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Josh GriffinMore Posts When to Buy Youth Ministry Resources

You’ve got a limited budget for your youth ministry - if you’ve got one at all. Maybe you’ve had some cuts this year, or maybe you’re in the rare group that even got a little budget bump. Here’s when I think are the best times to buy youth ministry resources:

Late Summer – small group material, volunteer training/development
Right now is the best time to check out potential resources for your small groups. Check out curriculum from a few different sources, and be sure to download samples to make sure it fits in your context. Think about building your volunteer team as well, look for good resources to pour into your people and help them become better youth workers.
Some suggestions: LIVE, 99 Thoughts for Youth Workers (ha!), Youth Leader Training on the Go

Fall – personal development books/tools
November and December are slow months for me personally (small groups are going, campaign is over, the big kickoffs and back-to-school launch are done) so during the holidays I like to read. Pick a few books that you’ve been wanting to read, order them and be sure you make the time to read them, too.
Some suggestions: Thriving Youth Groups, Sustainable Youth Ministry, Speaking to Teenagers

Winter – updates to small group curriculum, retreat help
Winter is the time when most youth ministries work hard to carry over the momentum from the fall. The weather has changed, and the “newness” of the year has faded. Take some time to research possible retreat centers or winter camps, then find some resources to help you pull it off. I like to do some mid-year evaluation on our small group materials then, too.
Some suggestions: Camp in a Can, Guy Talk Girl Talk

Spring - summer materials, missions trip stuff
Youth ministry usually changes in the summer, so change up your resources to go with it. Try something new – maybe go for something unexpected. Also, most missions and workcamps happen around Spring Break and summer, so think of what tools will help your missions effort, too.
Some suggestions: Mission Trips from Start to Finish, Prepare Go Live

Sales – everything
Whenever there’s a sale on stuff you’ve been looking to pick up for your youth ministry, pick it up to stretch that dollar even further. Buying many things at once helps to save on shipping from online retailers, too.
Some clearance suggestions: Igniter Videos, Youth Ministry in the 21st Century, Every Young Man’s Battle

When do you buy youth ministry resources?

JG

3 View Comments August 30, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 63

Weekend Teaching Series: Josh Pease [2-year intern with HSM] Goodbye Celebration Weekend (1-off)
Sermon in a Sentence: The journey through the wilderness is all part of God’s plan – trust in His ways as He leads you to the Promised Land.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Service Length: 71 minutes

Understandable Message: Josh told the story of his life from birth to the present to illustrate his journey through the wilderness. God is faithful, even when He wasn’t understood. The talk centered around the story of the Israelites wandering in the desert as part of God’s plan. Great stories about chicken pox, fashion, Harry Potter glasses and more.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students made up the band and ran cameras, lights, sound and directed the weekend. Lots of student greeters made the entrance to the room super. And, we ran out of bulletins – which means it was a BIG weekend – yeah! Volunteers jumped in to greet students and sat with them in the service.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: The Set Design Ministry had a cool new set design with PVC pipes standing vertically and some colored lights on them. Really simple, cheap and looked good! Excited to see what they come up with next! We had a fun Josh Pease highlight video from the past 2 years and Josh sang a heartfelt goodbye song at the end.

Music Playlist: We Shine, It Is Well, Thank You, You Never Let Go, My Life Would Suck Without You (Pease cover)

Favorite Moment: Lots of great moments – but my favorite was laying hands on Josh and praying for his next steps. We’re super proud of him and what he’s brought to HSM, and excited about where God is leading him.

Up Next: HSM Open House Weekend

Add Comment August 30, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 60

Weekend Teaching Series: The Road Trip Series Finale (week 5 of 5)
Sermon in a Sentence: God is faithful on the journey of life no matter what we face and wherever the road may take us.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 4 out of 10
Service Length: 65 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend was the crescendo of the entire series – all set in Yellowstone National Park. The message hoped to give students hope and help in the journey, that no matter where the adventurous road trip of life took them – that God was present, interested and faithful in that journey of life. The video had clips of all of the location shooting, and recapped the principles we learned in the series. We covered most all of Psalm 19 in the talk.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students made up the band and ran cameras, lights, sound and directed the weekend. Volunteers jumped in to greet students and sat with them in the service.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: The game up front included shooting marshmallows at a target in the balcony. Super easy, super silly and fun. Fun little countdown video as well, and a acoustic cover song up front of a Chris Brown song, too.

