I suppose there are a jillion ways to communicate to students in your youth ministry these days – more than ever there are a plethora of choices through traditional channels (like handouts and announcements) and new media (YouTube, Facebook and SMS). Then there’s the stuff that was critically important a few years ago and is still hanging around (an actual website).

In the past few years, we’ve fully embraced SMS as our primary method of communicating with students. By the time they get to high school, most all have phones and a overwhelming percentage have texting plans. We recently made a significant shift in text message providers, and thought that if either one of these might fit your needs you should check them out:

For the last 2 years, we’ve used Simply Text. Simply Text is a powerful tool to help you communicate using SMS. Here’s a rundown of the pluses and minuses after using it for a long time.

+Super easy to use
The interface is easy, you can literally go from nothing to sending out texts in minutes. The free trial lets you see it all and make sure you are technical enough to figure it out. Easy, easy.

+You can read replies
A new feature added as we used the system allowed you to see the “message stream” or the replies that come into your account. You can easily reply to individual texts.

+Dirt cheap
The average youth ministry will be spending $10 a month on the system, which is pretty nominal considering what you’re getting. Quick, slick, cheap.

-Fairly reliable
The system works well – you can literally push send and your phone will light up in 10 seconds with your mass message. In the backend, it actually is sending an email that comes through your phone as a text. It works in most cases, but if you have the carrier wrong it fails. For the most part, it works as advertised, as long as your data has integrity.

+/-Difficult to subscribe/unsubscribe
One of the downsides is that you have to a) manually add people, b) get them to manually add themselves on a website, and c) monitor the message stream for unsubscribe requests. UPDATE: The system has been upgraded over the past few months and it is now much easier to remove yourself from a list.

A few months back, we began to outgrow the Simply Text system and as texting became more and more primary (and eventually one of the only ways we communicate with students) we needed a tool that would grow with us and be highly reliable. After a ton of research, we went with Duffled.com. Here’s what they offer in a nutshell:

+Subscribe by texting
This is a HUGE game-changer. See the message on a poster, on a handout or on the screen and you can pull out your phone and immediately subscribe. We get new subscribers without doing a thing. Boom. Same thing – when a kid graduates – they remove themselves. If a parent wants in – simple.

+Students can send in keywords and get automatic replies
This is a big upgrade, too – when a student wants more information on something they text 39970 with “hsm baptism” or “hsm serve” and get specific instructions, dates, times or directions. We set up unlimited keywords, with whatever information we want to be sent out by SMS robot. Brilliant!

+Guaranteed delivery
Duffled is actually sending an SMS text message – so arrival is pristine and quick. It costs more for the system to do this, but it is highly reliable and stable platform to communicate with confidence.

-Decent interface
The actual user-interface with Duffled is completely functional, but doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles. If they overhauled the face of it, it would be a huge improvement. Still though, it gets the job done but sure isn’t sexy.

-It costs for each text you send out
The big downside is that in this case you get what you pay for – which means a better system costs more money. We are biting the bullet and paying a significant amount more each month.

Either way it might be a good idea to think about all of the methods of communication available between you and students, and decide as a team which one(s) you’re going to get behind.

UPDATE: After a ton of feedback on this post (Tweets and RTs, too – thanks, all!) I thought a summary might be helpful:

For the bang for your buck, Simply TXT simply can’t be beat. Cheap, simple, straightforward and solid. For 99% of youth ministries, this is an essential tool to communicate with your students. It doesn’t have all the higher-end specs you might find from other platforms, but is consistently improving and is more than adequate for most uses. If you’re  larger ministry and/or looking to really leverage texting, Duffled might be your answer. The ability to send automatic replies opens up a lot of possibilities, and the system while requiring a significant investment, is solid.

Either way, I hope this post helps you ask some good questions about communicating to your students and gives you some good options to consider as you head toward your student ministry’s fall kickoff weekend.

JG

Another game from this past weekend in HSM – guess how fast AC would eat a Krispy Kreme chicken sandwich. Then we brought AC and the contestant who guessed the closest and had them do a quick eating contest with another one. Raspberry-filled donut and Spicy Chicken patty from McDonalds. Ha!

