Tag: Volunteers

Quick Tip: Have Fun

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There have been moments on a Wednesday night or Sunday morning for me when all I can see are the tasks, objectives, and the schedule. I can get hyper-focused on trying to get things accomplished and staying on task that I just lose sight of the bigger, more important aspects of student ministry. One of the things I can miss is “having fun.”

I can blame this on my personality (I am an I/C in the DISC) or a litany of other things, but I know the nights I miss out on the fun because it feels like things just didn’t work. When we miss out on the fun, we miss out on relational opportunities, conversations, and bridge-building moments with our students and leaders. When we have fun it makes us more approachable and relatable to our students.

It’s easy to get caught up with accomplishing all the tasks and focusing on any of a variety of circumstances that demand our attention. But should we miss having fun in our career and ministry, we will surely miss out on the beauty of what God has called us to.

So in thinking about having fun, here are few key things to remember:

  • Laugh often. Tell jokes, laugh at yourself (especially when you get spiked on in 9 Square), be willing play with your group, and smile often. The more you laugh, the more fun you’ll have.
  • Don’t take things or yourself too seriously. Yes, you are a leader and yes, you are entrusted with walking with your students and volunteers, but remember the relationships are key here. That means while you can take your job and calling seriously, you don’t need to do the same to yourself. Keep approaching students at their level, don’t be so pulled back they can’t relate, and be willing to just be a part of your community.
  • Be willing to be yourself. Students don’t want or need someone who isn’t being themselves or is trying to emulate another person. They want you, and you are unique and special. So bring your personality, your humor, and your joy to the table. When you can be you, you can truly have a blast!
  • Remember who you work with. Students are hilarious! If you didn’t know that, here’s a friendly heads up. They say and do things that are absolute hysterical, whether it was intentional or not. You never know what they will say or do and that leads to some memorable moments that will make you laugh (maybe even out loud).

Quick Tip: Know Your Leaders

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A while back I was challenged by a post a friend had written. The gist of the post was a reminder not to forget about people around you. Now let me stop there and have you consider something: do you see all your leaders? Do you include them all?

Now I know my knee-jerk reaction to those questions is “yes,” but if I’m honest with you I didn’t always, and I sometimes still miss things. Let me give you an example. Ask yourself this question: do all your leaders drink coffee? If not, should you invite them to meet up “for a cup of coffee?” If not, do you provide alternatives for them when coffee is present (i.e., at meetings, training, leader lounge, etc.)?

Again I hear you on this one. It seems like such a small thing, but truly what is at the heart of this matter is knowing your leaders. When you know them, they feel known and seen and loved. The key is not just seeing them as volunteers but getting to know who they are and doing life with them.

Start by getting to know them. Hang out with them. Grab dinner, a beer, coffee or tea. Take a group outing together. Host a leader game night. Sit with them at church. These moments help you truly know them and foster meaningful relationships.

Create a leader questionnaire. I know this may seem a little clinical, but if you have a larger volunteer team this could be a great way to find out helpful information. Ask questions like:

  • What’s your favorite candy bar?
  • If I got a gift to this restaurant, I’d be really excited:
  • My favorite cold weather drink is…
  • When some does (fill in the blank) I feel seen and loved.
  • What food allergies do you have?
  • How can we pray for you?

Make sure to regularly check in with your leaders. Whether it’s a text, meeting up once a month, grabbing a bite out, or writing them a note, letting your volunteers know you care by checking in helps them to know that they are loved and cared for through an intentional and thoughtful moment.

Another key piece of knowing your leaders is knowing their food allergies. I have a few leaders and an intern who are highly allergic to nuts. A simple way of showing we know our leaders is we don’t put out anything with nuts at training, and if we do gift bags with candy in them we get them special items that don’t have nuts. But it isn’t just people with nut allergies we should be thinking about. There are people who can’t have gluten or dairy, people with allergies to shellfish (but on what youth ministry budget), people who can’t have soy. If you find out this information, you’re going to help people who often feel dismissed or forgotten feel loved and seen.

