January 23, 2025 • 41 mins
Are you ready to grow the size and health of your youth ministry? Check out
GrowYourYouthMinistry.com *** Prioritizing this in your Youth Ministry will have the biggest impact on your students. We will be explaining the what, the why, and the how so that you can implement some of these opportunities into your student ministry this year! Although serving can be done inside or outside the church, in this episode we will be discussing service outside of the church walls and the impact it will have on your youth group.
Have you ever wondered how to engage your young congregation in community service without overwhelming them? Explore our personal experiences and insights on crafting meaningful projects that align with the talents and interests of youth, steering clear of common missteps. Get ready to learn how to foster an environment where serving becomes a joyful and spiritually enriching part of ministry life.
Imagine a volunteer experience that is as fulfilling for the participants as it is beneficial for the community. We challenge the traditional perceptions of arduous service and delve into how thoughtful, skill-appropriate projects can ignite a lifelong passion for helping others.
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You may also enjoy these episodes:
(#225) 5 Things Every Youth Pastor Should Be Doing to Kick Off 2025!
(#177) How to Get Better Results in Youth Ministry - Start the Year Strong!
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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 the best way to make the
biggest impact in your youthministry this year.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast where we
give you weekly tips and tacticsto help you fast track the
growth and health for your youthministry.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
My name is Jeff Laskola and this is Kristen
Laskola, and today we're goingto be talking about how to make
a huge impact in your youthgroup in 2025.
If you're asking yourself thequestion, how can this be one of
our best years yet?
How can we cultivate a greatculture and spiritual fruit in
the lives of the students, thenstick around, because this
(00:46):
episode is definitely for you,and so the short answer to that
is serving.
But what we're going to do iswe're going to unpack everything
that entails, because it's notas simple as so have them serve
the end Like how do we do it inthe way that produces the kind
(01:06):
of fruit that we're looking forand the kind of culture shift
we're looking for.
And over the years I think I'velearned a few nuanced, like
tactics sounds weird in thiscontext, but like methods, I
guess of how to do serving sothat it has maximum impact for
(01:38):
everybody involved.
Meaningful, I think, is the keyword there, because the
cautionary tale here and I havemore than enough examples of
this under my belt, but badserving experiences have the
opposite effect that we'relooking for.
So I don't think you can justkind of throw out a blanket
(01:59):
statement and say serving andanything and everything counts
and it's all good.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
It's actually not, and having a bad serving
experience can actually makeyour youth group or your
leadership team, or whoever thisis designed for in your youth
ministry, to take a couple stepsback.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Do you have any examples that, off the top of
your head, would be a negativeserving experience?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
We'll get into that, okay, yes, that's going to be
one of my examples.
I have, I mean which one do Ichoose?
And so it's like this took along time to learn because I
think in my first few years ofyouth ministry I just thought
service project equals fruit.
There we go by, being almostlike it was a checklist, Like I
(02:46):
did one.
What else do you want from me,you know, but there's almost
this art to it to make sure thatit's accomplishing what you're
hoping it to accomplish.
So here's some thingspractically to consider when
you're starting to think alongthe lines of service or a
project for your students.
(03:07):
I usually use my studentleadership team for it.
If you're a smaller youth group, then it could be all your
students are invited and theirfamilies as well.
Just sort of depends on thenumbers you're working with, and
we'll actually get into that ina second too.
So things to consider whenyou're looking at a service
project.
Number one is this the rightfit for our age group?
(03:30):
So sometimes there's a reallygreat project but the skill
level required is way over theheads of You're not going to be
building homes with a sixthgrader is what you're saying.
I mean if you had enough skilledlaborers and then they could do
like never give a junior hire apaintbrush.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I learned that sharpies something, something
really innocent like that.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
They could go get the nails Could they though.
Gosh, what a tangled web we'vewoven.
All these bad memories keepcoming back to me.
Maybe your group is different,but one hard and fast rule is I
never give junior hairpaintbrush ever again, or power
tools I just was burned.
Too many times I was like thisis easy, you can do it.
Nope, nope and nope.
(04:14):
Anyways.
So great example, like makesure that you're giving them
something that is theirs, notonly their skill level for the
age group you're working with,but also their interest level.
And I'll give you some examplesof things that did not fly for
us and it was like, oh, we'reputting in a good, hard day's
work, but it was like somethingnobody cared about and really
(04:36):
didn't have a big impact on usor the community, and it was
just like so we just worked towork.
Like that was kind of lame andI'm sure you could build an
argument about well, that's goodfor your development, but I
don't know it just sometimes,what we project as meaningful
when we put it in the hands ofpeople, sometimes it's just not,
no matter how much we wish itwere.
(04:58):
So make sure you just likegauge that you're the expert in
that age age group, hopefully asthe youth pastor, so you can
know is this, does this fittheir skills?
Number two is this meaningfulwork, like we were just talking
about, or is this just?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
work so like a service project at the senior
pastor's house.
Remember that, Like pastorswould always say like we have a
service project you guys can do.
I need a bunch of weeds pulledand you're like, wow, okay, free
labor.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I see what you did there, Wow genius, you can
babysit my kids as a serviceproject.
There you go.
So I'll give you, since youwere asking earlier, an example
of one that did earlier, anexample of one that did.
It was not meaningful work.
(05:49):
There is a walking trail in ourtown, a very short one, that
nobody uses.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Really it's not like it's in a weird weird you know
which one I'm talking to I don't, really don't know why they
ever put it there same.
It's kind of a long and it'skind of sketchy right a sketchy
riverbed with just bad smellsand there's no reason for it.
I really don't know why theyput it there.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So it's not like a hiking trail that everyone in
the community enjoys.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
You're not enjoying beauty from it.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
It almost feels like a random little commute trail.
I don't really even know thepurpose of it, nobody does and
no one knows it's there and noone uses it, and it's probably a
grand total of a fourth of amile at the most, someone must
have needed to spend sometaxpayer dollars and no clue
check off a box at the end ofthe year.
Yeah, so they were like, hey,why don't the junior hires and
(06:37):
high schoolers clean brush fromthe trail?
It was like, okay, so we did.
And we went out there and itwas like trying to sell this
project to the students andliterally like just moving some
branches and trimming somehedges.
I don't even really remember, Ijust remember like this is so
stupid, like what are we evendoing here?
(06:59):
And it just felt like work forthe sake of work.
It just kind of felt like, uh,you're useless junior hires.
How about you just get on thistrail for a bit and kill some
time?
You know it didn't feel like,look at us making a difference
in our world or anything likethat.
It was just kind of like I wantto do some free yard work on an
abandoned trail out in themiddle of nowhere.
(07:19):
No, thank you.
But we did so.
I actually I said, yes, please,but I would never do something
like that again.
So it was just work, and sodon't just try to fill your
quota for serving by, like justtaking any old project Well, it
got us outside and like in thedirt, it must have been serving.
(07:41):
And I'm like I don't know thatwe're really called to that kind
of stuff.
I mean, if you feel like youare, then good, we need it must
have been serving.
And I'm like I don't know thatwe're really called to that kind
of stuff.
I mean, if you feel like youare, then good, we need people
like you.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
But I just felt like the same project would have made
sense had this been afunctional, well-traveled trail
that people could enjoy, but itjust has never been used.
Probably will never be used.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It didn't make sense.
It should never be used.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
It's very scary back there, and so you're going to
have to use your wisdom on whatprojects you're considering or
that come across your path.
Like I can't answer that foryou, but I just have realized I
want from now on to put mystudents in situations for
meaningful work, not just tasksfor the sake of tasks.
(08:27):
And the way my students operateis they gas out pretty quick on
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
They're just like all right, we're done for the day,
especially on a hot day whereyou're just like it's boring you
know, and it's like so if youcan sell them a vision on like
here's the impact we're having.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's different, but some projects just you're really
going to be hard pressed tofind the meaning in it.
And number three, are thererelational components, and I
think that's when I've seenstudents come alive the most is
when they're serving in acapacity where they get to.
I mean, the relationalcomponent with each other is
huge, but like serving in arelational component to others,
(09:10):
like I brought my students to anelderly home that was run by
the state and so it was peoplethat it was like well, their
families can't take care of themand there's nowhere else for
them to go, and we just kind ofwould bring some fun.
Like I had a kid who knew howto play the piano and they had a
piano in their likemulti-purpose room and so you
(09:34):
know he would play the piano andthen the girls would do some
crafts with them.
We played a game, um, and thenit was just like chatting with
people, like hearing their storyand socializing, and like that
was such meaningful work andthey had to get out of their
comfort zone a little becausethey were shy.
Like I'm just talking tosomeone I don't know, but they
(09:57):
really rose to the occasion andthen I think they left very
proud of themselves.
