girls ministry | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts POLL: Gender Breakdown of Youth Group

My wife and I were talking this week about the number of girls in our ministry – we are probably at 60:40 girls to guys right now. Brought up an interesting question for this week’s poll (vote above): what is the gender breakdown of your student ministry?

Maybe an even better question to get you thinking beyond that is this: How do you attract the lagging gender? Any great ideas?

JG

5 View Comments August 15, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts BOOK REVIEW: 99 Things Every Girl Should Know

I just read my friend Neely’s first book – 99 Things Every Girl Should Know.

It’s $5.99 from Group Publishing and would make a perfect gift for the girls in your youth ministry. Neely isn’t afraid to give practical advice about identity, boys, relationships, culture and faith. I’m proud of her, and excited to finally get a chance to read her work. Neely is a champion for identity in Christ for young woman, and I think that message comes across strong in the short read. If you’re looking for a nice book to be able to hand female students who are struggling with their identity/girl issues or just want to give them some encouragement in the journey of becoming a Godly woman, this book would be a great choice.

JG

2 View Comments March 28, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Simply Youth Ministry Podcast: Episode 149

The latest episode of the Simply Youth Ministry Podcast is here! I was gone doing some high school ministry stuff, but the team got together with special guest NEely McQueen. The show must go on!

Doug Fields, Katie Edwards, and Matt McGill are happy to joined by Neely McQueen to talk about girls ministry. Shes the author of the new book, 99 Things Every Girl Should Know. Topics covered are: German pronunciations, spiritual lessons that are important for girls, how guys can help be role models for girls, girls ministry programs, Jesus punching people, girls and drama, and talking to girls about inappropriate dress.

JG

2 View Comments December 14, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts 99 Things Every Girl Should Know

I’m super excited for my friend Neely McQueen’s new book, 99 Things Every Girl Should Know, which comes out this week from Group Publishing. You may already read her blog about girl’s ministry at MoreThanGossip.com and she will be a guest on tomorrow’s live SYM Podcast undoubtedly talking about her new book. Here’s a little more info on the book and the table of contents:

In her book 99 Things Every Girl Should Know, veteran youth worker Neely McQueen shares a wealth of wisdom on becoming and being a girl who knows that she is valuable, meaningful, and loved. That isn’t the message many girls receive from our culture. We live in a world that says we’re only valuable, meaningful, and loved if we look a certain way, dress a certain way, and behave a certain way. God has a different opinion.

With a little help from her friends, Neely shares thoughts that would have helped her better survive the teenage years. These pages are filled with encouragement, inspiration, and insights that will help the girls in your youth ministry–or other girls in your life–explore their beauty, their worth, and their world.

Table of Contents

Being BFFs

Shh…It’s a Secret

Boys, Boys & More Boys

Let’s Talk About Sex–and Pregnancy

All in the Family

Seasons of Being a Girl

The Good News About School

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, What’s the Truth About Beauty?

The Clothes We Wear

TV, Magazines, and Movies…Oh My!

Surviving the Digital World

Tweets From Friends

Hot Topics

The War Between Shopping and Saving

Just Plain Random

The Best Boyfriend Ever

Old-School Ladies

Women of the World

Why Being a Girl Rules

One More Thing…

JG

Add Comment December 9, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Psalm 139: Wonderfully Made Video

Wonderfully Made from Wonderfully Made on Vimeo.

Thought this was a great video for an identity series, self image, or girl’s event. Good stuff!

JG

1 View Comments November 10, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 114

Weekend Teaching Series: Happily Ever After (week 3 of 3)
Sermon in a Sentence: A challenge to value yourself as much as God values you.
Service Length: 65 minutes

Understandable Message: This week was GIRLS weekend in HSM during the Happily Ever After series — we had an AMAZING guest speaker, Kim Hamilton Anthony. She is a four-time national champion gymnast from UCLA, and has been a chaplain to NFL wives for the last ten years. She told a small slice of her story (from her book Unfavorable Odds) including how she first started finding worth in herself by impressing her dad’s friends while rolling joints at age five. Kim drew the whole room in by revealing some actual events from her life, that had every person in the room hanging on her every word.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We did a magic mirror bit where a girl from the audience came on to stage and asked the magic mirror (think Snow White’s magic mirror) questions like who she was going to marry, how to be popular, and who the fairest at her school was. The magic mirror answered with ads for theknot.com and proactiv. It got a great laugh.

Music Playlist: How Will She Know [cover from Enchanted], Hosanna, Majesty, Came to My Rescue, We Shine

Favorite Moment: Kim had first the all the guys stand up each service and she challenged them to be men who treat women with respect. Then she had all the girls stand up in each service and she challenged them to carry themselves in such a way that demands respect. During both challenges you could have heard a pin drop. People were engaged and hanging on Kim’s every word.

Up Next: iServe Weekend and Ministry Fair (1-off)

(this report was written by Ryanne Witt since Josh was at Fantastical)

Add Comment October 6, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Small Group Statistics 2010-2011

You might remember back in November when I posted our small group statistics for the year – it proved to be a post that got a ton of views and interest. Here’s our percentages so far as we get ready to launch the Life Group year in our youth ministry:

Girls: 57%
Guys: 43%
Freshman: 26%
Sophomores: 27%
Juniors: 25%
Seniors: 22%
Largest percentage from a single school: 21%

What do the numbers mean? Well … here are a few thoughts:

There are more girls in small groups than guys. This is typical for us the past few years that we have data.
We have work to do to reach more guys and help them become spiritual leaders.
I’m pumped about the percentages across the classes. The nearly even spread was surprising!
Holding on to a high percentage of seniors is really important. This is a significant increase from last year!

JG