JG

Recently I’ve been trying to keep my senior pastor more in the loop. I realize that is probably an obvious and smart idea – and to be honest, I’ve been better at it at times and worse at others. In full disclosure, I’ve wanted the pastors I’ve served under in the loop or in the dark at different times for different reasons. Right now, me keeping my senior pastor in the loop looks like this:

• An Outlook reminder triggers me on Friday afternoon to draft an email
• I write an email with specific items of interest to him, praises, action steps and roadblocks I’m facing as the leader of our high school ministry
• I try to include one idea or opportunity to let him know I care and am thinking about the whole church
• I am generous with the credit given to others
• I limit the email to around 300 words
• I don’t expect a response

Is your supervisor in the dark or in the loop? Should you schedule a “stand up” meeting with him or her in the hallway this week? What is his/her best form of communication, the ideal form to handle this information? Take a second to figure out how you can best communicate with your senior pastor to make sure your youth ministry is supported and the leadership can move with good information in their hands. You can prevent a world of hurt if you take a few minutes to keep them informed.

JG

Big sale this week on a bundle of resources from Simply Youth Ministry – check out this deal on $230 worth of goodness for $49.

JG

What a tough decision … the stories you submitted in the LIVE Curriculum contest were amazing and heart-stirring. The nominations, the effort, the heart of youth ministry in all of them – wow. So hard to choose! So … I didn’t, exactly. I took my 5 favorite, and then picked one at random. Here’s the winning story, congratulations to Bree Klemme:

Check out the LIVE small group curriculum at Simply Youth Ministry today!

JG

Funny little game we played this weekend in HSM – guess which contestant would eat the deep fried butter at the OC Fair the fastest. Ha!

JG

A quick little highlight video from this past weekend we made using Animoto (If you don’t use it yet, it is an incredible and cheap tool). This one featuring pictures of students serving/cooking pancakes and playing with the kids at a local park as HSM served the community. Excellent!

JG

Weekend Teaching Series: 5 Ways to Be Awesome: A study through the book of James
Sermon in a Sentence: Our lives should be lived in submission and humility to Christ. James 4
Service Length: 82 minutes

Understandable Message: Robby Boyd from the HSM team taught the services this weekend – he normally heads up our counseling and pastoral care emphasis. Robby led students on a journey through the verses of James 4, covering each verse in a survey of the chapter. The main thought centered around narcissism and how a self-centered life is dangerous and leaves us open for sin. Good stuff – especially liked his story and illustration about Narcissus.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We created a couple of fun games during a staff trip to the OC fair – students had to guess 1) who (of the 3 people on the screen) would eat the deep fried butter the fastest, and 2) how long it would take for AC to eat a Krispy Kreme spicy chicken sandwich. Fun stuff, not sure we really had it dialed in until the last service but it was fun either way. We also had a video highlighting students that served in a big community project this past week – good stuff, and a great segway to promote this week’s service project, too.

Music Playlist: You Deserve, Our God, It Is Well With My Soul, Thank You for Loving Me

Favorite Moment: This weekend I was reminded of how important other voices are in our student ministry. Robby (and Phil the week before when I was on vacation) bring a whole new energy and style to their talk. Still God’s Word, still God’s Spirit, but communicated through the personalities he has placed in the leadership of our student ministry. Reminded me of an old post I wrote called 5 Reasons You Should Let Someone Else Teach Next Weekend.

Up Next: 5 Ways to be Awesome [series finale, week 5 of 5]

Thought Matt and Doug had a great series of questions for small group leaders to ask their students – getting to know your kids or getting to know them better. Head there for the whole list and some tips on how to use them, and if you’re not getting the daily email from YouthMinistry.com - sign up for it (it is FREE and awesome) right here.

