Month: April 2026

Resource: Pastor Stays

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Have you ever needed a vacation? Of course you have; we all have. But let me ask a different question: Have you ever needed a vacation but couldn’t afford one?

Those of us in ministry are acutely aware of the reality that we didn’t go into this profession to get rich. We know that working for a nonprofit isn’t necessarily going to have us rolling in the dough, and there will be plenty of times when we may have pinch pennies (or nickels since pennies are not being made anymore) to get by.

In my years of serving in ministry and talking to other ministers and church workers, one of the places that typically gets pinched or cut early on is a vacation or time away.

This is honestly heartbreaking because not only does it devalue the work that pastors and church workers do, but it also doesn’t allow for them to recharge well. It keeps their families from being able to enjoy time away with their loved ones.

I’ve met countless pastors whose families have never taken a vacation unless someone else paid. I’ve talked to kids of pastors who have been made fun of because they never understood what it was like to take a vacation because all they did were staycations.

This should evoke much deeper conversations about compensation, care, and support for pastors, but that is a conversation for another time. What I want to talk about today is a resource to pastors that offers reduced and free stays at homes and retreat centers around the country. Essentially, think about staying in an Airbnb or Vrbo for free and being able to spend quality time with your family refreshing and recharging. Sound too good to be true? It’s not.

Let me introduce you to Pastor Stays. One of my good friends mentioned this to me when I was thinking about taking a vacation and trying to find a place to stay. When you head to their website, you’ll see a handful of the stays they have and be able to read up on the history and mission of the organization.

This is a ministry that came about during the 2020 pandemic from the vision of Troy and Jana Jones to bless other pastors and their families. Their heart truly radiates as you read through the website and see their desire to care for others.

In order to get access to their website, you need to create a profile and it is a little extensive. They want to get basic information but also to know who is applying. They ask for ministry history and your story. They will also ask for documentation like your ministry credentials to validate that you’re actively serving in ministry and truly a pastor.

When I filled it out, I realized that my ordination certificate was from the first church I pastored and I wasn’t sure if it would be approved. I reached out to their team and received a quick response stating that my ordination would be received without issue and once it was submitted my application would be reviewed.

Each submission is looked at by the Pastor Stays team to validate that a pastor is actually applying and seeking to appropriately utilize this resource. Once approved, you’ll have access to all the different homes and rooms available on the site.

The search function doesn’t always work well if you’re looking for something in a place where there aren’t available homes. However, all of the homes are listed on the home page. The list will ebb and flow as more homes become available.

When you click on the place you’d like to stay you’ll be met with photos, a description of the property, amenities and additional details. If this property works for you, you can submit a brief form requesting to book the property. Many of the properties are free but some do require a reduced payment.

One of the realities of utilizing this website is that these properties may require a bit of travel to get to. However, not having to pay or paying a reduced cost for your stay can make the cost of traveling a little more palatable and affordable. Overall this is an amazing blessing and opportunity for pastors and their families, and we would highly recommend taking advantage of this resource.

Planning Ahead: Teaching Calendars

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Welcome to a brand new series called “Planning Ahead.” This series is intentionally designed to help youth workers think through strategically planning for specific events, dates, and bench markers in ministry.

We will talk about fall kickoffs, Christmas parties, Lent, training sessions, and more. Our hope with this series is to provide you with practical steps to help you succeed in ministry by setting benchmarks in planning and sharing insights we have learned along the way.

If your experience starting out in ministry is anything like mine, I wasn’t taught strategic planning. I didn’t know how important it was to plan ahead or build out a teaching calendar. I didn’t see how intentionality wasn’t just intended for teaching and preaching but also in how we structure, prepare for, and implement important events and key programmatic pieces within our ministries.

I’ve learned how important planning ahead is not just for my own sanity but also for our students, families, and volunteers. When we plan ahead we show intentionality, communicate value and worth, help everyone to understand what we are doing and why. We are able to unify under a shared vision and goal.

So with that in mind, today I wanted to share about intentionally building out teaching calendars by answering some common questions surrounding them.

How far in advance should we plan?

