July 17, 2025 • 22 mins
Are you ready to grow the size and health of your youth ministry? Check out
GrowYourYouthMinistry.com *** To celebrate our 250th episode, we're taking you on a full behind-the-scenes tour of our midweek youth group program. Our youth ministry has access to our entire church and we will be showing exactly how we transform it and utilize space to enable a thriving student ministry program!
From the moment students arrive, every space serves a strategic purpose. We walk through pre-program hangout zones, our leader preparation/meeting spaces, and the main service area where we conduct high-energy games, worship, and teaching. You'll also see how we convert multiple spaces into effective small group environments where deeper connections happen.
Whether you lead ministry in a sprawling campus or a modest building, this tour offers practical ideas you can adapt for your context. For churches with limited facilities, we offer scaled-down alternatives that create the same engaging atmosphere without requiring elaborate setups or equipment.
If you want to watch the full tour with visuals, check it out on YouTube here:
SHOPPING LIST:
- Mailbox: https://amzn.to/43gjQwF
- Piggy Bank/Box for Compassion Intl Donations: https://amzn.to/3ZefnZZ
- Small Group Bins: https://amzn.to/3Iv2ntD (these aren't the same, but similar)
- Connect 4 Lawn Game: https://amzn.to/3Iv2ntD
- Castlesports 9 Square: https://amzn.to/4eQLBkF
- Two Way Radios: https://amzn.to/4kdMxRE
- Nintendo Switch: https://amzn.to/43vS7Jy
- Market Lights: https://amzn.to/43lCseM
- Boba Pearls - https://amzn.to/4c695j2
- Torani Syrup for Italian Sodas: https://amzn.to/4ce85cJ
=========
If you have it on your heart to support this ministry, please consider going to our Patreon page at: www.patreon.com/ministrycoach
=========
You may also enjoy these episodes:
(#121) FREE TIME YOUTH MINISTRY GAMES - 6 Pre-Service Games Activities
(#242) Youth Ministry Room Setup & Decorating Ideas - Youth Ministry Remodel
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Jeffrey Lascola:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we
bring you weekly tips andtactics to help you fast-track
the growth and health of youryouth ministry.
Today is our 250th episode.
Can you believe it?
So we wanted to do somethingreally special.
We did previously a video allabout weekend setup, actually in
this very room, but today we'regoing to be doing a midweek
program, start to finish.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
If we haven't already met, my name is Jeff Lascola
and this is Kristen Laskola, andyou are about to get a tour of
our whole church and how weutilize space for a midweek
program.
Hey guys, welcome to the churchthat I work at.
(00:45):
It is Tuesday night and thestudents are going to be here in
about an hour, so I'm going togive you a quick tour of how I
utilize the space for the churchon a Tuesday for youth group.
Now, the benefit that I have isthat I get this entire church
to myself for Tuesday night.
The whole church shuts down andjunior high only is here 630 to
(01:07):
830 on Tuesday nights and highschool is seven to nine on
Wednesday nights.
So that's a really big benefitbecause, as I'll show you in
just a second, I get to use allthe space for all kinds of
different things.
Let's go check it out, okay.
So we're going to go inside andI'm going to show you what
happens.
First, we have our leadermeeting at 6 PM and we come in
(01:30):
here to the family room.
It says family room, but rightthere behind there.
So this is um where I have ourmeetings for me and my interns
meet here like around fouro'clock and we sit here and we
go over the night and what we'regoing to talk about Now, that's
(01:52):
just staff.
So interns, staff like the coreleadership team.
We just got done with ourmeeting not long ago, but then
at 6 pm I'm going to have all ofmy volunteers in here.
We're going to go over thenight.
I'm going to talk to them aboutwhat they can expect for the
game if they have a role in it,the message, the direction we
(02:13):
want them to head in smallgroups.
We're going to talk about anyevents that we have coming up.
We're going to troubleshoot anyproblems going on.
We're going to have a littlebit of fun and sometimes I bring
a treat, like if it'ssomebody's birthday or something
like that, and so from 6 to6.15, leaders are in here and
then after that we have a lot oflittle faces looking in here
(02:35):
and they're ready for us to comeout.
So we come out and at that pointthis lobby will be all used.
Students will just be in herehanging out waiting for program
to start.
All of these monitors will haveour logo on them.
You can see these different TVmonitors.
(02:56):
They'll have our youth grouplogo and then, about five
minutes before our youth groupstarts, we will start our
five-minute countdown so that ifthey're out in the lobby they
can see when youth group starts.
We will start our five minutecountdown so that if they're out
in the lobby they can see theone youth group is about to
start.
There'll be music on and a lotof them hang out in three
different spots and I'm going toshow you that.
(03:16):
This is like our informationtable.
So we have all of our leaderbio boards here so you can see
all of our volunteer small groupleaders and a little bit about
them.