35 trigger questions to spark conversation:
1. How are you involved at your school? (Clubs, cheer, band, sports?)
2. What was a highlight of your week?
3. What is something you did this summer that was fun?
4. What is your absolute favorite thing to do?
5. If you could have free tickets to any concert, where/who would it be?
6. What is your favorite subject at school?
7. Who is your favorite teacher and what do you like about him/her?
8. Are you the type who gets things done early or waits till the last minute?
9. What do you normally do when you have free time?
10. Where’s your favorite place to eat?
11. What’s the best Christmas gift you’ve ever received?
12. What’s the best thing that’s ever happened to you?

JG

How did I miss this? Church on the Move – well done! What a slick Father’s Day tribute to dads! And their Mother’s Day live opener was also astounding … wow.

JG

Another few episodes of Fruity Tales – some videos from summer camp!

JG

About three weeks ago I got a Facebook message from two of my students’ father. The message was requesting to meet with me over some coffee before our earliest church service on that upcoming Sunday morning. During this meeting the father unloaded some pretty personal things that were going on in his life. He broke down a time or two in tears. In front of me sat a man vulnerable and in need of God’s guidance and grace in his life and the life of his family. After this father had finished talking I was left with one question before I went any further in our meeting. So I asked him, “Sir, why do trust me so much with some of your lives deepest problems?” What he said will forever be engrained into my memory still today. And he said,

“Cory, I have entrusted you with my children, the most precious cargo I have in my life… why would I not trust you with my own life?”

Wow! What an honest response to such a serious question? At Brentwood Church our student ministry, Collide Student Ministries, strives more than anything to partner with parents and equip them to love their students and lead them spiritually. After all, ideally, the parents have more time, influence, and a deeper relationship with their students than we could ever have. Through this meeting with this father I realized how much of an impact one person can have on a students family, not just on that student.

This morning, Sunday July 18th, 2010, I met again with that father. He again shared some things that are going on in his life, and as we prayed together he thanked God for the relationship I have with his children because that relationship paved the way for mine and his relationship! Before my eyes it was happening, Family Transformation. There is nothing better than when transformation happens in a students life, and as a result family transformation takes place. I am only an intern. I am only 22 years old. I am only one person. I am not the student pastor, and I am not the lead pastor, but the way the Holy Spirit has used me to impact two teenagers has turned into an impact on an entire family… Family Transformation.

My only hope is that I get to enjoy more of these amazing experiences throughout my life.

Cory Ball is the Family Focus Intern at Brentwood Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Get on his blog right here.

“So, if the “Zombie Apocalypse” occurs, what skills will you bring into the new future?

It was a confusing question.  The family was sitting down for a picnic dinner and my young adult children were playing a game called Zombie Apocalypse. It was “What can you contribute to the general good?” sort of game… which is not an uncommon young adult sort of question. What did zombies have to do with it?  A staple of horror films, zombies are formerly dead characters walking this world mindlessly attempting to consume the life and flesh of the living.

My eldest daughter explained her understanding of the game, “We’ve grown up with so many real-life villains – from Columbine to the 9/11 terrorists to Hurricane Katrina to British Petroleum – that zombies pretty much reflect them all.  The game reminds us that we must all share what we have with one another.”

The zombies of my own youth came to mind, the back-up dancers in Michael Jackson’s video “Thriller.”  As dancers they were choreographed to be slow and stilted in their gate, emotionless in their steps, and slightly menacing.

This summer, youth ministry programs around the nation will be taking young people off to summer youth conferences, leadership camps, and work-camps helping those in need.  During these summer days, they will attempt to live out the model of the early Christian Community, devoting “themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of the bread and to the prayers.”  (Acts 2:42)

In these moments, they will experience the Church that Pope Benedict XVI discussed in his instillation homily in 2005.  As a Catholic, I was emboldened when he proclaimed “…The Church is alive. And the Church is young.” As these young people return to their own church communities, this is a good time of assessment for us.  Are they returning to a Church that is alive and young?  Or might it scarily resemble the slow, lifeless, faith of the undead?

As faith communities, there are many things that we can do to ensure that the vitality and vibrancy of our Church.

> We must find more ways to inform, form, and transform the faith of parents. They are the first witnesses of faith for young people.  Whatever kids understand about the Church was likely both taught by and caught from their parents.

