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7 Nov 2024

Why Your Youth Ministry Follow Up Isn’t Working

By |2024-11-07T08:47:47-08:00November 7th, 2024|Hybrid Ministry, Videos, Youth Ministry Ideas|0 Comments

New Visitor to your Youth Group?

Yay!

Now what?

How do you follow-up in a way that doesn’t feel weird or creepy?

Good question!

Let’s explore it together!

And if you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve got going on on my podcast, you should definitely check out my podcast: Hybrid Ministry.

Here’s all the places you can find me!

4 Nov 2024

5 Parent & Student Events For Your Youth Ministry

By |2024-11-04T09:00:17-08:00November 4th, 2024|Youth Ministry Ideas|1 Comment

If you’re anything like me, you’re already knee-deep in planning for next year. And as we all know, one of the biggest ongoing challenges is partnering with parents in meaningful ways. After all, they’re the primary spiritual influence in a teenager’s life. But the question is: how do we get them more involved without it feeling forced or like another meeting they “have to” attend?

Here are five parent-student event ideas that just might do the trick. These events are designed to create shared memories, open the door for real conversations, and make it easy for parents and teens to connect over faith and fun.


1. Family Feud: Ministry Edition

Imagine this: teams of parents versus students, battling it out in a classic Family Feud-style game show! This is a fantastic way to break the ice, have a ton of laughs, and bring out everyone’s competitive side. Gather survey answers from your youth group and some questions specific to your ministry, like “What’s one thing every youth pastor says?” or “Name a food you would never eat on a youth retreat.”

Bonus Tip: Wrap up the game with a few discussion questions that encourage parents and teens to talk about what they think is most important in faith and life.

2. Faith & Film Night

Host a movie night where parents and students can come together for a film that sparks meaningful conversation. Pick something thought-provoking (but not too preachy) that has themes you can dive into afterward. After the movie, break into smaller parent-student groups for guided discussion.

Movie Suggestions: Consider something like Inside Out 2, IF, or The Wild Robot. Each has powerful themes on identity, purpose, and relationships.

Bonus Tip: Provide a guide with discussion questions or key takeaways so parents can keep the conversation going at home.

3. Serve Day Together

Nothing brings people together quite like serving side-by-side. Plan a service project that teens and parents can work on together. Whether it’s serving at a food bank, participating in a neighborhood cleanup, or putting together care packages for a local shelter, these experiences are unforgettable. Plus, it lets parents model what serving looks like and gives teens a chance to bond with their parents outside of their usual context.

Bonus Tip: End the day with a “debrief” time where each parent-student pair can share what they learned about each other and what it meant to serve as a family.

4. The Amazing Race: Parent Edition

Set up an “Amazing Race”-style scavenger hunt around your church or in your town, where parent-student teams compete in a series of fun (and sometimes funny) challenges. You could have Bible trivia stations, physical challenges (think mini obstacle courses), or even “secret tasks” they have to complete (like finding a random church member to pray with).

Bonus Tip: Have each station include a reflection question that encourages parents and teens to talk about their faith, fears, or dreams. You’ll be surprised at the depth of conversation that can come up in between the laughs.

5. Parent-Student Worship & Prayer Night

Sometimes, the simplest ideas are the most powerful. Plan an evening dedicated to worship and prayer, specifically designed for parents and teens to experience together. Start with worship, then move into a time where parents and students can pray for each other. You can guide them with some prompts like, “Ask God to show you a way you can support each other this year” or “Thank God for one thing you admire about each other.”

Bonus Tip: Make space for students to pray over their parents. It’s incredibly moving to see a room full of teenagers praying for the adults in their lives—and it’s a reminder that faith goes both ways.


Wrapping Up

Each of these events gives parents and teens a chance to connect in ways that go beyond a traditional “talk” about faith. They’re interactive, memorable, and fun—perfect for breaking down the barriers that sometimes exist between teens and their parents. Plus, they make it clear to parents that they are valuable partners in ministry, not just sideline supporters.

Planning events like these takes some work, but trust me, the impact is worth it. When parents and students are connecting and growing together, it creates a culture in your ministry that just can’t be beat.

Let’s make partnering with parents a highlight next year! Have other ideas or something that’s worked well? Drop a comment below!

31 Oct 2024

The Student Ministry Debate: Digital vs In-Person

By |2024-10-28T11:33:48-07:00October 31st, 2024|Hybrid Ministry, Videos, Youth Ministry Ideas|0 Comments

In this week’s episode of the podcast, we invite familiar voice and perhaps, as I describe him,

“The Greatest Programming Specialist in America,”

The one and only, Josh Boldman.

But here’s the fun twist, Josh made up a mock youth ministry night, and without sharing it ahead of time, brings it in for Nick to try and “Hybridize” each element of the service.

Not only is it fun to watch me on the hot-seat, but I believe you’ll leave with a plethora of new creative programming ideas for your student ministry!

Can’t wait for you to watch it or listen wherever you get your podcasts!

And if you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve got going on on my podcast, you should definitely check out my podcast: Hybrid Ministry.