Lastly, regularly ask them how they are doing and how you can pray for them. Sounds simple right? But this is a huge part of you knowing and caring for your leaders. When you can ask them how work has been, how their family is doing (bonus if you know the names of their family members), what they have been doing to breathe and pause, how their relationship with Jesus is, and how you can pray for them, your leaders are going to feel so appreciated and known. But don’t just ask the question, make sure to actually follow up as well. Don’t let this just be a check mark on the board, but be intentional and make sure that you engage further.

How to Make Leader Training Fun

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Let’s be honest for a moment: we have all been to a training session that has been boring. It could’ve been an information dump, a boring speaker, stuff we knew, or the environment was not conducive to training, which made us fall asleep. I’m not saying I have done that, but I’m also not saying I haven’t.

The reality is, we all have experienced a training that has made us want to fall asleep or has bored us to tears. Now let me ask you a question: what would people say about your training sessions? Are they boring or are they fun? Do people enjoy going to them or do they treat them like the plague? Have people fallen asleep during your trainings or are they engaged?

We must seek to make our training sessions fun and beneficial. The more fun elements you include the more people will engage and buy-in to the training because they are enjoying themselves. So what are some quick and easy ways to make training fun?

Theme the training.

A theme is something that I’ve only recently started to incorporate. A couple of years ago one of our church staff members asked me what type of theme our training had. To be honest, I was a little embarrassed to admit I’d never thought of that. But after listening to this staff member, I began to understand why a theme is important. It shows that your team is valued and needed, it makes people feel seen, it makes the training more inviting and engaging, and it brings fun into the mix.

You don’t need to go all out, but you could if you wanted to. The theme could be as easy as searching Pinterest for ideas and doing what you’re able to do in light of your available resources. Consider searching for “teacher gifts” and using that as a launching point. This year we took the theme of “You’re crushing it” and added a note to Crush sodas for each leader. We continued the theme by getting clementines and jelly fruit slices to put out on the tables. The theme was also carried into our PowerPoint and notes we handed out.

Provide food.

Food is a must. You don’t need to provide a full meal if you aren’t able to, but even having snacks or treats on the tables elevates the training and valuing of your people. We always try to center our trainings around a meal because it lowers walls and fosters conversations, and it shows our people that we care about them. This could be as simple as pizza from a local shop, a home cooked meal, or small bags of chips and candy on the tables.

Play games.

I don’t know about your leaders but mine tend to be hyper-competitive, even more so than our students sometimes. We know they love to laugh and have fun, so whenever we can, we try to incorporate a game for them to play. Sometimes it’s a PowerPoint game, other times it’s a game like charades, or even a team-building game. Whatever it is, I would encourage you to play along, laugh with them, and have some sort of prize for the winner. This makes it more engaging and highlights that fun is a value of your ministry.

Utilize conversation and collaboration.

Training sessions where the speaker drones on and on get a little bit monotonous. Okay, a lot. So when you break up the speaking and engage with your team and invite them into the conversation, you’re opening up collaboration which values and affirms them. Think about breaking people into groups and asking the groups to share with the large group after they have finished. Allow for feedback on topics from your team. Open up the floor for Q&A. These types of moments are critical to not only making your training successful but for valuing your people and helping them to know that they are a part of the team.

Bring in new skills.

Doing the same training over and over again can get, well, boring. I get it, there are some things we have to train on all the time (i.e. safety measures, protecting students from abuse, background checks, transportation, etc.), but we also should bring in new aspects to leading well that can help our leaders continue to grow and flourish.

Think about spiritual gift assessments, personality training, studying the Bible, training on cultural trends and narratives, navigating difficult relationships, dealing with misbehaving students, handling a crisis, soul care, and leading well. All of these are simply starting points but the more we seek to equip and train our leaders with new skills, the better suited they will be to love, lead, and care for their students.

Don’t always be the trainer.