> We must make a commitment towards greater inclusion of young people into the ministries of the Church, especially within our communal worship.  We must work towards inclusion in our worship and engaging “the life” of young people into it.

> When we do minister with young people, we must find ways to elicit their energy, passion, and skills towards making a meaningful difference in the world.  Pope Benedict encourages young people to make “definitive choices” regarding their lives and faith and we should do the same.

As Church, we need to recognize that young people are fully ready to engage against that which is perceived as assaulting civilization with hostility towards human life.   Young people must recognize the Church as alive and young; we cannot risk sending them the perception that we are a lifeless zombie culture.

From their summer experiences, hundreds of young people will be returning to parish pews this summer and will look at the Church through new eyes and ask “What can you contribute to the general good?”  Our response must match the rhythm of their lives, expressive in our response, and slightly reassuring for the future. Let us consume the fullness of life together with the One who came who that we might have life more abundantly. (John 10:10)

D. Scott Miller is the coordinator of adolescent Faith formation for the Division of Youth and Young Adult Ministry for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. He blogs at www.catholicYMblog.com

Really enjoyed this post about preparing a youth ministry lesson over at YouthMinistry360 today. Here’s a clip of it, head there for the complete post to maybe share with your volunteers:

Prayer Is Foundational—When we incorporate prayer as a part of our preparation, we align ourselves with God’s agenda. We open ourselves up to the leading of the Spirit and what He desires to accomplish in our students. Also, I find prayer helps me realize that for the lesson to be effective, it needs to be about the Lord and not about me.

Your Curriculum Is Just A Starting Point—The best curriculum is nothing but a stepping stone to a good lesson. Like buying a suit off the rack of a department store, for it to work, it must be tailored. You know your students better than the men and/or women who wrote the particular lesson you are using. To be effective, you’ll need to tailor each lesson to your group.

Good Study Helps Are Key—Good commentaries and Study Bibles are extremely important to your prep. If you’re a teacher, you owe it to your students to invest in some of these resources. I’ve been doing this for a long time and have amassed a pretty impressive collection of resources. HOWEVER, the best single volume study resource I have seen is the ESV Study Bible. It’s simply a wealth of information. (It also comes with a free online version.) It has become the first step in my preparation. It’s that good. I could not recommend it highly enough.

Keep It Simple—It’s rarely ever a good idea to teach more than one key point in a lesson. Prepare to teach one essential truth from any passage. Doing otherwise works against helping students apply the truth.

JG

Recently, I was interviewing high school students to be a part of our jr. high student leader team. I asked one of the young ladies why she wanted to be on the team and she immediately said, “Because I remember that Karin invested time into me when I was a student and I want to do the same thing for other jr. high students.”  I was instantly blown away and amazed as I looked back on the ministry that this one leader had had.  As a result of her building into and investing in relationship with a student, that student wants to return to our ministry and be that same role model for future students.  Even more amazing about Karin is that she would tell you that in large part, she was the leader she was because another older leader invested in her.  That means that counting the older leader, Karin and the new student leader, that’s 3 generations passionately seeking jr. high students for Christ and raising up future generations of leaders.  Our ministry is passionate about exponential leaders for the following reasons:

1) It increases on itself. When leaders invest in students and this results in students eager to come back as leaders, it means that having to recruit future leaders just got much, much easier.  When you had a positive experience and witnessed extreme spiritual growths, you get excited to go back to that place and help others have that same experience. If 1 leader invests in 2 students, those 2 students can come back and between them invest in 4 students.  Those 4 students can come back and the math gets staggering really quick.

2) It means that the ministry is more effective. As much as I might try to convince myself that I can do it all, it just isn’t true.  When leaders invest in students and are empowered to do so, more students are reached. Not just more in numbers but more in diversity.  The new student leader that I interviewed?  I honestly didn’t remember her from her time as a student in our ministry and the odds are pretty small that I influenced her significantly in any way, but because of Karin, she wanted to come back and serve.  When leaders are empowered to and follow through on building relationships with students, the reach of the ministry is far more than even the most dynamic and amazing (of which I am often neither) point person.

