youth leader training | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts GUEST POST: Setting Up Your Volunteers For Success

Our ministry at USAFA Club Beyond relies heavily on its volunteers and so there is a deep need to help set them up for success. Here are three things we do to ensure we achieve it.

Empower them. Training is one of the fundamental parts of a great team. Whether you have a group of veteran volunteers or first-timers to youth ministry, everyone can benefit from training. A single yearly training is not enough nor are one hour monthly events. The single, longer session is perfect for vision casting, youth ministry 101, and the overall mission of the youth group. At the same time, monthly meetings are perfect for Q&A from struggling volunteers, tweaking skills, and going over future curriculum. We incorporate both and find that they appreciate all of it.

Equip them. This includes a thorough and purposeful curriculum, a four or six month calendar of events, and all of the necessary equipment. Their job is not to come up with the questions or the lesson (though several of them are great at it and I ask for insight when writing up the curriculum). On their best nights, they stick to the core of the curriculum but follow the discussion of what the students bring up, asking different questions and using other illustrations than what is printed. But when life gets hard, they have a terrible day at work before youth group, or get into an argument with a family member, now they are not coming to club at 100%. This is when preparation key to providing success.

Encourage them. Sure our title is youth worker but at least 30% of our time is invested in adults like our volunteers and so we must make a point to focus on them too. Many of them are hurting just as much as our students but they have figured out how to cope. We need to minister to them in their successes, failures, mistakes, and accomplishments. So if a student is giving them a hard time or they are going through a crisis, buy them a Starbucks and give them an hour or two of your time to be a sounding board or help bear their burdens.

Jeremy Smith is a 26-year old youth pastor at the Air Force Academy chapel, working for Club Beyond, and attending Denver Seminary for his Master”s of Arts in Counseling Ministries. He has been involved in Youth for Christ for eight years and absolutely loves sharing the life of Jesus with teens. Check out his blog at Seventy8Productions.

4 View Comments April 17, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Youth Ministry Volunteer Process: Part 2

Yesterday I posted part 1 of our volunteer process in our high school ministry – here’s the second half of the process from start to finish. Let me know if there’s anything that needs clarifying in the comments!

Train
Leader training is a critical and ongoing step in the process, our very best leaders attend small group leader training each year, even as veterans. We regularly give away little books or resources, encourage them with a video or note and even make sure they have ongoing training in their hands every few months.

Care
When there is a crisis in the life of one of our leaders, we are there. Flowers for a death in the family, a visit if they’re in the hospital, prayer over a family crisis – I am a pastor to pastors – and these amazing volunteers are our front line ministers so I need to give them focus, love and care.

Encourage
Be a cheerleader.

Remove
Occasionally you may have to remove a leader. Every year so far we’ve had to deal with the messiness of ministry specifically with volunteers. It may be a personal issue, a doctrinal issue or something to do with lifestyle. Either way, I have to take care of it as it is part of our process. My least favorite one on this list but a necessary evil.

Celebrate
We have some superstar leaders, and when they’re run is over we celebrate. Maybe it is as simple as a note or movie tickets, other times it is dinner at a nice restaurant. Take time to love them our the door if they finish well.

JG

2 View Comments March 30, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Many Roads to Youth Ministry

I get asked this question all of the time: I want to work with students – what is the right path to go into youth ministry? The answer is not quite as simple as it may seem. Here’s what I think:

There are many roads to youth ministry.

I’ve been fortunate to meet a whole bunch of amazing youth workers – and they come from an incredibly varied background. I know great youth workers that learned youth ministry in the trenches, I know great youth workers who learned a ton in seminary. I know some that have little to no education at all, and some with far more education than is even practically necessary.

Aundrea was a stay-at-home mom. Jacob was a farmer. Phil was a nurse. Nathan was a police officer. Jessica was planing on being an elementary school teacher. Tommy drove a Pepsi delivery truck. Aaron worked in a warehouse. Jeremiah was a magazine editor. Johnny went to seminary, and Chris isn’t even done with school yet. I went to Bible college myself … but graduated with a business degree.

