Can you believe its nearly time for summer? I’ve written several posts over the years on what to do for the summer, but each year is a different beast. What works one year with one group won’t necessarily work the next. However your group is, summer is always very different for how the ministry flows. So, I just wanted to throw out a bunch of ideas you can do this summer to minister to your teens…

Change up locations

Changing up locations during the summer can help keep things fresh and interesting. For example, last summer we had parents sign up their houses for one week, and rotated our group through the houses. It provided an opportunity to get out of the church and allowed us to do some different things.

Go late

The great thing about summer is that students don’t have to rush home to go on facebook do homework for three hours and then go to bed. They have a little more time to hang out after youth group and have more relational time. Take advantage of that (while keeping parents in the loop that you’ll be doing it).

Go early

I loved to sleep in during the summer when I was a teen (when I was a teen? Heck, now I like to do it!). Yet I remember getting up early every week in 7th to meet with our small group. We’d grab some donuts, have a bible study, and hang out. Again, the freedom of the schedule can provide some creative uses of time.

Go Big

If your group divides up into small groups during the year, or divides between middle school and high school, the summer is a great time to bring everyone together. It saves wear and tear on your volunteers, makes it easier to handle when everyone goes on vacation, and again provides a nice change of pace.

Go Small

Sometimes its good to just grab a group of guys and go see a movie, or take a group of girls to get some breakfast. Whatever it is, find time to do some ministry to smaller groups of teens. Encourage your adult leaders to do the same as well.

Plan more fun

Summer is generally pretty boring for teens. Give them reasons to show up, and give them reasons to invite their friends. Don’t go all entertainment focused, but plan more play time. I know a church that did a youth activity every Sunday after church and it was a huge success. I generally plan a fun activity every two weeks or so as opposed to the one a month I do during the school year.

Be experimental

Summer is a great time to try new things. Its expected that things are different, and you have lots of freedom to experiment. If it doesn’t work, no big deal. Its just for the summer! If it does, you’ve discovered something that will help your ministry.

Summer can seem like a drag on your ministry, but in reality it can be an opportunity as well. Look for ways to minister even in the craziness. What do you do to minister in the summer?

Tags: summer, ideas, ministry, teens

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Everyone loves a good race. And every youth minister loves to put a twist on things. Enter the "Amoeba Race."

To prepare, mark out a predetermined obstacle course. Make it challenging – climbing over things, crawling under things, etc but be aware not to put students into any physical danger. Clearly mark out the directions so people won’t get lost.

When the students arrive, divide them of teams. If possible, try to have each team have 4 or more members. The bigger the team, the more interesting the game! Tie a rope around their waist so that the students are close together.

Then let them run the course. Depending on how you designed the course, it can be a timed run or teams can compete against each other. The point is not in winning the race but on how the teams work together. Can be just a fun game or a team building exercise.

Hace you ever played this game? I would love to hear how it went!

Tags: games, race, team, obstacle

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Are you looking for a cool and fun fundraiser for a summer mission trip? I personally hate car washes, bake sales, and the like. They always feel like they feed the consumer mindset – We do a service, and you pay us. It works but I just don’t always like the message we portray.

Here’s another way to raise money, raise awareness for your trip, and raise the level of service in your teens. I call it windshield fundraising. Gather all your students together during Sunday morning services, and give them a bottle of windex, a squeegee, and a rag. Their mission is to wash the windows of every car in the parking lot. This is best in early spring when the windows are probably still a mess from winter, but it works at any time. The youth get to serve the whole congregation in a small way. If you want, you can also pass out a small flyer letting people know about why you did what you did.

After you finish, take 5 minutes at the end of service to let everyone know what you did, why you did it, and offer an opportunity for people to donate for the trip. If you’re really quick with technology, you can put together a quick slideshow of the students washing the windows. When I did this, I used my iPhone and iMovie to put a quick movie together with music and everything. It was awesome!

