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How to Start a Christian Club at Your Local School (Youth Pastor Tips) · Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

0:00
SPEAKER_01: The point is not for like your youth group kids to have another youth group.
0:04
SPEAKER_01: It is supposed to be low to no risk bridge between the school and the church, right?
0:12
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I'm not gonna go to a place called something something church tonight and show up if I'm a non-Christian, but if this is already at my school and my friends are going and we're just gonna eat lunch in there, I'm willing to maybe try that out.
0:25
SPEAKER_01: Today we're talking about the best practices for how to start a Christian club in your community.
0:42
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, the number one podcast on helping you grow the size and health of your youth ministry.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: My name is Jeff Lascola, and this is Kristen Lascola.
0:52
SPEAKER_01: And once again, we have an episode idea from one of our listeners/students, Luke Kimmel.
1:00
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: Um he's in our YMGA course, and he was like, here are some ideas.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: So we've done a couple of them already.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: And then I was looking through it again today, and I was like, here's another gold mine.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Luke.
1:12
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Luke.
1:13
SPEAKER_01: So today we're talking about how to get teenagers to start a Christian club at their school.
1:20
SPEAKER_01: And kind of like the subheading under that is like, how do you get on campus?
1:26
SPEAKER_01: So depending on how many schools you're pulling from, I feel like we work with all different types of youth pastors.
1:32
SPEAKER_01: Some are pulling from seven or eight different schools between middle school and high school.
1:38
SPEAKER_01: And then some are in a smaller town and there's like one or two schools.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: And depending on how many schools, I think that determines your level of involvement.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: If obviously you only have a couple of schools, you could probably be highly involved in the process of making this happen.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: But if you, you know, and vice versa, right?
1:58
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, so it's just here's some ways that you can be available, but maybe it's not a hundred percent on your shoulders.
2:09
SPEAKER_01: So, my first recommendation, and this has been a game changer for our community, is having a strong FCA presence.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: And obviously, you're like, Well, how can you recommend me having an FCA presence?
2:21
SPEAKER_01: I don't work for FCA.
2:22
SPEAKER_01: I understand.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: So, what you would need to do is go on the FCA website and they actually have a staff directory.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: So if you put in your zip code, then the closest FCA staff member will come up and their email address will come up.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: So you can email them and see do you have a presence at and list your local schools?
2:45
SPEAKER_01: And if they don't, I believe you can request that they do.
2:50
SPEAKER_01: Now, will that get met?
2:52
SPEAKER_01: Maybe, maybe it won't.
2:54
SPEAKER_01: But either way, you can partner with them in the sense that they have so many resources on their website.
3:01
SPEAKER_01: They have apps and devos and you know, uh leadership type curriculum.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: And you don't, it's called Fellowship of Christian athletes.
3:09
SPEAKER_01: However, it's not like to me, other than their camps, there's nothing sportsy about it.
3:18
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's literally a Christian club.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: I think that always kind of not gonna like say you can't come to this if you're not an athlete or something.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's what I used to think.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, if you play a sport, then this club is for you at lunch.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: But I've attended many of the FCAs and at our local middle school, and I've realized it had nothing to do with sports, and it was all students that wanted to go.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't like only kids from sports teams.
3:45
SPEAKER_01: So you put in your zip code, like I said, and they have like all these discipleship resources, they have uh ways that you can help students, you know, like kind of take the reins a little bit.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: And that's what we're gonna talk about in a minute.
4:03
SPEAKER_01: But let's say that you actually have to launch the thing, you know, like there's no FCA representative in your area, and you've made a request, but no guarantee, right, that they're going to start anything anytime soon.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: So you you're like, great, now I have to start something from the ground up.
4:22
SPEAKER_01: So here's how you would do that.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: Number one, you would need to find out your school, the school you're trying to get into, their club policy.
4:31
SPEAKER_01: And I think most are fairly similar.
4:35
SPEAKER_01: Likely you're gonna have to do two things.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: Number one, you're gonna have to get a staff sponsor, someone who's a teacher, some faculty member that's willing to sponsor it and host it in their room during lunch.
