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Author Haydn Shaw says, “People often turn to religion for comfort and guidance in a changing and sometimes confusing world but find with five different generations, it is impossible to keep everyone on the same page. Younger generations are not willing to wait for styles and approaches to change—they simply go somewhere else or stay home. Because religious organizations survive only if they are able to attract the next generation, this may be the most important issue they face.” Part of your calling and living out your role as a leader in youth ministry is to help bridge the generational gap that exists within the walls of your church and help teenagers and adults alike navigate generational change. In this two-session masterclass, Dr. Jody Dean will walk you through some ways to do just that.

Ministry comes with many weighty responsibilities. Ministry leaders are called to teach, serve, and lead. But in leading those under their care, there comes a moment when they recognize the future leaders under their leadership. With this recognition comes an all too familiar question: What comes next? Let’s talk about what it means to call out the called, and to disciple those who have been called to ministry leadership.

When was the last time someone asked you, “How is your soul?” When was the last time you asked yourself that question? Maybe most importantly, when was the last time you slowed down long enough to honestly answer or do something about your answer to that question? Let’s spend some time together talking about caring for our souls because only healthy leaders can lead healthy ministries.

The experience of living as a teenager is, in some ways, the same as it's ever been. But in other ways, that experience has dramatically changed (and not only because of social media; and not only because of the pandemic). Marko will provide youth ministry leaders with a quick overview of the history of modern youth culture, highlighting the Belonging lens through which most teenagers now view everything (with a bunch of implications and applications).

Our world has changed. The pandemic has reshaped every aspect of our culture, including the rhythms surrounding our faith. When preaching the Bible to teenagers, some best-practices are timeless and unchanging. And there are also new variables that must be considered. In this session, Andy will walk youth ministry leaders through the non-negotiables of effectively preaching the Word to students in a culture that is radically changing around us.

Nobody in ministry does it alone; we need volunteers, parents, students, and staff around us. While a staff team is not a guarantee in every youth ministry context, if and when you end up leading a staff team (or a volunteer team), they are worth taking care of. What are some things you need to consider when it comes to leading, growing, and caring for your staff? Let's talk about it.

As a youth ministry leader, it's so easy to get focused on all the things (preaching, recruiting, training, partnering with parents, event planning, meetings, etc.) that we can neglect the most important thing; the state of our own souls. We are called to minister out of the overflow of our own hearts. Instead, we often find ourselves ministering out of the overflow of our own exhaustion, frustration, and emptiness. This is not sustainable or healthy ministry! So in this On-Demand Masterclass, let's talk through 11 tips to keep your soul healthy while leading a youth ministry.

You have a group of dedicated volunteers. They show up when they are supposed to, and they do what is asked of them. . .for the most part. But how do you develop that group to serve others well? How do you motivate them to approach serving teenagers as more than just being dutiful to the Lord? How do you lead, train, and support that group so that they go from a "group of individuals" to a team? Join Dr. Jody Dean in this two-session Masterclass on-demand to hear how he's training students at New Orleans Baptist Seminary to develop a team that serves.

Youth ministry never stops! Every new student, new family, new volunteer, or new ground taken in your ministry starts a new plate spinning. Not to mention all the added responsibilities that, for some reason, didn't seem to make it on your pre-hire job description. Before you know it, your potential success in youth ministry can be overtaken or completely undermined by your inability to get it all done. In this two-session masterclass, you'll learn how to take the reins of your time and personal management by implementing the C.R.A.M. strategy.

As someone called to youth ministry, you're passionate about discipling teenagers. You're passionate about pouring into students and their families. You love the work you do with youth and the local church. You spend countless hours and sacrifice much to live out that calling and that passion. However, sometimes in the living out of that passion and calling, we find ourselves pouring out more than we are filling up. Sometimes we can find ourselves beginning to waver in our walk with the Lord. So in this training, we're going to be taking a look at some of those spiritual disciplines we need to be regularly practicing to be filled and renewed as we live our ministry calling. In session one, we will cover the inward disciplines of prayer, study, fasting, and meditation. In session two, we will cover the outward disciplines of servanthood and simplicity, solitude, and submission. Lastly, in session three, we will walk through the corporate disciplines of worship, celebration, guidance, and confession.

I once heard it said that youth leaders should spend 1/3 of our time reaching and discipling students, 1/3 of our time developing leaders, and 1/3 of our time equipping parents. This is a great model and a healthy approach to youth ministry. But what if leadership development was an intensional part of your discipleship process? What if, as we were making student leaders, we were simultaneously training them to be disciples who make disciples? This is a one-session master class on how to engage, equip, and empower your students to do that very thing.

Have you ever heard of the saying, "Do it right or do it over?" Flying by the seat of your pants and surviving in ministry due to the grace of the do-over is a typical caricature of a youth ministry leader. However, no matter how charismatic the personality of the ministry leader is, there comes a time when second chances run out, and your misteps lead to your termination. This is especially true with errors and oversites in the areas of organization, communication, systems, wisdom, conflict resolution, and change. But there is another way. In this On-Demand Masterclass, we will look at seven critical aspects of ministry that you really need to get right this year so that you can lead, grow, thrive--and still be employed—in the next year.

If you desire to be an effective youth ministry leader, effective communication is a skill set that has to be mastered. This On-Demand Masterclass will do a deep dive into helping you build a more effective communication strategy by identifying your audiences, exploring a central hub model, and generally upping your communication game with students, parents, and volunteers in your ministry.

