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Youth Ministry Growth Starts with this ONE Thing... · Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Youth ministry growth starts with this one thing.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: That's what we're talking about today on the Ministry Coach Podcast.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast where we bring you weekly tips and tactics to help you fast track the growth and health of your youth ministry.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: My name is Jeff Laskola.
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: This is Kristen Laskola.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: And today we're going to talk about how the commitment to youth ministry growth starts with this one thing.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: What could it be?
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: You are the one thing.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Good night everybody.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Thank you for watching and listening and we'll see you next time you period.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: That's it.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: Go figure that out.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: So the reason we're talking about this is, I would say, oh, 10 years ago I sort of came to this like epiphany, where I realized how in control I was of my youth ministry and how the destiny of it really was in my hands for the large part, you know, because the youth pastor is the one who should be waking up, thinking about youth ministry, and nobody else can make this happen except for you.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Like, don't underestimate how important you specifically are to the growth and health of your youth ministry.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Hey friend, I just wanted to interrupt this episode for a second to let you know about an awesome opportunity for you and your youth ministry.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: So last year we launched our course and coaching program called Youth Ministry Growth Accelerator and the response has been amazing.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: So we've helped tons of youth pastors grow the size and health of their youth ministry and we want to invite you to be a part of that as well, because maybe you're just sort of feeling stuck in a rut, maybe you don't know what to do next, maybe you just have a vague plan in your mind of what you're doing and you want some real help to get you from where you are to where you want to go.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: So if that sounds like something you've been looking for, go to growyouryouthministrycom and check it out for more details.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: All right, let's get back to the episode.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: I think one big mistake that youth pastors make is, instead of putting all their heart and all their head and all their passions into being a youth pastor, they sort of look at it like a waiting room and it's kind of like ah, this is like a holding pattern until I do what I actually want to do, and that's be a senior pastor.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: And when you have that mentality of this is just like a temp, like type of job until I'm like the batting cage is just kind of practicing right now.
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: Right Then you, the effort you give it and the way that you run your youth ministry.
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: It's very reflective of that.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: So if you happen to become a youth or a senior pastor someday, great you know, if that is the goal you have.
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: I remember talking to Doug Fields in our last interview with him, and he has been in it for how long, was it like 30 or?
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: more than eight years more than eight.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and he said that so many people had asked him about do you want to be?
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: A senior pastor when are you going to be a senior pastor?
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: And he's like I could be in this a hundred years.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: I don't want to be a senior pastor like this was his calling and that was so refreshing to hear, because so many youth pastors are like well, I'll do this and kind of earn my stripes a little bit and get some experience and then do what I really want to do.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: But when that is the case, a lot of times, those pastors, those youth pastors, run their youth ministry as if they wish those people were adults and they're not running youth ministry at that point.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: So if you're a youth pastor, you've got to be a youth pastor.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: And if you have no interest in youth ministry and you think it's like you know biding your time until someone offers you a job as a senior pastor, just go be a senior pastor or an associate pastor or an executive pastor or a life group or station and life pastor.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: Don't be a youth pastor because you're going to run it in a way that is not giving students what they need.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: And so when I say you need to be the one waking up, thinking about youth ministry, nobody else in your church is going to do it.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: You're the youth pastor.
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: So meaning you're the advocate, you're the voice of the youth to your church, You're the representative of them to the church.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: Everyone has their job and I think sometimes youth pastors are like waiting for somebody else to like make a big splash about youth ministry or care about youth ministry or fund youth ministry, and it's like you're you're the motor.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: Like so and that's what you were hired for, because your senior pastor, or whoever did the hiring, probably wasn't like we want you to be the youth pastor.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: But you know, if you don't want to be the youth pastor, you want to be the senior pastor.
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: In training, it'd be like then you're probably not the person we want in that role.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Right and the success or failure of the youth ministry largely depends on you.
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: And I would say that with a caveat, meaning like sometimes you work for a micromanaging senior pastor.
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: That's impossible and you have so much like fuel in your tank and you're ready to go and charge the hill and make this something amazing and make an impact on the kingdom and the youth, but you're just like there's like a bottleneck, you know, and it could be the senior pastor of, just like you can't do that, you can't do that and your hands are kind of tied.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: That would be a caveat for this kind of mentality.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: But I think sometimes youth pastors need to realize you are the motor, you are the engine, you're the one who's going to make this thing fly or flop and you've got to get your head and your passion in that, because you're the advocate, you're the voice for the youth and no one is going to be as passionate as you are about it, or shouldn't be Again, because we're saying you're the youth pastor.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: So you know.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: I think, kind of going back to what we're talking about before, that some youth pastors really are like miscast.
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: What is it?
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: What is that mistyped miss?
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: like they're in a role in the wrong role.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, isn't there a word miscast?
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: I guess with these casts just sounds not right doesn't sound right.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: I feel like there's a word for that.
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: But yeah, they, they were put in a role that they were never really meant to do.
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: And here's kind of the backwards thinking that comes from that.
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: And I don't know if you find yourself in this position, but where, instead of the youth pastor meeting the youth where they're at, they expect the youth to rise to like adult standards, meaning like.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: One of the greatest examples I ever heard is like okay, so, as a 25, 35, 45, 55, 65, 75, 85, haven't met you yet, your old youth pastor what are you reading right now?
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: What are you learning?
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: What is God teaching you?
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: And sometimes we take that like, well, I'm reading prayer by Tim Keller and the kids need to be interested, just like I'm interested in this.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: And so we take all these amazing nuggets that God's trying to teach us and we try to regurgitate them, sometimes for the kids and we're like what Nothing, nothing, you know, and that doesn't mean something's wrong with them If.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: If a 15-year-old isn't interested in what we're learning, as a Christian who's been a Christian for 20 years, it's not that something's wrong with things in there that I'm like, oh, that's such a good illustration or oh, I could use that in my teaching.
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: But then there's some things that I'm like they're not ready for that yet, but let me digest it so that they could be.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: I can't expect them to be my peers is all I'm trying to say and don't get frustrated because they don't appreciate what you are theologically geeked out on right now because it doesn't mean those two things can't intersect.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: what you're studying Like well, it can't be what I teach.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I was trying to make sure I said that clearly.
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Just meeting them where they're at, in the context of maybe what you were learning and going.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I just don, in the context of maybe what you were learning and going yeah, I just passionate about.
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: Don't get frustrated that you're not teaching adults, yeah, like, and trying to be like.
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm an adult and this is really interesting, so why don't you guys think it is?
• 8:45
  Speaker 2: you know, and be better stewards of your money and some junior hires like I just blew 50 bucks at the snap shack?
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: I don't know what you're talking about money goes on trees teach them to be generous all the time.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Generosity, you know.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: But, like in the same vein, I hear a lot of youth pastors say, well, games aren't really my thing, Well, I don't really like the events, I don't really like the games.
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: And that is part of youth ministry.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Like the way I describe it is, it is not just a game for the sake of games but it unlocks their connection.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Potential Walls come down.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: They listen differently, they engage differently when they've made a connection, when they've had fun, when they've moved around, when they you know.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: So if games aren't your thing and you're like, ah well, I'm the youth pastor that doesn't play games and we just get right down to it, it's like, again, you have to meet the youth where they're at, so it start.
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: That's what we mean by the potential.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: Growth of your youth ministry starts with you.
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: The energy and the health and the DNA and the culture of your youth ministry.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: It's going to flow out of your leadership DNA and the culture of your youth ministry.
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: It's going to flow out of your leadership.
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: So if those things don't come naturally to you, if you're just like a theology nerd and don't see a value in a game or a fun event, can you adjust in a way where you can start to meet students where they're at?
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: I hate all overnighters, I will admit, and I've heard a lot of senior pastors say not many people do an all overnighter.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: You just mean like an overnighter in general.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I hate anything where I have to sleep on a floor at a church.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: I just want to go home, even if it's late, I just want to go home and I hate them, hate them, hate them, hate them.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: My students love them.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: So guess what?
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: We're doing them.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: But I've heard so many senior pastors say oh, I started as a youth pastor and I knew I was done when I was like I can't do one more all nighter.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: I can't either, but I have to and I do it anyways.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Why?
