It's been said that one of the greatest myths of leadership is that you must be in charge in order to be a leader. Unfortunately, as a youth pastor, odds are you find yourself leading from the second chair (if you have a chair at the table at all). So how do you lead well, serve with great integrity, and be an influential presence from your youth ministry seat? Here's how I do it at my church.

Effectively utilizing social media to communicate and engage your students can feel completely overwhelming. Even if you are a somewhat tech-savvy youth pastor, social media posting can quickly become yet another unchecked box on an ever-growing to-do list that you will never get through this week. What if you could eliminate those feelings of being overwhelmed or frustrated by learning to create and schedule an entire week's worth of social media in only one hour? Let me show you how I do it in my ministry.

It's time for another big event, camp, retreat, or outreach, and you need a game that your students will be talking about for years to come. I got you! Let me share an epic messy game I play in my ministry that will make your next event "sizzle."

Partnering with parents doesn't have to be rocket science. Sure, your steps towards a partnership need to be thoughtful, but they can also be as simple as they are purposeful. For example, here's a little secret that isn't that much of a secret at all: Parents love people who love their kids. Let me share with you some ways that I take some first steps towards a partnership with parents in my ministry by intentionally encouraging parents along the way.

Discipleship is more than getting to know what the teacher knows. It is getting to be what he is. - Juan Carlos Ruiz

We are called to make disciples. The pursuit of making disciples who love, follow, and are completely sold out to Jesus is (or should be) at the very core of everything we do in youth ministry. But when the rubber that is the busyness of our students' and volunteer leaders' lives meets the road of their good intentions, creating discipleship groups that work proves easier to say than actually to accomplish. Let me show you some principles that I have found that have proven to be successful when creating a discipleship group that works.

Do you want to be respected as a youth ministry leader? Do you desire to not only partner with parents but be trusted by them as well? There is one essential element that will act as a master key to opening all three of these doors. That key element is excellent communication. From content to consistency to conciseness, let me walk you through the things I have found in my ministry that are essential for every parent email.

As youth workers, we know full well that "...all have all sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God...." (Romans 3:23 ESV). But one of the more difficult parts of youth ministry, in a practical sense, is how we walk alongside a teenager and their parents when that teenager has been caught in sin. Allow me to share with you four practical ways we partner with parents through a student's sin in our ministry.

It's time for another big event, camp, retreat, or outreach, and you need a game that your students will be talking about for years to come. I got you! Let me share an epic yet super simple messy game I play in my ministry that will have your students coming back for more...more shaving cream to battle with, that is.

It's time for another big event, camp, retreat, or outreach, and you need a game that your students will be talking about for years to come. I got you! Let me share an old favorite with a few new twists that I play in my ministry every year as a large outreach. Don't dodge this opportunity to provide your students with a way to involve their friends in an epic night of ducking, dipping, dodging, and diving.

There is nothing like the honor and blessing it is when, as youth pastors, we get a front-row seat to watch God moving and working in the life of a teenager. One of the best moments is talking with a student about their decision to follow Jesus and follow through with being baptized. It's amazing and humbling at the same time. But the logistics of it all can also be a little intimidating. How does that process work in your ministry? Are you intentional in this pre-baptism meeting to walk a student through what baptism is, what baptism isn't, how it works, why we do it, and even what needs to come after? Are you making an effort to involve the parents in this entire process? Allow me the opportunity to share with you how we do one-on-one baptism meetings with students at our church. There's even a downloadable baptism meeting guide and checklist for you to adjust to fit your ministry context.

There is nothing like the honor and blessing it is when, as youth pastors, we get a front-row seat to watch God moving and working in the life of a teenager. One of the best moments is talking with a student about their decision to follow Jesus and follow through with being baptized. It's amazing and humbling at the same time. But the logistics of it all can also be a little intimidating. How does that process work in your ministry? Are you intentional in this pre-baptism meeting to walk a student through what baptism is, what baptism isn't, how it works, why we do it, and even what needs to come after? Are you making an effort to involve the parents in this entire process? Allow me the opportunity to share with you how we do one-on-one baptism meetings with students at our church. There's even a downloadable baptism meeting guide and checklist for you to adjust to fit your ministry context.

If you are like me, you spent your childhood years watching Nickelodeon and people getting slimed. Whether you were growing up during the time of You Can't Do That On Television, Double Dare, Family Double Dare, Figure It Out, or over the last 21 years of the Kid's Choice Awards, you know that the famous green slime made it cool and made you wish it was you getting slimed. In my ministry, we give adults and students alike the ability to live out that slime-coated dream. Let me tell you how we do it.