This is a big piece of training. You don’t always have to be the trainer! Bringing in new voices will not only help people hear things in a new and exciting way, but you are also bringing in people with different skill sets and expertise that you may not have. This could be another staff member, a community member, a counselor, a volunteer, a leader in the community, or whomever else would be beneficial to help your leaders grow. My only caution is that you make sure they know your vision and mission and that what they share aligns with your values.

Quick Tip: Admitting When You Mess Up

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Alright, I’ll admit it. This last week I made a huge goof. Earlier in the summer we let all of our leaders know when our fall training would be and many of them were excited because we had reserved an amazing offsite venue. It is perfect and it meets all of our needs.

But here’s the problem: I gave my team of volunteers the wrong date. I actually told them it was a week later than when we had reserved the location. When I realized my mistake (which was way too late) I hastily fired off a text saying I sent the wrong date and here’s the correct one. But I did so with less than a week’s notice. This ended up frustrating many of our volunteers, it meant multiple leaders couldn’t attend because they specifically reserved the previous date on their calendars, and it caused a lot of tension and questions.

Long story short, we ended up working with the venue and we were able to keep our original training dates but not without me causing a lot of unnecessary tension and frustration. I messed up, and I know that in the big scheme of things it wasn’t that big of an issue, but I still messed up and it caused people to have frustration and tension. So I knew I had to apologize. I had made a mistake, multiple ones in fact, and I needed to own that.

And you know what happened? My leaders understood. They laughed about it. They poked fun at me in loving ways. They showed up to training. They still love our ministry and students. They are still serving.

Here’s the thing though: when it comes to mistakes, we as leaders need to live out what Jesus commands us to do and that is to seek forgiveness when we mess up. Yes, even we as leaders mess up, we aren’t immune to that. When we mess up we must take ownership and lead out of humility and a willingness to admit our wrongs. A good leader is one who will admit when they mess up and seeks to right the wrong.

Now please hear me in this: I am speaking in broad terms. We must always lead from a posture of humility and seek forgiveness when we mess up. But there are also times when we need to submit to authority over us because of our wrong and regardless of what we have done, face the consequences.

We are still broken people who are trying to lead as God has called us, but we aren’t immune from making mistakes, both small and large. Look to model Christ’s approach to leadership and you will find that when it comes to admitting wrong and seeking forgiveness, while it may not be easy, you’ll be more comfortable and willing to do so.

All that to say, the greatest two words you can ever utilize in ministry are, “I’m sorry.” Don’t be afraid or unwilling to use them.

5 Ways to Support Your Church’s Student Ministry

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While this blog is primarily geared toward those already leading in student ministry, today we want to share a post for those who aren’t currently serving. Maybe you’re considering how you can serve in your church, or maybe you’re not sure where to begin. We want to encourage you to think about creative ways you can care for younger generations, particularly the middle and high school students in your church body.

1. Commit to praying daily.

Prayer may seem “too simple,” but talk to any youth leader and they’ll share just how important it is for their ministry. To know that others in the church body are praying regularly for their students and ministry is so meaningful.

You can pray generally and specifically for the ministry and those involved. An easy way to pray specifically is to ask for prayer requests from youth leaders, and for names of students and leaders for whom you can pray. Commit to praying leading up to and during trips and events. If there is a student ministry email your church sends out, ask if you can subscribe and use the content to help guide your prayers.

This will also help you learn more about your church’s student ministry and the people involved in it. It will also help you learn about the needs of the ministry and might help you find specific ways you can serve.

2. Volunteer if you’re able.

Churches have different requirements and needs for who can serve, and different areas in student ministry where volunteers are needed. There is always the obvious need for small group leaders, but there are other opportunities as well. Talk to whomever leads your church’s student ministry to find out what needs exist and where you might be able to step in.

You may be able to help with set-up and/or tear down as many student events are held in multipurpose spaces. You may be able to host a small group or event at your home, or provide a meal for leaders and/or students. If your church’s student ministry serves snacks or food, you can volunteer to help with serving and clean up. Or if you’re a musician or sound tech and your church has worship for the students, you can volunteer to serve on their worship team.

