Youth Ministry Relics of the Past

If you've been in youth ministry for any length of time, you know that the tools we use in ministry change. Sure, there are some tools that might stick around for decades, but there are several that have gone by the wayside, never to be seen again. I thought it would be fun to dig up some of those old relics and take them on a walk down memory lane. Not everything I list below are tools I've personally used, but all them have a special place in our youth ministry hearts. Here are some items from antiquity that you might remember:

AOL Instant Messenger. This baby was high tech. I remember having several conversations with students over Instant Messenger when I was a volunteer in college as well as in my first paid position. Did you know the ol' AIM is still around? I even still have access to my account, and a quick glance through my Buddy List reminds me of students I worked with over a decade ago. But these days, no one ever seems to be signed on.

Worship Songs with Hand Motions. "Pharaoh Pharaoh" and the hand motions to "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" are long gone, having given way to David Crowder and Hillsong.

Video of the Week: Jennifer Everett's Baptism

This is an incredible video our lead pastor pointed me to earlier this year. It's the testimony and baptism of Jennifer Everett, a young lady with Down Syndrome who was baptized at North Point Community Church in Atlanta this past February. What an amazing testimony:

Discipleship: Should Jesus Be a Part of Every Conversation?

Credit: Creative Commons (Clemson)

As a youth pastor, I spend quite a bit of time with teenagers. Appointments in my office, coffee at Starbucks, and one of my favorites as of late, getting in a quick nine holes at the local disc golf course. Sometimes, I'll meet with a student to talk about something in particular. Other times, like with disc golf, we'll get together just to have fun.

A while ago, a colleague of mine--who also spends a ton of time with teenagers--asked a question about the time we spend with teenagers: is it okay to sometimes hang out with teenagers and not talk about Jesus?



My first thought was I hope so.

Because there are plenty of times when I hang out with high school guys in our church and Jesus doesn't come up. It's not that I avoid talking about Jesus; it's just that sometimes we're just playing disc golf and having fun.

Ministry Idea: Senior/Graduate Lunch

Credit: Creative Commons (John Walker)

It's graduation season for most high school seniors. Not only is it a time to make sure to honor graduating seniors, but it's also a time when youth pastors try provide a meaningful end to their high school years, especially when it comes to their church life.

This year, we tried something a bit different. On our Graduate Recognition Sunday, we had a lunch after service for graduating seniors and their families. We made sure families RSVP'd beforehand, and then contacted every parent who was coming to let them know what we'd be doing during the lunch. We asked every parent to write a letter to their graduating senior and bring it with them. The only guidelines we gave for the letter was that it should include things they appreciate about their graduate and should finish with a prayer of blessing for their all-grown-up high school graduate.

Video of the Week: "I Love My Job" Facebook Video

This is a really cool video reminder of the blessing we have as youth pastors to be involved in students' lives:

Dear Youth Pastor (My Students Like Another Youth Pastor)

Note: If this is your first time reading "Dear Youth Pastor," please read this post first.

Dear Youth Pastor:

It's been a depressing week for me. Last week, I took my youth group to a concert at another church in our area. The concert went well, the kids seemed to have a good time, so when the last song was over, I thought it had been a great event. Boy, was I ever wrong. As we were leaving the church, I overheard some of our students talking about the guy who gave a short evangelistic sermon midway through the show. The speaker was the new youth pastor at the church that hosted the event. Apparently, everyone in our group really loved what this guy had to say, and one of our kids even said it opened his eyes to who Jesus really is! Now, they want to do MORE events with that church and have been asking when we'll hang out with them again.

As you can imagine, I was devastated. I'm supposed to be the one who changes my students' lives--not Jesus or other youth pastors! Have I lost my mojo? Where have I gone wrong? I'm really in need of some help.

Sincerely,
Pushed Aside in Pocatello


Pushed Aside:

I understand your pain, and you should know that you're not the only youth pastor to experience such pain at the hands of another youth pastor. Thankfully, it doesn't have to be that way. The key to bouncing back is to make sure everyone knows that youth ministry is all about you. Here are a couple of tips to help you along:

Five Things You Should Do This Summer

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In just a couple of weeks, June will be here. Students will be out of school, which means a different pace of ministry for a few months. By now, you probably have at least some of your summer calendar mapped out, especially if you're taking students on a mission trip or to a summer camp. A good summer ministry calendar's important, but unless you plan now, there are some important summer activities that you'll overlook or just won't get to. Here are some things you should be doing this summer:


Spend some quality time with your family. If you're in ministry and you're married -- with or without kids -- this one needs to be at the top of your list. Unless you've got kids in year-round school, summer affords a lot of opportunities to just hang with your family in ways that you can't throughout the school months of the year. And you don't have to go on an expensive Disney Land vacation to do it. Go on hikes. See if a local movie theater does morning family movies for younger kids. Organize "field trips" your family can go on together. Summer is a great time for making memories as a family.

Was It Enough?

This past weekend at our church, we honored our graduating seniors at all of our weekend services by bringing them up front and praying for them as a congregation. In addition, we held our first annual graduate luncheon where we invited families for a celebration lunch. After lunch, parents (or mentors) read a letter to their graduate in private that they had written, and then they prayed over their graduate as well. It was a really neat time.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be attending eight or so graduation ceremonies, plus many graduation parties. This class that is graduating is especially meaningful to me, because they entered high school when I began serving as the high school pastor at my church. These students have a special place in my heart, and I expect they always will.

In the midst of graduation parties and seeing an endless sea of graduates listen to their name called and walk across a stage, I am hit with the realization that I no longer have the same relationship with the students who have spent at least the past couple of years at our church. Sure, I'll try to follow up with just about all of them during their first year in college. And there will be a few that I'll be in closer contact with than others, not to mention the handful that will end up serving in our high school ministry once they've been out of high school long enough themselves. But despite spending just about every Sunday together for the past few years, despite the late night texts and the occasional tearful nights in the emergency room, and despite spending a week each summer in close quarters serving people in the inner-city or backpacking through the Colorado mountains, I may never have a meaningful conversation with some of those students again.

Free Resource: How Do I Talk About Sex With My Teenager?

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At times in the past when we’ve done a series on relationships, dating, marriage, and sex in our youth ministry, I’ve required students to come with a permission form signed by a parent. We didn’t require the form because I felt like our content required permission from parents to cover the topics we did (although you should always let parents know when you do talk about sex). The reason I required a permission form was because part of what parents were agreeing to was that they would have frank conversations with their teenagers before and during the series. I’m sure that not every parent followed through with what they agreed to in writing, but I do know that it encouraged many parents to have important conversations with their teenagers that they wouldn’t normally have had.

Ideas and Courage

Have you ever had an idea that you knew was a good idea, but no one believed you? Maybe it was a course of action that you believed an organization you worked for should take. Or perhaps it was a project to help other people you thought your family should take on, but your spouse just wouldn't go along with it. Or maybe it was just a new--or very old--way of life that seemed crazy to the people around you, but you just knew in your heart that while you couldn't fully explain it, it was the way things were meant to be.

You knew, you could see what should happen. You didn't know all the reasons, but you were sure it was the right idea, the right course of action, the right way to go. But because you couldn't give all the reasons, because it went against "the way we've always done things," no one would give your idea any traction.