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The 5 WORDS That Should Describe EVERY Youth Ministry!! · Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Today we're talking about five words that should describe every youth ministry.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we give you weekly tips and tactics to help you fast track the growth and health of your youth ministry.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: My name is Jeff Laskola and this is Kristen, lola, and today we're going to talk about five words that should describe your youth ministry.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: This could also be five words to describe your church, so I say it fits for either one, and we as a church had made these words kind of like our mission statement for many, many, many, many years.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: Our mission statement is shifting slightly, wording wise, but I think these and it's nice because they all start with W, so that's going to be- fun, you know how pastors love alliteration, but I think that these are kind of tried and true things that if they, if someone could leave checking the box on all these of our churches, like our church culture or youth ministry, I would say it's a win.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: So obviously number one.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Do you have a guess what?
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Worship.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: That's one of them.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Ok well, I don't want you to give them all away welcome.
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: So we want to create a welcoming environment and here's why this like seems so like duh, but also kind of tricky, because who decides if it's welcoming or not?
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: And that can be a little bit like is this a subjective question?
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Is this an objective question?
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: And how could you possibly find the answer?
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: Because I think everyone would like to say, of course we're welcoming, but welcome is a tricky enigma because it often is a blind spot for people.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: I remember, oh painfully.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: So our church does these communication cards and when someone attends church on the weekend they can write anything on their communication card and as long as it has their name on it, we will read it, because if it's anonymous you can't really do much with that.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: So if it has our name on it, we read it and are like, oh my goodness.
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: And I remember this person wrote this one and it just was a dagger to my heart and she said something like I've been coming for a few weeks and no one has even said hello to me, or something like that.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: And I remember thinking, well, that's not what I would say.
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: Our church is like.
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: I wouldn't say we are not, we don't say hello to new people.
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: For me.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: I'm like I probably just didn't even know you were new, like I hardly ever get out of the junior high room and we always have new people at our church.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: I don't know who's new and who is someone I haven't met and, you know, somehow this lady slipped through the cracks.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: But I would not say that is like that's not a accurate overall description of our church, and so how do you find the answer to are we welcoming?
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: Well, do you get people that consistently say what that lady said, like and that's like the only time I can remember anybody saying something like that or like a secret shopper kind of experience?
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: So, whether that's somebody from a different church or a friend you have, or someone from another campus or maybe a newer family, if you were just able to ask, what was your experience like when you first came to our church?
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: Was it easy to get connected and what are you measuring as welcoming?
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: So I would say welcoming is did that person feel seen?
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Did that person have access to information to get connected?
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Did that person have opportunities to get connected if they'd like to Were there?
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: Options for new people.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: Or is it like, oh, all of our Bible studies are full?
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: Like.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry there's nowhere for you to go.
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: Oh, we don't have any room for you on our serving teams, they're all full.
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: Or are we looking for you to go?
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Oh, we don't have any room for you on our serving teams, they're all full.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: Or are we looking for ways to connect you, to plug you in, to introduce you Stuff, like it could be a?
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Well, we do things called welcome desserts.
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: So like quarterly, if you're, if you've been coming to the church within the last three months, then attend one of these welcome desserts and all the pastors and the pastoral staff meet and have food and you can ask questions and we kind of go over the vision of like, here's what we do and why we do it and how we do it.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Here's how you can be involved, how can we answer any questions you might have?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: And we ask questions like why did you come the first time?
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: Why did you come back?
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: And then, based on their station in life, where can we plug you in?
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: You know, do you have a junior higher?
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Well, let's tell you all about our junior high ministry.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: A high schoolers, tell you all about our high school ministry.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: So that's sort of like what it might look like at a 30,000 foot view of, like the main church.
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: But when it comes to your youth ministry, how are you getting students plugged in?
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: How do they go from that outer ring of the funnel to closer and closer and closer to the core?
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: So they come and check it out.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: You get their information.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Then you send them a welcome card.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Or you know if you're more of a texter, if you have their cell phone, like, hey, it was so great to meet you, so glad you came, blah, blah, blah.
