stuff well. Keep clear boundaries with the opposite sex. Have integrity when it comes to the staff covenants you sign. What are other common youth ministry pitfalls and how do you avoid them?

JG

Add Comment 6 hours ago

Josh GriffinMore Posts Crazytown eHarmony Video: Girls

A follow-up to last week’s guys eHarmony video for the guys is this week’s over the top dating profile for the ladies. Died laughing!

JG

Add Comment 23 hours ago

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 213

Weekend Teaching Series: Crazytown (week 2 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: 5 Things Guys Wish Girls Knew
Service Length: 71 minutes

Understandable Message: This week was another huge hit with students – we covered 5 things from guys that they wanted girls to know. I mashed up some very insightful conversations with guy students, my personal experiences and what the Bible says into a fun talk on relationships and sex. It was super fun to talk frankly with the students and push them into really thinking about the choices they are making and the consequences of a life outside of God’s path. Excited to make this into a resource for others to use in the future as well, too!

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We had a great weekend planned – we played a hilarious new screen game called Taylor Swift Lyric or Lamentations that was one of the most clever games we’ve ever played. We also had a fun dating video spoof and lots of student involvement. Great energy on a tough weekend (prom at one of our key high schools) and met several students for the first time, too!

Music Playlist: Heart Attack (Demi Lovato cover), Hosanna, Divine and Holy

Favorite Moment: I’m really proud of Travis, he is our new weekend guy and is doing a GREAT job planning the program and keeping things on track. What a great series this has been – 1 more week to go!

Up next: Crazytown (series finale, week 3 of 3)

2 View Comments 2 days ago

Josh GriffinMore Posts Infinite Reasons to Go to HSM Summer Camp: Team Rec

Loving this simple series of promo videos for HSM Summer Camp. So fun! Ouch …

JG

Add Comment 2 days ago

Josh GriffinMore Posts Instagrams of My Message Each Week

We’re trying something new with the Crazytown series we’re doing right now – honestly we stumbled into it when a student started doing it. Honestly, I am absolutely loving it!

Last week after my message Melanie made a ready-for-Instagram image to share in her social media. It stunned me how she captured that point of the talk perfectly:

Then after this week’s service, she nailed it again:

We’re hopefully going to continue it every week after our youth services – let people share the message virally.Would love to see maybe a youth group logo in the corner or even a verse on them in the future, or maybe that would be too forced andobvious. Either way … I love this so much!

Steal the idea if you want!

JG

4 View Comments 3 days ago

Chris WesleyMore Posts What To Do With Your Summer

Even though school has not let out here in Maryland we are already in summer mode. It doesn’t mean we shut things down or fill it up with summer camps and events, we just alter our schedule. We tone down programming, keep things simple and maintain our pace. The goal in our summer is to prepare for the fall while staying in touch with the teens.

Your summers are so important. How you approach them will determine your readiness for the fall. There is a tendency by many youth ministers to either overload their schedule or completely check out. If you are going to do youth ministry for the long haul you need to treat the summer with the same focus, and attention that you do every other season. If you take advantage you’ll find yourself:

Building Margin: By trimming back some of the bells and whistles of your program you’ll find yourself preparing less on a week to week basis. Take that time to rest, pray and grow as a leader. When fall comes you’ll be more conditioned and ready to take on it’s grueling pace.

Keeping Momentum: While you want to build margin, you don’t want to completely stop what you are doing. Make sure what you do over the summer is consistent and scheduled. By maintaining a little bit of a pace you can ensure a smoother transition into fall.

Taking Ministry To A New Level: With the margin your are building you can also experiment with a few activities and projects that would be too difficult to pull off in the fall. Think big and don’t fear failure. Summer is a time to cut loose.

Investing In Leaders: During the grind of the year it’s hard to find time to get to know your leaders. Use the margin that most people have to hang out and get to know one another. Take them out for coffee, catch a ball game or invite them over for a barbecue. Make the summer relational.

Don’t waste your summer by overplanning or completely check it out. Develop a strategy and take advantage of it’s laid back feeling. By capitalizing on the summer you’ll be more ready for the fall.

What do you do with your summers?

Chris Wesley (@chrisrwesley)

3 View Comments May 21, 2013

Colton HarkerMore Posts Moving On

It is crazy to believe that the school year is almost over! For student leadership, we like to give our graduating seniors a big going away party, complete with a farewell/thank-you present from our ministry. Along with a few hand written notes and some other goodies, we are giving our seniors Doug Franklin’s “Moving On.”

This is the second year that we have given “Moving On” to our students. We love it because it is more than just a book, it is a resource. It helps students start to answer some of the big questions they have as they graduate high school and move on to the next chapter of their life. Questions like, “what should I do?” and “what does God want me to do?”

“Moving On” helps them answer those questions by walking them through the formula:

Burden + Passion + Vision= Mission

The students we gave the book to last year loved it so we are bringing it back for another run. If you want to pick the book up for your students, you can buy it here.

What are you giving your students for graduation?

Colton [Email||Twitter]

1 View Comments May 20, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts POLL: Excuses for Missing Devotions

Last week’s poll was interesting and made me want to do a follow-up on the same subject. Spending time with Jesus every day is certainly a discipline, one that apparently many of us are faking or failing at. Vote today and help share some insight into why!

JG