Thought Matt and Doug had a great series of questions for small group leaders to ask their students – getting to know your kids or getting to know them better. Head there for the whole list and some tips on how to use them, and if you’re not getting the daily email from YouthMinistry.com - sign up for it (it is FREEand awesome) right here.
35 trigger questions to spark conversation: 1. How are you involved at your school? (Clubs, cheer, band, sports?) 2. What was a highlight of your week? 3. What is something you did this summer that was fun? 4. What is your absolute favorite thing to do? 5. If you could have free tickets to any concert, where/who would it be? 6. What is your favorite subject at school? 7. Who is your favorite teacher and what do you like about him/her? 8. Are you the type who gets things done early or waits till the last minute? 9. What do you normally do when you have free time? 10. Where?s your favorite place to eat? 11. What?s the best Christmas gift you?ve ever received? 12. What?s the best thing that?s ever happened to you?
JG
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Summertime is in full swing, and Doug, Matt, and Josh are joined with week by Cathy Fields, sitting in for Katie. After recapping summer camp (and sharing some great ideas), the team discusses your questions. ;Topics include: not having enough leaders for camp,
On Thursday afternoon of last week I got a phone call asking if I would be willing to speak in our adult services the upcoming weekend due to Pastor Rick having suffered an eye injury. The conversation went almost exactly like this:
voice on phone: Kurt, Pastor Rick is hoping you can teach this weekend…he is still in quite a bit of pain.
Kurt: Ummm….ummmm….sure. I would be happy to. Is there something specific for me to speak on?
Voice on phone: No….do you have something in your file you can use on short notice?
Kurt: Ummm….ummmm….I have only taught adults three times in my life so my file is pretty thin.
Voice on phone: Okay. Thanks a ton for being willing to help out…you will do a great job.
I love my Pastor, I love my church, I love that they felt comfortable making a last minute request, and I loved the opportunity to speak to the adult congregation at our church. Here are a few observations that struck me.
- Adults are a pretty easy audience. The pressure I felt was purely one of what I would call “content creation”….can’t give adults the same level of content you can give JH students….BUT adults are an easy audience! They all want to be there, they don’t send text messages or get up in large clumps to use the restroom. They don’t flick the ears of the kid in front of them and they don’t pass gas loud enough for the entire room to hear.
- Despite that….they really are just big teenagers. They have similar insecurities, similar struggles and similar hurts…..they are just packaged a little differently.
- Many of them have no clue about our youth ministry. I was shocked at how many parents introduced themselves to me saying things like, “we had no idea the youth ministry was in such capable hands” or, “we have never been down to the youth area…what else is going on for my teenager” etc. This was an eye opener for me and a reminder that no youth pastor can assume parents are as informed, connected, in the loop etc as we often think.
- I am glad to be a junior high pastor! In 14 years at Saddleback, I have spoken in the adult services two times. I would certainly welcome the opportunity again, but last weekend reminded me that my giftedness and my calling (funny how those two [...]
It is frustrating to have to allow some app to compress you video or image files before you can upload them to your intended destination. Also frustrating is the cap on “over the air” uploading from your iPhone even when it is connected to WIFI. To top it all off, I like to have my video residing natively on YouTube and Facebook, but hate having to go through the painful uploading process twice. PixelPipe solves all of those problems.
PixelPipe focuses on one thing: publish photos, video, audio, text and files on over 100 online destinations. Basically that means it will put your media on every blogging, social media, and online storage site you can imagine.
Once you register for an account, you set up “destinations” like YouTube and Facebook and it adds them to your list of destinations. Then, once you are ready to upload, you select the media you would like to upload, click upload and it does the rest (one upload to multiple destinations). It has a 250MB cap which should make most of your HD clips uploadable; though, if you have edited them into a snazzy video, it may exceed the limit.
Its one flaw is its UI. Once you fire it up, it is not obvious how to go about selecting which destination you are uploading to at that particular moment (you have to go into settings>edit destinations and then [...]
Here’s just a few things I did in the last 2 years:
All this and my wife still likes me. That’s amazing. Well, I think that’s a testimony to the type of wife God has given me!
But the truth is my family and I need a break. I’m not burned out, but I don’t want to be either. I try (key word there is “try”) to keep up on email, Facebook messages, twitter mentions and DM’s, blog posts and comments, on and on. I think these things are ultimately helpful and I plan on continuing this part of my ministry. However, Sunday afternoon (after teaching at Colossae) I will be completely disconnecting from all these things for the next two weeks.
I’m going on vacation with my family. I’m not bringing my computer – I won’t even open it. I didn’t even want to bring my cell phone, but my wife talked me into that in case we happen to need to get a hold of one another. I’m sure it will take me 4-5 days before my brain shuts down, but I’m praying it will. I want to take naps, play with my kids, laugh as a family, and spend hours upon hours putting together Hello Kitty puzzles, building forts, and having tea parties with my girls. And I’m really looking forward to sitting outside, enjoying the beautiful Oregon summer weather, with my wife after our girls are asleep and just talking for hours with her – and not about ministry stuff.
I want and need to disconnect entirely. I have a lot to do before I get there, but I am looking forward to this time. See you August 2nd…
There are a lot of changes happening in our student ministries right now. In the midst of the crazy summer so many other components are moving in different directions. Many of the changes are great, and needed. And it will be exciting to see how God will unfold all that we have been praying for. But there are a few changes that I (as the wife) do not like so much and don’t understand. It is these changes that I don’t know what to say, and not say, and just what to do. My pride wants to shout at my husband, “Hey, did ya think it all through? Are ya real, REAL sure about that one?!” And my favorite, “Listen to me, listen to me, just listen to me!” BUT…..I know I shouldn’t.
