youth group Archives - Blog | Download Youth Ministry Blog

16 Sep 2024

How to Get Youth Ministry Speaking Gigs

By Ronald|2024-09-16T08:23:38-07:00September 16th, 2024|Teaching|5 Comments

Every so often, we see people ask on the Download Youth Ministry Community Facebook page how they can get speaking gigs. Here are some great tips just for you!

Be Faithful with Your Own Students
Before you start speaking to students from other ministries, make sure your heart is fully committed to your own group. Students can tell if you’re using them as a stepping stone in your ministry. They know whether you’re being sincere or not!
Make your ministry to your own students your top priority, and other opportunities will fall into place.

Record Yourself Speaking
Not many people enjoy watching themselves speak—I’m one of those people! But if you want to improve as a speaker, you need to critique yourself. Recording your talks and reviewing them gives you a chance to see where you can improve. Plus, it provides you with something to send to people who might ask for a sample of your teaching.
It’s better to have something ready to send than to stress out about recording your next message at the last minute!

Speak for Free Locally
There are plenty of local opportunities that can help you get used to speaking to outside groups. Your local high school or middle school likely has a Fellowship of Christian Athletes—reach out and see if you can speak to them! A local Christian club at those schools may also be an option.
If there’s a Christian school nearby with a chapel service, offer to speak there. Meeting the needs of local ministries is a great way to gain experience!

Trade Youth Groups with the Church Down the Street
It’s possible that a youth pastor you know is also looking for more speaking experience. You could arrange to trade speaking engagements—one week you speak at their youth group, and they speak at yours the next. This could provide a local church with a break and give you both valuable experience. You might even make a new friend in the process!

Don’t Suggest Yourself
This might just be my personal preference, but when someone suggests themselves for a speaking gig, I’m much less likely to consider them. While this isn’t a hard-and-fast rule, I personally find it off-putting. Instead, ask a friend to recommend you.
If they don’t, even after you’ve asked, it could be a good opportunity for some soul-searching to figure out why.

Did I miss anything? Is there anything else you would suggest? Let me know in the comments!

Need to pick up some tips on talking to the squirrelly students? Grab this helpful guide on the DYM store!

10 Jun 2024

Oh No It’s Youth Movie Night!

By Ronald|2024-06-10T09:08:40-07:00June 10th, 2024|Youth Ministry Ideas|13 Comments

I’ve seen it a lot.

It’s the summer. You’ve got a lot on your plate. You’re scrambling to add just one more event to the calendar. Or you have intentionally planned a chill event after a week-long mission trip.

What’s easier than putting on a movie and microwaving popcorn for your students?

Very little!

But let’s be real, sometimes a harmless movie night can turn into A LOT of angry emails. Especially if you’ve got hypervigilant parents who think Veggie Tales is a little too mainstream.

So, what to do?

Well, first, check out this movie list. It’s not conclusive, but it can get you started! Picking the right movie is KEY!

Pick a Movie

Are you doing a faith-based movie? An animated sing-a-long? An action or sci-fi flick? Great! Have fun with it! Then, I go check out a website I use to see what’s in a movie. Common Sense Media is my go-to, but you can search just about any movie by putting it into Google with “how many cuss words does _____” It will get you far and save you a lot of trouble.

Watch it First

I know, you’re busy. But if you want to put students before a movie, you will want to watch it first. Don’t slack here. Put it on while you catch up on emails or clean the youth room. If something DOES come up, you want to be able to say, “Yes, I watched the movie and prepared students for that.”

Plan it Out

Does the movie push the boundaries? Send an email. Tell parents WHY you want to watch that movie. Explain what difficult scene their students will see. Tie it into your teaching for the month. Prepare and communicate. That way, you’ve got parents sorted, and no one is surprised. Besides, an extra 30 minutes of work can make you look like a rockstar who totally didn’t just put a movie night on the calendar to have an easy week.

Have Some Games!

DYM is full of resources you can use for your movie night. There are tons of movie-themed games in the DYM store. Go see them all! And with a little bit of effort, your low-key event turns into a great hang with your students!