3. Give what you can.

Perhaps you can’t commit to regularly serving the student ministry in person, or perhaps you want to do more. There are multiple ways people can give to student ministry, beyond just monetary gifts and tithes. Again, speaking with the leader of the student ministry will help uncover specific needs, but a few ideas include donating snacks and drinks, Bibles, pens or other writing utensils, journals, fidgets, or games.

Other youth programs may need furniture or decor to help make their space more inviting and homey. Some may love to have shirts with their logo to give out to students to create a sense of camaraderie and community. Still others may be longing for equipment, like 9 Square or speakers. Look for the unique needs of your church’s student ministry and the ways you may be able to meet them. And again, please check with leadership first before purchasing or dropping things off.

4. Invite others.

As you learn of the needs of your church’s student ministry, invite others within the church body to join in serving. Not only will leadership appreciate the support, students will appreciate the care they receive from invested adults who genuinely love them.

Don’t forget to invite students to the ministry as well. If you meet a new family in your community, don’t be afraid to share about the ministry and invite them to check it out. Connect them with leadership or students who are involved so they can make connections before visiting.

5. Learn.

One of the best ways older generations can help students is by learning about them and their generation. It can be too easy to ignore or write off younger people, which is not what church body life should be about. We are a family and that includes knowing and caring for each other. We should seek to learn so that we can understand and serve younger generations well.

Take time to listen, to read, and to educate yourself on the issues students are dealing with, both specifically and generally. You may not be able to talk to students in your church (though if you can, that is the best place to start), but you can learn from professionals and those working with young people, like the student leaders in your church. Seek to foster understanding and empathy, so that you may care more deeply and love more fully, and allow that to spill over into the ways you pray, serve, and give.

Quick Tip: Preparing Yourself for a Trip

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Let’s just pause for a moment and consider how all-encompassing student ministry trips are. If you’re the primary leader you’re in charge of everything. Organizing transportation, collecting and distributing medications, handling first aid, making sure students are following the rules, pouring into leaders, making sure curfew is followed, engaging in discipleship and relational community, tackling tough questions and circumstances, handling administrative tasks, and so much more! These trips can truly take a lot of planning and organization, but they also can take a lot out of you physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally.

Trips require our holistic presence and as a result, they can deplete us rapidly. While I don’t yet have a miracle booster to rebound from trips, I can tell you that proper personal planning leading into the trip can do you a world of good that will help you lead and live well, and prayerfully bounce back soon.

1. Rest well before you leave.

This is so important because leading up to a trip it can be all go, go, go. But that can lead to a lack of sleep, more stress, and more anxiousness. If you take the time to rest and sleep well, it will help you lead well on the trip and be able to give everything you need to while you’re serving your students and teams.

2. Be preventative when it comes to illness.

Trips are notorious for sickness. Every youth pastor has a story about their students getting rocked by illness on a trip (ask me about the time norovirus hit our winter retreat), but there are steps we can take to stay healthy. Rest and sleep, hydrate, eat good meals, take preventative medicines like Airborne or EmergenC, and drink things like herbal teas and kombucha to help your body gain natural boosts. Also make sure to wash your hands regularly, especially before eating anything.

3. Have a plan and stick to it.

When it comes to preparing for a trip, it’s important to plan things out so you can reduce any anxiousness in the prep period and ensure that you’re not forgetting anything. Plan when you’ll communicate to your team, plan how and when you’ll communicate with families, plan what to pack, and plan down time for yourself.

While some of this may seem a little excessive, when you create structure and stick to it you are allowing yourself space to breathe and acknowledge you have completed all you need to. This helps to relieve stress and anxiety.

4. Pack your essentials and everything you need to lead well.

There are two types of packing we do as leaders of the trip: packing for the team and packing for ourselves. When it comes to packing for yourself, pack all the things you will need. Think about things like personal snacks, power strips, phone chargers, a camera, medications, ear plugs, clothing, and whatever else you may need.

When it comes to your team, think about not only what your team will need on the trip, but also ways to encourage them and lead well. Things like prayer journals, candy, fidgets, extra Bibles, coffee and tea for leaders, snacks for leaders, Bible studies, sharing the Gospel tips, and whatever else will help you lead, shepherd, and care well for your team.

5. Stay organized and communicative.

This ties into point 3 well, but the more organized and communicative you are, the better the trip will function overall. This isn’t a foolproof way to ensure a perfect trip but it is a way to ensure everyone is up to date and informed. That helps to make sure that plans are followed and understood which helps the trip to function well and for everyone to know what is happening.

Quick Tip: Connecting with Your Audience

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When it comes to public speaking we must recognize that while God has gifted us to connect verbally with others, there is also a craft and skill set that comes with it. Any communicator who has been active for a long period of time knows the benefits of connecting with an audience as this will help in effectively communicating God’s Word to those with whom we are engaging.

As communicators of the Gospel we have an obligation to communicate truth and to help our audience not only understand but also apply that truth to their lives. Being able to connect with our people helps our message take root and grab ahold of their hearts and help to transform their lives.

So what are some effective ways to connect with your audience?

Know who you’re communicating with.

Whether you’re speaking to your youth group, at a retreat or camp, or in a church service, the more you know about your audience the better suited you are to connect with them and connect the Gospel to their lives.

Be personal.

Sometimes speakers just come to speak. And while that may be fine in certain environments, we can look at some of the great communicators throughout history and see that being personal helps to connect with our audiences. This is especially true when communicating with younger generations and new environments as it makes you real and relatable.

Tell stories.

Stories are a great way to connect with your audience because they can help to make truths understandable and provide insight into how to apply them. When you tell stories always be courteous, intentional, and clear in how you tell and the point(s) you trying to make. (Read more on storytelling here.)

Use props.

Let me be clear here: use props intentionally. Don’t use props just to have something on stage with you or if it’s a weak connection to your point. A prop should always be something that intentionally connects to the message and will help the audience remember what you were communicating.

Be yourself.

Don’t try to be a replica of another preacher, communicator, or influencer. Be who God designed you to be and let Him work in and through you as you communicate.

Have fun.

One of the best things you can do when attempting to connect with your audience is to have fun. Smile, laugh, be engage with your material, relate to the audience, and be willing even laugh at yourself. Having fun helps you to relax and helps your audience see you as an authentic communicator who is more than just another talking head.

Quick Tip: Finding Community

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Last week we kicked off the Quick Tip series and we talked about the importance of community. But that very tip begs us to ask a follow up question: how do we find community? Or maybe we should be asking a second question of where do we find community?

Community is something that we were all created for by our communal God. The very fact that God is three in one shows us that He is not only designed for community but the epitome of community. He is the very definition of community and when He created humanity in Genesis, He created us for it as well.

With that being said, community can often be difficult for those of us in ministry. We are often surrounded by people, but ministers often feel the most unknown or unseen. Everyone knows us and considers us their friend, but it can often be difficult to find friends ourselves.

With that being said we must remember that without effective and meaningful community we cannot be effective in our calling. So how and where do we find community? Let me share six quick ways we can do this.

1. Participate in a small group at your church where you are not the leader and can just be yourself without expectations.

2. Join a cohort or coaching community.

3. Utilize Facebook groups and other social media networks to not only find online community but community that physically gathers together.

4. Build friendships with your neighbors.

5. Find local groups, organizations, and opportunities in your community.

6. Participate in a youth worker network.

What are some ways you’ve found community in your life and ministry?

Quick Tip: Building Community

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Today we are starting a new series that we will pick up intermittently throughout the year called “Quick Tips.” This series is designed to be a quick read with helpful truths and ideas to facilitate growth. While some of these tips may warrant longer posts, we wanted to offer a quick sound bite-style blog that gets helpful information into your hands quickly.