I don’t know if I’m alone on this one, or what?? Anyone else fear change as much as me? I totally trust my husband and his call to this ministry. I do believe he is brilliant and gifted and a wonderful leader. Buuutttttt, what do you do when you don’t agree with it all?? Nothing? Pray? Vent, and visit this site?
I did take a big step (for me) this weekend. Our Pastor asked us to choose one area in which we would come to God daily for the summer and ask his guidance. I was certain that I was going to ask for wisdom concerning all these changes happening for us [...]
As a youth pastor in an urban setting, I need to be able to resource my youth group ona budget. A lot ofthe guys Italk too say the very same thing. I’m going to take the next week or so and talk about some resources and ways to be an Urban Youth Ministry Baller on aBudget!
My boy Scott Mills from LifeWay was feeling me when he wrote this….
As a student minister, I am sure you have to tighten your belt these days and make more youth ministry happen with fewer dollars. With the economy like it is, everyone has to make the most of what we have ? at home, at work, and in our ministry
Did you know that LifeWay has many options for Bible Study? We have options for all budgets, but you will not lose anything when it comes to solid biblical teaching that is built on a strategy for developing students spiritually. All our Bible study resources line up with a solid strategy to help students KNOW God, OWN their faith, and make their faith KNOWN. (www.lifeway.com/studentstrategy)
Here is how these resources compare per week if you have 1 teacher and 20 students:
Our friend, Doug Franklin, had a great post on his blog the other day about this difficult but important aspect of the ministry of youth missions. When/if to send an adult home from a trip. Our ministry has some of it’s own processes and steps we take in the context of what we do, and Doug’s thoughts echo our sentiments…
What do you think? Is our ministry and Doug’s thoughts on the right track? Do you agree or disagree?
While visiting one of our mission trip locations last night, I had the opportunity to witness a college student lead an entire group of participants through an experience that gave each and every one of them the opportunity to respond to the message of Jesus and the forgiveness He offers. Simply amazing…
This Leader (and his teammate) are completely in charge and in control of a mission trip location that will see about 600 people serve a community for the next 6 weeks of the summer. They received 2 weeks of intense training, passed through a difficult 4-step application process, and are being prayed for by hundreds of support staff around the country. And this team and 14 others like them around the country are the strongest staff members that we have. God has gifted this next generation of leaders in amazing ways. We trust them and Him. I love seeing God use them and work through them to change lives. What an amazing opportunity to witness God at work.
So… It all begins…
This week begins 7 straight weeks of ministry for our mission organization. It’s going to be a great summer of stories of lives changes, challenges met, and God working. We can’t wait to hear all that God is going to do throughout the summer.
And we want to hear from you! Please send us your stories of your mission trips this summer. We want to highlight all the work God is doing this summer. We can’t wait to hear how God is using your group.
God bless you in all the ways you serve this summer.
Chris Kidd is a youth leader in England who blogs about youth ministry. He recently posted a 6 part series of posts about Youth Mission Trips on his blog: Chris Kidd – applied youth ministry
It starts here with Part 1 and you can follow thru to Part 6. I would love to know what you think about how others in England are working through important issues in youth missions. Leave a comment…
Jason Chenoweth was selected to receive the 10 Free Registrations to 1 By Youth. His group is registered for the Indianapolis 1 By Youth event on May 1. Congrats to Jason!
I know Summer Camps and Summer Mission Trips aren’t the same thing but they happen at the same time of year. Head on over to MoreThanDodgeball to participate in a poll about the best time of the summer for big trips like Missions & Camps. Follow the link…
Just last month, Rick Lawrence, Executive Editor of Group Magazine, published a summary of a survey of thousands of teenagers. Each year Group Magazine gives a survey to each participant at Group Workcamps and Group Week of Hope. The survey results are published here.
I hope you take the time to read thru the information. It’s interesting stuff. And pretty insightful. I would love to know what you think. Is it surprising? Do you not agree? Leave a comment and let me know what you think…
If you’re still looking for a good, fun Easter activity for this weekend’s youth group gathering. Here’s something from Toby with Group Workcamps.
In-the-Dark Egg Hunt & Devotional
Have a blessed Easter. He is Risen!
I was very proud when our ministry launched 1 By Youth at Simply Youth Ministry Conference last month (Doug Fields announcement was posted here a couple days ago). We’re very excited about this national one-day service event. The first 2 locations are this spring in Manassas, VA on April 24 and Indianapolis on May 1. I would love for every youth group from the Indy and DC areas to participate. The dream is to have over 1,000 people transform an entire neighborhood in each community in one day (the bigger dream is to have 1,000,000 teenagers serving some day…). In order for a dream like that to happen, it has to be easy…. So, 1 By Youth is only $29 and you can register your group now (so we know exactly how many people to prepare for) and pay the day of the event.
To help get as many involved as possible, we’ve giving away 10 free registrations. Simply leave a comment to this post between now and April 7. On April 7 a winner will be selected. So, please check out 1 By Youth and register your group soon. We don’t want you (or anyone) to miss out on this amazing service event. If you “win”, we’ll credit your group 10 free registrations. Good luck!
I wrote this article a couple years ago for youthministry.com. It’s a good reminder for all of us this spring before we begin to take our trips this summer.
Changing lives. Serving those in need. Witnessing God work in our midst. All of these things are important and reasons we do mission trips. But bringing kids home safe is the basic, important thing we can do…
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