This is our staff right hereand we put out our info.
So this is our summer calendarsome info cards for new students
(03:39):
to fill out so we can get themregistered.
This is our summer camp packet.
This is one thing I really love.
I know it looks simple, but themailbox that has just the slot
that you can't get into.
Like if students havepermission slips or payments or
anything like that or somethingthat they're going to hand me
that I'm going to sit down andlose because I'm busy, I always
(03:59):
say, put it in the mailbox.
We just got a new one.
We had all of our like youthgroup stickers all over it, but
our old one broke, so we need toput our stickers back on it and
then the bins underneath here.
So all the bins correspond tothe leaders up top.
So Arden and Sarah's smallgroup.
And here's Sarah's bio board sothat you can see which one goes
(04:24):
to which.
And if you want to look atthese, they're actually pretty
cool.
So we have a picture of ourleader and then it has their
name, birthday, how long they'vebeen with our youth group.
One food I can't say no to.
Favorite app.
She changed it to appetizer.
I just noticed that right now.
Favorite movie quote FavoriteStarbucks drink the Disney
(04:46):
character I identify with.
The most dream job and favoriteBible story, so that parents,
when they come in, they can kindof see a little bit about them.
These are the people that workwith your student and the
students love to do it.
They like just some people,especially when they're new.
They just like stand here andjust read every single one of
(05:06):
them.
So it's kind of a fun thing.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So these are like the same things you had for your
student leadership team, but yes, student leadership Are those
displayed out here, or only onthe weekend, only in the junior
high room.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And then, hello Sam, this is our deep end table and
so I have a leader that runsthis and the stuff isn't out
right now.
But what we made is somepackets where students can do
different Bible challenges, likethey can memorize scripture,
memorize the books of the Bible,they can do like a sword drill
(05:39):
and they can win chaos booksthat they can use in the snack
shack that I'm going to show youin just a second so they can
have like just a piece of candy,like a fun size piece of candy,
immediately, or they can saveup and get a chaos buck for
there, for the snack shack.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So cafe is open, yeah , tuesday nights.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So then the other place they love to be is in the
cafe Tuesday nights.
So then the other place theylove to be is in the cafe.
I have a.
One of my volunteers wastrained on how to use everything
and so, yeah, she makes drinksand it's only open right before
youth group, so kids would haveto get here a little bit early
and they can get a drink.
Um, there's the menu up thereand, yeah, it's, this is our
(06:24):
weekend one, but she opens itfor the junior hires, which is
super sweet.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Um, simplify this.
You're at a church with ahundred people total
congregation, so you don't havea cafe.
What would kind of be a similarsetup, maybe that you could do,
just dialed back?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I think Boba is super fun and super easy and you
don't need a whole cafe to runit.
So you can buy the boba ballson Amazon and you can do it with
.
Like these things are reallyfun.
You can add these this ishazelnut, so that wouldn't taste
good, but like watermelonstrawberry, whatever.
(07:02):
You could do that for boba,like you mix Sprite with the
boba balls and then they can adda flavor.
Another thing you could do thatour junior hires love is
Italian cream soda.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I don't know if you guys have ever had those, but
it's basically it's that sameTarani syrup stuff that you're
using for that stuff, right?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yes, and so you do it with club soda of whatever
flavor they choose, and thenhalf and half, which sounds
gross, but they love it, andthen you put whipped cream on
top and it's an italian creamsoda.
And you could just buy all thatstuff, keep it in a fridge and
just have a table where kidscould come up however much you
(07:42):
want, to charge two bucks for anitalian cream soda and it would
have that same like cafebarista vibe without all the
special equipment.
And we even have, like a coldbrew thing here.
I don't think students drinkthat, but, like you don't need
all this to make a cool vibe,you know.
(08:03):
So, yeah, this is a superpopular area for kids to hang
out, and now I will show you acouple more to hang out.
And now I will show you acouple more.
All right, so the second spotthat students hang out, and this
is probably the most popular,this is our high school rooms
(08:24):
lobby, actually, and you can seewe have video games over there.
We have plenty of places forkids to sit.
Now, this is by far the mostpopular spot for the junior
hires the snack shack.
So the snack shack well, it'slocked, but we have a drink
fridge here with all the colddrinks.
(08:46):
We have a deep freezer here sowe can sell ice cream, and then
we have bins of candy and stufflike that.
And then we go pick up a bigstack of pizzas from Little
Caesars and students can buythat here as well.
So everything's $1.50.
We'll have pizza, candy, soda,ice cream, and then what we do
(09:07):
also one of my leaders thoughtof this this is our offering box
.
We sponsor a child fromCompassion International.
She's from Uganda and it's areally good discipline.
We tell the students hey, youjust made it rain at the snack
shack, you bought yourself likefour things.
Don't forget also to begenerous.