So relational components, Ithink, are what make the best
serving experiences, not justlabor, and a lot of
organizations are very happy tohave your students come and do
free labor.
However, here's a philosophy Iadopted through working with our
(10:22):
community service ministry atour church.
Because we have a communityservice ministry at our church,
because we have a communityservice whole department and
with a pastor over the wholething and they do big things,
like our church is doing serviceprojects every single day in
some capacity, and he says thatthe experience of the volunteers
(10:43):
is as important as the workitself, and he says that
ministering goes both ways.
So how we handle servingexperiences with the students is
really important for, like afuture member of the body of
Christ, like I used to kind oflook at it differently, where
I'd be like, well, you'reserving, it's supposed to suck
you know, where I'd be like wellyou're serving
(11:06):
it's supposed to suck, you know,and like it's good for you.
But he kind of changed mymindset on that where it's like
no, when we're putting ourpeople in positions of serving,
we have to remember not just thepeople we're serving but the
people we are putting inpositions to serve.
Their experience is just asimportant as the people
receiving.
(11:26):
And I was like, really Like, Ithought like we were supposed to
just like, oh well, but whatwe're doing is we're training
people on how to love serving orfind their gifts or see it as
something they could do for alifetime, not like, oh, I got to
put up with cleaning a trail onSaturday morning, but put them
(11:50):
in positions where it was solife-giving that it sparks in
them a love and a desire toserve.
And you're not going to pleaseeveryone and at the end of the
day, it is like a sacrifice tothe Lord and so, but just, I
guess, overall, don't neglectthat experience.
Like that one is very important.
(12:10):
And then the last thing toconsider when looking at a
project is is it challenging ina good way?
You know, some projects arejust way too simple and you feel
like any monkey could have donethis like why did you need me?
I remember saying that tosomeone once.
They asked me to help withsomething, and then the project
they were asking me to do.
(12:31):
I just said to him any monkeycould have done this and they
were like but you're the monkeywe wanted and.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I was like so go do it.
Kind of feels flattering, kindof feels demeaning.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I don't know I'm here too late, but just like the
kind of work that's almost justlike, were you guys just
scrounging for something for?
us to do Like, all right, we'regoing to organize this bin.
I remember oh my gosh, thisunlocked a memory my worst
serving experience ever.
(13:03):
I was on the cheerleading teamat a Christian school in junior
high and if you were a andreally I don't know like showing
up to practice on time, comingto all the games, just kind of
being a good example, you wouldget invited to something called
the coach's invitational and itjust was kind of like student of
(13:26):
the month is sort of how itfelt.
So one time a bunch of girlsand I got invited to the coach's
invitational and here's what itliterally was.
It was such a bait and switch.
We show up at her house and herliving room is full of
unwrapped Christmas gifts andshe this is not a joke had us
(13:50):
wrap her Christmas gifts.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
For her family.
But here was the fun part, sothat was like a service project
for her like you were sayingcome over to the pastor's house
and and repaint his friends like, yay, like am I unspiritual if
I'm not into?
That a lawnmower that won'tstart, so you can get a work in
so she would say, let us comeinto her kitchen one at a time
(14:16):
and make a pie on her kitchentable by ourselves.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Was it also for her family?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I think we did get to leave with the pie, but I just
remember it was like dead silentand I'm just like in her
kitchen alone and I'm just likefilling this pie with like
apples or whatever we were doing, and I'm like like nowadays.
I'd be like am I on a reality?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
show.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Like this is nuts, so yeah, and then, when you were
done making your pie, you wentback into the living room little
.
Santa's elves wrapping all hergifts and there were a ton.
I'm like where did you get allthis stuff?
Looks like she cleared out somelike going out of business,
like warehouse.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
These packages are not going to wrap girls.
Let's go, let's go, let's goseriously.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
But you know, when you're in seventh grade, you
just are like okay sure you'renot gonna like fight like a 40
year old woman on like that'sfunny, that that was a like um
reward right exactly to this day.
Like sometimes, I have to askmy friends did I dream?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
that really happened they're like no, that really
happened when, when you wouldhave been better off performing
worse and not having to goexactly what kind of trophy did
I win, you guys, you suckers.
You didn't get to wrap allthese gifts, but you did get a
free pie.
There was no like you mademusic or food there.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It was just like we gotta move on.
We gotta move on, okay.
Oh, trauma, okay.
So why do we serve?
Because people are made toserve.
So let's continue with the ideawe were talking about before of
the experience of the oneserving is as important as the
(16:03):
one being served, because itbreathes life into their
relationships with God and eachother.
And I've watched people who kindof knew each other bond like
and gel with the snap of afinger over serving when they
have to work alongside eachother over meaningful work that
fits their skill level, likesolve problems together and help
(16:27):
each other out, and it justcreates like and I don't mean
this in a weird way, but likemagic, like it's just like
there's something in the airthat it's just like this bonding
, beautiful, like I've just seenit so many times.
And it's like we did it, westruck gold, like here.
I led a service project lastspring where we built, like this
(16:50):
beautiful educational gardenfor one of our local elementary
schools and let me tell you itwas way over my skill level.
I did not know what in theworld we were doing, but I'm
like I'm here, I'm going to giveit my best shot.
However, the laborers therewere very skilled and so all I
had to do was kind of wind themup, let them go.
(17:11):
But watching how people bondedand worked together and just had
so much joy and serving, andthe chemistry that built like
like there's nothing likebonding with someone over doing
meaningful work, like I justcannot think of any other
(17:32):
replacement for it.
Like.
I don't think there's any otherformula than like working with
someone shoulder to shoulder,like and then watching something
beautiful happen, like thethings that we built and planted
, and the before and after, andeveryone's just feeling so proud
and relying on each other andbeing extra helpful and wanting
to give it their best, like itjust creates, because that's
(17:55):
really what we're meant to do,like we are meant to serve, we
are meant to work for the Lord,and so when we put people in
these positions where that giftgets to be expressed and that
purpose gets to be expressedlike, it's like the Holy Spirit
just lights it on fire and it'sso exciting to be a part of.
And so us, as the pastors andthe leaders in the church, like
(18:18):
creating these experiences forpeople will be probably the
biggest impact that will have inyour church.
That goes well beyond thatserving day.
Like now, when I see these guysaround church, like people I
never would have talked tobefore.
Like a contractor who owns hisown company, who I would never
(18:39):
run in the same circle as he'slike Kristen, good to see you,
you know.
And it's like we have thatmemory between us of like oh,
wow, you know.
And that chemistry continuesand it gives people and here's
what I noticed, too is servingwithin the church is a very big
(19:00):
deal, and that could be a wholeother episode.
Today we're talking mostlyabout serving outside the church
, but there's speaking of thecontractors that own their own
company, some men especially.
There's not a lot of placeswhere they feel like they fit in
to serve.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Like my skill set can be used.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Exactly so.
It's like, well, I'm not goingto be like holding babies in the
nursery not my gift.
I am not going to be in theworship band, like I'm out of
town so much it's probably hardfor me to get on a greeting team
or an usher team or somethinglike that.
But when these special projectscome along, you can shine.
Need someone who knowssomething about city water, like
(19:43):
which I do not.
Right, and I was just like allright, his name was carl.
I'm like all right, carl, Idon't know where these
sprinklers need to go not thefaintest idea, but I'm gonna
trust you.
And he got to engage all of hisskills and and then the cool
thing too is he calls up hisbuddies and it's like oh, I have
a guy here and now they'reinvolved in like what are you
(20:03):
guys doing?
Oh yeah, I could bring pipingfor this and I talk like I know
what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I do not something about sprinklers.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
That was weird, Um, and it just gave people who do
have specialized gifts in thebusiness world, in the secular
world, a chance to bring thoseinto the church.
And so pairing adults andstudents too was really powerful
.
So the skilled laborers did alot of the building, but the
students had a huge role too,and we gave them the planting
(20:34):
projects.
They could fill the like.
We had a ton of like pathways.
We had to do gravel.
They could help fill that.
But the purpose behind it wasthis is a school that most of
you have a vested interest inand attend here, or at least
it's in our community, and thisis going to be like this amazing
(20:54):
program for students Likethey're going to grow their own
food and then they're going tolike serve it in the cafeteria
at your school.
Like how cool is that?
And you guys get to learn aboutanimals and agriculture.
We're going to build it, andthen this is going to benefit
you and your siblings and yourfriends for years to come, and
so it was a really difficultproject, but it was really
(21:14):
perfect for all the categoriesthat we're talking about.
So now let's move on to the how.
So you might be thinking toyourself yeah, I agree with all
that.
That sounds great.
And you're all fired up, likewhat do I do now?
