Tag Archives: Church

05.06.13
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5 Dangerous Lies Leaders Believe

5 DANGEROUS LIES LEADERS BELIEVEHere are a few lies that I was thinking of today about our student ministry that I DO NOT want to believe. You can apply these to any ministry that you are currently involved in:

  1. If we had our own space/room, we could do more effective youth ministry- Look, cool youth rooms are awesome. I get that, but should a room dictate how effective or ineffective our youth ministry is. We have met in a gym for years. Each week, we set up a full stage, full sound system, 100 chairs, and about 20 tables. Then, after youth group, we tear the entire thing down. It is transitional. It is part of where we are at. We can complain or contribute in the setting that God has placed us in. 
  2. We shouldn’t expect too much, because they are teens- Look, teens can change the world. Look at the recent revivals. Most of them (if not all) have been started by students. Teens can change the world so we should expect that, right? Look, I get it, they have a lot working against them, but so much more working FOR them. Expect much from them. Believe in every single student.
  3. Youth Ministry is all about fun- Fun is so important, but it is not the most important thing about youth ministry. Your purpose and vision should be the most important. Then, make that fun :)
  4. That is good enough- I hate the phrase, “good enough.” I have even been guilty at times for using this phrase. Let’s not have a “well, that is good enough” approach to the work that we are in. Students deserve more. Jesus Christ deserves more. Have a ministry that strives for excellence.
  5. I am to old to influence students- Some of our most effective leaders are a bit older. Do not think that you have to be this young, goatee wearing, guitar playing trendy leader to influence students. Be yourself, because students crave authenticity more than you trying to be cool.

Do not believe the lies!

11.29.12
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Poll: Does Your Church Have An Active College Ministry

We are working at revamping our college ministry at our church. I want to get your input on what your church does. Below is a quick poll asking if your church has an active college ministry. Then, in the comment section, let me know how active, and what the structure of it looks like:

06.19.12
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Enter for a chance to win “Viral” by Leonard Sweet

My friend Jonathan Pearson is giving away the book, “Viral” on his blog. You can enter to win this book by just checking out the blog, leaving a comment, liking his facebook page, etc. This book is about social media, and how it relates to ministry. The book shows how social media can help ignite revival. I encourage you to head over to his blog today, and enter for your chance to win, “Viral.”

Click here to enter for your chance to win!

06.14.12
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The Point of Christianity

Paul had enough morality to keep him out of trouble, but not enough righteousness to get him into Heaven. He was a Pharisee and knew the Law as much as anyone. Paul seemed fine outwardly, but there was nothing inwardly.

“Don’t fall in love with the performance or the practice of Christianity, but fall in love with the person of Christianity!”

The aim of Paul’s life was to know Christ. This was his ultimate desire. This was more important to him than any other thing in his life. He literally felt that if he did not know God in an intimate way, he failed as a believer. Let’s look at the phrase, knowing God. The word, “know” is a very powerful word. It is the most powerful form of the word know that we have in Scripture. It is an intimate word used for strongly knowing someone. It is way more than just acquiring knowledge about a person.

I love sports. I enjoy Duke basketball, and I hope that this does not affect you exiting this blog post. Do not hold it against me. I know a lot about the players at Duke. I keep up with our recruits in high school, and when they arrive on campus, I already know quite a bit about the players. Now, I know a lot about them, but I do not know them personally. If I was out in Durham, and saw a Duke player, they would not have a clue who I am. I am afraid that many “Christians” claim to know a lot about God, but do not know God personally.

You say, how do I know God? In John 14, Philip asked Christ, “Shew us the father, and it sufficeth us.” Jesus answered, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not know me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” He is revealed to us, and is there for us. Some of us have been saved for a long time, and I believe God is saying, have I been so long with you, and you still don’t even know me.

John 17:3, Jesus says, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”

Do you really know God?

Did you know that God desires to make your life His dwelling place?

I believe I have failed as a youth pastor if I do not teach you the importance of a personal daily walk with God.

