Youth Pastor Training and Leadership

When was the last time you took a timeout? More specifically, when was the last time you were hyper-intentional about carving out some time to get alone, get away, and give yourself (and your ministry) the gift of some reflection, recharging, and refocusing before launching into what’s next? Let me challenge and count down for you in this video (no matter what month it is when you are watching it) with why I believe it’s so important to start planning a short timeout- RIGHT NOW, before the start of a new year or a new ministry season.

Are you trying to do youth ministry alone? Do you ever find yourself wishing that you had a community of fellow youth workers to engage with, learn from, bounce ideas off of, and do life with? As youth ministry leaders, we are better together. So, let's talk about how to find and build that community.

I think it’s a safe bet that none of you got into youth ministry because you loved working with soundboards or training volunteers how to run lights. But the utilization of technology to supplement your ministry environments is important; especially if you want to speak the language of a generation that’s grown up on it. So with a limited understanding of tech and an even more limited budget to work with, what can you do to upgrade your production experience? Let me show you!

Are you utilizing drama or skits in your ministry context? If so, do you know how to select the scripts that compel your audience to lean into those dramatic presentations? Let me give you some tips and tricks to do just that.

Being a spiritual leader can sometimes leave us feeling dried out. Why? Because we put a lot of effort into pouring out but not filling back up! So, let me share a few thoughts with you on how you can fill up while pouring out.

Discipleship is as critical for your students to understand and participate in as it is for your ministry to value. So, how are you teaching your students to be growing disciples themselves as well as those who disciple others? Let me share an odd but effective way to teach students discipleship that I promise you they will always remember.

Youth Ministry tends to repeat itself, but that can actually get us into a place of complacency! Let me encourage you in this video to break away from the repetitiveness of student ministry and add something new and challenging!

The holidays are quickly approaching, and the first half of the ministry year is coming to a close. Are you closing things down, mailing it in, or are you being a strategic youth ministry leader who is maximizing the winter break? Let's take a moment to look at those approaches together, and let me tell you why and what I do to maximize the winter break.

As youth ministry leaders, we work hard to promote and create student environments that our students get excited about inviting other students to be a part of. That's why it's always exciting whenever those friends and new students actually show up to check out our ministry. The question then becomes, what are we doing to connect with those new students so that they feel seen, welcomed, and want to return? Let me tell you some things that we do in our ministry to make that happen.

In youth ministry, many of us view long-range calendaring with the same gritted teeth and eye rolls that we do budgeting, and keeping up with receipts. But, like it or not, strategic calendar planning can be incredibly beneficial to you as well as to the students, parents, and volunteers who are a part of your ministry. Let me walk you through seven tips that I have learned for creating an effective ministry calendar.

What happens inside the walls of your ministry context—in small groups, at camps, and during mid-week services—are obviously impactful in the life of a student. But what if I told you that what happens outside of your church—the ministry opportunities that take place on a student's turf—can be even more impactful? Let me tell you why on-campus ministry is important, share some dos and don’ts, and walk you through ways I've learned to do effective campus ministry.

As youth ministry leaders, we spend an enormous amount of time and effort preparing to launch each new ministry year. So why are we not putting as much effort into closing out the ministry year? In this MyYouthMin look, I would like to challenge you to think about ending your fall semester as strong as you began. Let’s talk about why and how.

As the leaves begin to change color and everything else changes to some version of pumpkin spice, it’s time for you to think about and plan your fall retreat. Let me share with you three elements that we focus on in our ministry to make sure that our fall retreats are effective.

You can sense the excitement of school starting. You know you need to have a successful start to the year (as do all youth pastors). Yet, the same problem consistently presents itself each year--How do I do this in a fresh and effective way year after year? It's a question we all deal with each semester. Let me share with you how Upstate Student Ministry plans one of our cornerstone events to kick off the school year. I hope that it will help you discover some principles that can transfer to your ministry and help with your launch event.

Hey youth pastor, you've worked hard to create an incredible first time experience for guests. That's great! But how are you following up with those guests and assimilating them into your ministry? Let me share with you two ways we do it.

We've all been there...it's a Tuesday evening, and you're teaching on Wednesday night, but you still have no idea what you're teaching yet. Quite often in youth ministry, there are so many things pulling at your time that your lesson prep gets pushed to the side. So how do we avoid it? One way is to build a forward-looking schedule that is planned out in advance, invites over voices in, and shares the stage. Let me tell you how I do it in my own ministry context.

