flashback friday (jan. 14): this week's links from the youth ministry blogosphere

One of the things we are committed to at ym360 is Networking. Our vision for networking is connecting you to people and organizations doing awesome youth ministry. Flashback Friday is a feature where we give you the run down of all the interesting posts from the past week in the youth ministry blogosphere. Consider it our way of keeping you connected with what is going on.

This week's posts from the ym360 Blog

• What God Are You Teaching Your Teenagers?
• Youth Ministry Essentials: Keeping A Small Group "Dialed In"
• Are You A Youth Group? Or A Powerful Spiritual Community?
• The Importance of First Impressions In Youth Ministry

Posts From Other Awesome People

We search the Internet to bring you relevant information to help you be a better youth worker. Here are some links from posts we thought were pretty great.

• More Than Dodgeball.com--My favorite post of the week! Josh Griffin describes his process for crafting a message, including pictures of his manuscript, etc. I think this is very valuable insight to anyone who teaches regularly. Great stuff.
• Think Next Now.com--ym360 contributor, Mark Cox, shares 7, one-sentence prayers he's praying for his youth group. I thought they might apply to yours, as well. Good stuff.
• Marathon Youth Ministry--ym360 contributor, Chris Wesley, shares a question he was asked by a student, and how you might respond to it. This post generated a ton of great discussion. Chime in if you haven't already.
• Rethinking Youth Ministry.com--Brian at Rethink NAILS it on this one: "What youth ministry buttons do you keep pushing that don't work?" Clever analogy, practical insights. A great post.
• Lars Rood.com--After fixing his RSS feed [inside joke], Lars Rood writes a great post on the next big youth ministry revolution. I happen to agree with him.
• The Overflow--Brian Berry writes a really thoughtful post on dealing with discouragement in youth ministry. Love Brian's thoughts and heart here.
• Youth Ministry.com--ym360 contributor, Darren Sutton, writes on steps to take when you have been "wounded" by your church.
• Jay Higham.com--I remember talking with Jay, a great youth minister and ym360 contributor, about this a little bit at this year's NYWC. It's a great thought by Jay: "Who are the next voices in youth ministry?"
• Girls Minister.com--If you want to look good, make a point to pass along to your students' parents this post by ym360 contributor, and excellent girl's minister, Amy Jo Girardier. Great thoughts on setting digital boundaries for students (especially girls).
• REyouthpastor.com--ym360 contributor, Jeremy Zach, writes a really cool post on why youth ministers should learn to love para-church youth organizations. Great thoughts.
• Greg Stier.org--I LOVED this post! It's funny and thoughtful. Greg, founder of Dare 2 Share, writes that all of us need pie. Seriously.
• Doug Fields.com--Doug Fields passes along a really cool phone app that could solve your group messaging problem for very little money.
• Journey of Purpose.com--My good friend Melanie Dill left an incredible youth ministry gig at a "mega church" to do ministry ("youth" and otherwise) in the Capricorn slums of South Africa. For some great perspective, check out her blog. This post is an INCREDIBLE perspective on what she encounters.
• Jason Huffman--Jason writes a great, short post on "measuring success" in youth ministry. Good thoughts on thinking about the lives you touch, not the numbers attending you programs.
• Nikomas.com--Short, on-target post about making small groups the core of your ministry.

That will do it, folks. As always, have a great weekend . . . And THANK YOU for the chance to serve you as part of the ym360 community.

Share your thoughts with the youthministry360 community:

• As usual, we want to hear your thoughts. Any particular post catch your eyes? Make you think? Did you disagree with anything? Let us know! Your voice makes the ym360 community stronger.