And so we put our offering boxup here and that reminds them
(09:31):
when I'm buying something formyself, I need to also give back
.
You know, and we've had a lotmore success hitting our monthly
minimum for our CompassionInternational kid ever since we
put her box here, becausesometimes the kids would just
forget, and when they'respending money, what better time
to do that?
There'll be music on in here.
(09:51):
We have a monitor in here aswell, you know, with the logo
countdown, which is great.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So normally, you have shirts up on that.
Are you guys doing away withthat, like merch and things like
that?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I think they just painted in here, so there used
to be different stuff on thewall, so they just painted.
But you're right, we do havemerch, usually up here.
Kids can buy shirts or hats orwhatever we have.
We have some board games downhere below that they can play if
they want.
Another shelf over here withgames and cards and all of that
(10:24):
and then out here is.
It's so great because we havethis roll-up door so students
can be in the snack shack andthen they bring their food out
here and we have big lawn gamesand then actually this spot
looks super empty right nowbecause our Gaga Pit is not set
up yet, but you can see it overhere on the dolly.
(10:46):
Our Gaga Pit will be in thisarea.
We have the market lights up,we have some shade sales, which
is nice in the summer becauseit's still light out when kids
get here and they hang out here.
They sit on the wall, music'son and this is our outdoor venue
, this is our tent, and studentswill even come in here and sit
(11:08):
at one of the tables with theirfood and just kind of hang out
here.
Sometimes we set up our ninesquare out here as well in the
parking lot.
So if you're tracking with thepattern, it's like this big
circle that goes the cafe andthen down the hallway up to this
place and then the lobby andthe breezeway and then the tent.
(11:32):
I try to keep students fromhanging out actually in the
parking lot.
I don't know why they do that.
They like to do that.
So there's lots of differentareas where they can be.
So always just make sure youhave leaders spread out as well
so that kids aren't just, likeyou know, finding little places
to be and hide, and you knowjunior hires and privacy is not
(11:54):
a good match.
Okay, so once our hangout timeis over, so our program starts
at 630.
I'd say kids start to comearound 6, 615, but officially,
like on our website, on paper,we start at 6.30.
Then the countdown starts at6.30, 6.35.
And then all of my staff wearsradios and we radio and say all
(12:18):
right, send all the kids in.
If you're out at the snackshack, if you're in the cafe, if
you're outside, start pushingall the kids in.
We make an announcement on themic, say all right, if you're
outside, make your way in, we'regoing to get started.
We have outdoor speakers thatcome out here so that everyone
(12:38):
can hear, and then everyonemeets in the main auditorium.
So I will take you in there,don't mind us, we're just going
to film something really quick,okay, so all the students then
are going to come into the mainauditorium and this is the
auditorium we use for the adultservices on the weekend.
(12:58):
But, like I said, it's greatbecause we get the whole thing
to ourselves.
So we actually clear it of allthe chairs so that we have like
a big space.
Tonight we're playing dodgeball,classic, I know.
So the kids will actually justsit on the floor when they come
in, which is fine.
Then we'll play dodgeball.
This is our worship band.
(13:20):
They're getting ready, they'repracticing.
So the things that happen inhere is we begin the night, we
do a funny video, we do theannouncements, we do our
icebreaker, the impossible shot,which we've talked about.
Then we're going to play ourgame and then we're going to
roll our worship transitionvideo and we're going to get all
(13:41):
the kids to refocus back uphere.
Then we're going to do threesongs and then we're going to do
the message and then we'regoing to send them to small
groups.
So everything that I just saidup until small groups, they're
going to do the message and thenwe're going to send them to
small groups.
So everything that I just said,up until small groups, they're
going to do it in here.
So unless you play an outdoorgame unless we play an outdoor
game, yes, but mostly we'll bein here, so then we'll dismiss
(14:03):
them and then they all go totheir small groups.
I always tell the kids who arebrand new if you don't have a
small group, come see me andI'll help you find your way to
one, because we do small groupsbased on gender and grade, so it
always is like I know where toput them, which is makes it very
easy.
And then they all go out thesedoors and they head to their
(14:27):
small groups and I'll show youwhere that goes.
Also, that's the best tech guyin the whole wide world.
That's Noah.
Yeah, that's, that's the magic.
That's the magic right there,all right.
So then the leaders actuallyare going to grab their bins.
(14:48):
So they have a bin where thekids put their Bibles in the
beginning.
So this is something actuallybrilliant One of my leaders
thought of.
We were noticing kids weren'tbringing their Bibles on Tuesday
nights because walk with me,walk with me, because they were
playing games and running aroundand they didn't want to just
(15:08):
hold their Bible.
So they put their Bible now intheir leader's small group bin
and then the leader takes thewhole bin to small group.
The other benefit of it is likesometimes kids will have like
drinks or their backpack orsomething like that that they
don't want to carry around.