4:49
SPEAKER_01: And this faculty member may or may not be a Christian.
4:53
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it matters.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, it would be preferable if they were, so that they're on board.
4:59
SPEAKER_01: But anytime I've ever been to a Christian club on campus, one time I felt like the host teacher was involved.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Do you remember Mr.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: Fox?
5:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he was like really involved, and I feel like he would kind of speak and encourage the kids and provide some leadership and direction.
5:17
SPEAKER_01: That's the only faculty member I've ever seen.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: Most of the time they just kind of sit at their desk and eat lunch, and once in a while be like, hey, be quiet, calm down.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Well, there could, I don't know.
5:29
SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm just guessing here, but I don't I don't know if it has anything to do with the school district, too, or they like you can't participate with anything like this.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like I don't know.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: Probably maybe and maybe Mr.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: Fox, I don't know, somehow had a loophole.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: But um He's like, I'm retiring in a few years, who cares?
5:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's retired now.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: So you need your staff sponsor, and then you need to get student interest.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: Some districts will make you actually have a student-like petition, like students have to sign that they want this club.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: It's not just some adult from the outside saying, you need this club.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, it's not for you, it's for the kids.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: Do they want it?
6:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, they might need to sign the petition.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: And then what you need to do is get students who are willing to take a portion or the reins of like the leadership.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: And your own student leadership team is a great catalyst for this.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: So if you have a student leadership team for your youth ministry, this would be the perfect time to say, hey guys, let's work on this project together.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: And you kind of help them go through the steps and you're their mentor and their support.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: But that gives you students who are already leadership types and that are kind of at the core or the pulse of maybe what's going on with their school and probably have some motivation.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: I've heard horror stories of just random kids who want to start this group and they like come up with like obnoxious rules like you must sign this covenant that you will memorize eight chapters of scripture.
7:08
SPEAKER_01: And if you don't, you're out.
7:09
SPEAKER_01: Like it's just they're a little too drunk with power, you know.
7:14
SPEAKER_01: It's like they need like another adult to kind of come alongside them and temper that a little when they're so young.
7:22
SPEAKER_01: I think it can just be like, this is my club, and I have like the 10 commandments of my club right here.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: True stories.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: It's kind of wild.
7:30
SPEAKER_01: So, and then you would use those students, use is a bad word.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: You would like allow and encourage those students to do things like lead a game during the group, uh, do a devo, plan some fun like programming, or at our high school FCA, we have a lot of the high school students actually share their testimony, like they're the ones who speak.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: So the student involvement is huge.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: It's like they just need an adult to kind of help them get organized and sort of push them in the right direction.
8:09
SPEAKER_01: And as often as you can attend, like some seasons of my life, I was able to attend every single week.
8:17
SPEAKER_01: Me and you did that a lot when you were a volunteer.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: It'd be me and you and a couple other leaders.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: We'd go and then have lunch and hang out.
8:25
SPEAKER_01: We were all single, we didn't have children.
8:28
SPEAKER_01: Uh, it was a little bit of a jobs.
8:31
SPEAKER_00: Well, you had a job.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: I had a job.
8:32
SPEAKER_01: It was a little bit of a different uh margin.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: But the cool thing when we used to go every single week, now I go a few times a year.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: It was so great because the Christian club was the same day as our youth group.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: And so, like, it was so infectious to kind of walk around campus and be like, I'll see you tonight, see you tonight, see you tonight, instead of I'll see you in a few days.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: You know, it just had this like buzz about it, like my youth pastors were here, and then I'm gonna see them tonight at youth group.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: And they kind of felt excited and proud.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: And then if I met one of their friends, I could be like, Hey, what are you doing tonight?
9:14
SPEAKER_01: You should come with Jocelyn three days or something.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: And I felt like sometimes I would see kids that I had seen at the school come to youth group that evening, and I just think it was a lot easier to invite them for the same day.
9:28
SPEAKER_00: So why do you think it is that when you see a student at their school, they're like open arms, like, yeah.
9:35
SPEAKER_00: I see what this question is going to be.
9:36
SPEAKER_00: But when you see them with mommy at like Sam's Club, all of a sudden they're just like super all awkward.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: I know that is so funny.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, I have no idea, but there'll be students, yeah.
9:49
SPEAKER_00: You see out and about in their elements and they're all with their peers, and they I don't know, they have boldness, but they don't have it when it's out in public.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that could be.
10:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, but yeah, when they see you at like a sports game or their school for Christian club or eating out, yeah, they do.
10:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't know.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, I even saw a student at like a graduation party the other day, and my like guides director and I were there, and we said hi to her, and she just like got all weird and like they act like they're in trouble.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's like uh-oh, I better not make ideas.
10:26
SPEAKER_01: Maybe they just have a perpetual guilty conscience.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: But when they're at school, maybe because they're already doing a bunch of bad things, they're like, who cares?
10:31
SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: But the school at school time, it's like they're ready to party.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't know, it's weird.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, so if you need resources, like I feel like a lot of questions we get from the Ministry Coach podcast is like, resources, where what can I do?
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Because, you know, you just are like, so what do I do?
10:51
SPEAKER_01: Just show up and like, hey, kiddos, what's what do we want to do?
10:56
SPEAKER_01: So I have a list of on campus club resources that you can pick which one works best for you.
11:06
SPEAKER_01: Number one, P7 clubs.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: I haven't personally used that one, but I've looked at their website and they have a lot of resources.
11:16
SPEAKER_01: If they're your style, they have like devos, they have whole series, they have discussion sheets, they have all kinds of things.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: Another one is um crew, that's campus crusades for Christ.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: That one has been around forever.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: That's on high school and and junior high.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Well, so these are just resources.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: So it I think it might be geared more toward high school because another one is inner varsity.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: That's for college.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but if you're a high school pastor, I think that the resources would transfer.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, one that is really interesting.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: We had a rep come from decision point, and they came into one of our meetings and talked to us about their resource package, and their big vision is 100% student-led.
12:09
SPEAKER_01: So it's like you get a free resource kit, you get all this stuff if you're a student, and they try to empower the students to actually do it all.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: And I remember when she came, I said, Yeah, I could see high schoolers maybe being able to pull this off.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: I think junior hires could, I think.
12:29
SPEAKER_00: I think they would probably benefit from seeing a model to them first, and then when they get to high school, probably being able to run with it.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: But they just need like junior hires can do stuff like this.
12:39
SPEAKER_01: It's like I said in the beginning, they need like a sponsor, a mentor.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: So it's not like you have to do everything for them, but you kind of need to say, Hey, so our next step is this.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: Who wants to do that?
12:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, I've noticed organizing themselves and delegating tasks to completion is really not a junior hires a game.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: So, like they have all the great intentions, but they can't organize themselves into something that can mobilize and execute.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: It just stays in the idea phase.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: They don't know how to move it forward.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: So that's where an adult such as yourself would be really a great asset because then you could say, Well, we've done this, so now who wants to do this?
13:24
SPEAKER_01: Or all right, we need to have this done by this state and help them organize themselves.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: But that's that's decision point.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, but regardless, it's like P7, crew, intervarsity, FCA, did I say decision point?
13:38
SPEAKER_01: I think I said that first.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: All of them have resources.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: Like if you're looking for like something to get you off the ground and running, between those four, you will have plenty.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: And the funny thing, I mean, if you know of one I don't know about, put it in the comments below.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: There's really not that many.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: It's like, you know, when you start looking for a youth group curriculum, you know, it's like, oh wow, like sometimes you're surprised how many different companies are for this.
14:08
SPEAKER_01: There's not, it's not like, wow, a hundred to choose from.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: There's like three or four.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: But I think within that, there is enough to get you off the ground and running.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: And really, you have to ask yourself, what is the point of a Christian club at school?
14:25
SPEAKER_01: Because I was always like, so we're just having like a really rushed little youth group at school.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: Cause I'm like, oh my gosh, you guys get like 26 minutes to eat and we're trying to play a game, do a Devo, introduce everyone, have some community time.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: You still have to eat your lunch.
14:43
SPEAKER_01: And it always just felt like my head was spinning.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: So I really had to like take a step back and like, what is the point?
14:51
SPEAKER_01: The point is not for like your youth group kids to have another youth group, right?
14:55
SPEAKER_01: So it is supposed to be sort of a low to no risk bridge between the school and the church, right?
15:07
SPEAKER_01: So it's like maybe I'm not gonna go to a place called something something church tonight and show up if I'm a non-Christian.
15:15
SPEAKER_01: But if this is already at my school and my friends are going and we're just gonna eat lunch in there, I'm willing to maybe try that out.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: So I think that is like a first step.
15:26
SPEAKER_01: And then if people from the local youth group are there or the local youth pastors or whatever, and they get to know them and then they get invited to youth group, that's kind of the next step.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: And then those youth group kids hopefully they start going to church on the weekends or to a camp or an event, and then eventually maybe their parents come and their families.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, it's just kind of that first little baby step into the world of church, you know, and maybe for a kid whose parents would absolutely never take them to church, you know, we have a lot of parents, even if they're not spiritual, I feel like they're willing to let their child explore their spirituality, which I really respect if it's different from their beliefs, but actually taking them to a church that is like one more step that's a little like, I don't know.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: But if they can access it at school, all the better, you know?
16:28
SPEAKER_01: And so bringing those discipleship tools into the school are huge.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: And Decision Point has had really great success with actual like evangelism, like kids coming to accept Jesus at these Christian clubs.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, which is really cool.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: Hey, quick question for you.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: Have you ever felt like you are working really hard in your youth ministry every week, but you don't know what the next step is or how to grow your youth ministry?
16:58
SPEAKER_01: Well, you are not alone.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: And that is exactly why we created our course and coaching program called Youth Ministry Growth Accelerator.
17:07
SPEAKER_01: Inside the program, we're gonna walk you step by step through strategies, systems, leadership principles that help ministries grow, both in size and in health.
17:18
SPEAKER_01: This isn't just theory, it's the exact framework we've used and taught to youth pastors all over the country and even globally.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: In addition to the course and coaching, you will also have the opportunity to join a cohort community where you can meet with other youth leaders who are on the same journey to encourage each other, share ideas, and stay accountable as you put things into practice.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: So if you're looking for a clearer path to grow your ministry, head over to grow your youth ministry.com to see everything that's included.
17:48
SPEAKER_01: Once again, that's growyouryout ministry.com.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's get back to the episode.
17:53
SPEAKER_01: The other part of Luke's question was like, Well, how do you get on campus?
17:57
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, if you are a local youth pastor and you ask, like, hey, I'm here for FCA Club or hey, I'm here for Christian Club, you can get on.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: You would just have to sign, show your ID, whatever.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: If you're there for a specific reason during lunch, yeah, they'll let you.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean, maybe every district's a little different, but we're allowed to get on for those reasons.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: But other campus things, I mean, make sure you're if you have the margin, can you go to the sports games?
18:31
SPEAKER_01: Can you go to the performances?
18:33
SPEAKER_01: Can you be a presence on campus?
18:36
SPEAKER_01: Can you make a relationship with the administration and the front office people and stuff like that?
18:43
SPEAKER_01: I did one little, and and this wasn't the reason we did it, but it was like an undid unintended really great consequence or uh fruit of this result.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: So we do something called serve your city every 18 months, where instead of having church for the weekend, we go out into the community and do like millions of dollars worth of service projects.
19:09
SPEAKER_01: Like, not just like we painted a fence, but like my project, which was so difficult, is we built an entire agriculture program at the elementary school.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Like a greenhouse and a hen house and outhouse.
19:25
SPEAKER_00: Not that one.
19:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh we're outhouse.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: It was huge.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: It was like a farm, you know?
19:31
SPEAKER_01: And because I did that project, I now know the maintenance people, the groundskeeping people, the superintendent, the principal, the vice principal, the front office staff.
19:45
SPEAKER_00: And the They even had like a ban, not a banner, but like one of those little lawn signs by the parking lot of our church for like well over a year.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: Like our church on the school property.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: Like it says our church's name.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sorry, it wasn't clear.
