Life In Student Ministry

Free discipleship volunteer training guide [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:00:17 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #267

Jeremy Smith is a youth worker in the Air Force Academy, as well as guy who works with Youth For Christ and other youth ministry organizations. He wrote a 20 page training guide he uses with volunteers in helping them become a “disciple-teacher” themselves.

There’s several different ways you could use this, though, besides just training new adult leaders. The guide contains several devotions and Bible studies you can use with your leaders during your trainings, meetings, or even in an email message.

Jeremy provides both the PDF and the Word document so you can modify the guide and use it freely in your ministry however it works best for you. Snag it from his website linked below.

Download the Discipleship Volunteer Training Guide

What’s going to happen to LISM now?

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:00:50 +0000

In case you missed it, last Tuesday I announced that I accepted a position at Epipheo Studios and will be moving to Cincinnati after we finish up some other travel plans. Then yesterday I shared a bit about why I didn’t go back into a church ministry position.

The question going through my mind now is, “So what’s going to happen to Life In Student Ministry now that I’m not officially in full-time vocational church youth ministry?”

LISM continues to grow!

Throughout this entire past year of not working in a paid church position LISM has continued to grow, perhaps more than any other year! My heart and passion for teenagers and their families hasn’t changed. I plan to continue writing about my experiences in youth ministry, especially from a family ministry perspective and from a volunteer perspective who knows what it’s like on the other side of youth ministry as a paid leader.

However, I may give myself the freedom to let certain features, like Freebie Friday, not be as consistent every week so I can free myself up to have the time to write and process other youth ministry content. Although, missing a week of Freebie Friday at this point would be a real shame since I haven’t missed a Friday in over 5 years! Hmm… Yeah, that would be a shame. How about this: if you have a youth ministry resource you created that you’d be willing to contribue as a free download for several thousand other youth workers to use, please feel free to pass it along! You’ll get full credit and a link, of course. That will definitely make it easier to keep Freebie Friday going. (Tracking down a new free resource every week takes more time than you might think.)

I really love the community of youth workers here! The amazing dialog we have here is so helpful to me in my own approach to youth ministry, so I look forward to our on-going discussions about creating spiritually influential ministries for teens and their families. You guys keep me on my toes! I love it!

And TimSchmoyer.com comes back to life!

Because I need a personal outlet to process other stuff I’m thinking, I decided to resurrect TimSchmoyer.com for personal blogging as I work with online video, social media, and Truth at Epipheo Studios. I’ve dubbed it,

“The intersection of Truth, storytelling, online video, social media, marketing, and technology.”

Yeah, that’s a lot of intersections, I know.

If you’re interested in following along at TimSchmoyer.com as I continue to learn how to use the web and online video to change people’s lives, subscribe to the RSS feed or subscribe to the site’s email list.

Visit the resurrected blog, TimSchmoyer.com!

Why I didn’t go back into a church ministry position

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:00:55 +0000

As I mentioned yesterday when I announced my new position at Epipheo Studios, it was very difficult for me to think of myself as doing anything other than full-time vocational youth ministry. “Church world” is all I know. I started serving in youth ministry to my peers as a high school student myself and just haven’t stopped since then.

When Epipheo contacted me about the potential opportunity there, it sounded intriguing to me, but I really saw myself more in traditional ministry because it’s where my heart, passion, skills, and connections are. But the more I talked with the CEO of Epipheo, Jeremy Pryor, about what Epipheo does and his vision for where he wants the company to go, so much of what he shared vibed with my heart and passion for ministry. I even took him up on an offer to go out to their office in Cincinnati and talk more with him and other leaders in the company. It was there that I think several things clicked with me despite my wrestling with the idea of no longer being employed by traditional youth ministry.

1. First and foremost, the owners of the company and most of its leaders are former pastors, youth pastors, and ministry leaders. Their hearts for ministry haven’t changed — their ministry is just expressed differently through their work at Epipheo. It’s been fun for me to see that in the few weeks I’ve been talking with them!

2. Perhaps by biggest frustration with serving in churches is that, as far as my experience is concerned, they tend to be very content with just maintaining their ministry. As a big-picture guy who needs a compelling vision in order just to function, nothing frustrates me more than a church that’s content with where they are. No church actually says they’re content and comfortable. In fact, they say just the opposite and sometimes they even think they really mean it, but yet most that I’ve been in contact with are unwilling to really make the deep-rooted changes that are necessary, often because doing so may be costly and uncomfortable. They like the idea of innovation and a vision that facilitates momentum, but the actual implementation may be risky. I’m hoping this starts to change, but more on that some other time.

At Epipheo I sense they operate the way I wish a church would operate. I feel like we hold similar values not only in our philosophies of ministry, but also in vision, innovation, and forward movement. Their vision of, “Revealing truth in a way that changes people’s lives,” is one that resonates with me and offers such tremendous potential, especially as we talk about how we can continue to make “truth” a capital T and tell God’s Story in engaging ways.

3. When I think about the ministry potential that Epipheo offers in revealing Truth online through video, social media, and technology, it really starts to blow my mind! I feel bad for saying this, but I feel like I can make a bigger eternal impact for the Kingdom through Epipheo than I can through a church. At Epipheo I sense like there are fewer barriers, there’s less resistance, and more potential to change people’s lives by telling God’s Story in innovative ways. I truly believe the church is the bride of Christ and is His divine plan for spreading His story on earth, but thankfully I believe the Lord will continue to use me to influence His bride while not relying on it for my full-time income.

4. Over this past year I had the tremendous privilege of volunteering in the youth ministry at our church and man, I loved it! It really played to my pastoral giftedness much better than the traditional youth pastor role as a program coordinator and event planner. Working full-time for Epipheo will provide me the opportunity to really dive in deep with a youth ministry on a volunteer basis and continue to serve in that capacity. In fact, I’ve already started talking with a church in the Cincinnati area that’s really trying to move toward a family-based approach to ministry and appears to be willing to make some of those deep-rooted changes. I’m excited about the potential of partnering with them and helping them continue to move forward however I can.

5. Let me just be honest with you guys: I’m the kind of person that tends to jump in with both feet and be totally immersed when I’m doing something I’m passionate about, almost to the detriment of my family. I’ve had poor boundaries between my ministry and my family in the past. Sometimes that’s praised in “church world” because, “It’s so clear that you are dedicated to the Lord’s work!” And to be even more honest, sometimes I think that kind of immersive ministry was not always based on passion but on insecurity. I felt like I needed the church to feel like their financial investment in me was worthwhile. It doesn’t take a genius to see how unhealthy that is on so many levels.

While no one at Epipheo asked or talked about that, in my brief time with them, they modeled something for me that was so refreshing: on Friday evening cell phones go on airplane mode until Saturday evening. That time is spent eating meals together with their family, family Bible study, games, movies, and dedicated family time with no work interruptions. I want to work at a place that not only says they value family as our primary ministry, but actually lives it out. Seeing that modeled for me will really empower me to emulate it, which I want more than anything else.

So, with all that said, our next steps are this: we’re moving out of our house in Minnesota after church this Sunday (which we were planning to do anyway) and will drive all our stuff to a storage unit in Cincinnati where Epipheo’s office is located. After spending a few days at Epipheo and scoping out different neighborhoods we’ll continue on to my parents’ house in Pennsylvania. We’ll stay there for a few weeks while I fulfill some speaking engagements on the east coast before driving to my wife’s parents’ house in Texas. We’ll be there for two months while I work remotely for Epipheo. Then, at the end of April we’ll move to Cincinnati to settle down and work closer to the office. At least that’s the plan for now.

These next few months are going to be crazy! Follow along on Facebook or Twitter!

I took a new job!

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:00:52 +0000

After 13 years of vocational youth ministry and 15 months of letting my entrepreneurial streak run loose, the Lord seems to be combining all the skills and passions I’ve developed through those experiences into the position I recently accepted at Epipheo Studios. It was definitely a challenging decision to make not only because several other attractive opportunities presented themselves around the same time as Epipheo did, but because it’s the first full-time non-church ministry job I’ve ever had. All I know is “church world.”

There are many reasons why I chose to accept the Creative Strategist position at Epipheo Studios instead of a church youth ministry position somewhere, which I’ll share tomorrow. On Thursday I’ll share some of my plans for Life In Student Ministry going forward, as well.

In the meantime, most of you guys know my wife and I are both very active on YouTube, so we made a little vlog of my conversation with the CEO of Epipheo Studios when I accepted the position last Friday. Feel free to eavesdrop on our conversation and hear a bit of our hearts for me in this position.

After I fulfill some speaking engagements on the east coast and we spend some time with my wife’s family in Texas we’ll be moving to Cincinnati, Ohio, to work at Epipho’s office. In the meantime, I’ll be working for them remotely with some travel between their Portland, OR, and Cincinnati offices.

Chances are good that you haven’t heard of Epipheo Studios (I hadn’t until they contacted me), but if you do anything on the web you’ve most likely seen some of their videos without knowing they made it. That was certainly true for me. Some of their clients include Google, Facebook, Amazon, Mashable, TV Guide, Microsoft, McAfee, AOL, and hundreds more, so if you’ve seen some of their animated videos, you may have seen Epipheo’s work.

Here’s a fun, short little video by Epipheo that explains more of what they do.

Epipheo’s slogan is, “Revealing truth in a way that changes lives.” That’s primarily been focused on communicating their clients’ stories, but all the guys who own and run the company are strong believers who want to do more to share God’s story. I’m excited to join them in turning the “truth” in their slogan into a capital T.

FREE Valentine’s Day youth group lesson [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:49:51 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #266

The guys at youthministry360 are giving away a FREE Valentines lesson. It’s a solid lesson that uses the story of Ruth and Boaz to talk about the God-centered love we see in the Bible versus the broken image of love the world bombards students with.

The lesson also makes the connection that the aspects of love seen in Ruth’s story are perfected in the love we see in Christ.

It features an interactive PowerPoint slideshow as well as a Leader’s Guide.

NOTE: You’ll have to part with some personal information and answer a few questions on YM360′s site to gain access to the download.

Get the FREE Valentine’s Day lesson

Make this a trend: Teach beyond behavior modification

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:00:00 +0000

If you missed the past several days of this series, I’m sharing some of the trends I see taking place in youth ministry and the implications they hold for our future. There’s been a lot of great discussion so far! Catch up with the, “Where youth ministry is going,” series with these posts:

Today I want to address something that I wish was a trend. It doesn’t appear to me to be a trend in the youth ministry world right now, but it really needs to become one.

4. What I wish was a trend: Evaluating the content we teach.

I feel like a lot of what we teach in youth ministry is ultimately behavior modification. We’re not really addressing deep, core issues as much as we’re addressing what we see on the outside. We’re teaching kids to act like better Christians more than we are helping them to fall in love with Christ.

When we teach scripture to kids, it usually revolves around questions like:

What does God want you to do?
How does God want you to live?
What does God say about sex, lying, cheating, drinking, etc.

I feel like we’re starting with the teenager’s life and trying to make scripture connect with that instead of first starting with scripture and letting it speak to teenagers and shape their life.

What if we start with a scripture and approach it asking, “What does this scripture say?” and conform our life around that instead of the other way around?

Yes, we want scripture to intersect with their everyday life, but as long as we use the Bible to address their issues, the focus is still on them. They become the foundation instead of scripture. Furthermore, teens begin to subconsciously believe that the Bible is here primarily to tell them what to do and to make their life better somehow by solving their problems. And it makes sense because the focus has always been on them and their life and trying to fit scripture into it instead of approaching scripture first and trying to wrap our lives around whatever it happens to say.

Restoring the element of mystery

Honestly, the way we teach scripture often boils God’s Word down to a three-point outline that gives basic Sunday School answers. Maybe we shouldn’t be giving answers at all, but instead leading students through the process of discovering truth for themselves. Self-discovery has the highest retention and life-transformation anyway.

We give our intro, main points, conclusion, application and kids walk away with no questions, no loose ends to ponder, and very little to wrestle with. We present scripture to them as a nice little present that’s all neatly wrapped up, packaged to look attractive with a little bow on top. We’ve totally removed the element of mystery from the scripture!

Kid want to connect with the depth that’s contained in scripture! Both church kids and non-churched kids alike are looking for that element of mystery. They don’t get it from church, so they find it in Harry Potter, Twilight and World of Warcraft instead.

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

There’s been a lot written on this subject, but I’m going to bring it up again because it is so fitting with the problem of using God’s Word to teach behavior modification.

The National Study of Youth and Religion conducted research that’s summarized in Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton’s book, “Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers.” In it, their findings show that the 5 common religious beliefs among American youth are:

A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
Good people go to heaven when they die.

That’s what kids believe about God when they graduate. That’s what they’re taking with them to college.

Obviously, there’s a lot of influences that make up this perception, but what we teach and how we teach it are essential to combating this!

A lot of it goes back to how we teach scripture as something to address issues in their life. I’m not opposed to topical studies, but I think we need a lot more exegetical studies where we start with scripture and go through books of the Bible and pull out all the good, the bad, and the uncomfortable and face it.

Questions

How does what you teach either combat or unintentionally promote Moralistic Therapeutic Deism?
Does your approach to scripture basically address behavior modification?
How can your ministry be more intentional of starting with scripture and wrapping our lives around that instead of the other way around?

Formulating contextualized visions and philosophies

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 13:00:05 +0000

Here’s the third trend I see taking place in youth ministry.

3. Formulating contextualized visions and philosophies.

There was a trend for the past 15 years or so where churches just looked to the mega churches and copied whatever Saddle Creek was doing. Churches saw what was happening in their churches and thought, “Wow, we’d really love to have that happen in our church, too!” So they adopted their philosophies and strategies and microwaved a bit to call them their own, which basically meant adding their own labels to what’s essentially the same philosophy. They called it “theirs,” but it really wasn’t.

Thankfully, now I see that our churches are discovering that following the Lord’s plan for someone else’s church really isn’t translating to their community the way we hoped. Maybe we forget that the churches we look to for leadership spent years and years in prayer, deeply pursuing God for His vision for their church and thankfully God blessed those efforts. While we have a lot to learn from churches like this, I think we’re now recognizing that each church must do the same because God has a unique plan and vision for each church that’s only revealed over time through prayer and pursuit of God.

I think we’re learning that cooking someone else’s recipe with different ingredients in a different ministry context just doesn’t give you the same end result. I sense that more and more churches are now taking personal ownership over a process of discovering the Lord’s plan and vision for their specific community. I see a lot of this is starting in the youth ministry world and flowing into the rest of the church.

Formulating a vision with no evaluation

However, here’s my word of caution: there are a lot of churches and ministry organizations who are taking ownership of developing their vision, but once they have the vision somewhat solidified, they jump straight to strategy, which is fine as long as the evaluation piece is put securely in place, as well.

Otherwise,

How do you know if your strategy is even helping you truly accomplish your vision?
How do you know if you’re still heading in the same direction now as you were 5 years ago when you set that vision into motion?
Every year new kids come in to your ministry and others leave. How does your ministry morph to work with the specific kids in your ministry?
What if something you do in your ministry has very little spiritually influence? Will you know it?
How do you know what to eliminate because it’s spiritually weak? Or what to pour yourself into because it’s so powerful?

We think about questions like that, but our evaluation is often very subjective. Sometimes it just comes down to, “Let’s ask some people and see what they think,” and we end up with a team of people pooling their ignorance. Sometimes those people suggest we repeat certain events because, “We had a good turnout,” or, “Everyone seemed to have a good time!” as if those are our goals and the standards by which we evaluate the ministry.

While I’m glad churches are beginning to think for themselves, it’s almost pointless if you don’t set down rails to keep your train pointed in the right direction. Otherwise your burning a lot of fuel and making a lot of noise, but you’re ultimately not going anywhere as a ministry.

Questions

I’d love to hear your responses to some of the questions I asked earlier in this post. I really would! It will be helpful not only for us to articulate it together, but also to hear other people’s answers in the contexts of their ministry.

A resource about this

P.S. My ebook, “Focused Youth Ministry: How to discover God’s vision for your ministry, implement it, and make it sustainable,” deals with this topic directly. In fact, in it I outline a 30-step process that will lead you to not only discovering what God’s unique vision is for your group, but also how to develop a plan to move it forward as well as an evaluation system for tracking the effectiveness of its movement over time.

I actually just released a little animated promo video for the ebook. The next 100 people to pick up a copy can use coupon code “YOUTUBE” to get 50% off!

12 months of devotions for youth workers [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:00:08 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #265

I’m really looking forward to going to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference again this March! It’s always such a great time of networking, conversations, challenges, growth, and encouragement.

One of the things I like most is that it’s mostly organized and pulled off by full-time youth workers who are serving at churches every day just like the rest of us. That “in the trenches” feel is pretty unique at SYMC. I love it!

One of the things these youth workers wanted to do was continue the “camp high” we feel after leaving a conference like this. They wanted to help us stay encouraged and engaged with scripture, so several of them wrote a series of 12 free Bible studies that are designed specifically for the youth worker’s soul. And you can download them all completely free!

Download them to use by yourself or even with your volunteer team!

Download the, “Recharge,” Bible studies for youth workers

(ht youthworktalk.com)

A family-based approach to youth ministry

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:00:40 +0000

2. Moving toward a family-based approach to youth ministry

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, outsourcing is very prominent in our culture. It’s not always entirely bad. In fact, if people didn’t outsource different projects to me that are outside their skill set I wouldn’t have an income right now! But sometimes we become so used to outsourcing that we stop taking responsibility for the things we ought.

I mean, we outsource our kids’ athletics to a coach, their driving lessons to an instructor, education to a teacher, and in Hollywood some people make full-time jobs out of teaching celebrities’ kids how to ride a bike and go shopping!

We may all agree that that is too far, but where’s the line? What is acceptable to outsource and what isn’t? Is education too far? Is sports acceptable? Is giving youth pastors the responsibility of teenagers’ spiritual formation too far?

Most of us probably agree that the parents are supposed to be the primary spiritual developers of their kids’ faith — their faith should not be outsourced to the “paid professional” on staff at church. Yet, despite what we say, how we do youth ministry begs to differ with our words because we still enable parents to do otherwise.

Thankfully, it seems that there’s a trend of youth workers and church leaders saying, “No, we won’t enable parents to continue to place the responsibility of teenagers spiritual development on our shoulders!”

But something is missing

Most of us are probably familiar with the need to have parents be the primarily spiritual influence in a teenager’s life, but we have no idea where to start.

So we start at the wrong places. We start with doing more things:

Parent meetings
Parent newsletters
Provide discussion questions for parents based on our lessons

Doing more things is better than doing nothing, but ultimately it leads to superficial results because it fails to address the root issue.

We have to start with identity, not function. What we do should flow from who we are, never vice versa.

And that’s true for parents, too. It’s not just about what a parent does that influences their teen’s faith, it’s how a parent lives. And how they live flows out of who they are.

The invisible elements of their parents’ faith, like passion and sincerity, can’t be faked. They play such a critical role in the spiritual formation of children and teenagers, yet they flow from sharing life together more than adding another program or event for parents to our already full youth ministry calendar.

