event planning | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts How To Plan a Youth Ministry Calendar

I love Google Maps.

When you load the homepage the default view is zoomed way out showing you the whole United States. Type in an address and it zooms in quickly to show you a specific region. Click “street view” and BAM! you’re looking at things as if you were literally walking through the neighborhood by foot. Kinda creepy since Google is secretly stalking us, but kinda awesome at the same time. And a great example to how we typically plan our youth ministry calendar.

We first take a look at the big picture of our ministry, then zoom in on the season ahead, and finally get a street view all of the way down to the current teaching series and events. Let me explain in a bit more detail:

THE BIG PICTURE
It is a wise idea to get away for the day and get a big picture of your ministry. Take a break from the pace of ministry and the distractions of email, voicemail and the persistent nagging of Google+ and wrestle with an overview of your youth group. August is the perfect time for this! Now for some this is a simple task because they live in the world of ideas and vision – for others it will be challenging to stick your head up over it all and get a glimpse of the whole.

Key questions to ask yourself at this big picture stage:

Where you think God wants to take students in the next year?
What worked well last year, and will it work again?
What annual events would be effective again this year?
What needs to get the axe?
Have I blocked out my 2 weeks of vacation?
Where are we strong and where are we weak?
Is there a good balance of God’s eternal purposes for our ministry (evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, worship)?

Paint in broad strokes what your youth ministry year will look like at this point. Lots of prayer – ask God for discernment. Use pencil.

THE SEASON AHEAD
You’ve now got an idea of the big picture of your youth ministry – now it is time to specially plan the next season. There are lots of ways you can do this – right now I like to divide the year into 3 unequal parts – Fall, Winter-Spring and Summer. This is the time to start to really firm up specific teaching topics, series and events. You probably already locked up some bigger things like summer camp, trips and retreat locations, but now is the time to make final decisions.

Key questions to ask yourself at this season stage:

What needs to be cut?
Am I keeping this program to satisfy a parent/vocal students or because it is what is best for our ministry?
Where do I have momentum naturally and where is it lacking?
What are the teaching topics for this season?
Who is the best person to teach?
Has my spouse seen this before I go public with it?

What looked good in the big picture view might be too much now that you’re zoomed in a bit closer. You are still flexible enough at this point for an audible. Use the eraser now if needed, but definitely not on your vacation time.

CURRENT SERIES/EVENTS
The closest we zoom in for planning is the current month. You’ve planned everything from a year out, you firmed up much of those plans in your season overview, now it is time to lock everything down and walk into what you’ve planned.

Key questions to ask yourself at this season stage:

What adjustments do I need to make based on circumstances that have come up since we planned the year/season?
Am I balanced and healthy with this calendar?
What can we do make our youth ministry even better next year?

I’m in the thick of planning our summer right now! May God bless you as you serve students and plan your youth ministry calendar, too.

JG

5 View Comments January 25, 2013

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: The Encouragement Files

The author of Ecclesiastes writes that there is a time for everything. Working in ministry, you know this. In ministry, there are times where everything seems to be working (12 trusted Christ at the Call of Duty tournament!!!). Other times, not so much. You need an Encouragement File during both of these times:

WHAT IT IS
An Encouragement File is simply a file of encouragement that you have received by other people. I keep a literal file folder of papers in my desk, readily accessible if I need it on an off-day or during a discouraging season of ministry.

HOW TO START
Begin collecting encouragement from others. Pastor Appreciation cards, encouraging e-mails from parents, notes from your spouse or parents, and Facebook statuses are great places to start. I copy and paste Facebook statuses into one file and occasionally print it out to update my encouragement file. You are looking for EVERY single piece of encouragement that you can find.

WHEN TO USE IT
1. Times of discouragement. There will be times in your ministry where you will get greatly discouraged. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will! During these times, read through your Encouragement File. Be reminded that good things DID happen at one time, and lives were positively changed.
*If continually discouraged for a lengthy period of time, consider seeing a non-local Pastor (someone that you can let your “Pastor-guard” down to) or a highly recommended, Christian counselor.

2. Times of planning. Pull out your encouragement file when you plan your ministry calendar. You would be amazed how helpful it is to start out with a list of events/topics/Scriptures that teens or parents were already helped by. It’s a good reminder that expensive/flashy/etc. is not always the most effective (i.e. “The car giveaway touched my heart last night!” or “The Pizza For Life giveaway forever changed my teen’s life…”) , but the consistent, steady, and Godly influence of you and your team are more effective.

