Session 1 Synopsis: In this 25-minute on-demand training session, youth pastors will gain valuable insights into the unique characteristics, behaviors, and trends of Generation Z and Gen Alpha. This session will explore key trends in scripture, technology, theology, and cultural influences that shape these young people's lives. The trends will be found through Barna, Ligonier, and other academic youth ministry areas. By leveraging this knowledge, youth pastors can create more engaging and meaningful ministry experiences that resonate with Gen Z and Alpha, fostering deeper connections and spiritual growth. Join us to enhance your ministry's effectiveness in reaching the current generations in your youth ministry. 

Session 2 Synopsis: This 25-minute on-demand training session builds on the foundational understanding of Generation Z and Generation Alpha by offering practical steps to integrate these insights into your youth ministry. Learn how to adapt your teaching methods, build meaningful relationships, and create engaging interactions that resonate with these generations. We will provide actionable strategies and real-world examples to help you develop plans that leverage current trends in technology, social media, and cultural shifts. 

The Old Testament can seem like this ancient, out-of-reach, or unknown part of the Bible. While there may always be parts we will not fully understand, it doesn't mean we should avoid teaching it. One of our goals as youth workers is to help students better understand God's Word. In this video, we will discuss 4 different ways to help students understand the Old Testament.

This training addresses two common challenges in youth ministry: busy student schedules and student complacency. In these videos, we will explore strategies to help overcome busyness by looking at key solutions to help students prioritize their faith. We will also look at practical ways to help students overcome complacency and reignite their interest in being part of your ministry.

Meetings, planning, and forecasting. These are all things a great leader does on top of everything else. However, sometimes, when we are in our planning mode, it can be hard to know who to have in the meeting, what to do, and how to do it. In this video, we will look at how to plan an effective brainstorm meeting. A chance where you get to dream, build, create, and innovate. You want to get this right and make sure you have the right people and parameters set for this meeting.

Giving away ministry to students helps them develop a sense of ownership. There are several ways to do this, one of which is to let students pick the type of music in your ministry environments. Check out the video to see some helpful parameters to doing that and why it can make a difference in the life of a student.

There are a ton of "things" you have to do to ensure that you are ready each week for your youth ministry programming. Rather than focusing on a bunch of to-dos, here's a helpful framework to make sure you are ready mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.

Burnout happens every week in ministry. People are dreading their jobs, turning their back, and trying to escape. What if there were some symptoms we could look for in our own life? Check out this video to understand what burnout is and how to avoid it in your life.

Could disruption and doubt be gifts of the Spirit that move us (and the students we work with) beyond our comfortable categories and into a wild and holy trek taking us “further up” and “further in”? Could the desperation so many churches and youth workers feel about their future and the uncontrolled velocity of our culture be the ants in the pants the church needs to move us beyond a Gospel that has been reduced to showing up for meetings and not causing a stir? In part one of this three-part module, author Brock Morgan tackles the consistent elements of yesterday and today, like character development, individuation, and doubt; but he invites all of us along as the capital-C “Church” into greater collaboration as we partner with students to creatively form the ministry of tomorrow. You’ll find yourself encouraged by how you are practicing youth ministry and challenged to think differently, so you don’t hold on too tightly.

As youth workers, we are in a tough spot these days. On the one hand, we're finding that teenagers who have little to no church background and Bible literacy tend to be hyper tolerant of all religious views except for Christianity. On the other hand, students who grew up in the church and have heard all of the right answers are still struggling to articulate their beliefs and live them out day to day.

When these two realities combine in youth ministry, they can make teaching teenagers about spiritual things an infuriating experience. It can feel like you're banging your head against a brick wall. So maybe it s time we try something different when it comes to teaching theology to our students.Maybe it’s time we shift from being a content dispenser to a conversation cultivator. Maybe it's time we stop treating teenagers like consumers and instead start creating learning environments that lead to faith exploration and ownership.

We know we want to have our students living a life on mission. Yet, oftentimes, we find ourselves providing “one-off” trips that create Instagram memories and some great stories…but little more. So, how do we create lasting opportunities that call students to “live on mission” far beyond the specific mission trip? Corey Watson will dig a little deeper in this three-lesson module and explore that answers to that question.

Youth ministry is truly an incredible calling, but unfortunately, it is not void of its times of struggle and disappointment. In fact, serving as a youth worker seems to come with some struggles and disappointments that are uniquely its own. So, what are we supposed to do when things don’t go as planned? How are we supposed to respond when we start to wonder if all this work and effort are returning void? How do we keep moving forward in our service to the Lord through youth ministry when we feel like we are walking through thick mud? I don’t have all the answers, but I do want to share some thoughts and four things that have helped me navigate my own encounters with disappointment over the years. My hope is that if you are struggling right now, something in this video reminds you of who you are, whose you are, and that what you do matters.

Over the years, there has been one particular student ministry event that has excited my students more than most and blown away my expectations each and every time. Not to mention that it’s proven to be a winner regardless of the size of the youth ministry I’ve been a part of or the ministry’s typical participation rate. Curious? Well, that event is a silent disco...in particular, a glow night silent disco. Sound fun? That’s because it is! So, let me walk you through all the ins and outs of hosting your own glow night silent disco for your ministry.