A new model of ministry to parents

We really have to care about what’s going on in the heart of the moms and dads in our churches. Not just say we care about it, but care enough to make the necessary radical shifts in our own families and ministries. If the parents in our churches are passionately sold out to the Lord, that is going to mess with their teenagers in huge ways! They’ll see it in their parents’ lives, not just hear it talked about as a compartment of their lives.

Thankfully, I hear churches talking about this shift more and more. No one quite seems to know what this looks like nor the implications it will have for their ministry if they make the vision shift on an “identity” level instead of on the “function” level, but we’re talking about it just the same. And I trust that our discussions will continue to formulate our thinking and perspectives, change our own hearts, and that conviction will give way to contagious passion. Soon we’ll become intolerant of enabling the very behavior we say we resist.

Questions

How are you starting to lead and model a family-based youth ministry in your home?
What does family-based ministry look like for your church right now?
How have you seen your personal spiritual growth affect your children and your family?

The role of the youth pastor is changing

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:34:57 +0000

If you missed the introduction to this series yesterday called, “Where youth ministry is going,” there’s been a lot of great discussion on that post about trends we see in youth ministry and where we think they’re taking us.

It’s interesting for me to see how some of your perceptions are exactly the opposite of mine. Plus, I found it interesting that many of the trends you all have observed in youth ministry tend to be negative. Again, that’s been the opposite of what I’ve been feeling. I largely love the trends I’m seeing with the exception of one that I wish I saw more of, which I’ll explain at the end of this series next week.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this first trend I’m seeing in youth ministry. Comment below even if you only skim all of this.

1. The role of the YP changing in the larger church body.

In all my interviewing with churches this past year, one question that’s been very helpful for me to ask is, “So, why are you hiring a youth pastor?” Usually their response is noble and well-intentioned, but ultimately doesn’t satisfy the question. For example, “We really value teenagers,” or, “We need someone to run the ministry.” I’m glad churches value teenagers, but you don’t need a youth pastor to make teenagers feel valued. Nor do you need to hire a youth pastor to run the youth ministry. Some of the most healthy and thriving youth ministries I know of don’t even have a paid staff member.

In the past it mostly seemed to me that the role of the youth pastor was for the church to outsource that ministry to a paid professional. While every church’s heart is in the right place, ultimately what they were saying was, “We need to hire an expert to come in and do ministry to teenagers.”

The problem with that statement is that it takes responsibility away from the congregation for ministering to teenagers. It’s the church saying, “Youth ministry is your job.” They take the body’s calling to serve teenagers and place it on the shoulders of an individual who, unfortunately, accepts it and all the responsibilities and implications that go along with it.

This can look many different ways in different churches. Most commonly it’s, “We’re going to provide volunteers to support you in your ministry because we know you can’t do it by yourself.”

And sometimes we, as youth workers, actually perpetuate this perspective without even realizing it because sometimes it’s what we believe about our role, as well. Even by the way we recruit leaders, we approach potential adult leaders like we need someone to help us, someone to fill a vacant role in the youth ministry. From their perspective, they are joining us in our ministry to help us out, and sometimes we get fortunate enough to recruit someone who really loves teenagers and loves supporting us.

In some churches, that even goes a step further where they’re essentially saying, “We hired a youth pastor to do ministry to teenagers on behalf of the church so we don’t have to.”

And too many youth workers are accepting jobs like that then wondering…

why they’re burning out.
why they don’t feel the support they wish the ministry had.
why adult volunteers and students aren’t taking ownership of the ministry.
why the success and failure of the ministry rests on them.
why leaders don’t show up for trainings.
why leaders are not going to the soccer games of the kids in their small group.
why ministry feels mostly administrative.

The shift

Thankfully, some churches are starting to see this differently now.

Instead of hiring someone to “do youth ministry on our behalf,” they’re recognizing that God calls them, as a body, to minister to teenagers as much as they’re called to minister to adults, parents, children, senior citizens, and everyone else.

Some churches are now saying, “No, we value our teenagers too much to dump them on a youth pastor. We’re going to take responsibility of this ministry and corporately reach teenagers the best way we know how.”

They’ve effectively eliminated the need for a youth pastor, which is awesome!

From what I’ve seen, the churches who are thriving in their ministry to teenagers without a youth pastor are wholeheartedly taking ownership and are exponentially more effective in their spiritually intentional efforts to reach them because it’s a community of adults who serve because God has called them to do this, not because a youth pastor asked them to consider volunteering some time.

The problem they run into

Usually they cruise for several years doing amazing, awesome ministry until something happens: they hit the ceiling of what they can do. After all, these are people who aren’t trained in youth ministry – they just love teenagers and feel called to serve them.

So when they hire a youth pastor, it’s not to come in and take over the programming, planning, coordinating, and relationships with the kids – it’s to come alongside of the people who are already serving and train them to do it better.

It’s an equipping role, not an outsourcing role. It’s about coaching and modeling ministry and leading the leaders more than leading the teens. Youth ministry for the youth pastor revolves around the adult leaders more than it does around the students.

Wagon wheel vs. oil

As my friend Mark Riddle explains it, if you take the hub out of the wheel, everything stops and falls apart. Similarly if the hub of a ministry revolves around the youth pastor, the ministry will rise or fall based on that one person.

Instead of being the hub, pastors should serve as the oil between gears. The gears should turn with or without the youth pastor, but the youth pastor can help everything move more smoothly and effectively. The youth pastor gives input, helps steer the team in the right direction, provides training for each person’s role, supports and encourages, helps the team process through decisions, etc.

The role of the pastor in the church comes back to reflect Ephesians 4 a bit more accurately as an equipper of the saints.

Spiritual Gift vs. Position

Remember that being a pastor is just as much a spiritual gift as it is a position we hold.

Here’s the key: if being a pastor/shepherd is spiritual gift, then there are a lot more pastors in our church than we realize. Furthermore, there are lot more literal “youth” pastors in our own youth groups who are not even engaging on that level because the church body sees a pastor primarily as someone who is a forerunner in a paid position.

If we start to see the pastor/shepherds in our congregation and use them to be pastors to equip students, then our role is to equip and shepherd the equippers.

And thankfully I see that shift beginning to take place as churches think more critically about the youth pastor’s role and are becoming less content to give such a vital area of ministry over to a single paid individual.

Questions

How do you function in your church? More as a hub or more like oil?
Do you feel like your church primarily outsources the youth ministry to you?
How are you guys using the “youth” pastors and other pastors in your congregation?

Where youth ministry is going

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I really don’t know exactly where youth ministry is going. There’s been a lot written on this subject, especially lately, but no one really knows for sure. It’s all tainted by our own values, experiences, and perceptions of what we see in the circles we run with.

I know this is definitely true for me. I tend to be involved with more conservative circles in youth ministry. Just like everyone else, I have a set of values that serve as a set of lenses for how I perceives shifts and decisions, too. What I share over the next several days is all based on that limited perspective and experience.

I’d love for this to be a discussion where we can talk about some of these things because I’d really love to hear what you guys are seeing out there. It’ll be interesting to see how my observations align or don’t align with your observations and vice versa.

I have 3 trends to discuss with you guys that I think are starting to take place in our approach to youth ministry, all of which really excite me! But there’s 1 trend that’s still not happening that I wish was a trend. Maybe if I rant hard enough about it in my last post of this series youth ministries will actually start doing it. We’ll see. ;)

Before we jump into the series tomorrow, I want to hear your initial thoughts on where youth ministry is going and what trends you see taking place that will shape our future. Comment below!

QUESTION: What 3 trends do you see taking place in youth ministry? What is 1 thing you wish was a trend that isn’t?

P.S. Just for kicks, read through a series I hosted back in 2006 where 25 youth leaders shared their thoughts on, “What needs to change in youth ministry?” Contributors include Marko, Adam McLane, Greg Stier, Joshua Griffin, and more. Funny to see what’s changed and hasn’t changed in youth ministry since that was written 6 years ago.

Posts in this series

Part 1: The role of the youth pastor is changing in the church body
Part 2: A family-based approach to youth ministry
Part 3: Formulating contextualized visions and philosophies
Part 4: Make this a trend: Teach beyond behavior modification

Evangelism discussion questions for Nickelback’s, “Savin’ Me” [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 13:00:35 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #264

I’ve been having a lot of fun writing the Dare2Share Blog for the past couple months. I’ve written a lot of articles for them along with Greg Stier, Jason Lamb, and others, but I think I enjoy creating the video blogs the most. I feel like I can communicate much more content in a shorter amount of time than I can with a blog post, like this one on what causes teenagers to share their faith more than anything else.

A few weeks ago I wrote a small group discussion guide for them to accompany Nickelback’s music video for, “Savin’ Me.” If you haven’t seen this music video, you really need to. Watch it here on YouTube.

The small group questions I wrote for this music video will lead you through a discussion about the message this video conveys about our time here on earth and how unbelievers may even be crying out to us to share the good news of Jesus Christ with them. As the song says, “Say it if it’s worth savin’ me!”

Visit my post on the Dare2Share blog to grab this discussion guide. And consider subscribing to them while you’re there.

Grab the, “Say it if it’s worth saving me,” discussion questions

Jesus relates to our ministry weaknesses [Time Out]

Adam Wormann — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:55:04 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.

Youth ministry has made me think about what Jesus would have been like as a teenager. I kind of wish the Bible talked about that a little bit more. Sure, teenagers were different 2,000 years ago, but it would have been really interesting to see how Jesus handled things during that whole awkward stage. All we really have is Luke 2 where Jesus was left alone for a few days and amazes people with his responses to their questions and teachings. Then we have two really powerful verses. Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.

Think about that for a second. If Jesus grew in wisdom, does that mean that he didn’t have all wisdom already? To grow in wisdom and stature, he grew like a normal person. When he was two and figured out how to make the sounds of speech, he didn’t have a full vocabulary — he learned it.

I think sometimes we confuse sinlessness for perfection.

When the Bible talks about being perfect as Jesus was, it’s in reference to moral character, to sin. Jesus was certainly perfect in that way. But he was human too. He likely missed with a hammer and hit his hand. He fell down. He wasn’t the champion in dodge ball every single time. He probably got hit trying to make a catch and got eliminated. We often have an overly-sanitized version of Jesus that really make him seem like he lived less of a human life than he really did.

In Christianity we often emphasize Jesus divinity so much that we lose his humanity.

Here’s why that’s so important: Jesus can relate to us. Hebrews tells us that we have a high priest who can sympathize with our weakness. He’s felt temptation just like us, only even on a greater level. He’s felt shame like we have. He’s felt suffering far greater than us. Jesus is not so distant that we can’t relate to him – in fact he’s gone through this all so that he can relate.

Sometimes our sin and shortcomings keep us from Christ. In fact, they should draw us closer to him. He can understand humanity, relate to us, and loves us more than we can imagine.

Take some time to reflect on life a little bit. Is there something that you’re holding back from Jesus? Is there something that’s holding you back from Jesus? Sometimes, we don’t want to admit that these things are there. Jesus, through his life and teaching, invites to us bring them to him. Take some time in quiet reflection to think about these things.

Free church postcards, logos, slides, and more! [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:00:35 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #263

As a youth worker, you probably spend a fair amount of time trying to design websites, flyers, logos, handouts, PowerPoint slides, emails, postcards, and everything the rest of the church staff throws at you as the “computer guy” or “computer girl.” What everyone else doesn’t know is that we actually aren’t really that great with designing stuff, we just know where to get the good stuff online to customize.

One of those sites you can add to your arsenal if it isn’t already a part of it is CreationSwap. There’s a lot of freelance artists and church designers who publish their content there for free for anyone to download and use in their ministry. This includes:

Photos
Slides
Postcards
Bulletins
Banners
Invitation Cards
Logos
Vector Art
and more!

CreationSwap also offers some paid services, too, if you want the creator to customize a design for you. Soon you’ll also be able to order professional prints of postcards and such. Watch this video to learn more about how CreationSwap works.

If you want to look like a design whizz without any of the training, check out CreationSwap for a ton of free graphical goodness!

Visit CreationSwap.com

Huge announcement for my website business, MinistryWebsites.biz

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:00:30 +0000

Three years ago I started MinistryWebsites.biz as a response to many churches and organizations who were asking me for a drop-dead simple easy way to effectively communicate online without any technical skills. The service has done well to support many different ministries over the past several years. It’s been my joy to hear all the success stories from the churches who use the system and the ministry opportunities that present themselves as a result of being online.

Several months ago I entered into a conversation with Immerseme, a company based in Jackson, MS, that specializes in partnering with churches and non-profit organizations to establish and improve their online presences. That conversation led to what I’m excited to announce today: Immerseme has acquired MinistryWebsites.biz!

More about what this acquisition means for MinistryWebsites.biz, its clients, Immerseme, and myself personally are posted on the official MinistryWebsites.biz blog.

As virtual company, Immerseme employs the best talent available all over the United States across 4 time zones and 7 states. They truly have an incredible staff, all who love serving their clients, their ministries, and the work God is doing through them online.

Immerseme’s product portfolio includes mobile marketing, email newsletter software, website content management software, and turnkey message advancement, so if your ministry is looking for any of those solutions, I definitely recommend you check them out. They will continue to use the same drop-dead, simple, easy, website system that MinistryWebsites.biz was founded on, so even if you have little to no tech or website experience, you’ll still get the same great product from them that will allow you to create and update your website with great ease.

Crull Chambless, Co-founder and COO of Immerseme, says this, “Immerseme was founded out of a desire to help ministries be more effective in their communication. The acquisition of MinistryWebsites.biz is a natural fit to our overall goals and we’re excited to offer the same level of support and services to MinistryWebsites.biz clients as our existing clients enjoy.”

Go to Immerseme.com to learn more about them and their online products for ministries and non-profits. You can also like Immerseme on Facebook and follow Immerseme on Twitter.

5 things I love about the Simply Youth Ministry Conference

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:11:50 +0000

Let’s Connect at SYMC!

The Simply Youth Ministry Conference is coming up! Woohoo! If you’re going, I’d love to connect with you while we’re there! I’m teaching a workshop titled, “Communicating With Teens and Parents Throughout The Week,” where we look at different communication ideas and, most importantly, how to evaluate which ones work for your ministry and which ones don’t.

I’m also on a couple discussion panels, including the blogging/social media panel with Jon Acuff, Joshua Griffin, and Terrace Crawford, as well as the pornography panel with Craig Gross of XXXChurch and a few other people. Even my wife gets to serve youth workers at the conference, too, as she hosts the, “Married To A Youth Pastor” connect group. We’re both so super excited!

Yesterday my wife and I were talking about some of the things we love about the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Here are our top 5 in no particular order.

1. Connecting

We love meeting new people! Every year we make new friends that we stay in touch with, which is awesome!

2. Conversational Tone

Perhaps the reason we end up meeting new people and making new friends is because of the intentional conversational tone to the conference. If you take the initiative to talk to new people, the sack chairs that are placed in groups all over the place certainly provide great opportunities to talk about life and ministry. Even the seminars are all focused on conversation more than on lecture.

3. Soul Care

While the conference definitely contains some of the top youth ministry training in the world, there is an equal amount of emphasis on tending to the emotional and spiritual needs of youth workers. This year there will be an emphasis on healthy marriages and sex. Plus, there’s always the great “Ministry In The Valley” team ran by my friends, Patti Gibbons and Len Evans. You don’t just leave with a few more youth ministry tools in your belt — you leave as someone who’s emotionally and spiritually more prepared to serve the Lord’s kids and their families.

4. Planned by Church Youth Workers

I love that Simply Youth Ministry provides the foundation and financial backing for this event, but the behind-the-scenes planning is all done by a team of over 100 church youth workers. Likewise, the conference workers who are pulling off the event are those same youth workers. This makes the conference a very unique experience, one that’s about linking arms and teamwork.

5. Community

Perhaps its the teamwork and community effort of youth workers pulling off this event that makes it feel like a community people who are all in this youth ministry thing together. Especially in the Connect Groups, we hear each other’s stories, support each other, provide encouragement, praise successes, bounce ideas, and so much more.

If you’re not yet registered for the Simply Youth Ministry Conference, we’d love to have you join us! It’s March 2-5 in Louisville, KY. More information at http://Conference.YouthMinistry.com.

QUESTION: If you’ve been to the SYMC, what do you love most? Comment below and share!

Ministry = My failure + God’s grace [Time Out]

Guest Author — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:00:38 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
(by Benjer McVeigh)

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” He said to him the third time,”Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” (This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” -John 21:15-19

Peter’s Redeemed Failure

Peter. The disciple who swore to Jesus that if it came down to it, he would rather die than turn away from his Teacher. The disciple who, only hours later, swore to strangers around him that he had never even met Jesus, let alone followed him. This is the Peter we read about in John’s gospel, talking with Jesus after breakfast. Jesus had been arrested, deserted by his friends, and executed after a brutal sham of a trial. The same trial that Peter tried to get a glimpse of, where he was recognized as a disciple of Jesus yet denied even knowing who Jesus was.

We would expect Jesus to forgive Peter. That’s just the kind of thing Jesus does. But what we often miss is that Jesus takes Peter’s failure and turns it into an invitation to serve Jesus. “Feed my lambs.” “Tend my sheep.” “Feed my sheep.” To put it simply, Peter’s failure plus God’s grace equals Peter’s ministry.

Your Redeemed Failure

Now, let’s make it personal: Your failure + God’s grace = your ministry.

I’m going to assume that you have failed in some way. In fact, I believe that most ministry leaders have at least one failure in their life that they believe somehow makes them less of a leader.

A marriage that ended in divorce… because you weren’t willing to work out your differences.

A pornography addiction… that you keep hidden because of your shame.

Drug or alcohol abuse… you’ve been clean for years, but sometimes the temptation still gnaws at you.

Or simply failing to take seriously and live out Monday through Saturday what you teach on Sunday.

It may be a public failure that everyone knows about. Or it may be a private failure that you’ve managed to keep from everyone… everyone except God.

I want to tell you something about your failure that perhaps no on has ever told you: Your failure plus God’s grace equals an invitation to ministry.

Let me be clear: this passage in John is not an invitation to cover up or ignore any moral failures in your life. If you need help, please tell someone you trust and get the help you need, even if that means stepping down from your current leadership position. But know that your failures are not the end.

Refocus Your Failure

I hope you’ll allow me some liberty as a paraphrase Jesus’ words:

“Peter, I know you feel ashamed because you denied me. But your failure is not the end. Your failure — combined with my sacrifice — will be the strength behind your service. I not only forgive you, but I will redeem what you have done in order to tell of the love and mercy of my Father. Peter, your failure is not the end. Rather, my forgiveness that you receive is just the beginning.”

This is, in essence, what Jesus said to Peter. Maybe you’re thinking to yourself, I wish Jesus could say that to me. He does. Read that paragraph again, this time inserting your name and your failure:

“______, I know you feel ashamed because you ______. But your failure is not the end. Your failure – combined with my sacrifice – will be the strength behind your service. I not only forgive you, but I will redeem what you have done in order to tell of the love and mercy of my Father. _______, your failure is not the end. Rather, my forgiveness that you receive is just the beginning.”

Your failure. God’s grace. Invitation to ministry. May you embrace that reality today, perhaps for the first time.