Music Playlist: Forever (cover), Everlasting God, Fill Me, Always Forever, The Stand

Favorite Moment: A student wrote a song called “Fill Me” that she performed this week up at summer camp. When I heard the song up there, I knew it would be a perfect fit for the message. She had written about feeling distant from God, but that He was right beside her – essentially reinforcing the message of faithfulness. She was brilliant, and the students responded with enthusiastic applause. Very moving, very powerful – easily my favorite moment of the night!

Up Next: 1-off summer series (Taffy, on SHAPE)

Add Comment August 9, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 59

Weekend Teaching Series: The Road Trip (week 4 of 5)
Sermon Title: “Loneliness”
Sermon in a Sentence: We must overcome many obstacles on the road of life — this week we take a look at loneliness.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 5 out of 10
Service Length: 61 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend was actually the first episode we filmed on the Road Trip – but it aired in the number four slot of the actual series. We’re in Death Valley, California this week talking about loneliness. The imagery really supported the theme, the video was divided up into two parts – half setting up the concept/location, the other half giving help and hope from the Bible. In between we played Hillsong’s Desert Song, and then Jason Petty came on stage to wrap it all up live on stage. He was great, a clear message pushing students toward small groups and into a close walk with God whatever season of life they face.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students ran cameras, lights, sound, greeted and directed the weekend. Volunteers jumped in to greet students and sat with them in the service, some passed out bulletins/pens at the beginning of the message, too.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We had a fun roadtrip countdown video and “welcome to HSM” video. Our summer interns led a fun game based on some Flip videos we shot at the OC Fair this week. Students had to guess how fast someone from our team could throw a baseball, who would come down the giant slide the fastest, etc. Totally fun, and the great cover song got everyone having a good time right from the start.

Music Playlist: A Thousand Miles (Vanessa Carlton cover), Sing Sing Sing, Desert Song, Beautiful Lord, How He Loves Us

Favorite Moment: I really enjoyed the last couple of songs the band did this weekend – the band overall sounded great, and everything just came together in a powerful and responsive way at the end of the night. It was also great seeing two of the summer interns on stage, and had a great celebration dinner with the three of them afterward was super fun, too.

Up Next: The Road Trip Series Finale

Add Comment August 2, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 58

Weekend Teaching Series: The Road Trip (week 3 of 5)
Sermon Title: “Temptation”
Sermon in a Sentence: We must overcome many obstacles on the road of life – this week we take a look at temptation.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 4 out of 10
Service Length: 66 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend was pretty straightforward – we were talking about temptation in Sin City. Really – how “What Happens in Vegas” DOESN’T stay in Vegas at all. The focus of the video talk was to help students not put themselves in a situation where they’ll be tempted, and where to find help if they do. We had a small group panel-type of interaction between the videos for some live discussion on stage about the topic as well.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students ran cameras, lights, sound and directed the weekend. Volunteers jumped in to greet students and sat with them in the service. My dad was visiting the service – first time he’d ever been in The Refinery and seen us in action – awesome!

Element of Fun/Positive Environment:We had a little cowboy shootout at the beginning of the service, where the winner of the Nerf duel could score a CD of the Bar J Wranglers. They were an amazing cowboy acapella group we discovered during the Road Trip through Jackson, Wyoming. Of course, the CD was autographed, so that only sweetened the deal. We also played a trailer for To Save a Life, which we were able to screen for a few of our students as well. The movie, which hits theaters January 2010 is looking to be a must-see for youth ministry students and their non-churched friends (read my review here).

Music Playlist: That’s What You Get (Paramore cover), Sing Sing Sing, Tear Down the Walls, Your Love is Strong, Til I See You

Favorite Moment: This week I think it was the actual video that was my favorite. Vegas had all sorts of great imagery to support the topic of temptation, and I think the Road Trip series is starting to hit stride. Just two more weeks until we’re done!

Up Next: Road Trip video series — Loneliness

Add Comment July 25, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 57

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Weekend Teaching Series: The Road Trip (week 2 of 5)
Sermon Title: “Fear”
Sermon in a Sentence: We must overcome many obstacles on the road of life – up first – fear.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 7 out of 10
Service Length: 71 minutes

Understandable Message: This was a special weekend – in addition to the Road Trip video series we were blessed to have Rocky Seto with us to speak to our students. He was recently named the Defensive Coordinator of the USC Trojan football team. His talk was super, challenging students to rise above peer pressure and stand for what was right. He used the story of Saul being influenced by the people instead of following God. Awesome man of God, great stories.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students ran cameras, lights, sound and directed the weekend. Volunteers jumped in to greet students and sat with them in the service. Had a volunteer with me on stage during our opening game, too.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We played a silly game with finger rockets and a target on stage – we had three rounds where people could win a prize. We had a couple of fun videos as well, and having Rocky there was a huge draw – tons of football players from all of the area schools were there for sure.