3) It’s more fun!!! Leaders that are passionately pursuing students have more fun and are more excited about coming every week.  Leaders that are new or are not pursuing students as actively see the fun that student pursuing leaders have and jump on board with them in reaching out to students.  Students come fired up and eager because they know that a leader is waiting for them personally.  I have more fun and am more energized because I’m encouraged and challenged by my leaders passion and my student’s excitement.  All of this passion, eagerness, encouragement, challenge and excitement compounds on itself and Christ is shared more effectively.

Buz is a special education teacher and the volunteer jr. high director at Life Center North in Spokane, WA.. He blogs at: http://haphazardhollingsworth.blogspot.com

When was the last time you looked at your youth service through the lens of a first time guest? Or have you wondered, “Why don’t our students bring their friends to church?”

It seems like God sends more new people to churches that are prepared for them. We can’t expect our students to bring their friends if we’re not doing our part to create a program that is inviting and welcoming. So the question is, “What are you doing to make their visit memorable?”

At some point, we’ve all wondered why new students aren’t coming back. And most often, it is because we aren’t doing anything intentional to help them get beyond the first visit. It’s not good enough to just say, “Hey, thanks for visiting us. See ya around!” And it’s not enough to simply pray that God will magically bring them back.

One of the great things about being a Christian is that we work WITH God. That means, we do our part and He does His.

So, here are a few things we’ve done to make that first time visit one to remember:

1. GIFTS GALORE – we have MULTIPLE touch points for the 1st timer. We give them a free energy drink and free bible (I found some inexpensive and SWEET bibles here.) We want new students to know that we were expecting them to show up. And nothing says that better than giving them a gift right on the spot! Secondly, we send them a handwritten postcard with a $5 Starbucks card 3 days after their visit. And by “WE”, I mean the students of our ministry write these and mail them out. Most of us youth pastors are too old to be cool so it’s much better to give our students some ownership of their ministry.

Some might say we’re shallow or that these are gimmicks and that’s okay. Wouldn’t you rather get made fun of than lead a youth ministry that is filled with a bunch of people that only care about themselves and don’t care about the mission of Jesus…to reach the lost?

2. COMM CARDS – communication cards, connection cards, info cards…it doesn’t matter what you call them. Here’s the million $$$ question: are you capturing the information of guests? Most youth pastors give-up on this idea because “it’s cheesy” or “I can’t read their writing” or “they won’t fill it out anyways”. And all of these are LAME excuses to not have a system to follow-up with your students.

We have a set time (45 seconds) where every single student grabs their COMM card and fills that bad boy out. We’ve learned that students won’t fill it out unless everyone else is doing it, too. So, the only way to get them all to do it was to set aside some specific time for this. It may sound like a lame part of our service, but there are ways to make it feel natural.

And guess what? It makes it a lot easier to send them a Starbucks card when we have their address. Crazy idea, huh?

3. MINGLERS – we have a student greeting team called “Minglers” that helps us create a program where “no one should be left out”. It’s virtually impossible for someone to walk in without getting a “hello, how’s it going” in our ministry. If you don’t have a team doing this yet, DO IT NOW! It’s very unlikely that your students will ever start welcoming new students if there isn’t an intentional team modeling this every week.

Phrase to remember: If everyone is responsible, NO ONE is responsible. So, get it going so that your youth ministry isn’t known as “the jerks that didn’t even say hi” in your city.

There are a couple ideas to put into action in your ministry. You might have something you already do and that is awesome! Just don’t be one of those youth pastors that has an excuse for everything you know you should be implementing. God wants your youth program to REACHand KEEP students beyond their first visit.

SO, what are YOU doing to intentionally make the 1st time visit one to remember?

Gary is one of the people behind http://moveministries.blogspot.com/ and serves as the Student Ministries Pastor at High Pointe Church in Puyallup, WA. Feel free to send him an e-mail for some FREE 1st time visitor resources, too.