20:00
SPEAKER_00: It was a little lawn sign with our church's name on school campus.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: I know.
20:05
SPEAKER_01: I think they forgot it was there because I'm like for like over a year.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, serve your city is long gone, and you still have our sign.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, but the cool thing is then you get to know kind of the the higher ups, I guess you could say, you know, you build a relationship with them, and it's amazing like what doors that will open or what they're willing to do, or maybe you volunteer at like I don't know, schools have fundraisers all the time.
20:36
SPEAKER_01: So if you look for opportunities to get involved with a fundraiser or a volunteer thing or a sports camp or some kind of summer thing, like just for a week, it's amazing who you run into and what that networking will work to your advantage.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: So again, that wasn't my motivation going in.
20:56
SPEAKER_01: It was this is my project.
20:58
SPEAKER_01: But even the other day, like I ran into the groundskeeper guy and I needed something, and he kind of was like, Yeah, go ahead, no problem.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, Oh, thank you so much.
21:09
SPEAKER_01: And we have a great relationship.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, having a relationship with the school as the youth pastor is huge.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: And if you're in a small town, that probably is gonna be a little easier for you.
21:23
SPEAKER_01: If you're in a big city with like eight high school and junior high, it's gonna be more difficult.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: But what you could do is like, okay, let's pick our top four schools, top two junior highs, top two high schools that we draw the most from, and maybe just start there and go where, like, hey, this makes sense numbers wise for this year, and then maybe next year we'll get to like the next tier down, like the next four or something like that.
21:54
SPEAKER_01: So, one cool thing that our we have another campus in Vista, and what they did.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: Their entire junior high staff hosted the eighth grade, like I don't know what it's called, but one of the middle school hosts this eighth grade graduation week where it's all these like Olympic games, or I don't know, but it's like only eighth graders.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: And the staff from our church, the Vista campus, they host the whole thing for the school.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: Like they come.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: No, they go to the school and they volunteer, they lead different games and competitions, and it's just this tradition.
22:37
SPEAKER_01: And now the school is like relies on them.
22:40
SPEAKER_01: Like, okay, when is the staff from North Coast coming to do this?
22:44
SPEAKER_01: And like they spend literally, I think a whole I ran into them the other day.
22:48
SPEAKER_01: They were on their lunch break and they're like, Oh yeah, we were just at the school doing all the games.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's been so fun.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's like, wow, what a creative way to get.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: So where can you help?
22:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, where can you be there?
23:00
SPEAKER_01: And that will hopefully open doors when you do want to start at FCA or some kind of Christian club.
23:08
SPEAKER_01: You know, it will not just be like, who are you?
23:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: But it's like, ah, we know this person.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: We had a relationship.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: Didn't she help us with this?
23:15
SPEAKER_01: Didn't he build that thing?
23:17
SPEAKER_01: Didn't he?
23:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: So it's think of it as a bigger partnership than just I want to have a Christian club at this school.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: But think win-win for everyone.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: What does the school need from the church?
23:31
SPEAKER_01: You know, like I think that's a really great line of thinking of not just what do we need from the school, what does the school need from the church?
23:41
SPEAKER_01: And watch those relationships kind of bud and open up.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: And the cool thing too is we've even had administrators start attending our church, you know, because it's like wow, like they sponsor our like the church sponsors our leader uh teacher appreciation week.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: Like one year, all of our all of the food and drinks and gifts for teacher appreciation week were from our church.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Every morning somebody would go in and bring some kind of spread for the teachers, and it was like, thanks so much for what you do.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Love love North Coast Church or whatever.
24:20
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, there's a lot of ways you can partner, but I know the topic was the clubs, but it's just all related.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I'm gonna ask you a question here in a second.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: Actually, I'm gonna ask it and then I'm gonna talk about something else.
24:34
SPEAKER_00: Really weird terantino.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: Thanks for the setup.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: Why don't you run down just really briefly in like a less than two minutes what what a typical club might look like, like going there and hosting it and running through it.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: But I also want to say a lot of people will use substitute teaching as a way to be able to get on campus, yeah, which is good.
