One of the things I'm passionate about is helping other youth pastors in any way possible. So I figured one way would be to give you direct access to some of my basic and most recent Youth Ministry documents, resources, and recommendations. Feel free to check out and use anything available that you may find helpful. And if you have any suggestions that I should add to my list, let me know!
Youth Ministry Documents
Adult Leadership Team
Student Leadership Team
Communication Tools (ways I communicate)
Kid’s Sermon Links
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Trying to get students to interact with you from the stage about questions asked to the large group can be quite difficult. It's almost as if no one want's to be the one to share an answer except the one kid who already responded to the last seven questions. So here is a simple trick that can drastically change the results!
I was once at a conference where I saw Heather Flies, Junior High Pastor at Wooddale Church, ask a question to the large group and have a handful of starbursts in her hand. If you gave an answer, she tossed you a starburst. This idea intrigued me, so I immediately tried it back home. And it worked!!! So now I put in my message notes a "candy question" and tell students in "I have 5 pieces of candy, looking for five ideas on why..." and every time I get more than enough hands from both middle and high school students with amazing answers! All it took was a piece of candy! With the rise of instagram and images having a greater advertizing reach through the many other social media outlets, being able to create such pics on the go is quite convenient. No need to find a desktop or purchase expensive software to communicate your upcoming events or create the perfect handout. Phonto is free app that is designed to, as the description says, "add text to pictures". It allows you to do so much with the text that I literally use this for all of the images I create for our youth ministry. Whether its a postcard or an announcement I splash on instagram, I can beautifully create it from the phone in my pocket. Below are several images I have created and used within my ministry. Recommend you check out this app! They also have a free app called Vont. It looks and works almost identical to the Phonto app, but instead lets you add text to videos you take. Haven't done much with it yet, but could be good for creating short promo videos. Check out Photo and Vont on your phone at:
**We have purchased the rights for every photo we use (or used a photo I took with my phone), which includes the images you see in this post. Make sure to follow copyright laws when using other's pictures. Traditionally, confirmation has been a significant part of your middle school experience in most denominations. The purpose of confirmation is a discipleship opportunity to dig deep into the foundations of our faith; a good time to ask if you really believe all this faith stuff. For some, it can also be an time to affirm their infant baptism and God's work in their life. Deemed highly important by parents, confirmation classes are usually well attended and traditionally has been taught by the pastor in a classroom setting. The classroom model for confirmation worked well for earlier generations. But over the last few years, I have been on a journey of conversations with a number of youth pastors and coworkers about how it feels like it just isn't working; it doesn't connect well with the next generation.
But I don't believe cutting confirmation is the way to go. With the importance and tradition confirmation has, this is a great opportunity to bring families back into the church and be intentional investing in our students. The question quickly became, what can we do differently that begins to make this more effective than just doing what we have always done and hoping it sticks? So instead of losing those students, or letting an important and traditional milestone in the church life fade, we have chosen a new model that attempts to reconnect students to confirmation in a personal way. We have shifted to a mentorship confirmation program where students pick a trusted adult to journey with them over the course of their 8th grade year. Using our denominations curriculum, the students work through a journal each week, then meet with mentor to talk about foundational statements of our faith and how this applies to their life. Along with this, they engage in two projects together that create shared experiences. This is a very different approach in comparison to the traditional confirmation class. But here are eight reasons why I do not regret the decision to no longer teach our confirmation in the classroom.
If you would like to see what we have provided this year for registration materials, mentor role descriptions, and other resources; visit www.crossviewstudents.org/confirmation. One of my favorite youth ministry events is Nerf Wars. Started in 2006 with ten college students, Nerf Wars exploded into a full-fledged outreach ministry where an average of 130 youth and college students would come together for an evening of Nerf and Jesus. There is so much involved in Nerf Wars, so the intent of this page is to give a foundation to making Nerf Wars into a ministry event. Feel free to contact me if you have other questions or comments. Planning a Nerf WarWhat Students are Saying About Nerf Wars "It was fun, had good times with friends!" ~ "Love everything about it, and can't wait for the next one!" ~ "I liked the unity and the chance at brotherhood with people." ~ "I gained a little more self esteem." ~ "I made multiple friendships because of it." ~ "I liked that everybody there seemed really excited to be there." The Big Picture The most natural purpose behind doing Nerf Wars is to promote it as an outreach. The excitement and atmosphere is a huge draw for students to come, which in turn making it easier to invite their friends to come. In fact, I had a parent come up to me and describe how their 'pretty shy' son has invited some friends from school to the Nerf War, and then gaining confidence to invite them to church... and they came on Sunday morning! After a few initial Nerf Wars, encourage students to invite friends or invite another local organization to bring their own students, mixing up the playing field and developing connections with others. You'll want to structure a message into the Nerf Wars that flows with the enthusiasm of the event. Encourage you leaders to be there at the event because this gives them another opportunity to interact with their student in a different environment. Pick a Day and Time It's best to plan an event like Nerf wars towards the end of the week. This gives students all week to talk up the event and invite friends to come. I usually plan a Nerf War (depending on school breaks) to be on Friday from 6:00-9:00pm. The time frame worked best because that would allow students to eat dinner before they arrived, gives about 3 hours of play time, and ending with a message and cleanup. See "Layout the Evening" for more information. Promote the Event The ultimate best way to promote Nerf Wars is by word of mouth. So get key students involved in spreading the word to friends and other members from the group. Design (or have a student design) a logo or symbol to use to promote on posters, emails, websites, etc. Also advertise (if this is an outreach) that students can bring friends. We have also created "promo videos" which we show online and at the weekly gatherings which also develop excitement about the night. Check out the videos link below to see some of our promo videos. Layout the Evening. There are many different kinds of game types to play. For game types, see the link below. Here is an idea on how to schedule the evening: 6:00pm Students gather in meeting area 6:10pm Introduction, explanation of prescript, divide into teams. 6:20pm Begin the Nerf War (see after schedule on "Playing Rounds" 8:30pm Nerf War ends/Begin Cleanup and pool nerf darts into big pile 8:45pm Gather in meeting area for message, leaders separate darts by dart type 9:00pm Students gather their darts and equipment and leave with parents 9:15pm Building should be empty and locked up Develop a Message Depending on the night, this time can be moments of great enthusiasm and energy; pumping up students to be on fire for God. Or it can become a real intimate setting where students internally become passionate about God's involvement in their life. I encourage both... but not at the same time. Own the Night The more you get into character, dressing up, and being involved in the Nerf War, the more students will get involved and join you in it. If you treat this light-hearted; they too will be involved light-heartedly. If you need refs, I encourage to get or rotate through people so you (the leader) can be in the moment of the Nerf War making memories with the students. Remember the last rule in the Prescript - "Have fun... that's the point!" Nerf Wars LinksRules - Here is our set of rules, which we refer to as the Prescript. CLICK HERE to read it now.
Games - Here are different kinds of games we play. CLICK HERE for ideas and descriptions. Video - Here are clips and promotions for previous Nerf Wars events, CLICK HERE to watch. |