Here’s a start for your Encouragement File: You are making a positive difference in your teens’ lives!

Andrew Brashaw is a youth pastor of 8+ years in New Lothrop, MI. He doesn’t blog or own an iPhone, but he does Twitter once a month @andrewbrashaw.

Add Comment September 2, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts How to Plan a Youth Ministry Calendar

Between the two of us we’ve literally created hundreds of youth ministry calendars. Over time we’ve managed to pick up a few pointers we wanted to share in this SYM Today. A calendar focuses you on the purposes for your ministry and lays out the direction for the ministry. Here’s a process you can use, modify, or mock as you plan the upcoming school year calendar:

Strive for balance
The first mission is for the leadership to be clear that one purpose or agenda isn’t going to dominate the calendar. We lead a youth ministry that wants to be purpose-driven, not driven by one particular purpose. We will spend time talking about evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, ministry, and worship—not letting any one thing drive the direction. You may not be “purpose-driven,” but we hope you want to be purposeful in your approach to ministry, and a calendar helps.

Take one purpose and run with it
If you decide balance and purpose is a good thing, the next step is to plan specific events, classes, trips, and meetings that focus on specific purposes and goals you have already deemed valuable. We also look at what we did the previous year and debrief them on the fly. If they worked, we consider it for the next year. If it didn’t work, we do our best to go after something fresh. In our setting, we like to take a specific “purpose” and spread it out over the course of the year.

Repeat that process for each purpose
Then we go month by month again, this time through the eyes of a purpose, such as evangelism. After that we’ll hit fellowship dates for small groups, then drop in discipleship retreats, camps, and trainings. We cover all of the purposes, with the goal of having each purpose represented clearly on the calendar.

Drop in the deadlines
Once the calendar is more or less “set,” we drop in deadlines for registrations and various milestones that related to the projects. For example, our mission trip requires a registration start and end, as well as three meetings for parents and a celebration weekend. Small groups don’t just start on day one; they need registration dates, deadlines, and enough time for us to process the students into groups. When you plan an event, be sure to also include the follow-up dates as well.

Look at the big picture and cut away
Then we look at the overall big picture and goal for balance and health, and we start the painful process of figuring out what needs to be cut. We also go in with the mindset of what items need to be adjusted—could we partner our event with another time our target audience is already at church, instead of asking for another night out of the team and the committed?

That’s ONE way to think about your ministry calendar. What’s yours?

This post was written by Josh Griffin and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.

2 View Comments August 1, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Clean Up After Yourself

The event is over—you collapse in a heap swearing you’ll never do another overnighter again. Deep down, as much as you hate it, you see relationships growing with students and know the Gospel is being presented, so maybe… just maybe, you’ll do it again. Either way, now is the time to sleep.

Your peaceful and overdue slumber is sharply broken by the piercing of your cell phone. It’s 9 A.M. and the church staff is just getting to the office and wading through the aftermath of your event. The trustee is ticked about the Diet-Coke-and-Mentos-covered parking lot. The deacon wants to know why the baptismal is now empty and the carpets are so wet. The church cleaning guy is frustrated at the amount of toilet paper that’s missing and the senior pastor called having found where it ended up—the trees in his front yard.

This fictional event…well, honestly some of it is fiction…holds some great reminders. Yesterday we said make sure you say thanks; today’s reminder is to make sure you clean it up—which is how you say thanks to your church for letting you do this stuff in the first place!

A few lessons from our fable:

1) If possible, don’t use your own facility for “high maintenance” events. Rent out a YMCA or travel to a few different places so one place doesn’t take such a beating.

2) Clean up after yourself. There’s no faster way to lose your credibility, position, or salvation than leaving a mess in your event’s wake.

3) Know yourself. When I (Josh) think something is clean that usually means it’s somewhat passable. Find a leader who is detail-orientated and will make sure every nook and cranny are clean, and everything is back in place.

4) Be the last to leave. When you lock up behind you, there’s nothing left to chance. Not only that but it also lets you model servanthood by being the first one in and the first one out.