OK, you’ve read about HSM’s 4-year teaching plan strategy and how we’re going “all in” using the LIVE curriculum for our small groups. Simply put, we needed a way to centralize and formalize the teaching plan for all of our small groups. Without a structure and good communication, groups would be headed all over the place and in different directions. When someone graduates, what are we confident they’ve learned?

That’s why we’re using LIVE – 4 years of discipleship and web-based community of our volunteer leaders. Now, I realize the $499 price point is shocking until you investigate it and see how it works. The stuff is pretty slick – an all-in-one solution for small groups in your church.

Youth leaders will experience a bountiful abundance of benefits. (Wasn’t that the name of an old hymn?) Because you’ll have your long-range plans locked down, you can devote more time to equipping your volunteers and building excitement in students about upcoming topics through creative promotions. And of course, you’ll save yourself countless hours of planning.

But wait! There’s more! You know what your small groups will be discussing six months from now, so parents will gain more confidence in your ministry, and along the way, you’ll provide them with resources to spark conversation and dialogue in the home. And if we’re serious about getting families involved in our youth ministries, how can you go wrong with that?

So, check it out if you want, but here’s the deal: I’m giving one away this week! All you have to do is tell me why you (or another youth worker you know) needs LIVE, and we’ll pick the best story and give it to them. Why should we give LIVE to you?! May the best comment win!

JG

I’m not going to pretend here … I’m not a cool youth worker. I don’t have any tattoos, I don’t have any creative facial hair or wear trendy clothes. I shop at Target and TJMaxx. My idea of a good time is football, watching Star Wars on DVD or playing video games. I don’t listen to the bands no one has ever heard of. I’m still not totally sure what Dubstepping is and that’s all I heard about at Summer Camp last month.

There’s a lot of unspoken expectations that the youth worker from the church be cool = and if you are more power to you. I am thankful that God is using me even if I’m not soaked in coolness. Be honest … how cool are you, youth workers?

JG

Everyone loves Veggietales, right? Many of our students grew up on the stuff, so we made a series of videos for HSM Summer Camp called Fruity Tales. Meant to be funny/awkward/clever throw to’s in the program without explanation. Here’s the first, I’ll post a couple others later this week, too.

JG

As I work with the adult volunteers, I continually am trying to teach and model a relationship-building concept that I call the “30 second and 3 minute conversations.” Allow me to explain the thinking behind the 30-second and 3-minute conversation concept – it helps us go after the feeling of genuine warmth and community when the ratio is at best 1 adult to 10 students.

In order for each youth to be personally greeted and engaged, it’s absolutely imperative that our adult volunteers are extremely intentional about our conversations with the youth. The adults are simply unable to engage in long conversations with each youth on Wednesday Nights, so we’ve put into practice the 30-second and 3-minute conversation concept.

When each youth walks into the church, they are greeted and engaged with at least one 30-second conversation. This 30-second conversation is designed to be an open-ended conversation with the youth. The adults ask questions like, “How is your week going?” or “How has your summer been?” or “What have you been doing for fun lately?” The questions are designed to let the youth talk about themselves and give the adults the opportunity to learn about the youth.

The 3-minute conversation is essentially taking the time to learn one story about the youth. The conversation may be longer or shorter than 3-minutes and that’s okay. The intent is to learn one story so that our adults can begin developing a relationship with our youth.

The final piece of this concept is this. If during the course of the 30-second and the 3-minute conversations the adult discovers that a longer conversation needs to take place, the next step is to invite and engage the youth in a Coke or Coffee date sometime later in the week. This allows the adult to continue to engage the other youth that are attending and allows the youth to be valued outside of the Wednesday Night worship experience.

If your adult volunteers can grasp this concept, then I believe meaningful relationships between the adults and youth can be developed. What do you think about the 30-second and 3-minute conversation concept? Would this work in your youth ministry?

John Howell is the utility pastor for Celebrate Church in Sioux Falls, SD which is a fancy way of saying that he does a little bit of everything, including working with and training adult volunteers in their youth ministry. Check out more of his stuff at  http://www.johndhowell.com