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Send the parent an email hey, wondering if you guys would like some more information on how to get involved.
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: Here's a link to our website or here's a copy of our calendar or something like that.
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Then they come on a midweek program.
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: You get them involved in a small group.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: You introduce them to people in their same age and station in life as the best chance of connection.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: You encourage them to go to camps and events.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: When student leadership rolls around, you know if they're a candidate and they're ready for that.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: You funnel them into that.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: So you're always looking for ways to get people from the outer rim to the inner rim, to the inner rim to core, core, core, so that they can continue to go inward into the church and not just leave out the back door.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: Well, I came, I saw no one really knew my name and then I left.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: So are we being a welcoming environment?
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Do we see those new people?
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: And I think one of the keys to this is always having fully like my turn for my team right now is full engagement guys, full engagement as leaders.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: You're not on your phone on the weekends as kids are trickling in and out.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: It's full engagement.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: You're playing four score with them.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: You're looking at the door, you're seeing if any new kids or families or parents are coming in.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: Then you're playing video games with them.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Then that kid's by himself.
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: Let's connect him over here.
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: Let's ask him if he wants to play this game, start throwing the football around.
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: You are fully engaged the entire time.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: And that is what I've seen the difference between a very welcoming environment and kind of a stale environment where a kid walks in, the adults are disengaged, nobody's looking out for them, students are kind of in their own world and there's nobody to look out for you.
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: My leaders on Tuesday are really good about this.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: Of new families and parents that come in.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: They're like hi, who are you?
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: My name is Heidi.
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: Um, you know I'm one of the volunteers here.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: Let me introduce you to Kristen.
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: What's your kid's name, let's get an info card filled out for them.
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: And when we train our teams on this it's so dynamic because then it's not just us like as the pastor, like trying to welcome everybody and connect everybody.
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: But when we train our teams and they're bought into this vision of how to get people connected, then they can take the ball and run with it and start welcoming parents and families and have the skills to talk to new people and stuff like that, whereas disengaged adults really hinder the welcoming process in youth ministry If they're just with a couple of kids they know, or they're on their phone or they're just chit-chatting with one another, which I don't mind when my leaders hang out, as long as they have a radar to look around them and say where am I needed right now?
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: Where's the wanderer, where's the kid who you know needs a little push and figuring out where they fit in?
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: this big program, and so multiply yourself in those efforts by connecting with your volunteers.
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Another thing I would add to that.
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: This is your church as a whole, but as well as the youth ministry is easy to follow, signage or you know, like when you walk in you don't want to have to question I don't know where I'm going, I don't know where I need to be, like is there a youth room or is there not?
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Where's the sanctuary?
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: As long as everything is, and I know, you know, obviously you, wherever your church is, it was may have been built 200 years ago or something, and you maybe you can't control exactly where the youth room is now, because that was once a cafeteria or whatever it is, but as long as you can guide people down the right way so they can kind of figure out.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: Ok, now I know where to go, way.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: So they can kind of figure out.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: Okay, now I know where to go.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: And that's like a pet peeve of mine is when there's like signs.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: It's usually like when you're in the mall and you're trying to like find a restroom or something, and it says restrooms and there's an arrow and you're like, walk that direction.
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: And you're like and now, like, where else is?
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: it.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: So, as long as you have clear directions, you know where to go, and then, like you said, people there to kind of know, facilitate, especially if there's those people kind of like I'm not quite sure to be able to intercept them and say, hey, are you new?
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: You know, where are you, where are you looking to get to?
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: And things like that can make a um, such a huge impact.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: And another thing, and this is more probably on the church side as a whole but if you can have somebody that not only could be there for looking for new people, to point them in the right direction, but to actually like physically take them, you know it's like oh, like you know you're new here, oh, you have a middle schooler or middle school rooms down.
• 9:53
  Speaker 2: That way, that's great.
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: But let's take that to the next level and say I will take you there and then you can ask them questions along the way.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: And then, once you get there, you can say you know, here's the youth pastor, here's some of the volunteers, and meet them, hand them off.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: So it's not just go that way.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Right, good luck.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're on your own, which is good but that's like a B effort.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: But to go for that AA plus physically take them there, it's such a.