Okay, so here's some of the howbehind it.
So choose a project, obviouslythat fits all the categories we
(21:35):
just talked about.
And then, once you do that andyou have a project that you're
like, I think this could work,based on the four or five things
to consider we just talkedabout.
Number one get super organized,okay.
So, like we were saying in thebeginning, sometimes the serving
experience is so bad that,again, it does more harm than
(22:00):
good, and this sense I mean more, not that the project was bad.
So let's say, you pick a greatproject, something people could
get on board with, but you haveno organization going on and so
people show up there's no likestanding around Exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Is there anything I can do?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Oh my gosh, it is one of my pet peeves and I've been
a part of those projects whereI'm like I am giving you my time
, which is my most valuablething I have, because I could
never get it back, but I'm hereto serve.
You don't have tools for me,you don't have direction for me,
you don't have direction for me, you don't know where I should
(22:40):
be.
And I remember recently gettingasked to come to help set up
something for a special eventfor a church, and I did it.
I showed up and I said, allright, I'm here, like where do
you need me?
What can I do to help?
Oh, we're good.
And then just kept walking.
I'm like, holy, activate,activate, activate.
Because I was so disappointed,like why did you drag me out of
(23:01):
bed to come and then just belike we're good, right, like
then, why did you ask me?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
to come.
It's.
It's better for both you andthem because, hey, they're there
to serve and it gives themsomething to do.
And also, if they're constantlyhaving to come to you and say,
like, what do I, what do youhave for me, what do you have
for me?
You're like.
I finished that Now.
What do I do?
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Now I do?
Speaker 2 (23:22):
You're going to spend the whole time being like, uh,
I don't know, um sweep that youknow sidewalk over there and
you're just going to be notengaged in the process either?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So from both perspectives it's very stressful
.
Um and I've had that experiencebefore where people just keep
constantly asking you now, whatnow?
what?
And you're like, um, hold on,let me think so.
It's like having not.
So having the project maybesplit up into little, like this
is the cleaning team, this isthe painting team, this is the
(23:52):
building I donrary, but.
And then having the right toolsis really important.
And then another element oforganization, if you can, is
having a team lead over each ofthe miniature projects within
the projects, so like if you'regoing to an elderly home and
you're going to minister to themduring Christmas or
(24:13):
Thanksgiving or Easter,valentine's, whatever around
holidays is really good for thatstuff.
So you might get a volunteer andsay hey, could you run the
craft and come up with it?
Get the supplies, give me thereceipt, I'll pay for it, but I
just need someone to own that.
And then you say okay, we needsomeone to own, like the music,
(24:34):
you know, could you guys puttogether a couple little songs,
and I think they would love thatand then you're the team lead
of decorations.
You know, I think it'd be fun ifwe brought balloons and
streamers or I don't knowwhatever.
I'm just thinking off the topof my head, but having people
own these different parts, andthen you're saying how can I
help you?
Do you need me to buy materials?
(24:55):
Do you need me to you materials?
Do you need me to you know?
And so having more leaders thanjust you being the point person
for everything, because youprobably will be so stressed and
you'll give a short answer,like they did to me that day,
like oh, we're good.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Cause it's just like I don't know there's too much
going on.
I can't now give attention to.
What do you need to do?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Right, and if you were the team lead for just the
examples that you gave andsomeone came in, you would have
to explain every single one ofthose tasks to each person and
that's just going to take timeaway.
And in the meantime you've gota line of 10.
Other people are like okay,well, I guess when it's my turn
you can explain.
You know whatever.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Okay, so that brings up.
Another really good point ishaving the right amount of
people.
So we like when we do serviceprojects at our church, we will
cap it at a certain number basedon the project.
So there is kind of an art tothat as well, like it's that
really thinking ahead of howmany people realistically do we
(25:51):
need to pull this off?
Because most of the time I findthat there's too many people at
a project instead of not enough.
Both are bad, but when there'stoo many people you fall into
that nobody is necessary andit's just like there's nothing
for us to do.
The project I did at that schoolwe were good.
We were good Then the last daybecause this was a huge project.
(26:12):
So we worked on it for likethree days, four days, I don't
remember.
It was a long time.
And I remember the last daythey sent me a whole other crew
of people because other projectswere done and they were like,
uh, they'd have nowhere to go.
Can they come to your project?
I'm like, okay, but now I meanI can't imagine that's the most
stress I've ever been in my life.
(26:33):
But I was so stressed outbecause all these people with
shovels coming up to me where doyou need me and I'm like
there's hundreds of you, I don'tknow what.
Where are we and I?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I mean you guys dig a hole and then you guys fill it.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I was.
I was going to malfunction.
Like it was so stressfulbecause there were so many
people eager to serve, wantingto help yeah, and there's too
many of them.
I couldn't manage them anymore.
Like it got out of control.
It wasn't like, oh great, my 10working on gravel, my 10
working on dirt, my 10 workingon this.
(27:09):
Now it was like just thefloodgates open.
So be very careful of havingtoo many people on your project.
It's okay to cap it or work inshifts you don't want to have
them like hey, you're going toneed to be here for 12 hours
today.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Can you do that?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
fair.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
As opposed to let's have three shifts of four hours
or something more reasonable,and we did that, but yeah, it
just got out of hand at the end.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
It was bad and I'm sure you've been a part of a
project like that where all of asudden there's so many people,
you and you just have thatfeeling like it makes zero
difference if I'm here or not,like if I were you're creating
out you and even the jobs you'recreating.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
It's like this is a one person job and now we're
trying to make it two or threepeople.
That happened on a serviceproject once before, right, it
just felt like this is soawkward, right like I'll turn
the screw and you hold the pieceof metal like I could totally
get us working together, buddyand it just was.
It was I mean you.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You get to know someone really feel like it's
like just a little service paton the head, like aren't you
cute?
Like look at you, you can turna screw um, and because people
really want to do somethingmeaningful.
They do want to work hard, butnot like obnoxiously so, and so
the other problem is obviouslynot having enough people, and I
don't have to explain to you whythat is a bad thing.
(28:30):
That's pretty obvious.
But the point of it is makingsure that you gauge the amount
of manpower, woman power, peoplepower that you are going to
need for a job.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
You know, and when you feel like you've hit it,
just say.
Sign ups are closed or hey,we'll catch you on the next one
Because, again, you don't wantto diminish the experience for
the people that are coming andthen making sure kind of what
you were saying along the linesof working in shifts that you
don't overdo it.
So I would reasonably say, ifyou're working with junior hires
(29:05):
, two hours is it?
That's all you get.
Do not try to make it go longer.
You will regret everything.
You will be like no, never again, Because they have a certain
attention span of what they cangive you and that's not their
fault.
That's just where they're atFrontal lobe.
Where are you?
It's not there, so don't golooking for it.
(29:25):
High schoolers, I think youcould probably get three hours
out of an adult.
I think you could do four hourshifts and be great.
You don't want a bunch ofjunior hires on your hands that
are bored with hammers you knowso no, no, no.
So just make sure you'retailoring the time Well and,
like we were talking aboutbefore, like picking a worthy
(29:45):
cause.
So the trail was a definite no,not a worthy cause.
But we have an organization inour town called rains that is a
therapeutic horsemanship programfor autistic kids, very
worthwhile cause.
We have another that we workwith called Divine Path in our
town and they give life skillsand culinary skills and job
(30:10):
skills to autistic adults.
Very worthy cause.
We will do anything for themand that is what makes a project
meaningful, like I'm doingsomething to impact people who
really deserve it, and that kindof puts the wind in the sails.
You know what I mean.
So I'll give you examples ofthe best ones.
(30:35):
We've done Rains, like I justtalked about, so I'll go to her
and say where do you need juniorhires for two hours?
Can you give me a project thatyou think would fit with their
skill level?
And she trusted us with paintand here's why it didn't matter
that much that time, because itwas over dirt right and it was
painting a fence white and Ifelt pretty comfortable with
that indoor painting no, that'swhat I was
Speaker 2 (30:54):
gonna say no, but outdoor where the dirt kind of
just paint drops and it's gonnaget on anything of mild
importance.
It's a hard no um.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I had junior hires paint my office once it was all
over the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
I was like thanks guys, Looks good.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
So good, so good.
And then Divine Path.
They're an organization that,like I said, gives life skills
to autistic adults.
So the project we do with themif you have any kind of
organization in your area likethis, whether it's down syndrome
, autism, something like that wethrow a dance for them.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
And oh, I just got the chills even thinking about
it formal, like really nice,like a valentine's day catered
and all that.
Yeah, so this year it's at.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
It's on valentine's day.
We invite them to our church.
We I'm just lucky that my guy'sdirector is also a DJ, so he
DJs the event.
You could just make a playliston Spotify, it doesn't really
matter.
We do a mix of just dance and amix of free dance.
We cater it, we find a lifegroup at our church who will
(32:02):
sponsor it, so it's not like I'mspending hundreds of dollars on
catering and they dress up.
We have like a photo booth andreally all they want to do is
dance.
I used to play a bingo gamewith them and then had this big
prize table and if they wonbingo they got to come up and
choose a prize and I think thatwas really fun.
But all they kept asking me thewhole time is when are we
(32:25):
dancing again?
Speaker 2 (32:26):
And.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I'm like so you guys just really want to dance,
that's it.
And watching the students, likedance with them and get out of
their shell.
Like I'll tell the studentswhen we eat dinner you are not
sitting at a junior high table,I want you all to spread out, go
mingle, cause they want to know.
I mean, they're the friendliestpeople in the world.
They're just like who are you?
And let me tell you everythingabout everything.
(32:46):
You know.
They're just so fun andtalkative that it just really
puts the junior hires guard down.
And then they are ministered toas well and they realize man,
why am I always so worried aboutbeing cool?
Like it's so much more fun tojust let loose and be yourself.
And so we debrief after and likehey, what did you guys learn
through this?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
project.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
It's so impactful, and then Well, real quick on
that.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
If you, if you go in your town, wherever you are at,
and you go in your town, stepone, get in your car, the town.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Now what.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I digress no, if you go to local restaurants or
things that will providecatering, yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
it's always worth asking yes I got a yes last year
yeah, I just say hey, this iswhat we're doing.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
You know, would there be any discount or anything
like that you could provide?
You know, it's always the worstI could say is no yeah and it's
slappy in the head.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
And I got Jersey Mike's to do it.
Last year they didn't.
It wasn't like free, but hegave us a super deep discount
and I said I'll post picturesand give you a shout out on.
Instagram.
And I don't think that's likewhy he said yes but it was kind
of a nice perk for him, like,hey, like I know you would never
ask for credit, but I'll giveit to you, you know.
(34:04):
So, yeah, great idea.
And then we do starving toserve, which is another great
service project where we'vetalked about it before.
The students fast for 27 hours.
They get sponsors for that andall of the money they raise goes
toward an organization calledoutside the bowl which builds um
soup kitchens.
The bowl which builds soupkitchens sustainable soup
(34:27):
kitchens, like not just feedsthem once, but these ones that
are gospel centered, so theypreach the word of God and feed.
I think they give like somecrazy statistic of each soup
kitchen feeds like a thousandpeople a day or something crazy
in their town.
It's super cool.
And so the students where theirservice comes in is they commit
(34:49):
to fasting, which is very hardfor them, and they raise the
funds and it all goes to outsidethe bowl.
So those are like our three bigones that have the most impact
and that I've seen have um like.
when I asked students like whatare your best memories of junior
high, they always say one ofthe service projects, like no
(35:12):
matter how many times we playpredator or go whitewater
rafting or give away prizes ordo cool events, they always say
serving.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Because I think it had the biggest impact.
Like it's rare which soundsweird, but it's rare to get an
opportunity to be a part ofsomething bigger than yourself,
because a private individual,especially a student, doesn't
always have the resources orconnections just to be like
we're going to go serve, likedown syndrome community members
(35:40):
today it's like they wouldn'teven know where to start.
But you as the pastor or aleader usually can, you know,
get in those doors and and makethings happen.
And people do want to be a partof that.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
They just don't know how to start alongside your
friends in the ministry.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
You've just created these bonding experiences.
So, yeah, if anything's goingon your calendar this year, you
don't need a ton of serviceprojects, just have two, three.
I used to try to do an everymonth and I realized that was
biting off way more than I couldchew and the quality level was
going down.
So now I have my three kind ofstaples and I'm like these are
(36:19):
the most impactful and I can dothem very well.
And then that's not talkingabout serving inside the church,
like I said, because we do thatconsistently.
People should be serving withinthe church on a regular basis.
This is just talking about aproject outside.
So, hopefully that was helpful.
I think we hit it all.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, we did another episode a while back along the
lines of service projects.
I think you talked aboutseveral of the ones here, but if
that's something you want tocheck out, make sure you take
that.
I was going to say take that alisten, take that a listen, take
that a watch and see what youthink.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Take that a listen.
I like that phrasing Iguarantee.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
If my aunt said that being 87, I'd be like take that
a listen Must be a saying and Iwouldn't question it.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I think probably most people aren't questioning that
right now.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Take that a listen, you guys.
The question of the day todayis what is a song that you wish
would play as your intro musicwhenever you walk into a room?
Speaker 1 (37:17):
This question is so well timed.
I just spoke at a winter camp.
I just got back and I wastalking to one of their staff
and like they were getting memic'd up and stuff and I said,
oh, I never gave you my entrancemusic.
And they're like, huh, I'm like, yeah, like I like an entrance
song when I like go up on stageand like I'm gonna just run like
(37:39):
down the aisle, and they'relike, okay, it's like just
trying to go with it and I'mlike I'm totally kidding.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
But if I did have one and you wanted to use one it
would be you forgot the name Idid.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
It goes like this though y'all ready for this?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
I don't know if it has a name, does it?
Speaker 1 (38:06):
I don't know if it has a name.
Does it Ready for this?
I don't know.
But it's on the Space Jamsoundtrack and the beginning is
so good.
It's like it sounds like lasersand then the beat drops and I
would just want to do a tunnelof high fives.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
So this is like every house, every store, every time
you walk in.
I'm not just talking aboutspeaking no, no, no, this is any
time you walk in.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Oh, this is even better.
I just picture like my hairblowing and like the lights
going down and everyone's scared.
There's.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Albertsons, and there's what's happening.
Kristen's here.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
And like no one gives me a high five, I just start
writing that's even better.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Maybe I should have clarified.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Make sure you put yours in the comments section
below.
What's yours?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Mine would be, and I've always thought this, ever
since I was a kid.
You know you walk through like,especially like a store,
department store, things likethat, and the ever since I was a
kid you know, you walk throughlike especially like a store,
department store, things likethat, and the automatic doors
open.
Yeah, I always felt like it waslike a very sci-fi star warsy
kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
So I always wanted the imperial march from star
wars.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
It's a little evil, well I think it's more um it's.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
It's a lot of pomp and circumstance okay, you are a
pomp and circumstance kind ofguy with my giant feather coming
out of my hat as I march inwith kingly robes when you said
the doors opening, I justpictured why I just died yeah,
or that one like that.
(39:43):
Just felt a little more likedramatic, but yours feels evil
imagine going to every storelike that.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
People would turn be like oh, I don't know who he is.
He must be important, though.
Do you hear that?
Speaker 1 (39:55):
music.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
He's like yankee doodle, with a feather in that
cap wow, okay, maybe not thefeather, but you know what I
mean.
You said feather, a big plumyone, um.
So make sure you guys put inthe comment section below what
is the song that you wish wouldbe your entrance music anytime
(40:18):
you walk.
Walking into an empty apartmentat the end of a long day that's
gonna put you in the mood foranything.
All right, uh, let's do aquestion or a comment of the day
and we'll call it quits.
This comes from amethyst kurtz,who says I love that every
episode gives me a freshperspective on my ministry and
or something I can take and usein my youth group right away.
(40:40):
I've been listening sinceepisode one.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Sorry, super cringy, sorry about that when I first
started.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Wait, you're cringy, or she's.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Well, you're, you super cringy, sorry about that
when I first started in Wait,you're cringy or she's cringy.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Well, you are cringy and our first episode is cringy.
She did not say anything aboutthat.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Oh, I'm like that's not Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Amethyst did not say that Amethyst.
Okay, then she says beenlistening since episode one when
I first started in my currentministry position, and since
then I've built a leadershipteam from the ground up and my
average youth attendance hasdoubled.
The tips and advice from thispodcast has played a role in
helping my team build a healthyculture that encourages growth
(41:18):
my favorite youth ministrypodcast.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Hey, I like that, that's a really good one.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
That was an all-star comment.
Thank you, amethyst, appreciatethat.
Hey, mal, you're an all-star.
That would be really good one.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
That was an all-star comment.
Thank you, Amethyst.
Appreciate that You're anall-star.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
That would be a good one.
There's another one.
We're going to quit while we'reway behind.
Thank you guys for watching andlistening and we'll see you
next time.
All that glitter's gold.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Only shooting stars make the mold, Break the mold.
Today we're talking about howyou can make the biggest impact
in your youth ministry in thisyear Time.
Three days, four days, fivedays Helicopter.
Today we're talking about the best way to make the
biggest impact in your youthministry this year.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast where we
give you weekly tips and tacticsto help you fast track the
growth and health for your youthministry.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
My name is Jeff Laskola and this is Kristen
Laskola, and today we're goingto be talking about how to make
a huge impact in your youthgroup in 2025.
If you're asking yourself thequestion, how can this be one of
our best years yet?
How can we cultivate a greatculture and spiritual fruit in
the lives of the students, thenstick around, because this
(00:46):
episode is definitely for you,and so the short answer to that
is serving.
But what we're going to do iswe're going to unpack everything
that entails, because it's notas simple as so have them serve
the end Like how do we do it inthe way that produces the kind
(01:06):
of fruit that we're looking forand the kind of culture shift
we're looking for.
And over the years I think I'velearned a few nuanced, like
tactics sounds weird in thiscontext, but like methods, I
guess of how to do serving sothat it has maximum impact for
(01:38):
everybody involved.
Meaningful, I think, is the keyword there, because the
cautionary tale here and I havemore than enough examples of
this under my belt, but badserving experiences have the
opposite effect that we'relooking for.
So I don't think you can justkind of throw out a blanket
(01:59):
statement and say serving andanything and everything counts
and it's all good.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
It's actually not, and having a bad serving
experience can actually makeyour youth group or your
leadership team, or whoever thisis designed for in your youth
ministry, to take a couple stepsback.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
Do you have any examples that, off the top of
your head, would be a negativeserving experience?
Speaker 1 (02:22):
We'll get into that, okay, yes, that's going to be
one of my examples.
I have, I mean which one do Ichoose?
And so it's like this took along time to learn because I
think in my first few years ofyouth ministry I just thought
service project equals fruit.
There we go by, being almostlike it was a checklist, Like I
(02:46):
did one.
What else do you want from me,you know, but there's almost
this art to it to make sure thatit's accomplishing what you're
hoping it to accomplish.
So here's some thingspractically to consider when
you're starting to think alongthe lines of service or a
project for your students.
(03:07):
I usually use my studentleadership team for it.
If you're a smaller youth group, then it could be all your
students are invited and theirfamilies as well.
Just sort of depends on thenumbers you're working with, and
we'll actually get into that ina second too.
So things to consider whenyou're looking at a service
project.
Number one is this the rightfit for our age group?
(03:30):
So sometimes there's a reallygreat project but the skill
level required is way over theheads of You're not going to be
building homes with a sixthgrader is what you're saying.
I mean if you had enough skilledlaborers and then they could do
like never give a junior hire apaintbrush.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
I learned that sharpies something, something
really innocent like that.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
They could go get the nails Could they though.
Gosh, what a tangled web we'vewoven.
All these bad memories keepcoming back to me.
Maybe your group is different,but one hard and fast rule is I
never give junior hairpaintbrush ever again, or power
tools I just was burned.
Too many times I was like thisis easy, you can do it.
Nope, nope and nope.
(04:14):
Anyways.
So great example, like makesure that you're giving them
something that is theirs, notonly their skill level for the
age group you're working with,but also their interest level.
And I'll give you some examplesof things that did not fly for
us and it was like, oh, we'reputting in a good, hard day's
work, but it was like somethingnobody cared about and really
(04:36):
didn't have a big impact on usor the community, and it was
just like so we just worked towork.
Like that was kind of lame andI'm sure you could build an
argument about well, that's goodfor your development, but I
don't know it just sometimes,what we project as meaningful
when we put it in the hands ofpeople, sometimes it's just not,
no matter how much we wish itwere.
(04:58):
So make sure you just likegauge that you're the expert in
that age age group, hopefully asthe youth pastor, so you can
know is this, does this fittheir skills?
Number two is this meaningfulwork, like we were just talking
about, or is this just?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
work so like a service project at the senior
pastor's house.
Remember that, Like pastorswould always say like we have a
service project you guys can do.
I need a bunch of weeds pulledand you're like, wow, okay, free
labor.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
I see what you did there, Wow genius, you can
babysit my kids as a serviceproject.
There you go.
So I'll give you, since youwere asking earlier, an example
of one that did earlier, anexample of one that did.
It was not meaningful work.
(05:49):
There is a walking trail in ourtown, a very short one, that
nobody uses.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
Really it's not like it's in a weird weird you know
which one I'm talking to I don't, really don't know why they
ever put it there same.
It's kind of a long and it'skind of sketchy right a sketchy
riverbed with just bad smellsand there's no reason for it.
I really don't know why theyput it there.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
So it's not like a hiking trail that everyone in
the community enjoys.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
You're not enjoying beauty from it.
Speaker 1 (06:15):
It almost feels like a random little commute trail.
I don't really even know thepurpose of it, nobody does and
no one knows it's there and noone uses it, and it's probably a
grand total of a fourth of amile at the most, someone must
have needed to spend sometaxpayer dollars and no clue
check off a box at the end ofthe year.
Yeah, so they were like, hey,why don't the junior hires and
(06:37):
high schoolers clean brush fromthe trail?
It was like, okay, so we did.
And we went out there and itwas like trying to sell this
project to the students andliterally like just moving some
branches and trimming somehedges.
I don't even really remember, Ijust remember like this is so
stupid, like what are we evendoing here?
(06:59):
And it just felt like work forthe sake of work.
It just kind of felt like, uh,you're useless junior hires.
How about you just get on thistrail for a bit and kill some
time?
You know it didn't feel like,look at us making a difference
in our world or anything likethat.
It was just kind of like I wantto do some free yard work on an
abandoned trail out in themiddle of nowhere.
(07:19):
No, thank you.
But we did so.
I actually I said, yes, please,but I would never do something
like that again.
So it was just work, and sodon't just try to fill your
quota for serving by, like justtaking any old project Well, it
got us outside and like in thedirt, it must have been serving.
(07:41):
And I'm like I don't know thatwe're really called to that kind
of stuff.
I mean, if you feel like youare, then good, we need it must
have been serving.
And I'm like I don't know thatwe're really called to that kind
of stuff.
I mean, if you feel like youare, then good, we need people
like you.
Speaker 2 (07:50):
But I just felt like the same project would have made
sense had this been afunctional, well-traveled trail
that people could enjoy, but itjust has never been used.
Probably will never be used.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
It didn't make sense.
It should never be used.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
It's very scary back there, and so you're going to
have to use your wisdom on whatprojects you're considering or
that come across your path.
Like I can't answer that foryou, but I just have realized I
want from now on to put mystudents in situations for
meaningful work, not just tasksfor the sake of tasks.
(08:27):
And the way my students operateis they gas out pretty quick on
that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
They're just like all right, we're done for the day,
especially on a hot day whereyou're just like it's boring you
know, and it's like so if youcan sell them a vision on like
here's the impact we're having.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
It's different, but some projects just you're really
going to be hard pressed tofind the meaning in it.
And number three, are thererelational components, and I
think that's when I've seenstudents come alive the most is
when they're serving in acapacity where they get to.
I mean, the relationalcomponent with each other is
huge, but like serving in arelational component to others,
(09:10):
like I brought my students to anelderly home that was run by
the state and so it was peoplethat it was like well, their
families can't take care of themand there's nowhere else for
them to go, and we just kind ofwould bring some fun.
Like I had a kid who knew howto play the piano and they had a
piano in their likemulti-purpose room and so you
(09:34):
know he would play the piano andthen the girls would do some
crafts with them.
We played a game, um, and thenit was just like chatting with
people, like hearing their storyand socializing, and like that
was such meaningful work andthey had to get out of their
comfort zone a little becausethey were shy.
Like I'm just talking tosomeone I don't know, but they
(09:57):
really rose to the occasion andthen I think they left very
proud of themselves.
So relational components, Ithink, are what make the best
serving experiences, not justlabor, and a lot of
organizations are very happy tohave your students come and do
free labor.
However, here's a philosophy Iadopted through working with our
(10:22):
community service ministry atour church.
Because we have a communityservice ministry at our church,
because we have a communityservice whole department and
with a pastor over the wholething and they do big things,
like our church is doing serviceprojects every single day in
some capacity, and he says thatthe experience of the volunteers
(10:43):
is as important as the workitself, and he says that
ministering goes both ways.
So how we handle servingexperiences with the students is
really important for, like afuture member of the body of
Christ, like I used to kind oflook at it differently, where
I'd be like, well, you'reserving, it's supposed to suck
you know, where I'd be like wellyou're serving
(11:06):
it's supposed to suck, you know,and like it's good for you.
But he kind of changed mymindset on that where it's like
no, when we're putting ourpeople in positions of serving,
we have to remember not just thepeople we're serving but the
people we are putting inpositions to serve.
Their experience is just asimportant as the people
receiving.