Reflect

In what area of your life have you failed morally and for which you need to ask God’s forgiveness and perhaps the forgiveness of others?
In what ways have you hidden any of your failures because you believe it makes you less of a pastor or leader?
In what ways have you seen God work through you despite your failings, or in what ways do you hope God will use you despite your failings?

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Benjer McVeigh is a youth pastor in Ogden, UT, where he works with students in grades 9-12 and their families at Washington Heights Church. You can read more from Benjer at www.benjermcveigh.com or follow him on twitter

Free activities, Bible studies, and tools from LeaderTreks! [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:00:13 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #262

I love the guys at LeaderTreks! Having done some work with them in the past, I’ve really grown to appreciate their hearts for partnering with youth workers to develop student leaders. The team of people there are really top-notch. Seriously.

While on their website, I noticed they’ve added a lot of new free youth ministry resources (or maybe it’s just more organized now, so it looks like more?). There’s a lot of good stuff there! Check the left sidebar for links to all their resources! Here’s some of what I found on their site, all FREE!

Help students identify a mentee
A guide for weekly youth leader meetings
A guide for helping student leaders hone in on their leadership values
Help students discover ways to share Christ’s love with their friends
How to structure a great lesson
A weekly checkup for your students as they start small group
Help your student leaders understand strategic planning
Help your students set goals for the whole year
Help your students begin to identify their mission
An interactive assessment for placing youth group volunteers by passion
An interactive study for youth workers on how to overcome conflicts in youth ministry
Understand your personality
Discovering your passion
Allowing God to lead your life
A small group study looking at how Joshua and Caleb’s character teaches us about leadership
A small group study looking at how Ruth’s character teaches us about leadership
Help your students grow in their ability to work together to accomplish a goal and communicate effectively
An initiative to help your students build unity, communication, and trust
A team building game that challenges your students focus

There’s also a couple free ebooks available for download.

Visit their freebie page at the link below. They even have a little welcome video waiting for you. Gotta love it!

Visit the LeaderTreks Free Resources Page

My values in ministry

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:00:26 +0000

Most of our churches probably have a document somewhere that lists the church’s stated core values, which is great. But what’s even more important is the list of unidentified values. Stated values are fine, but are ultimately meaningless unless the church community intentionally embodies them in every way. The unidentified values are the values that a faith community actually lives by, what influences decisions, how success is determined, and why the church goes one direction instead of another. Most churches haven’t throught through their unidentified values and any discrepancy between them and their stated values.

But that’s also true for us.

As I’ve been interviewing with churches and asking a lot of questions that try to reveal some of the unidentified values a church holds, I’ve been reflecting on some of those values for myself. Knowing what a church’s true values are doesn’t really help me much unless I know what my true values are and how they might or might not align with the church’s.

The temptation for me is to list values that I wish I held so that I would appear to be more well-rounded and balanced, but what’s more important is for me to identify what is, not just what I wish was the case.

So, here are some of the values that I have in ministry, loosely in order of importance. Sorry I don’t give a lot of detail here — I wrote this mostly for myself, but am happy to share it with you guys.

Foundation of scripture.
Prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit’s promptings.
Integrity, living upright, holy and above reproach.
Maintaining healthy ministry and personal boundaries for my family.
Personal development (both spiritual and professional).
Intentionally evaluating the ministry’s spiritual influence and implementing appropriate changes.
Casting vision.
Prayerfully taking calculated risks.
Serving from identity (doing flows from being).
Pastoral care.
Viewing parents as the teenagers’ primary spiritual leaders.
Creativity and expressing myself in ministry in new ways.
Authenticity, transparency, being who I really am.
Flexibility.
Investing into servant leaders, both adults and students.
Missions as an intense discipleship and evangelism tool.
Lifestyle of worship in both my own life and in the lives of teens.
Spiritual formation via experiences. Learning via discovering truths.
Practicing spiritual truths in my own life before I teach it and expect students to practice it.

QUESTION: What do you value most in ministry?

How can we be more valuable for you in 2012?

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:00:46 +0000

Every year I love to run a survey of all you guys because it’s always one of the most important things I do for this site and for you guys each year. The feedback and input you guys provide is absolutely invaluable in helping me write, generate content, and knowing what to focus on and what to let die.

I want to enter 2012 the same way.

The survey should only take about 3-4 minutes to complete, so when you have the time, please fill it out and help me serve you.

[ ~~SURVEY: Looking forward to 2011 with LISM~~ SURVEY CLOSED ]

All that I ask is that you be honest, courteous and constructive with your feedback. Thanks!

Thank-you gifts for 10 of you

As a thank-you, I’m giving away several books. Ten random people who complete the survey by January 10, 2012, will receive one of the following:

“Life In Student Ministry: Practical Conversations on Thriving in Youth Ministry,” by Tim Schmoyer
“Focused Youth Ministry: How To Discover God’s Vision for Your Ministry, Implement It, and Make It Sustainable,” by Tim Schmoyer (x3)
“Sifted: God’s Scandalous Response to Satan’s Outrageous Demand,” by Rick Lawrence
“The Volunteer’s Back Pocket Guide to Events and Retreats,” by Johnny Scott
“Emergency Response Handbook for Youth Ministry” (x2)
“Pure Praise for Youth: A Heart-Focused Study on Worship,” by Dwayne Moore
“Thrive: Do More Than Survive Your Faith,” by Ben Hardman

I’m looking forward to an amazing year of blessing you and your “life in student ministry!”

Money: Great Servant, Terrible Master [Time Out]

Guest Author — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:37:12 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.

Over the next year, on the first Monday of the month, we’re going to be running a series within Time Out called, “Life Lessons,” by Jerry Schmoyer (Tim’s dad). Here’s a note from Jerry:

As I approach retirement age and look back on a lifetime of ministry I realize there are some important principles I have learned. I’d like to share some of these with you. I’m sure God is teaching you these same truths and I hope that explaining them from my perspective can benefit you and your ministry.

As I come near the close this series of blogs on what I’ve learned in life I must mention money. It’s a great servant but a terrible master. I learned good financial principles from my parent’s example and that has helped me avoid a lot of financial problems. Money is great when it serves me, but if I start to serve it then it becomes a terrible master.

God has provided well for me financially. We don’t have an extravagant lifestyle and many would say we don’t earn a lot of money, but we’ve kept down our expenses and are quite content to live within our means. I thank God that misuse of money has not been one of my weaknesses. My wife and I both are frugal but still enjoy sharing generously. We find a balance that works for us between spending and saving. We have found some ways of using money that bring enjoyment to us and we thank God for this.

The danger with money is when it becomes a substitute for trust in God. Too many people evaluate themselves and their “success” in life in terms of dollars and possessions. Money does not bring security. In fact the more money God entrusts a person with the more they are accountable for their stewardship of this important resource.

We’ve established some principles concerning money which we have tried to pass on to our children. One is to not spend what you don’t have. God gives us 24 hours of time in a day and that’s all we have. It’s a limited resource and we must learn to live within it, although we often try to stretch it to its limit. Unfortunately today we can spend money we don’t have, and the temptation to do so can be great. But that will catch up with you and can cause many problems. Make sure you don’t spend money you don’t have.

A second principle we teach is that you can only spend your money once. While this might seem obvious, the truth behind it is that if you use it for the wrong thing then it won’t be there for something more important later, or maybe even what God intended it to be used for. In this country, with very few exceptions, God gives us the amount of money He knows we will need to live on plus extra to use for His Kingdom. He knows what He wants us to use it for. That’s why a budget can be a good way of discovering God’s will for the use of your money and make sure you stay within your limits. I can spend money I have (principle 1) but I must also spend it for what God intended it to be spend for (principle 2). If not I won’t have it for what I really need, nor will I properly use some of it for His Kingdom. That’s why we always remember that we can only spend our money once so we need to make sure we use it wisely.

Scripture

Philippians 4:11-13, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

Hebrews 13:5, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”

Reflect

Are you spending money you don’t have? Why is that unwise to do?
Do you have a workable budget you stick to? If not, how can you be sure you are making the best use of the money God gives you?
If Jesus would sit down with you tonight and all your financial expenditures would be laid out before Him, what would He say? Would He make any suggestions? If so, what?
Pray and commit your finances to God. Ask Him to direct you in their correct use. Write down any changes you need to make and apply them immediately.

Free FacePlant video announcement tool [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:55:55 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #261

If you’re looking for a new, fun way to create video announcements for youth group, Youth Specialties and CrowdControlGames teamed up to offer a free program that automatically places your face inside different movie scenes. Grab a fun picture of your face from somewhere on your computer, copy it into their “Faces” folder, crop your face using the tool, and click on one of the available movie scenes. The movie will start playing with you as the star!

I made a sample video of myself as Neo in the movie, The Matrix, so you can get an idea of what FacePlant does. Unfortunately, there’s no video export setting that I found, so I used a screen capture program to record the video as it played on my computer monitor and then edited my own ending onto it. (More details about that here and here.) Here’s what it looks like.

For a video of how FacePlant works and the free download link, visit Youth Specialties’ blog post about it at the link below!

One side-note: I watched their intro video on the Youth Specialties’ blog post, FacePlant still wasn’t exactly intuitive for me at first. It took a bit of experimentation to figure out how to use it, but once I did, I saw that I skipped the last two paragraphs on Youth Specialties’ blog post that gave the instructions on how to use it. If I had read that first, it would’ve save me some time. haha

Download FacePlant from Youth Specialties!

Are we paid to be the Holy Spirit?

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:00:13 +0000

I’ve been looking through a lot of youth pastor job descriptions for various available positions around the country and one thing continues to stand out to me:

Do churches sometimes expect pastors to play the role of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives?

I see a lot of expectations outlined that have to do with inspiring growth, be convicting, teach dynamically, etc. But how much does that depend on us and how much of that is ultimately a work of the Holy Spirit in people’s lives?

I’m not sure I want to push this perception too far because there obviously is a lot of overlap between what we do and what the Holy Spirit does. I see it more like us doing our best to partner with the Holy Spirit’s work more than being held responsible for it.

I posted about this on the Life In Student Ministry Facebook Page yesterday and got some interesting feedback. Here are some of thoughts from other youth workers who responded to the Facebook post.

“I think most churches have job description that are unattainable.” – Jeff Greathouse
“In all honesty I would stay away from a church that communicates job ‘responsibilities’ that are the Holy Spirit’s in the first place. Not only is it unhealthy, but if for some reason the Spirit isn’t moving the way the church expects him to be, then it’s not the Holy Spirit that will get in trouble, it will be you. Find a church that desires for you to be faithful in communicating the Word to your students, and is open to allowing the Spirit to work through your faithfulness however He wants.” – David Turner
“I don’t even know if the Holy Spirit could do some things (or be some things) that churches look for.” – Adam Wormann
“Often churches don’t really know what they want or haven’t thought through a philosophy/theology of ministry so they write theological job descriptions that make no sense.” – David Lynn

There’s obviously some cynicism in some of these comments, but are they based on truth? I’d love to hear what your thoughts are.

QUESTION: What’s the balance between what we can do to help facilitate spiritual growth and people taking personal responsibility for their own spiritual growth? Do churches sometimes hold expectations for pastors that should be reserved for the Holy Spirit? Comment below!

The past will help us move forward in 2012 [Time Out]

Tim Schmoyer — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 14:51:08 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.

We often head into a new year with goals, plans, and a vision of what’s in store, what we’d like to accomplish, and where it’s going to take us. Looking toward the future is always a healthy thing, but let’s also look to the past and learn from what’s brought us to where we are today so we can better plan our trajectory for going forward.

Several years ago ministry was the main aspect of my life that I reflected on and evaluated in order to move forward, probably because it was the most tangible and least convicting. But I’ve since learned that evaluating ministry in isolation of my personal life and spiritual life only revealed a very small part of what was actually going on. Ministry never happens in isolation from our personal and spiritual lives. My energy for ministry is affect by what’s happening in my personal life. And my own spiritual growth with the Lord affects my perspective on both personal life and my ministry life. And, of course, ministry obviously impacts both our personal lives and spiritual lives, as well. They’re all intertwined and influence each other. Ministry is not an isolated compartment of our lives.

This week, instead of just reflecting on 2011′s ministry, combine that with your personal and spiritual life, as well, as you look at the past to plan the future.

Reflect

Overall, how would you describe 2011′s year of ministry?
Do you feel like you grew spiritually during that time? How so or why not?
How did the state of your own soul before the Lord affect what happened in ministry?
What was your personal life like this past year and how did it influence your time, energy, and focus on ministry?
In 2012, what needs to happen in your spiritual and personal lives and how do you foresee it influencing your ministry?

P.S. If you’d like a practical 30-step guide for focusing your ministry’s efforts and discovering God’s vision for your ministry in 2012, check out my new ebook, “Focused Youth Ministry.”

Icebreakers, skits and more from Youth Leader Coach [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 14:57:49 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #260

For those of you who are already familiar with Jeanne Mayo’s Youth Leader Coaching, you no doubt already know about all the incredible resources she has available on her site for a nominal fee. There’s a lot of great material there for $5.00 or less, but she also has a page of free resources that are available for download in exchange for joining their email list.

The freebie page includes:

Stories
Illustrations
Skits
Icebreakers
Monologues
and more!

Two of the skits are called, “Boy Meets Boy,” and, “Girl Meets Girl,” dealing with the issue of homosexuality at youth group, so Jeanne is definitely not afraid to tackle some tough and controversial issues with her resources. It’s definitely worth your time to check it out. Link to all the Youth Leader Coach goodness below:

Visit Youth Leader Coach’s Freebie Page!

Surprise phone call to the Christmas Fund winner!

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:57:51 +0000

Wow, this Youth Worker Christmas Fund Giveaway was so incredibly fun! It truly is better to give than to receive (Acts 20:35), and definitely way more satisfying!

The irony of this giveaway is that the idea for it stemmed out of a church who anonymously gave me and my wife a large check last year at Christmas time right when I lost my job as the youth pastor at our church. That check paid for all of my son’s delivery hospital bills right when we really needed it.

This year, the winner of the giveaway is also a youth worker who recently lost his job a few weeks before Christmas and is feeling the financial burden of a family, mortgage, and dental bills.

This was huge!

This giveaway grew to be much bigger than I ever anticipated! With 3,028 voters accounting for 4,695 total votes from across 40 different countries sending 13,150 hits to the voting page, it was definitely a crazy ride.

A huge thank you to all of you for giving to the Youth Worker Christmas Fund and thereby to with winner, Joshua Johnson. You guys purchased my ebook, Focused Youth Ministry, and bought cool watches from IWontWatch.com, growing this fund to an even $2,000.00! Suh-weet!

Also, a huge thank you to Simply Youth Ministry for sponsoring this along with IWontWatch.com! There’s no way we could’ve blessed Joshua Johnson with $2,000 without their support and contributions. Both of these organizations gave money without a second thought because they truly love youth workers.

I’m already thinking of ways to grow the fund even larger throughout the course of the year so together we can bless several youth workers in financial need next Christmas. If you have ideas for how to do this, please let me know!

My surprise phone call with Joshua Johnson

Yesterday I called the winner, Joshua Johnson, on the phone to officially let him know that he’s the winner. Listen to our conversation below. There’s some really cool things in this conversation.

How to stay hip, cool, and in touch with teens

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:55:23 +0000

While most normal people spend their free time watching sports and movies, I pretty much spend most of my media consumption time catching up on my 300+ YouTube subscriptions. I love YouTube so much more than traditional media for so many reasons.

One of the channels I subscribe to is Julian Smith who is popular for his comedy sketches that poke fun of popular cultural trends and common life experiences.

Last week as I was watching my YouTube subscriptions, I was surprised to see that he answered a youth worker’s question on his second channel and made an entire video dedicated to it.

The youth worker asked him:

…I’ve started to feel older and out of touch with the teens. Can you recommend anything to get me back in the “cool-zone?”

Here’s Jullian Smith’s response, playing one of his characters as a awkwardly abnormal, but lovable guy.

I don’t have the time for patience!!! [Time Out]

Adam Wormann — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:00:10 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.

I’m not big on patience. I’m from New Jersey (in the New York metro area), and things move quickly here… except during rush hour. Traffic is the bane of my existence. Sometimes I feel like I need a little confession booth in my car during rush hour… it’s not always good.

I also get mad at the microwave because two minutes feels like too long to wait for a Hot Pocket. And I love Netflix’s instant downloads because it takes way too long to drive all the way down the street to pick up a video rental (and forget walking!).

I’m trying to work on patience. Sometimes it goes well, sometimes it does not.

I’ve been reading through the story of Old Testmanet Joseph with my kids lately. Every night, we’ve been doing a different section of the story. This read-through, I was really intrigued by what happened when Joseph interpreted dreams while in prison. He helped the cup bearer and said “please don’t forget about me.” The cup bearer forgot him. Eventually he remembered, and it was only a chapter later. No big deal, except that next chapter comes two years later. We often forget that.

Joseph waits a week. Hears nothing. Waits two weeks. Nothing. And it goes on for two years!

There’s a great number of Youth Pastors who aren’t even in a church position for two years (I don’t know what the real stats are, but we know there’s a lot of youth workers who do fall into this camp). Sometimes there’s issues that drive us away and that we legitimately need to leave. Sometimes, we just need to be patient and we don’t like that. There are temporary rough patches, things we need to learn, and changes that take time.

In the midst of things, two years feels like forever. In the grand scheme, it’s not nearly as long.

In ministry, please be patient. I know we want to rush, and I know there’s days you just feel like giving up. Read through Joseph’s story again. God is with us, and God is faithful.

A perfect youth worker Christmas gift

Tim Schmoyer — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:55:12 +0000

Today and tomorrow (December 19-20, 2011), every watch that’s purchased at IWontWatch.com contributes $8.00 to the Youth Worker Christmas Fund, which is now up to almost $1,800!

If you haven’t yet today, go vote for who you want the funds to go to!

These watches are available in all sorts of colors and are the perfect youth worker Christmas gift for two reasons:

They fit the typical youth worker “style.”
Half of the $16.00 goes to a youth worker in need this Christmas, as voted on by you all!

Use these watches for your own fundraiser!

Additionally, if your ministry is looking for a good fundraiser, these watches can not only raise money for your youth group, but they serve as the perfect conversation starter to tell someone about your cause each time you get a compliment about your watch!

That’s exactly how I learned about IWontWatch.com in the first place. E.J. Swanson, who started “I Won’t Watch,” was wearing one and I really liked it. I mentioned the watch and gave him the opportunity to share his vision for “Stop Watching. Start Doing.”

I caught up on Skype with E.J. last week and we talked a bit more about “I Won’t Watch: Stop Watching. Start Doing.” and how you guys can use these as a fundraiser for your own group. Here’s a video of our conversation.

Free Christmas music, devotions, and more! [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 13:00:58 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #259

Wow, we hit the jackpot this week for Freebie Friday! We got three great Christmas resources for your youth ministry lined up for you!

1. Free Christmas Music from Interlinc

Interlinc (along with their friends at several music labels) are wishing youth leaders a Merry Christmas with 13 free Christmas songs. They have a limited number of download codes to give away, so call them at 800-725-3300 or email jerryddavis@interlinc-online.com and let them know you heard about it the music offer here to get your download code.

