I’m Just a Teenager, But I’m the Church

Youth Ministry Resource of the Week

Class 101-401 Student Edition - Saddleback Church’s classes are now available for students. Each of these long-term core Saddleback classes has been adapted for students and are ready for you to teach. Each of the four classes runs about two hours. They can also be expanded into a two-day class. CD included!

Over the past couple of years I have been journaling about youth ministry online and in my Moleskine. The good, the bad, the ugly – this book is a collection of many of those thoughts.

99 Thoughts for Youth Workers by Josh Griffin
Get it at Simply Youth Ministry today!

simplyinsider.com

Episode 129: He?s a lot Nicer in Person

Chris at 6:52pm, March 12, 2010

Click to Play
Doug, Matt, and Jake tackle some of the best questions we’ve ever had. But before that there’s a discussion of road trips and things guys do on them. Don’t worry it’s not that long. Matt also re-thinking rudeness. Once they get to the questions they discuss keeping pride in check, being under staffed, and pastors mentoring other pastors.

simplykurt.com

Why Having Quality Volunteers Makes Your Ministry So Much Stronger:

Kurt at 2:52pm, March 16, 2010

Below is email one of our small group leaders recently sent to a parent who was upset about her son getting injured while playing a game during small group.She had sent a scathing email accusing him of negligence, etc. He had tried to call her several times but wasunable to get ahold of her. I’m not sure there is a “professional” youth worker on the planet who could have written a better email to a concerned parent.

Dear Mrs. XXXX, Thanks for letting me know about what’s going on with XXXXX. I’m so sorry to have left you feeling like there wasn’t adequate supervision at last night’s C Group. I’ve been leading small groups with students for about 10 years now, and I always try hard to provide a safe, healthy environment. That being said, I can never completely remove the possibility of an accident happening, and I think this is what happened last night. The game we were playing was not dangerous, butXXXX had an accident and got injured. Had I known more clearly the extent of his injury, I CERTAINLY would have contacted you immediately. When I asked him if he was OK, he assured me more than once that he was fine and never mentioned feeling dizzy or not being able to see. Please letXXXX know that in the future he can always tell me if he is not feeling well or is injured, and I will do everything [...]

youthministrygeek.com

My Evernote Ideas?

Brandon at 5:49pm, March 16, 2010

If you are not familiar with Evernote, it is a clean and easy note taking software (Learn More). It is a great way to capture and organize ideas, web pages, audio, and more. It is a web app, desktop app (syncs beautifully), it is available for Mac and PC and most handheld devices. But this is not a commercial for Evernote (which is FREE). I wanted to share a few of the way I am using it that might spark ideas for you in your ministry context.

In Evernote you can create different ?notebooks? to work from and store things in. I have ?notebooks? with ideas, links to youtube clips I might want to use in a lesson, series ideas. I find this to be much better than having several documents on my computer (which are not synced with an online source) or a bunch of scattered documents in Google Docs. It is one location to do a mind dump, and that helps me sleep at night. (Another place to do a great mind dump is ?OmniFocus? but that is a different post for another time).

One of my folders is called ?CODES.? I use have tons of serial numbers for software and did not know how to keep track of them. Now they are all in one place. I guess I could use a word doc but Evernote is searchable so I can search the [...]

youthmissionsinsider.com

I hated short-term missions?

Jeff at 11:26pm, March 11, 2010

Please check out this great article from my friend Eric Iverson. Good thoughts to consider whenever you’re taking your group on a mission trip.

Fuller Youth Institute – Youth Missions Article

What do you think? Is Eric right?

collegeministrythoughts.com

Mission Statements Causing Confusion

Chuck at 6:00pm, March 11, 2010

Every church and organization has a mission statement. And, for the most part, every ministry leader has a mission statement for their specific ministry – especially in the church. Mission statements are important because they articulate (hopefully) what we’re about, what we stand for and what we’re seeking to accomplish. These are good.

But there is something I want to point out that causes confusion. Or, at least, can. And that is church-based ministries that have a different mission statement than the church they are a part of. I see this all the time. The junior high ministry has a mission. The high school ministry will have a different one. And the church yet another one. Now, the truth is when you boil mission statements down, most churches are basically saying the same thing…just worded differently. But different mission statements in the same church?

Really?

Are we really seeking an entirely different mission? Or, are we simply seeking to move people in an age-stage toward embracing the same mission? If we’re a part of a church, I hope it’s the latter. Sure, the vision of implementing and applying that mission should be unique for age stage ministries, but it’s not a different mission! Well, at least it shouldn’t be.

Here are 3 encouragements:
1. Make sure you agree with the mission statement of the organization you serve under. If you feel like you need to change the mission statement, you probably shouldn’t be there anyway.
2. Understand that college age people long to belong in the church as a whole, not just a ministry. Having the same mission statement as the church (and helping the students we work with embrace that mission)is a very simply way we can help them feel a part of the bigger picture.
3. College ministry is an assimilation ministry where we bridge people from relational connection in the student life of our churches into relational connections in the adult life of our churches. We need all the continuity we can get in order to be effective in this. And this continuity begins with the mission statement.

marriedtoayouthpastor.com

What to Expect?

Amanda at 11:56pm, March 17, 2010
I have been thinking a lot lately about expectations. Expectations our children have on us, our spouses, our friends, our churches…. And how, what people expect us to be might not be what we imagine or desire ourselves to be. What do you do when the expectations don’t match up?? I am evaluating some of these [...]

smallchurchyouthministry.com

I Was Shocked

Stephanie at 1:57am, March 14, 2010

Seriously shocked!!

I was wrong…not words u’ll hear me say a lot!

I thought everyone knew about Group Magazine…its not THE Bible but its like the youth worker’s best testament of all things youth ministry. Butrecently I ran across a few youth workers who hadn’t had the pleasure of being into’d to this handy guide.

Group Mag is worth every nickel and here’s why: you and I can’t possibly be SO cool that we track every latest youth culture trend. I don’t have time to know about each newly released current topic curriculum or resource. No way for me to listen or watch the buzz around hot media productions. If I had time for all this, I wouldn’t have time for youth.

If ur a small church youth worker, there’s even a column in the mag for u written by yours truly. I strongly urge u to get a copy for each volunteer. Its a cheap and quick way to train and resource ur people.

And…in a few days I’m going to request ur help in writing the next column for May/June. Keep ur eyes open…

Stephanie Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry