events | More Than Dodgeball

Colton HarkerMore Posts Freshmen Transition

It is hard to believe that the school year is almost over! That means that it is time to say goodbye to our seniors and hello to our new freshmen! This year, we want to take Freshmen transition to a new level, so we are getting a head start on what we are going to do and how we are going to do it.

The biggest transition piece we are doing is a not-so-new event called “Freshmen Frenzy.” It is something that we used to do years ago, but we let it rest for a while. Each year we did Frenzy differently and, keeping with tradition, we are completely rethinking how we are going to do it this year. We are already tossing around a few ideas that include the local high schools schools, student leaders, volunteers, videos (high school survival tips, etc.), and other fun/inclusive activities to make our freshmen feel known, loved, and welcome in our ministry.

We are so excited to be at the front end of planning, what could be, one of the most important events we throw all year! We can’t be the only ones rethinking freshmen transition. So here is the question:

What is your ministry doing to transition your incoming freshmen? What worked? What didn’t work?

Colton [Email||Twitter]

3 View Comments April 3, 2013

Colton HarkerMore Posts Viral Marketing

A few months ago, we had a discussion about the effectiveness of on-stage announcements during our weekend services. It was the main way that we would push all of our events and upcoming opportunities. But we felt that students just weren’t listening to what we were saying up there and we questioned whether or not it was still the most effective way to communicate to our students. So we took a risk and cut all on-stage announcements and decided that we would only show 1-2 videos announcements per weekend. Of course that meant that the videos went to the big events like summer camp, small group launches, etc., and, unfortunately, left the smaller events without much spotlight.

This was a huge leap of faith and a total departure from what we were used to, but it was a risk worth taking. It forced us to get creative and try new things. So we started playing around with the idea of viral marketing. We studied things like the Invisible Children campaign and looked at the most practical elements we could adopt to our own ministry.

The genius behind viral marketing is that other people are doing the marketing for you. In youth ministry, that means students are pushing your events for you. And the best way to get students to go to things is them knowing that they will have friends there.

Last week, we threw our first event that was pushed solely through the use of social media and by the grace of God, it worked! We didn’t say a word about it during the weekend and our attendance at the event was just as good, if not better, than any event we pushed “the old fashioned way.” I thought I would share a few of the things we learned along the way:

-The Platforms. What social media are students using? For our students, they really like Facebook and they LOVE Instagram. So we focused on those two platforms and formed our strategy around that.

-The Material. The key to viral marketing is having sharable material that is interesting and straightforward. Sharable material works best when the sharer doesn’t have to write an explanation for your videos or graphics, they just have to repost them. For Instagram, we made an attention grabbing graphic with all of the information clearly presented. For Facebook, we made a video that was short, funny, and easy to follow.

-The Network. Viral marketing starts with a few people and branches big. Get as many students as you can to help you start. We went straight to our student leaders and other core students to help us start. A good thing to keep in mind is demographics. Make sure that every school is getting hit and every grade is getting hit.

-The Momentum. Space out your posts and keep a steady stream going from several different users. It can be really easy for viral marketing to lose steam after a day or two because everyone already posted it at once. Don’t let your campaign die early on!

How are you marketing your ministry’s events/announcements? What is working for you?

Colton [Email||Twitter]

4 View Comments February 27, 2013

Geoff StewartMore Posts GUEST POST: Don’t Miss The Point

For the better part of 2012, I met on and off with 3 other youth pastors to plan a huge New Year’s Eve party for the teens in our area. All of our ministries are mostly relational and relatively low “flash”, but we wanted to pull all the stops out on this one. Live DJ. Giveaways. The band ‘We As Human’ in concert. Midnight balloon drop. The works. I can’t tell you how many times I cast the vision to others in the community: “We want to start of 2013 focused on Christ”, “No one else is doing anything like this around here”, or even “I know where I was on New Year’s Eve when I was 17 and I don’t want our teens there either!”

Overall, the consensus among everyone involved was that it was a rousing success. Some things turned out better than expected and some worse…BUT, one thing stuck out to me as the defining moment of the night. And it wasn’t the band, DJ, or even the moment the clock struck twelve. After the band finished, I took about 5 minutes and shared the Gospel. I knew many of the kids there were saved and members of the various youth groups in attendance, but we always felt that this was a perfect time to share Christ with someone who may never set foot in our churches otherwise.

The next day, as I was sifting through the response cards, I found one in particular from a girl who had earlier sought me out to tell me she accepted Christ that night. This is what the card said:

Her simple response totally re-calibrated how I evaluated that night. Even though I fought it the whole way, near the end I got lost in the logistics of throwing a bash like this and was rating it’s success on technical execution and attendance. As I reread her words, I felt God whisper a reminder into my gut: Our first priority is sharing the love of Jesus as effectively as we know how. Quite frankly, the rest can be swept up with the streamers.

Ben Suggs is the Minister to Teens at Freedom Family Church in Liberty, NC and you can follow him on Twitter here

-GS

Add Comment February 14, 2013

Geoff StewartMore Posts Weigh In Volume 29: The Cost of an Invitation

I have a question that might bring us some interesting responses for you all today and it surrounds giving students a reward for bringing a friend or friends to an event. This is nothing new, whether a chocolate bar, a crisp picture of Honest Abe on a $5 bill, a discounted registration to an event or camp or as much as an iPad from a draw. Youth Pastors everywhere regularly and sincerely are rewarding students who invite their friends to an event. So my question today is simply this:

Do you offer a reward / prize for students who bring someone new to youth and what is it? If you don’t why not?

-Geoff @geoffcstewart

7 View Comments November 29, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Campus Outreach Ideas – Supporting Student Government

During a recent brainstorm of ways to love and serve our local campuses, we decided to focus on ASB (student government). I don’t know about your schools, but our ASB teams work so hard so support and entertain their schools. Because of their hard work, we came up with a few ways to show our support:

-Encouraging Notes. As youth workers, we know how hard it can be to entertain teenagers. Unfortunately, so does ASB. It is rare for these hard working to receive praise or acknowledgement for their effort. Try to get all of the names of the student government at a school and have some of your students write letters to them. Being able to tell the ASB that they are loved and appreciated is a guaranteed win at any school.

-Event Set-Up/Clean-Up. Having your ministry as a whole be available to help them set up and tear down their events can be huge. Sometimes the events that ASB throws are massive (i.e. dances, shows, etc.) and they require a lot of manpower to pull off. Again, we know how tiring it can be to be the first to arrive to an event and the last to leave, so we know how much it means to have someone offer to help. This is a great way to have your students be servants at their school.

-Bringing Food. This was an idea that one of our students came up with. Offering to bring a home cooked meal on a day that ASB is working late could mean the world to them. And it doesn’t always have to be some extravagant ordeal; it could even be something as simple as brownies or cookies. Putting in that effort could go a long way with showing love to the student government.

-Treat the Director. Don’t forget to include the ASB director! They are the ones that really help pull everything off! They are the ones that are empowering their students to make a difference at their schools. Many of our students’ lives have been changed by being in ASB, so it was so important to us to make that known to the directors. This could be something as easy as a Starbucks card and a handwritten note. Make sure they know how much they are appreciated and make sure they know your ministry is here to support them. Include your contact information so that they can let you know if they could ever use a hand. It is a GREAT way to build relationships with faculty!

We could not be more excited to get moving on all of these projects! Our ministry really believes in putting effort into campus outreach. It makes a huge impact on not just the campuses, but in our students as well.

Supporting ASB is one of the ways we are doing campus outreach, what is your ministry doing to serve the local high schools?

Colton Harker is the Student Leadership Coordinator at Saddleback HSM. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact him at coltonharker@gmail.com or on twitter at @ColtonHarker.

Add Comment October 14, 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

Geoff StewartMore Posts The Best Event We Do All Summer

I love summer in Youth Ministry for so many reasons, its the change of gears, its the relational time, its students dropping by the office, I just love it. For our youth group, its high time for events. We have lots going on because after all,there are students around and many have little to do, so lets harness that energy. Between 5 major events, beach hangout days and other small activities our summer calendar has much to offer for students looking for something to do, but there is one weekly event that has taken on a life of its own.

In the city I work in there are three major high schools and right near all of them in an area commonly know as “uptown” sits a McDonalds location that is always filled with students. Seeing that they are there anyway, we decided two summers ago to launch “Uptown Wednesdays”. From 1-3pm every Wednesday of the summer we meet at McDonalds and if you come we will buy you and ANYONE you bring a soda. Here is what is awesome about that:

Drinks are $1 ($1.12 including tax) – Last week 31 students showed up and the whole event cost $34.72. I can not think of a better way to spend $34 for a two hour youth event.

Outreach: This events is one that so many students bring their friends to in fact last summer multiple students I met in the summer that were guests of our students came to youth and got plugged in because they knew myself and some of our leaders. Building trust and relationships with new students before september is helpful for them to act on the invitation to the group in the fall. This safe off-site space is their territory and thus much more conducive for students to invite their friends to.

Discipleship- Its so great to check in with our students and have some real one on one conversations, ask about their life, how we can pray for them and encourage them. Our regular gather might be off for the summer, but pastoring our students happens every week and happens at McD’s

I fall in love with Youth Ministry again – In the midst of a really busy year and working with adult volunteers and attending staff meetings, I often find myself longing to connect with students and with the size of our group that isn’t always possible. Small relational events remind me of what God has called me to do. It’s those conversations that help me see the world through their eyes, and understand for a moment what its like to be in high school in 2012 and hopefully be a better pastor to them.

-Geoff

Add Comment July 8, 2012

Geoff StewartMore Posts Guest Post: Start With A Bang

So it’s summer time. That’s a reality that I can get my head around. I like the sunshine, and at this point in my part of the world, that’s starting to feel like a rarity. (Hey there, flooded river due to rain … nice to see you stop by.) But when the summer starts to fade away and students are all busy getting that brand new wicked fresh trapper keeper for school, and parents are loathing back to school clothes shopping, well, that’s when I get all hyped up for Fall Kickoff.

I really feel like there’s a few times in the ministry season when you want to go all out. Like blow the doors off. One is Christmas, because Christmas is awesome. Make your space look like Santa’s elves exploded over everything. Another is the end of the season. You’ve made students suffer through your awkward sex talks, mediocre games and haphazard bible quizzes for an entire season, so now’s the time to redeem yourself with a stellar event for the ages. Forget the party, just head straight to the “After Party” party. Your students need to reason to blow off steam after all the exam anxieties are done and over. Put out a great spread of food, crank up the outdoor speakers, rent a bounce house, and turn on the sprinklers. It will be a great way to say thanks to your students and leaders for pressing forward. It’s also a super way to introduce new students into the mix without them feeling singled out.

But my favourite time to blow the roof off in a ministry season is Fall Kickoff. This is the time when everyone is ready for something different. They’re getting back into the swing of things, and what better way to let them know that youth group is right there with them, than by having a Kickoff event that brings the house down. Go after that band you’ve always wanted to bring in, partner up with some other youth groups, utilize the left over summer weather whileyou still can, and really ring in the new season with a sonic boom. It’s not about how big your budget is, but how loud you can get and how high you can set the bar for the season ahead. It says to your students that they are worth getting excited for, that they can expect big things ahead. Just don’t play all your cards on the first night as depicted in this photo from the 4th of July Fireworks in San Diego this year. 20 mins of fireworks in 15 seconds.

So go for it. Go big. Go for the win. Be loud. Be awesome.
And if you annoy the 55+ bible study going on next door, well then, all the better.

Kevin Downey is a veteran Youth Pastor from Chilliwack British Columbia (this is an actual place) , father, pastor and comic enthusiast. You can follow him on Twitter @revkev73.

-Geoff