A couple of things to consider to make this a success…

1. Make sure you have enough students to cover all the cars in your parking lot. It would be awkward to say you washed all the windows but you really didn’t.
2. Recruit adults to supervise and advise. Most of your teens probably haven’t washed a ton of car windows, so they need to be guided in the best and quickest way.
3. Be very careful with cars. If you have to spend all the money you raised to fix broken windshield wipers and mirrors, its not a good thing.
4. Remind students this is about serving the congregation, not the money they’ll get at the end. Its a small shift, but a big one as we try to get our students ready for service.

Hsa anyone ever done anything similar? How did it work for you?

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I love the Mike Yaconneli book "Messy Spirituality." If you’ve not read it, I suggest you do. The gist is that our walk with Christ is not the clean, simple way we always portray it to be. Yet most people in the Church hold onto this belief that we can boil down our Christian walk to a few platitudes and we’re good to go.

Just like the Christian life, ministry is messy. Ministry can’t be distilled into something nice and clean that can be solved by a 7 step program. Yet often people in the church try to sanitize ministry and label anything that doesn’t fit in that box as "undesirable." Maybe this sounds familiar…

The non-Christian student who comes to your youth group and acts like (GASP!) a sinner! Thats messy.

That new Christian whose parents are getting divorced. Thats messy.

Your best volunteer lost his job, and is moving away to find work. Thats messy.

The elder’s kid who comes to church drunk, because he’s not getting the right attention at home. Thats messy.

A girl comes to you and tells you that she was forced to have sex with her date for prom…and now she’s pregnant. Thats messy.

That guy who always acts out in youth group goes home to a house with no food and parents who couldn’t care less. Thats messy.

The guy who never talks in youth group has been bullied for years, and one of the main bullies is a student leader in your group. Thats messy.

The girl who is always bubbly and happy in group goes home to cut herself every night. Thats messy.

Life is messy. When we enter into the messiness as ministers and ministries, it gets messy for us as well. Despite what some expect, one does not enter through the doors of the church and suddenly the mess is resolved. Instead, sometimes things get messier because dealing with the problem often makes an initial bigger mess than sweeping it under the rug!

The only sure fix to the mess is Jesus. He’s the only one that can turn our mess into something beautiful. He’s the only one that can turn your students’ messes into something amazing.

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I am halfway to the masters, and no I am not talking about golf. This past week, I finished my first full year of seminary. Hopefully that explains my lack of posting. If that doesn’t, I can show you the (digital) pile of papers I’ve typed this past year.

This year has been crazy toppsy-turvy in more ways than one. Yet I am glad for all that I’ve accomplished this past year. God has taken me to places I didn’t think possible, and has taken care of me along the way.

So where does this blog go from here? I plan on ramping my posting back up, because I know I’ve neglected it for too long. I enjoy writing and hopefully its helped all my many readers over the years. In addition, I’ve got a big project that I was working on last fall until school got too overwhelming. This should be groundbreaking and be a huge help to youth ministers. Hopefully I can get it back up and rolling and announce it by mid-summer.

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Tuesday was the first official day of spring. While the calendar said spring, the weather said summer. Thoroughly confused, I found comfort in doing some spring cleaning of my garage. It amazes me how much junk I have decided to keep around! I’ve got old soccer trophies (not just the 1st place ones, the "participant" ones too), dozens of diaper and book bags, computer cords galore, boxes of clothes, and several tubs of "mystery items." I don’t know why we keep this stuff, but even after a heavy cleaning we’ve still got most of it – now its just nicely organized.

Isn’t that how we do ministry sometimes? We have a great program that does good things. But when its outlived its usefulness we don’t do the right thing by killing it, we just add another program on top of it. We get volunteers who help out greatly, but after a few years they are here only a third of the time. People "donate" their couch with the 40s flower pattern and the TV that hasn’t worked since 1987. Our ministries have a tendency to get filled with a lot of junk!