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: Because that's what the youth get excited about, that's what they invite their friends to, that's where they build community, that's when they start to feel like a part of things, that's when they get connected and that's when they look at church and say I want to be there.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: That place is fun and it doesn't mean you can't have fun another way.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: That is just one staple that I know.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: If I got rid of, it'd be 1 to 150.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: They would be so sad and I I'd be like, great, I am happy.
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: Well, at least I'm, you know, well-rested.
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: So okay, it's one night I can do this stupid thing.
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: But I just feel like sometimes youth pastors need to challenge themselves, to meet students where they're at a little bit more instead of expecting students to meet them where they're at a little bit more, instead of expecting students to meet them where they're at, because you might be a senior pastor in a youth pastor's clothing and it is just miscast.
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: I don't know what else to say?
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: That word keeps coming up.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: Seems like it's the right thing, makes sense.
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: And then, thirdly, it's your job as the youth pastor to cast the vision to the church at large, to get your church excited about youth ministry.
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Again, you're the ambassador, you're the representative of this.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: So, I think, making sure your church understands what you guys are doing If you want them to know that it's not just babysitting and childcare, make sure that they know.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: So, for example, you could start to tell them we went to camp this year.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: Here's how many kids accepted Christ for the first time.
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: Here's how many kids we baptize.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Here's how many kids we have coming to small groups.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Here's how many kids we have on our student leadership team.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: Here's the service projects we did with our student leadership team.
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: There could be a bunch of things that the church at large has no clue how thriving your youth ministry is.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: So make sure that you take these opportunities to get out in front and to tell them about it and to make sure you have raving fans and wildly supportive members knowing that there is something good happening there.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: You want to keep people in the loop so that they can cheer you on, support you, and I had one of my leaders tell me he's been in my ministry for probably five or six years now he's a volunteer and he says, says, I'm so proud to say I help that chaos like it's, like it's a pride thing like oh yeah it is because of how the church knows us like oh, they
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: do this and then they have this program and the students did this and they know what we're doing.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: It's not like what ministry chaos?
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Like, oh, what's that about?
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: Like, making sure what we're doing.
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: It's not like what ministry chaos?
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Like, oh, what's that about?
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: Like, making sure that we're always on the forefront of people's minds so that they look at that ministry and are like I know a kid in junior high.
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: I'm going to bring them I've had that happen so many times.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: Like, hey, I heard so many cool things about the youth ministry.
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: My neighbor, they just moved in and they have a 12 year old.
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: Like I'm going to recommend that they come.
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: Do you have any info?
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: I could give them A scenario like that happens often, but if no one's really talking about it or if there's no buzz about it, you know people could forget.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Like, if you have people that don't even have students sending students to your youth ministry, you know that the word is out.
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: So see yourself as that ambassador is.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: You represent the youth ministry to the church and the view that they have of the youth ministry starts with you.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: What do they need to know?
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: They don't go to your camp.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: How could they possibly know you baptized 15 kids and 20 kids accepted Jesus and a cool service project and that there's fruit happening all over the place.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: One thing with that is kind of a practical tip for those of you that do, and I encourage you to film your events.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: But, like for camp, I remember I used to do the camp videos a million years ago for your youth ministry and at first, like the temptation was like here's all the belly flops and the people barfing up beans and you know, like all the games, just all that fun stuff.
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: And yeah, that should definitely be a part of it, because that was a big part of camp.
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: But always, always, always, include the times where they're doing devotionals, the times where they're worshiping the baptisms, all that stuff within a recap camp video, especially the ones you're showing the entire church.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, because, yeah, that's the stuff.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: Because if you were just like so you guys just kind of went and did a bunch of belly flops and you know.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember the shift.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: When that happened, our campus pastor was like, hey, I want to show this recap video on the weekend service, like especially when the adults sponsor kids to go.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: And they're like.
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: So if all we see is them like puking up beans and doing belly flops, it's gonna be a hard.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Ask like, and give your hard-earned support dollars to send a kid to camp, but show the worship, show the baptism, show the solo time, show the messages.
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Show all of that too, because I, we know the other stuff's a great party camp.
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: But and and like we are the biggest cheerleaders of our youth ministry.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: And I think when we have that gallivanting quality, like yes, come on, guys, this is great, it just gets contagious and then you don't have to be the cheerleader forever.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: Other people will chime in and be like that's a great place to serve, that's a great place to be.