The free music download includes these songs:

tobyMac – The First Noel (Featuring Owl City)
Relient K – Deck The Halls
Jamie Grace – O Come, O Come Emmanuel
Holly Starr – What Child Is This
Me In Motion – Give It Away
Sara Groves – It Came Upon A Midnight Clear
Abandon Kansas – O Come, All Ye Faithful
Downhere – How Many Kings
Kimber Rising – For The First Time
Brandon Bee – Angels We Have Heard On High
House Of Heroes – Silent Night
Roger Williams & The All Mixed-Up Quartet – Christmas Bliss
Jason Bare – Have You Heard

2. Ten Days of Christmas from SYM

A freebie “snowball” melts every day, so keep checking back to get the new free download for that day! So far the giveaways include a free Christmas lesson, a video countdown, motion background templates, and more! It looks like there are future freebies and resources coming from Dare2Share and ministries, too.

Get free downloads from SYM’s 10 Days of Christmas giveaway!

3. Seven Days of Christmas Devotions

My friends at ym360 share my passion for equipping and supporting youth workers. As a way of saying thanks for the awesome job youth workers do investing into students lives, ym360 has written 7 days worth of Christmas devotions for youth workers. And, they’re giving them away free!

Each day looks at 1 specific character from the Christmas narrative. It pulls out 1 characteristic from the specific character and challenges you to consider how you might apply this characteristic in your life.

Download YM360′s 7 Days of Christmas Devotions from the Christmas Story

Using Santa app to make simple video announcements

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:58:19 +0000

A couple days ago my daughter and I were playing with the Talking Tom 2 app on my phone and used it’s recording feature to upload a little video us to Facebook.

Phillip Allen, a youth worker in Pennsylvania, commented saying that he uses the series of talking apps to record quick little youth group announcements. What a great idea! Here’s a video of one of his youth group announcements:

If you’ve ever used the app, then you know just how simple it is to record you voice as one of their characters and save the video to your phone/iPad, Facebook, or YouTube. Simply open the app, touch the video camera icon to record, and start talking. Tap the recording icon again to stop and you’ll automatically be prompted to publish or save the video. It’s as easy as that!

You can be Santa Clause, a cat, dog, parrot, mouse, giraffe, and more. If someone really want to be creative, I bet it would be fun to record two parts with different characters and then edit them together in iMovie or Windows Movie Maker, although obviously that’s more complicated.

There are both free versions and paid versions available ranging from $0.10 on Android to $2.99 for the iPad. Check them out below!

QUESTION: What other apps do you know of that would work great for making fun youth group video announcements?

What I’ve learned from being an entrepreneur this year

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 14:43:26 +0000

As I mentioned yesterday in my reflections on this past year of unemployment, I’ve really learned a lot from working for myself. It’s been challenging, yet very rewarding.

1. Working for yourself brings tremendous freedom and little security.
As a guy, I love the freedom part. I love exploring new things and finding creative ways to provide an income for my family in ways that I really enjoy. Having no limitations feels great! However, about half of our income is unpredictable each month. My wife craves that security part, as most women do. We’re both learning the balance of putting each other’s needs first in this area.

2. Balancing time between work and family is difficult.
Except for when I’m traveling on a speaking or consulting gig, I’m home all day every day. The good part of this is that I’m very available for my family and it provides a lot of flexibility for my wife to run out and do her errands while the kids take naps and such. The downside is that there are no real boundaries between when I work and when I don’t. Work tends to just take over because I really enjoy it, because I feel the pressure to provide, and because I feel like I’m already the family all day. But thankfully my wife reminds me that I’m really not present around the house all day.

3. Although our income is unpredictable, God’s provision is always predictable.
It’s been so good for me this year to continually see God provide over and over and over again. The more I work for myself, the more confident I feel that work and money never comes as a result of anything we do, but only because of God’s blessing. I start every month thinking, “Okay Lord, how are you going to provide for us this month?” And every month He does, often in unexpectedly way that I ultimately have no control over. It’s such an adrenaline rush! The only time we’ve had to dip into our savings account this year was to cover my son’s emergency overnight stay at the hospital a few months ago, but even then we were blessed enough to replace those funds the very next month.

Living financnially dependant on God has increased my faith in so many ways. The Lord continues to amaze me and, while we don’t have a lot of margin, we always have what we need. My trips to Haiti two summers ago really continue to influence my perspective on just how blessed we really are.

Reflecting on my first year of unemployment

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:00:02 +0000

This past year has been unlike any other year for me and my family. In November of 2010 I lost my job as the youth pastor at a church and have been “unemployed” ever since. With hardly any severance and no unemployment income, I was quickly forced to make a decision to either quickly find a job in town or to create my own job, although honestly, the former was never really an option I entertained too seriously. Even today, just the thought of working a normal mundane job in an office or store makes me cringe on so many levels. It totally is not how God wired me, not that I wouldn’t do it to provide for my family, but it was easily at the bottom of my list of options.

Since I’ve always had a strong entrepreneurial streak anyway, I naturally gravitated toward the community that’s surrounded Life In Student Ministry for the past seven years and started exploring the possibility of turning it into a full-time income. While the website itself has never really made much of an income besides some little ads here and there, the connections it provided were invaluable, especially at the beginning of the year. As the news of my unemployment spread, a lot of people generously offered me consulting gigs, bought advertising on the site, and booked me for speaking gigs. For a few months it felt like Life In Student Ministry might sustain us, but that eventually slowed down to a normal pace again and it became clear that I’d have to look for other ways to provide an income. Thankfully the Lord continued to provide through random opportunities, like an ebook I wrote that was purchased by Simply Youth Ministry shortly before I self-published it. (They’ll be publishing it soon!)

For a while I had really been gravitating toward the world of YouTube and online video, but when I suddenly had a lot of free time, I dove into it all the more. The medium of blogging is something I’m very familiar with. I know most of the ins and outs of this communication medium and how to do it well. But communicating through online video was an entirely new medium for me, a platform I had never really explored in-depth. It was all so intriguing and soon I found myself totally immersed in it, even becoming a semi-finalist in one of YouTube’s official contests for $35,000 and a promoted career and specialized training in online video. Although my audience was not large enough to earn enough votes to make it to the finals, I did make several good connections through that experience and later won a different contest that earned me free tickets to a YouTube conference in L.A. last July.

By that time I had started the YouthQuestions YouTube channel and was viewed by some as the “YouTube youth pastor,” which I proudly took as a compliment!

At the YouTube conference I expected to do a lot of networking and promotion for YouthQuestions, both of which happened, but most significantly I had dinner with Mark Robertson, the founder of ReelSEO.com, the leading blog of online video marketing. We had talked a few times previously, so it was good to finally connect in person. Out of that meeting came two ideas for a weekly video series: one that covers news in the online video world and another that gives tips and advice for online video creators. I was later contracted to produce both shows, which I’ve been doing for 17 weeks now. More recently, I’ve also been contracted to help with a lot of the behind-the-scenes projects at ReelSEO.

Is self-employment what I want to do for the rest of my life? No, I don’t think so. I feel like the Lord is providing for us while ultimately preparing me for whatever youth ministry position He has next for us. I really love working for myself and for clients along with all the blessings and challenges it presents, but my heart is for teenagers and families in a local context. Throughout this entire year my wife and I have been very active in the youth group at our new church, supporting and partnering with the youth pastor there however we can. It’s been a blast! And honestly, it’s what keeps us in the same town as our previous church.

I have learned a lot along this journey, some of which I’ll share tomorrow, but here’s why I tell you my story today: after watching 18 video stories of youth workers in financial need this Christmas, I’m reminded that there are a lot of youth workers who are struggling financially or who are even unemployed. They’re looking for an extra job or even a job and can’t find one, at least not one that works with their youth ministry hours. I share my story to encourage you to think about making your own side-job (or even full-time job, depending on your situation) that does work around your ministry. I realize not everyone gets excited at the thought of being their own boss, but if you do, take what you love to do, get creative, and find a way to “turn your play into your work so you never have to work another day of your life” (Dan Miller).

Two books I highly recommend you read:

Both are geared toward people who are in a job that they dislike. Us youth workers are already most likely passionate about what we do, but the ideas and principles in these books can help us not only tweak our current ministries to fit us better, but even help us turn our hobby into something that helps pay the bills.

QUESTION: Do you currently make an income doing something on the side? If so, what do you do and what ideas can you give to other youth workers who need to increase their income?

Vote to give $1,500+ to a youth worker!

Tim Schmoyer — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:00:24 +0000

Wow, selecting only 4 of you for the Youth Worker Christmas Fund Giveaway was very hard. Extremely hard! The judges (Terrace Crawford, Ryan Nielsen, Adam Wormann, E.J. Swanson) and myself received 18 stories from youth workers sharing their financial needs in a YouTube video and man, every video we received was tough to watch. Some of you even made my wife cry! But in true youth worker fashion, many of you made us laugh, despite the story of your situation.

We really struggled to narrow the 18 videos down to only 4 stories to share with you all, the Life In Student Ministry community, but we finally did it. We present to you:

Mark Cox
Joshua Johnson
Matthew Fry
Kris Howell

Go vote for 1 or 2 of them!

Now it’s your turn to vote on those final stories and pick the youth worker you all collectively feel should be given the $1,533.95 in the Youth Worker Christmas Fund. You may vote for up to two youth workers once per day until December 20, 2011, at 11:59pm. The youth worker you all give the most votes to will receive the entire the Youth Worker Christmas Fund!

Vote for a youth worker to receive $1,500+!

Help us grow the fund

Of course, we’d love to grow the fund even larger than it’s current balance of $1,533.95! All purchases of my new ebook, Focused Youth Ministry,contributes $4.97 to the fund.

Or, E.J. Swanson’s side-ministry, I Won’t Watch: Stop Watching. Do Something., will contribute $8.00 for every watch sold during this voting period. These watches are slick, too! And they make the perfect Christmas present!

Of course, if you’d like to just give directly to the fund, you can do that, as well.

Thanks to our sponsors

This fund would not be possible without the generosity of Simply Youth Ministry and I Won’t Watch.

Seriously, these are two organizations who don’t just say they love youth workers, they put their money were their mouth is without hesitation.

It would be awesome if you guys supported these two organizations! Check out their websites and follow them in their social spaces.

Go vote for a youth worker to receive $1,500+!

Christmas movie Bible studies from Interlinc [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 13:00:41 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #258

If your youth group happens to have a Christmas movie night together, Interlinc is offering two free Bible study lessons that will help you include a spiritual element that’s relevant to either of these movies:

Jim Carry’s, A Christmas Carol
Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

Bible study lessons for both of those Christmas movies are available as a free download from a post on Interlinc’s blog, which you’ll find linked up below.

Download two Christmas movie youth group lessons from Interlinc

Leveraging social media for discipleship and evangelism

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:55:20 +0000

Two weeks ago I spoke to a group of youth workers at SHAPE Conference, which follows a TED style of short talks with a lot of round-table and group discussion. Each speaker was asked to talk about a question (not necessarily to give answers) for 18 minutes or so and provide questions to spark discussion and further interaction.

I was asked to talk about the question, “How do we leverage online and social media for discipleship and evangelism in student ministry?” The exact description of my talk was this:

We know that 10 years from now the scope of youth ministry will look VERY different. Online and social media will be an even greater force. Thus, how do we leverage online and social media for discipleship and evangelism in student ministry? How do we mobilize social and online media without immobilizing personal interactions?

I’m glad my job was not necessarily to provide answers because that is a tough question to answer! How would you answer it? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

Here’s the video of my talk and how I addressed the question.

5 ways to improve your ministry in 2012

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 12:00:05 +0000

The year 2012 is right around the corner! It’s a natural time of the year to implement changes in our ministry, start new things, end old things, and re-focus on what the Lord has before us.

Here are some things you could start thinking through now in order to implement on January 1, 2012, and launch an intentional, focused youth ministry for the upcoming year.

1. Develop a focused plan for your ministry.
Instead of haphazardly going from one event and curriculum series to the next, determine where your specific youth group kids are spiritually and develop a plan to help them move to where they need to be spiritually by the time they graduate high school.

2. Measure that plan.
Having a plan is a great place to start, but if you don’t know how or if it’s actually helping you move students to where they need to be spiritually, it’s all a waste of time. Having a “yard stick” in place to help you know what’s working, what’s not, and what needs to be tweaked is essential.

3. Give away the plan.
The ministry’s vision and plan cannot rests on the shoulders of the paid youth worker. It has to be something the entire ministry embraces, takens ownership of, and works toward together. That includes volunteer youth leaders, parents, students, and especially key leadership people in your church.

4. Eliminate good things.
There are so many good things your ministry could be doing, but not all of them will equally help move your students forward spiritually. Thanks to an evaluation process that’s more than, “We had a good turnout!” or, “The kids had a good time!” you can eliminate the good things in order to make space to focus on the best things.

5. Live out your true values.
What you do in your ministry and the decisions you make will always flow out of two things: your ministry’s identity and what you your ministry truly values. If you want to change your ministry’s future trajectory, then you must take a deep, hard look at your underlining issues of identity and values first and change the filter through which everything in your ministry passes.

All of these points describe a focused youth ministry: a ministry that knows specifically what God is leading them to become in order to move His students along a unique trajectory in ways that no other youth ministry can.

How to focus your youth ministry

That’s what I discuss in my new ebook, “Focused Youth Ministry: How to Discover God’s vision for your youth ministry, implement it, and make it sustainable.” This practical “how to” ebook will walk you through a 30-step process to discovering God’s vision for your unique ministry context. The process also shows you how to implement that vision and put metrics in place to evaluate what is moving the vision forward and what isn’t. Find out more about the new ebook in the Life In Student Ministry Store.

Half of the proceeds of this ebook, up to $5,000, will go to a youth worker in need this Christmas as voted on by the Life In Student Ministry community, so pick up a copy to not only to focus your ministry’s efforts and vision, but also to support a fellow youth worker.

If you are a youth worker in need, you still have until Friday night to submit your story for consideration.

I explain more about the ebook and this giveaway in this video.

My response to an unsupportive parent meeting [Time Out]

Adam Wormann — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 13:00:24 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.

I still remember the first time I held a “parents meeting.” There were some things I was hearing and I wanted to address the parents, letting them know what we were doing and why. I thought that if I gave them some of my philosophy of ministry, it would help them understand what we were doing.

I guess I was wrong. For the most part, parents were really supportive. Some had very specific thoughts about how things should be done and made comments under their breath. It got really stressful pretty quick. By the end of the meeting, I had parents coming up to me trying to encourage me, writing cards, phone calls, and in tears because of how things went. I went home and found my first gray hairs. Literally. (They’ve greatly increased since then too, and I’m only in my early 30′s). By the time the day was done, I had about 75% supportive parents, 5% unhappy parents, and 20% that were so confused by what just went on.

Sure, we’re not always going to agree, and I’m fine with that. It was the tone of the meeting that I found so difficult. Then, I had a decision to make – how was I going to act.

The immediate temptation is to fight back, disregard, or further escalate things. I wanted to do all three, and probably started to do some.

But Jesus calls us to do something different. In Matthew 5, Jesus urges us to “turn the other cheek.” This is basically with regards to insults, not fists, but that’s another story. When the whole passage is viewed together (read all the way to the end of the chapter), Jesus is talking about retaliation. He’s talking about fighting back and allowing things to escalate. We can’t allow that to happen. Jesus isn’t saying don’t fight for justice or stand up for yourself, he’s talking about retaliation.

Jesus gives us a different option – go out of your way to do something for that person. Don’t let their foul treatment define what we do. Instead, go the extra mile for someone. Help them. Send them a card. Do something really nice for their kid. Anyone can simply like the people who like them. We’re called to something different.

On a side note, I know that we talked about this basic topic not too long ago. One thing that I learned is that Satan will continue to try to attack your ministry, your family, your church. One of the biggest ways he’s going to do that is with how people treat you (especially in youth ministry). We need to continually be reminded on how to deal with these things, because it is so critical not only to our ministry, but our own spiritual health.

“The (Giving) Spirit of Christmas” lesson [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 13:00:08 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #257

The folks over at youthministry360 are giving away a free Christmas Lesson. It’s a great resource and comes with both a Leader’s Guide and a Student Guide. The lesson is designed to help students understand that Christmas is more about a spirit of giving than receiving, and that this concept goes way beyond gifts.

To download this lesson, you’ll have to fill out a brief little survey and part with some personal information. If you’re cool with that, you can check it out here:

Download, “The (Giving) Spirit of Christmas” lesson

I’m on the Dare 2 Share blogging team!

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 13:00:00 +0000

This week Dare 2 Share officially launched their brand new blog, “Relational and Relentless Blog: Energizing a Generation to Evangelize Their World.” I’m not even sure if they’ve officially announced it yet other than on Facebook and Twitter, but it’s definitely alive and kicking.

I’m honored to be one of the contributing authors on the blog along with Greg Stier and Jason Lamb, two guys I love and know well. The three of us all share a similar heart for sharing Christ and helping teenagers do the same, so it will be fun to see how the posts we write all somehow unintentionally coincide with each other.

I’ll be writing about one post a week and so far have three posts up.

A Prayer God Will Answer Every Time, Guaranteed (one of my favorite stories)
Using Facebook Photos to Share the Gospel (part 1/3)
Using Videos to Share the Gospel on Facebook (part 2/3)

Some of my upcoming posts also cover other ways to use social media to share Christ and spark spiritual conversations online, but today I wrote two posts that are personally very convicting for me as I think back on past years of evangelism efforts. Those will be published in upcoming weeks.

Be sure to subscribe to Dare 2 Share’s blog by snagging the RSS feed.

$5,000 for a youth worker in need this Christmas

Tim Schmoyer — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 14:50:35 +0000

I am so excited to do this! I am finally releasing a brand new ebook I just finished writing. I hope it will challenge and bless many youth ministries who are just floating from one event and lesson series to the next without any clear focus or direction. Watch the video to learn more!

How to submit your story

Shoot a quick little video sharing your story and how you could use the money. ~~Submit it to me using this form~~ by December 9, 2011.
A team of judges will pick 4 entries and from December 12-20, 2011, those stories will be posted here on LISM for others to vote for who the money should go to.
On December 21, 2011, I’ll announce the winner, write the check for 50% of whatever the ebook proceeds have been, and drop it in the mail.

DETAILS: This giveaway is open only to US residents who are at least 21 years old and are currently serving in a church as a volunteer, part-time, or full-time youth worker. Half of all proceeds, up to $5,000, from this ebook between now and December 20, 2011, will be given to the most-voted youth worker video entry.

New ebook, “Focused Youth Ministry”

This practical “how to” ebook will walk you and your team through a 30-step process to discovering what God’s vision is for your unique ministry context. The process also helps your church take ownership of the vision while you implement it together and put metrics in place to evaluate what in the ministry is moving the vision forward and what isn’t.

Learn more about, “Focused Youth Ministry: How to Discover God’s Vision for your Ministry, Implement It, and Make It Sustainable,” and download a sample from the ebook.