• 10:16
  Speaker 2: It's a total different experience.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: It is.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: You're right, that's a great point.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: um the signage thing and helping them, you know, figure out where to go and not just like, all right, well, good luck down there you know, um, and it's embarrassing too, like if you feel like, can everyone tell I have no idea what I'm doing or where to go or what to do.
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: You know you really want to wrap your arms around those people as quickly as possible so that they don't feel like I'm the new weirdo that, like everyone seems to like be flowing in a direction and I'm not in that flow yet.
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: And along the same lines.
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: The second W is warmth, and I think these two overlap really well.
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: I heard a great quote a couple years ago that warmth is the new cool and I loved that and I think this one is more.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: It's like sometimes hard to teach.
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: You know, like I think even welcoming can be a little hard to teach, but that seems like it has more strategy to it, whereas warmth is like a personality and I think this can be taught.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: It's just harder to teach.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: But, like again, is this objective, subjective?
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Who decides what a warm environment is?
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: And I would say like the biggest word for me that comes to mind is affection.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: So like behavioral affection, like being affectionate and generous in our behavior toward people.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: So that would be like seeking them out, calling them by name, being happy to see them I always train my students on are you a here I am or a there?
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: You are kind of person and warmth would be a there you are type of mentality Meaning.
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: when you see someone coming, you are, like, you know, one of my old students.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: He's on our facility team.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: Now I see him every week, james, and I'm like always genuinely so excited to see him.
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Like James what's up and we do our funny little handshake.
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: That makes no sense.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: It's different every time.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: We say a couple movie quotes from the Barbie movie, and like go on our way, you know, but it was like such a warm interaction, like we laughed, we hung out and then, you know, life moved on and warmth is seeing people acknowledging them, having some time of affection with them, like that brotherly, sisterly love of like I'm so happy you're here If it's appropriate.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: You know those side hugs or high fives or like my students are physically affectionate, like they, like the girls, like they want to put their head on my shoulder, like during worship, or they want to link arms or they want to be near and stuff like that.
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: You know boys might want to high five or something like that, but I feel like the silly affectionate humor really goes far in youth ministry of like I love having little inside jokes with students.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Um, there's one of my favorite students.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: He always like salutes me every time, you know, he sees me for the first time at church and then I'm like salute him every time you know he sees me for the first time at church and then I'm like salute him and then I say like at ease, and or I say as you were, or something like that, and that's all.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: It took two seconds but we had a like connection moment.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: So look for those little points to be behaviorally affectionate toward people.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Just that human interaction, like very informal too, is what I've noticed.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: I think sometimes pastors get a little formal and sometimes I make fun of that in order to be affectionate, like I'll see people and I'll be like brethren, blessings upon you, you know and they like laugh and think it's funny.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: Just to say like, hey, like we can be casual.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: We can be off the cuff.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I'm so happy to see you that friendly culture.
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: We're not overly formal here.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: We're huggers, not handshakers, we're fist bumpers.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: It's just.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: I think it just helps people relax and feel human.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: You know, like that's always my passion and vision for church to feel as human as possible, as natural and relaxed as possible, like that.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: This is not some stuffy environment where you have to pretend to be something you're not, because I think that has some spiritual implications that worry me a little bit.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: When we feel like when we walk into this building I dress differently and some people see that as respect like it should be different, it should be serious, it should.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: But to me and maybe it's just the environment I grew up in, it made me feel like my spirituality was a separate box from my humanity, instead of it all being one picture of no.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Like you can be silly and spiritual, you can be funny and love the Lord, you can be relaxed and you don't have to be so buttoned up to impress God.
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: Like we can just be human because he made us to be, human and he was human and there's not like some performative expectation here.
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: But let's just have a great time, chill, be kind, warm hearted toward one another.
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: And I think that was a breakthrough for me and my spiritual walk to realize, okay, you don't have to wear tights and a dress.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: And church equaled discomfort, church equaled boring.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: Church equaled something I wasn't looking forward to, because it didn't match the rest of my personality or week, but it's like you don't have to change your personality for the next two hours.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: How refreshing, and I think that's how Jesus would want it to be.
