March 6, 2025 • 37 mins
Do you need some help to grow the size and health of your youth ministry? Let's work together: GrowYourYouthMinistry.com *** Building a thriving youth ministry isn't just about planning events or playing fun games; it's about creating a dynamic culture that encourages young people to grow both spiritually and socially. In this episode, we focus on five powerful words that should embody every student ministry!
This episode is packed with practical insights and valuable strategies to help youth pastors build a youth group that reflects these five core words. We invite you to listen and consider how to authentically implement these principles into your own youth ministry, leading to a deeper and more engaging experience for your students. Don’t forget to share your thoughts and experiences with us as you reflect on these transformative concepts!
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You may also enjoy these episodes:
(#207) How to Build a Youth Ministry Worship Team from Scratch
(#040) How to Start a Student Leadership Team in Youth Ministry
(#036) How to Get New Students Connected to Your Youth Group
(#160) Youth Pastors: Are You Challenging Your Youth Group?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today we're talking about five words that should
describe every youth ministry.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we
give you weekly tips andtactics to help you fast track
the growth and health of youryouth ministry.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
My name is Jeff Laskola and this is Kristen,
lola, and today we're going totalk about five words that
should describe your youthministry.
This could also be five wordsto describe your church, so I
say it fits for either one, andwe as a church had made these
words kind of like our missionstatement for many, many, many,
(00:45):
many years.
Our mission statement isshifting slightly, wording wise,
but I think these and it's nicebecause they all start with W,
so that's going to be- fun, youknow how pastors love
alliteration, but I think thatthese are kind of tried and true
things that if they, if someonecould leave checking the box on
(01:08):
all these of our churches, likeour church culture or youth
ministry, I would say it's a win.
So obviously number one.
Do you have a guess what?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Worship.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
That's one of them.
Ok well, I don't want you togive them all away welcome.
So we want to create a welcomingenvironment and here's why this
like seems so like duh, butalso kind of tricky, because who
decides if it's welcoming ornot?
And that can be a little bitlike is this a subjective
(01:47):
question?
Is this an objective question?
And how could you possibly findthe answer?
Because I think everyone wouldlike to say, of course we're
welcoming, but welcome is atricky enigma because it often
is a blind spot for people.
I remember, oh painfully.
So our church does thesecommunication cards and when
(02:09):
someone attends church on theweekend they can write anything
on their communication card andas long as it has their name on
it, we will read it, because ifit's anonymous you can't really
do much with that.
So if it has our name on it, weread it and are like, oh my
goodness.
And I remember this personwrote this one and it just was a
dagger to my heart and she saidsomething like I've been coming
(02:32):
for a few weeks and no one haseven said hello to me, or
something like that.
And I remember thinking, well,that's not what I would say.
Our church is like.
I wouldn't say we are not, wedon't say hello to new people.
For me.
I'm like I probably just didn'teven know you were new, like I
hardly ever get out of thejunior high room and we always
have new people at our church.
I don't know who's new and whois someone I haven't met and,
(02:56):
you know, somehow this ladyslipped through the cracks.
But I would not say that islike that's not a accurate
overall description of ourchurch, and so how do you find
the answer to are we welcoming?
Well, do you get people thatconsistently say what that lady
said, like and that's like theonly time I can remember anybody
(03:17):
saying something like that orlike a secret shopper kind of
experience?
So, whether that's somebodyfrom a different church or a
friend you have, or someone fromanother campus or maybe a newer
family, if you were just ableto ask, what was your experience
like when you first came to ourchurch?
Was it easy to get connectedand what are you measuring as
(03:41):
welcoming?
So I would say welcoming is didthat person feel seen?
Did that person have access toinformation to get connected?
Did that person haveopportunities to get connected
if they'd like to Were there?
Options for new people.
Or is it like, oh, all of ourBible studies are full?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Like.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I'm sorry there's nowhere for you to go.
Oh, we don't have any room foryou on our serving teams,
they're all full.
Or are we looking for you to go?
Oh, we don't have any room foryou on our serving teams,
they're all full.
Or are we looking for ways toconnect you, to plug you in, to
introduce you Stuff, like itcould be a?
Well, we do things calledwelcome desserts.
So like quarterly, if you're,if you've been coming to the
(04:20):
church within the last threemonths, then attend one of these
welcome desserts and all thepastors and the pastoral staff
meet and have food and you canask questions and we kind of go
over the vision of like, here'swhat we do and why we do it and
how we do it.
Here's how you can be involved,how can we answer any questions
(04:43):
you might have?
And we ask questions like whydid you come the first time?
Why did you come back?
And then, based on theirstation in life, where can we
plug you in?
You know, do you have a juniorhigher?
Well, let's tell you all aboutour junior high ministry.
A high schoolers, tell you allabout our high school ministry.
So that's sort of like what itmight look like at a 30,000 foot
(05:05):
view of, like the main church.
But when it comes to your youthministry, how are you getting
students plugged in?
How do they go from that outerring of the funnel to closer and
closer and closer to the core?
So they come and check it out.
You get their information.
Then you send them a welcomecard.
Or you know if you're more of atexter, if you have their cell
(05:28):
phone, like, hey, it was sogreat to meet you, so glad you
came, blah, blah, blah.
Send the parent an email hey,wondering if you guys would like
some more information on how toget involved.
Here's a link to our website orhere's a copy of our calendar
or something like that.
Then they come on a midweekprogram.
You get them involved in asmall group.
You introduce them to people intheir same age and station in
(05:49):
life as the best chance ofconnection.
You encourage them to go tocamps and events.
When student leadership rollsaround, you know if they're a
candidate and they're ready forthat.
You funnel them into that.
So you're always looking forways to get people from the
outer rim to the inner rim, tothe inner rim to core, core,
core, so that they can continueto go inward into the church and
(06:13):
not just leave out the backdoor.
Well, I came, I saw no onereally knew my name and then I
left.
So are we being a welcomingenvironment?
Do we see those new people?
And I think one of the keys tothis is always having fully like
my turn for my team right nowis full engagement guys, full
engagement as leaders.
You're not on your phone on theweekends as kids are trickling
(06:36):
in and out.
It's full engagement.
You're playing four score withthem.
You're looking at the door,you're seeing if any new kids or
families or parents are comingin.
Then you're playing video gameswith them.
Then that kid's by himself.
Let's connect him over here.
Let's ask him if he wants toplay this game, start throwing
the football around.
You are fully engaged theentire time.
And that is what I've seen thedifference between a very
(06:57):
welcoming environment and kindof a stale environment where a
kid walks in, the adults aredisengaged, nobody's looking out
for them, students are kind ofin their own world and there's
nobody to look out for you.
My leaders on Tuesday arereally good about this.
Of new families and parentsthat come in.
They're like hi, who are you?
(07:18):
My name is Heidi.
Um, you know I'm one of thevolunteers here.
Let me introduce you to Kristen.
What's your kid's name, let'sget an info card filled out for
them.
And when we train our teams onthis it's so dynamic because
then it's not just us like asthe pastor, like trying to
welcome everybody and connecteverybody.
But when we train our teams andthey're bought into this vision
(07:39):
of how to get people connected,then they can take the ball and
run with it and start welcomingparents and families and have
the skills to talk to new peopleand stuff like that, whereas
disengaged adults really hinderthe welcoming process in youth
ministry If they're just with acouple of kids they know, or
(08:01):
they're on their phone orthey're just chit-chatting with
one another, which I don't mindwhen my leaders hang out, as
long as they have a radar tolook around them and say where
am I needed right now?
Where's the wanderer, where'sthe kid who you know needs a
little push and figuring outwhere they fit in?
this big program, and somultiply yourself in those
(08:23):
efforts by connecting with yourvolunteers.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Another thing I would add to that.
This is your church as a whole,but as well as the youth
ministry is easy to follow,signage or you know, like when
you walk in you don't want tohave to question I don't know
where I'm going, I don't knowwhere I need to be, like is
there a youth room or is therenot?
Where's the sanctuary?
As long as everything is, and Iknow, you know, obviously you,
(08:48):
wherever your church is, it wasmay have been built 200 years
ago or something, and you maybeyou can't control exactly where
the youth room is now, becausethat was once a cafeteria or
whatever it is, but as long asyou can guide people down the
right way so they can kind offigure out.
Ok, now I know where to go, way.
So they can kind of figure out.
Okay, now I know where to go.
And that's like a pet peeve ofmine is when there's like signs.
It's usually like when you'rein the mall and you're trying to
(09:08):
like find a restroom orsomething, and it says restrooms
and there's an arrow and you'relike, walk that direction.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And you're like and now, like, where else is?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
it.
So, as long as you have cleardirections, you know where to go
, and then, like you said,people there to kind of know,
facilitate, especially ifthere's those people kind of
like I'm not quite sure to beable to intercept them and say,
hey, are you new?
You know, where are you, whereare you looking to get to?
And things like that can make aum, such a huge impact.
And another thing, and this ismore probably on the church side
(09:38):
as a whole but if you can havesomebody that not only could be
there for looking for new people, to point them in the right
direction, but to actually likephysically take them, you know
it's like oh, like you knowyou're new here, oh, you have a
middle schooler or middle schoolrooms down.
That way, that's great.
But let's take that to the nextlevel and say I will take you
there and then you can ask themquestions along the way.
(10:00):
And then, once you get there,you can say you know, here's the
youth pastor, here's some ofthe volunteers, and meet them,
hand them off.
So it's not just go that way.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right, good luck.
Yeah, you're on your own, whichis good but that's like a B
effort.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
But to go for that AA plus physically take them there
, it's such a.
It's a total differentexperience.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It is.
You're right, that's a greatpoint.
um the signage thing and helpingthem, you know, figure out
where to go and not just like,all right, well, good luck down
there you know, um, and it'sembarrassing too, like if you
feel like, can everyone tell Ihave no idea what I'm doing or
where to go or what to do.
You know you really want towrap your arms around those
people as quickly as possible sothat they don't feel like I'm
(10:41):
the new weirdo that, likeeveryone seems to like be
flowing in a direction and I'mnot in that flow yet.
And along the same lines.
The second W is warmth, and Ithink these two overlap really
well.
I heard a great quote a coupleyears ago that warmth is the new
cool and I loved that and Ithink this one is more.
(11:02):
It's like sometimes hard toteach.
You know, like I think evenwelcoming can be a little hard
to teach, but that seems like ithas more strategy to it,
whereas warmth is like apersonality and I think this can
be taught.
It's just harder to teach.
But, like again, is thisobjective, subjective?
(11:24):
Who decides what a warmenvironment is?
And I would say like thebiggest word for me that comes
to mind is affection.
So like behavioral affection,like being affectionate and
generous in our behavior towardpeople.
So that would be like seekingthem out, calling them by name,
(11:45):
being happy to see them I alwaystrain my students on are you a
here I am or a there?
You are kind of person andwarmth would be a there you are
type of mentality Meaning.
when you see someone coming, youare, like, you know, one of my
old students.
He's on our facility team.
Now I see him every week, james, and I'm like always genuinely
(12:08):
so excited to see him.
Like James what's up and we doour funny little handshake.
That makes no sense.
It's different every time.
We say a couple movie quotesfrom the Barbie movie, and like
go on our way, you know, but itwas like such a warm interaction
, like we laughed, we hung outand then, you know, life moved
(12:28):
on and warmth is seeing peopleacknowledging them, having some
time of affection with them,like that brotherly, sisterly
love of like I'm so happy you'rehere If it's appropriate.
You know those side hugs or highfives or like my students are
(12:49):
physically affectionate, likethey, like the girls, like they
want to put their head on myshoulder, like during worship,
or they want to link arms orthey want to be near and stuff
like that.
You know boys might want to highfive or something like that,
but I feel like the sillyaffectionate humor really goes
(13:09):
far in youth ministry of like Ilove having little inside jokes
with students.
Um, there's one of my favoritestudents.
He always like salutes me everytime, you know, he sees me for
the first time at church andthen I'm like salute him every
time you know he sees me for thefirst time at church and then
I'm like salute him and then Isay like at ease, and or I say
as you were, or something likethat, and that's all.
(13:30):
It took two seconds but we hada like connection moment.
So look for those little pointsto be behaviorally affectionate
toward people.
Just that human interaction,like very informal too, is what
I've noticed.
I think sometimes pastors get alittle formal and sometimes I
make fun of that in order to beaffectionate, like I'll see
(13:53):
people and I'll be like brethren, blessings upon you, you know
and they like laugh and thinkit's funny.
Just to say like, hey, like wecan be casual.
We can be off the cuff.
I'm so happy to see you thatfriendly culture.
We're not overly formal here.
We're huggers, not handshakers,we're fist bumpers.
(14:15):
It's just.
I think it just helps peoplerelax and feel human.
You know, like that's always mypassion and vision for church
to feel as human as possible, asnatural and relaxed as possible
, like that.
This is not some stuffyenvironment where you have to
(14:36):
pretend to be something you'renot, because I think that has
some spiritual implications thatworry me a little bit.
When we feel like when we walkinto this building I dress
differently and some people seethat as respect like it should
be different, it should beserious, it should.
But to me and maybe it's justthe environment I grew up in, it
made me feel like myspirituality was a separate box
(15:00):
from my humanity, instead of itall being one picture of no.
Like you can be silly andspiritual, you can be funny and
love the Lord, you can berelaxed and you don't have to be
so buttoned up to impress God.
Like we can just be humanbecause he made us to be, human
and he was human and there's notlike some performative
(15:23):
expectation here.
But let's just have a greattime, chill, be kind, warm
hearted toward one another.
And I think that was abreakthrough for me and my
spiritual walk to realize, okay,you don't have to wear tights
and a dress.
And church equaled discomfort,church equaled boring.
Church equaled something Iwasn't looking forward to,
(15:44):
because it didn't match the restof my personality or week, but
it's like you don't have tochange your personality for the
next two hours.
How refreshing, and I thinkthat's how Jesus would want it
to be.
And I know people who prefer adifferent style, and I don't
think there's anything wrongwith that.
I think God can meet us in amore formal environment,
(16:06):
Absolutely.
For me it just didn't feelnatural.
So I think that's what I meanwith warmth, and so you know
everyone's going to bring theirown culture to the table when it
comes to warmth, and that willprobably likely lead out of
humor, affection and surprisingkind of shock and awe like
(16:34):
surprisingly informal.
I guess, you could say, you knowof, just like we're all buddies
here, you know it's not like,oh, pastor Kristen, good morning
.
You know like, no, like we'reall just doing this together.
Let's have a great time.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think a bare minimum that everyone should try
and do for the leaders and forthe youth pastors is know your
students' names, or at least asmany of them as you possibly can
.
And I know that's hard and I'mlike just as bad as anybody else
at remembering names.
But sometimes, even if youdon't remember the name, but you
remember like something aboutthem, you know where, like at
(17:09):
least.
So it's not just very hello you, you're still breathing air,
you know like there's nothingpersonal whatsoever.
But when you can relate withsomebody and you're like, oh,
you remembered that, or youremembered my name even.
Um, personally, there's anevent I've gone to, I want to
say like six or so years in arow, and the guy who puts it on.
(17:30):
It's not a big event.
I'm not going to say what it is, I'm not going to give any
hints or clues, but one of thehead guys who puts it on, he's
very personable and will greetyou and it's like it's like oh
man, like you remember me.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
It is so evidently clear after six or whatever
years, he has no clue who I amnow.
I'm very forgettable.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I'm okay with that.
I'm okay with you not start.
I'm okay with you not knowingmy name or anything like that,
but that's like, after this longyou don't remember like yeah
anything about like I don'twreck, you don't recognize
anything yeah it's just and I'mnot there for him anyways, but
I'm just like, wow, like you'renot even good at faking it like
it's so bad you should writenotes.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
There's a guy I do business with about once a year
and he always goes didn't youget married?
Like, yeah, 13 years ago.
And then the next year when Isee him, wait, you, you,
congratulations, you got married.
Uh, yeah, like I have twochildren.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well, that's going to be right, or not?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, oh, whatever, you see a lot of people, I get
it.
But yeah, I know what you meanLike remembering those little
personal things if you can,about people, at the very least
their name, because that means alot to people especially, and I
this never really hit me, butone of our pastors is like,
especially people in leadership,like if the head person or the
(18:53):
pastor or the person inleadership remembers your name,
it means even that much more.
And I never looked at myselfthat way of like you're welcome.
I remembered you, you littlelike how precious your little
name I.
It never hit me, I just kind ofsaw like we're all, like I don't
(19:14):
know, I didn't see myselfseparate than anybody yeah and
they pointed out like hey, whenyou say it it has more weight,
when you remember it it's morespecial, just because, like
you're the one on stage you, youknow so they see you as like oh
wow, they know me you know kindof thing.
I was like, wow, Okay, good toknow.
So whoops, all right.
(19:35):
Number three you said this one,do you remember?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Worship.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Worship.
Good job, Jeff.
We want to be obviously aworshipful environment.
I would say the most typicalexpression of that in the
American church is musicalworship, so teaching our
students how to worship.
We did an episode on that.
(20:00):
Jeff will link it.
I sure will Good job, jeff,that'll be my cue.
I remembered your name.
Hey thanks, do you feel special?
I remembered your name.
Hey thanks, do you feel special?
Speaker 2 (20:09):
You got married a while back at some point.
Yes, Are you still working atthat job?
I did get that one time.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Someone said that he's like are you still working
at that?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
job, I am.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I am.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
And I'm so glad you remembered.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Thank you, wow, that means a lot my job yeah.
You'll link it, jeff, right, mrJeff?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
This guy.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
So I think it's hard sometimes in a smaller youth
group to get a worship leader.
I know like that's the dream alot of times for, like, I wish I
had a worship band.
Yes, I'd love to do worshipwith my, with my students.
So keep that as a goal.
If that's not where you areright now, keep that as your
(20:56):
goal to find that person, prayfor that person to come, someone
who can at least lead acousticwith maybe a cajon or something
like that.
I feel like you can create aworshipful experience for
students, teaching themdifferent practices, like taking
them through spiritualdisciplines of prayer and
(21:17):
reflection confession, communion, you know, obviously singing
songs and worship, reflection,all of that.
It's like, I think, teachingthem how to worship as a
lifestyle and giving themopportunities for that.
Especially, I think highschoolers crave a little bit
more of that depth andreflection time to just sort of
(21:41):
sit with the Lord and teachingthem how to do that.
One thing our students do atcamp that I think is a beautiful
part of worship is solo time,where we force them, force jinx,
so like after maybe the morningsession, we give them solo time
(22:02):
, questions and they can sit outin nature.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Nature.
I know my throat hurts.
I'm trying really hard.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Sit out there in nature and have some prompts and
we always give them like, hey,before you start, pray and ask
God to show up and teach themhow to do a solo time.
So a lot of times we tellstudents make sure you're
spending time with God, spendtime with God, make sure you're
reading your Bible, spend timewith God, make sure you're
reading your Bible, spend timewith God.
And we don't actually teachthem how to do that.
(22:32):
I think for like a 12-year-old,that could kind of be like well
, here I am, it's quiet, I reada verse, am I done?
So give them structure andteach them how to do that.
So first you pray and you askGod to show up and meet you here
and to speak to you.
Then you read a passage, thenyou answer a couple of questions
(22:52):
that we've provided for you soyou can write those for your
students and have them available.
You can do it at camp, you cando it during a worship night,
you can do it once in a whileand then give reflection points
of like where has God shown upin your life in terms of
forgiveness, or where has Godshown you that he has provided
(23:15):
for you, or where did God, helpyou see the good in someone when
it was difficult for you.
The younger they are sometimes,the more specific they need it
to be.
Instead of just reflect onGod's love, it's like God loves
me.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
All right whatever.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Check, check.
So yeah, giving them tools tobe able to do that, teaching
them the meaning of baptism andgiving opportunities for that,
that's a great act of worship.
Teaching them about communionand what that means.
So all of this I would putunder the category of worship.
And when worship is put in thelanguage, I guess, of the person
(23:57):
who's worshiping, it is verypowerful.
Like, we got back from wintercamp a week ago and we were
asking our students this morningat church what was your
favorite part of winter camp, un?
They all said worship and itwas totally deep, relevant
worship, but in the language ofjunior high, so it had lights,
(24:19):
it was a tempo that they could.
You know, like I I didn't singhymns with them- there's nothing
wrong with hymns I love a hymnbut for junior hires I'm like
you know what.
I'm not going to ask you tosing the word like a fetter when
you have no clue what thatmeans.
I'm going to give it to you inyour language so that worship
(24:40):
feels completely relevant to whoyou are in 2025.
In 2025.
And so being strategic withputting people, setting them up
for success in worship and notmaking it feel inaccessible to
them, I think it can be like wecan overshoot and be like well,
the really deep Christians willget it.
And it's like well, what abouteverybody else?
(25:02):
You know like I think sometimeswe dangle it inaccessibly to
see how badly do you want it.
You know what I mean.
I don't think we couldverbalize that, but I feel like
that can sometimes be themotivation of a pastor's heart.
Well, if you don't get it, workharder Instead of showing the
simplicity and the accessibilityof worship and the gospel and
(25:24):
that it's for everybody.
If you're a baby Christian andjust starting out, or if you're
a longtime Christian and beendoing this forever and you want
to go deeper, but try to hitthat mark of accessibility to
show them you can understandthis, you can sing these words.
We're not locking it behind.
You know this perceived depthso that we feel exclusive or
(25:50):
elitist.
We want you to know this is foryou, jesus is for you as a
12-year-old in 2025, you canaccess this All right.
And the fourth W work.
Meaning opportunities to serve.
Meaning opportunities to serve.
(26:14):
So I think that is a definitemust.
When it comes to getting peopleplugged in, where can they serve
?
Where can they help?
How can they use their gifts?
And it makes me cringe when wetell people that we're full and
we have no opportunity for themto serve.
We're full and we have noopportunity for them to serve.
Like impossible, find somewhere.
We have a pastor at our churchnamed taylor and she is so, so
(26:34):
good at putting people not justlike you are on serving team one
seven five.
It's like you would be so goodat being an usher, like you've
got that tenacity to like movequick and put people where they
need to sit and you see the like.
I could see you being likereally good at that.
Or I, you're so friendly.
(26:55):
I can see you being a greatgreeter.
You know like she puts peopleon teams based on their
abilities and gifts andinterests and all of that, and
is willing to move and pivot ifthey need something else.
So all that to say whether it'sinside the church and then
outside the church servingopportunities.
(27:16):
Just, I think a church shouldbe just drenched in
opportunities for people to getinvolved and be the church.
I think that is a hugemilestone in spiritual
development.
So for youth ministry, what thatlooks like is through I use it
through the avenue of my studentleadership, student
(27:37):
discipleship team.
You know their jobs.
They come and run tech, theycome and do worship hand motions
, they come and do announcementvideos or help in the worship
team or help clean up and set upall kinds of different things.
So people need a place toengage their gifts with the body
(28:00):
of Christ instead of that justbeing like, oh, that's pastor
work or leader work, but this islike all what we're doing.
So giving students anopportunity to serve.
I mean, we talked a ton aboutthat on our student leadership
episode and that, I think, isthe best vehicle for that, just
because it gives organization.
So if you don't have a studentleadership team, I would highly,
(28:23):
highly, highly recommend it.
If you don't, would highly,highly, highly recommend it.
If you don't have the capacityto do that, then you could just
have jobs that students sign upto help with and do and it is.
It's going to be more work foryou, because managing volunteers
and leaders and jobs and all ofthat is a whole lot of work,
(28:44):
but I feel like it creates anenvironment that people feel.
It's like a sticky environmentin the sense that, like they,
they've like laid roots and theywant to stick around and they
want to stay because they'reinvested.
When you start to be ashareholder and, like you're
doing the work too, you have avested interest in this place.
(29:07):
You feel a part of it.
You feel like it has your nameon it, it has your fingerprints
on it, and I feel like itcreates a really neat culture
that's kind of contagious ofpeople getting bought into
everything you're doing.
It's almost like this trickledown effect.
It's like, well, I only helpwith worship, but suddenly a
(29:27):
light bulb went on that Now I'mkind of invested in everything
we're doing here because I feellike my fingerprints are on this
thing.
So I'm going to come to theevents, I'm going to come to the
camps, I'm going to, you know,be excited about what we're
doing instead of, like you know,when you're just on the
sidelines and you feel likeyou're just kind of watching
(29:48):
things happen, it's hard to getexcited.
It's like, well, I don't know,this isn't my thing, this is
your thing.
So where can you createopportunities to make it their
thing, not just your thing asthe youth pastor, but where is
it?
This is our thing.
Guys Like I mean, you need tobe invested of whether this
(30:10):
thing sinks or swims, becauseyour name's on it too, and I
think that's the power of work,of serving of, like I put in the
time, I put in the work, I putin the effort, like my name's on
this.
And the last one is word,because if we're not teaching
the word, what are, what elseare we doing here?
What's the point?
It's like a boys and girls clubat that point.
(30:32):
So, yeah, a word that shoulddescribe your youth ministry is
that students are hearing andunderstanding the word every
single week.
Truth is transformative.
Our students have got to knowthe truth and that one doesn't
need a lot of time, because Ifeel like it's obvious and
(30:52):
taking our role as teaching theword very seriously and making
sure that every week like I lovewhat one of our pastors says
he's like there's no throwawayweeks.
No throwaway weeks, you know.
You know those weeks whereyou're just tired and you're
like I don't know, like let'sjust like chat or hang out or
(31:13):
like just have ice cream orsomething he's like don't ever
have a throwaway.
We give them something.
You know.
You think of it in terms ofeating, like what if this is the
only meal they got all weeklong, cause they might not be
feeding themselves at home?
And the fact that they're hereyou've got them.
Do not waste the opportunity.
So we try to create anenvironment that is so junior
(31:37):
high friendly, but we just hosethem with the truth every single
week.
We do not hold back the powerof the gospel in every single
thing we do, because if you justserve and have a lot of friends
and feel welcome, but you neverknew the truth, then who cares?
You know again.
It's like we're not trying tocreate YMCA boys and girls club
(32:02):
environments where we just learnhow to get along and be nice to
each other and go home and feelgood about ourselves, but
without the gospel, none of thismatters.
So, making sure, like a student, that it would be impossible
for them to be attending youryouth group and ever mistake the
power and the truth of thegospel.
(32:23):
Are we talking about it all thetime, pointing to Jesus all the
time and everything that we do,making him the reason for
everything that we do?
And so, yeah, that challengewith your teaching is are we
leaning a little too topical?
Or are we always just talkingabout how to be a better friend?
(32:43):
Well, why are we a better friend?
Well, like, let's talk aboutwhat Jesus did for us and when
we have him as the foundation ofhow we live our life, we will
treat our friends differently.
We've been forgiven huge.
Who are we to withholdforgiveness from other people?
So you can talk aboutfriendship, but put it in the
light of that and not just likea moralistic type of feel good
(33:06):
message where it's like let's,this is the be good club and
we're all going to learn how tobe good, but it's like well
without the foundation of thegospel.
None of this matters If you'rea good friend or not if you
don't know Jesus who cares, youknow.
So, anyways, those are the five.
I think you could make them bigto like be your church culture
(33:31):
and then you can make them putthem on more of a smaller scale
of like.
This is how I want our youthgroup specifically to be
described yeah, and obviouslythis.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
There's a lot of episodes we can point you to.
I know we talked in this oneabout welcoming people.
We have an episode on how tomake new students feel welcome
in your youth ministry.
We have one about how to starta worship team, so make sure you
check that one out.
And also you mentioned thestudent leadership one as well.
So the question of the day thisweek, this one, is disney
related it's what is a moviethat people give you that, oh my
(34:04):
gosh, you haven't seen.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Fill in the blank movie disney edition well, I
guess it's considered disney nowstar wars.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I figured you were gonna say, but I saw four, five,
six.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I just never saw one, two, three, because by the four
, okay, yeah because by the timeI saw four, five, six, I'm like
I'm exhausted, I cannot keepdoing this.
I just felt like respectfully,I know some of you guys are- In
love.
Yeah, I almost said Trekkies,but that's something totally
different.
Star Trek, star Wars, it's allso boring.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
How dare you I?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
know I'm sorry.
I tried, I gave it a really bigtry, but I could not do one,
two, three.
I'm like, I just feel like I'mheld accountable for my how I
steward my time and Jesus isgoing to look at me someday and
be like I don't know, like, so,like you wasted all those hours
on something so boring.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Kristen.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Like I gave you life and that's what you did.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I'm going to go ahead and cut you off right there
Before you dig your hole anydeeper.
Yeah, with Marvel and with StarWars wars there's probably a
lot gosh.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
I didn't think about marvel holy moly well, for me
it's what's the worst.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I think I've seen all the marvel, all the star wars
you're gonna be accountable forthat time I know well done, good
and faithful servant for me isum.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I've never seen jumanji okay, I saw the original
, but then I know there's aremake.
Seven seen either so theoriginal was with robin williams
.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Like in the 90s I saw that it was very good, but then
I think they did a remake withthe rock I thought so, but then
I started getting it confusedwith jungle cruise and I'm like
maybe that's what I was thinking, you're right, so it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
No, I know they did a remake of Jumanji.
I'm just confused if the whichone the rock was in.
But either way, I didn't seeeither one of them.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, I haven't seen that, so put in the comment
section below what's that Disneymovie?
Speaker 1 (36:01):
people say that to you they go.
You've never seen.
I mean Jumanji.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I don't know if I was specifically that, but I know
there's all those those moviesthat when you tell someone you
haven't seen it, the reflex andI'm guilty as anybody else like
you have to repeat that someonewill be like oh, you know, in
101 dalmatians, oh, I've neverseen that, you've never seen.
It's like I just said I'venever seen that, but it's like
so shocking you must repeat it.
So the only one I can think ofwas jumanji.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
I'm sure, if if I did a deeper search, I'd maybe find
another one.
It's a cool concept.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I feel like a lot of people have seen it.
I have not, so put in thecomments section below what's
that Disney movie for you?
That's the oh my gosh.
All right, this is a communitycomment of the day.
This comes from Caleb Ramegetting back into it.
I have used you guys as aresource.
(36:53):
So much Thank you.
You're welcome Glad to have youback, caleb.
That deserves a round ofapplause.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
It does 15 years 15 years, everybody.
Caleb Go Caleb.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Thanks, caleb, really appreciate that, and thank you
guys for watching and listening.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
And we'll see you next time.
How do you want people todescribe your youth ministry?
Today, we're going to talkabout five words that hopefully
describe how do you, how do you,how would you do, how?
How do you want people todescribe your youth ministry
today?
I'm going to give you fivewords that hopefully will
describe your just I've youryouth ministry.
Today we're talking about five words that should
describe every youth ministry.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we
give you weekly tips andtactics to help you fast track
the growth and health of youryouth ministry.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
My name is Jeff Laskola and this is Kristen,
lola, and today we're going totalk about five words that
should describe your youthministry.
This could also be five wordsto describe your church, so I
say it fits for either one, andwe as a church had made these
words kind of like our missionstatement for many, many, many,
(00:45):
many years.
Our mission statement isshifting slightly, wording wise,
but I think these and it's nicebecause they all start with W,
so that's going to be- fun, youknow how pastors love
alliteration, but I think thatthese are kind of tried and true
things that if they, if someonecould leave checking the box on
(01:08):
all these of our churches, likeour church culture or youth
ministry, I would say it's a win.
So obviously number one.
Do you have a guess what?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Worship.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
That's one of them.
Ok well, I don't want you togive them all away welcome.
So we want to create a welcomingenvironment and here's why this
like seems so like duh, butalso kind of tricky, because who
decides if it's welcoming ornot?
And that can be a little bitlike is this a subjective
(01:47):
question?
Is this an objective question?
And how could you possibly findthe answer?
Because I think everyone wouldlike to say, of course we're
welcoming, but welcome is atricky enigma because it often
is a blind spot for people.
I remember, oh painfully.
So our church does thesecommunication cards and when
(02:09):
someone attends church on theweekend they can write anything
on their communication card andas long as it has their name on
it, we will read it, because ifit's anonymous you can't really
do much with that.
So if it has our name on it, weread it and are like, oh my
goodness.
And I remember this personwrote this one and it just was a
dagger to my heart and she saidsomething like I've been coming
(02:32):
for a few weeks and no one haseven said hello to me, or
something like that.
And I remember thinking, well,that's not what I would say.
Our church is like.
I wouldn't say we are not, wedon't say hello to new people.
For me.
I'm like I probably just didn'teven know you were new, like I
hardly ever get out of thejunior high room and we always
have new people at our church.
I don't know who's new and whois someone I haven't met and,
(02:56):
you know, somehow this ladyslipped through the cracks.
But I would not say that islike that's not a accurate
overall description of ourchurch, and so how do you find
the answer to are we welcoming?
Well, do you get people thatconsistently say what that lady
said, like and that's like theonly time I can remember anybody
(03:17):
saying something like that orlike a secret shopper kind of
experience?
So, whether that's somebodyfrom a different church or a
friend you have, or someone fromanother campus or maybe a newer
family, if you were just ableto ask, what was your experience
like when you first came to ourchurch?
Was it easy to get connectedand what are you measuring as
(03:41):
welcoming?
So I would say welcoming is didthat person feel seen?
Did that person have access toinformation to get connected?
Did that person haveopportunities to get connected
if they'd like to Were there?
Options for new people.
Or is it like, oh, all of ourBible studies are full?
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Like.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
I'm sorry there's nowhere for you to go.
Oh, we don't have any room foryou on our serving teams,
they're all full.
Or are we looking for you to go?
Oh, we don't have any room foryou on our serving teams,
they're all full.
Or are we looking for ways toconnect you, to plug you in, to
introduce you Stuff, like itcould be a?
Well, we do things calledwelcome desserts.
So like quarterly, if you're,if you've been coming to the
(04:20):
church within the last threemonths, then attend one of these
welcome desserts and all thepastors and the pastoral staff
meet and have food and you canask questions and we kind of go
over the vision of like, here'swhat we do and why we do it and
how we do it.
Here's how you can be involved,how can we answer any questions
(04:43):
you might have?
And we ask questions like whydid you come the first time?
Why did you come back?
And then, based on theirstation in life, where can we
plug you in?
You know, do you have a juniorhigher?
Well, let's tell you all aboutour junior high ministry.
A high schoolers, tell you allabout our high school ministry.
So that's sort of like what itmight look like at a 30,000 foot
(05:05):
view of, like the main church.
But when it comes to your youthministry, how are you getting
students plugged in?
How do they go from that outerring of the funnel to closer and
closer and closer to the core?
So they come and check it out.
You get their information.
Then you send them a welcomecard.
Or you know if you're more of atexter, if you have their cell
(05:28):
phone, like, hey, it was sogreat to meet you, so glad you
came, blah, blah, blah.
Send the parent an email hey,wondering if you guys would like
some more information on how toget involved.
Here's a link to our website orhere's a copy of our calendar
or something like that.
Then they come on a midweekprogram.
You get them involved in asmall group.
You introduce them to people intheir same age and station in
(05:49):
life as the best chance ofconnection.
You encourage them to go tocamps and events.
When student leadership rollsaround, you know if they're a
candidate and they're ready forthat.
You funnel them into that.
So you're always looking forways to get people from the
outer rim to the inner rim, tothe inner rim to core, core,
core, so that they can continueto go inward into the church and
(06:13):
not just leave out the backdoor.
Well, I came, I saw no onereally knew my name and then I
left.
So are we being a welcomingenvironment?
Do we see those new people?
And I think one of the keys tothis is always having fully like
my turn for my team right nowis full engagement guys, full
engagement as leaders.
You're not on your phone on theweekends as kids are trickling
(06:36):
in and out.
It's full engagement.
You're playing four score withthem.
You're looking at the door,you're seeing if any new kids or
families or parents are comingin.
Then you're playing video gameswith them.
Then that kid's by himself.
Let's connect him over here.
Let's ask him if he wants toplay this game, start throwing
the football around.
You are fully engaged theentire time.
And that is what I've seen thedifference between a very
(06:57):
welcoming environment and kindof a stale environment where a
kid walks in, the adults aredisengaged, nobody's looking out
for them, students are kind ofin their own world and there's
nobody to look out for you.
My leaders on Tuesday arereally good about this.
Of new families and parentsthat come in.
They're like hi, who are you?
(07:18):
My name is Heidi.
Um, you know I'm one of thevolunteers here.
Let me introduce you to Kristen.
What's your kid's name, let'sget an info card filled out for
them.
And when we train our teams onthis it's so dynamic because
then it's not just us like asthe pastor, like trying to
welcome everybody and connecteverybody.
But when we train our teams andthey're bought into this vision
(07:39):
of how to get people connected,then they can take the ball and
run with it and start welcomingparents and families and have
the skills to talk to new peopleand stuff like that, whereas
disengaged adults really hinderthe welcoming process in youth
ministry If they're just with acouple of kids they know, or
(08:01):
they're on their phone orthey're just chit-chatting with
one another, which I don't mindwhen my leaders hang out, as
long as they have a radar tolook around them and say where
am I needed right now?
Where's the wanderer, where'sthe kid who you know needs a
little push and figuring outwhere they fit in?
this big program, and somultiply yourself in those
(08:23):
efforts by connecting with yourvolunteers.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Another thing I would add to that.
This is your church as a whole,but as well as the youth
ministry is easy to follow,signage or you know, like when
you walk in you don't want tohave to question I don't know
where I'm going, I don't knowwhere I need to be, like is
there a youth room or is therenot?
Where's the sanctuary?
As long as everything is, and Iknow, you know, obviously you,
(08:48):
wherever your church is, it wasmay have been built 200 years
ago or something, and you maybeyou can't control exactly where
the youth room is now, becausethat was once a cafeteria or
whatever it is, but as long asyou can guide people down the
right way so they can kind offigure out.
Ok, now I know where to go, way.
So they can kind of figure out.
Okay, now I know where to go.
And that's like a pet peeve ofmine is when there's like signs.
It's usually like when you'rein the mall and you're trying to
(09:08):
like find a restroom orsomething, and it says restrooms
and there's an arrow and you'relike, walk that direction.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
And you're like and now, like, where else is?
Speaker 2 (09:16):
it.
So, as long as you have cleardirections, you know where to go
, and then, like you said,people there to kind of know,
facilitate, especially ifthere's those people kind of
like I'm not quite sure to beable to intercept them and say,
hey, are you new?
You know, where are you, whereare you looking to get to?
And things like that can make aum, such a huge impact.
And another thing, and this ismore probably on the church side
(09:38):
as a whole but if you can havesomebody that not only could be
there for looking for new people, to point them in the right
direction, but to actually likephysically take them, you know
it's like oh, like you knowyou're new here, oh, you have a
middle schooler or middle schoolrooms down.
That way, that's great.
But let's take that to the nextlevel and say I will take you
there and then you can ask themquestions along the way.
(10:00):
And then, once you get there,you can say you know, here's the
youth pastor, here's some ofthe volunteers, and meet them,
hand them off.
So it's not just go that way.
Speaker 1 (10:07):
Right, good luck.
Yeah, you're on your own, whichis good but that's like a B
effort.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
But to go for that AA plus physically take them there
, it's such a.
It's a total differentexperience.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
It is.
You're right, that's a greatpoint.
um the signage thing and helpingthem, you know, figure out
where to go and not just like,all right, well, good luck down
there you know, um, and it'sembarrassing too, like if you
feel like, can everyone tell Ihave no idea what I'm doing or
where to go or what to do.
You know you really want towrap your arms around those
people as quickly as possible sothat they don't feel like I'm
(10:41):
the new weirdo that, likeeveryone seems to like be
flowing in a direction and I'mnot in that flow yet.
And along the same lines.
The second W is warmth, and Ithink these two overlap really
well.
I heard a great quote a coupleyears ago that warmth is the new
cool and I loved that and Ithink this one is more.
(11:02):
It's like sometimes hard toteach.
You know, like I think evenwelcoming can be a little hard
to teach, but that seems like ithas more strategy to it,
whereas warmth is like apersonality and I think this can
be taught.
It's just harder to teach.
But, like again, is thisobjective, subjective?
(11:24):
Who decides what a warmenvironment is?
And I would say like thebiggest word for me that comes
to mind is affection.
So like behavioral affection,like being affectionate and
generous in our behavior towardpeople.
So that would be like seekingthem out, calling them by name,
(11:45):
being happy to see them I alwaystrain my students on are you a
here I am or a there?
You are kind of person andwarmth would be a there you are
type of mentality Meaning.
when you see someone coming, youare, like, you know, one of my
old students.
He's on our facility team.
Now I see him every week, james, and I'm like always genuinely
(12:08):
so excited to see him.
Like James what's up and we doour funny little handshake.
That makes no sense.
It's different every time.
We say a couple movie quotesfrom the Barbie movie, and like
go on our way, you know, but itwas like such a warm interaction
, like we laughed, we hung outand then, you know, life moved
(12:28):
on and warmth is seeing peopleacknowledging them, having some
time of affection with them,like that brotherly, sisterly
love of like I'm so happy you'rehere If it's appropriate.
You know those side hugs or highfives or like my students are
(12:49):
physically affectionate, likethey, like the girls, like they
want to put their head on myshoulder, like during worship,
or they want to link arms orthey want to be near and stuff
like that.
You know boys might want to highfive or something like that,
but I feel like the sillyaffectionate humor really goes
(13:09):
far in youth ministry of like Ilove having little inside jokes
with students.
Um, there's one of my favoritestudents.
He always like salutes me everytime, you know, he sees me for
the first time at church andthen I'm like salute him every
time you know he sees me for thefirst time at church and then
I'm like salute him and then Isay like at ease, and or I say
as you were, or something likethat, and that's all.
(13:30):
It took two seconds but we hada like connection moment.
So look for those little pointsto be behaviorally affectionate
toward people.
Just that human interaction,like very informal too, is what
I've noticed.
I think sometimes pastors get alittle formal and sometimes I
make fun of that in order to beaffectionate, like I'll see
(13:53):
people and I'll be like brethren, blessings upon you, you know
and they like laugh and thinkit's funny.
Just to say like, hey, like wecan be casual.
We can be off the cuff.
I'm so happy to see you thatfriendly culture.
We're not overly formal here.
We're huggers, not handshakers,we're fist bumpers.
(14:15):
It's just.
I think it just helps peoplerelax and feel human.
You know, like that's always mypassion and vision for church
to feel as human as possible, asnatural and relaxed as possible
, like that.
This is not some stuffyenvironment where you have to
(14:36):
pretend to be something you'renot, because I think that has
some spiritual implications thatworry me a little bit.
When we feel like when we walkinto this building I dress
differently and some people seethat as respect like it should
be different, it should beserious, it should.
But to me and maybe it's justthe environment I grew up in, it
made me feel like myspirituality was a separate box
(15:00):
from my humanity, instead of itall being one picture of no.
Like you can be silly andspiritual, you can be funny and
love the Lord, you can berelaxed and you don't have to be
so buttoned up to impress God.
Like we can just be humanbecause he made us to be, human
and he was human and there's notlike some performative
(15:23):
expectation here.
But let's just have a greattime, chill, be kind, warm
hearted toward one another.
And I think that was abreakthrough for me and my
spiritual walk to realize, okay,you don't have to wear tights
and a dress.
And church equaled discomfort,church equaled boring.
Church equaled something Iwasn't looking forward to,
(15:44):
because it didn't match the restof my personality or week, but
it's like you don't have tochange your personality for the
next two hours.
How refreshing, and I thinkthat's how Jesus would want it
to be.
And I know people who prefer adifferent style, and I don't
think there's anything wrongwith that.
I think God can meet us in amore formal environment,
(16:06):
Absolutely.
For me it just didn't feelnatural.
So I think that's what I meanwith warmth, and so you know
everyone's going to bring theirown culture to the table when it
comes to warmth, and that willprobably likely lead out of
humor, affection and surprisingkind of shock and awe like
(16:34):
surprisingly informal.
I guess, you could say, you knowof, just like we're all buddies
here, you know it's not like,oh, pastor Kristen, good morning
.
You know like, no, like we'reall just doing this together.
Let's have a great time.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
I think a bare minimum that everyone should try
and do for the leaders and forthe youth pastors is know your
students' names, or at least asmany of them as you possibly can
.
And I know that's hard and I'mlike just as bad as anybody else
at remembering names.
But sometimes, even if youdon't remember the name, but you
remember like something aboutthem, you know where, like at
(17:09):
least.
So it's not just very hello you, you're still breathing air,
you know like there's nothingpersonal whatsoever.
But when you can relate withsomebody and you're like, oh,
you remembered that, or youremembered my name even.
Um, personally, there's anevent I've gone to, I want to
say like six or so years in arow, and the guy who puts it on.
(17:30):
It's not a big event.
I'm not going to say what it is, I'm not going to give any
hints or clues, but one of thehead guys who puts it on, he's
very personable and will greetyou and it's like it's like oh
man, like you remember me.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
It is so evidently clear after six or whatever
years, he has no clue who I amnow.
I'm very forgettable.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
I'm okay with that.
I'm okay with you not start.
I'm okay with you not knowingmy name or anything like that,
but that's like, after this longyou don't remember like yeah
anything about like I don'twreck, you don't recognize
anything yeah it's just and I'mnot there for him anyways, but
I'm just like, wow, like you'renot even good at faking it like
it's so bad you should writenotes.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
There's a guy I do business with about once a year
and he always goes didn't youget married?
Like, yeah, 13 years ago.
And then the next year when Isee him, wait, you, you,
congratulations, you got married.
Uh, yeah, like I have twochildren.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Well, that's going to be right, or not?