So with that said, and to save time (which is part of the point of these posts) here is this week’s Quick Tip: build community.

Community is vitally important for all of us. We were designed by God Himself to be oriented toward relationships and community. And when we lack community we will feel alone, isolated, unseen, unloved, and unappreciated.

Building community both inside and outside of the church allows you to know others and be known for more than just being the youth pastor. You’re being known as an individual and as someone who isn’t defined simply by their job or title.

Don’t let community fall by the wayside. Instead, make it a priority and watch how you continue to grow and flourish.

Making Graduation Season Special

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It’s here! The time of year when we commission our graduates, celebrate their achievements, shed some tears as they move on, and reflect on all the memories we have made together. But with these moments come multiple opportunities to invest in, encourage, and champion them as they move into the next phase of their life journey.

There are commencement ceremonies, parties galore, senior parades, and more. Depending on your context and the structure of your ministry, you may be invited to numerous gatherings and events, and that begs a question: how do you make these moments special? Depending on your context you may be invited to a graduation ceremony with multiple students but perhaps you don’t have a budget to get them all a gift. Or maybe you’re invited by a specific family to a graduation, so do you bring them a gift…but what about the other students you know who are graduating?

In order to make the most of this special season, I want to offer a few suggestions for you to consider that will allow you to bless all of your students in a meaningful and personal way. These will specifically be cost-sensitive and will focus on ideas and engagements that will have intentional impact.

Be intentionally relational.

This may sound like a no-brainer, but sometimes it can be hard to engage with people relationally. Maybe it’s a student who just never had anything nice to say. Perhaps it’s a parent who spread rumors about you or one you never met. Or maybe you’re just feeling wiped out from talking to everyone and what’s the big deal with not talking to that family, that parent, or that student?

These moments are opportunities for you to continue to show that your students matter and that you are in their corner. Yes, it may take more time and energy, and yes, you may need to humble yourself in these moments. But I can promise you that if you engage relationally during this season you will see wonderful results as your students continue to grow.

Bring a personalized card.

We have quite a few students graduate each year and it honestly would cost a lot of money if we got each of them a gift, even a small one. So our ministry does gifts for each graduate at our senior commissioning, but Elise and I write out a personal card for each of them that we decorate and make unique. Sharing some memories, writing a personal encouragement, sharing a specific prayer, or even just letting them know how you’ve seen them grow makes the letter intentional and personal instead of a standard card. When you can do something as personal as a handwritten card it shows your students how much they mean to you and how you have seen them grow during their time in your ministry.

Show up when invited.

Our church is a regional church which means we have four or more public high schools, three Christian schools, and cyber learning or homeschooled students represented in our program. Most of our area schools only give out a certain amount of graduation tickets to students, so we don’t always get to attend commencement ceremonies. But when we do, we show up and try to connect with all of our students and families who are present. The same goes for graduation parties. Sometimes we get invited and sometimes we don’t. But when we get the invitation we do our best to attend and connect with our student and their family. These are intentional moments and they communicate love and care for your students.

Don’t be rushed.

I don’t know about you but sometimes I can feel a little pressed for time. There are moments when rushing is appropriate, but in moments when you are connecting with and celebrating your graduates, you need to slow down and be present. That means don’t relegate yourself to only a short time frame. Instead keep your schedule open so you can spend the appropriate amount of time at each special moment.

Continue to be present.

Some of our students experience a fear of the unknown and a fear of leaving behind something they love. In releasing and commissioning our students, one of the things we can continue to do is be present for them. Let them know that you will still be around and that they can still reach out to you. There will be changes, like they are no longer in youth group, but let them know that your love and commitment to them will not change. Continue to follow up with them, grab coffee or visit with them, host a Bible study for graduates, connect them with your college ministry, and utilize other ways to connect during the summer months. These moments help students know that they still matter and that you, and your church, are for them.