It's locked and they can justput it in here.
(15:29):
So then this is the hallwaywhere all of the classrooms are
and you can see they're alllabeled for the grades, because
this is where all the kids checkin on weekend services.
But again, the benefit tohaving it all to ourselves is I
can use all of these rooms forsmall group rooms, so the kids
(15:50):
know where they go and they arekid classrooms.
They can either sit on thefloor, grab chairs and then,
from about 8 to 8.30, they meethere for small groups and we use
every single room and some.
So if you need to get creativewith space, some things that
we've done because we did runout of classrooms, we used the
(16:11):
tent that I showed you earlier.
That outdoor venue works reallywell, especially because the
weather here is usually nicewhen it's not, we did bring in
space heaters.
We have fire pits.
You know, not great for juniorhigh, but high school could
definitely handle a fire pit.
Junior hires can't, but theycould do those big space heaters
.
I learned that the hard way andwe give the office to like
(16:35):
eighth grade girls.
We have like an area in theoffice.
I'll show you that they canmeet in there.
We have, I think that's all theother.
Oh, and then there's like abreezeway outside that has like
this little nook in it with somepatio furniture, and I actually
put a group out there.
And then the auditorium thatyou guys just saw where we do
(16:58):
our big group meeting.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I do have a small group meet in there as well, so
we are using everything, but younever have more than one group
meet in one space correct?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yes, so even though the auditorium is big, I would
never put two small groups inthere because it would just be
too distracting.
They probably wouldn't havevery fruitful conversation.
So I think it's best to haveone group per room Again,
especially for junior hires.
They're going to be throwingstuff at each other, very
distracted, and we don't needanything else working against us
(17:27):
because, as some of you know,leading a junior high small
group is hard enough, right?
So I will show you.
Do we want to see the office Isthat important.
Okay, so that's Caleb and Sam.
You may have heard of Caleb,that's him.
(17:56):
Okay, so we do a small group inhere.
This is our office.
It's in kind of an open officeconcept with some partitions.
This is mine right here.
So, oh gosh, I'm just going toleave this here.
That's me, but we have thiscool area here that has a slider
and we can put a group in here.
So this is a perfect littlenook.
So I think the point is you justneed to get creative with space
(18:18):
.
So if you need to put a door inor you know, let kids more
responsible kids use the officespace.
If you're running out of room,then you know it's worth it for
everyone to have their ownlittle spot.
So, hey, friend, I just wantedto interrupt this episode for a
second to let you know about anawesome opportunity for you and
(18:39):
your youth ministry.
So last year we launched ourcourse and coaching program
called Youth Ministry GrowthAccelerator and the response has
been amazing.
So we've helped tons of youthpastors grow the size and health
of their youth ministry and wewant to invite you to be a part
of that as well, because maybeyou're just sort of feeling
stuck in a rut.
(19:00):
Maybe you don't know what to donext.
Maybe you just have a vagueplan in your mind of what you're
doing and you want some realhelp to get you from where you
are to where you want to go.
So if that sounds likesomething you've been looking
for, go togrowyouryouthministrycom and
check it out for more details.
All right, let's get back tothe episode.
Then, when they get out of smallgroups, the kids come outside
(19:24):
again and we do our pickupsystem.
So they'll come right out here,kind of back to where we
started actually, and we havethem all come over here to the
gate.
And if you see this dirt lotover here, we've put up some
cones.
We create four lanes andparents get in either lane one,
(19:46):
two, three, four lanes andparents get in either lane one,
two, three or four, but the kidsall wait here and then we have
someone standing over here andthey have a microphone and a
walkie talkie.
So we have four parkingattendants out there.
One is taking lane one, two,three and four.
If you have a larger youth group, this might help you.
We just go up to the car, wesay who are you here to pick up,
(20:10):
and then they'll say the nameof their kid and then we radio
that to the caller.
And then the caller says allright, emily Wilson, your ride
is here and she'll wait rightthere.
And then we have a parking likecrossing guard cross students
over to one of the lanes.
So we'll say over to one of thelanes.
So we'll say Emily Wilson, laneone, and so the kids know where
(20:32):
to go.
Just helps us, because it'sreally hard in this particular
parking lot, the way it'sdesigned to have everyone
parking and pulling out at thesame exact time kids out here.
But this is probably a uniquesituation that won't apply to
many of you.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Just thought I'd mention it, how long does it
take you to move?
Like over 150 kids?
Eight minutes, so that's prettygood.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Also a nice thing about having the system you guys
have is that every parent willhave a touch point with a leader
.
Good point At pickup.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, yeah, I remember a long time ago someone
told me why are you out theredoing pickup?
And I'm like, cause I want tosee the parents.
You know, a lot of times theyjust drop off their kid or I
don't see them, and so it's kindof a nice way to like meet the
family, I guess you could say.
Or a parent will ask like aquestion like oh, I meant to ask
(21:24):
you like what time are you guysleaving for camp on Thursday?
You know something like that.
So it just gives them accessand if they prefer to come in
this lot you know we're notgoing to like no, get out of
here, Like if they're new, butit's just so much easier for
them too, because they don'thave to get out of the car, you
know they just have to sit there.
They could be in their pajamas.
We have parents sleepingsometimes, sometimes, so, and
(21:45):
that's where the night ends at8.30, and then we're done and we
go and clean up.
So any questions?
I'm good, Okay, Well, thank youfor visiting.
That is Tuesday night.
I hope it was helpful, andobviously my church looks
different than yours and all ofthat.
(22:05):
But just take what you can andget creative in your own space
of how you could do thingsdifferently where you're at, to
make things more seamless, moresmooth, utilize your space
better and, yeah, hopefullythere was something in here that
sparked some creativity for you.
Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we
bring you weekly tips andtactics to help you fast-track
the growth and health of youryouth ministry.
Today is our 250th episode.
Can you believe it?
So we wanted to do somethingreally special.
We did previously a video allabout weekend setup, actually in
this very room, but today we'regoing to be doing a midweek
program, start to finish.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
If we haven't already met, my name is Jeff Lascola
and this is Kristen Laskola, andyou are about to get a tour of
our whole church and how weutilize space for a midweek
program.
Hey guys, welcome to the churchthat I work at.
(00:45):
It is Tuesday night and thestudents are going to be here in
about an hour, so I'm going togive you a quick tour of how I
utilize the space for the churchon a Tuesday for youth group.
Now, the benefit that I have isthat I get this entire church
to myself for Tuesday night.
The whole church shuts down andjunior high only is here 630 to
(01:07):
830 on Tuesday nights and highschool is seven to nine on
Wednesday nights.
So that's a really big benefitbecause, as I'll show you in
just a second, I get to use allthe space for all kinds of
different things.
Let's go check it out, okay.
So we're going to go inside andI'm going to show you what
happens.
First, we have our leadermeeting at 6 PM and we come in
(01:30):
here to the family room.
It says family room, but rightthere behind there.
So this is um where I have ourmeetings for me and my interns
meet here like around fouro'clock and we sit here and we
go over the night and what we'regoing to talk about Now, that's
(01:52):
just staff.
So interns, staff like the coreleadership team.
We just got done with ourmeeting not long ago, but then
at 6 pm I'm going to have all ofmy volunteers in here.
We're going to go over thenight.
I'm going to talk to them aboutwhat they can expect for the
game if they have a role in it,the message, the direction we
(02:13):
want them to head in smallgroups.
We're going to talk about anyevents that we have coming up.
We're going to troubleshoot anyproblems going on.
We're going to have a littlebit of fun and sometimes I bring
a treat, like if it'ssomebody's birthday or something
like that, and so from 6 to6.15, leaders are in here and
then after that we have a lot oflittle faces looking in here
(02:35):
and they're ready for us to comeout.
So we come out and at that pointthis lobby will be all used.
Students will just be in herehanging out waiting for program
to start.
All of these monitors will haveour logo on them.
You can see these different TVmonitors.
(02:56):
They'll have our youth grouplogo and then, about five
minutes before our youth groupstarts, we will start our
five-minute countdown so that ifthey're out in the lobby they
can see when youth group starts.
We will start our five minutecountdown so that if they're out
in the lobby they can see theone youth group is about to
start.
There'll be music on and a lotof them hang out in three
different spots and I'm going toshow you that.
(03:16):
This is like our informationtable.
So we have all of our leaderbio boards here so you can see
all of our volunteer small groupleaders and a little bit about
them.
This is our staff right hereand we put out our info.
So this is our summer calendarsome info cards for new students
(03:39):
to fill out so we can get themregistered.
This is our summer camp packet.
This is one thing I really love.
I know it looks simple, but themailbox that has just the slot
that you can't get into.
Like if students havepermission slips or payments or
anything like that or somethingthat they're going to hand me
that I'm going to sit down andlose because I'm busy, I always
(03:59):
say, put it in the mailbox.
We just got a new one.
We had all of our like youthgroup stickers all over it, but
our old one broke, so we need toput our stickers back on it and
then the bins underneath here.
So all the bins correspond tothe leaders up top.
So Arden and Sarah's smallgroup.
And here's Sarah's bio board sothat you can see which one goes
(04:24):
to which.
And if you want to look atthese, they're actually pretty
cool.
So we have a picture of ourleader and then it has their
name, birthday, how long they'vebeen with our youth group.
One food I can't say no to.
Favorite app.
She changed it to appetizer.
I just noticed that right now.
