After The Music Stops

3 Reasons Why The Bus Ride Is Key

Rev. Russ — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 13:00:39 +0000

Recently the youth ministry took a few buses of students from the Church to the site of our monthly outing. Now if I am honest I used to dislike these bus trips, I would rather just meet the buses at the event or even better let the leaders handle the whole event and not even [...]

Helping Your Leaders Live Outside of YM

Rev. Russ — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:15:07 +0000

The more I serve in our youth ministry and the more I travel to train and coach other youth ministry leaders one thing is always key. Every youth ministry is only as good as it’s leader and those who serve in the ministry. The problem however, in many youth ministry’s is the lack of care [...]

5 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started In Youth Ministry

Rev. Russ — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:30:23 +0000

I have been serving in youth ministry for several years now and I pray that God see’s fit to allow me to serve His students for many more years to come. As the years have come and gone I have succeeded and failed in ministry; some of the beliefs I had about how to serve [...]

Recharging Your Youth Ministry

Rev. Russ — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 14:30:10 +0000

The other day I was traveling and my phone battery was very low, you know when it gives you the first warning about it being low and you keep talking, emailing, tweeting, instagraming, and texting anyway. Well it was at the point where it was going to turn off on me soon, so I had [...]

Fresh: A 31-Day Student Devotional

Rev. Russ — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:33:27 +0000

Following a youth service, youth Sunday, or youth lock-in there are usually students who make decisions for Christ and you are excited but you also know that it’s just the beginning for them. Are there students within your youth ministry that need to grow and develop a closer relationship with Christ? How many times have [...]

5 Reasons Your Youth Ministry Won’t Change

Rev. Russ — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 03:08:00 +0000

Over the past few months and since I released my book, God has blessed and I have been able to do more training and teaching for youth ministry leaders and youth ministries in general. In almost every meeting, workshop, or coffee shop talk there are things that come up, which stick out as a reason [...]

What’s in a name?

Rev. Russ — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:13:05 +0000

Recently I released an eBook entitled “After The Music Stops: Effective Youth Ministry Beyond The BIG Event“. In it I talk about a few things but one of the first topics I highlight is the importance of the name of the youth ministry, here is an excerpt: “The name should indicate what people will experience [...]