Here’s all the places you can find me!

24 Oct 2024

Holy Clicks: Winning Online in 2024 (and Beyond!)

By |2024-10-28T11:30:48-07:00October 24th, 2024|Hybrid Ministry, Videos, Youth Ministry Ideas|0 Comments

Some churches are reaching thousands of young people online.

How can you, whether your goal is virality, or just simply serving your own church members well, win online?

Because let’s be honest, Carey Nieuwhof wrote this about the church’s sometimes archaic approach to church and discipleship in 2024, he said:

“Let’s just get everybody in the building, and we’ll figure it out”

Online offers a whole new frontier for churches and youth pastors.

So let’s talk about it!

And if you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve got going on on my podcast, you should definitely check out my podcast: Hybrid Ministry.

Here’s all the places you can find me!

17 Oct 2024

Easy Social Media Idea #4

By |2024-10-05T07:40:46-07:00October 17th, 2024|Hybrid Ministry, Videos, Youth Ministry Ideas|1 Comment

This Social Media idea, paired with the last 3 ideas, will help you DOMINATE your social media.

These ideas are not only

Easy and simple to create

But with the right amount of recruiting effort, it will be less work on your plate, because you can hand these tasks off to willing students!

Are you ready to start dominating?

Check out this week’s FOURTH & FINAL EASY SOCIAL MEDIA IDEA

And if you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve got going on on my podcast, you should definitely check out my podcast: Hybrid Ministry.

Here’s all the places you can find me!

14 Oct 2024

4 Things I Would Change if I Were Starting Today

By |2024-10-14T09:53:37-07:00October 14th, 2024|Youth Ministry Ideas|2 Comments

I’ve been in youth ministry for 16 years, which is wild—my youth ministry career could practically drive a car by now! Though, I’d probably need to take the test at least twice.

If I were starting at my very first church with all the experience, knowledge, and mistakes I’ve made along the way, what would I do differently? Or, if I were starting brand new at a church right now, what are the four things I would change?

Here they are!

  1. I’d Have More Fun

I’ve heard it said many times, “What you win them with is what you win them to!”—as if having fun and being joyful in ministry is a bad thing.

Maybe it was my youth and lack of experience, but when I started out, I wanted to make sure everyone knew how serious I was.

If I were starting today, I’d be more willing to have fun with students, volunteers, parents, and the church as a whole. I’ve learned there are plenty of ways to show people I’m mature and capable, but only one way to show them I can have fun!

What would that look like? I’d be more comfortable incorporating games into lessons. I’d enjoy having fun with students outside of youth group without needing to add a spiritual element to everything. I’d also be okay with having fun just for fun’s sake.

  1. I’d Focus More on Parents

This was definitely because of my youth, but I didn’t reach out to parents as much as I should have when I was starting out.

I was laser-focused on students, which is great—but now, if I were starting again, I’d make time for more coffees and lunches with parents. I’ve come to realize I didn’t need to have kids of my own to minister to parents effectively.

I’d take parents out to coffee and ask them about the challenges their families were facing. I’d ask how I could pray for them and find ways the ministry could better support them.

I’d listen a lot and communicate even more.

Speaking of…

  1. I’d Over-Communicate Everything

We live in a world where communication is easier than ever. We have free email services, free social media platforms, free texting services, and free graphics tools.

What a time to be alive!

I’d make sure I was sending out consistent and well-thought-out communication every week. For parents, that would be an email with what we studied that week and the details of our most recent event. For students, I’d post frequently on social media about upcoming events and ask questions related to what we studied in youth group.

  1. I’d Have an Easy-to-Communicate Vision

For both parents and students, I’d want them to clearly understand why we were doing what we were doing. I’d develop a ready-to-share “elevator pitch” to explain the purpose of our ministry.

At my last church, I communicated that we aimed for students to “Belong, Believe, and Become.” We wanted students to feel a sense of belonging at youth group, believe the Gospel, and become the people God created them to be by giving them opportunities to grow into that identity.

I also told parents that we’d focus on teaching students about the Attributes of God, the Gospel, Spiritual Disciplines, and Relationships. Could we cover more? Absolutely. But we wanted to ensure those four pillars were solid foundations for everything we did.

More than anything, I’d want parents to feel confident that I had a clear grasp of what we were doing and why.

Those are the four things I would change and focus on if I were just starting out today.

How about you? Any thoughts or suggestions? I’d love to hear them!


10 Oct 2024

Easy Social Media Idea #3

By |2024-10-01T12:11:04-07:00October 10th, 2024|Hybrid Ministry, Videos, Youth Ministry Ideas|1 Comment

We have been trucking along, talking about how to make social media both effective and easy for you all at the same time!

This week I talk about another fun video concept that is not only easy to utilize, but also will increase the awareness of your social media team.

And in so doing, you’ll be able to start recruiting more and more team members to help you run social media at your church, not just for students, but by students.

I share with you my full-proof framework for student-led volunteer teams.

Can’t wait for you to check it out!

And if you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve got going on on my podcast, you should definitely check out my podcast: Hybrid Ministry.