So take a few days to do some spring cleaning of your own in your ministry. Physically clean the junk out of the youth rooms (I hear moving it to the senior saints classroom is wonderful!). Evaluate your volunteers to see who might need to move on, then plan on when to have that difficult conversation. Look to see if there are any programs that might need to end, or at least need some major repair.

On the flip side, though, spring cleaning means you’ve made lots of room (literally and figuratively) in your ministry for new life. Specifically, begin casting your vision to people who you want to serve in your ministry. Plant that vision in their hearts so that it will grow and bloom. Begin to plan new programs and activities for the fall and beyond that will help your ministry. And, learn to say no to people donating their junk!

What do you do when you "Spring Clean" your ministry?

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Everyone remembers the kids game "Candy Land." This version takes to it to an extreme level! This works best for smaller groups, but large groups can work as well. It also takes about an hour, so this is great for a lock-in when everyone is at that "I’m-so-tired-I’m-crazy" stage.

Set aside a large portion of your building (either one room, like a gym, or traveling all through the building into different rooms) to set up your "board." You’ll need lots of colored construction paper for this stage. Set up the floor like the candyland board with alternating colors, and set up stations to match the ones on the board – Ginger bread plum tree, Candy Cane Forest, Gumdrop mountain, licorice castle, Peanut brittle house,  lollipop forest, the ice cream sea, the chocolate swamp, and then you are at Candy castle.

Once you’re set up, get everyone lined up at the start. People move around the board by way of drawing colored cards and going to the next one available. We had a Candy Land and used their cards, but you can make your own if you want. Once they reach each station, they get candy that matches with each station. The winner is the first one to reach the end.

It’s a simple game, and the students get lots of sugar (again why its perfect for a lock-in). Every time I’ve played it, the teens have loved it. It helps to keep it fast paced (keep them moving!) and have lots of candy for them. If you play it, I’d love to hear how it went.

Tags: game, youth group, lockin, lock-in, candy land

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In 10 days, the Simply Youth Ministry Conference will kick off in Louisville (pronounced Looovul) Kentucky. I’ve been going to SYMC for years, and in my mind it is the greatest youth ministry conference around. If you’ve been before, you know what I mean. Those planning the conference, teaching the workshops, leading connect groups, and putting this all together have a heart for youth workers. They genuinely love us and want us to be refreshed. This conference is about so much more than gaining knowledge – its about encountering Jesus and leaving ready to go back in the trenches of youth ministry.

The SYM team goes to great lengths to make sure everyone feels at home and comfortable, but the sheer scope of what goes on means that you can miss a lot if you don’t know what’s what. So, from a grizzled SYMC veteran, this is your guide to the simply youth ministry conference!

Breathe – The theme for this year is “Breathe” so be sure to just relax, take a deep breath, and be ministered to. Enjoy it, don’t get stressed out about having to squeeze everything in. There is a ton to do, but you don’t have to do it all. You won’t remember all the information that you get, but you will remember the moving of God in your life this weekend. Don’t be so busy that you miss Him.

Connect – I have made some great friends through the years at the conference. Don’t be afraid to talk with other youth ministers. Get to know them. The great thing about this conference is that all the speakers and presenters will stick around and talk with you, take advantage of it! They are all great people.

Go to the evening sessions – You can’t go wrong with the evening sessions. The speakers are awesome, the Skit Guys are hilarious, the MCing by Josh and Jake is amazing, and the worship by Shane & Shane is awe inspiring. Last year, I don’t know if I ever worshipped harder.

Go to the morning sessions – I am NOT a morning person. If I could sleep in til about 11 every day, I would (sadly, my wife, toddlers, and job don’t allow this). So, if I say you NEED to get up early each morning and come to these sessions, you know I am serious about it. Its so hard to describe, but Rick Lawrence leads these sessions and they are geared towards deepening your relationship with God. Just know that they are great and you need to be there. (and I just saw that these sessions start at 11. So if you like to sleep til 11 like me, you’re in luck!)