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Yeah, oh, whatever, you see a lot of people, I get
it.
But yeah, I know what you meanLike remembering those little
personal things if you can,about people, at the very least
their name, because that means alot to people especially, and I
this never really hit me, butone of our pastors is like,
especially people in leadership,like if the head person or the
(18:53):
pastor or the person inleadership remembers your name,
it means even that much more.
And I never looked at myselfthat way of like you're welcome.
I remembered you, you littlelike how precious your little
name I.
It never hit me, I just kind ofsaw like we're all, like I don't
(19:14):
know, I didn't see myselfseparate than anybody yeah and
they pointed out like hey, whenyou say it it has more weight,
when you remember it it's morespecial, just because, like
you're the one on stage you, youknow so they see you as like oh
wow, they know me you know kindof thing.
I was like, wow, Okay, good toknow.
So whoops, all right.
(19:35):
Number three you said this one,do you remember?
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Worship.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
Worship.
Good job, Jeff.
We want to be obviously aworshipful environment.
I would say the most typicalexpression of that in the
American church is musicalworship, so teaching our
students how to worship.
We did an episode on that.
(20:00):
Jeff will link it.
I sure will Good job, jeff,that'll be my cue.
I remembered your name.
Hey thanks, do you feel special?
I remembered your name.
Hey thanks, do you feel special?
Speaker 2 (20:09):
You got married a while back at some point.
Yes, Are you still working atthat job?
I did get that one time.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Someone said that he's like are you still working
at that?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
job, I am.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
I am.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
And I'm so glad you remembered.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
Thank you, wow, that means a lot my job yeah.
You'll link it, jeff, right, mrJeff?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
This guy.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
So I think it's hard sometimes in a smaller youth
group to get a worship leader.
I know like that's the dream alot of times for, like, I wish I
had a worship band.
Yes, I'd love to do worshipwith my, with my students.
So keep that as a goal.
If that's not where you areright now, keep that as your
(20:56):
goal to find that person, prayfor that person to come, someone
who can at least lead acousticwith maybe a cajon or something
like that.
I feel like you can create aworshipful experience for
students, teaching themdifferent practices, like taking
them through spiritualdisciplines of prayer and
(21:17):
reflection confession, communion, you know, obviously singing
songs and worship, reflection,all of that.
It's like, I think, teachingthem how to worship as a
lifestyle and giving themopportunities for that.
Especially, I think highschoolers crave a little bit
more of that depth andreflection time to just sort of
(21:41):
sit with the Lord and teachingthem how to do that.
One thing our students do atcamp that I think is a beautiful
part of worship is solo time,where we force them, force jinx,
so like after maybe the morningsession, we give them solo time
(22:02):
, questions and they can sit outin nature.
Speaker 2 (22:07):
Nature.
I know my throat hurts.
I'm trying really hard.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Sit out there in nature and have some prompts and
we always give them like, hey,before you start, pray and ask
God to show up and teach themhow to do a solo time.
So a lot of times we tellstudents make sure you're
spending time with God, spendtime with God, make sure you're
reading your Bible, spend timewith God, make sure you're
reading your Bible, spend timewith God.
And we don't actually teachthem how to do that.
(22:32):
I think for like a 12-year-old,that could kind of be like well
, here I am, it's quiet, I reada verse, am I done?
So give them structure andteach them how to do that.
So first you pray and you askGod to show up and meet you here
and to speak to you.
Then you read a passage, thenyou answer a couple of questions
(22:52):
that we've provided for you soyou can write those for your
students and have them available.
You can do it at camp, you cando it during a worship night,
you can do it once in a whileand then give reflection points
of like where has God shown upin your life in terms of
forgiveness, or where has Godshown you that he has provided
(23:15):
for you, or where did God, helpyou see the good in someone when
it was difficult for you.
The younger they are sometimes,the more specific they need it
to be.
Instead of just reflect onGod's love, it's like God loves
me.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
All right whatever.
Speaker 1 (23:31):
Check, check.
So yeah, giving them tools tobe able to do that, teaching
them the meaning of baptism andgiving opportunities for that,
that's a great act of worship.
Teaching them about communionand what that means.
So all of this I would putunder the category of worship.
And when worship is put in thelanguage, I guess, of the person
(23:57):
who's worshiping, it is verypowerful.
Like, we got back from wintercamp a week ago and we were
asking our students this morningat church what was your
favorite part of winter camp, un?
They all said worship and itwas totally deep, relevant
worship, but in the language ofjunior high, so it had lights,
(24:19):
it was a tempo that they could.
You know, like I I didn't singhymns with them- there's nothing
wrong with hymns I love a hymnbut for junior hires I'm like
you know what.
I'm not going to ask you tosing the word like a fetter when
you have no clue what thatmeans.
I'm going to give it to you inyour language so that worship
(24:40):
feels completely relevant to whoyou are in 2025.
In 2025.
And so being strategic withputting people, setting them up
for success in worship and notmaking it feel inaccessible to
them, I think it can be like wecan overshoot and be like well,
the really deep Christians willget it.
And it's like well, what abouteverybody else?
(25:02):
You know like I think sometimeswe dangle it inaccessibly to
see how badly do you want it.
You know what I mean.
I don't think we couldverbalize that, but I feel like
that can sometimes be themotivation of a pastor's heart.
Well, if you don't get it, workharder Instead of showing the
simplicity and the accessibilityof worship and the gospel and
(25:24):
that it's for everybody.
If you're a baby Christian andjust starting out, or if you're
a longtime Christian and beendoing this forever and you want
to go deeper, but try to hitthat mark of accessibility to
show them you can understandthis, you can sing these words.
We're not locking it behind.
You know this perceived depthso that we feel exclusive or
(25:50):
elitist.
We want you to know this is foryou, jesus is for you as a
12-year-old in 2025, you canaccess this All right.
And the fourth W work.
Meaning opportunities to serve.
Meaning opportunities to serve.
(26:14):
So I think that is a definitemust.
When it comes to getting peopleplugged in, where can they serve
?
Where can they help?
How can they use their gifts?
And it makes me cringe when wetell people that we're full and
we have no opportunity for themto serve.
We're full and we have noopportunity for them to serve.
Like impossible, find somewhere.
We have a pastor at our churchnamed taylor and she is so, so
(26:34):
good at putting people not justlike you are on serving team one
seven five.
It's like you would be so goodat being an usher, like you've
got that tenacity to like movequick and put people where they
need to sit and you see the like.
I could see you being likereally good at that.
Or I, you're so friendly.
(26:55):
I can see you being a greatgreeter.
You know like she puts peopleon teams based on their
abilities and gifts andinterests and all of that, and
is willing to move and pivot ifthey need something else.
So all that to say whether it'sinside the church and then
outside the church servingopportunities.
(27:16):
Just, I think a church shouldbe just drenched in
opportunities for people to getinvolved and be the church.
I think that is a hugemilestone in spiritual
development.
So for youth ministry, what thatlooks like is through I use it
through the avenue of my studentleadership, student
(27:37):
discipleship team.
You know their jobs.
They come and run tech, theycome and do worship hand motions
, they come and do announcementvideos or help in the worship
team or help clean up and set upall kinds of different things.
So people need a place toengage their gifts with the body
(28:00):
of Christ instead of that justbeing like, oh, that's pastor
work or leader work, but this islike all what we're doing.
So giving students anopportunity to serve.
I mean, we talked a ton aboutthat on our student leadership
episode and that, I think, isthe best vehicle for that, just
because it gives organization.
So if you don't have a studentleadership team, I would highly,
(28:23):
highly, highly recommend it.
If you don't, would highly,highly, highly recommend it.
If you don't have the capacityto do that, then you could just
have jobs that students sign upto help with and do and it is.