Favorite movie quote FavoriteStarbucks drink the Disney
(04:46):
character I identify with.
The most dream job and favoriteBible story, so that parents,
when they come in, they can kindof see a little bit about them.
These are the people that workwith your student and the
students love to do it.
They like just some people,especially when they're new.
They just like stand here andjust read every single one of
(05:06):
them.
So it's kind of a fun thing.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
So these are like the same things you had for your
student leadership team, but yes, student leadership Are those
displayed out here, or only onthe weekend, only in the junior
high room.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
And then, hello Sam, this is our deep end table and
so I have a leader that runsthis and the stuff isn't out
right now.
But what we made is somepackets where students can do
different Bible challenges, likethey can memorize scripture,
memorize the books of the Bible,they can do like a sword drill
(05:39):
and they can win chaos booksthat they can use in the snack
shack that I'm going to show youin just a second so they can
have like just a piece of candy,like a fun size piece of candy,
immediately, or they can saveup and get a chaos buck for
there, for the snack shack.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
So cafe is open, yeah , tuesday nights.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
So then the other place they love to be is in the
cafe Tuesday nights.
So then the other place theylove to be is in the cafe.
I have a.
One of my volunteers wastrained on how to use everything
and so, yeah, she makes drinksand it's only open right before
youth group, so kids would haveto get here a little bit early
and they can get a drink.
Um, there's the menu up thereand, yeah, it's, this is our
(06:24):
weekend one, but she opens itfor the junior hires, which is
super sweet.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Um, simplify this.
You're at a church with ahundred people total
congregation, so you don't havea cafe.
What would kind of be a similarsetup, maybe that you could do,
just dialed back?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
I think Boba is super fun and super easy and you
don't need a whole cafe to runit.
So you can buy the boba ballson Amazon and you can do it with
.
Like these things are reallyfun.
You can add these this ishazelnut, so that wouldn't taste
good, but like watermelonstrawberry, whatever.
(07:02):
You could do that for boba,like you mix Sprite with the
boba balls and then they can adda flavor.
Another thing you could do thatour junior hires love is
Italian cream soda.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
I don't know if you guys have ever had those, but
it's basically it's that sameTarani syrup stuff that you're
using for that stuff, right?
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yes, and so you do it with club soda of whatever
flavor they choose, and thenhalf and half, which sounds
gross, but they love it, andthen you put whipped cream on
top and it's an italian creamsoda.
And you could just buy all thatstuff, keep it in a fridge and
just have a table where kidscould come up however much you
(07:42):
want, to charge two bucks for anitalian cream soda and it would
have that same like cafebarista vibe without all the
special equipment.
And we even have, like a coldbrew thing here.
I don't think students drinkthat, but, like you don't need
all this to make a cool vibe,you know.
(08:03):
So, yeah, this is a superpopular area for kids to hang
out, and now I will show you acouple more to hang out.
And now I will show you acouple more.
All right, so the second spotthat students hang out, and this
is probably the most popular,this is our high school rooms
(08:24):
lobby, actually, and you can seewe have video games over there.
We have plenty of places forkids to sit.
Now, this is by far the mostpopular spot for the junior
hires the snack shack.
So the snack shack well, it'slocked, but we have a drink
fridge here with all the colddrinks.
(08:46):
We have a deep freezer here sowe can sell ice cream, and then
we have bins of candy and stufflike that.
And then we go pick up a bigstack of pizzas from Little
Caesars and students can buythat here as well.
So everything's $1.50.
We'll have pizza, candy, soda,ice cream, and then what we do
(09:07):
also one of my leaders thoughtof this this is our offering box
.
We sponsor a child fromCompassion International.
She's from Uganda and it's areally good discipline.
We tell the students hey, youjust made it rain at the snack
shack, you bought yourself likefour things.
Don't forget also to begenerous.
And so we put our offering boxup here and that reminds them
(09:31):
when I'm buying something formyself, I need to also give back
.
You know, and we've had a lotmore success hitting our monthly
minimum for our CompassionInternational kid ever since we
put her box here, becausesometimes the kids would just
forget, and when they'respending money, what better time
to do that?
There'll be music on in here.
(09:51):
We have a monitor in here aswell, you know, with the logo
countdown, which is great.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
So normally, you have shirts up on that.
Are you guys doing away withthat, like merch and things like
that?
Speaker 2 (10:02):
I think they just painted in here, so there used
to be different stuff on thewall, so they just painted.
But you're right, we do havemerch, usually up here.
Kids can buy shirts or hats orwhatever we have.
We have some board games downhere below that they can play if
they want.
Another shelf over here withgames and cards and all of that
(10:24):
and then out here is.
It's so great because we havethis roll-up door so students
can be in the snack shack andthen they bring their food out
here and we have big lawn gamesand then actually this spot
looks super empty right nowbecause our Gaga Pit is not set
up yet, but you can see it overhere on the dolly.
