Welcome To The “Youth Ministry Mentor” Blog!

Dedicated To Youth Pastors & Youth Ministry Volunteers

I want to welcome any and all paid and unpaid youth ministry workers to this blog that is designed specifically for YOU! It’s purpose is to train, support and encourage you, as you serve in what is certainly one of God’s most beloved and vital ministry arenas: Youth/Student Ministry. This is meant to be interactive, so please feel free to post your own thoughts, feelings, experiences and questions. If you would like to know more about me, simply click here.

So let’s get at it!

 

Youth Ministry Tips & Ideas (Free Download)

I came across a terrific book the other day, entitled “Youth Ministry Tips & Ideas“, by Tim Schmoyer. And a great thing about it is that it’s being given for a limited time as a FREE downloadable ebook!

It is a collection of 254 individual pearls of wisdom designed to fill your soul and fuel your ministry to students. Here are just a handful of the topics covered:

  • Recruiting volunteers
  • Communicating with your body language
  • Working with church leaders
  • Forming a prayer network
  • Invest in the lives of the parents of your students
  • Building relationships with teenagers
  • Getting teens to take ownership of the ministry and vision
  • Balancing your commitment to your family and your youth group members (more…)

Personal Monthly Goals For Youth Workers

I developed a form a few years ago that I would give to each of my volunteer team members, monthly (I’d use it myself, as well). It’s purpose was to establish personal accountability amongst each one of us and to help us be more intentional regarding our tasks. Please feel free to use it and tweak it, as you see fit.You can share it with other team members, or simply use it for your own benefit.

Naturally, it had a place for their Name and the Date they filled it out. Then it had several statements for them to complete:

1. My ministry goal for this month is…  This would typically have something to do with our specific role, such as, “I will have the youth room set-up at least 30 minutes before teens start arriving”; “I will spend my time before and after our youth programs hanging around with students, instead of just other volunteers”; “I will not wait until the last minute to prepare my message/lesson/devotional/Bible study”. 

I will accomplish this by...  In other words, this is HOW I will make this happen. For example, if your goal was the first one I mentioned, you might decide that “I will arrive one hour before we start to get set-up”. (more…)

What Are Your Most Pressing Youth Ministry Concerns?

Yes, what specific youth/student ministry concerns would you especially like us to address?

In other words, what specific topics would you like us to address on this blog and within our membership program? They can include, but not limited to the areas of understanding students, communicating with students, organization & administration, counseling, vision-casting, crisis management, team-building, helpful resources and your own personal needs.

So what I am asking you to do is share 1-3 specific topics in the Comments section for this post that you would most like us to discuss, and we’ll take it from there. Remember, this is OUR source for support, so I cherish YOUR input. Thanks!!!

Click on “More” link below to get to commenting page. (more…)

Hey, Youth Worker, You’re Never Going To Please Everyone!

Our pastor is preaching a series right now entitled, “Overwhelmed”. It deals with circumstances in our lives that can completely overwhelm us, if we’re not careful. Yesterday, he talked about DEPRESSION, and how he went through a 3-year period from 2007-2009, in which he, himself, suffered from extreme depression. And that was during a time when our church was experiencing fantastic growth, and seeing multiple conversions every single week.

The reason why that sticks out to me is that I know from my own experience that serving in the youth ministry makes a lot of us ripe for a bout with depression. It’s just the nature of the beast. Our programs fall flat. Teens, parents and other team members let us down. We feel overworked and under appreciated. We feel a sense of inadequacy. But the issue my pastor admitted wrestling with that I want to focus on, today, is “the desire to please everyone”. (more…)

10 Steps Toward Developing Student Leaders

What teenager is currently sitting in your ministry waiting for someone like you to believe in him/her?

Doug Fields

 

 

 

 

 

Probably a lot more than you’d imagine! I was one of those guys (and it’s not because of the 70′s perm)!

Everyone wants to be invited somewhere? No one wants to be left alone?

Please know that I realize developing young leaders is not as simple or formulaic as I will lay out (below), but it’s exactly what my youth pastor did to me when I was in 9th grade, and it’s what I’ve tried to do with many others over the last 30 years. (more…)

Volunteers or Youth Pastors: Who’s More Important?

I shouldn’t even have to address this issue, but I feel that I must. Why? Well, I’ll give you two reasons:

#1 – Unfortunately, there are  arrogant youth/student pastors out there who seem to think that their volunteer team members are insignificant flunkies.

#2 – Unfortunately, there are too many volunteers out there who think of themselves as insignificant flunkies. (This includes volunteers who work alongside youth pastors, as well as the majority of volunteers who serve in churches without a youth pastor)

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think reason #1 is the case in the majority of situations, but it’s still too common an occurrence…and that saddens me. But what saddens me even more are those volunteers I’m referring to in reason #2, of which I believe there are countless numbers in churches throughout the world. (more…)

Getting More Than Sunday School Answers From Your Students

Do you ever get frustrated when asking questions of your students, and all you get back are pat answers that reveal very little about what they’re actually learning and feeling? Maybe the problem is that you’re asking the wrong questions…or you’re asking the right questions in the wrong way?

I came across a short video, recently, in which one of my favorite youth ministry trainers addresses this issue. He talks about the “Sunday School answers” that our teenagers tend to respond with, using a very humorous story to make his point. And then he gives some great tips to help us ask better questions designed to evoke more personal and meaningful responses from our students.

(more…)

How Do You Minister To Students When Your Own World Is Falling Apart?

My oldest son called me on his way home from work one afternoon a few days ago, and asked me to meet him at Pizza Hut for lunch. I had already eaten, but of course I still agreed to join him. Besides, I had a sense that he had something serious to talk to me about.

I slid onto the bench seat across from him, and we began to chat about routine stuff. Finally, I just came right out and asked him what was really on his mind. The answer he gave me stunned me and ripped at my heart.

It seems our youngest son had contacted him earlier that day to let him know that he (youngest son) was in the process of admitting himself into an alcohol rehab facility that very afternoon. It was something we never saw coming. Sure, he lives almost 700 miles away from us, but we stay in touch regularly, and we had spent several days with him at Christmas time. Looking back, there wasn’t a single noticeable sign that there was anything wrong. (more…)

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