5) If you break something (hey, things happen)…give someone a heads up. Do it before it’s later discovered, and you look completely irresponsible. Don’t be that guy who blindsides his/her boss.

6) Fuel it back up and get it washed. Did you use a vehicle in your program or event? Borrow a parent’s minivan for your missions trip? Get it cleaned inside and out ,and make sure the fuel tank reads FULL.

7) Simple rule of thumb: Leave it better than you found it. Who cares about the senior citizens Bible study at 6am on Saturday morning? You do! Make sure their room, and any of the other ones you used, are back to ship shape.
Make them wonder if your event even happened because things are so tidy.

What else would you add to the list?

This post was written by Josh Griffin and Kurt Johnston and originally appeared as part of Simply Youth Ministry Today free newsletter. Subscribe to SYM Today right here.

1 View Comments July 13, 2012

Geoff StewartMore Posts Guest Post: Throw A Show

When I first came on staff with Mars Hill | Ballard we didn’t have a whole lot of students coming to the youth group. Most of the people at our church were 20-somethings or young families which meant there simply weren’t a lot of teenagers around. So, I had to go out and bring them in.

We already had a rhythm of throwing an outreach-type event every month, so I kept that going. But to be honest, for me, it wasn’t big enough. We would have a few new people at the most and, if we were lucky, one would come back for our Wednesday night gathering. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing small about a few new students showing up. But, I felt that God wanted me to cast the net out a little further.

So, I quit inviting them to our events and started inviting them to their own show.

I got the idea from a ministry Mars Hill did years before I got there called the Paradox theater. Basically, they ran a music venue in order to create a presence within the community.

All I did was go to the high school down the street about 15 minutes before the end of the day and handed out half sheets of paper that said, “If you’re in a band and want to play a show, email me.” I made these flyers on Microsoft Word. They were not impressive. But, for the students in my area, the message on them was more exciting than a college scholarship.

My email box filled up. If I remember right, I booked three bands before 48 hours had passed.

In no way were these Christian bands, but that was cool with me because I wasn’t trying to reach Christian kids. In fact, all I was trying to do, my entire goal, was just to get 100 people to show up and shake all of their hands. I wanted them to know that we were actually nice people, and we had a safe place for them to go.

So, I started planning the show. And started freaking out. I found out there are a lot of things to think of when throwing a show!

Two things in particular are sound and security.

Somehow show-sound is different than worship-sound, especially in the multipurpose room we were using. I didn’t get the sound stuff figured out until the night before the show when, by a miracle of God, the sound volunteer showed up at the same time Mars Hill was packing a van with audio equipment. The van and the volunteer mixed for the weekend, and we had a good, quality sound. Lesson learned: Don’t plan on a miracle happening for this one, plan ahead, and make sure you’re set up for good sound.

The bands that were coming were metal bands. Metal means moshing. Moshing means liability. Top that off with pot, alcohol, and kids sneaking off into other parts of the church. So, I had to get some extra eyes on the situation. I got three guys to do security. Their job was to foresee dangerous situations and keep them from happening and to create a presence of authority so that kids knew it wasn’t a consequence-free zone. In addition, I had every door besides the door to the actual room locked and barricaded. I included the rules on the Facebook event, including the fact that we’d kick out anyone at the sight of drugs, alcohol, or violence. We had to ask a few students to leave because of intoxication, but by God’s grace, there was no violence.

Besides this, there were all the other logistics that go into any event.

Well, when it came time for the actual show, I was shocked. We had about 150 kids show up. What was weird was that only about nine of them were actually from our church. The rest of them were brand new.

Of course, I had about 70% of my volunteer team there. As the place started to pack we made sure to say hi to everyone that we could. I had several good, fun conversations with students, inviting all of them to check out our Facebook page and come to youth group.

The show was great. The bands were actually pretty good for high school bands. I made friends with all the band kids and their friends by giving them a back stage area packed with energy drinks and food. Before the night was up, the band kids and I made plans to do dinner and talk about the Seattle music scene.

After everyone went home, it was time to clean up and follow up. Both of which took some time and effort.

I went on Facebook and started looking around. I saw a ton of students posting positive comments about the event. The news hit the rest of the school. In fact, it was mentioned in the school paper that goes out to all the students and parents.

The best part of all, I got to develop deep relationships with four of the kids I met at the show. By God’s grace I led all four them to Christ and baptized one of them myself.