Whether you see it as a waste of time, a danger to society, a tool of a foreign government, or just the next version of Myspace that will go as quickly as it came, TikTok has your students’ eyes and attention. According to the Pew Research Center, TikTok claimed the #2 spot in the rankings of online platforms used by U.S. teens in 2023, surpassing the former powerhouses of Snapchat and Instagram. As we look at engaging our students and creating opportunities to share the Gospel with the lost, the question isn’t if TikTok will be banned or sold but how youth workers will redeem it and utilize it for the Glory of God. In part one of this three-part TikTok series, I want to share with you the pros of utilizing this social media platform in your ministry.

Whether you see it as a waste of time, a danger to society, a tool of a foreign government, or just the next version of Myspace that will go as quickly as it came, TikTok has your students’ eyes and attention. According to the Pew Research Center, TikTok claimed the #2 spot in the rankings of online platforms used by U.S. teens in 2023, surpassing the former powerhouses of Snapchat and Instagram. As we look at engaging our students and creating opportunities to share the Gospel with the lost, the question isn’t if TikTok will be banned or sold but how youth workers will redeem it and utilize it for the Glory of God. In part two of this three-part TikTok series, I want to share with you the cons of utilizing this social media platform in your ministry.

Whether you see it as a waste of time, a danger to society, a tool of a foreign government, or just the next version of Myspace that will go as quickly as it came, TikTok has your students’ eyes and attention. According to the Pew Research Center, TikTok claimed the #2 spot in the rankings of online platforms used by U.S. teens in 2023, surpassing the former powerhouses of Snapchat and Instagram. As we look at engaging our students and creating opportunities to share the Gospel with the lost, the question isn’t if TikTok will be banned or sold but how youth workers will redeem it and utilize it for the Glory of God. In part three of this three-part TikTok series, I want to share with you some ways to create engaging content while utilizing this social media platform in your ministry.

The students of Gen Z and Gen Alpha are seeking to belong before they believe. As youth workers, we can either fight against that felt need or come up with creative ways to meet a student’s need and desire for belonging. It starts with asking a simple question: What are some concrete ways that I (and those who serve alongside me) can help teenagers find belonging within our youth ministries? From there, it’s honestly a mix of creativity and trial/error. In this video, I want to act as a catalyst for your imagination as you seek to answer this question in your ministry by sharing three ways our ministry does to foster unity and belonging.

When you think about your students and student ministry, here are two questions I’d like you to consider: 1) What are you doing to help teenagers take more ownership and be more active or engaged during your small group experience? 2) Instead of allowing students to be passive participants in this formative time, what can you do or dream up that could give them regular opportunities to be discipled and grow in their faith in practical ways? Now, I don’t claim to have it all figured out, but we have created and implemented an idea in our student ministry that seems to be effectively answering these two questions. That’s why I want to share this idea for you to use in our own ministry or to serve as inspiration to try something different to move your students from “renters” to “owners” of your student ministry.

Summer is the time for cookouts, mission trips, pool parties, camps, retreats, and so much more. But what if you decided to take advantage of the change in your typical youth ministry rhythm and pace that summer provides and use it to pour into your ministry’s leaders this summer? In this video, I want to offer you a look into our student ministry and share with you three tips we put into practice every summer to be more intentional about leveling up our ministry leaders.

For anyone who has ever felt unqualified to share the Good News, this training is for you. My Eight: Embrace and Engage in the Wonder of Evangelism uses Scripture and stories from Dr. Newton’s life to make plain how not only are we, as Christ-followers, more than capable of sharing the Gospel, but we are also called to do so. It does away with the idea that you must have a microphone or a stage to make Jesus known, but instead invites us to see the beauty and joy of embracing and engaging in evangelism everyday.

Youth ministry changes quickly depending on what's going on in the church, what's happening in the culture, the makeup of the current students involved in the ministry, and literally hundreds of other factors. These changes often go unnoticed because we, as youth ministry leaders, are too busy or assume nothing has changed. If we don't take a step back and assess our ministry, we are in danger of becoming less effective in our reach and discipleship. Having recently stepped into a couple of new ministry environments, each with its own unique contexts, I learned just how much value there is in the ability to quickly and accurately assess each context. With my degree in business combined with a fair amount of youth ministry experience, it occurred to me that the ability to perform a SWOT analysis could be a real game-changer for youth ministry leaders. So, in this five-lesson module, I will break down a SWOT analysis for you and discuss how to apply it to your youth ministry. 

In the journey of faith, the decision to be baptized marks a significant milestone for many individuals, particularly students, who are embarking on their spiritual path. It is a moment of profound significance, signifying their commitment to follow Christ and embrace the teachings of Christianity. In navigating the complexities of guiding students through the baptismal journey, a multifaceted approach that prioritizes timely action, is intentional with inclusive discussions, and one that sits on a solid foundation rooted in Scripture is indispensable. In this three-lesson module, we will discuss how to create a baptism counseling strategy that approaches the subject of baptism with humility, openness, and reverence—one that engages in meaningful dialogue, listening attentively to the voices of tradition, Scripture, and the Spirit. And one that extends grace and hospitality to all who seek to explore the depths of faith.