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: And I know people who prefer a different style, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: I think God can meet us in a more formal environment, Absolutely.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: For me it just didn't feel natural.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: So I think that's what I mean with warmth, and so you know everyone's going to bring their own culture to the table when it comes to warmth, and that will probably likely lead out of humor, affection and surprising kind of shock and awe like surprisingly informal.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: I guess, you could say, you know of, just like we're all buddies here, you know it's not like, oh, pastor Kristen, good morning.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: You know like, no, like we're all just doing this together.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Let's have a great time.
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: I think a bare minimum that everyone should try and do for the leaders and for the youth pastors is know your students' names, or at least as many of them as you possibly can.
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: And I know that's hard and I'm like just as bad as anybody else at remembering names.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: But sometimes, even if you don't remember the name, but you remember like something about them, you know where, like at least.
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: So it's not just very hello you, you're still breathing air, you know like there's nothing personal whatsoever.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: But when you can relate with somebody and you're like, oh, you remembered that, or you remembered my name even.
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: Um, personally, there's an event I've gone to, I want to say like six or so years in a row, and the guy who puts it on.
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: It's not a big event.
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to say what it is, I'm not going to give any hints or clues, but one of the head guys who puts it on, he's very personable and will greet you and it's like it's like oh man, like you remember me.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: It is so evidently clear after six or whatever years, he has no clue who I am now.
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: I'm very forgettable.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I'm okay with that.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: I'm okay with you not start.
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: I'm okay with you not knowing my name or anything like that, but that's like, after this long you don't remember like yeah anything about like I don't wreck, you don't recognize anything yeah it's just and I'm not there for him anyways, but I'm just like, wow, like you're not even good at faking it like it's so bad you should write notes.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: There's a guy I do business with about once a year and he always goes didn't you get married?
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: Like, yeah, 13 years ago.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: And then the next year when I see him, wait, you, you, congratulations, you got married.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Uh, yeah, like I have two children.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: Well, that's going to be right, or not?
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah, oh, whatever, you see a lot of people, I get it.
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I know what you mean Like remembering those little personal things if you can, about people, at the very least their name, because that means a lot to people especially, and I this never really hit me, but one of our pastors is like, especially people in leadership, like if the head person or the pastor or the person in leadership remembers your name, it means even that much more.
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: And I never looked at myself that way of like you're welcome.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I remembered you, you little like how precious your little name I.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: It never hit me, I just kind of saw like we're all, like I don't know, I didn't see myself separate than anybody yeah and they pointed out like hey, when you say it it has more weight, when you remember it it's more special, just because, like you're the one on stage you, you know so they see you as like oh wow, they know me you know kind of thing.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I was like, wow, Okay, good to know.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: So whoops, all right.
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Number three you said this one, do you remember?
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: Worship.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Worship.
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: Good job, Jeff.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: We want to be obviously a worshipful environment.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: I would say the most typical expression of that in the American church is musical worship, so teaching our students how to worship.
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: We did an episode on that.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Jeff will link it.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: I sure will Good job, jeff, that'll be my cue.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: I remembered your name.
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: Hey thanks, do you feel special?
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: I remembered your name.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: Hey thanks, do you feel special?
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: You got married a while back at some point.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: Yes, Are you still working at that job?
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: I did get that one time.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Someone said that he's like are you still working at that?
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: job, I am.
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: I am.
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: And I'm so glad you remembered.
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: Thank you, wow, that means a lot my job yeah.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: You'll link it, jeff, right, mr Jeff?
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: This guy.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: So I think it's hard sometimes in a smaller youth group to get a worship leader.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: I know like that's the dream a lot of times for, like, I wish I had a worship band.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: Yes, I'd love to do worship with my, with my students.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: So keep that as a goal.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: If that's not where you are right now, keep that as your goal to find that person, pray for that person to come, someone who can at least lead acoustic with maybe a cajon or something like that.