  1. You experience the power of Christ- Philippians 3:10 says, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” The word, “power” comes from Greek word, dunamis. It is an intrinsic power or inherent ability. It is the strongest power possible in the entire world. Do you remember the story of the 3 Hebrew children thrown into the prison. They had boldness and confidence that was in a much higher power. They refused and the Lord delivered them. Daniel 11:32 says, “The people that know their God shall be strong.” Maybe the reason you are not strong is you really do not know God. If you know God the way Paul desired to know God, you will experience the power of Christ. “Trusting Him is not the secret to knowing Him, but knowing Him is the secret to trusting Him.”
  2. You will experience God’s presence- V. 10. Philippians 3:10: the fellowship of His sufferings. “We love God because He first loved us.” Before you ever thought about God, He thought about you. You did not get up one day, and say, I am going to be friends with God. He came to you, and made a way through Jesus Christ that you can now enter into a relationship with Him and experience His presence. Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” Through the priesthood of the believer, we can have access to the God of Heaven anytime that we need Him. The power mentioned in verse 10 is a good exciting thing, but the suffering is not as exciting. When you sign up for knowing God, expect to suffer more than ever before. C.S. Lewis said, “God whispers to you in your pleasure, but shouts to you in your pain!”
  3. You will experience God’s passions. The word, “conformable” means to make of like form with another person. Paul’s desire was that his heart and God’s heart would be knit together. If you begin to gain your desire to know God and make this your life ambition and goal, you will become more and more like Him. As you become like Him, your passion will be His passion. His passion was people. Knowing God changes your priorities and desires to His priorities and His desires!
[Question]: Do you know God personally, or do you just know a lot of facts about God?
05.30.12
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NEW College Ministry Blog

I was talking with an intern working in our church about his vision and plans for the college ministry of our church. His name is David Sheldon. David is beginning a sick college ministry in our church called, “The Well.” The ministry begins next week. We were chatting about blogging, and I challenged him to create a college ministry blog. We all know that this is one of the crucial yet neglected age groups in the church today. We looked, and did not find many solid college ministry blogs outside of simply youth. So, David created a new college ministry blog that I encourage you to check out! He is stoked about his vision for this blog and the ministry to college students. Subscribe and refer others to his blog today!

Visit David Sheldon’s college ministry blog here!

Connect further with David:
Twitter
Facebook
Blog

05.29.12
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How to use twitter effectively in student ministry

Twitter is an incredible tool for student ministry! I tweet regularly from my personal account (@grovepjosh) and from our student ministry account (@ugbcgrove). I have to admit, when twitter first came out, I was not into it at all. It took me some time before I got into it, kind of like my blogging experience. Now, I am finding it as effective  as any other communication with students. I want to give you a few thoughts about using twitter in your student ministry:

  • Promote your events- I use our student ministry twitter account to promote our events. I schedule tweets using hootsuite for the entire week. On the day of the event, I have scheduled many tweets promoting the event with a countdown, and more. Twitter is the best way to get info out quickly about your events.
  • Learn from others- Honestly, most blogs and articles that I read are referred through twitter. I have google reader, but I read many blogs because someone retweets an article or shares a blog post. It is a great tool for you to glean insight from others, and keep up with what others are doing in ministry.
  • Train your leaders- I share articles on leadership through my blog on twitter. I also share other articles on leadership and specifically student ministry leadership to my leaders through twitter for them to read! It can be used as a great quick training tool for your leadership.
  • Build Relationships- All of these social sites main goal is relationships. They are using these sites as tools for people to connect more with one another. I am starting to connect more with our students on twitter than I am on facebook. More and more of our students are moving from facebook to twitter each day, and it is a great way to connect with them where they are.
  • Share pics and updates on trips for parents/leaders back home- I update pics and status updates through twitter while away on events. I find it easier to do it through twitter, and send it to my facebook.

Twitter is great, and if you are not on there, make sure you get on there. The major negative that I am seeing on twitter is that many parents are behind and not on twitter yet so students are more bold in what they tweet than what they facebook, because most parents, church leaders, and teachers have facebook, but not necessarily a twitter account.

I would love to connect with you on twitter so follow me @grovepjosh. You can also follow our student ministry @ugbcgrove. If you have any further thoughts about using twitter in ministry, please let me know through the comment system below:

05.24.12
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Poll: What curriculum do you use in your student ministry?

We use Word of Life curriculum for our Wednesday program, and we use Word of Life for our Bible fellowship program (Sunday mornings). We are looking at changing from Word of Life in our Bible fellowship, and moving to something different. We are satisfied with our Wednesday Word of Life program, but wanting to do something new and fresh starting in the fall with our Bible fellowship curriculum. What curriculum do you use? Here is a quick poll, and I want you to comment below to let me know the positives and negatives of the curriculum that your student ministry uses:

Please comment below if you use something else not listed. Also, please let us know why you like or dislike the curriculum that you are using.