Get a License

Ugh. LEGAL STUFF!? Yeah, I know. Most youth pastors think you can just watch a movie and pray for forgiveness. But you actually DO have to get a license to show a movie. Unless you know the owner of the movie’s copyright. Just where are you doing youth ministry anyway? Head to this website to grab a license. Put it in your budget. The lawyer, a deacon, and the head of the youth committee will thank you.

Any other suggestions? I’d love to hear them!

29 Apr 2024

Gradutation and Moving Up Gifts

By Ronald|2024-04-29T05:44:39-07:00April 29th, 2024|Leadership|12 Comments

May is just around the corner! That means seniors are moving on, 7th-grade students are going into high school, and 5th or 6th-grade students are getting ready to enter youth group!

With all this change? What should you get each grade or class to help them mark the occasion?

Bibles for Seniors

I love gifting Bibles to students moving out of the youth group and into the next season of life. Even better, though, is giving them a Bible with highlighted verses and notes written from the important people in their lives. You can do this all in one go at a Senior focused youth group night or hand the Bible to parents to have them run it around to family. Whichever direction you take, write your own note and highlight a few verses.

Those can be treasured Bibles that can help guide them to their next season! Just make sure you reach out to the seniors on your list and ask if they will be around for it. It never hurts to have a couple extra on hand, just in case.

T-Shirts for Incoming Students

Every student could use a Bible when coming into the youth group. So don’t hear me say DON’T get an incoming student a Bible. However, I love to help new students feel a part of the group and special at the same time. I would usually get a t-shirt made up special for the students coming into the ministry. It would be our logo on a t-shirt that ONLY the new incoming students get. That way they get some cool youth group branded stuff AND feel some connection to the other students moving in with them.

It’s been cool to watch students keep wearing those shirts over the years too. A little bit of class pride, yeah?

A Plant

Go with me here. Moving from middle school to high school is difficult. It can be one of the toughest moves a student makes. We don’t often recognize that in our ministries, which should change! I love getting my students something that symbolizes growing into the next season of life.

A succulent (read: a plant that doesn’t die very easily) can be a neat gift to show students you see them and remind they that they are still growing! It’s a little reminder that can encourage them to continue to make their faith their own AND, hopefully, encourage them to continue to grow in grace and love.

You can probably think of a few other things you could grab for a student moving from one season to the next. Celebrate the moves and the changes! Whatever you do, acknowledge that God is at work in their lives and that you’re excited about what He has in store for them!

6 Nov 2023

Creative Ideas for Indoor Youth Ministry

By Ronald|2023-11-06T06:58:45-08:00November 6th, 2023|Youth Ministry Ideas|10 Comments

As it gets colder outside, you probably are going to start thinking that doing indoor events is the way to go. You’ve had your fun fall festival and annual bonfire, but now it’s just too cold to be outside! Or maybe it’s been snowing in your state for the last two months. I don’t know how snow works; I live in Texas. If you do find yourself retreating indoors because your students complain about the cold, here are some tips on how to have some great indoor events!

Learn to be creative with your space

If you were lucky enough to have a youth room, think of some ways that you can spice up your space for an event. Maybe you can move the orientation of the room. Perhaps you could put a projector on a different wall than normal. You might even ask a couple of adults to come in and decorate the place for you. Whenever you do an event that’s outside your normal programming, it could be a chance to make your space feel really different. Go for it!

Take what you do before youth group and AMP IT UP

Do your students like playing video games before you get started? Do they go play nine square in your church gym? If you’re looking for an idea of an event to host, maybe you could take one of those things that you normally do and really amp it up to make it a big deal. My students were constantly asking to have a Smash Brothers tournament. What a great event to really buy into what students were excited about. Or maybe you could play volleyball if you’re one of those lucky youth pastors who have a gym to meet in. You can think of a whole bunch of different ways to make volleyball crazy and exciting. Use a giant 6-foot-wide beach ball. Make it teams of 20. You’ve got a lot of options!

Meet in a different spot in your building

If the event you’re trying to do can take place in a different space in your building, why not take advantage of that? Instead of meeting in the youth room, consider meeting in the fellowship hall or the gym. Giving your students a chance to switch things up might put them in a different mindset and allow them to think about whatever it is you’re trying to do with your event. Familiarity can be good, but putting students in a different space can also open them up to thinking differently!

Be a good steward of your building; clean up afterwards!

Last, but not least, if you’re meeting inside at your church, be considerate to the people who have to come behind you and clean it up, or to the people whose room you’re borrowing for the evening. Make sure you plan to have people help you clean after the event. I always struggled with that and thought that I would just clean it all up myself. Don’t do this! Ask people specifically to help you clean up so that you don’t come in the next day to a trashed youth room or an angry email from the cleaning crew.

Do you have any other ideas? I’d love to hear them! Comment down below or reach out. You’ve got this!

Also, if you’re looking for a few ideas for indoor events, check out the resources below.

Get your students thinking with this fun interactive game!

All students need for this one is their phone and the instructions on the screen. Super fun!

28 Sep 2023

Creating a Website for Your Leaders

By Justin Knowles|2023-09-21T08:36:49-07:00September 28th, 2023|Leadership|14 Comments

No matter the size of your church, we all have one thing in common – we want our small group leaders to win in discipling the youth in our churches!

Though there are many things that can get in the way of this, I want to highlight one: distributing valuable content to group leaders.

You can email a link to YouTube videos or podcasts on helping your leaders grow or engage student culture, share a quick blurb to them on Instagram about what God is doing in your ministry, or shoot them a text on what to expect that night. Let’s be honest though – the vast amount of information can become a tad overwhelming if everything was over email (Do your leaders even read those?), text, or social media.

Whether you have five volunteer leaders or have to manage a hundred plus leaders, we can all agree that we don’t want to overwhelm and overload our leaders. Rather, our job is to SIMPLIFY the process for them.

The way we decided to simplify the process for our youth leaders across our 9-campus youth ministry is to build a website that has everything a leader in our youth ministry may need.

Why A Website?

If your church utilizes G Suite (Google Suite) you can (and should) create a website for your leaders to be informed of what’s going on in your ministry. Here are three reasons why:

It’s easy to set up.

Literally. I set it up in one day. Just make sure you’re logged into your Google account and go to https://sites.google.com/new to create a page.

It’s easy to manage.

You can post YouTube videos, upload videos from your phone to encourage your group leaders, share documents from Google Drive, embed podcasts and Vimeo videos – and so much more!

It’s adaptable.

Need a page with training videos? You can do that. Need to post some announcements with graphics? That’s possible, too. Need to have pre-registration for an upcoming event? It’s easily set up through Google Forms and posted to your website. Need a llama for tonight’s petting zoo? Sorry, you’re on your own for that…

Set-up and Managment

You may wonder – how do I do this? What does it take to do this? Glad you asked. Here’s what we’ve learned in setting ours up:

Get G Suite.

https://gsuite.google.com/ – just do it! It’ll be worth it because it already includes so much such as email, sharable drive, webcasting, and so many other features that I have yet to use.

Get a domain.

Honestly, this is what I know the LEAST about and in fact is OPTIONAL. For example, our church as a whole uses the shortlink “move.sc/” to easily move our people to certain things (marriage, men and women events, start a group, camp registration, etc.). We utilized this to easily send our group leaders to a website to access everything they need (see it at move.sc/scyleader). Again, this is optional and I know nothing about it – so have your tech-savvy communications director or website designer help you out. If you skip this step, simply send your leaders a “published link” provided from the G Suite Website application.

Load everything into an organized, shareable folder.

Put everything you want on the website into one well-organized folder and make sure the sharing preferences are set to “anyone with the link can view.” Keeping it organized will help you in the long-run. Ours is organized by year and series (i.e. Website Folder > 2019 > Own It Series). The sharing preference mode makes your leaders able to view but not edit your file or access your drive. They’re still able to print and add it to their own Google Drive (if they want to).

Prepare beforehand.

We currently organize our series into 3 weeks (typically). All content is prepared beforehand so that as we enter INTO the series everything is prepped and ready to go. We make discussion guides for JH and HS, a video with a preview of that week’s topic, a host guide and teaching video (see those at move.sc/youthhost). We clearly date everything (especially file names, i.e. “HS Guide_FOR_Love Your Enemies_8.28.19” which is “Guide Name_Series Name_Topic Name_Date of Teaching”) and have the topic of discussion clearly communicated.

Keep it up-to-date and with new content.

The most important thing you can do for your leaders is to keep the site up to date on events, teaching materials, and any other dated content. If it’s old, take it down. If it’s not a series you’ve begun, simply use the “Hide From Navigation” in the individual page’s side-panel menu. In fact, make it easy on yourself – find a page format that works for you and stick to it for every series. Simply “Duplicate Page” in the page’s side-panel menu and change the content.

In fact, challenge yourself to put up a new training video once a month (easily done via your phone, uploaded to your drive or YouTube) and utilize Google Forms to receive “graded answers” from your leaders based on the video’s content. This way you know if they may struggle to grasp a concept or perhaps you didn’t communicate the topic well enough (be humble enough to admit this).

Get feedback.

If it’s hard to navigate, your leaders won’t want to use it. Get feedback from them as you’re getting it set up so that it can be an amazing tool for them to discipline their group. Don’t create it to the point that you think it’s awesome – create it to the point that your leaders think it is.

Other Uses

You could always use the website feature for other things, such as:

Parent website
Camp registration or interest list
Website for your youth to visit (dorky videos, memes, encouragement – whatever may gather them or their friends)
Personal blog or vlog

There are a ton more features and possibilities that are better left discovered by yourself.

The last thing I’ll say is this: When designing your site, always remember: simplify, simplify, SIMPLIFY. Your leaders will love you for it.

Justin

5 Sep 2023

Maximizing Youth Ministry Impact: The Benefits of One-Night Events

By Ronald|2023-09-05T08:04:35-07:00September 5th, 2023|Youth Ministry Ideas|14 Comments

Youth ministry is more than just Sunday gatherings and midweek services; it’s about fostering deep connections, spiritual growth, and memorable experiences for our students. While regular meetings are the backbone of any youth ministry, one-night events can add an exciting and transformative dimension to your youth program. In this blog post, we’ll explore how hosting one-night events can be incredibly beneficial to your youth ministry and the students you serve.

Building Excitement and Anticipation

One-night events offer a unique opportunity to break away from the routine and create a sense of anticipation among your students. Whether it’s a themed worship night, a fun game night, or a service project, the idea of a special event can generate excitement that extends beyond the event itself. This anticipation can help boost attendance and engagement among your youth group.

Reaching Out to New Faces

One-night events are a fantastic way to introduce new students to your youth ministry. They provide a low-pressure, non-committal environment where newcomers can experience the warmth and welcoming atmosphere of your group without feeling overwhelmed. These events can serve as a gateway for students who might later become regular members of your ministry.

Addressing Specific Topics or Needs

Sometimes, youth face unique challenges and questions that require a more focused approach. One-night events can be tailored to address specific topics or needs, such as mental health, relationships, or faith questions. These events can provide a safe space for open discussions and support, helping students navigate these crucial aspects of their lives.

Strengthening Community Bonds

Community is at the heart of any successful youth ministry. One-night events offer an opportunity for students to bond in a different context, strengthening their relationships and creating lasting memories. Whether it’s a retreat, a camping trip, or a simple game night, these events encourage fellowship and unity among your youth group.

Providing Spiritual Growth Moments

One-night events can also be spiritually enriching experiences. You can organize prayer nights, worship services, or guest speakers who can inspire and challenge your students in their faith journeys. These events can serve as catalysts for personal growth and spiritual awakening.

Reigniting Passion

In the midst of the challenges and distractions young people face, it’s not uncommon for their passion for faith to wane. Hosting one-night events with powerful worship, impactful testimonies, or engaging activities can reignite their passion for Christ and His mission. These events can remind them of the joy and purpose found in their relationship with God.

Creating Lasting Memories

Youth ministry is not just about imparting knowledge but also creating memories that will last a lifetime. One-night events often become cherished memories for students, reinforcing their connection to your ministry and to each other.

Conclusion

One-night events are a valuable addition to any youth ministry’s toolbox. They can help build excitement, reach new students, address specific needs, strengthen community bonds, foster spiritual growth, reignite passion, and create lasting memories. By incorporating these events into your ministry plan, you can enhance your ability to nurture the spiritual and personal growth of the young people you serve. Remember, it’s not just about the event itself but the impact it has on the lives of your students that truly matters.

Need an idea for a great one night event? Check out these two ideas out from DYM!

24 Jul 2023

Ministering to Students Who Aren’t Showing Up

By Justin Knowles|2023-07-13T13:16:16-07:00July 24th, 2023|Uncategorized, Youth Ministry Hacks|11 Comments

We just recorded a podcast for Youth Ministry Hacks (CLICK HERE to listen) about the importance of following up in youth ministry. Follow up is such an important aspect of ministry but something easily overlooked because it’s easy to miss to move on to bigger and better things.

One of the things I get asked the most about in youth ministry is what is the exact system we have set up in order to make sure student don’t fall through the cracks? Below is what we have set up right now. Does it work? If I am honest, we don;t know yet. We only really started the whole process in all phases about 2 months ago. It seems to be doing it’s job. I do know we will be looking at it and adjusting it as we go, but it seems to at least fill some holes we had noticed over the past two years of having lots of news students but not being at “sticky” as we have been wanting.

We are in a season where we have the ability to track who is coming to our campuses and we want to make sure we are effectively following up with every student who walks through our doors throughout the year.

We will run a weekly (new students), a monthly (this month vs last month) and a quarterly (CCB roster scrub) report.

The following is how we need to be following up with each group of students that we can run reports on:

1st Time Student Follow Up:

When a new student comes to SCY for the first time they fill out a QR code with their info. The info gets put into a list where the youth network team will then create a new student profile and put it in a queue for the youth lead to follow up with.

Here is how the process is set up in CCB:

Thursday
- “Glad you came” postcards get written up (cards have been provided) and addressed with a note and put in the mail.
- Follow up text from the lead.
- Follow up text from the group leader they were placed with the previous night.
- Parent email, introducing the lead and the ministry
Tuesday
- Queue will prompt a follow up invite with a text from the youth lead to invite back to groups the following night.
Thursday
- Youth lead will check to see if that student came back to groups.
  - If student did, connect with them and let them know they are so glad they got to come back and will help them get more connected in the ministry
  - If the student did not, they will keep them in the queue and invite them back the following week for 3 weeks.

Monthly CCB Report – Students who checked in last month but not this month

We have the ability now to run a monthly report of every student who checked into a group the previous month who has not come back the current month. This is a good way to follow up with kids we have not seen in a bit and a good way to see if any of the first time students have been plugged in.

Follow up should look like the following:

All follow up should happen within two weeks of receiving the roster by campus.
A “We miss you” postcard addressed with a note from the lead be sent in the mail.
A call or text to the student
- “Hey! We have noticed you have not been here in a few weeks. Just letting you know we miss seeing you! We hope you are good. Is there anything that we can be praying for you about or do for you and your family? We hope to see you soon!
- Something along those lines.
An email to the parent with a very similar text.
If the CP knows the family, they can reach out to the parents.

Quarterly CCB Report – Students who have checked in this year, but who have not come this quarter

We have the ability to run a report to see students who we have not checked in at youth for 3 months. This is a great opportunity to reach out to youth and parents to let them know we notice, to check in and invite back.

Follow up should look like the following:

A “We miss you” postcard addressed with a note from the lead be sent in the mail.
A call or text to the student
- “Hey! We have noticed you have not been here in a few weeks. Just letting you know we miss seeing you! We hope you are good. Is there anything that we can be praying for you about or do for you and your family? We hope to see you soon!
- Something along those lines.
An email to the parent with a very similar text.
If the CP knows the family, they can reach out to the parents.
That student should be removed from any CCB group roster so we can have accurate information in regards to youth rosters as they are a leading indicator for the success of youth at Sandals.