One of the things that I learned very early in my years in youth ministry was that the ministry I was doing WITH my students was about a lot more than just the ministry I was doing FOR my students. No middle schooler and less than half of the high schoolers who participate in your ministry actually get to your ministry events or activities on their own. And pretty close to 0% of your students pay for your ministry's camps, retreats, lock-ins, or other events. Parents are essential. And your ability as a youth pastor to earn the trust, respect, and buy-in of parents can quickly make or break your ministry's reach and impact. That's why I want to share three "must-do's" if you want to build trust and relationships with parents.

All of us in youth ministry have upset a parent and had to deal with the ramifications of it. If you haven’t had the experience yet, trust me; it’s coming, and it’s not fun. So, what do you do when you have upset a parent? How do you approach making it right or even winning back any lost trust? There’s no need to make a mistake when dealing with angry parents when you can learn from mine! Let me share with you three things that I’ve learned over the years to do when you need to deal with an angry parent.

In most youth ministries and with most youth pastors, saying the words "All-Nighter" is equivalent to speaking the name of Voldemort; you just don't do it. But what if I told you that a well-planned, well-placed, and well-thought-through All-Nighter could become a favorite (and valuable part) of your ministry year? Let me show you how and why we do an annual All-Nighter in our ministry.

Have you ever planned and promoted an event only to have nobody show up or tell you they missed it because you didn't communicate it well? Jake Rassmusen combines his knowledge and experience in both the youth ministry world and also as the Director of Marketing and Strategy at YM360 to help you better promote and communicate your events so students will show up.

P.T. Barnum once famously said, "Without promotion, something terrible happens...nothing!" I would argue that the same can be said when it comes to leading games in a youth ministry environment. In my experience, without consideration, planning, and attention to these four things, your games will fall flat.

Every Youth Pastor longs for dedicated help, an extra pair of boots on the ground to assist you in reaching, leading, and discipling teenagers. But are you and your church really ready for a youth ministry intern? Do you have a plan in place for training them up to do the work of ministry? Having served as an intern in multiple churches, I've seen firsthand the good, the bad, and the ugly of internships. So, let me share with you some important do's and don'ts of bringing on a youth ministry intern.

As the founder and director of GENERATE camp, I get questions all the time about the games we create and how others can do the same. So allow me the honor of sharing with you some methods that we use at GENERATE and how you can implement those methods to make the games at your next big event, DNOW Weekend, or camp/retreat absolutely amazing!

As school returns, the summer heat begins to fade, and another ministry year starts to ramp up, two things are on the minds of a majority of youth pastors: 

1) Oh no, is Halloween on a Wednesday this year? 
2) I need to plan the Fall Retreat! Planning retreats are often daunting as they require attention to detail across many different areas simultaneously. 

This masterclass series in planning and programming a fall retreat will walk through everything you need to get right with creativity and programming, the questions you need to ask and answer about logistics, and will help you eliminate the potential pitfalls so many make when planning. 

It's time for another big event, camp, retreat, or outreach, and you need a game that your students will be talking about for years to come. I got you! Let me share an amazing messy game I play in my ministry that will help your next event "slide" into the Guinness Book of Epicness.

Communicating to teenagers…is it an art or is it a science? The answer is YES! In this MyYouthMin Live Online Training Event Kurt Johnston, who has spent over 30 years writing messages and speaking to students, will share some of the secrets he’s learned along the way.

By Nick Clason. We know a couple of things about Gen Z (and subsequently will be true about Gen Alpha close behind them)--1) They're the first generation to be on their mobile device more than other devices combined. 2) They say a hybrid version of church will suit their needs in a post-pandemic world. 3) Greater than 80% use at least one social media app regularly. What these statistics show us is what we already know in our guts, that digital ministry is not going anywhere. As a youth ministry leader, you're doing all you can to keep up with the latest social media platform, use it effectively, post regularly, and leverage it to engage students, parents, and leaders. But gnawing at you in the back of your mind--you're aware that a social media presence matters and that your students live on it, but you don't know how to best utilize each social platform. That's what we're going to explore here in this module. We're going to look at the top five social platforms and discover the most up-to-date best practices. Then we are going to create an entire social media strategy for you and your ministry.

By Corey Watson. School campus ministry is a great way to meet students right where they are, minister to the faculty, bless the school in practical ways, and meet other students in your community. The questions that come up most often, however, whenever we talk about building a campus ministry are— How do I locate and leverage open doors at the schools in my community? How can I connect with my students there without crossing any boundaries? How can I get the critical meetings that need to be had with the key leaders at a school, and how do I make a great impression when I do? These are common questions for many of us as youth pastors as we attempt to solve the campus ministry conundrum. Oftentimes, however, we go about answering these questions during the busiest times of the school year. What if I told you there was a time when school leaders would be more open to meeting and engaging with you on this topic? There is such a time, the summer break.