“Tim Schmoyer’s little ebook 30 Steps to a Focused Youth Ministry is a rare treasure, because it over-delivers on its promise. Tim nails one of the embedded problems facing ministry people who are searching for vision and direction—we all too often “try to cook someone else’s recipe using completely different ingredients.” This step-by-step plan for finding, implementing, and evaluating your own God-given ministry vision will not only change your ministry’s trajectory, it has the horsepower to change your life.”
— Rick Lawrence, Executive Editor, GROUP Magazine

Dealing with angry parents training guide [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 13:00:53 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #256

Leneita Fix is offering a free download of a training outline you can use to train yourself or use with your adult leaders on how to handle angry parents. It includes a sample Word document you can train from that’s full of great points, good ideas, and advice for dealing with that upset parent.

Her outline alone is full of pure gold advice, but Leneita also includes a high-quality video you can either just watch yourself or show to your adult leaders as part of your training. It’s very engaging and is definitely worth watching!

If you don’t already have a youthministry.com account, you’ll need to register one before you can access the download files.

Download, “Dealing With Angry Parents,” training kit

How to spread your ideas

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 13:00:39 +0000

Last week I spoke at a youth worker gathering about the future of youth ministry. The main thing I was asked to address are the trends I see taking shape on a national youth ministry level and the implications they will have for youth workers in the future. (Sometime I’ll condense those notes into a couple blog posts.) I was also asked to share with the youth workers how they can spread their ideas and thoughts about youth ministry. There are a lot of youth workers who have keen insights and who’s voices are not being heard, either because they’re keeping their wisdom to themselves or because they don’t know how to effectively share it with others in a way that gains traction.

While I am in no way an expert on this, I was asked to give some advice on the matter. I guess some people consider Life In Student Ministry to be a “success story” of a “nobody” earning the ear the larger youth ministry world, even publishing a book with Youth Specialties/Zondervan and Group/Simply Youth Ministry from the growing presence of this site.

My Story

To set the context for my advice below, I certainly did not set out to start a youth ministry blog. Truthfully, I saw that my name was available as a .com domain and went ahead and registered it just because I was bored one night in June, 2005. Instead of playing video games like I normally did every evening, I followed a tutorial on how to setup WordPress and by the end of the evening I had my very first blog post published.

As the content of that first post implies, I didn’t have any other plans for the site other than to share pictures and updates in a pre-Facebook world. But as I continued to write, I started to focus on what I was most passionate about: youth ministry. At the time there were really only two other guys blogging about youth ministry, Paul Martin and Dr. Dennis Poulette, so the three of us read each other’s blogs and discussed youth ministry on them. Slowly, other youth workers started to join us and within a few years it became impossible for me to keep up with all the blogs that were talking about youth ministry, which is great!

While I have learned a few things over the years of blogging — and now blogging as a significant part of my income — most of these things I honestly just stumbled upon.

My Advice

So how do your ideas spread? Coming from the perspective of a blogger:

1. You have an idea that is valuable, understandable, and unique. Each of those three qualities needs to be a part of your idea for it to spread. But here’s the thing: you don’t get to decide if it’s valuable, understandable or unique. Other people do. And often your audience has a different idea of what’s valuable, understandable and unique than you do.

2. When starting, you have to be able to condense your idea and make it short. Very few people looking at your idea will want to invest a lot of time into learning your idea if they don’t already have some reason to respect your opinion.

3. Your idea has to be easy to share with others. And I don’t just mean easy to tweet, link to, or post on Facebook. It has to be easy to communicate in a conversation, too. If someone else can’t articulate it as simply and briefly as you did, it’s too difficult for it to spread. Furthermore, people must feel like sharing your idea will somehow enhance their reputation, friendships, or audience in some way that brings more credibility back to them.

4. In the beginning, your ideas need to be free. Rarely to people fork over cash for content from people they don’t have a reason to respect. But even more importantly, there has to be as few barriers as possible to your idea’s distribution. Locking it behind a price tag before earning respect is the quickest way to kill your idea, even if it’s one of the best ideas out there. Ironically, later the reverse is true: once you’ve built a positive reputation, charging money will actually add perceived value to your content.

5. You have to be authentic and transparent. People connect with vulnerability and mistakes better than they do with experts and know-it-alls. Taking the risk to show your weaknesses and struggles builds trust, respect and credibility.

6. Consistently share good ideas and add value to the few people who are lending you their ear. Too many people only want to bother putting time into sharing their ideas if it will reach a lot of people. The problem is, the heart attitude behind that is often driven by a desire to be respected or popular more than it is to bless whatever audience the Lord has entrusted to them, no matter how large or small. Consequently, sharing solid content on a regular basis with a few people will bring them back over and over again for more. Consistency and heart attitude is the key.

7. Build a community around your content. If it’s on a blog, engage in the comments of your posts. Ask more questions of your commenters and really listen to those who share with you. Even lend your voice to other people’s communities, too. Of course, respond to email, engage with the tweets of your followers, share trivial real-life stuff about yourself in social media, etc. Remember that social media is called “social” for a reason. It’s primarily a place to engage, not just a platform to shout your ideas.

The context for each of these points is set in the blogging world, but they can each apply just as easily to other mediums, like public speaking, online video, and especially our own churches.

QUESTION: What advice do you have for those who want to spread their ideas?

8 week bible study for guys on “Top Shot” faith [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:00:22 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #255

Paul Turner of TheDiscipleProject.net graciously provides this week’s free youth ministry resource for you all! It’s a small group study for guys based on the show, Top Shot.

Paul says this about the 8-week lesson series for guys:

“If you haven’t noticed, there aren’t a ton of cool, guy only curriculums out there. Sure, there’s some guy Bible Study curriculum that is discussion driven, but does it allow your guys to throw sharp things? Because, that is what guys really want to do. In most guy studies, it’s all talk and no action. Guys want action.”

If you’re not familiar with the show, Top Shot, here’s the trailer for Season 2.

In this series, Paul covers a lot about what the Apostle Paul says about keeping our “aim” straight.

The cool part is that every week students get 3 shots with the sharp stuff (knives, throwing stars, etc.) and a full clip with the air-soft guns at the target!

Download, The Apostle Paul’s Guide To Living A Top Shot Faith

6 ways to integrate teens into your church

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 14:00:04 +0000

I love it that more and more churches are valuing students enough to be intentional about integrating them into the larger church body, realizing that a youth ministry in isolation can have some very detrimental effects. Here’s a few ideas I have for integrating teenagers into the church body and some thoughts on each.

1. Serve in the church service

So far, this seems to be the main extent of “integration,” and it is definitely a good start, but too often we pat ourselves on the back and say, “Hey, kids are serving in the worship band, greeting at the doors, and running the sound system! They’re integrated!”

A few important questions:

Does this really make teenagers feel like they have an equal stake in the church along with the adults?
Do some teens feel like they’re mostly serving the adults in “their” space?
Does it make the kids who aren’t serving feel like the others are “in” but they’re still “out?” (This perception doesn’t seem to be the case as much for adults who aren’t serving. What’s the difference?)
Does this really lead to a comprehensive perception among all teenagers that they’re an equal part in the worship experience?

Maybe some of your churches can answer positively to some or all of these questions, and that’s great! I’d encourage you to ask some of the students themselves, too, and hear what they say. Going to the source is always a good idea.

2. Invite teenagers to youth leader meetings

Hopefully our youth ministries are moving toward “youth doing ministry” more than “us doing ministry to youth.” If that’s the case, we need to include teenagers who are serving in our trainings, decisions, and plans. The approach for getting teens involved in ministry should not be adults who determine what the ministry does and then tries to get teens to do it. Instead, invite teens into the process of shaping the ministry from the very beginning. That’s where true ownership really begins.

3. Encourage your Sr. Pastor to speak to them

Often we say, “We want to integrate teenagers into our worship experience,” but then never talk to them once they’re there. Encourage your Senior Pastor to take a moment in each of his messages to speak directly to the teenagers and other oft-overlooked demographics, like young singles and newly married.

Although it might be a bit outside your pastor’s comfort zone, he could also use illustrations and examples that connect with those age groups specifically. In fact, he could teach an entire sermons series that is directly aimed at teenagers! After all, there’s probably been enough aimed at the adults lately. Let’s even it out a bit.

To take this a bit further, have your senior pastor come engage with kids at youth group, too. It’s easy to say we want teenagers to join the adults, but let’s make an effort to “cross pollinate” both directions. The influence your senior pastor can have on your teenagers is often greatly underestimated. After all, he is their pastor, too, not just the “adults’ pastor.” If he joins them in their group and engages with them there, maybe the invitation to join the adults in “their turf” on Sundays feels a bit more genuine.

4. Invite teens to give input into the sermon

Some pastors meet with their staff every week to review the upcoming messages. They collectively give input, share creative ideas, point out gaps, and poke holes in the content so it’s a solid presentation and message when it’s delivered. It would be great to invite some teenagers into that process each week, as well.

Although it’s probably difficult to do that on another evening of the week when teens are not in school, you could at least grab some home schooled kids and ask them to be a part of the weekly brainstorming meeting during the day. They can definitely give input that will help your pastor craft the message for their demographic in ways none of us can.

And I guarantee that those kids will be listening intently when the message is delivered. They will feel like they have a huge stake in what’s being presented because their influence was heard and respected. They’ll retain a lot of what’s taught, if not all of it!

5. Include teens into small groups with adults

A friend of mine who’s a pastor at another church in my town shares a story about their intergenerational small groups. They didn’t necessarily want the small groups to be intergenerational, but because there wasn’t anything else for their children during that time and because the kids were too young to leave at home, they brought them along to their home groups and included them in the discussions.

While he thought the discussions might become a bit juvenile for the adults, he says it actually became very valuable for them. Their young kids speak up and challenge them on so many levels. They have insights and questions they never considered.

One evening they were taking about Good Samaritan and his 8 year old son said, “So, why do we just sit here? We need to go out and help people.” The parents sat there for a second, feeling a bit jarred from the comfort zone of the couches, and had to admit that he was right. So in the weeks that followed, the small group took their kids out to serve in the community in place of their normal meeting time. As a result, the families grew together spiritually and bonded in ways that never would have happened had they been split up into age appropriate groups.

6. Invite teenagers into church board meetings

I suggested this to one church and a deacon said, “No way! I would be embarrassed for my teenager to see what happens in there.” All the more reason to get your act together and have teenagers in there!

Seriously, don’t dimiss this one too quickly. I’m not saying they have to be voting members of the church board, but they can certainly give valuable input and perspectives in an advisory role. Don’t discount this aspect of church as for adults only or, “Teens wouldn’t be interested in this kind of stuff.” Some are! Find a couple solid and spiritually mature teenagers and invite them to be a part of the church’s bigger picture decisions and meetings. Teach them how a church budget works, how your church’s values play out in your decision making process, how church conflicts are resolved, and more.

The key isn’t just to integrate teens into areas that are comfortable and easy for us, but to plug them into every aspect of the church and form the church’s plans around them as much as anyone else. Give them the opportunity to have the same stake in your church that the adults have. Hold them to a higher standard and expect them to step up to it. Many of them will.

QUESTION: How else have you integrated teenagers into your church body? Comment below and share!

Approaching God with conditions [Time Out]

Adam Wormann — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 14:57:03 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.

A friend of mine is a pastor, and had someone approach him with the question, “Can I be gay and still be a Christian.” (From what I understand, he was investigating following Jesus). We’re not getting into this debate here. But, I thought the pastor’s response was excellent. It was basically – “If that’s what you’re asking, we’re probably starting at the wrong place. Your question is implying that who you are is first a gay man, and then a Christian. Christ calls us to be a Christian first, and that is our identity. He calls us to sacrifice to follow him. We have to be willing to give up our time, resources, sexuality…Jesus even said family. If we’re not prepared to follow Jesus if it means giving up ______, then that’s the first issue, regardless of whether or not you have to give it up. We can’t approach God first with conditions.”

Being called to follow Christ means being fully surrendered.

In Matthew 19 (my friend pointed the man there as well), someone asked Jesus about eternal life. Ultimately, when he claimed to have kept all the commandments, Jesus told him to give all he had to the poor, and the man went away sad, presumably unwilling. He wanted to follow, but was unwilling to give up everything to truly follow Jesus.

If we’re honest with ourselves, we probably approach God with conditions all the time. “I’ll follow you if I can still ______” or “I know I should be ready to give up _______, but I….uh, I know you don’t want me to.” Do we truly have god at the top of our priority list, or is there something else we’re still clinging on to?

As a youth worker, what is it that you hang on to?

Do you find your identity in being a youth pastor before being a follower of Christ? What would it look like to give that up?
What if you truly had to give up some of your favorite stuff? What has a grip on you?
Could you do ministry without an iPad? What if it meant feeding people instead of investing in technology?
Are you so tied up in your way of doing ministry, even if it hinders you or others walk with Christ from being what it could be?
Is there something else you’re hanging on to?

Take some time today and think about it. What is it that you may be holding on to, tangible or not, that prevents you from fully following Christ?

Free Thanksgiving youth group lesson [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:00:53 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #254

Thanksgiving is around the corner! Need some creative ideas for talking about it at youth group? youthministry360 is giving away a free youth group lesson designed exactly for that!

It includes:

Leader’s guide
Student Guide
PowerPoint Slideshow

It’s titled, “Thankful In All Things,” and is based on Psalm 100 and 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.

If you want it, you can download it from YouthMinistry.com using the link below.

Download, “Thankful In All Things”

My first two recorded prank calls!

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 15:24:50 +0000

With the Simply Youth Ministry Conference filling up and the conference dates nearing closer and closer, I figured it would be fun to prank call Matty McCage at Simply and ask him a few questions about the conference and other Simply stuff.

Simply Pranked: Matty

After setting up Skype to change my voice, I called Matt and, unfortunately, failed pretty epically. You’ll have to watch the video of my prank call to see what I mean.

Stuff we talked about:
Click the timecode to jump directly to that segment of the video on YouTube. Click the title to learn more about what we discussed.

00:00 – Intro to the prank
01:05 – The prank falls flat on it’s face
02:27 – Recap of YM360 prank
04:12 – How Matty got my phone number
05:08 – Matty’s favorite Simply Youth Ministry Conference memory
07:50 – Birds and “early bird?”
08:44 – Greg Stier and the movie, “Divided”
09:26 – Darth Vader vs Girly Chipmunk
09:55 – Books with 99 thoughts (10 books for $35!)
10:40 – Matty’s potty advice for small-church youth workers
14:10 – Joshua Griffin writes up the Trinity
15:26 – Leave the bathroom and next victim

Simply Pranked: Jake

In an effort to redeem myself, I also gave Jake a call. This one went much better, although Jake didn’t seem to bite too much on my conversations about his mom, speaking with my zipper down, nor my presumed name. Watch the video of my prank call with Jake.

Stuff we talked about:
Click the timecode to jump directly to that segment of the video on YouTube. Click the title to learn more about what we discussed.

00:00 – Intro to the prank
00:47 – Jake tries to pass me off to Matty
01:52 – Jake slowly eases into the Simply Youth Ministry Conference and then unleashes!
03:18 – “Oh, I think I’ve heard of Greg Stier!” And the movie, Divided?
04:44 – Birds and “early birds?”
05:40 – Jake’s mom. Oh yeah! lol
06:12 – $0.03 per thought? “Potty reading, I’m all for that!” LOL Winning soundbyte!
08:50 – Speaking with your zipper down. “Story of my life.”
09:42 – Joshua Griffin breaks down the Trinity
10:54 – “My name is Mr. Vader, first name, Darth.”

Want other youth ministry videos? Subscribe to Life In Student Ministry videos on YouTube!

[ Full Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, but as always, I only accept sponsorships from organizations I truly believe in. ]

What’s missing from family-based ministry

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 11:00:40 +0000

This morning I wrote at MinistryFamily.com about some of the realizations I’m coming to about how my personal spiritual growth influences that of my children. It really is a sobering reality for me.

It also seems to be a critical element that often seems to be missing from the conversations I hear regarding a family-based approach to youth ministry: pastors and church leaders are mostly talking about it, not always intentionally living it. The conversation seems to revolve around getting our church members to do something, which is obviously important, but let’s remember that we can’t effectively lead a movement in our churches that we are not first living ourselves.

Furthermore, we can’t impress Deuteronomy 6 on our children until we first impress it upon ourselves. Otherwise, our kids rebel against it because it feels forced. It has to be modeled and flow from our own hearts for it to real to them. If our own faith is visible in every area of our life, Lord willing, when our kids graduate from high school, they will not also graduate from the church. Hopefully they remain committed to the church because they’ve received from us a faith that’s strong.

What kids are modeling

As Kenda Dean’s shows in, “Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church,” the teenagers who have a weak faith did not get that weak faith by rejecting the faith of the church, but by almost perfectly accepting the weak faith of those at home and in the church. It’s not that teenagers have rebelled against what they’ve seen, it’s that they almost perfectly mirror what they have seen.

The invisible elements of our faith, like passion and sincerity, can’t be faked. They play such a critical role in the spiritual formation of children and teenagers. They have the ability to become contagious! That’s when faith is caught, not taught, as cliche as that sounds.

They need a new model

But kids don’t only need to see that Jesus is real to their parents — they need to see that He’s real to us as youth workers, as well. And their parents need to see a model of what godly parenting looks like.

Challenging for church workers

For those of us who work in the church, it can be difficult being a spiritual leader at home. We spend all day praying with people, studying the Bible, and talking about faith matters. By the time we get home, we just want to chill with the remote control and a good TV show. We’re tired. We want to shift gears.

But we can’t effectively lead parents in our church if we’re not first leading our own kids spiritually at home. We can only talk about, that’s it. To state the obvious, it’s impossible to live out for others something we’re not living out.

My personal challenges

While at the D6 Conference a month or so ago, I was challenged by a couple things I heard from Mark Holman. They are:

What are the 1 or 2 things I need to do at home to be a more faith at home focused individual?
What are one or two things you can do to engage parents at your church? Start with baby steps.
What are one or two things your church can do to engage parents?

In response to the first question, I’m trying to be more intentional about reading Bible stories with my kids every day. Zeke is only 1 year old, but Hannah is 2 years old and can understand pretty much everything we say, so she’s totally ready. She’s even started to memorize some of the old Sunday School songs we sing together, so I know she’s ready to start memorizing scripture, too.

I also try to pray with my wife, Dana, twice a week. And I don’t mean just meal-time prayers, but asking her how I can pray for her and then doing so. So far it usually happens while we’re in bed falling asleep at night, but it’s a start.

In response to the other questions, Mark Holman pointed out that the order of these is important. We can’t jump straight to, “How do I get my church to do something?” We have to start with ourselves.

QUESTION: How would you answer those three questions for yourself and your ministry? Comment below and share!

What youth group never taught me about sex before marriage

Guest Author — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 12:00:36 +0000

The following is a guest post from Ally Spotts, author of the e-book, Asking All The Wrong Questions: Why Christians Are Waiting for Marriage for Sex.
——————————

It used to drive me crazy that people would talk about sex like it was the worst sin in the universe.