When it comes to a teaching calendar, I plan a semester ahead and I typically don’t plan for a whole year. We curate our content for a semester at a time and try to have it finalized months before the next semester rolls around.

That means we typically have our fall teaching calendar finalized around May or June and our spring teaching calendar finalized around October or November. When you plan this far ahead, it allows you to start recruiting teachers, planning for different events, and strategically choosing teaching series.

How do we pick what we will teach?

When I first started in student ministry, I picked topics that I thought were relevant or that sounded cool. Curriculum with catchy titles and graphics were always a win. But we need to think beyond just what will be relevant or “cool” and instead plan with intentionality, purpose, and vision. That means when you are choosing what you will teach, you do so in light of those things as well as choosing relevant and necessary topics.

So plan your teaching around your vision, themes that you’ll focus on in your ministry, and key dates or momentum seasons. You can also begin building a 3, 4, or 7 year curriculum track based on how your program functions. You could choose a 3 year curriculum for middle school and a 4 year curriculum for high school that repeats (with updated changes as needed) to help students move through key life phases and seasons.

What should be included?

This is a question I used to wrestle with when I was younger because I would second guess myself. But here’s the thing: you know your students best and that means you know what they need to hear and be guided in. Trust your instincts and lean into your group dynamics.

But I would also encourage you to pay attention to culture, what Gen Z and Gen Alpha are searching for, and what students are grappling with overall. You can do this by talking to other youth workers, joining online communities, stepping into various cohorts, and following organizations like CPYU, FYI, Barna, others. If you utilize those key pieces to think about what is being taught, you will have a solid teaching calendar.

How many calendars should you have?

Sometimes I see ministries with multiple calendars and frankly that can get confusing. Instead of having multiple calendars, look to simplify down to one. Yes, you may need to have a calendar for families and one for leaders, but trying to simply the amount of calendars also allows your communication to be simplified and concise which provides clarity for everyone.

I won’t lie to you and tell you that if you do all these things that you’ll always hit it out of the park. We all swing and miss at times. But I will tell you that you will see more success and you can fine tune the necessary areas to fully pour into your community.

Resource Review: The FYI on Youth Ministry Podcast

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I love listening to podcasts. I listen to everything from The Pour Over to Crime Junkies to The Holy Post. My taste is fairly eclectic and I’m always looking to add more podcasts to my playlist. I also really love to listen to ones that challenge me and help me to grow as leader, person, and Christ-follower.

Recently, I came across The FYI on Youth Ministry podcast that is currently hosted by Kara Powell. This is a podcast from the Fuller Youth Institute that brings together insights, research, advice, and stories and experiences from people who serve in the trenches of ministry. It is a conversational podcast that truly helps to inform, equip, and challenge those who serve in student ministry or oversee staff who do.

I must confess, that I’ve only recently started listening to this podcast but in that short amount of time, I’ve binged multiple episodes buecasue of how solid and beneficial the content is. FYI is an amazing organization and I regularly get their emails and search their website for helpful content. Kara Powell is a researcher, author, and speaker who is well known in youth ministry circles. When you pair those two things together with a variety of insightful guests and experts in their fields on the show, this is a podcast that every youth worker should be listening to.

It is easy to listen to and very practical in the information that is shared. Much of the information will not just be helpful to paid youth workers but also to anyone who serves with students. In fact, I will be utilizing various episodes for my volunteers at upcoming training to help generate ideas, facilitate conversation, and provide insights to help all of us succeed in ministering to students.

As you look at the podcast, you’ll notice it is not updated super regularly, but that makes new episodes all the more exciting because it’s almost like a surprise party when they drop. In prior episodes, you’ll find a variety of other hosts from FYI and a range of topics including areas of self-care which is so important but often neglected in ministry circles. You’ll also find helpful topics that we should be engaging our students with and tips and resources for how to do so effectively and biblically.

Overall, this is a great podcast and one I would highly recommend to any youth worker. Whether you’re fresh out of college or a thirty-year veteran in student ministry, this podcast will be a great resource for you. Take a listen, and let us know in the comments what you think about the podcast.