05.03.12
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7 Tips for following up with visitors

One thing that a growing ministry must be doing well is follow up. How in the world do we follow-up with visitors that attend our student ministry? This past year, I challenged our group to get involved in inviting other students to come. It is easy to get in the routine of who you have, and forget about the ones outside of the walls of your building. We have seen significant growth in our student ministry since the students accepted the challenge of inviting their friends. So, how do you now follow up with them? Here are a few tips on following up with your visitors:

  1. Introduce them to a small group leader- Most visitors that you see visit are invited by someone so allow them to go their friends’ small group. If the visitor is in a different grade or possibly a different gender, try to introduce them to their long term small group leader that night.
  2. Have them fill out a visitor form/card- Make this youth friendly! Have their contact information, but add a few things that students are interested in such as texting, twitter or facebook. Include an address and information about their parents.
  3. Text them a couple of days after their first visit- I always do this, and I program their number in my phone. When I text, I tell them who I am first, and send a generic text saying thanks for coming. Then, I ask how their day is going, etc. I try to keep in touch with them and thank them for attending our student ministry. Also, mention to them that you hope to see them again. Try not to be a salesperson though on your ministry to a new visitor. Get to know them and ask what’s up instead of saying, you need to come to youth group!
  4. Add the student and their parents on facebook- This is always fun for a student to get added on facebook by the youth pastor. It means something to the family when they get added.
  5. Contact the parents- I try to tell the parents, thanks for allowing their student to visit, and find out a little about them as the parents. I try to answer any questions that they may have as well.
  6. Get their small group leader to contact them through texting or facebook- It always helps to get someone else to contact them from your adult leadership team! I normally get a leader to contact the visitor.
  7. Get some students their age to befriend them on facebook and in person when they come back- We can do as much as possible on our end, but if the students are not befriending the visitors, it can only go so far. Target some of your students and encourage them to reach out to the visitors who visit your ministry!

Are you doing something for your visitors that is working? If so, please share it below!

04.27.12
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Freebie Friday: Free Ebook: Youth Ministry Tips & Ideas by Tim Schmoyer

Tim Schmoyer is the founder of Life In Student Ministry and is dedicated to facilitating discussions among Christian youth workers about youth ministry. He is the author of the Youth Specialties/Zondervan book, “Life In Student Ministry: Practical Conversations on Thriving in Youth Ministry,” a national youth leader trainer, speaker, and a super-volunteer at his church. You can learn more about Tim on his blog here.

Download the FREE Ebook HERE

Tim has compiled an ebook entitled, “Youth Ministry Tips and Ideas: 254 ways to fill your soul and fuel your ministry.” This is a great e-book that has many tips and ideas for you to implement in your student ministry. I have been reading through it, and love Tim’s practical insight on student ministry. Much of his writing comes from his blog conversations so it is written from many different perspectives. You can download the e-book HERE.

Download the FREE Ebook HERE

I would also encourage you to pick up a copy of his book: Life in student ministry: Practical Conversations on thriving youth ministry. You can purchase a copy HERE, and it is worth the read!

Connect with Tim Schmoyer:
Blog
Twitter
Facebook
Google+ 

04.23.12
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How to use Facebook in ministry

This may be a ridiculously obvious statement, but I use facebook in our ministry…..a lot! I would venture to say about 90% of our students use facebook regularly, I find it as a great tool to communicate and connect further with them. Here are some of the ways that I use facebook:

  1.   To see what your students are up too. Sometimes, this is a great thing, and sometimes it can be discouraging. The discouraging part is when your students are not up to good things during the week. That is when ministry gets tough, but it is what God has called you to do. Your facebook and any social media account can be a tattletail on your heart. I teach our students this, and using facebook helps you know the heart of the students you are working with.
  2. Create a fan page for your student ministry. I created a fan page for the Grove, and we have quite a few followers that are not even in our ministry that keep up to date with the ministry! This also is a great way to post events, status updates, lesson notes, photos, and videos. I post regularly on our facebook page to keep the students, parents, and leaders up to speed with what is going on.
  3. Email. I receive more facebook messages than I do email. Now, this is especially true when it comes to students, but now parents and leaders are facebooking me more than emailing. I now consider checking my email as checking my facebook messages. Message your students on here and let them know that you are praying for them. Encourage them through messaging. Do not be afraid to send a private message to a student.
  4. Event Sign Ups- I try to create an event on facebook for all of our Grove events. It is tough to do sometimes, but it helps me get the word out. I will say that the list of attending/non attending/and maybe’s are hardly ever accurate, but it gives you a rough idea. You also can share this event after you create on your own page or on your fan page as the event gets closer.
  5. Groups- Honestly, before fan pages, groups were the thing, but now fan pages are becoming better and more effective. For your student ministry, create a fan page and send it to your students, leaders, and parents. Update your status and everything about your ministry on your fan page. So, should we use groups? Absolutely! I still am in several groups for connecting and networking with other student pastors and leaders. I have been able to network with student pastors in our area through these youth pastor groups. Also, it is a great source for hands on practical conversations about student ministry!

Obviously, facebook is a great way to get the word out, but there is more to facebook than status updates, and I encourage you to connect with the students where they are, and they are on facebook.

If you use facebook for different ideas and things, please comment and let us know how you are using facebook effectively in student ministry: