May 8
It’s the same struggle every year…what to get the graduating seniors.
Last year, I came up with a new idea that was very well received.
May 8
All records are smashed for an opening weekend at the box office! Reports are that The Avengers scored $207.4 million, domestically, for its first three days.
All of the kids in your youth group are going to see it. Everybody’s talking about it. You should, too, in Sunday school or youth group this week. Here is a timely post from Jeremy Steele with a discussion guide.
May 3
Great posts by Jonathan McKee on 4 things to teach student leaders:
1. Step Into Their Shoes
We need to teach young people to walk in someone else’s shoes.
2. Step Out of Your Circle
One of the biggest complaints visitors will verbalize about visiting churches is that “no one talked with me.” Or maybe, “the group had to many cliques.”
3. Verbalize Your Faith
How many of our student leaders know how to tell their faith story?
4. Discover Your Gifts
I want every one of my student leaders to know how God has gifted them.
May 3
Onlineschools.com has prepared an info graphic to give us some insight about how this generation prefers to send and receive its information. Things are very different from when I was in youth group…and we published a phone tree…on a mimeograph machine. For today’s teens, there was never a time without cell phones. Today’s 17-year-old was only 6 when the first iPod came out. If we are going to be effective in reaching this generation, we need to communicate via their preferred mediums…and it isn’t Email.
Sep 4
We just held a pretty big end-of-summer event, and we weren’t sure how much ice cream to order. We kept it simple with just chocolate and vanilla, although we had all kinds of toppings. We found that we could serve about six high schoolers per half-gallon of ice cream. We went through about 3 vanillas to 2 chocolates.
Sep 1
This may be one of the crazier ideas I’ve come up with, but I’m excited to see how it works out.
I have just sealed a deal with our local pizza shop to allow us to print a coupon on the back of our youth group T-shirts. Anytime one of our members shows up wearing the shirt, he or she can get a free fountain soda. T-shirts done right are great pieces of mobile evangelism and can be effective advertising for your ministry. This makes them even more likely to be worn in a crowded public place where several other teens hang out. Fountain soda is dirt cheap for the pizza shop, so it’s a great deal in exchange for their logo being flashed around town. Meanwhile, the shirts make an awesome handout after a lesson on redemption.
Aug 19
From the Inbox…
Where/How does your group go about transporting kids to off site youth events? According to my research, many churches are stepping away from using 15 passenger church vans citing safety concerns, in favor of smaller vehicles or buses. Oh wouldn’t a million dollar budget be a wonderful thing
You’re right…the 15-passenger vans have pretty much been blacklisted. They have proven themselves to be a particularly unsafe mode of transportation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration warns against using them. And I understand that churches who have them are finding it more and more difficult to insure them.
We had one at Jesse Lee when I first arrived, but I convinced the Trustees to get rid of it. The design of some models puts a seat and cargo space behind the rear wheels, causing them to handle much differently in quick-turn or skid situations, while the passenger weight increases the center of gravity, making them more susceptible to rollover accidents.