Written by Dr. Noel Forlini Burt. The Book of Hosea sits squarely within the corpus of the Minor Prophets, what many scholars refer to as The Book of the Twelve. This collection spans many centuries of history in the lives of God’s people, Israel. This history covers the collapse of Israel, the northern half of the kingdom, to the nation of Assyria; the exile and displacement of Judah, the southern half of the kingdom, to the nation of Babylon; and the return of the exiled Judahites back to their land and the subsequent rebuilding of their lives following that return. Over the course of this six-lesson module, we will explore the wilderness tradition together through one of its primary intertexts—the prophet Hosea’s use of wilderness imagery in the 8th century BCE. In particular, Saint Jerome’s statement about the barrenness of the desert experience. 

Written by Dr. Danny Kwon. Parenting well is the hardest job on the planet. Partnering with parents in youth ministry may be the second hardest job. You've probably studied teenagers' needs, their culture, and even their ever-changing lingo in preparation to be the most dynamic youth worker your church has ever seen. But when was the last time you studied their parents? What are their fears? What motivates their decisions? And why do some of them seem so hard to please? A Youth Worker's Field Guide to Parents is for youth workers who struggle to communicate with and relate to the moms and dads of the teenagers they want to reach the most. Whether you're a veteran youth worker or just starting out, or a church leader who wants to embrace parents more effectively, this three-part module will provide you with tips for peacemaking, insights for better empathy, and the motivation you need to make these important relationships work.

Written by Dr. Noel Forlini Burt. The ancient story of Jonah is so much more than a mere caricature of a story about a “prophet and a big fish.” In this six-lesson module, we’ll do a deep dive into the text of Jonah, giving attention to the different aspects of God’s character and our spiritual formation and ministerial lives. Through this deep dive, we will discover God as Creator, God as Deliverer, a God who cares about our disappointment in ministry, a God who cares about us in spite of our disobedience, a God who attends to our depression, a God who is with us in our waiting, and a God who is compassionate about the whole world (even the people we despise).

Written by Dr. Danny Kwon. Parenting well is the hardest job on the planet. Partnering with parents in youth ministry may be the second hardest job. You've probably studied teenagers' needs, their culture, and even their ever-changing lingo in preparation to be the most dynamic youth worker your church has ever seen. But when was the last time you studied their parents? What are their fears? What motivates their decisions? And why do some of them seem so hard to please? A Youth Worker's Field Guide to Parents is for youth workers who struggle to communicate with and relate to the moms and dads of the teenagers they want to reach the most. Whether you're a veteran youth worker or just starting out, or a church leader who wants to embrace parents more effectively, this three-part module will provide you with tips for peacemaking, insights for better empathy, and the motivation you need to make these important relationships work.

Have you ever wondered if you are truly being effective at multiplying disciples? You know you are running programs but you just aren’t sure those programs are creating the disciple-making results you are intending to produce. The Disciple’s Journey training from Dave Rhodes will jumpstart a healthy conversation for you and your team around what effective disciple-making looks like and lead you to evaluate your ministry based on the time tested process of discipleship that we see Jesus use with followers.

Written by Josh Haight. Everyone loves a good retreat, right? I know I do. But if you’ve never planned one, there are more than a few things we could easily forget to think about. Though our programming or messages may be the primary focus, neglecting these other things may create more headaches than you care to navigate. In this eight-lesson module, we will look at all the things that go into planning a great retreat: vision, identifying your target audience, programming, recruiting a team, communication, logistics, follow-up, and problem-solving.

Written by Heather Quiroz. Teaching students the Bible can feel overwhelming. So much history exists between its pages. Many of the customs that were common during the time in which the Bible was written are extremely unfamiliar to us today. Therefore, the Bible can feel a little bit more like a crossword puzzle than a road map to easily follow. After all, the Jewish people had a distinct identity and way of life. They were steeped in a rich cultural heritage that influenced how they wrote and why they communicated in the manner in which they did. As intimidating as all of this might feel, removing ourselves from the Jewish roots from which our Messiah was produced can have drastic consequences for our understanding of Scripture. Therefore, having a deeper appreciation for the group of people who produced our Messiah has the ability to radically bless our faith and the faith of the teenagers we minister to. Therefore, understanding books that are outside the Biblical canon yet played a very influential role in the history and development of the Jewish nation can have something valuable to teach us. This, in turn, helps us become better teachers of the Bible when we have a better understanding of the cultural milieu that influenced the historical backdrop of the Jewish people.

Written by Chris Trent. Although longevity in ministry is something we all hope to achieve, getting there is often a real challenge and can prove to be a bit of a hike. Traversing the rugged terrain on the pathway to longevity is especially challenging in the area of youth ministry. Few callings come with as many twists, turns, peaks, and valleys as ministering to teenagers. Reaching and discipling them is challenging enough. But what about navigating all the leadership dynamics that come with serving on a church staff? What about the challenges of engaging and equipping your students’ parents? And let’s not get started on how the expectations of youth ministry impact your family. Youth ministry is not for the faint of heart. If you want to achieve longevity in youth ministry, you’re going to need an exceptional field guide and a trusted mentor.