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: I feel like you can create a worshipful experience for students, teaching them different practices, like taking them through spiritual disciplines of prayer and reflection confession, communion, you know, obviously singing songs and worship, reflection, all of that.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: It's like, I think, teaching them how to worship as a lifestyle and giving them opportunities for that.
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: Especially, I think high schoolers crave a little bit more of that depth and reflection time to just sort of sit with the Lord and teaching them how to do that.
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: One thing our students do at camp that I think is a beautiful part of worship is solo time, where we force them, force jinx, so like after maybe the morning session, we give them solo time, questions and they can sit out in nature.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: Nature.
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: I know my throat hurts.
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: I'm trying really hard.
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Sit out there in nature and have some prompts and we always give them like, hey, before you start, pray and ask God to show up and teach them how to do a solo time.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: So a lot of times we tell students make sure you're spending time with God, spend time with God, make sure you're reading your Bible, spend time with God, make sure you're reading your Bible, spend time with God.
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: And we don't actually teach them how to do that.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: I think for like a 12-year-old, that could kind of be like well, here I am, it's quiet, I read a verse, am I done?
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: So give them structure and teach them how to do that.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: So first you pray and you ask God to show up and meet you here and to speak to you.
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Then you read a passage, then you answer a couple of questions that we've provided for you so you can write those for your students and have them available.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: You can do it at camp, you can do it during a worship night, you can do it once in a while and then give reflection points of like where has God shown up in your life in terms of forgiveness, or where has God shown you that he has provided for you, or where did God, help you see the good in someone when it was difficult for you.
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: The younger they are sometimes, the more specific they need it to be.
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: Instead of just reflect on God's love, it's like God loves me.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: All right whatever.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Check, check.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: So yeah, giving them tools to be able to do that, teaching them the meaning of baptism and giving opportunities for that, that's a great act of worship.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Teaching them about communion and what that means.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: So all of this I would put under the category of worship.
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: And when worship is put in the language, I guess, of the person who's worshiping, it is very powerful.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: Like, we got back from winter camp a week ago and we were asking our students this morning at church what was your favorite part of winter camp, un?
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: They all said worship and it was totally deep, relevant worship, but in the language of junior high, so it had lights, it was a tempo that they could.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: You know, like I I didn't sing hymns with them- there's nothing wrong with hymns I love a hymn but for junior hires I'm like you know what.
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to ask you to sing the word like a fetter when you have no clue what that means.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give it to you in your language so that worship feels completely relevant to who you are in 2025.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: In 2025.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: And so being strategic with putting people, setting them up for success in worship and not making it feel inaccessible to them, I think it can be like we can overshoot and be like well, the really deep Christians will get it.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: And it's like well, what about everybody else?
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: You know like I think sometimes we dangle it inaccessibly to see how badly do you want it.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: I don't think we could verbalize that, but I feel like that can sometimes be the motivation of a pastor's heart.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: Well, if you don't get it, work harder Instead of showing the simplicity and the accessibility of worship and the gospel and that it's for everybody.
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: If you're a baby Christian and just starting out, or if you're a longtime Christian and been doing this forever and you want to go deeper, but try to hit that mark of accessibility to show them you can understand this, you can sing these words.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: We're not locking it behind.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: You know this perceived depth so that we feel exclusive or elitist.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: We want you to know this is for you, jesus is for you as a 12-year-old in 2025, you can access this All right.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: And the fourth W work.
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: Meaning opportunities to serve.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: Meaning opportunities to serve.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: So I think that is a definite must.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: When it comes to getting people plugged in, where can they serve?
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Where can they help?
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: How can they use their gifts?
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: And it makes me cringe when we tell people that we're full and we have no opportunity for them to serve.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: We're full and we have no opportunity for them to serve.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Like impossible, find somewhere.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: We have a pastor at our church named taylor and she is so, so good at putting people not just like you are on serving team one seven five.
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: It's like you would be so good at being an usher, like you've got that tenacity to like move quick and put people where they need to sit and you see the like.
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: I could see you being like really good at that.