Here’s all the places you can find me!

7 Oct 2024

Making a Communication Plan for Your Youth Ministry

By |2024-10-07T09:59:28-07:00October 7th, 2024|Youth Ministry Ideas|5 Comments

“I didn’t know that was happening!”

“What do you mean I missed the deadline?”

“There was a retreat? When?”

“The lock-in ended four hours ago!?”

Let’s face it, there have been times when you wished someone had heard the communication you had sent out. And let’s be MORE real. There were times when you didn’t communicate as well as you could have.

So how can you communicate in a way that MOST of your parents, students, staff, and church know what’s going on?

Let’s make a plan!

Consistent Communication 

It can be really confusing for people if you have different dates and times posted in different places. Is it Wednesday at 7 pm or Tuesday at 6 pm? You can help make this streamlined by typing out the info and making sure it’s right, then send that to every channel you communicate to!

Wednesday, November 8th @ 7 pm

Our Dodgeball Tournament is going to be a blast! Meet us in the small gym with your team color. Snacks and drinks for sale for a $1! Here’s the form you need to fill out to play!

See how that works? Day, Date, Time, Place, What and Where. Get a volunteer or an admin to make sure your info is right and THEN put it everywhere!

Same Graphic Everywhere

You can see other people doing this with branding and signs for businesses. It’s REALLY helpful to make the same type of visuals for your ministry. Canva is GREAT for this. The resize tool is a gamechanger. Make a slide for the announcement for your group and then change it to a square social media post, a story post, and a banner on the top of your newsletter.

Check these out:

See? Same graphic, words, and vibe. But you can post this everywhere! And people (read: students, parents, senior pastor, etc) will see what you’re doing and get the information quickly!

Channels of Communication

Ok. You’ve got the info, the graphics, now what? Hopefully you’ve reserved the space, gotten volunteers, and done all of that behind the scenes work.

Now let’s tell people!

Think of all the places you can communicate this: youth group meeting, leader meeting, student ministry email, student ministry social media, website, church bulletin, group texting app, Sunday morning slide roll, posters…

You’ve probably got all of those and more! Get the information out there on all the channels you have to make sure the most amount of people hear about the event.

When do you communicate?

This one is HUGE! I loved being able to to let parents and students know the big events as far out as possible. Think summer camp, retreats, small group kick offs and other REALLY important dates. Usually a year out if you can make that happen. Sending out save the dates is a GREAT help.

Smaller events? I like to communicate those on a semester basis. What events are happening in the fall? The spring? The summer? I love to let people know about them right at the beginning of the season or semester so that they can plan and prepare as far out as possible.

But people still don’t know what’s going on!!

Hey. I get it. Sometimes people are just going to be OUT of the loop. But if you’ve emailed, text, posted, personally asked, and communicated to the leaders and students and parents, there’s not much more you can do!

Ask them where they normally look for information on what’s going on in the youth group and see if you can direct them there. And maybe subtly point out that it was posted four weeks ago and three times since then and they really should have known better…

…graciously.

Communicate Outside the Box

You can also think of different ways to communicate with your church. Maybe you release a five minute podcast each week summarizing your message and reminding them of upcoming events. Maybe you create a YouTube channel where you upload your talks and have students read off the big event details. Maybe you hand students bright colored pieces of paper to give to their friends to invite them Or business cards! Those are making a comeback I hear.

Whatever you do, make you communicate clearly, often, and ahead of time.

Then you can know you did the best you could!

Anything I missed out on? I’d love to hear down below.

3 Oct 2024

Easy Social Media Idea #2

By |2024-10-03T05:17:17-07:00October 3rd, 2024|Hybrid Ministry, Videos, Youth Ministry Ideas|4 Comments

Last week I rolled out part 1 of my 4 part social media strategy for churches and youth ministries, this week we’re continuing on track, and I’m sharing with you an even EASIER idea for this week, not to mention it comes complete with my full-proof topic and editing guide:

💡100 Topics Ideas & Templates💡

https://share.hsforms.com/1JOHqd4XOTbC5ZgfXB85BCwnumis

Check it out on this week’s episode of the podcast!

And if you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve got going on on my podcast, you should definitely check out my podcast: Hybrid Ministry.

Here’s all the places you can find me!

26 Sep 2024

Easy Social Media Idea

By |2024-09-23T09:12:05-07:00September 26th, 2024|Hybrid Ministry, Videos, Youth Ministry Ideas|6 Comments

Social Media.

Can we all just admit it’s that annoying pesky task that you know you should remain active on, but if we’re honest, it can get the best of us and even become an annoyance.

What if I told you, I have a strategy that will help you make more relevant [custom] social media content, that ends up being less work on you?

Sound too good to be true?

Don’t worry, it’s not!

I lay out my top 4 social media ideas that are less work for you in this week’s episode of the “Hybrid Ministry” Podcast

And if you’re interested in finding out more about what I’ve got going on on my podcast, you should definitely check out my podcast: Hybrid Ministry.

Here’s all the places you can find me!

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