Music Playlist: Sweet Dreams, Run to You, You Never Let Go

Favorite Moment: Easily the best moment was when Rocky opened up his journal during his talk. In it were diagrams, scribbles, potential defensive plays and lots of Xs and Os. But most important to him were his writings and journalings about God and life that lso filled the pages. I loved how life and God were all mixed together – what a great example for all of us to see and live out.

Up Next: Road Trip video series — Temptation

Add Comment July 19, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 56

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Weekend Teaching Series: The Road Trip (series premiere, week 1 of 5)
Sermon Title: “The Journey of Life”
Sermon in a Sentence: To successfully navigate life, you have to trust that God’s way is the right way.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 8 out of 10
Service Length: 62 minutes

Understandable Message: This weekend we did a combination of live teaching and video from the Road Trip. We shot the series to be used in small groups, but we’re using it this time as our weekend service teaching. I intro’d the series talking about the ups and downs of life and the video introduced us to the team, the setting and the topics of obstacles on the journey of life. In the middle I talked about a couple of personal stories where my life changed dramatically in just one moment. We’re just starting the content, so this weekend definitely felt like more of an overview.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students ran cameras, lights, sound and directed the weekend. Volunteers jumped in to greet students as well as sit with them during the service. Some new volunteers that joined the mix have been a HUGE help on Sunday mornings.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We played a fun slap countdown video and had a unique welcome to HSM video. We played a great cover song (Rascal Flatts) and had a fun little game involving students and maps, too. Twice in the service we had students vote on an interactive poll as well.

Music Playlist: Life is a Highway, You Deserve, Center, Hungry

Favorite Moment: Singing Life is a Highway was easily my favorite part – the students had SUCH a hard time getting into country music, which made me laugh. By the end of the four services it was a total blast – and one of our team jumped up on stage with a cowboy hat and helped sell it, which was hilarious.

Up Next: Road Trip video series – Fear (and special speaker USC Defensive Coordinator Rocky Seto)

Add Comment July 12, 2009

Josh GriffinMore Posts HSM Weekend in Review: Volume 55

Weekend Teaching Series: GROW
Sermon Title: “Why We Don’t Grow”

Sermon in a Sentence: Although spiritual growth is necessary, fear keeps us from taking the “leap” into growth and truly looking like Christ.
Weekend Scale of Difficulty: 3 out of 10
Service Length: 70 minutes

Understandable Message: To continue the conversation of growth with our students, Josh Pease shared a message on why we don’t grow and what so often trips us up. Josh compared our fear of diving into growth to his experience with skydiving, illustrating how real action is much more difficult than simply words and unfulfilled goals. In order to encourage students to grow on their own, we gave out “Know Your Bible” books for every student, a handy booklet that explains every book of the Bible and provides an understandable way to journey through God’s Word.

Volunteer/Student Involvement: Students ran cameras, lights and sound. Volunteers did setup/cleanup. Low attendance this weekend on both volunteer and student side because of the 4th of July weekend.

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: Scotty Pichard, former summer intern, made an appearance this weekend as he protested HSM’s lack of “4^th of July” recognition. Dressed in patriotic attire, Scotty recited a poem he wrote about the freedom Americans have to choose and then sung a few lines of “God Bless the USA.” Brilliant! Also, we had a student do a quick skit promoting our Summer Nights of Laughter event this Friday. On stage, Jake Rutenbar stood behind the student and acted as the student’s arms as he explained the event where many students will put on various hilarious skits and dramas. There was a big push to bring friends to this event… it’s a great outreach!

Music Playlist: Look to You, Tear Down the Walls, Pure and Holy Passion, The Stand, Jesus Paid It All

Favorite Moment: Towards the end of the talk, Josh gave students a serious challenge. He picked a lime from a lime tree he had on stage and explained how the lime has to die to produce seeds and grow into another tree. Repeating the phrase “to live, you have to die,” Pease stressed the importance of losing the parts of ourselves that hold us down and asking God to fill us with Him in order to live the life we were intended. Such a cool, moving moment!

(this report written by Kyle Cleveland, an incredible summer intern you’ll hear more about in the future)