Also, whenever I went to the high school a ton of kids knew my name, came up and talked to me, and I became a lot more well known than I was before the show.

We ended up throwing a second show at the end of the summer and had great success there as well. It truly was a great way for us to meet students, grow our influence and share the gospel. I hope you’ll consider it and if its appropriate for your ministry, give it a shot.

Mitch Miller is a youth and young adult speaker based out of Seattle. Feel free to contact him through twitter, facebook or email. You can find all his info at www.mitchmiller.me

2 View Comments July 10, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Promoting Winter Camp

Every event the question comes up: How are we getting the word out? And, of course, every few months the answers morph and change as the world of communication evolves. What we’ve learned is that there is no one answer that suffices. We have to repeatedly communicate to both kids and parents in lots of ways. We utilize our website, posters, invitation cards, text, Twitter, but far and away the most effective the past few years have been Facebook and YouTube. I work with middle school students, so some of them are not old enough or their parents do not allow them to have a Facebook page yet. However, the majority of families in our community either have a student or a parent who’s on Facebook, so we have a profile for our ministry that we update daily. The challenge is to keep up with where students are at and be creative in capturing their attention. Every week we have students make announcement videos, and when we have a special event like camp we’ll make special promo videos. Here are 2 fun, creative videos we made to promote our winter camp this year.

Kevin Mahaffy is the Middle School Pastor at Southwest Community Church in Indian Wells, CA. Check out his blog and more at http://revkevjr.blogspot.com/.

1 View Comments February 19, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Car Smash at Our Junior High Event

This past weekend our junior high ministry put on an incredible event called The 3. It is on the 3rd Friday of the month, lasts 3 hours and costs $3. They have had incredible themes and games each time, but this idea was next level: a car smash! So fun … made quite the mess but was super memorable and no doubt the thing talked about when kids got back to school Monday. Brilliant!

JG

3 View Comments October 25, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts How to Set the Price for a Youth Ministry Event

Thought this article from Luke Trouten on youth ministry events was fantastic – it goes into practical detail about planning and preparing a big event. Some really great stuff here – read the little bit I’ve stolen here, head there for the whole piece. Awesome!

Find Your Range
Because of all those variables, you won’t be able to nail down an exact per-person cost for any trip. To make sure you don’t lose your shirt (or your job!) it’s important to figure out the best-case and worst-case scenarios for sign-ups. You want to make sure that if you sign-ups are particularly low you can still afford the event. It can also give you an idea of the minimum number of students you’d need before the event can pay for itself. Likewise, it’s important to know what happens to the price if everyone brings 5 friends to the retreat.

Our parent church goes to the same convention we do each spring, but they charge much less than we do. I assumed it was just because they have a larger budget and could afford to subsidize it more. Out of curiosity, I plugged in their numbers to my formula (they bring about 5 times as many students) and was amazed to find that the price plummeted for a group that big. Sometimes the per-person costs don’t work how you’d think.

Don’t Apologize for the Price
It can be tempting to apologize when an expensive event comes up. While it may feel like you’re winning points by sharing in the sticker-shock, ultimately you’re devaluing your own event. You should be confident that the trip or retreat your planning is worth every penny it costs (and more)! To be honest, most youth trips are a bargain, and planning a similar event for your family or school group would cost even more. When you apologize for the price you convey that it maybe isn’t worth that much to go to the event. People are willing to pay if they are confident they are getting a good value for a fair price. Don’t undermine it by insinuating maybe the event costs too much.

Offer Assistance
While you shouldn’t apologize for the price, you also shouldn’t let the price get in the way. The reality of trips is they cost money. The reality of life is that sometimes money is tight. If your church does fundraisers, that can help offset some of the cost. Our church has a few reasons why we don’t do fundraising. But we still say, over and over, that money should not be the only reason a student can’t attend an event. That’s right, if the only thing keeping a student from signing up is the cost, we take away that obstacle. We ask if they can afford part of the fee, and the church covers whatever is leftover.

If we are going to tell students to that God provides if we trust in him, then we better put our money where our mouth is. This has been our policy for years and it’s provided many opportunities to see God come through in powerful ways. One of my favorite sayings is, “If it’s God’s will, then it’s God’s bill,” and he’s picked up the tab (and created some great stories) more than once.

JG