Hybrid Ministry

By Nick ClasonBusiness Religion & Spirituality Christianity Technology Marketing

Hybrid Ministry episodes

March 07, 2024 Episode 087: ✌️The Two Biggest Enemies to Youth Groups
⚡ [FREE] Hybrid Strategy Guide⚡
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
======================================
DESCRIPTION
🏅Travel Sports and Youth Group. They have been the bain of youth pastor’s existence for years.
🗓️What if they don’t have to be the enemy?
🥱What about Youth Group Kids who exhibit complacency?
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/087
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/HV6V1GbWEvU
//FREE EBOOK STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
YOUR MESSAGES ARE BORING
//https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqOPjD5hN-g&t=8s
STOP IGNORING SOCIAL MEDIA
//https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slB0Rmf_X0c&t=390s
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
======================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "The Full Hybrid Ministry Strategy"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🖥️ "My 9 Favorite DYM Resources"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
======================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 The Two Biggest Enemies to your Youth Ministry
01:46 Extra Curriculuars are Killing my Attendance
05:15 Complancey is also killing my youth group
08:04 The Suprising Solution to Youth Sports and Complacency in your Youth Group
TRANSCRIPT
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;32;17
Nick Clason
The two biggest enemies in youth ministry are extracurricular activities and the complacent attitude of your students. Tell me if you've heard this before. Tuesday night is karate so that kid can't come on Tuesdays. If that's when you had youth group and then Wednesday nights is when you have show choir. Thursday night, that same kid also has karate. And of course, you can't do Friday night because that's when the football games are like if you've been in that position.
00;00;32;22 - 00;00;53;10
Nick Clason
Give me a subscribe. If you've had to navigate when you meet for youth night and turn the bell on for good measure because we're starting a brand new playlist exploring all the different issues of youth ministry, and one of them is scheduling. Like how do you schedule around students and their extracurricular activities? What in the world should we meet?
00;00;53;15 - 00;01;17;43
Nick Clason
They're so busy and it almost makes it feel like extracurricular travel, sports, school sports are the enemy. And here’s the fact even when they do show up in the room, you might be so boring that they're not really willing to make your thing a priority. In fact, we have a video right here where we explore all of that and how you can make your youth ministry one of belonging and purpose and serving.
00;01;17;50 - 00;01;43;18
Nick Clason
But I just had a student the other day say, Hey, listen, I just got so much going on. Sometimes student ministry, it just it doesn't make the cut. And unashamedly that was a text that they sent. And so if the two biggest enemies are travel sports and complacency, I want to challenge you to stick around to the very end of this video because I have a solution for each of those two things extracurriculars and complacency.
00;01;43;33 - 00;02;11;00
Nick Clason
Welcome to the High Road Ministry show The Year was 2012 brand new youth Pastor right here. And there were literally three students in my student ministry starting out, one by the name of Brandon, who didn't last very long, one by the name of Megan and then one by the name of Sabrina and Megan and all her friends. And she brought a lot of her friends to youth group.
00;02;11;00 - 00;02;31;58
Nick Clason
So this kind of mattered because she could bring two or three or four different friends with her to youth group. They had show choir and met every single Wednesday night. And so that made Wednesday nights a really tricky night to do youth ministry. But Brandon, the only other boy in the youth ministry, had Tuesday night and Thursday night karate.
00;02;32;03 - 00;02;58;34
Nick Clason
And then of course, Friday nights are like the football game. Like for most towns USA, that's when the high school team is playing its football game. So that really left us with Monday night as an option, which for I can't remember why, but for whatever reason it really wasn't an option. And so I had no idea like what am I supposed to do in to, to make matters worse, I had three kids, so if I choose Wednesday, I lose Megan and all her friends.
00;02;58;34 - 00;03;21;41
Nick Clason
If I choose to, their Thursday, I lose Brandon over to karate. And then the group of three, that's 33% of my students. So like, when am I supposed to plan to do this? I had another student one year who missed summer camp due to a baseball tournament. And then I remember he came up to me after we got back.
00;03;21;41 - 00;03;41;49
Nick Clason
His brother went and all his friends went and so he was at the recap of camp and we shared the recap video and all the students had all their energy and and his tournament had gotten rained out while we were gone. And he came up to me and he said, Next year I'm going to camp no matter what you see.
00;03;41;49 - 00;04;08;43
Nick Clason
Here's what happens once you create some sort of an environment where a student actually wants to be a part and actually wants to belong, it can be a game changer. But the fact of the matter is, especially when you're just getting started out, what do you do when they don't even know you in their thing, their show choir, their karate, their baseball, their basketball, their football, their you fill in the blank, whatever it is.
00;04;08;48 - 00;04;31;46
Nick Clason
What happens when that thing is actually providing more of a place of belonging and more of a place of community than your church? It makes it difficult and honestly, you want to compete with it. You want it to be you want church, you want youth group to be providing more of a place of belonging, more of a place of community.
00;04;31;51 - 00;04;55;39
Nick Clason
But in the life of that student, let's be honest, it really isn't. It's not really providing a place of belonging more than their sport. And so one of the challenges is you are trying to compete with something that is like family to them and you want them to come to something that's already a probably not feeling a little bit like family to them.
00;04;55;44 - 00;05;22;28
Nick Clason
And then B is adding another thing onto their already busy plate of calendaring and activities and things that they have to be committed to doing. And so what do we do about youth sports? Listen, I got an idea. Just hang on. What do you do about complacency? Like you've been there, right, where you have kids, Church kids, non church kids, whatever the case might be.
00;05;22;28 - 00;05;41;52
Nick Clason
And they really like they don't want to be there like you. Like the archetype of student I'm thinking of is the junior in high school comes to youth group hood on air pods in back row. They're just not interested. Like you get up, you got a game, They don't care about the game. You get up, you got a cute video.
00;05;41;52 - 00;06;01;46
Nick Clason
They don't care about the cute video. You see them saying like, how do you reach that kid? And in most cases, that kid is his heart's definitely not in to youth group. And there's a lot of factors for that, one of which might be his level or feeling of belonging. And it doesn't have to just be a him.
00;06;01;46 - 00;06;25;02
Nick Clason
It could be her, right? But we're we're using a certain archetype, and so we'll just keep using that junior boy student with the AirPods in as an example. But nothing's changing. Like just because you have a game, just because you have a cool message, just because you have clever announcements, none of those things are reaching them because he's complacent.
00;06;25;02 - 00;06;55;47
Nick Clason
He's he's not or she's not into whatever you have doing. They're honestly they're being forced to be at church. And here's the thing. That is a really tough pill for us to swallow. Sometimes as youth pastors, is students physical attendance in the room Does not equal an our authentic heart level buy in of what's going on, not only in youth group, but frankly, in faith as it pertains to their relationship with God.
00;06;55;52 - 00;07;17;22
Nick Clason
Because you don't want to just go after their physical attendance, you know what I'm saying? Their physical attendance is not the goal, only their heart being bought into it. Their heart being bought into it is the goal. And so you might be asking, Well, how do I chaste their heart? That's a great question. And in a lot of cases you don't.
00;07;17;27 - 00;07;45;09
Nick Clason
That's the Holy Spirit's role in their life. So you can pray for them and you can try to program creatively in such a way that that they find that and you can try to develop a type of community that's authentic and real and raw that most Gen Z, most Gen Alpha students are actually looking for and that community can take root and that student's life so that they belong to their group before they really truly start to exhibit elements of belief.
00;07;45;14 - 00;08;13;59
Nick Clason
But you can't change their heart. You know that that's the Holy Spirit shop. But just like travel sports and now with an attitude of complacency or just a bad attitude in general, I do have two ideas that I think can change the game in both of those arenas, and we're going to hit that in the next section. So my idea for travel sports and my idea for a complacent attitude is actually one in the same.
00;08;14;04 - 00;08;45;58
Nick Clason
And the idea, of course, is to try to go hybrid. Now, listen, you're like, dude, you're the hybrid ministry podcast. Of course you're thinking that. And yeah, I am. But I have detailed an outline for you in my 100% completely free e-book. It's basically my Nick Clason and the church I'm at now Strategy Guide for Social Media. And it's twofold and the two fold, they actually hit both of the things that we're trying to talk about.
00;08;45;58 - 00;09;12;05
Nick Clason
So the first fold of it is pre film your talks in what pre filming your talks does not only gives you some practice and some opportunity to kind of get ahead of your calendar so that you're not giving up live whenever you're preaching on a Wednesday or Sunday night and looking at your notes for the first time, you've had an opportunity to do it, to deliver it direct to camera, very much like I'm doing right here in this setting, but too, especially for the busy kids.
00;09;12;10 - 00;09;34;24
Nick Clason
It allows them, if they're truly interested in church, to to to consume the message that you've given to them. I know in my show choir example and karate example from the beginning that Brandon I don't really know because he didn't last very long. His family left the church not too long later. But Megan, like her and her family, like they were committed.
00;09;34;29 - 00;09;59;26
Nick Clason
And if I couldn't have offered youth group for them, I know that she would have at least went back and watched the messages because that was something that she was interested in. And so a hybrid approach can actually help the busy kids who can't make it on a Sunday, on a Wednesday, on a Thursday, on a Tuesday, on a whatever day of the week, you end up deciding they can still listen to the message and word of God directly from you, from your mouth, from their youth pastor.
00;09;59;31 - 00;10;35;38
Nick Clason
And you can pre film those messages and post those to YouTube. Now you might be thinking like, Yeah, but, but that doesn't really do much for me, especially by way of the kid who's complacent and doesn't really want anything to do with it. And you know, where I would say with that is the other approach to that is when you pre film your messages, it not only gives you some short form message based clipped content that you can post and use and sprinkle in an all throughout your social media, but it also can let you kind of do another set of social media, which is add more of an element of fun.
00;10;35;43 - 00;10;59;21
Nick Clason
And when you add more of an element of fun, you can go after that student's heart and again, still, that's the Holy Spirit's job. But what if the reason that they're not interested is just because you youth ministry is boring? And so one of the things that we'll do in our student ministry is we’ll film some fun, quirky, silly, entertainment based content as a staff, as a student ministry team.
00;10;59;25 - 00;11;24;40
Nick Clason
But then other times we will challenge ourselves to do some sort of social media challenge where we'll will invite students to be on camera with us. And so that will give them an opportunity to engage and interact. And then when we've invited them onto camera with us, they'll have an opportunity. Now to see themselves later on social media throughout the week.
00;11;24;45 - 00;11;47;00
Nick Clason
And so you can take your long form message content and that can solve the the problem for travel sports. And then you can clip those up into shorts and push people who discover them to watch a YouTube video. And then you can also film some silly content to be discovered by your algorithm and to to engage with the complacent student, the junior with the hood on in the back of the room.
00;11;47;05 - 00;12;14;20
Nick Clason
And you can even films from that content with him and post it. And if you take my strategy fully laid out right here on screen, link down below in the show notes, I will detail for you all of how to do that. And I hope that if you go hybrid, it helps of your extracurricular activities and it also helps of your student ministry, complacency, activities and actually, I have detailed for you the entire strategy in the video that's linked right here on the screen.
00;12;14;25 - 00;12;32;31
Nick Clason
So go ahead, take a look at that. Stop posting announcements to social media. Be better, level it up. You can do it because we're trying to make digital discipleship easy, possible and accessible. So, as always, don't forget stay hybrid.
13 min
February 29, 2024 Episode 086: 😨 Reaction: Carey Nieuwhof’s 2024 Church Trends
⚡ [FREE] Hybrid Strategy Guide⚡
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
Carey's 2024 Church Trends Article
https://careynieuwhof.com/future-church-trends/
======================================
DESCRIPTION
🔥 Carey Niuwhof has recently been dropping some hot takes on the future of the church.
👓 In this episode, Nick reacts from a Hybrid Ministry and Youth Ministry perspective!
🎱 Number 8 is crazy!
Carey's 2024 Church Trends Article
https://careynieuwhof.com/future-church-trends/
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/086
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/KptS3NoiC6c
//2024 CHURCH TRENDS ARTICLE
https://careynieuwhof.com/future-church-trends/
//FREE EBOOK STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
STOP IGNORING SOCIAL MEDIA
//https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slB0Rmf_X0c&t=390s
YOUTUBE GEAR FOR UNDER $100
//https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
HYBRID STRATEGY EXPLAINED
//https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDxepdu4iiM
STOP DOING THIS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
//https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slB0Rmf_X0c&t=390s
BETTER CHURCH ANNOUNCEMENTS
//https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzhYluEKZ_I&list=PLngXlSr64YaKYLaGvuPA5pBYfJflXm0-A&index=43
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
======================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "The Full Hybrid Ministry Strategy"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🖥️ "My 9 Favorite DYM Resources"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
======================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Carey Nieuwhof's 2024 Church Trends Article
00:41 The Boomer Decline is a BIG Deal
04:48 Gen Z is Spiritually Open
06:27 Lean Further into Hybrid, Like Taylor Swift?
08:03 Don't Give up with Online Church Ministry!
09:14 The Weekend Sermon is less important
10:49 Content Curation Matters!
12:00 Volunteerism isn't going to get better
13:30 Pastoral Burnout is on the decline!
--------------
✍️TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:23:25
Nick Clason
The future of the church, the Capital C church. Not just my church, not just your church. It's going to look very different in 2024. And frankly, beyond because of Generation Z and now Generation Alpha, both waving up Z into the adult ministry conversation Alpha into the youth ministry conversation. It makes me wonder if the future is already here.
00:00:23:27 - 00:00:45:20
Nick Clason
I think it might be Carey Nieuwhof has been spittin’ an absolute fire recently talking about church trends. And so what I wanted to do is I wanted to take his article Church Trends from 2024 things You Need to Know. Link down below on description and talk about it. And so let's jump in. Waste no time. Trend number one is that the Boomer church will decline and eventually disappear.
00:00:45:21 - 00:01:11:20
Nick Clason
This is just basic human psychology. You know, you get it right. But he said this. He said, Since 2020, the boomers have become the least likely demographic to return to church. That's out of post-COVID, 22% of them saying and saying that they've stopped attending church, get this entirely. Meanwhile, only 16% of millennials have stopped attending. So that's the smallest of the demographics and I love if you would, give me a subscribe.
00:01:11:21 - 00:01:29:13
Nick Clason
If you're a millennial, like if you're a Gen Xer and hey, hit the bill no matter what age demographic you are, because we are going to be dropping all kinds of new stuff. I got a new playlist already in the hopper. We just wrapped up the 2024 Youth Ministry on-demand Masterclass and now I got one coming at you next week excited for it!
00:01:29:13 - 00:01:56:26
Nick Clason
And if you're on YouTube, you get it early, you get it on Wednesday instead of Thursday in the regular podcast feed. But Nieuwhof goes on to say that 54% of millennials actually attended primarily in-person. 65% of boomers say that they only attend in-person. And so that is a that's going to be key coming down the pike here in a minute as we look at this trend's article about the difference between the hybrid space in the in-person space.
00:01:56:27 - 00:02:17:25
Nick Clason
Right. Unlike boomers, millennials, they they don't just track with church while they're in the building. Millennials and Xers, honestly, are quite comfortable with the idea of hybrid church. This is Nieuwhof’s blog. And guess what? He has no idea that this podcast exists. But the fact of the matter is he sees it just like I feel like I have been seeing.
00:02:17:25 - 00:02:37:10
Nick Clason
And I'm not trying to be like I'm as smart as Carey Nieuwhof by no means at all. But the dude is is calling it right? He says. So boomers for the most part, they've not embraced hybrid church. If you watching on YouTube if not, go ahead to hybridministry.xyz/086 for the show notes. But this graph is going to be on screen.
00:02:37:10 - 00:03:04:15
Nick Clason
Just click the YouTube link. If you do go to your podcast catcher and scrub forward to this part in the episode, but says since the COVID 19 pandemic, which of the following most accurately describes your church attendance either online or in-person? This is the percentage of Christians who are attending church pre COVID 19. And so you'll see that like the highest gap right there have stopped attending is actually boomers, which is what most of our churches were built for.
00:03:04:18 - 00:03:34:16
Nick Clason
And a large, large majority of of millennials you'll see and Xers have been attending the same church that they attended pre COVID. And so there are three kind of main areas of impact with this point. The first one is attendance. Right? And one idea that I have in light of that is stop ignoring social media. Our attendance is going to take on a different kind of approach.
00:03:34:18 - 00:04:00:02
Nick Clason
Millennials and Xers and Gen Z are going to attend church less and less frequently. It doesn't mean they're less committed to your church. It just means they're less committed to being there on a week to week basis. We live in a different world. And so if you as a youth pastor in particular are ignoring social media or only using social media as an avenue or an outlet to post announcements, you're missing out on an incredible opportunity.
00:04:00:07 - 00:04:30:00
Nick Clason
I think about it in my own space. I have teenagers who have weekend soccer tournaments and baseball tournaments and things that keep them out on the weekend. It doesn't mean that they're not committed or that they're less committed to our church. It just simply means that they have other obligations. And I know I've worked at churches and on church staff that say they're not as committed, but if we go hybrid and if we find a way to meet them where they are, which is really what this is all about, they can still consume the things of God.
00:04:30:00 - 00:04:50:13
Nick Clason
They can still follow him, they can still be connected and attached to our church. You look at this graph here on the screen, Weekly Church attendance by generation millennials are actually the highest out of the pandemic, post-COVID. So attendance is area number one that this is going to impact. It's also going to impact volunteering and thirdly, it's going to impact giving.
00:04:50:18 - 00:05:17:17
Nick Clason
Carey Nieuwhof goes on to say that open pastors will actually be more well-positioned to reach an open generation. Speaking of and talking about Generation Z, Gen Z, statistically speaking, is actually the most spiritually open generation that we've ever actually seen in our history. Right. And if you check out the YouTube, the YouTube feed here, you'll see that the spiritual journey of Gen Z, you'll see that they're open.
00:05:17:23 - 00:05:42:09
Nick Clason
They're much more open to things of God and faith. They believe that there's supernatural or spiritual side to life, 61% compared to 51% of all adults. They've gone through a prolonged they've gone through a prolonged period of time where they've significantly doubted their faith. 65% to 49%, 56% say my experiences have led me to deconstruct or take apart my faith of my youth 56% versus 47%.
00:05:42:09 - 00:06:04:18
Nick Clason
I'm disillusioned by my experience in the Christian church 48 to 43%. But I love this line that he has in the blog he says, “A spiritually open generation is a reachable generation. So what are you doing to reach this generation? This this generation is laying the groundwork for Gen Alpha, which is right behind them, youth pastors, Gen Alpha, they're in your youth ministry right now.
00:06:04:18 - 00:06:27:03
Nick Clason
The oldest ones of them are are some of the youngest kids in your youth ministry. So like I said, youth pastors go hybrid. Check out my e-book link down description. I'll give you a step by step guide to not only posting on social media, but then also posting your YouTube messages and using that as your bedrock so that everything builds on top of that, which is actually why this next trend.
00:06:27:04 - 00:06:48:09
Nick Clason
Right. I obviously believe this next trend is completely spot on because it says this the line between digital and in-person will blur even more. And he says, take a note from Taylor Swift yet check this out. Is it Taylor Swift is actually a prime example of this. In particular, she's modeling how to have a strong digital presence and drive an intense in-person demand.
00:06:48:12 - 00:07:16:13
Nick Clason
Her midnight album released in October of 2022. You can see this graph on the screen. It's absolutely crazy. You will not believe what you're seeing It says. And not only broke streaming records on Spotify, but it simultaneously locked up every position on the Billboard Top ten, and they sold 500,000 physical vinyl albums in a single week, often times there's an argument against a hybrid strategy in favor of the in-person experience, like they can't go together.
00:07:16:13 - 00:07:46:21
Nick Clason
And and that's the thing that is actually the hybrid. I'm like, no, that's that's not just digital. That's both that's online and that's in-person and that's putting them together. And pastors look at the graph. Her in-person ticket sales skyrocketed and went through the roof. So if you can capture the magic of a digital and strong online presence, you can actually bring that into fruition in your in-person experience.
00:07:46:27 - 00:08:08:28
Nick Clason
And on the converse of that or the inverse of one of those two, the flip side of that, let's go with that. The flip side of that is that once people are attached, you're connected to your church. You can continue to show up in their life throughout the rest of the week, giving them discipleship resources, Bible study tools and things that will help them grow in their faith and nurture their walk with God.
00:08:09:00 - 00:08:35:17
Nick Clason
Number four Nieuwhof says that churches that embrace online ministry will start seeing results. You may be out there and being like I've been trying to do. I'm not seeing the results. I'm getting frustrated, I'm getting tired. But like I said, we can help, right? I get it. The resources aren't there and and they're likely there for the rest of the church that they're not there, especially for youth ministries, which is why I down in the description below, I have YouTube gear for under $100.
00:08:35:23 - 00:08:58:03
Nick Clason
And this video right here will detail an outline, all of it and how you can use it and make it happen. But Kerry said that according to Lifeway Research, before the pandemic, only 27% of churches offered any live streaming. That's essentially one out of four. However, since that live streaming of services and now post pandemic, 92% of churches now live stream their services.
00:08:58:03 - 00:09:18:21
Nick Clason
And so as the world has reopened, the surprising things and number of those churches that were up at the 92%, they've actually throttled back their online services, hoping to to drive in-person attendance as if they're competing with one another. And so not only is that a bad strategy and you have said he says it's also incredibly shortsighted. Stick with it.
