Note from the author: I wrote this short article for the parents involved in our Student Ministry. Feel free to share it with the parents in your ministry. Like many of you, I sat and listened to much of the news coverage of Brett Kavanaugh’s Senate hearing. I don’t want to make this a political post, not even for a second. However, Thursday was a day that will be recorded in History… read more
It seems like a million years ago, but once upon a time I remember nearly tripling the amount of small group leaders in our student ministry over the course of 8 weeks. It was an incredible experience, and an incredible time in our ministry. How we did it was actually fairly simple; a clear vision for why we needed so many new volunteers, a clear recruitment process with me and my team,… read more
I’m a big believer in partnering with parents as a Youth Ministry, and I know many others are as well. But how does that actually play out? I’ve been working through some objectives for our ministry when it comes to having that partnership, what it looks like if fully developed, and what it accomplishes when we’re cranking on all cylinders. As I’ve done that I’ve been working through a few things that… read more
I believe in students connecting in small group environments. Small groups have always been a cornerstone of every ministry I have been a part of and their environments consume about 60% of my entire workload. It is hard work to create -> maintain -> encourage small groups and it is just as hard finding -> equipping -> keeping small group leaders. Everything about small groups is hard work, but I hope this… read more
At HCCYM, we meet with parents a few times a year, typically at the start of a new semester, to go over the information for the upcoming months of activities, lessons, and regular programs. We typically do these short meetings after church in our youth area, which allows families to stay after church instead of making a special trip. These are short meetings, but an important way to connect with parents and… read more
Volunteers… We don’t always have them but we need them. I have been in Youth Ministry for a little over 4 years now and for about the first 3 years I thought that everything was my responsibility. I did three lessons a week, scheduled a meal sign up sheet and made contact with whoever was signed up for the current week, spent as much time as I could with the students (which… read more
There are countless things that I love about youth ministry; one of those things is the explosion of job descriptions for volunteers in the ministry. These job descriptions list qualifications and expectations, which are all good and needed things; but to be honest, it freaked some people out in my ministry. I am not saying that my volunteers did not like to hear about what qualified them or what we expected from… read more
I had camp a few weeks ago! I went to the Windermere Baptist Conference Center for AreaOne Camp. I have never been to this camp before, but the speakers and the worship team looked awesome, so I was really looking forward to see what the Lord had in store for us. It was awesome! One thing I did this year is give camp gifts to the students and the leaders. My wife and… read more
Confrontation. It’s hard, it’s messy, but it’s needed. So how do you give constructive criticism to someone in a way that isn’t rejected? I’m going to present a method to give it in a way that makes the other person feel like “Hey, I’m doing a good job, I just need to work on a few things” rather than “I’m a piece of crap and I need to go move back in… read more
Confession time: I like to talk to people who are like me. You probably do the same thing as well. You naturally gravitate to someone in a room who you feel you have a connection with. On Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights, the people I’m around that I have the most in common with are the adults in the room. They have kids. They have jobs. They have bills and schedules and other… read more