I grew up in the church. I was part of the “True Love Waits” generation. I read I, “Kissed Dating Goodbye,” and, “When God Writes Your Love Story.” I even went on a youth group retreat where I was encouraged to write letters to my future husband. I did and kept them in a box under my bed.

But as I got older and started dating I discovered that there were all kinds of tricky loopholes to the whole virginity thing. You could mess around with a dozen guys, do everything except sex, and you were still allowed to call yourself a virgin.

What was the point of waiting for marriage for sex if we were just going to fool around with our boyfriends?

Was there a point?

When we talked about sex at youth group I would always get the same explanations:

“Your body is a precious treasure and you need to treat it accordingly.”

“Sex is a gift that you only get to give away once.”

These explanations didn’t satisfy me. If sex was such a bad thing, I wondered, than how come it felt like such a good thing? What was it that happened after the wedding day that made sex suddenly okay?

So I went along with my friends. Kissed guys. Pushed the boundaries. And eventually jumped right over the line when I didn’t see the point in skirting around it anymore.

But I couldn’t kick the feeling that something was really, really wrong.

I felt lonely and depressed all the time.

I felt like I had to hide.

I was so ashamed of my actions.

I felt isolated and alone.

It seemed like the whole world was out to get me for decisions it had told me were okay.

One day I heard a pastor ranting and raving about a woman living in sin with her boyfriend and I was so angry at him. I was living in sin with my boyfriend and it sounded kind of like he was yelling at me.

Whatever, I thought to myself. He probably has worse sin in his life.

But when I got home I looked up the pastor’s message on YouTube and listened to it again. I read the passage he was talking about from 1 Corinthians.

“Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.”

Suddenly it made sense to me. Sex was not a worse sin than any other sin that I could commit. But because my sexuality was connected to my body and my soul, sinning sexually had consequences that no other sin could.

I knew he was right. I was experiencing them.

I didn’t have any STDs or unwanted pregnancies or restraining orders against boyfriends. What I had was worse. I had to wake up everyday feeling and knowing that my spirit was dying.

I didn’t feel loved. I didn’t feel valuable. I felt numb.

Deciding to wait for marriage for sex wasn’t easy, especially after I had already messed up. But the thing that helped me more than anything else was being able to ask honest questions, and knowing there were people who would try to answer them.

I’m convinced my generation is asking the wrong questions about sex and sexuality. We’re asking, “How far is too far,” instead of, “Why are we committed to waiting in the first place?” Learn from me and teach that to your youth group kids.

We also need people who are willing to talk to us like adults, who let us ask our questions and who attempt to answer with something more than, “because I said so.”

————————————————-
Want to hear more about why she made this commitment and how she kept it? Purchase Ally’s e-book called, Asking All The Wrong Questions: Why Christians Are Waiting for Marriage for Sex, or visit her website, allyspotts.com.

How exercise, rest, and healthy eating impact my ministry [Time Out]

Guest Author — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:41:47 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.

Over the next year, on the first Monday of the month, we’re going to be running a series within Time Out called, “Life Lessons,” by Jerry Schmoyer (Tim’s dad). Here’s a note from Jerry:

As I approach retirement age and look back on a lifetime of ministry I realize there are some important principles I have learned. I’d like to share some of these with you. I’m sure God is teaching you these same truths and I hope that explaining them from my perspective can benefit you and your ministry.

Life Lesson #11: Invest In Your Health Every Day

Healthy living has always been a top priority of mine so I must add it to my list of lessons I have learned in life. As a child I became convicted of the importance of proper diet, rest and exercise. God has blessed me with excellent health even though I am in my 60′s. It’s taken time and effort, but it has been worth it.

God has given me one life and one body in which to live that life. While I have no desire to stay on this earth longer than God wants, I can affect the quality of my time here. Being a good steward of what God has given me includes stewardship of my body. Eating healthy food is a must. Getting enough rest and sleep are also essential. Exercise is crucial, not optional.

I’ve made it a goal to exercise an hour a day 6 days a week. I’ve been doing that since high school. That adds up to well over a full year of my life spent in nothing but exercise. Is it good stewardship to spend so much time maintaining my body when there is so much ministry work to do in the world? I say definitely YES!

While time spent exercising adds up to well over a year, it also is only a year of my life. I gain far more than it has cost me. While running is my first love and my basic means of exercise, I also do a lot of biking as well as using the exercise equipment at our local YMCA. The time I spend at this, especially running and biking, gives my mind a time to relax and refresh.

I can meditate, pray, listen to God
Listen to uplifting music and messages
Worship
Memorize Scripture
Or do any number of good mental activities when I don’t do when I am busy.

It is my most creative time of the day and often my most mentally productive time, as well.

Although exercise takes time, I know I have gained more productive time than I have lost.

I function more efficiently all day and sleep better at night when I exercise.
I rarely get sick and have missed hardly any time due to illness my whole life.
My quality of life is better even if I don’t live any longer.
I save money and time by not visiting doctors and being in the hospital.
I set a better example for others.
I enjoy life better.

I even enjoy my times of exercise each day. The last several years my wife has been running or biking with me several times a week and these have become special times for us to share together, as well. I travel to India yearly and am able to keep up a very active schedule in difficult living conditions while there. So I know the time I have invested in exercise have been well worth it in all ways.

While I confess to a love for chocolate, I have always tried to eat a healthy diet, as well. That, too, takes time and discipline, but it is also worth it. My weight, health, heart and overall health is greatly affected by my diet. I feel better, function more fully and enjoy everything more because of it. The exercise in practicing self-control is good as well.

In addition, I have always tried to keep up on my rest. I need to average 8 hours of sleep a night to function at my best efficiency and so that has been a priority as well. Rest and relaxation as well as hobbies and times of fun and enjoyment are also important to balance work and stress in life.

I owe it to my family and church, my wife and children, myself and especially to God to be a good steward of all he as given me, including my health and body. So do you!

Scripture

1 Kings 19:3-6, “Elijah was afraid and ran for his life…. Then he lay down under the tree and fell asleep. All at once an angel touched him and said, ‘Get up and eat.’ He looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. He ate and drank and then lay down again.”
Ps 127:2, “In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat — for he grants sleep to those he loves.”
1 Cor 9:27, “No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

Reflect

What are some of the good things you do to stay healthy?
Is God convicting you about your stewardship of your body? Where is improvement needed: diet, rest or exercise (or more than one)?
Write down several steps you can take starting today to become a better steward of your health.
Pray and ask God to give you the self control needed to make these changes starting now.

Night of Silence stations kit [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:39:15 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #253

Youth worker, Luke McFadden, recently set up several pray stations around their youth facility for a “Night of Silence.” He blogged about the experience and posted pictures of it, as well. In that post, he says this:

This was an amazing night. Over an hour of listening to God, in silence. Our youth did an amazing job surrendering this time as an offering to God. Rather than go into details of the night, I’ll simply include our “guide book” for you to explore that walks you through 5 stations, and to use as a conversation starter with your youth. These were simple experiences, that are easily for anyone to do at home or at school.

Luke’s been gracious enough to go out of his way to prep his materials for all of us to take and use in our youth groups. He even shot a video of their setup if you wanna see how it looked for them.

The download below includes the Leader’s Guide, Student’s Guide, signs for each of the stations, and his original artwork for you to use and tweak if necessary.

Download, “A Night of Slience,” stations kit

Pastors Kids, parenting, and growing up in ministry

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:00:20 +0000

This past July I announced the launch of MinistryFamily.com, a new blog my wife and I are co-authoring together about our experiences growing up as pastors kids and now raising our own kids in that same environment.

So far it’s been a lot of fun! The site has certainly grown much faster than Life In Student Ministry ever did. Dave Ramsey even featured my wife’s post, “Becoming financially free on a pastor’s salary,” in one of his email blasts!

Some of our other posts include:

If you’re not already subscribed to MinistryFamily.com, we’d love to have you join us in our journey through raising a family in ministry and all the unique challenges it brings.

“Like” MinistryFamily.com on Facebook!

Get MinistryFamily.com posts via email

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Using expensify.com to track ministry receipts

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 11:00:35 +0000

If I could hashtag a blog post like I can a tweet, this one would easily be #stuffyouthworkershate. We usually aren’t huge fans of tracking ministry expenses and receipts. It’s one of those duties we chalk up to, “Stuff I gotta do, but would love it if it disappeared somehow.”

Unfortunately, I don’t have a solution for how you can get out of it completely (other than hiring someone to follow you around and take the receipts from the cashier for you), but Expensify.com can really help take the pain out of the process.

I’ve been using Expensify for almost a year now for my Life In Student Ministry, LLC, business expenses and love it! Basically, I use their smart phone app to snap a picture of my receipt each time I purchase anything with my business account. It uploads the image to my Expensify account and optionally scans the image to automatically plug it into an expense report for me. Whenever I need to, I can just login to the site and print out the report, hassle free. No need to hold on to receipts anymore!

Most of my business purchases are made online, though, so instead of using my phone to take a picture of the email receipt on my computer screen, I just forward the email to receipts@expensify.com and, again, it’ll parse the receipt for an expense report and/or just hang on to it for when I need it later.

If your church’s treasurer is up for it, they could even connect their Expensify account with yours to snag your expense reports and receipts for the month and even submit reimbursement online directly to your personal bank account through the site (available for 15 states so far).

You can also use Expensify to track milage, scan business cards to add to your contacts, and more.

The best part is that Expensify.com is free except for $0.20 to optionally scan a receipt (invite friends to the service via email to get free credits) or $5/month if you need more than 3 users on your account. I’ve been using it for a year, though, completely for free without needing to pay for anything.

QUESTION: Do you use Expensify? How well does it work in taking the hassle out of expense reports for your ministry?

[ Full Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored review and this post does not include any affiliate links. I simply love their service and thought I'd share it. Enjoy! ]

Free “Pumpkin Talk” lesson from Interlinc [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 12:09:54 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #252

Mark Pittman, of Interlinc, wrote a youth group lesson on “finding meaning in our lives in a relationship with Jesus Christ,” based on Ecclesiastes 2.

The lesson uses a pumpkin as an example, “Other than pumpkin pie, the purpose of a pumpkin is to be a Jack-O-Lantern after you scoop the junk out.”

If you’re looking for a Bible lesson to use with your youth group during this Halloween/Fall season, check this one out. Of course, as with all lessons, be sure to modify it to work with your teens.

Download, “The Great Pumpkin Talk,” from Interlinc

TIP: Only 3 days left to get the Early Bird rate for the Simply Youth Ministry Conference! Snag it while there are still spots available and meet Mark Pittman face-to-face! Also, watch the video of my interview with SYMC’s director, Kami Gilmour, about what’s new for the conference this year.

What’s new for SYMC 2012? [video]

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 11:00:23 +0000

I had the privilege to talk with Kami Gilmour, the lady who has worked hard on the Simply Youth Ministry Conference almost every day for the past 6 years. It’s because of her hard work and dedication to youth workers that thousands of youth workers are blessed, encouraged, and trained every year at the conference.

I’ve been a fan of the conference ever since I first attended a couple years ago and, knowing many of the people at Simply Youth Ministry, I know this conference totally flows from their hearts for youth workers.

Below is a brief conversation I had with Kami about three things:

What is SYMC?
What makes SYMC unique?
What’s new for SYMC 2012?

Watch the video below or click here to watch it directly on YouTube.

The conference is March 2-5, 2012, at the Galt House Hotel in Louisville, KY. Register before October 31, 2011, to get the Early Bird Rate! The conference sold out the past two years, so if you want to join the experience this year, registering early is your best bet for guaranteeing a spot. Get more info on the SYMC website.

QUESTION: Are you going to SYMC 2012? What are you looking forward to most at the conference?

[ Full Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, but as always, I only accept sponsorships from organizations I truly believe in. ]

Aiding the adversaries in your church [Time Out]

Adam Wormann — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 14:12:03 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
by Adam Wormann

Well, Gadhafi has been killed. It’s always interesting to watch the reactions of people when news like this happens. I saw this on the Facebook wall of someone I know, and was kind of bothered by it:

“Ha Gadhafi is dead! Enjoy your 75 virgins. Don’t lose your head over it.”

I understand relief and rejoicing in the sense that justice has been done. There’s a point, though, where gloating over someone’s death seems somewhat un-Christlike. The point here isn’t the person that said that, it’s a call for all of us to examine our hearts and how we react.

In Matthew 5, Jesus talks about how we are to treat people, especially those who have wronged you. We are to go the extra mile to show others love and mercy. I don’t think that Jesus is saying we eliminate justice, but that we need to watch our hearts in the matter. Honestly, we deal with that every day.

Take this situation down a handful of levels. Let’s be honest, we all have people in our church and students in our ministry that wind up making our life difficult. Sometimes this is intentional, sometimes it’s unintentional. The truth is, other people drive us nuts. When this happens, it’s easy to ignore, marginalize, or otherwise treat someone as an “enemy.” That’s not what Christ calls us to. We are to go the extra mile for those people. We need to not only treat them with love and respect, but pray for them (and not just for them to change to our liking), help them, and care for them. Our love ought to take action, and that can be one of the hardest things to do. We feel justified in our feelings and don’t like to change that. Christ calls us to something bigger.

Take an inventory of the people in your world. Who is it that you have a really hard time with? Think about what you can do for them. How can you serve them? How does your heart need to change towards them?

Whether big or small, we need to stop looking at others as the enemy, but as someone whom God made in his image.

10 FREE “Race This” games from Simply Youth Ministry [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:12:46 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #251

This week our friends at Simply Youth Ministry are giving an exclusive gift to Life In Student Ministry readers! For the next 7 days, you can download their ice breaker product, Race This, completely free! No sign-ups, to mailing lists to join, nothing. Just click-and-download goodness!

It’s easy to grab your students’ attention with Race This. It’s a brand new collection of 10 random ending “Dot Race” style races. When the race shows up on screen, students pick a racer and then cheer it on and hope for victory! You’ve seen races like this on the jumbo screen at sporting events, and now you can bring the fun straight to your students.

Race This is a fun and effective way to kick off your program, meeting, or wrap up free time or small group sharing. Use Race This as an official part of your program or a fun way to pass the time before it starts.

For more information on how these games work, check out the product’s description page.

And, if you like it, there’s Race This Vol. 2 for download, as well, currently for 35% off!

Also check out all the other great Media + Programming Resources they have for youth ministry.

NOTE: This file is 1.9 GB in size, so be prepared for it to take a while if you’re on a slow connection.

Download “Race This Vol. 1″ from Simply Youth Ministry*

*This download is good for the next 7 days only. It expires on Thursday, October 27, 2011, at 11:59pm central time.

[ UPDATE: This download has expired and is no longer available. ]

6 things I’ve learned as a volunteer youth worker

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 11:00:30 +0000

I’ve really enjoyed this past year of being a volunteer youth leader at New Life Christian Church! It’s been a lot of fun to build relationships with the teenagers and be able to do all the parts of youth ministry I really enjoy.

The past year of volunteering has been very refreshing for me in many ways. The youth pastor, Jeremy Schneider (one of the LISM Mentors), has been great to work with! He truly has a team mentality, values each of us youth leaders, and is continually asking good questions of himself, us youth leaders, and the church as a whole that helps move the ministry forward in it’s community impact.

Through my experiences in volunteering there this past year, I’ve learned several things on this side of the volunteer leadership role.

1. Volunteering is awesome! There’s flexibility and genuine freedom to build relationship with people without all the church politics at work.

2. I feel like I almost have more influence now than I did as a paid guy because kids, parents, and others in the church know I have a choice about being at youth group or not. When I take youth group kids out to lunch, invite them to join us on family outings, or when they come over for Bible studies, they know my wife and I have no other incentive other than that we care about them. The relationships feel very authentic.

3. Along those same lines, I feel like I can help Jeremy recruit other adult leaders for the ministry better than he can on some levels. When a paid guy approaches someone, there’s almost this, “Yeah, you’re the paid guy — it’s your job to get people involved with the youth group,” but when I approach someone in the church about it, it’s almost like they’re taken off-guard. They’re not expecting me to be that excited about the youth ministry! They listen to my stories and become very interested because here’s a guy talking to them about it who doesn’t even have to do it. (Just for the record, I always run potential names past Jeremy before I talk with them about joining us.)

4. Most youth pastors probably don’t communicate with their leaders as well as they think they do. I think I was guilty of this, too. Jeremy communicates well, but I still have those occasional, “Oh, I didn’t know that was going on,” moments. And I totally get it because, as paid youth leaders, youth group stuff is what they think about and plan all day long. It’s easy to forget that others aren’t thinking about it all day like they are. Sometimes things they know in their heads sometimes don’t make it out to other people’s ears or inboxes. I think I’ve learned now from being both the paid guy and a volunteer that if the youth pastor feels like he or she is over-communicating, they’re probably doing it just about right.

5. Volunteers enjoy having ownership and responsibilities! It’s part of why we’re there. I love Jeremy’s approach: unleash us to serve according to our gifts and, if there’s too many with the same gift, run us on a rotating schedule. For example, the three of us who enjoy teaching get to do so every three weeks. The five leaders who offered to lead games do so every five weeks. And so on. But he also knows to look for things in the youth leaders that maybe they haven’t even identified themselves (and may not even feel comfortable with!) and then pushes them a bit to use it in the ministry. I remember as a paid youth leader that I felt like it was my job to run things so the leaders could just chill with kids. As a volunteer myself, I now know that’s not always true. Some leaders like to have ownership.

6. Most volunteers enjoy being a part of the decision-making and brainstorming process. Again, I sometimes felt that was part of what I was supposed to do as the paid guy, but volunteers appreciate it when you give them more ways to have influence in what happens and what direction the ministry takes. I appreciate our youth leader meetings when Jeremy lays out his thoughts and genuinely asks, “What do you think?” If one of us has a completely different thought, we all hash it out together and usually go with the group’s consensus while respecting Jeremy’s right to veto if he feels it necessary to do so (that hasn’t happened yet, but when it does, I know none of us will have a problem with it, probably because we were respected throughout the process).

YOUR TURN: According to this year’s LISM reader survey, a little over 20% of you reading this are volunteer youth workers in your church. I’d love to hear what things you’ve learned as a volunteer youth leader who serves under a paid youth pastor. Let us know in the comments below!

P.S. I have Jeremy’s full permission to write all this stuff about him. :)

10 tips for shooting youth group video announcements

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 11:00:11 +0000

Ever since I posted the free youth group video announcement intro, it’s been fun to talk with some of you guys about your video announcements! That intro was received so well that I almost released another one last week until I realized that it contained some licensed material I can’t legally redistribute without buying a $100 license for it, so yeah… you obviously don’t have it.

But anyway, if you’re planning to shoot a video for your youth group announcements, here are some tips as you get started.

1. Keep the pace moving through the video. You can get away with repeating something in person, but if you do it in a video, it starts to feel like it’s dragging because, unlike in person, if you say it in a video kids usually pick it up the first time.

2. Listen for any white noise in the background of your environment before you start recording, like air conditioners, traffic, or even people talking, and move to a place where it’s quiet. You might not notice the background noise when you record it because we’re used to tuning it out, but we all hear it in the video and it becomes distracting.