Whatever church management system you have, it really doesn’t matter, you can take this process and apply it. If your group is small or if it’s massive, the important part is being intentional with the process of follow up to make sure you are covering all bases and making connections with students.

Hope this is helpful.

@justinknowles3

17 Jul 2023

Helping Your Seniors Move On After Youth Group

By Ronald|2023-07-13T13:10:58-07:00July 17th, 2023|Youth Ministry Ideas|0 Comments

We all know that senior year in a youth group is a milestone for our students. It’s a time filled with mixed emotions as they prepare to move on to the next chapter of their lives. As youth pastors, we have the opportunity to provide the guidance and support they need during this crucial transition. In this post, we’ll explore practical ways to help students move on after their senior year, fostering their growth and empowering them for the future.

So, let’s dive in!

Acknowledge the Transition: First things first, let’s acknowledge the significance of this transition for our seniors. Take the time to recognize their achievements, growth, and the memories they’ve made during their time in the youth group. Whether it’s through a special ceremony or a heartfelt message, let them know how much they have contributed and that their presence will be missed.
Provide Closure: Creating a sense of closure is essential for seniors as they leave the youth group. Plan a special event that allows them to reminisce, share stories, and express their feelings about their time with the group. This could be a graduation ceremony, a farewell party, or a reflective gathering. Offer them a safe space to say goodbye and encourage them to express their gratitude and hopes for the future. Consider a one night trip with just you and a few volunteers. Make it special!
Transition Resources: Navigating life after high school can be overwhelming for our seniors. As youth pastors, we can provide them with valuable transition resources. Offer workshops, seminars, or one-on-one sessions to address their specific needs. Provide guidance on college applications, career exploration, spiritual growth, and personal development. Equip them with the tools they need to confidently step into the next phase of their lives. Show them how to find a new church once they move on from this one. Provide questions they should ask themselves about their next church family.
Encourage Reflection and Goal-Setting: Reflection and goal-setting are powerful tools for personal growth. Encourage your seniors to reflect on their experiences in the youth group and set goals for the future. Help them identify their passions, strengths, and values. Guide them in setting realistic and attainable goals that align with their aspirations. By encouraging self-reflection and goal-setting, we empower our seniors to take ownership of their journey beyond the youth group. This reminds them that their journey with Jesus is just beginning!
Emphasize the Bigger Picture: While the youth group holds a special place in their hearts, it’s important to remind our seniors that their time with us was just one chapter in their lives. Encourage them to embrace new opportunities, explore different communities, and continue their personal and spiritual growth. Remind them that the skills, friendships, and lessons they gained in the youth group will continue to shape their lives as they move forward.

As youth pastors, we have the privilege of guiding our seniors through this significant transition. By acknowledging the transition, providing closure, offering transition resources, encouraging reflection and goal-setting, and emphasizing the bigger picture, we can help our students move on after their senior year in the youth group with confidence and excitement for what lies ahead. Let’s support them in embracing the next chapter of their lives and continue to be a source of guidance and encouragement.

Remember, we play a vital role in shaping the lives of these young individuals, so let’s continue to walk alongside them as they journey into the future. Together, we can make a lasting impact!

1 Aug 2022

Take Your Youth Service to the Next Level!

By Ronald|2022-08-01T06:59:13-07:00August 1st, 2022|Games, josh griffin, Teaching/Programming|7 Comments

So you care about programming your weekly youth group service? That’s a win… I LOVE programming!

I’m especially passionate about programming a thoughtful and engaging youth service in the fall. It’s been my experience that a new school year is the best time to really invest in your weekly program – I like to capitalize on the momentum this season naturally brings!

Most youth groups use some sort of “order of service” to plan their program. There’s a kajillion names for this type of process, a “run sheet” a “flow” or maybe a “program sheet” or some even use a software program like Planning Center Online. There’s several ways to organize your thoughts – whatever works for you to keep everyone on the same page.

Pre-service

Music

I like music playing and I’m always searching for a good playlist. Jump on Facebook in the Download Youth Ministry community group and ask youth workers to share their Spotify playlists and you’ll instantly have a TON of perfectly curated playlists. Or just open the app and search youth ministry and you’ll be flooded with suggestions from youth workers (who might be 10% cooler than you) and have given some time and thought into song selections that will work for just this moment.

