Tools That Help Me In Youth Ministry

There are a few tools that really help me do what I do as a youth pastor.  I thought I'd share a few of them with you.  To qualify as a "tool" an item needs to:

• Not be indispensable.  The Bible doesn't count as a tool for this reason (because it's indispensable to what I do), so don't get freaked out that it's not #1 on the list.
• Help me do what I would normally do, only better, faster, or cheaper.  It can't just be really cool, it's got to be worth what it costs.

So, here are my favorite tools:

My iPhone 4.  Believe it or not, I'm not a gadget freak.  Until this summer, I had never bought a phone that cost me more than $20.  And my MacBook that I got as a gift in 2006 does me just fine, than you very much.  So, know that while I love browsing at the Apple store, I don't just go out and buy new electronics very much.  I had an original iPhone that my brother gave me when he upgraded to the 3GS.  It was really helpful, but the battery life was fading quickly (I was charging it twice a day), and was getting quite slow, even though I had only downloaded five applications.  So, I decided to get the new iPhone 4 when it came out.  Here's how it's been helpful:

• The camera is great for quick shots, and the HD video camera is great.  Certainly not professional grade, but it's come in really handy when I want to capture a hilarious game we're playing with the youth.
• I use it all the time for quick access to our YouthTracker.net database (see below) to update a student's cell phone number or to sneak a peak at a student's profile when I'm going to their athletic event and can't remember a parent's name.  I can also send a mass text when we've cancelled our weekly summer evening at the park due to lightning.
• Updating Facebook.  When I'm at an athletic or drama event of one of our students, I'll snap a picture and post it.  They love it.
• Getting directions.  I love the GPS and Maps app.

YouthTracker.net.  We love this database tool.  I know it's great because whenever the topic of perhaps moving to something different comes up, our administrator (somewhat jokingly) threatens someone's life.  It's all online, it was built with youth ministry in mind, and it works.  And in the rare case that something doesn't work, the customer service is amazing.  We pay $165 a year per ministry, and it's well worth the money.  We keep track of small group attendance, students can register and pay for a retreat online, and I love the mass texting feature (costs extra, $0.025 per text per recipient as of this post).

iMovie on my MacBook.  I use a PC at church, but for editing a quick movie, nothing beats iMovie.  I know there are some fancier options out there that don't cost a lot, but it was free with my Mac, still works four years later, and I know how to use it.  Of course, I don't do anything all that complicated--we have a great group of students who produce videos for our ministry, and they handle all the heavy lifting when it comes up.

Cranium.  It's my favorite board game hands down, and it's great for a variety of group sizes.  And if you have too many people just buy another copy of the game.  One thing, though: students increasingly don't recognize the songs on the "Humdinger" cards.  It makes me feel old.

Bluefishtv.com: There are actually a lot of great sites out there that provide video illustrations, but this is the one I frequent the most.  Videos are usually only $2.99, and well worth it.

YouTube: Our students produce some great videos, and we make sure they are on YouTube.  I've thought about moving to Vimeo, but YouTube just makes it so easy, and it finally plays nice with Facebook.

What are your favorite tools?

Update: Danny Ferguson has a post on the same topic...check it out!

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