(11:26):
And I was like, really Like, Ithought like we were supposed to
just like, oh well, but whatwe're doing is we're training
people on how to love serving orfind their gifts or see it as
something they could do for alifetime, not like, oh, I got to
put up with cleaning a trail onSaturday morning, but put them
(11:50):
in positions where it was solife-giving that it sparks in
them a love and a desire toserve.
And you're not going to pleaseeveryone and at the end of the
day, it is like a sacrifice tothe Lord and so, but just, I
guess, overall, don't neglectthat experience.
Like that one is very important.
(12:10):
And then the last thing toconsider when looking at a
project is is it challenging ina good way?
You know, some projects arejust way too simple and you feel
like any monkey could have donethis like why did you need me?
I remember saying that tosomeone once.
They asked me to help withsomething, and then the project
they were asking me to do.
(12:31):
I just said to him any monkeycould have done this and they
were like but you're the monkeywe wanted and.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
I was like so go do it.
Kind of feels flattering, kindof feels demeaning.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I don't know I'm here too late, but just like the
kind of work that's almost justlike, were you guys just
scrounging for something for?
us to do Like, all right, we'regoing to organize this bin.
I remember oh my gosh, thisunlocked a memory my worst
serving experience ever.
(13:03):
I was on the cheerleading teamat a Christian school in junior
high and if you were a andreally I don't know like showing
up to practice on time, comingto all the games, just kind of
being a good example, you wouldget invited to something called
the coach's invitational and itjust was kind of like student of
(13:26):
the month is sort of how itfelt.
So one time a bunch of girlsand I got invited to the coach's
invitational and here's what itliterally was.
It was such a bait and switch.
We show up at her house and herliving room is full of
unwrapped Christmas gifts andshe this is not a joke had us
(13:50):
wrap her Christmas gifts.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Congratulations.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
For her family.
But here was the fun part, sothat was like a service project
for her like you were sayingcome over to the pastor's house
and and repaint his friends like, yay, like am I unspiritual if
I'm not into?
That a lawnmower that won'tstart, so you can get a work in
so she would say, let us comeinto her kitchen one at a time
(14:16):
and make a pie on her kitchentable by ourselves.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
Was it also for her family?
Speaker 1 (14:22):
I think we did get to leave with the pie, but I just
remember it was like dead silentand I'm just like in her
kitchen alone and I'm just likefilling this pie with like
apples or whatever we were doing, and I'm like like nowadays.
I'd be like am I on a reality?
Speaker 2 (14:38):
show.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Like this is nuts, so yeah, and then, when you were
done making your pie, you wentback into the living room little
.
Santa's elves wrapping all hergifts and there were a ton.
I'm like where did you get allthis stuff?
Looks like she cleared out somelike going out of business,
like warehouse.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
These packages are not going to wrap girls.
Let's go, let's go, let's goseriously.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
But you know, when you're in seventh grade, you
just are like okay sure you'renot gonna like fight like a 40
year old woman on like that'sfunny, that that was a like um
reward right exactly to this day.
Like sometimes, I have to askmy friends did I dream?
Speaker 2 (15:21):
that really happened they're like no, that really
happened when, when you wouldhave been better off performing
worse and not having to goexactly what kind of trophy did
I win, you guys, you suckers.
You didn't get to wrap allthese gifts, but you did get a
free pie.
There was no like you mademusic or food there.
Speaker 1 (15:43):
It was just like we gotta move on.
We gotta move on, okay.
Oh, trauma, okay.
So why do we serve?
Because people are made toserve.
So let's continue with the ideawe were talking about before of
the experience of the oneserving is as important as the
(16:03):
one being served, because itbreathes life into their
relationships with God and eachother.
And I've watched people who kindof knew each other bond like
and gel with the snap of afinger over serving when they
have to work alongside eachother over meaningful work that
fits their skill level, likesolve problems together and help
(16:27):
each other out, and it justcreates like and I don't mean
this in a weird way, but likemagic, like it's just like
there's something in the airthat it's just like this bonding
, beautiful, like I've just seenit so many times.
And it's like we did it, westruck gold, like here.
I led a service project lastspring where we built, like this
(16:50):
beautiful educational gardenfor one of our local elementary
schools and let me tell you itwas way over my skill level.
I did not know what in theworld we were doing, but I'm
like I'm here, I'm going to giveit my best shot.
However, the laborers therewere very skilled and so all I
had to do was kind of wind themup, let them go.
(17:11):
But watching how people bondedand worked together and just had
so much joy and serving, andthe chemistry that built like
like there's nothing likebonding with someone over doing
meaningful work, like I justcannot think of any other
(17:32):
replacement for it.
Like.
I don't think there's any otherformula than like working with
someone shoulder to shoulder,like and then watching something
beautiful happen, like thethings that we built and planted
, and the before and after, andeveryone's just feeling so proud
and relying on each other andbeing extra helpful and wanting
to give it their best, like itjust creates, because that's
(17:55):
really what we're meant to do,like we are meant to serve, we
are meant to work for the Lord,and so when we put people in
these positions where that giftgets to be expressed and that
purpose gets to be expressedlike, it's like the Holy Spirit
just lights it on fire and it'sso exciting to be a part of.
And so us, as the pastors andthe leaders in the church, like
(18:18):
creating these experiences forpeople will be probably the
biggest impact that will have inyour church.
That goes well beyond thatserving day.
Like now, when I see these guysaround church, like people I
never would have talked tobefore.
Like a contractor who owns hisown company, who I would never
(18:39):
run in the same circle as he'slike Kristen, good to see you,
you know.
And it's like we have thatmemory between us of like oh,
wow, you know.
And that chemistry continuesand it gives people and here's
what I noticed, too is servingwithin the church is a very big
(19:00):
deal, and that could be a wholeother episode.
Today we're talking mostlyabout serving outside the church
, but there's speaking of thecontractors that own their own
company, some men especially.
There's not a lot of placeswhere they feel like they fit in
to serve.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Like my skill set can be used.
Speaker 1 (19:19):
Exactly so.
It's like, well, I'm not goingto be like holding babies in the
nursery not my gift.
I am not going to be in theworship band, like I'm out of
town so much it's probably hardfor me to get on a greeting team
or an usher team or somethinglike that.
But when these special projectscome along, you can shine.
Need someone who knowssomething about city water, like
(19:43):
which I do not.
Right, and I was just like allright, his name was carl.
I'm like all right, carl, Idon't know where these
sprinklers need to go not thefaintest idea, but I'm gonna
trust you.
And he got to engage all of hisskills and and then the cool
thing too is he calls up hisbuddies and it's like oh, I have
a guy here and now they'reinvolved in like what are you
(20:03):
guys doing?
Oh yeah, I could bring pipingfor this and I talk like I know
what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I do not something about sprinklers.
Speaker 1 (20:10):
That was weird, Um, and it just gave people who do
have specialized gifts in thebusiness world, in the secular
world, a chance to bring thoseinto the church.
And so pairing adults andstudents too was really powerful
.
So the skilled laborers did alot of the building, but the
students had a huge role too,and we gave them the planting
(20:34):
projects.
They could fill the like.
We had a ton of like pathways.
We had to do gravel.
They could help fill that.
But the purpose behind it wasthis is a school that most of
you have a vested interest inand attend here, or at least
it's in our community, and thisis going to be like this amazing
(20:54):
program for students Likethey're going to grow their own
food and then they're going tolike serve it in the cafeteria
at your school.
Like how cool is that?
And you guys get to learn aboutanimals and agriculture.
We're going to build it, andthen this is going to benefit
you and your siblings and yourfriends for years to come, and
so it was a really difficultproject, but it was really
(21:14):
perfect for all the categoriesthat we're talking about.
So now let's move on to the how.
So you might be thinking toyourself yeah, I agree with all
that.
That sounds great.
And you're all fired up, likewhat do I do now?
Okay, so here's some of the howbehind it.
So choose a project, obviouslythat fits all the categories we
(21:35):
just talked about.
And then, once you do that andyou have a project that you're
like, I think this could work,based on the four or five things
to consider we just talkedabout.
Number one get super organized,okay.
So, like we were saying in thebeginning, sometimes the serving
experience is so bad that,again, it does more harm than
(22:00):
good, and this sense I mean more, not that the project was bad.
So let's say, you pick a greatproject, something people could
get on board with, but you haveno organization going on and so
people show up there's no likestanding around Exactly.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Is there anything I can do?
Speaker 1 (22:18):
Oh my gosh, it is one of my pet peeves and I've been
a part of those projects whereI'm like I am giving you my time
, which is my most valuablething I have, because I could
never get it back, but I'm hereto serve.
You don't have tools for me,you don't have direction for me,
you don't have direction for me, you don't know where I should
(22:40):
be.
