youth worker journal | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts Where Do My Youth Ministry Blog Posts Come From?

Every so often someone will write in and ask a few great questions about blogging – thought I might take on a few of them from time to time here. Up today is one I got just this week, “where do you get all of your ideas for blog posts?” Here’s a little insight on my process:

Start a journal of ideas – when you’re bored in a meeting write down a list of topics and quick bullet point thoughts. If you were to look at my journal you would find pages of quick ideas and thoughts that could easily be developed into full posts.
Write when you don’t feel like it – just motor through the tough times and make it happen. Happens to the best of us!
Look through photos for inspiration – sometimes I look through my iPhone and instantly SEE/FEEL a blog post. Might be a good way to trigger something that you may have forgotten.
Start accepting/soliciting guest posts – I love other people’s thoughts and perspectives on youth ministry. It is fun to share the stage with others – plus, sometimes I need to hear what they have to say, too.
Come up with weekly features/filler – if you have some “regulars” that you post every week, it helps you stay in a rhythm. Some of mine are: polls, the HSM weekend in review, etc

Any other tips on where to get blog posts from?

JG

3 View Comments August 24, 2012

Josh GriffinMore Posts Teaching to Transform Roundtable in Youth Worker Journal

I was priviledged to be a part of a roundtable on speaking to Teenagers in the most recent issue Youth Worker journal. It’s now available on their site – here’s a clip of it, head there for the whole thing!

YouthWorker Journal: What goals in youth ministry are achieved through teaching?

Duffy Robbins: Helping kids nurture a relationship with Christ, make good life choices and be equipped for ministry. All of this is drawn from Ephesians 4:14-16.

Josh Griffin: Dispensing information is part of teaching, but far more important are inspiration and challenge. Teaching gives youth workers the opportunity to combine personal experiences and story with the eternal relevance of God’s Word.

Pamela Erwin: Critical thinking, biblical literacy and teaching the story of God’s revelation. There’s a tremendous difference between teaching objectives (what content we want to communicate) and learning objectives (the transformative learning that takes place through an experience). A primary transformative skill is thinking critically. Youth ministries are excellent places to teach biblical literacy basics such as the books of the Bible and key characters of Scripture. Youth workers also need to help students understand the big story of God’s work in humanity from creation to Revelation, along with the individual stories of God’s activity in Scripture coupled with how God is constantly pursuing them. Students need to know their stories are as important to God as those in Scripture.

JG