There are many roads to youth ministry.

So which is the right path? Great question, and one I hope that God answers clearly and individually for you. Will you be more hirable if you have a degree? For sure. Is not liking school enough reason to skip it? Probably not. Can you get an education yourself by going to conferences or books? I think it would be helpful for sure.

So with this concept in mind, here are a few thoughts for you as you consider what your next step might look like:

Look at your role models or thought leaders in youth ministry. What was their path to youth ministry?
Make a list of the books you need to read to develop your weaknesses or increase your top end potential.
Make plans to visit a church or student ministry that is will be of significant value to your leadership development. Consider which training/conference would benefit you the most.
Consider picking up a class in the evening or in a block format to keep pushing yourself forward.
Pray and ask God for clarity about going to college, or back to school, or if grad school/seminary is for you.

Whatever road you take, blessings on your journey into youth ministry!

JG

1 View Comments March 14, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Simply Youth Ministry Conference – Louisville, Kentucky – March 2-5, 2012

Couldn’t make it to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference 2011? Here’s the dates and location of SYMC 2012! Hope to see you there!

JG

2 View Comments March 8, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Free Missions Trip eBook from LeaderTreks

Talking to the guys over at LeaderTreks this week – they have a new FREE eBook out today that looks really solid. Doug Franklin wrote an 18-page eBook about a subject he’s very familiar with:

Why not look at short-term missions a little bit differently? Why not craft the short-term missions experience to be a greenhouse for student development, using every experience to give them the best chance for growing into a strong and healthy Christ-follower. These trips can give you the materials you need to build a greenhouse for your student’s growth — multiplying the effectiveness of service and tapping into new potential.

Download The Student Mission Trip Greenhouse right here! Here’s a little clip of the inside from the “preparation for the trip” section:

Team Building Training
Every team will experience interpersonal conflict on mission trips. It’s unavoidable. But having team building training beforehand will help them deal with this conflict in a mature way. Teach your students about the power a team can have when they are unified, focused, and caring for each other. Using team building initiatives and games are a great way to build these values. Plus, it’s a ton of fun.

Spiritual Training
Take time in pre-trip training to teach your students about the spiritual value of missions and the ways in which their personal spiritual growth connects with God’s plan for the world. The Kingdom of God is huge, and while your students’ mission trip is just a small part of the Kingdom, it is significant for their future work. We often focus on logistics during our training time and miss the opportunity to train our students spiritually. What a shame if their trip program is prepared, but their hearts aren’t ready.

JG

Add Comment February 1, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Simply Youth Ministry Conference Advance Registration Deadline Tomorrow

It won’t be long before the Simply Youth Ministry Conference sells out … in fact, tomorrow’s advance registration deadline discount may push it over the edge. Either way, I hope you’ll consider attending what I consider my favorite youth ministry training event of the year. Jake and I will be doing another music video, hosting all of the general sessions, hanging out in the geek/technology room and chilling with youth workers like yourself. You in?

JG

Add Comment January 13, 2011

Josh GriffinMore Posts Shooting a New Small Group Curriculum

Today we had a blast up in The Refinery shooting a new student ministry small group curriculum called “The Way I’m Wired” – a 6-week series from Group Publishing/Simply Youth Ministry to help students find their life’s purpose. It was a total blast!

The material is primarily a product of the hard work of Katie Brazelton, author of Pathway to Purpose and other fantastic adult studies. It was so cool to shoot today (I got to use a teleprompter for the first time!), Jake Rutenbar and I did some student and leader trainings then we spent the rest of the day shooting the actual lessons. It comes out this March!

JG

1 View Comments December 8, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Can’t Afford a Conference This Year? Bring it to you!

Can’t afford to take your volunteers to a conference this year? Looking for some youth worker training during the Christmas slowdown or to kickoff the New Year? Lots of great options on sale this week at Simply Youth Ministry. Check them out now!

JG