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: And, by the way, all of this really helps with recruiting as well.
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: You know, if people see cool stuff happening, they want to be a part of it.
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: So I mean, I guess the challenge sort of boils down to what are you waiting for?
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: Like no one is going to be excited about your youth ministry more than you.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: And what do you need to make happen?
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: Like that's the beauty of youth ministry is, if you work with healthy leadership and they give you a lot of freedom, sky's the limit.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Like you can pour your heart and soul into this and make it as awesome as you want and share that with the church and make this a very thriving place to be.
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: But it is going to start with you, with your energy, with your excitement, and you being the one to really wake up thinking about this and get other people on board.
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and if you guys don't have a specific vision for your youth ministry?
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: We actually did a whole episode all about that, so make sure you check that out.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: It would be a good place to start.
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: All right, completely shifting gears.
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Question of the day is how many times have you been pulled over and what was the weirdest reason?
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: Uh, twice.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: I think my headlights were not all the way like it was only the first click yeah, I think it was like a tag issue or something like maybe an expired tag no tickets though no, no, no, uh.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Parking tickets, lots of parking tickets parking tickets galore especially when I was in high school.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Street sweeping gets me every time so yeah, a lot of third wednesday of the month, yep uh, I think I had to rack my brain.
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: I can think of at least seven times.
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: There may have been more seven.
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a lot.
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: I used to get pulled over a lot.
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: Uh I.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: The weirdest one, though, was actually the first one, and it was I didn't get ticketed for it.
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: He pulled me over and he said you didn't make a complete stop at a stop sign.
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: It was like a california roll stop, or whatever they call it, and he said but the reason why, like I, needed a reason to pull you over, and the reason I would need to pull you over is because you fit the description of a suspected car thief.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: So I was like 16, like I had just gotten my license, and I think it was might have been the first time I was out driving like on my own, or one of the first few.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: I'm like this is going swimmingly, but what makes it even better was, earlier that day, I was that cross-country practice, or track, or one of the two, and my hat.
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: The bill had ripped partly, so I just went ahead and ripped the rest of the bill off, so I was just wearing just the just this portion of the hat, like the back snaps and this, but no bill.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: But were your ears in?
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: they were out but here's the thing I'm like.
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: Is that what the suspected car thief like looked like wearing a billless cap?
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: So when I got pulled over, a friend was with me and I remember thinking like, do I take this stupid hat off or just leave it on?
• 19:28
  Speaker 2: And I thought, if I take it off, does that that seems suspicious or something?
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: So, anyways, I got to talk to the officer in a bill list hat and he didn't give me a ticket.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: But that was.
• 19:38
  Speaker 2: That was what happened.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: Put in the comments section below.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you looked really cool.
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, big time.
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: Put in the comments section below how many times have you been pulled over and what was the most ridiculous of the times that you did get pulled over?
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: Um, I think over the seven times.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: I think there's only three tickets, so not too bad.
• 20:02
  Speaker 2: Wow, in two different states people.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Wow, beat that everyone.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Hey, florida, you got some strict, uh, speeding tickets.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: I've never gotten a speeding ticket or speed limits and I've never had a cavity.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Yes, you can say I'm doing pretty well in life, hey we're not going to cavities right now.
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: Let's do a community comment of the day.
• 20:16
  Speaker 2: This comes from dk silva 983, who says you guys are awesome.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: I was praying one day and asking the lord help me get our ministry going.
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: I need ideas, I need games, I need fun and just like that, your channel showed up on my youtube feed.
• 20:31
  Speaker 2: Thank you for all you do and may god continue to bless you abundantly.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Wow, thank you so much, dk Silva, and thank you, youtube algorithm for apparently reading his mind and the Holy.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Spirit yes, Pushed us to him.
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: That is true.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: We appreciate that, and thank you, guys for watching and listening and we'll see you next time.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: Have you ever wondered where the commitment to growth in youth ministry starts from, for the one thing?
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: Well then, stick around, because you're gonna find out.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Hint, it's you.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: Where does youth ministry growth start?
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Oh, buckle up, we're gonna tell you.