It has been said that leaders have the power to change or affect the lives of others, and therefore, leadership is sacred work. If this is true of leadership in general, it must be infinitely more true for ministry leaders. But how can we expect to participate in this sacred work of leading others if we are incapable or sorely lacking when it comes to the ability to lead ourselves well? In this two-part master class, we are going to look at six big areas of self-leadership—self-discipline, health, time management, saying no, boundaries, family first—and all the things that we struggle with that make up these six areas. These two sessions will offer tips, suggestions, and things for you to consider about self-leadership. But most importantly, they will cause you to ask some hard questions of yourself about the way you lead yourself and consider how those choices impact everyone/everything around you.

No youth pastor takes a ministry role expecting things to go poorly or with an internal time clock of when they know that God will call them to something new. But inevitably, it happens. Something changes. Something goes wrong. Something happens outside of your control but impacts you, your ministry, or your family. Maybe something goes particularly right. Or God, in His perfect timing and will, moves you on or over to something else. In this masterclass, we will look at when to leave, how to leave well, and the things you need to thoroughly investigate/ask before saying yes to your "next."

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

Generation Z, is the youngest, most ethnically diverse, and largest generation in American history, comprising 27% of the US population. They are digital natives who have never known a time without cell phones, the internet, or interactive social media. This generation is often stereotyped as tech-addicted, anti-social, or “social justice warriors,” but they also currently make up at least 50% of your youth ministry. Do you know how they think, how they learn, or how to engage them? Let me walk you through how we approach it.

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.

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. 

"Your words have consequences... and taking responsibility for your actions is the right thing, regardless of the outcome."

Three friends meet in the school cafeteria after one of them makes an offensive joke in class. This piece touches on the theme that the way you live each and every day is as much of your mission field as when you go oversees on a missions trip. 

Author: Jonathan Skaggs & Katie Beazley

• Length: approximately 8 minutes 
• Actor Needs: 1 male actor, 2 female actors 
• Theme Verses: Proverbs 27:17, Colossians 4:6
• Downloadable PDF

“I get angry too. And you're right Steph. Life isn't the best right now, and dad may never come back. There seems not too much for us to be thankful for. But not only do we have each other, but we do have the Lord. He is our father and he will guide us. And for that I am thankful and forever grateful.'” 

When siblings sit down for dinner, one admits they don't think they should have to pray because they don't believe they have anything to thank God for. A dramatic scene about God's timing and providence and our trust in Him. 

• Author: Terrance Jackson
• Length: approximately 10 minutes 
• Actor Needs: 3 actors 
• Theme Verses: Psalm 9:10; Proverbs 3: 5-6
• Downloadable PDF

Living up the expectations of others is often an impossible task. After work one evening, two students talk about image, perfectionism, and being honest with others about who they are on the inside, despite what they show on the outside. Through their brief interaction, they learn that letting God, and others, into our lives brings freedom. 

Length: 4:16 | Format: 1920 x 1080 MP4

No matter the size of your ministry. No matter how long you’ve been there or what type of church you participate in, chances are, you’ve had experiences with parents who may be a little bit more “needy” than other families in your ministry. These are the families who are a little more opinionated or maybe more willing to share their opinions with you (and everyone else) more than the rest. We’re talking about the families whose emails you leave unread just a little bit longer because, honestly, you’re not totally sure how to respond. The families that call your phone you may send them to voicemail because you want to hear what they have to say before you answer or call back. It’s the family that on a Sunday after service, you’re standing in the lobby, and you see somebody walk into you, and you go, “Ohh man, that’s so and so, and I’m not sure I’m ready to have this conversation.” We all have families in our ministry who we just struggle with, right? We don’t hate them. We don’t dislike them. However, at the end of the day, they just make life a little bit more difficult for you, and we want to know how to navigate, how to engage, and how to care for these families really well because God has entrusted us with that task. God has placed those families in our church, so we don’t just want tactics or tips and tricks to figure out how to avoid these families or just pass them off to someone else. We want to be pastors. In fact, God has invited us into this as pastors, and we have a responsibility and, hopefully, a desire to care well for the people that God has placed in our ministry context. So, in this single-session Masterclass, Josh talks about difficult parents and five things to consider when choosing to pastor them well.

In this single-session Masterclass, Josh addresses a leadership topic that is oftentimes frustrating for people. We love the joys of student ministry. We love it when we can cast a vision for something that sticks and that people get excited about and want to follow us to see it come to fruition. But what about those other seasons where we cast vision, and nothing happens? What about those times when you get super excited about something—a new program a new idea, a new initiative, whatever it is—and we cast that vision to church leadership or families or our volunteers or our students, and they look at us with a little bit of confusion like we have four heads? So, let’s talk about what to do (and not do) when our vision doesn’t stick.

I think that we are all familiar with the Great Commission that is found in Matthew 28. I want to suggest, as a starting place, that the Great Commission is what youth ministry is all about. I think we'd all agree that we're not just about entertaining; we're not just about enculturating teenagers into the way of the church; we're about making disciples. And most of us in youth ministry are highly intentional in one way or another about how we go about doing that. That's what we want to consider in this video: reframing discipleship and what that could look like.

Fair warning to all my fellow youth workers: in this video, I’m going to step on some toes (youth worker toes, parent toes, church leadership toes) and challenge you to join me in doing something that, for some reason, in our culture, sounds wildly controversial. My challenge isn’t for your youth ministry to go vegan. My challenge isn’t for you to stop playing games. I’m not even going to suggest that there is a correct timespan for a sermon. What I am going to do is to tell you why I disabled all my push notifications on my phone, and strongly suggest that you consider doing the same.

If you’re anything like me, you are always on the lookout for event ideas for your student ministry that feel fresh, don’t break the bank, aren’t solely focused on games/physical activity, and capture the attention/imagination of your students. In this video, I want to share one of the ideas we created to do just that: a student-led film festival that still has our students talking and counting the months until we host it again next year.