(10:46):
Our Gaga Pit will be in thisarea.
We have the market lights up,we have some shade sales, which
is nice in the summer becauseit's still light out when kids
get here and they hang out here.
They sit on the wall, music'son and this is our outdoor venue
, this is our tent, and studentswill even come in here and sit
(11:08):
at one of the tables with theirfood and just kind of hang out
here.
Sometimes we set up our ninesquare out here as well in the
parking lot.
So if you're tracking with thepattern, it's like this big
circle that goes the cafe andthen down the hallway up to this
place and then the lobby andthe breezeway and then the tent.
(11:32):
I try to keep students fromhanging out actually in the
parking lot.
I don't know why they do that.
They like to do that.
So there's lots of differentareas where they can be.
So always just make sure youhave leaders spread out as well
so that kids aren't just, likeyou know, finding little places
to be and hide, and you knowjunior hires and privacy is not
(11:54):
a good match.
Okay, so once our hangout timeis over, so our program starts
at 630.
I'd say kids start to comearound 6, 615, but officially,
like on our website, on paper,we start at 6.30.
Then the countdown starts at6.30, 6.35.
And then all of my staff wearsradios and we radio and say all
(12:18):
right, send all the kids in.
If you're out at the snackshack, if you're in the cafe, if
you're outside, start pushingall the kids in.
We make an announcement on themic, say all right, if you're
outside, make your way in, we'regoing to get started.
We have outdoor speakers thatcome out here so that everyone
(12:38):
can hear, and then everyonemeets in the main auditorium.
So I will take you in there,don't mind us, we're just going
to film something really quick,okay, so all the students then
are going to come into the mainauditorium and this is the
auditorium we use for the adultservices on the weekend.
(12:58):
But, like I said, it's greatbecause we get the whole thing
to ourselves.
So we actually clear it of allthe chairs so that we have like
a big space.
Tonight we're playing dodgeball,classic, I know.
So the kids will actually justsit on the floor when they come
in, which is fine.
Then we'll play dodgeball.
This is our worship band.
(13:20):
They're getting ready, they'repracticing.
So the things that happen inhere is we begin the night, we
do a funny video, we do theannouncements, we do our
icebreaker, the impossible shot,which we've talked about.
Then we're going to play ourgame and then we're going to
roll our worship transitionvideo and we're going to get all
(13:41):
the kids to refocus back uphere.
Then we're going to do threesongs and then we're going to do
the message and then we'regoing to send them to small
groups.
So everything that I just saidup until small groups, they're
going to do the message and thenwe're going to send them to
small groups.
So everything that I just said,up until small groups, they're
going to do it in here.
So unless you play an outdoorgame unless we play an outdoor
game, yes, but mostly we'll bein here, so then we'll dismiss
(14:03):
them and then they all go totheir small groups.
I always tell the kids who arebrand new if you don't have a
small group, come see me andI'll help you find your way to
one, because we do small groupsbased on gender and grade, so it
always is like I know where toput them, which is makes it very
easy.
And then they all go out thesedoors and they head to their
(14:27):
small groups and I'll show youwhere that goes.
Also, that's the best tech guyin the whole wide world.
That's Noah.
Yeah, that's, that's the magic.
That's the magic right there,all right.
So then the leaders actuallyare going to grab their bins.
(14:48):
So they have a bin where thekids put their Bibles in the
beginning.
So this is something actuallybrilliant One of my leaders
thought of.
We were noticing kids weren'tbringing their Bibles on Tuesday
nights because walk with me,walk with me, because they were
playing games and running aroundand they didn't want to just
(15:08):
hold their Bible.
So they put their Bible now intheir leader's small group bin
and then the leader takes thewhole bin to small group.
The other benefit of it is likesometimes kids will have like
drinks or their backpack orsomething like that that they
don't want to carry around.
It's locked and they can justput it in here.
(15:29):
So then this is the hallwaywhere all of the classrooms are
and you can see they're alllabeled for the grades, because
this is where all the kids checkin on weekend services.
But again, the benefit tohaving it all to ourselves is I
can use all of these rooms forsmall group rooms, so the kids
(15:50):
know where they go and they arekid classrooms.
They can either sit on thefloor, grab chairs and then,
from about 8 to 8.30, they meethere for small groups and we use
every single room and some.
So if you need to get creativewith space, some things that
we've done because we did runout of classrooms, we used the
(16:11):
tent that I showed you earlier.
That outdoor venue works reallywell, especially because the
weather here is usually nicewhen it's not, we did bring in
space heaters.
We have fire pits.
You know, not great for juniorhigh, but high school could
definitely handle a fire pit.
Junior hires can't, but theycould do those big space heaters
.
I learned that the hard way andwe give the office to like
(16:35):
eighth grade girls.