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: Or I, you're so friendly.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: I can see you being a great greeter.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: You know like she puts people on teams based on their abilities and gifts and interests and all of that, and is willing to move and pivot if they need something else.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: So all that to say whether it's inside the church and then outside the church serving opportunities.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: Just, I think a church should be just drenched in opportunities for people to get involved and be the church.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: I think that is a huge milestone in spiritual development.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: So for youth ministry, what that looks like is through I use it through the avenue of my student leadership, student discipleship team.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: You know their jobs.
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: They come and run tech, they come and do worship hand motions, they come and do announcement videos or help in the worship team or help clean up and set up all kinds of different things.
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: So people need a place to engage their gifts with the body of Christ instead of that just being like, oh, that's pastor work or leader work, but this is like all what we're doing.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: So giving students an opportunity to serve.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I mean, we talked a ton about that on our student leadership episode and that, I think, is the best vehicle for that, just because it gives organization.
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: So if you don't have a student leadership team, I would highly, highly, highly recommend it.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: If you don't, would highly, highly, highly recommend it.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: If you don't have the capacity to do that, then you could just have jobs that students sign up to help with and do and it is.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: It's going to be more work for you, because managing volunteers and leaders and jobs and all of that is a whole lot of work, but I feel like it creates an environment that people feel.
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: It's like a sticky environment in the sense that, like they, they've like laid roots and they want to stick around and they want to stay because they're invested.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: When you start to be a shareholder and, like you're doing the work too, you have a vested interest in this place.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: You feel a part of it.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: You feel like it has your name on it, it has your fingerprints on it, and I feel like it creates a really neat culture that's kind of contagious of people getting bought into everything you're doing.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: It's almost like this trickle down effect.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: It's like, well, I only help with worship, but suddenly a light bulb went on that Now I'm kind of invested in everything we're doing here because I feel like my fingerprints are on this thing.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to come to the events, I'm going to come to the camps, I'm going to, you know, be excited about what we're doing instead of, like you know, when you're just on the sidelines and you feel like you're just kind of watching things happen, it's hard to get excited.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: It's like, well, I don't know, this isn't my thing, this is your thing.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: So where can you create opportunities to make it their thing, not just your thing as the youth pastor, but where is it?
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: This is our thing.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: Guys Like I mean, you need to be invested of whether this thing sinks or swims, because your name's on it too, and I think that's the power of work, of serving of, like I put in the time, I put in the work, I put in the effort, like my name's on this.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: And the last one is word, because if we're not teaching the word, what are, what else are we doing here?
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: What's the point?
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: It's like a boys and girls club at that point.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: So, yeah, a word that should describe your youth ministry is that students are hearing and understanding the word every single week.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Truth is transformative.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: Our students have got to know the truth and that one doesn't need a lot of time, because I feel like it's obvious and taking our role as teaching the word very seriously and making sure that every week like I love what one of our pastors says he's like there's no throwaway weeks.
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: No throwaway weeks, you know.
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: You know those weeks where you're just tired and you're like I don't know, like let's just like chat or hang out or like just have ice cream or something he's like don't ever have a throwaway.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: We give them something.
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: You know.
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: You think of it in terms of eating, like what if this is the only meal they got all week long, cause they might not be feeding themselves at home?
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: And the fact that they're here you've got them.
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: Do not waste the opportunity.
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: So we try to create an environment that is so junior high friendly, but we just hose them with the truth every single week.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: We do not hold back the power of the gospel in every single thing we do, because if you just serve and have a lot of friends and feel welcome, but you never knew the truth, then who cares?
• 31:55
  Speaker 1: You know again.
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: It's like we're not trying to create YMCA boys and girls club environments where we just learn how to get along and be nice to each other and go home and feel good about ourselves, but without the gospel, none of this matters.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: So, making sure, like a student, that it would be impossible for them to be attending your youth group and ever mistake the power and the truth of the gospel.
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: Are we talking about it all the time, pointing to Jesus all the time and everything that we do, making him the reason for everything that we do?
• 32:34
  Speaker 1: And so, yeah, that challenge with your teaching is are we leaning a little too topical?
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: Or are we always just talking about how to be a better friend?