On the screen

If you have a projector or TV, I like putting something on the screens for students to look at when they arrive. It adds to the room vibe and it allows visitors something interesting to look at. You can rotate different slides to either 1) promote upcoming events, 2) share some of your values, or 3) just to have some fun pictures of other teenagers connecting and having fun within your youth ministry. It’s attractive when teenagers can see teenagers smiling, laughing and having fun. Don’t be afraid to cycle through a bunch of youth group photos from the previous week.

Countdown Video

My preference is for the pre-service time to end with a countdown video that clearly indicates the service is about to begin. I like it because it’s the official start of the service as well as a reminder for everyone to “turn the corner” or grab a seat.

Filling Your Programming “Buckets”

I would encourage your programming efforts to begin by defining what you want your service elements to include. Think of a programming element as a bucket—each one of the following elements is a bucket you could fill with different ideas.

For example:

a game bucket
a testimony bucket
a video bucket
a teaching bucket
a mixer bucket
a song bucket, so on… there can be many different types of buckets.

Once I know what my programming buckets are I can throw ideas in them as I find them. There are hundreds of different games and game types that I could throw in the Game Bucket, thousands of different songs in the song bucket, in the testimony bucket there could be video testimony, adult testimony, Christian testimony, a non-Christian testimony about why they don’t believe, a YouTube testimony of a famous athlete or movie star… you get the idea. I’m constantly throwing ideas into these buckets. I can’t get to all these ideas every week, but I have a program EVERY week so I need to keep adding to these buckets.

Then, since I have a ton of ideas to choose from my programming buckets, now I have to be selective based on my time-restrictions. How much time is my given program? The time-block is crucial and serves as my filter. I live by a simple time principle in that I’d rather leave students wanting more of a good program element than tired or bored of it… which means, I’ll cut things shorter and leave them wanting to get on to the next programming element. Youth culture is fast-paced, and it’s hard to hold the attention of teenagers for very long. Asking them to be part of a program that runs longer than an hour is asking a lot, so keep that in mind as you put your program together!

NOTE: If your buckets are on low or empty I’d encourage you to head on Download Youth Ministry to grab a game or a countdown. Truth be told, I mostly fill my programming buckets from downloadyouthministry.com since a membership is inexpensive and allows me to buy so many different items. I can even buy messages there for cheap. I like writing my own messages but I’ll definitely use someone else’s message as a trigger or starting point for my message. The way I think about it is that your ministry with students is unique to what only you can do, but programming ideas can come from the minds and experiences of youth workers all over the world. I want more time with my students and using other people’s stuff for programming saves me so much time.

Service Flow

Now that we have our ideas and our time frame, the next step is to take some time to develop a service flow. I like to use a few simple templates for how the service should go.

Countdown
Opening Song
Welcome
Game
2 Min Connect Time
2 Songs
Prayer
Bumper Video
Message
Song/Response
Dismiss.

Something like that would work. There’s no one way to do it, do what’s right for you!

It may be best to slowly develop 3 variations of your service flow and mix it up every series or so. The key is that students and volunteers feel like the service is “safe” in that it’s something that they can invite their friends to, but also fresh enough that it’s not predictable—I like surprises to keep them guessing. Getting stuck in a rut is no fun for anyone and being predictable is just short of being boring.

Remember, you’re in this for the long haul—you’re not just doing one service and that’s it. You’ve got this gig every week… every week! So, be desperate for good ideas. Beg, borrow and steal them… again, Download Youth Ministry is your treasure chest for amazing ideas that will fill every bucket.

The weekly program is the centerpiece of a lot of hard work and as soon as this week is finished there’s another one right behind it. But you’ve got it!

Want to get a hand on your programming for this week and many weeks after? Check out the Gold Membership Deal going on right now! Click the pic below to find out how to get the help you need for your weekly program!

Josh Griffin is a 25 year youth pastor veteran and co-founder of DYM. He’s the Junior High Pastor at Mariner’s Church and always 10 minutes late.