Mariners Youth Ministry Archives - Page 6 of 6 - Blog

13 Jan 2020

Fun Youth Group Traditions

By Josh Griffin|2020-01-11T22:09:46-08:00January 13th, 2020|Mariners Youth Ministry, Teaching/Programming, Youth Pastor Life|0 Comments

There’s something powerful and fun about youth group tradition! You have to be careful, of course, that your routines aren’t ruts you’re simply stuck in. But there’s something super fun about inside jokes, events, activities and traditions that you do again and again. People look forward to them and get excited – even at some of the biggest events I’ve gone to (like an LA Lakers game or a college football fight song or cheer) traditions play an important part of the experience.

So … we started what is a new tradition this weekend in our junior high ministry. Whenever someone wins a game or gets a question right, we’re going to play a clip of the video above. It’s just a silly Pokemon video that is upbeat and silly and made everyone laugh. And now … it’s a tradition. You win the game, this is your theme song. Ha!

JG

10 Jan 2020

The Wave Starts in the Student Section

By Josh Griffin|2020-01-09T21:08:37-08:00January 10th, 2020|Mariners Youth Ministry, student leadership, Youth Ministry Hacks, Youth Pastor Life|2 Comments

Is your church old?
Is your church dead?
Is your church stuck?
Does your church lack energy?
Is your church inward focused?
Does your church not care anymore?
Do the same people always attend your services?
Does your church lack compassion?
Do you need momentum?
Do you need help motivating others out of their seats?

The wave starts in the student section.

JG

8 Jan 2020

Fresh Youth Ministry Eyes … For Just a Short Time

By Josh Griffin|2020-01-08T10:10:11-08:00January 8th, 2020|Leadership, Mariners Youth Ministry, Teaching/Programming|0 Comments

I’m walking into Mariner’s Junior High ministry as one of the youth pastors on staff. I’m joining a couple of other great youth workers and have served this ministry before as a guest speaker and even the High School Ministry as a camp speaker a summer ago. I love this church!

But today, I’m walking in brand spankin’ new to this whole thing. A significant part of the responsibility of the ministry lands squarely on me. And since I’m the new guy … I’ve got fresh eyes. Which is huge! It only takes a short time before you become accustomed to the way things are, you stop asking probing questions, and you lose that advantage of sharing from a new perspective. I’ve got a huge list, tons to work on, and am probably annoying people with questions. But I’ve got to take advantage of this little window.

How do you take advantage of “fresh eyes”?

- If you’re new, make a massive list and ask tons of questions.
- Find a new volunteer or parent to be your fresh eyes this week.
- Ask your mentor to swing into youth group randomly one weekend and surprise evaluate your program.
- If you’re not new, walk out the door, come back in, and intentionally see what you normally miss.

JG

6 Jan 2020

Mariners JH Weekend in Review: Volume 1

By Josh Griffin|2020-01-06T15:15:24-08:00January 6th, 2020|Mariners Youth Ministry, Teaching/Programming, Youth Pastor Life|0 Comments

Weekend Teaching Series: RESET: Jesus, Fresh Starts & Screaming Goats (series kickoff, week 1 of 4)

Sermon Synopsis: This weekend was a special one because it is the first weekend of the New Year and featured a special guest speaker: Doug Fields! Fun and games then one song and right into the talk. Fields taught through the passage in Luke 8, helping students understand that Jesus is available and His touch brings healing. He played the clip of the Pope from this week, which was a perfect cultural moment to illustrate the point of a healing touch, and helped students understand that Jesus can bring healing in their lives emotionally, physically and spiritually as well. He invited them into a “reset” moment as part of the closing. It was a great start to a series in a New Year reminding them that Jesus is all about giving people a fresh start.

Service Length: 66 minutes

Element of Fun/Positive Environment: We are going all out for this series to capitalize on the momentum of the New Year. We had a fun promotion where if you bring someone who has never “checked in” … both of you get a free T-shirt! Huge win – had lots of visitors. We also played the incredible and hilarious Screaming or Fainting Goats game from DYM and had lots of donuts for winners. We also tried out a fun skit idea that totally worked (you can download the skit here for free). Good times, lots of laughs and energy all around.

Music Playlist: Just one song this weekend: Endless Praise

Takeaway: This week if a student made a decision to “reset” something with Jesus’ help, they could take a round Reset sticker with them when they left and were challenged to place it somewhere to remind them of this moment.

Home/parent emphasis: This series we’re working to connect students’ experience at the weekend to their parents/home. So at the bottom of the program there was a little “have any conversation with your parents about the service and have them text in” and students would be entered to win a prize. So far the response has been quite minimal honestly, but we think it’s a good idea and something to build on!

Favorite Moment: Seeing my son jump right into a 7th grade boys group was really awesome, and since we had more students than we expected, we were short of leaders, so he just jumped right in and asked the discussion questions on the leader sheet like a boss. Proud youth ministry dad moment right there!

Up next: RESET (week 2 of 4)

6 Jan 2020

“In the Year 2026” Skit from This Weekend in Mariners JH

By Josh Griffin|2020-01-06T13:14:34-08:00January 6th, 2020|Mariners Youth Ministry, skits, Teaching/Programming|0 Comments

Just figured out a way to work a Baby Yoda joke into youth group this weekend. Win!

— Josh Griffin (@joshuagriffin) January 3, 2020

I Tweeted about working a Baby Yoda joke into our first youth service of the New Year, and people wanted to know how it worked. We did a funny skit that got a surprising amount of laughs so thought I would post it here for you to grab quick if you want to use the skit next week. Enjoy!

Download it right here!