Pick seminars and tracks that appeal to you – There are so many seminars and workshops that it can be overwhelming. Just pick ones that immediately jump out at you. They have a scheduling app for the iphone, android, and on the web. Just google it, it will help you find what you’re looking for.

Relax on a sack chair - As you walk around, you’ll notice dozens of massive bean bags. If you find an open one, take a little while to just chill out on the sack chair. Take a nap. Talk with a friend. Throw stuff at passersby. Whatever. It’ll be fun!

Attend the Live Podcast – This year, the Simply Youth Ministry Show with Kurt and Jake will be doing a live podcast each night. These are always fun, and since its every night this year it’ll be 3x the fun.

Check out the SoulCare Tent – One of the things I love about Simply Youth Ministry is that they work hard to not only provide us resources, but also care for our souls. Many in ministry will be coming to this conference beaten and bloody, and we need advice, prayer, or just a shoulder to cry on. The SoulCare tent provides just that.

Join a Connect Group – This conference is about relationships. Connect groups help to facilitate those relationships with people in similar life and ministry situations. These aren’t classes, seminars, or discussions. Just a time to connect.

Are you going to the SYM Conference? I’d love to connect with you at some point. I’ll be around, so you can find me. If you’ve been before, I’d love to hear some things you recommend any newcomers do at the conference. 

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If there is one aspect of ministry that I dread more than any other, its hospital visits. Even for minor surgeries it is uncomfortable. Major stuff – yikes! Yet, these times can be some of the most powerful of your ministry. Families are less and less likely to allow you to enter into their homes, but when someone is lying there in the hospital bed they are hungry for you to enter into their uncertainity and struggles.

The problem is that most of us are unaccustomed to dealing with such times of suffering. I am no expert myself, but here are a few things I’ve learned over the years that you can and should do to minister.

1. Listen – Don’t come ready with answers, Bible verses, or conversation. Just be ready to listen. Your presence is what they crave, not some nuggets of brilliance from your mouth.

2. Help – Be willing to bring some food for family, take a small child off their hands for a bit, get ice chips, or whatever they need. Always look for those ways that you can take added stressors off their minds, but also don’t force it (sometimes people need those things for distractions).

3. Don’t make it just a token visit; also don’t overstay your welcome – Don’t just show up for 5 minutes, do your duty, and take off. Also don’t overstay and become a stress to the family. It is a tough balance to find, and is different for every situation.

4. Pray – Don’t go "Minister Spiritual" on peoplel, but don’t miss this opportunity to pray with the sick or injured student and the family. Prayer is powerful. Don’t neglect this.

Hospital visits are tough, but in those moments you are being invited into a family’s toughest moments. You need to simply be Jesus in those moments – loving, compassionate, and full of grace.

I’d love to hear any other suggestions or ways you’ve helped during difficult hospital visits in the comments.

Tags: hospital, visitation, youth ministry, student ministry, sick, injured, family

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This game was introduced to me by some students a while back, and for some reason they love this game. Get your students into a circle (try to limit circle size to 10). The circle should be tight (only a foot or two between teens).

Count down from 3, and each student will strike a ninja/karate pose. Once they are in the pose, they do not move until their turn. When it reaches their turn, they “attack” by trying to slap at the hands of either person on their right or left. When a person attacks, the other person is able to move out of the way, only to free again. They get one swing per turn. If they miss, they have to freeze as well. If a person’s hand gets slapped, they’re out.

The attack travels around the circle counter-clockwise. The attacks go until there is only one person standing. As people get out, move the circle closer together. Also, the attacks should go relatively quickly (this is a fast paced game). Its a great game that is fun, and requires little in the way of prep or supplies.

Have you played this game before? I’d love to hear how it goes!

Tags: game, youth ministry, ninja

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