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: Well, why are we a better friend?
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Well, like, let's talk about what Jesus did for us and when we have him as the foundation of how we live our life, we will treat our friends differently.
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: We've been forgiven huge.
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: Who are we to withhold forgiveness from other people?
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: So you can talk about friendship, but put it in the light of that and not just like a moralistic type of feel good message where it's like let's, this is the be good club and we're all going to learn how to be good, but it's like well without the foundation of the gospel.
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: None of this matters If you're a good friend or not if you don't know Jesus who cares, you know.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: So, anyways, those are the five.
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: I think you could make them big to like be your church culture and then you can make them put them on more of a smaller scale of like.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: This is how I want our youth group specifically to be described yeah, and obviously this.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: There's a lot of episodes we can point you to.
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: I know we talked in this one about welcoming people.
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: We have an episode on how to make new students feel welcome in your youth ministry.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: We have one about how to start a worship team, so make sure you check that one out.
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: And also you mentioned the student leadership one as well.
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: So the question of the day this week, this one, is disney related it's what is a movie that people give you that, oh my gosh, you haven't seen.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: Fill in the blank movie disney edition well, I guess it's considered disney now star wars.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: I figured you were gonna say, but I saw four, five, six.
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I just never saw one, two, three, because by the four, okay, yeah because by the time I saw four, five, six, I'm like I'm exhausted, I cannot keep doing this.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: I just felt like respectfully, I know some of you guys are- In love.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I almost said Trekkies, but that's something totally different.
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Star Trek, star Wars, it's all so boring.
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: How dare you I?
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: know I'm sorry.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: I tried, I gave it a really big try, but I could not do one, two, three.
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I just feel like I'm held accountable for my how I steward my time and Jesus is going to look at me someday and be like I don't know, like, so, like you wasted all those hours on something so boring.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: Kristen.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Like I gave you life and that's what you did.
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go ahead and cut you off right there Before you dig your hole any deeper.
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah, with Marvel and with Star Wars wars there's probably a lot gosh.
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: I didn't think about marvel holy moly well, for me it's what's the worst.
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: I think I've seen all the marvel, all the star wars you're gonna be accountable for that time I know well done, good and faithful servant for me is um.
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: I've never seen jumanji okay, I saw the original, but then I know there's a remake.
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: Seven seen either so the original was with robin williams.
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: Like in the 90s I saw that it was very good, but then I think they did a remake with the rock I thought so, but then I started getting it confused with jungle cruise and I'm like maybe that's what I was thinking, you're right, so it wasn't.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: No, I know they did a remake of Jumanji.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: I'm just confused if the which one the rock was in.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: But either way, I didn't see either one of them.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't seen that, so put in the comment section below what's that Disney movie?
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: people say that to you they go.
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: You've never seen.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: I mean Jumanji.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I was specifically that, but I know there's all those those movies that when you tell someone you haven't seen it, the reflex and I'm guilty as anybody else like you have to repeat that someone will be like oh, you know, in 101 dalmatians, oh, I've never seen that, you've never seen.
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: It's like I just said I've never seen that, but it's like so shocking you must repeat it.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: So the only one I can think of was jumanji.
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: I'm sure, if if I did a deeper search, I'd maybe find another one.
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: It's a cool concept.
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: I feel like a lot of people have seen it.
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: I have not, so put in the comments section below what's that Disney movie for you?
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: That's the oh my gosh.
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: All right, this is a community comment of the day.
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: This comes from Caleb Rame getting back into it.
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: I have used you guys as a resource.
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: So much Thank you.
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: You're welcome Glad to have you back, caleb.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: That deserves a round of applause.
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: It does 15 years 15 years, everybody.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Caleb Go Caleb.
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: Thanks, caleb, really appreciate that, and thank you guys for watching and listening.
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: And we'll see you next time.
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: How do you want people to describe your youth ministry?
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: Today, we're going to talk about five words that hopefully describe how do you, how do you, how would you do, how?
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: How do you want people to describe your youth ministry today?
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give you five words that hopefully will describe your just I've your youth ministry.