3. Take notice of the lighting before you start recording. Is there a bright light source behind you making your face appear dark to the camera? Is there a bright light directly above you casting a shadow of your nose on your chin? Use a desk lap or something to make sure your face is well illuminated.

4. Leave room at the bottom of the video to write details of your announcement in a “lower third.”

5. Smile a lot, but smile naturally, not awkwardly just because I said to smile. Look like you enjoy what you’re doing.

6. Look directly into the camera lens when you talk, but don’t stare. It will help your audience feel like you’re connecting with them personally.

7. The five Bs of public speaking apply to video, as well: Be Brief, Baby, Be Brief.

8. Avoid reading notes if at all possible. Just talk naturally without repeating yourself too much.

9. You don’t need to buy fancy equipment or anything. If all you have is a the webcam on your computer, a Flip, or your the camera on your phone, use that. If you find the videos are working well for your group, then you can consider small upgrades at that time, but you don’t need anything fancy to get started.

10. Post your announcement videos online where your kids will see them, whether that’s YouTube, your youth group’s Facebook page, or in iTunes as a podcast they can automatically keep in sync with their iPods.

My weekly Creator’s Tip video series

If you’d like more tips about creating videos, every week I produce an episode for one of ReelSEO’s web video series’ called, “Creator’s Tip.” You can either watch them at ReelSEO.com or on ReelSEO’s YouTube channel.

The secret behind building your ministry [Time Out]

Adam Wormann — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 11:00:41 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
by Adam Wormann

My kids love to wrestle – especially my four year old. I can’t count how many hours we’ve fought in his room. It started with some wrestling, moved into a little martial arts and MMA, and usually results in a free-for-all. I have a slight height advantage, which helps my self-esteem. I tried to teach him how to jam someone. Basically, that means you get really close to someone who’s taller than you so that you can get them, without them able to extend to strike you. Kind of levels the playing field against someone with a long reach.

So, Cole usually tries really hard to do that. He doesn’t get that when you do it, it’s a good idea to strike someone. He tries to grapple. I’m not a physics guy, but something tells me when someone almost quadruples your weight, you’ve really gotta know what you’re doing to take them down. Usually he tries to go for the knees, sometimes just grabs the leg and pulls. Usually this results with me laying on my back.

Most people could legitimately beat me up — I get that. Most 4 year-olds can’t. I will typically take a pretty dramatic dive and land on my back. Cole smiles. I’m not sure, but I think he believes he’s really taking me down. For the record (and I don’t tell him), I’m taking a dive. My son is not beating me up. He loves it though. He’s proud of himself, he’s learning, and he has a good time. I love bonding time like that.

It would be pretty ridiculous to think that my kid is really winning the fight against me. There’s a bigger force at work (mostly me and gravity).

If you think about it, that’s how we act sometimes. We build our ministries, build our careers, and build our families. Now, I believe that we have to be responsible, and that God works through us. In the end, it’s not about making a name for ourselves, it’s about making a name for God.

Please don’t fall into the trap of building something for yourself, or building something and taking all the credit. It’s okay to accept compliments, it’s not okay to say, “Look what I did.” That’s the problem since Genesis.

“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” – Genesis 11:4 (Full passage here)

As you serve, remember to keep your focus. Remember to honor God with all you do. This isn’t for us, it’s for Him.

Some questions to think about

What motivates you to do something?
Are you doing something quality? Why?
Do you have people in your life that are keeping you in check?
Are you sure that what you’re doing is honoring God? Really think about that one for a bit.

Free lesson on learning to follow God [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 15:17:41 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #250

YM360 is giving away a free lesson with an accompanying student guide. It’s a big picture overview of Jonah’s life with an eye toward helping students identify what running away from God looks like, and how to move toward living out God’s will in their lives. You can follow this link to the YM360 Blog to download it, no strings attached!

Download the free Jonah lesson from YM360

What would change?

Mark Riddle — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:00:46 +0000

What would change if we didn’t operate as if leadership was the primary lever by which change happens? What if our perception that being the person in your church to lead the community to faithfulness is a barrier to what we hope for in the lives of people?

What might happen if we spend a year not trying to change anyone or anything, but only created space for others to do what they thought was faithful as a church?

What would it require of our hearts? Would we be able to do it? Is there something about the way we lead that feeds our needs and deflects ideas of others in our church with different perspectives?

Could we even give up our agenda for a week to listen to what else God is doing?

Are we so certain that our agenda and God’s agenda are the same that we can’t even fathom the questions above? Could our internal resistance to the questions above, in fact be a sign that our agenda isn’t the only one God is concerned about?

What’s at risk if we change as leaders?

Are the things that come to mind related to fears we have and refuse to face?

What’s at risk if we as leaders refuse to be changed ourselves? What kind of leadership is that?

What’s at stake if we never dig within ourselves to discover the motivations we hide from ourselves?

What would change if we focused on changing ourselves and letting our communities focus on changing themselves as a community? What would change if we stopped trying to fix people, or get the to agree with our doctrine, theology, or perspective?

What would it look like to trust the Holy Spirit more than ourselves?

What would change?

Using long car rides to connect

Jonathan McKee — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 15:05:17 +0000

A bus full of middle school students, a 7 hour trip and about 10 adult volunteers.

If you’ve been in youth ministry for even a year or two, you may have experienced this situation. Kids pile in as far toward the back of the bus as possible, take their seats and plug headphones into their ears. Then your adult leader load the bus, sit together near the front and start talking with each other.

Two problems: 1. Kids are isolating themselves geographically and with technology. 2. Adult leaders are giving up and taking the easy route — adult conversation.

Without sounding repetitive… if you’ve been in youth ministry for even a year or two, you most likely have witnessed this situation.

So what can we do?

This is one of those situations where you can turn a problem into an opportunity. To many, a seven hour bus ride with 60 middle school kids might sound like eternal damnation. To me, it sounds like a perfect opportunity to connect with kids.

Think about this. Most weeks we only get 30 minutes to an hour with any given kid. We see them at youth group, or occasionally connect with them for ice cream or sit next to them at a football game. On a good week we might get a couple hours with a kid. But on a 7-hour trip… BIG TIME connect time!

Here are a few methods I’ve used to help my leaders connect during long bus rides, van rides and/or car rides:

1. Strategic placement of your adult leaders

Simply said, always mix your adults throughout the crowd of kids.

In my book, CONNECT, I talk about this concept at youth group and events. The concept is just as true on a bus. Load your adult leaders first if needed. Do whatever you have to do to spread them throughout the bus mingling with kids. This actually will help you twofold: one, you’ll pro-actively avoid the many problems that can happen when students are left unattended in the back of the bus (I can tell you countless stories of kids who rounded several bases with the opposite sex in the back seat of an unsupervised moving vehicle), and two, you’ll create opportunities for your adult leaders to interact with kids and engage in lengthy conversations.

7 hours and 10 volunteers can yield 70 hours of good bonding time.

2. Using the music to provoke discussion

Some see iPods as barriers. I see them as springboards for discussion.

Every time I took a trip like this I bought my adult leaders a simple little tool that proved to be very resourceful: a Y-jack. Yes… just a simple jack that you plug into an iPod that changes one earphone output to two.

It worked like this. My adult leaders would sit next to a kid with an iPod, pull out a set of headphones and a Y-jack and say, “Mind if I plug in?”

This little question in itself yielded great responses. Most kids responded, “Sure.” They actually liked the fact that an adult was taking an interest in their music. But some kids (Christian kids especially) are apprehensive to oblige to this little proposal. The reason? They don’t want us to know what they are listening to.

As you can see, the opportunities for conversation are great.

I always advise my staff. “Try not to lecture, try to ask a lot of questions.”

I like asking the following:

Who is this artist?
What is he/she singing about?
Do you believe him/her?
What do you think most kids hear when they listen to this song?
Do you think it effects them? How?
Do you think it effects you? How?

Music always provides great discussion jump-starters. It sometimes helps to jump on iTunes before a trip like this and review some of the top music, Google the lyrics and become familiar with some of the mainstream artists. This little bit of research can help you articulate some good questions, and eventually provide a few answers if the opportunity arises.

QUESTION: What ways have you used long rides for good? What lessons have you learned on a trip like this?

Helping parents become spiritual leaders: Doug Fields [video]

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:00:20 +0000

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to sit down with Doug Fields and tap into his wisdom. One of the things I’ve been wrestling through myself for the past two years or so is how do we help parents become the spiritual role models and leaders God calls them to be? How can shift from a youth ministry that enables parents to outsource their teen’s spiritual development to the “paid professional” youth pastor and take responsibility for it themselves? And when that happens, how can the youth ministry and the church as a whole support that to ensure that it’s successful?

I’ve been beating all around this bush with the ministries I’ve been involved in, trying to figure it out. And, to be quite honest, I don’t really feel like I’m getting anywhere. When I talk with Doug Fields about it in the video below, I think some of my frustration comes out a little. Thankfully, Doug is much wiser than I and has exponentially more experience than I do. His response is reassuring and helpful.

Watch the video of my brief discussion with Doug Fields about youth ministries can help parents become spiritual leaders for their children.

NOTE: This video is enabled for 3D viewing! If you have 3D glasses nearby, put them on and click the little 3D icon in the YouTube player. For best results, view it fullscreen in HD.

QUESTION: How do you partner with parents in your youth ministry?

I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below. Or even better yet, if you’d like to post a video response to my video on YouTube so we can actually see and hear you tell your story, here’s the link to easily submit a video response to my video with Doug.

Never say, “I’m sorry,” in ministry [Time Out]

Adam Wormann — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:41:07 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
by Adam Wormann

Today, Netflix announced that it was going to abandon Qwikster. There’s a lot of talk about it this morning. They’ve basically said that they realized this wasn’t good for their users, and are cutting it out before they even launch. They’ve made a mistake, realize it, and are doing something to try to fix it (at least this time).

I had someone (a mentor of sorts) in ministry tell me early on, “Don’t every say ‘I’m Sorry’, it’s admitting that you’re wrong.” I wasn’t sure what to think at the time. Now I realize, that’s terrible advice.

In ministry, it’s easy to see the mistakes of others. It’s harder to see our own faults. That’s probably because we don’t want to, it can be painful, and we’re honestly blind to them a good portion of the time. We need to see our own faults though. We need to admit when we’re wrong. We need to make things right. That’s why we need others speaking into our lives. We need to take times of personal reflection.

Feel free to say I’m sorry. Feel free to admit that you were wrong. Build bridges, not your ego.

Today, instead of reading and reflecting, as a part of Time Out we just want to take some time taking a personal inventory. Think about your life and relationships. What’s strained? What needs to be fixed? What do you need to do to make sure you’re right with others. Then go do it.

As far as it depends upon you, be at peace with all men…

Evangelism lesson and videos from Greg Stier [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 11:00:01 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #249

Greg Stier and Dare 2 Share just released a new video curriculum! It’s brand spankin’ new! I checked it out a bit and it looks really solid, like pretty much everything else Dare 2 Share creates. It’s a 4 week video curriculum series called, Evangephobia, that goes along with a 30-day student devotional. Check them out here if you’re interested in going through something like this with your youth group:

The four Evangephobia lessons are titled:

Facing Your Fears
Passion Fuel
Sharing Your Story
Dunamis: Dynamite

Here’s a video of Greg Talking about it a bit.

Below you can download the first lesson of the 4 week series. It includes the lesson plan in both Word and PDF formats, as well as the two accompanying videos that go along with the lesson.

Download the Evangephobia lesson and videos

A ministry resume that gets noticed

Tony Myles — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:00:05 +0000

I once had a guy ask me if he could use my resume for his own job search.

After a double-take, I realized what he meant – he was a part of a church staff that interviewed me a year earlier and he wanted to use the template I created for my resume for his own.

Considerations

I’m not sure if that qualifies me to write this article, but I can tell you that I’ve interviewed with many different churches over the years through my messed-up job history. I’ve likewise been the interviewer in a few churches, including my current role as a senior pastor. There are a handful of things I’ve picked up a few things along the way about a resume that gets noticed, but before I share them consider this:

Some churches aren’t looking for you as much as they want the idea of you. Consciously or unconsciously, many congregations are hoping to fix a perceived problem with their teens by throwing “a youth pastor” at it. In this instance, your resume can say just about anything remotely safe and they may hire you without a quality interview process.
Some churches are looking for the opposite of their last youth worker. The individual had strengths, but ended the role with more faults and weaknesses coming to the surface. Again, a senior pastor or search committee may merely want to know if you can do things the last person couldn’t do, not realizing that they’re hiring your weaknesses as well as your strengths.
Some churches aren’t as technologically savvy as you are. Instead of relying on a personal website to be your resume, create one on paper that can be emailed or sent snail mail. There are many congregations who like to have something in their hands to pass around in a meeting, and if any older individuals are a part of that committee you may make them feel out of the loop.

Tips for a ministry resume

That said, here are some of my tips on what makes for a great resume:

Break the rules: What separated my resume from many others is I didn’t follow standard resume rules, such as, “Keep it all on one 8.5×11 piece of paper, one-sided, with one font.” I bought quality textured 11×17 paper and created a “book” format – a cover page with my core information and personal vision statement, as well as a mission statement about what I was looking for. This opened up to a full 11×17 page of sections that included, “About Me,” “Employment History,” “Achievements,” and more. The backside of the resume listed my educational history and references.
Speaking of references: Don’t wait to be asked for them – include them, and check to make sure those listed are okay with getting a phone call from strangers. If you have any potential blackballers who may say something bad about you, include another reference from that church who can speak from an alternative perspective. You don’t want to avoid listing senior pastors you’ve worked under who don’t like you, but you can list a volunteer you did see eye-to-eye with. I’ve also found students can sometimes write a quality recommendation letter you can include as you send your resume out.
Use pictures strategically: I created a full column of 8 pictures on the left and right margins of the resume interior, and then moved the text more toward the center of the page. Be intentional about which pictures you use, such as putting family photos near personal information, or a larger photo of you teaching on the cover.
Share more than bullet points: As you list your work history, include more than where and when – share a statement under each about, “What I learned about ministry here:” and, “What I learned about myself here:” to add color commentary. This helps a prospective church to see you as a person on a journey instead of a rookie or a know-it-all.
Include a taste for more: Below your references, state, “For more information or a free DVD of me teaching, contact me at…” If they like what they’ve seen, they’ll want to see more. A DVD helps you know who is really interested and who isn’t, so use it as a tool and save yourself on the cost of sending it to everyone.”

Arrogant Student Leaders

Jonathan McKee — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 15:00:31 +0000

A couple weeks ago I received this question through my youth ministry website… I’ll edit for brevity:

Jonathan,

I recently moved churches, from a church in MN to a church of the same denomination in FL due to my husband’s job. When I got to the church, a lot of feelings were hurt because the prior, very much loved youth director had left to go to the mega church down the street. He took with him a good amount of people.

There were three student leaders in place, each running ministry on their own. I talked about changing that and was met with lots of anger and resentment from them.

My issue is that the youth have let the power go to their heads. They do not want adults involved with their teams. They want to be the head of the teams. They feel as though any adult would micro-manage them.

So now I am unsure of what to do. While I explained that the purpose of the adults is to support them and encourage them; they were not at all ready to have it.

Do I fight them on this? Do I require adults involved in each team or not at all?

Thank you!!!

Christine

What would you tell Christine? I’d love to hear your two cents in the comments below.

If you’re curious how I responded to her, you can see my answer on our ASK THE SOURCE page.

Next YM Mentoring round is accepting applicants

Tim Schmoyer — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 11:00:58 +0000

One of the features I really enjoy here at Life In Student Ministry is the opportunity to offer you guys 10 weeks one-on-one with one of the veteran youth ministry mentors.

We try to do a 10 week mentoring round with you every spring and fall. We’re a little late on starting the Fall 2011 round, but we’re excited to be pushing this out now!

We have an amazing team of 26 youth ministry veterans on board, all of whom have been doing “life in student ministry” for more than 10 years.

Stories from former mentees

Check out the stories from Tobey Nichols and Seth Rowe to see how this mentorship process impacted them and their ministry.

Also check out a couple other former mentees sharing their stories on YouTube.

The Process

If you have been in youth ministry for 5 years or fewer, we want to serve you with one-on-one youth ministry mentoring for 10 weeks straight. Here’s how it works.

Read the Overview of the Mentorship as well as the goals, expectations, and other information outlined there.
If you’ve been in youth ministry for 5 years or fewer and would like a mentor to consider you, fill out the application in its entirety. It is open to anyone who serves in youth ministry in any capacity, whether that be on a volunteer basis or as a full-time youth pastor. The application closes on October 10.
The team of mentors will pour through all the applications and each will select a mentee. If you are selected, I will email you by October 16 with who offered to mentor you and how to proceed.
You and your mentor will connect to determine a time each week for your one-on-one phone conversation.
The 10 weeks of mentoring starts on October 17 and ends the week of December 19, 2011.

Cost

The price for this 10 week one-on-one youth ministry mentoring is $99 to help cover the costs and time for putting this together. It also covers the cost of the books and shipping for those who need one, two, or all three of the texts. There is no charge to apply — pay only if you’re selected by one of the mentors.

Scholarships

If you’re honestly unable to pay the full $99, please let us know in the application. We’re genuinely more interested in blessing you and your ministry than we are in your money.

Conversely, if you’re in a position to help sponsor someone else’s 10 week mentoring experience, please consider contributing to the scholarship fund.

For contributions over $20, I will send you a complementary autographed copy of my book, “Life In Student Ministry: Practical Conversations on Thriving in Youth Ministry.”

[ Contribute to the scholarship fund for someone else's mentoring experience! ]

Free online “mentoring”

Whether you’re accepted or not, whether you’ve been in youth ministry for 5 years or 10 years, MinistryQuestions.com is always available. You can receive a lot of good advice, input, ideas, and recommendations from that online community of youth workers.

Read mentorship overview and apply here!

Advice for non-administrative youth workers [video]

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 11:00:40 +0000

Not every youth pastor is an administrative genius. In fact, most of us go into ministry because we love working with teenagers and their families, but then we get stuck behind a desk putting events together, planning meetings, attending other people’s meetings, keeping up with phone calls and email, and more. It’s a necessary part of the job that will determine a lot of how others view your ministry. But what if you’re just not a great administrator? Then what?

While at the D6 Conference a few weeks ago, I sat down with Jonathan Cliff, the Next Generations Pastor at Trinity Church in Lubbock, Texas. As a guy who thrives in administrative environments and has worked with several youth pastors who don’t, he shared some advice for how those youth pastors can begin to thrive in those areas. Watch our video to hear his advice.

You can check out Jonathan’s blog at JonathanCliff.com or follow him on Twitter.

I need other Christians [Time Out]

Guest Author — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 11:00:21 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.

Over the next year, on the first Monday of the month, we’re going to be running a series within Time Out called, “Life Lessons,” by Jerry Schmoyer (Tim’s dad). Here’s a note from Jerry:

As I approach retirement age and look back on a lifetime of ministry I realize there are some important principles I have learned. I’d like to share some of these with you. I’m sure God is teaching you these same truths and I hope that explaining them from my perspective can benefit you and your ministry.