24:53
SPEAKER_00: And also um coaching, like whether you're assistant coach or something like that, being able to get on.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: I I think both are great ideas, but the only problem with being a substitute teacher is you're in more of a formal role.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: I did it for a while, it was really hard.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, whereas I think an assistant coach would be good, especially if you love you know sports and have an interest in that, and then obviously with this being Christian clubs, then it's a social visit, not a professional like sit-up.
25:18
SPEAKER_00: Because then it's like, what do you call me?
25:20
SPEAKER_00: That's yeah, true.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: Because my students call me by my first name, and then you all of a sudden are a sub and you're like this is weird.
25:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they can blur the lines there.
25:31
SPEAKER_00: It was weird, so yeah.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: Um, just to give a quick rundown, what would a typical club look like to be able to give someone you know?
25:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so one cool thing is if it's through an FCA, they usually have a budget for food, so that is a big draw.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: Like they'll bring in tacos or pizza, and so kids who don't even go will be like, heck yeah.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: When we weren't sponsored by FCA, I remember I would just take it out of my youth ministry budget and I would go pick up a couple little Caesars pizzas and bring it to Christian Club.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: Word gets out and people come.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: If you can't do that, candy, cookies.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, schools are strict sometimes with outside food, but they as of now, our district is letting us bring in pizza and tacos.
26:20
SPEAKER_01: So the kids would eat or they'd bring, you know, their own lunch, and then we would always play some quick game uh that you can just play in the classroom.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we'd be in the gym and we would let them go at it for a while with dodgeball, but for the most part, it's just like a classroom game.
26:38
SPEAKER_01: And then there would be a devo that was hard, uh real quick, really quick, and whew, like a five-minute devo, those are tricky because you have to be so tight and getting them to calm down, you know, there's so much time there.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: And then I would try to do some kind of like push or announcement for the local church, be like, hey, I don't know, you know, if you have a youth group, I love that.
27:03
SPEAKER_01: Like, keep going there.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: I'm from this church.
27:06
SPEAKER_01: Here's our youth group info.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: You know, you could bring flyers and let them know, like, if you're trying to get plugged into a church, like here's an opportunity, and maybe talk about like some event you have coming up or something like that.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: Because again, we're trying to push them to the church, like this was just a bridge.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, that's a and it goes by so fast.
27:29
SPEAKER_00: It's like like you're saying, it's like 20 minutes or or give or take.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: But then once once they get out of their bell rings and they go go to the classroom they need to go to or the gym, it's like that's five minutes of just walking.
27:40
SPEAKER_00: Then you get there, there's chit-chat, hanging out.
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Have you been?
27:42
SPEAKER_00: Blah blah blah.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: There's another five minutes, quick game, quick devo, and like it's over.
27:46
SPEAKER_00: It's so fast.
27:47
SPEAKER_01: So fast.
27:48
SPEAKER_00: So you got to be really tight with your timeline, make sure everything is really concise.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: So um, thanks, Luke, for that episode idea.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: This is a, and actually, if you guys have a Christian club on campus, put that in the comment section below.
27:58
SPEAKER_00: I'd love to know whether you do or don't, and if you're willing to start one.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: Um, this is a community comment of the day.
28:03
SPEAKER_00: This comes from Jesse Howell, and this is from the episode we did recently about why some youth groups feel alive and others feel dead.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: And he wrote, Amen to all of this.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you, Jesse.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Actually, Jesse.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: That was another Luke Kimmel.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, Luke.
28:17
SPEAKER_00: So amen to Jesse is a Patreon supporter of ours, too.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: So sweet.
28:22
SPEAKER_00: So we appreciate that.
28:23
SPEAKER_00: If you guys feel called to uh donate money towards our podcast just to help us keep doing these videos and put out the resources we put out, go ahead and visit Patreon.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: We have a link in the description below so you can check that out if that is something that's on your heart.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: All right.
28:36
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you, Jesse, and thank you, Luke, and thank you guys for watching and listening.
28:40
SPEAKER_00: And we'll see you next time.