And I remember recently gettingasked to come to help set up
something for a special eventfor a church, and I did it.
I showed up and I said, allright, I'm here, like where do
you need me?
What can I do to help?
Oh, we're good.
And then just kept walking.
I'm like, holy, activate,activate, activate.
Because I was so disappointed,like why did you drag me out of
(23:01):
bed to come and then just belike we're good, right, like
then, why did you ask me?
Speaker 2 (23:07):
to come.
It's.
It's better for both you andthem because, hey, they're there
to serve and it gives themsomething to do.
And also, if they're constantlyhaving to come to you and say,
like, what do I, what do youhave for me, what do you have
for me?
You're like.
I finished that Now.
What do I do?
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Now I do?
Speaker 2 (23:22):
You're going to spend the whole time being like, uh,
I don't know, um sweep that youknow sidewalk over there and
you're just going to be notengaged in the process either?
Speaker 1 (23:31):
So from both perspectives it's very stressful
.
Um and I've had that experiencebefore where people just keep
constantly asking you now, whatnow?
what?
And you're like, um, hold on,let me think so.
It's like having not.
So having the project maybesplit up into little, like this
is the cleaning team, this isthe painting team, this is the
(23:52):
building I donrary, but.
And then having the right toolsis really important.
And then another element oforganization, if you can, is
having a team lead over each ofthe miniature projects within
the projects, so like if you'regoing to an elderly home and
you're going to minister to themduring Christmas or
(24:13):
Thanksgiving or Easter,valentine's, whatever around
holidays is really good for thatstuff.
So you might get a volunteer andsay hey, could you run the
craft and come up with it?
Get the supplies, give me thereceipt, I'll pay for it, but I
just need someone to own that.
And then you say okay, we needsomeone to own, like the music,
(24:34):
you know, could you guys puttogether a couple little songs,
and I think they would love thatand then you're the team lead
of decorations.
You know, I think it'd be fun ifwe brought balloons and
streamers or I don't knowwhatever.
I'm just thinking off the topof my head, but having people
own these different parts, andthen you're saying how can I
help you?
Do you need me to buy materials?
(24:55):
Do you need me to you materials?
Do you need me to you know?
And so having more leaders thanjust you being the point person
for everything, because youprobably will be so stressed and
you'll give a short answer,like they did to me that day,
like oh, we're good.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Cause it's just like I don't know there's too much
going on.
I can't now give attention to.
What do you need to do?
Speaker 2 (25:14):
Right, and if you were the team lead for just the
examples that you gave andsomeone came in, you would have
to explain every single one ofthose tasks to each person and
that's just going to take timeaway.
And in the meantime you've gota line of 10.
Other people are like okay,well, I guess when it's my turn
you can explain.
You know whatever.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
Okay, so that brings up.
Another really good point ishaving the right amount of
people.
So we like when we do serviceprojects at our church, we will
cap it at a certain number basedon the project.
So there is kind of an art tothat as well, like it's that
really thinking ahead of howmany people realistically do we
(25:51):
need to pull this off?
Because most of the time I findthat there's too many people at
a project instead of not enough.
Both are bad, but when there'stoo many people you fall into
that nobody is necessary andit's just like there's nothing
for us to do.
The project I did at that schoolwe were good.
We were good Then the last daybecause this was a huge project.
(26:12):
So we worked on it for likethree days, four days, I don't
remember.
It was a long time.
And I remember the last daythey sent me a whole other crew
of people because other projectswere done and they were like,
uh, they'd have nowhere to go.
Can they come to your project?
I'm like, okay, but now I meanI can't imagine that's the most
stress I've ever been in my life.
(26:33):
But I was so stressed outbecause all these people with
shovels coming up to me where doyou need me and I'm like
there's hundreds of you, I don'tknow what.
Where are we and I?
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I mean you guys dig a hole and then you guys fill it.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
I was.
I was going to malfunction.
Like it was so stressfulbecause there were so many
people eager to serve, wantingto help yeah, and there's too
many of them.
I couldn't manage them anymore.
Like it got out of control.
It wasn't like, oh great, my 10working on gravel, my 10
working on dirt, my 10 workingon this.
(27:09):
Now it was like just thefloodgates open.
So be very careful of havingtoo many people on your project.
It's okay to cap it or work inshifts you don't want to have
them like hey, you're going toneed to be here for 12 hours
today.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
Can you do that?
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (27:25):
fair.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
As opposed to let's have three shifts of four hours
or something more reasonable,and we did that, but yeah, it
just got out of hand at the end.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
It was bad and I'm sure you've been a part of a
project like that where all of asudden there's so many people,
you and you just have thatfeeling like it makes zero
difference if I'm here or not,like if I were you're creating
out you and even the jobs you'recreating.
Speaker 2 (27:47):
It's like this is a one person job and now we're
trying to make it two or threepeople.
That happened on a serviceproject once before, right, it
just felt like this is soawkward, right like I'll turn
the screw and you hold the pieceof metal like I could totally
get us working together, buddyand it just was.
It was I mean you.
Speaker 1 (28:08):
You get to know someone really feel like it's
like just a little service paton the head, like aren't you
cute?
Like look at you, you can turna screw um, and because people
really want to do somethingmeaningful.
They do want to work hard, butnot like obnoxiously so, and so
the other problem is obviouslynot having enough people, and I
don't have to explain to you whythat is a bad thing.
(28:30):
That's pretty obvious.
But the point of it is makingsure that you gauge the amount
of manpower, woman power, peoplepower that you are going to
need for a job.
Speaker 2 (28:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
You know, and when you feel like you've hit it,
just say.
Sign ups are closed or hey,we'll catch you on the next one
Because, again, you don't wantto diminish the experience for
the people that are coming andthen making sure kind of what
you were saying along the linesof working in shifts that you
don't overdo it.
So I would reasonably say, ifyou're working with junior hires
(29:05):
, two hours is it?
That's all you get.
Do not try to make it go longer.
You will regret everything.
You will be like no, never again, Because they have a certain
attention span of what they cangive you and that's not their
fault.
That's just where they're atFrontal lobe.
Where are you?
It's not there, so don't golooking for it.
(29:25):
High schoolers, I think youcould probably get three hours
out of an adult.
I think you could do four hourshifts and be great.
You don't want a bunch ofjunior hires on your hands that
are bored with hammers you knowso no, no, no.
So just make sure you'retailoring the time Well and,
like we were talking aboutbefore, like picking a worthy
(29:45):
cause.
So the trail was a definite no,not a worthy cause.
But we have an organization inour town called rains that is a
therapeutic horsemanship programfor autistic kids, very
worthwhile cause.
We have another that we workwith called Divine Path in our
town and they give life skillsand culinary skills and job
(30:10):
skills to autistic adults.
Very worthy cause.
We will do anything for themand that is what makes a project
meaningful, like I'm doingsomething to impact people who
really deserve it, and that kindof puts the wind in the sails.
You know what I mean.
So I'll give you examples ofthe best ones.
(30:35):
We've done Rains, like I justtalked about, so I'll go to her
and say where do you need juniorhires for two hours?
Can you give me a project thatyou think would fit with their
skill level?
And she trusted us with paintand here's why it didn't matter
that much that time, because itwas over dirt right and it was
painting a fence white and Ifelt pretty comfortable with
that indoor painting no, that'swhat I was
Speaker 2 (30:54):
gonna say no, but outdoor where the dirt kind of
just paint drops and it's gonnaget on anything of mild
importance.
It's a hard no um.
Speaker 1 (31:04):
I had junior hires paint my office once it was all
over the ceiling.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
I was like thanks guys, Looks good.
Speaker 1 (31:10):
So good, so good.
And then Divine Path.
They're an organization that,like I said, gives life skills
to autistic adults.
So the project we do with themif you have any kind of
organization in your area likethis, whether it's down syndrome
, autism, something like that wethrow a dance for them.
Speaker 2 (31:32):
And oh, I just got the chills even thinking about
it formal, like really nice,like a valentine's day catered
and all that.
Yeah, so this year it's at.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
It's on valentine's day.
We invite them to our church.
We I'm just lucky that my guy'sdirector is also a DJ, so he
DJs the event.
You could just make a playliston Spotify, it doesn't really
matter.
We do a mix of just dance and amix of free dance.
We cater it, we find a lifegroup at our church who will
(32:02):
sponsor it, so it's not like I'mspending hundreds of dollars on
catering and they dress up.
We have like a photo booth andreally all they want to do is
dance.
I used to play a bingo gamewith them and then had this big
prize table and if they wonbingo they got to come up and
choose a prize and I think thatwas really fun.
But all they kept asking me thewhole time is when are we
(32:25):
dancing again?