We have like an area in theoffice.
I'll show you that they canmeet in there.
We have, I think that's all theother.
Oh, and then there's like abreezeway outside that has like
this little nook in it with somepatio furniture, and I actually
put a group out there.
And then the auditorium thatyou guys just saw where we do
(16:58):
our big group meeting.
Speaker 1 (16:59):
I do have a small group meet in there as well, so
we are using everything, but younever have more than one group
meet in one space correct?
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Yes, so even though the auditorium is big, I would
never put two small groups inthere because it would just be
too distracting.
They probably wouldn't havevery fruitful conversation.
So I think it's best to haveone group per room Again,
especially for junior hires.
They're going to be throwingstuff at each other, very
distracted, and we don't needanything else working against us
(17:27):
because, as some of you know,leading a junior high small
group is hard enough, right?
So I will show you.
Do we want to see the office Isthat important.
Okay, so that's Caleb and Sam.
You may have heard of Caleb,that's him.
(17:56):
Okay, so we do a small group inhere.
This is our office.
It's in kind of an open officeconcept with some partitions.
This is mine right here.
So, oh gosh, I'm just going toleave this here.
That's me, but we have thiscool area here that has a slider
and we can put a group in here.
So this is a perfect littlenook.
So I think the point is you justneed to get creative with space
(18:18):
.
So if you need to put a door inor you know, let kids more
responsible kids use the officespace.
If you're running out of room,then you know it's worth it for
everyone to have their ownlittle spot.
So, hey, friend, I just wantedto interrupt this episode for a
second to let you know about anawesome opportunity for you and
(18:39):
your youth ministry.
So last year we launched ourcourse and coaching program
called Youth Ministry GrowthAccelerator and the response has
been amazing.
So we've helped tons of youthpastors grow the size and health
of their youth ministry and wewant to invite you to be a part
of that as well, because maybeyou're just sort of feeling
stuck in a rut.
(19:00):
Maybe you don't know what to donext.
Maybe you just have a vagueplan in your mind of what you're
doing and you want some realhelp to get you from where you
are to where you want to go.
So if that sounds likesomething you've been looking
for, go togrowyouryouthministrycom and
check it out for more details.
All right, let's get back tothe episode.
Then, when they get out of smallgroups, the kids come outside
(19:24):
again and we do our pickupsystem.
So they'll come right out here,kind of back to where we
started actually, and we havethem all come over here to the
gate.
And if you see this dirt lotover here, we've put up some
cones.
We create four lanes andparents get in either lane one,
(19:46):
two, three, four lanes andparents get in either lane one,
two, three or four, but the kidsall wait here and then we have
someone standing over here andthey have a microphone and a
walkie talkie.
So we have four parkingattendants out there.
One is taking lane one, two,three and four.
If you have a larger youth group, this might help you.
We just go up to the car, wesay who are you here to pick up,
(20:10):
and then they'll say the nameof their kid and then we radio
that to the caller.
And then the caller says allright, emily Wilson, your ride
is here and she'll wait rightthere.
And then we have a parking likecrossing guard cross students
over to one of the lanes.
So we'll say over to one of thelanes.
So we'll say Emily Wilson, laneone, and so the kids know where
(20:32):
to go.
Just helps us, because it'sreally hard in this particular
parking lot, the way it'sdesigned to have everyone
parking and pulling out at thesame exact time kids out here.
But this is probably a uniquesituation that won't apply to
many of you.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
Just thought I'd mention it, how long does it
take you to move?
Like over 150 kids?
Eight minutes, so that's prettygood.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Also a nice thing about having the system you guys
have is that every parent willhave a touch point with a leader
.
Good point At pickup.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, yeah, I remember a long time ago someone
told me why are you out theredoing pickup?
And I'm like, cause I want tosee the parents.
You know, a lot of times theyjust drop off their kid or I
don't see them, and so it's kindof a nice way to like meet the
family, I guess you could say.
Or a parent will ask like aquestion like oh, I meant to ask
(21:24):
you like what time are you guysleaving for camp on Thursday?
You know something like that.
So it just gives them accessand if they prefer to come in
this lot you know we're notgoing to like no, get out of
here, Like if they're new, butit's just so much easier for
them too, because they don'thave to get out of the car, you
know they just have to sit there.
They could be in their pajamas.
We have parents sleepingsometimes, sometimes, so, and
(21:45):
that's where the night ends at8.30, and then we're done and we
go and clean up.
So any questions?
I'm good, Okay, Well, thank youfor visiting.
That is Tuesday night.
I hope it was helpful, andobviously my church looks
different than yours and all ofthat.
(22:05):
But just take what you can andget creative in your own space
of how you could do thingsdifferently where you're at, to
make things more seamless, moresmooth, utilize your space
better and, yeah, hopefullythere was something in here that
sparked some creativity for you.
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