It's going to be more work foryou, because managing volunteers
and leaders and jobs and all ofthat is a whole lot of work,
(28:44):
but I feel like it creates anenvironment that people feel.
It's like a sticky environmentin the sense that, like they,
they've like laid roots and theywant to stick around and they
want to stay because they'reinvested.
When you start to be ashareholder and, like you're
doing the work too, you have avested interest in this place.
(29:07):
You feel a part of it.
You feel like it has your nameon it, it has your fingerprints
on it, and I feel like itcreates a really neat culture
that's kind of contagious ofpeople getting bought into
everything you're doing.
It's almost like this trickledown effect.
It's like, well, I only helpwith worship, but suddenly a
(29:27):
light bulb went on that Now I'mkind of invested in everything
we're doing here because I feellike my fingerprints are on this
thing.
So I'm going to come to theevents, I'm going to come to the
camps, I'm going to, you know,be excited about what we're
doing instead of, like you know,when you're just on the
sidelines and you feel likeyou're just kind of watching
(29:48):
things happen, it's hard to getexcited.
It's like, well, I don't know,this isn't my thing, this is
your thing.
So where can you createopportunities to make it their
thing, not just your thing asthe youth pastor, but where is
it?
This is our thing.
Guys Like I mean, you need tobe invested of whether this
(30:10):
thing sinks or swims, becauseyour name's on it too, and I
think that's the power of work,of serving of, like I put in the
time, I put in the work, I putin the effort, like my name's on
this.
And the last one is word,because if we're not teaching
the word, what are, what elseare we doing here?
What's the point?
It's like a boys and girls clubat that point.
(30:32):
So, yeah, a word that shoulddescribe your youth ministry is
that students are hearing andunderstanding the word every
single week.
Truth is transformative.
Our students have got to knowthe truth and that one doesn't
need a lot of time, because Ifeel like it's obvious and
(30:52):
taking our role as teaching theword very seriously and making
sure that every week like I lovewhat one of our pastors says
he's like there's no throwawayweeks.
No throwaway weeks, you know.
You know those weeks whereyou're just tired and you're
like I don't know, like let'sjust like chat or hang out or
(31:13):
like just have ice cream orsomething he's like don't ever
have a throwaway.
We give them something.
You know.
You think of it in terms ofeating, like what if this is the
only meal they got all weeklong, cause they might not be
feeding themselves at home?
And the fact that they're hereyou've got them.
Do not waste the opportunity.
So we try to create anenvironment that is so junior
(31:37):
high friendly, but we just hosethem with the truth every single
week.
We do not hold back the powerof the gospel in every single
thing we do, because if you justserve and have a lot of friends
and feel welcome, but you neverknew the truth, then who cares?
You know again.
It's like we're not trying tocreate YMCA boys and girls club
(32:02):
environments where we just learnhow to get along and be nice to
each other and go home and feelgood about ourselves, but
without the gospel, none of thismatters.
So, making sure, like a student, that it would be impossible
for them to be attending youryouth group and ever mistake the
power and the truth of thegospel.
(32:23):
Are we talking about it all thetime, pointing to Jesus all the
time and everything that we do,making him the reason for
everything that we do?
And so, yeah, that challengewith your teaching is are we
leaning a little too topical?
Or are we always just talkingabout how to be a better friend?
(32:43):
Well, why are we a better friend?
Well, like, let's talk aboutwhat Jesus did for us and when
we have him as the foundation ofhow we live our life, we will
treat our friends differently.
We've been forgiven huge.
Who are we to withholdforgiveness from other people?
So you can talk aboutfriendship, but put it in the
light of that and not just likea moralistic type of feel good
(33:06):
message where it's like let's,this is the be good club and
we're all going to learn how tobe good, but it's like well
without the foundation of thegospel.
None of this matters If you'rea good friend or not if you
don't know Jesus who cares, youknow.
So, anyways, those are the five.
I think you could make them bigto like be your church culture
(33:31):
and then you can make them putthem on more of a smaller scale
of like.
This is how I want our youthgroup specifically to be
described yeah, and obviouslythis.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
There's a lot of episodes we can point you to.
I know we talked in this oneabout welcoming people.
We have an episode on how tomake new students feel welcome
in your youth ministry.
We have one about how to starta worship team, so make sure you
check that one out.
And also you mentioned thestudent leadership one as well.
So the question of the day thisweek, this one, is disney
related it's what is a moviethat people give you that, oh my
(34:04):
gosh, you haven't seen.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
Fill in the blank movie disney edition well, I
guess it's considered disney nowstar wars.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
I figured you were gonna say, but I saw four, five,
six.
Speaker 1 (34:15):
I just never saw one, two, three, because by the four
, okay, yeah because by the timeI saw four, five, six, I'm like
I'm exhausted, I cannot keepdoing this.
I just felt like respectfully,I know some of you guys are- In
love.
Yeah, I almost said Trekkies,but that's something totally
different.
Star Trek, star Wars, it's allso boring.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
How dare you I?
Speaker 1 (34:40):
know I'm sorry.
I tried, I gave it a really bigtry, but I could not do one,
two, three.
I'm like, I just feel like I'mheld accountable for my how I
steward my time and Jesus isgoing to look at me someday and
be like I don't know, like, so,like you wasted all those hours
on something so boring.
Speaker 2 (35:01):
Kristen.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Like I gave you life and that's what you did.
Speaker 2 (35:04):
I'm going to go ahead and cut you off right there
Before you dig your hole anydeeper.
Yeah, with Marvel and with StarWars wars there's probably a
lot gosh.
Speaker 1 (35:13):
I didn't think about marvel holy moly well, for me
it's what's the worst.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
I think I've seen all the marvel, all the star wars
you're gonna be accountable forthat time I know well done, good
and faithful servant for me isum.
Speaker 1 (35:29):
I've never seen jumanji okay, I saw the original
, but then I know there's aremake.
Seven seen either so theoriginal was with robin williams
.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Like in the 90s I saw that it was very good, but then
I think they did a remake withthe rock I thought so, but then
I started getting it confusedwith jungle cruise and I'm like
maybe that's what I was thinking, you're right, so it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
No, I know they did a remake of Jumanji.
I'm just confused if the whichone the rock was in.
But either way, I didn't seeeither one of them.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
Yeah, I haven't seen that, so put in the comment
section below what's that Disneymovie?
Speaker 1 (36:01):
people say that to you they go.
You've never seen.
I mean Jumanji.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
I don't know if I was specifically that, but I know
there's all those those moviesthat when you tell someone you
haven't seen it, the reflex andI'm guilty as anybody else like
you have to repeat that someonewill be like oh, you know, in
101 dalmatians, oh, I've neverseen that, you've never seen.
It's like I just said I'venever seen that, but it's like
so shocking you must repeat it.
So the only one I can think ofwas jumanji.
Speaker 1 (36:28):
I'm sure, if if I did a deeper search, I'd maybe find
another one.
It's a cool concept.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
I feel like a lot of people have seen it.
I have not, so put in thecomments section below what's
that Disney movie for you?
That's the oh my gosh.
All right, this is a communitycomment of the day.
This comes from Caleb Ramegetting back into it.
I have used you guys as aresource.
(36:53):
So much Thank you.
You're welcome Glad to have youback, caleb.
That deserves a round ofapplause.
Speaker 1 (36:59):
It does 15 years 15 years, everybody.
Caleb Go Caleb.
Speaker 2 (37:05):
Thanks, caleb, really appreciate that, and thank you
guys for watching and listening.
Speaker 1 (37:15):
And we'll see you next time.
How do you want people todescribe your youth ministry?
Today, we're going to talkabout five words that hopefully
describe how do you, how do you,how would you do, how?
How do you want people todescribe your youth ministry
today?
I'm going to give you fivewords that hopefully will
describe your just I've youryouth ministry.
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