Speaker 2 (32:26):
And.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I'm like so you guys just really want to dance,
that's it.
And watching the students, likedance with them and get out of
their shell.
Like I'll tell the studentswhen we eat dinner you are not
sitting at a junior high table,I want you all to spread out, go
mingle, cause they want to know.
I mean, they're the friendliestpeople in the world.
They're just like who are you?
And let me tell you everythingabout everything.
(32:46):
You know.
They're just so fun andtalkative that it just really
puts the junior hires guard down.
And then they are ministered toas well and they realize man,
why am I always so worried aboutbeing cool?
Like it's so much more fun tojust let loose and be yourself.
And so we debrief after and likehey, what did you guys learn
through this?
Speaker 2 (33:06):
project.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
It's so impactful, and then Well, real quick on
that.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
If you, if you go in your town, wherever you are at,
and you go in your town, stepone, get in your car, the town.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Now what.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I digress no, if you go to local restaurants or
things that will providecatering, yeah, it's.
Speaker 1 (33:31):
it's always worth asking yes I got a yes last year
yeah, I just say hey, this iswhat we're doing.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
You know, would there be any discount or anything
like that you could provide?
You know, it's always the worstI could say is no yeah and it's
slappy in the head.
Speaker 1 (33:43):
And I got Jersey Mike's to do it.
Last year they didn't.
It wasn't like free, but hegave us a super deep discount
and I said I'll post picturesand give you a shout out on.
Instagram.
And I don't think that's likewhy he said yes but it was kind
of a nice perk for him, like,hey, like I know you would never
ask for credit, but I'll giveit to you, you know.
(34:04):
So, yeah, great idea.
And then we do starving toserve, which is another great
service project where we'vetalked about it before.
The students fast for 27 hours.
They get sponsors for that andall of the money they raise goes
toward an organization calledoutside the bowl which builds um
soup kitchens.
The bowl which builds soupkitchens sustainable soup
(34:27):
kitchens, like not just feedsthem once, but these ones that
are gospel centered, so theypreach the word of God and feed.
I think they give like somecrazy statistic of each soup
kitchen feeds like a thousandpeople a day or something crazy
in their town.
It's super cool.
And so the students where theirservice comes in is they commit
(34:49):
to fasting, which is very hardfor them, and they raise the
funds and it all goes to outsidethe bowl.
So those are like our three bigones that have the most impact
and that I've seen have um like.
when I asked students like whatare your best memories of junior
high, they always say one ofthe service projects, like no
(35:12):
matter how many times we playpredator or go whitewater
rafting or give away prizes ordo cool events, they always say
serving.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Interesting.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Because I think it had the biggest impact.
Like it's rare which soundsweird, but it's rare to get an
opportunity to be a part ofsomething bigger than yourself,
because a private individual,especially a student, doesn't
always have the resources orconnections just to be like
we're going to go serve, likedown syndrome community members
(35:40):
today it's like they wouldn'teven know where to start.
But you as the pastor or aleader usually can, you know,
get in those doors and and makethings happen.
And people do want to be a partof that.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
They just don't know how to start alongside your
friends in the ministry.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
You've just created these bonding experiences.
So, yeah, if anything's goingon your calendar this year, you
don't need a ton of serviceprojects, just have two, three.
I used to try to do an everymonth and I realized that was
biting off way more than I couldchew and the quality level was
going down.
So now I have my three kind ofstaples and I'm like these are
(36:19):
the most impactful and I can dothem very well.
And then that's not talkingabout serving inside the church,
like I said, because we do thatconsistently.
People should be serving withinthe church on a regular basis.
This is just talking about aproject outside.
So, hopefully that was helpful.
I think we hit it all.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, we did another episode a while back along the
lines of service projects.
I think you talked aboutseveral of the ones here, but if
that's something you want tocheck out, make sure you take
that.
I was going to say take that alisten, take that a listen, take
that a watch and see what youthink.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Take that a listen.
I like that phrasing Iguarantee.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
If my aunt said that being 87, I'd be like take that
a listen Must be a saying and Iwouldn't question it.
Speaker 1 (37:05):
I think probably most people aren't questioning that
right now.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Take that a listen, you guys.
The question of the day todayis what is a song that you wish
would play as your intro musicwhenever you walk into a room?
Speaker 1 (37:17):
This question is so well timed.
I just spoke at a winter camp.
I just got back and I wastalking to one of their staff
and like they were getting memic'd up and stuff and I said,
oh, I never gave you my entrancemusic.
And they're like, huh, I'm like, yeah, like I like an entrance
song when I like go up on stageand like I'm gonna just run like
(37:39):
down the aisle, and they'relike, okay, it's like just
trying to go with it and I'mlike I'm totally kidding.
Speaker 2 (37:48):
But if I did have one and you wanted to use one it
would be you forgot the name Idid.
Speaker 1 (37:58):
It goes like this though y'all ready for this?
Speaker 2 (38:04):
I don't know if it has a name, does it?
Speaker 1 (38:06):
I don't know if it has a name.
Does it Ready for this?
I don't know.
But it's on the Space Jamsoundtrack and the beginning is
so good.
It's like it sounds like lasersand then the beat drops and I
would just want to do a tunnelof high fives.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
So this is like every house, every store, every time
you walk in.
I'm not just talking aboutspeaking no, no, no, this is any
time you walk in.
Speaker 1 (38:36):
Oh, this is even better.
I just picture like my hairblowing and like the lights
going down and everyone's scared.
There's.
Speaker 2 (38:43):
Albertsons, and there's what's happening.
Kristen's here.
Speaker 1 (38:48):
And like no one gives me a high five, I just start
writing that's even better.
Speaker 2 (38:54):
Maybe I should have clarified.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Make sure you put yours in the comments section
below.
What's yours?
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Mine would be, and I've always thought this, ever
since I was a kid.
You know you walk through like,especially like a store,
department store, things likethat, and the ever since I was a
kid you know, you walk throughlike especially like a store,
department store, things likethat, and the automatic doors
open.
Yeah, I always felt like it waslike a very sci-fi star warsy
kind of thing.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
So I always wanted the imperial march from star
wars.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
It's a little evil, well I think it's more um it's.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
It's a lot of pomp and circumstance okay, you are a
pomp and circumstance kind ofguy with my giant feather coming
out of my hat as I march inwith kingly robes when you said
the doors opening, I justpictured why I just died yeah,
or that one like that.
(39:43):
Just felt a little more likedramatic, but yours feels evil
imagine going to every storelike that.
Speaker 2 (39:51):
People would turn be like oh, I don't know who he is.
He must be important, though.
Do you hear that?
Speaker 1 (39:55):
music.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
He's like yankee doodle, with a feather in that
cap wow, okay, maybe not thefeather, but you know what I
mean.
You said feather, a big plumyone, um.
So make sure you guys put inthe comment section below what
is the song that you wish wouldbe your entrance music anytime
(40:18):
you walk.
Walking into an empty apartmentat the end of a long day that's
gonna put you in the mood foranything.
All right, uh, let's do aquestion or a comment of the day
and we'll call it quits.
This comes from amethyst kurtz,who says I love that every
episode gives me a freshperspective on my ministry and
or something I can take and usein my youth group right away.
(40:40):
I've been listening sinceepisode one.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Sorry, super cringy, sorry about that when I first
started.
Speaker 2 (40:45):
Wait, you're cringy, or she's.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
Well, you're, you super cringy, sorry about that
when I first started in Wait,you're cringy or she's cringy.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
Well, you are cringy and our first episode is cringy.
She did not say anything aboutthat.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Oh, I'm like that's not Okay, gotcha.
Speaker 2 (40:56):
Amethyst did not say that Amethyst.
Okay, then she says beenlistening since episode one when
I first started in my currentministry position, and since
then I've built a leadershipteam from the ground up and my
average youth attendance hasdoubled.
The tips and advice from thispodcast has played a role in
helping my team build a healthyculture that encourages growth
(41:18):
my favorite youth ministrypodcast.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
Hey, I like that, that's a really good one.
Speaker 2 (41:23):
That was an all-star comment.
Thank you, amethyst, appreciatethat.
Hey, mal, you're an all-star.
That would be really good one.
Speaker 1 (41:26):
That was an all-star comment.
Thank you, Amethyst.
Appreciate that You're anall-star.
Speaker 2 (41:27):
That would be a good one.
There's another one.
We're going to quit while we'reway behind.
Thank you guys for watching andlistening and we'll see you
next time.
All that glitter's gold.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Only shooting stars make the mold, Break the mold.
Today we're talking about howyou can make the biggest impact
in your youth ministry in thisyear Time.
Three days, four days, fivedays Helicopter.
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