When my wife and I travel outside our area it seems God always puts other Christians in our way. We look forward to our paths crossing with these friends whom we just haven’t met yet! Recently we traveled to Puerto Rico and God sprinkled a steady stream of believers throughout our trip. When I go to India the help and support of believers there is essential. The further I am from home the more I appreciate fellowship with a brother or sister in Jesus.

Even when I’m not traveling, I’m still quite far from my real home in heaven. Here, too, fellowship with other believers is very important. Close contact with believers I have know a long time is a precious, valuable asset to my life’s journey. The older I become the more I value Christian fellowship: with those I’m known a lifetime as well as with those I just meet in passing.

I’m been learning through the years how to let people get closer to me and how I can get to know them deeper as well. Instead of seeing them as assets (or stumbling blocks) to what I want to accomplish in ministry, I am appreciating others more and more as fellow travelers who are making their way to the same eternal city I am. I enjoy their friendship, need their encouragement and learn from their example. A long, hard journey is always easier when in the company of faithful companions. That is why God gives us each other to help us through this life.

Have you noticed how an instant bond is formed when you find someone you just met is a Christian? It doesn’t matter what culture or country they come from, what color they are or what language they speak. We share the same values and priorities. We have the same world view. Jesus in me connects with Jesus in them. We are children of the same Father – and that makes us brothers and sisters. We fight the same enemy. We’ll spend eternity together, so why not start enjoying each other while here?

When I’m in a different culture, in the United States or another country, its obvious we do ‘church’ and ministry differently. But for all our differences we are really the same. We have the same enemy, the same struggles and the same source of victory.

Jesus Himself needed human fellowship. He would withdraw from the crowds and get away with just the disciples. He needed them. Unfortunately they weren’t always there for Him, like in Gethsemane before His arrest. However if He needed others we certainly do as well. The more I progress in life and ministry the more I realize how much I need other believers and what a blessing it is that God puts them in my life.

Scripture

Acts 2:42, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
Hebrews 10:25, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Reflect

Do you really appreciate other believers in your life, or do you just see them as tools to use in helping you accomplish your ministry goals?
How much time a week do you spend in Christian fellowship – fun and closeness with no agenda but to enjoy each other?
When do you most need the support and fellowship of other believers?
Think of those in your past whom God has used to really help you on your journey. Pray for them. Thank them (mail, email or in person) again today for the role they played in your life.

Video and talksheet on abandoning faith [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 11:00:33 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #248

Last week the Fuller Youth Institute published a two and a half minute video of a college student who wears a jacket similarly to how many students wear their faith in college: it’s easy to put on or take off depending on the circumstance, but eventually it often gets tossed aside.

They put together a couple discussion questions you can use with this video if you show it to your youth group. You can snag those discussion questions by visiting Fuller Youth Institute’s blog post linked below.

Get discussion questions for, “The Jacket”

The best thing you can do for families in your ministry

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 19:33:47 +0000

If you follow me on Twitter or are a fan of the Life In Student Ministry Facebook page, you’ve probably seen that I’m working on a book to be published by Group Publishing.

I wrote this in it today and would love your feedback about it.

“Among Christians, the divorce rate is similar to that of unbelievers: fifty-three percent. However, according to David and Jan Stoop in their book, ‘When Couples Pray Together,’ for parents who share intimate prayer requests and pray together twice a week, that statistic drops to less than one percent. The best thing you can do for teens and families in your ministry is to help parents pray together.”

Do you agree? Disagree? What ideas do you have for helping parents form a habit of sharing intimate prayer requests and praying together regularly? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks!

P.S. I posed this same question on Facebook, if you want to see some of the great responses there already, too.

Doug Fields on passing faith to pastors’ kids [video]

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 11:00:34 +0000

While I was at the D6 Conference last week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Doug Fields and tap into his wisdom. The first question I asked him (and most important to me as a young dad) is:

“How can those of us who are serving in the church and new to parenting instill a faith into our kids that lasts as they grow up?”

As much as we all hate it, pastors’ kids have a reputation for ditching God and the church as they grow older. That’s part of what my new site, MinistryFamily.com, seeks to address as my wife and I reflect on our own upbringing in ministry families. It was great to hear Doug’s advice on this and I may expound on it over at MinistryFamily.com in the upcoming weeks.

Watch our conversation below, or click here to watch it directly on YouTube.

NOTE: This video is enabled for 3D viewing! If you have 3D glasses nearby, put them on and click the little 3D icon in the YouTube player. For best results, view it fullscreen in HD.

Responding when trust is lost in ministry [Time Out]

Adam Wormann — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 19:19:32 +0000

Time Out: Weekly quiet times for the youth worker’s soul.
by Adam Wormann

Over time, through mentorships, twitter, and other fun things I’ve gotten the chance to know a good number of youth workers. I love that. This week, it kind of stinks, because I hear some of the stuff that goes on that’s just really sad. I’ve been talking with a youth worker who’s suddenly taking some heat due to someone else’s mistake. As a result of that, all trust is gone between he and two other pastors on staff, both of whom he was telling me a week ago that, “although we have disagreements in some philosophical things, I really respect their character.” Now, he’s afraid to even talk to his staff. It’s not a good situation.

The sad thing is that so many youth workers can relate to that. We often feel under-appreciated and/or attacked. The reality is that it often happens because youth workers are often younger and have an arrogance that they don’t yet realize, or an attitude that rubs people the wrong way. It also often happens because other people don’t understand youth ministry as well, and try to impose things. Sometimes it’s our fault, sometimes it’s someone else’s. The bottom line is that it usually happens because of sin. That sucks.

I’ve been studying 1 Peter on my own recently. Today, I was reading 1 Peter 2 again. Here’s the first few verses:

“So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation – if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.” (ESV)

We deal with garbage. Sometimes it’s our fault, sometimes it’s not. If it’s our fault, we need to own up to it. Do a good heart search.

If it’s truly not our fault, we have to figure out how to deal with it. What Peter says here is huge. He goes on to stress holiness. We need to strive for that. So, in our quest for holiness, how do we react? Well, right away, we have to be careful about the way that we treat others. We need to be the same in front of and behind them. And the words out of our mouth better not be destructive. Even if it’s unfair, even if it’s wrong, we cannot come back in an unholy manner. Yes, we strive to right the wrongs and to reconcile the relationship. We need to make sure we’re going about that with a pure heart.

Reflect

Is there someone that you need to begin making amends with?
Are you struggling treating someone with respect? What are you doing about it?
Can you commit to going one day without any of the big 5 that Peter mentions (malice, deceit, hypocrisy, envy, slander)? Do it with someone? Try it for a week? It may be harder than you think…

“My parents give me no privacy!” talksheet and video [Freebie Friday]

Tim Schmoyer — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 14:04:10 +0000

Our Weekly Freebie Friday: #247

Last month I gave you guys an update about the Youth Questions channel I run on YouTube and how it’s being used to reach teenagers online. In that update I mentioned that several youth workers are also using those videos to introduce topics and discussions in their youth groups, some of them even writing talksheets and lesson plans to accompany the videos.

Jillianne Booth, the Assistant Youth Minister at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, plans on using the videos every week as part of her regular youth meetings. She passed along the lesson plan she wrote for the video on, “My parents give me no privacy,” and now I get to pass it along to you all.

Here’s the video on YouTube:

In case you missed it, here’s two other talksheets for Youth Questions videos we did.

You can download the, “My parents give me no privacy,” video for free in iTunes.

Download the, “My parents give me no privacy,” talksheet

I’m liveblogging the D6 Conference today and tomorrow

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:36:59 +0000

I’ve been intrigued by the D6 Conference ever since I first heard about it a couple years ago. It appears to be a unique conference that addresses youth ministry, children’s ministry, and family in a holistic, cooperative way.

I’ll be liveblogging the event today and tomorrow. You can follow along at www.studentministry.org/d6live where I’ll be doing the following:

Writing my own notes publicly from the seminars
Sharing video interviews
Posting pictures, audio and video clips
Taking your questions
and more…

Come hang out with me andothers!

Live Video Feeds of the Sessions

The D6 Conference will be streaming the following sessions for free, which will also be viewable on my liveblogging page at studentministry.org/d6live. (All times are approximate.)

Wednesday, September 21

Brian Haynes (8:45 AM CST)
Sean McDowell (12:00 PM CST)

Thursday, September 22

David Platt (9:55 AM CST)—During Session 1
John McGee (2:35 PM CST)—During Session 3

Friday, September 23

Student Ministry Panel—Josh Griffin, Allyson Evans, Allen Pointer, Wayne Rice (9:30 AM CST)—During Session 6
Mark Holmen (11:05 AM CST)—During Session 7

My Liveblogging Page for the D6 Conference

Free soul care for struggling youth workers

Tim Schmoyer — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 11:00:01 +0000

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to sit down with Len Evans and talk about Simply Youth Ministry’s Soul Care ministry for youth workers who are hurting, struggling, have questions, or just want to ask someone to pray for them. Check out the video above, or watch our interview on YouTube.

There’s a couple things I really love about Simply Soul Care.

1. There are a lot of struggling youth workers out there. I know because I hear from you all the time. I get emails from you who have been fired, who are having issues with a controlling sr. pastor, who are in transition into a new ministry, or just experienced a death in the youth group. Ministry is tough!

2. My friends at Simply hear many of your stories, as well, and their heart breaks with you. (I know that sounds cheesy, but from private, honest conversations with them, and I can tell you that it’s really true.) That’s why Simply Soul Care is completely FREE to you. They loose money on this deal, but they don’t care.

If you’re going through a tough time in ministry and need someone to talk to, fill out this form for Simply Soul Care and someone from the Soul Care team will be in touch with you.

Also, follow Simply Soul Care on Twitter at @SYMSoulCare, while you’re at it.

Get alone and get real

Jonathan McKee — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:59:03 +0000

I asked you all on Facebook what questions you’d like us to answer and last week all of the Life In Student Ministry authors tackled the same question, but this week each of us are taking a different question that you asked.

If you have questions you’d like to ask of other fellow youth workers, post them at MinistryQuestions.com. There’s a great community of ministry people there who regularly give input, advice, suggestions, and more to the questions that are asked. And while you’re there, answer one or two other people’s questions, as well. Follow MinistryQuestions on Twitter and Facebook for tweets and updates of new questions that are asked.

[ by Jonathan McKee ]

Your question: “How do you address prayer with students who have zero understanding on it?”

“God is great, God is good, thank you Jesus for our food… blah, blah, blah!”

Is this prayer?

It’s funny. When I talk with unbelievers about God, most of them seem to have a lot to say to the creator of the universe, if given the chance. I often propose, “What if God were sitting right here ready to listen to you? What would you say?”

Often they respond, “Why am I here? That’s what I’d ask God!”

Funny… God is sitting right here, ready to listen.

Isn’t it interesting that most people would love to get a chance to have a conversation with God, but those same people think of ‘prayer’ as something completely different. To many, ‘prayer’ is that thing you’re supposed to do before you eat a meal. ‘Prayer’ is something that some people do really well because they know the big prayer words. Heck, my Grandpa prayed in King James English. “We thank thee for thy bounty which thou has provideth…”

I always wondered if God would answer back, “Hark, I hear thy prayers hither from thy lips on this fortnight…” (Wait, is that God or William freaking Shakespeare?)

To many, ‘prayer’ is something you do if you’re in trouble and need help really quick. “God, I know I didn’t study for this test. Please help!”

When I talk to kids about prayer, I love to open up Matthew chapter 6 where Jesus clearly and plainly lays out, “Here’s how to pray.” It’s awesome. He says it so clearly. “Don’t be like this. Instead, do this.” It’s actually funny, because the things he tells us not to do are things that many of us do all the time!

For example, he tells us not just blabber, repeating our words, hoping that it will help God listen. Sound familiar?

“God is great, God is good…”

“Lord I lay me down to sleep, pray my Lord my soul to keep…”

Where do we get these freaky, memorized, blabbery prayers anyway?

I find that kids are relieved when they hear the truth about prayer, and the truth is this: God doesn’t want us to do some meaningless ritual just so others think we’re religious. God wants us to get alone and get real with Him. When we do, he’s ready to listen.

Wow. Get alone and get real with God. What a simple, but powerful message. (Probably because it’s straight from Jesus. Matthew, Chapter 6.)

Which activities can we do with other youth groups?

Tim Schmoyer — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 11:00:39 +0000

[ by Tim Schmoyer ]

I think the answer to that question really depends on the community you live in, how Kingdom minded the other churches and youth workers are in your area, what the history is of networking, and more.

For example, the youth workers from several of the evangelical churches in my area meet every Tuesday morning. I love that group! Years ago it was primarily a task-oriented group that focused on pulling off (amazing!) big events together, but as some youth workers have left and others have replaced them, it’s morphed into a group that meets mostly to talk, pray, support each other, challenge each other, share ministry stories, and even vent at times. We actually haven’t pulled off a combined event for about two years now. Instead, it’s more like, “Hey, our group is going to the amusement park in August. Any of your groups that want to join us are more than welcome.” The events we do together now are mostly pulled off by a single church that the other churches support, help promote, and participate in.

I’ve talked with many youth workers who have tried to start youth worker networks and quit in frustration because the churches in their community have tunnel-vision for their own four walls. Others I know are currently a part of a network, but no one collaborates together in ministry because the meeting is only once a month and it’s more about listening to announcements and a guy talk for 30 minutes than it is about community.

Before answering the question, let me first say this: doing activities with other youth groups just for the sake of doing activities with other youth groups is a waste of time. Yeah, it sounds cool and fun, but there has to be more to it than just sounding cool and fun. Don’t do anything for the sake of cool and fun — do everything with intentionality in pursuing a shared, common vision that you can accomplish better together than apart. If you start with the question, “What activities can we do together?” you’re probably not aiming at much. Instead, ask the question, “What is God’s vision for our youth group this year?” After determining what that is, if there’s another group in town that shares that vision, brainstorm ways you can support each other in the context of shared values and community, not in the context of filling the youth group calendar.

So what kind of activities can you do with other youth group? Pretty much anything you want. There aren’t really any limits to it. In fact, about two or three years ago, our youth worker network considered discontinuing all of our individual church youth ministries and joining together as one community youth group where each church contributed a paid staff member and adult leaders. If we had followed through on that, then we would’ve been doing absolutely everything together. In fact, there would no longer be an “us” and “them” mentality anyway.

Some of the things we’ve done in the past with the intentionality of working toward a common vision for such activities are:

Visiting another church for youth group on Wednesday night. Once we even showed up unannounced just to surprise the other youth group and throw off all their plans!
Meeting in a neutral site for a monthly combined youth worship experience.
Dodgeball tournament amongst all the groups.
New Years Eve parties.
Swapping churches for the night to be a guest speaker at the other’s youth group.
Pool resources to bring someone in to do one big weekend of training with all your leaders together.
Pool resources to bring in a speaker for parent seminars.

Last year I shot a little video with a couple of the guys in my network about why we think it’s important for us to connect with each other each week.

QUESTION: What activities have you done with other youth groups in your area and why?

Addressing sinful behavior in the youth group

Adam Wormann — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 12:00:50 +0000

[ by Adam Wormann ]

Disclaimer: This post is not being written in response to any specific situation, or one that I have knowledge of. I’m just going off the general question asked. As I write this, I don’t even have the Facebook post it came from, so I don’t even know who asked it. That is also intentional.

How do you address sinful behavior within the youth group without driving people away? (Especially when it’s something a lot of people are doing and the parents and even youth ministers are ignoring it.)

I had to put a disclaimer on this one, because I’m afraid it could get difficult. It always is when we deal with sin. Nobody likes dealing with it, with the exception of some sadistical people. Not sure I want them around anyway… :-)

Can you even do this?

So, first things first. I don’t know if you can do this. When there’s sin, it will often drive people away. People don’t like dealing with their own sin, and will often leave as a result (I’ve personally lost very close friends because of this). Sometimes others, who don’t have the whole story, will also leave. That’s sad too. Again, I don’t know if we can totally prevent this. I just want to be honest up front.

Our goal is restoration

The fact that the question used the word “address” implies to me that you do want to restore someone. That is a good thing. Please remember that. As our goal is restoration, make sure that when you talk to people in sin that they know you don’t want them to leave, you want what’s best for them, you’re trying to help them, and that you love and care about them. When this is communicated, it does lessen the chance of them leaving, as well as others.

Help them to realize it on their own

When we come to our own conclusions, we are much more likely to change accordingly. Yes, sometimes we need a “You are the man!” moment like David when he was confronted. More often than not, we need to address things like Jesus most often did – asking questions. Get people to think about what they’re doing. If you’re leading discussions/small groups, or even teaching a lesson, you have a great opportunity for this.

Point people to Jesus

The closer we get to Jesus, the more we see our weakness. This will lead to repentance or flight. Be prepared. I have found that things like worship nights do wonders for people becoming self-aware regarding their sin.

Follow Matthew 18

If someone is in sin and it needs to be addressed, gently talk to them about it. If that gets nowhere, bring someone else. Remember, this passage isn’t just giving a three step process. As long as the person is receptive to at least talk, keep doing that. Don’t keep challenging them (though do so where appropriate), but talk with them, work with them. Remember, if at the end of it they don’t repent, treat them as a Gentile – with love, respect, and pointing them towards Jesus.

Show a lot of love

The heart of the question wants to address sin, yet not lose people. There is concern here. Let that be apparent. Continue to show love. Make sure people know they’re cared for. We can’t stress that enough. One of the problems with confronting sin is that people often don’t feel the love in the midst of it… and are naturally going to be more defensive anyway.

All of this has been built on the prior understanding that the people involved have a relationship with Christ. If not, that changes everything. What the person then needs first is to know Jesus. You can’t expect someone who doesn’t know Jesus to act like they do. I would handle that situation much differently. If that were the case, I would be much more lenient. There’s smaller things that I would let go. Okay, if someone’s having sex in the bathroom, I’d address that. If someone has a little bit of a foul mouth, I’d let it go a bit. If it’s over the top, I’d say something like,

“Hey, we’re glad to have you here. There’s a lot of places that you could be tonight, and you chose to hang with us, and that’s really cool. We do have a couple of guidelines here though, and one of them is that we try to avoid some of the rough language. If you could do me a favor and just try to tone it down a little while you’re here with us, that would be really cool, I’d appreciate it. I get where you’re at, that would just be helpful for us here. Thanks so much.”

You get the idea.

The other concern I have, coming from experience over time, is that everyone seems to be letting it go. I would talk about the exact situation to people outside of the group (if you have a youth pastor friend in another town, etc.). The flag that goes up in my head very quickly is, “There’s probably not an issue here, just someone wanting to impose their subjective standard on the group.” That may not be the case here, but I’ve seen it happen. It’s the first thing I thought of when I read the question. When it’s one person that has the issue, and nobody else does, that tells me something. Make sure it’s a real battle before you fight it. It could be something that needs to be addressed in a staff meeting (youth min staff). You can at least hash it out a little there. I would try to address it with staff and parents first, and make sure I’ve done everything that I legitimately could. If it were me, and there was a strong conviction I had that nobody else agreed with, I’d probably start looking for another place to serve.

QUESTION: How would you answer this question? Share in the comments below and help out the youth worker who asked this.

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