There are weeks where I struggled with pre-youth group anxiety. I was anxious with questions like would the service go well? was I prepared? was the sermon good enough? would the students like the game? These questions were all part of my need to make sure things were perfect. Why? Why did I need to…
I know getting students signed up for anything is a chore, but is there anything you can do about it? Start with why Why does this event exist? Why did it make it on to your calendar? It’s much easier to get students signed up if you know, and they know, why an event exists.…
Youth Ministry chaos is a lot of fun when it’s game time or even hangout time, but chaos is not fun when applied to organizing your youth ministry. There are two extremes in youth ministry calendars. One looks like this, This is calendar is too busy and busy is not better. Busy means you may…
I am going to guess that you have not reached point where you do not care about expectation. You do not have the clout or the cash to say, “I don’t care what you think”. Which means you’re middle management. You care about what the people above you think, what the people below you think…
I recently watched a podcast episode about the value of reviewing your goals and I thought I’d pass them along to you. Principles of Review The unexamined life is not worth living – Socrates I would put it this way, “the unexamined youth ministry isn’t worth building”. Not reviewing your goals, events or programs means…
Hustle. In means to move faster and work harder than everyone.People of faith might be the worst at hustling. I can testify to that. I thought that because I prayed and read my Bible, God was going to do all the heavy lifting and like Pedro promised in Napoleon Dynamite, “all your dreams will come…
If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time. Setting goals is critical to developing any business, organization and yes, any youth ministry. Week to week survival is not a goal. Having a plan, developing a plan and executing a plan, based on your goals, is a big piece of developing a successful youth…
Does your youth ministry seem cluttered, like you don’t have room to think or make a decision? Do your youth meetings feel like a whirlwind with =out purpose? I have three areas you can begin to de-clutter your youth ministry and find the freedom and clarity you desire. Think of your youth ministry like tool…
This is part four in my series on building an infrastructure to support your youth ministry. You can read through from the beginning starting here. Every youth pastor’s calendar is different, based on the size and model of church, but what drives me crazy is a calendar that is random. Why did you put that…
This is part three in my series on how to keep your youth ministry from collapsing. You can start from the beginning here. I sat in the Pastor’s office after an incident where our outreach bus was pulled over by the cops because of a fight on the bus. It’s not party (or youth ministry)…