In this single-session Masterclass video, we will explore the two-and-a-half ways that you can approach summer programming/calendaring, which will help you absolutely crush it. We will explore the pros and cons of these approaches in detail, along with one ministry failure story and one idea for each approach that you can try out. Nick also shares five outside-of-the-box connection ideas you can try this summer (complete with downloadable examples). All of this is to capture significant summer momentum and set yourself up for a fantastic fall return from a fruitful youth ministry summer!

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.

Working with teenagers, especially post-pandemic, you are most likely fully aware that adolescent mental health issues are as significant and debilitating as they are widespread (and growing). In fact, according to the Director of the American Institute for Cognitive Therapy, “The average high school student today has the same level of anxiety as the average psychiatric patient in the early 1950s.” So what can we do, as youth ministry leaders, to lean in and help our students who are coping with or struggling to navigate mental health issues? In this single-session Masterclass, Jon provides seven thoughts to help you get started.

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. 

How are you being intentional about ensuring that your current students feel seen, welcome, and pursued by your ministry? How do you help a new student feel like they belong? One of the things I’ve been experimenting with lately is sending postcards or cards to students and leaders. Let me tell you just one of the things I’ve noticed: There’s power in writing postcards! A handwritten note or card is not only a lost art form, but it’s also a unique and simple way to say, “I saw you,” “You are welcome/wanted here,” and “You matter to us because you matter to God.” So, let me share some tips and even an example of what sending some cards to your students, guests, and leaders could look like in your ministry context.

As youth ministry leaders, we all have things that we’d love to do (know that we need to do) but often don’t have the time or clear vision for. Sunday and Wednesday are always coming, and the teenagers in our care need our attention. But what about their parents? What about the people who actually have the biggest influence on them? What are we doing to engage, equip, and empower those who God has called lead their children? In this MYM training, Family Ministry Pastor Chris Sasser will share a few ideas and tips on how we can engage, equip, and empower parents in our church as they seek to love and lead their teens.

Whether in life or in ministry, change is inevitable. Hopefully, no student ministry leader says yes to the Lord’s calling or His leading, only to “give it a little while to see how it goes.” But change is part of life, and as ministry leaders, we need to be able to navigate change well. The Art of Change is a comprehensive guide written to help you navigate the transitions within youth ministry with grace and purpose. In this three-lesson module, we will explore essential strategies for departing from a ministry role with integrity, seamlessly transitioning into a new role with confidence, and maximizing personal growth during the interim period. Whether you’re a seasoned youth pastor or embarking on your first ministry position, this module will equip and challenge you to navigate change effectively, ensuring a smooth transition and continued personal and professional development.

Social media consumes more than our time. It distracts us from what’s most important. It takes away part of our humanity. Most importantly, whether we care to admit it or not, it affects the condition of our souls. You can certainly use social media, and it can serve a purpose in your life and ministry, but ministry leaders, we need to stop looking at social media as a necessity for human connectivity. In this four-lesson, Brian Housman will share three big lessons that he learned during his social media sabbatical with the hope of helping you to ponder your own relationship with social media.

As a youth pastor, not only are you responsible for preparing/preaching weekly sermons for your students in a large group setting, but you’re also tasked with equipping your leaders to teach the Bible in a weekly small group/discipleship setting. Each of these settings is unique and come with their own issues to navigate. Each of these settings has significant value. Each of these settings requires a youth ministry leader to think and prepare differently. In this two-session Masterclass video, Matthew will share some of the different needs that students have when they are sitting in a large group environment versus a small group environment. In session one, Matthew will explore the uniqueness of preaching in a large group setting and some tips that may help you in your leadership and preparation. In session two, Matthew will delve into the nuance in preparation, student needs, and leadership that comes with teaching/leading others to teach in a small group environment.

Do you ever find it odd that, as student ministry leaders, one of the things that so many of us struggle to do well is celebrate with/alongside the students in our span of care? You’d think that with the word “student” or “youth” being half of our job title, celebrating with/alongside students would come more naturally…or that we would at least be more intentional with it. In this single-session Masterclass, Josh points out four important spiritual milestones and three easy personal milestones that we need to pay attention to. He also provides some thoughts as to how we can be more intentional in celebrating with/alongside the students we serve.

Welcome to the “The Ultimate Guide to Harnessing the Power of Summer Interns for Church Success.” In the first session of this dual-session Masterclass, we dive into strategies and tips that will help you and your church recruit, develop, and maximize the potential of summer interns and achieve results that are a win-win for everyone. Nick will also share a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” of leading interns from the mouths of some of his own interns. In session two, Nick will talk about moving from summer interns to having your own residency program and the phases of a residency. He will also discuss how to equip a resident to leave their experience prepared for ministry. Lastly, Nick will cover what to do when you have to let an intern or resident go. If you have interns and/or residents in your church (or you would like to), these videos will both challenge and equip you to do it well.