00:09:18:22 - 00:09:44:27
Nick Clason
You're going to see the results. Number five, he says the purpose of the weekend sermon will shift from being an attraction to an anchor. Listen, stop doing this on social media, which is linked down in the description part of the 2024 Youth Ministry OnDemand Masterclass playlist. I just wrapped up last week in the last video. But but stop doing these things right.
00:09:44:29 - 00:10:06:19
Nick Clason
Stop saying on social media. Join us for our new series on Sunday at nine and 11. Don't miss last Sunday's message available online on demand. I can't wait to share your brand new message with you. That's what Nieuwhof is saying that's not attraction A lot of times we as pastors and listen, I get it, Pastor, like you've spent time on this sermon.
00:10:06:20 - 00:10:25:10
Nick Clason
You care about these people and you care and you want them to hear what you have to say. But that's a very on onto me or I'm sorry, that's a very cable TV strategy. That's a very like, hey, you can only hear this thing at nine and 11. And the fact is that we don't live in a cable TV society anymore.
00:10:25:10 - 00:10:54:09
Nick Clason
You probably even watch cable TV anymore. The only appointment television that I even have anymore is like live sports. Otherwise everything else is streaming. And so I think it's much better start thinking about the real reasons why people come to church, because there are still reasons why people come to church and come to in-person church. Things like community, things like kids and student ministry, things like connection and an experience that doesn't always translate to online.
00:10:54:09 - 00:11:24:19
Nick Clason
This all from Nieuwhof’s blog Number six. He says content curation will now start to matter as much as content creation. He said the push to online and the changing place of sermons in today's world can leave pastors feeling an unsustainable pressure to produce a nonstop flow of spiritual content. And so, as more and more passages are discovering every year, it's almost impossible to produce top tier messages week to week to compete with some of the best that is out and available on the Internet.
00:11:24:22 - 00:11:42:02
Nick Clason
It's not any pressure, right? This was not a pressure from any previous generations. The things that pastors dealt with honestly can feel like an unsustainable pressure. And so one of the things he says is, he says, flip it from content creation to consider curating like how can you gather some of the best sources and then help point and show your people?
00:11:42:02 - 00:11:59:28
Nick Clason
I mean, even I'm thinking about this weekend, we're doing a a workshop for some of our teenagers on how to study the Bible. And if they get on Google, they can find all kinds of different resources. But how do they know if they're reputable or not? Right? So we give them a list. Here are five resources that we know that we trust and that we say, Hey, you can use, right?
00:12:00:05 - 00:12:25:26
Nick Clason
That's a great example of a way that you can curate the entire World Wide Web and then package it and bring it to your people. Number seven, not to depress anyone Nieuwhof says the volunteer crisis will move from acute to chronic. He had three reasons for it. Number one, first, the return to church meant different people returned to church and much slower than I think we all expected.
00:12:25:29 - 00:12:45:19
Nick Clason
Number two, more significantly, as trend number one outlined at the beginning of the article, boomers are aging out and are the least likely group to return to church. This makes the volunteer backbone of most churches, a nonprofit organizations less robust than it used to be. And that's only going to get more challenging, especially as boomers continue to age and ultimately age out.
00:12:45:22 - 00:13:08:11
Nick Clason
And third, and finally, the next generation, primarily millennials and Generation Z, they attend church less and left less often, like I said earlier, making it less frequent thing, meaning they have more options on the weekends so it gets harder for them to commit. So we need to be thinking about as pastors, not only like understanding and realizing there is a volunteer crisis and there is a volunteer problem.
00:13:08:13 - 00:13:31:14
Nick Clason
How can you shift? We actually talked about it in a video linked down blown description, but we've actually talked about how can you shift your volunteer pitch from we need you to we want to come alongside and support you. We want you to to flourish here. We want to watch you experience incredible depth and purpose and live a life on mission.
00:13:31:14 - 00:13:54:26
Nick Clason
And we believe as a church, we can help facilitate that for you. It's really not that big of a shift. Number eight Pastoral. Pastoral burnout will stabilize as pastors embrace their new church. Listen, if you're a pastor here on this podcast, this is good news because you've seen that over the last several years, pastors have had a high risk for burnout.
00:13:54:26 - 00:14:22:10
Nick Clason
But there's hope. You're doing a great job. And as this graph highlights, it's starting to stabilize. It's starting to normalize. The newness of all the things from 2020 and beyond is starting to kind of chill out. And there's hope. You're you can do it right there is a light at the end of the tunnel. You know, one of the keys that I have personally found in stabilizing my burnout and making me feel more enticed about continuing on in my job is increasing my time management load, which is actually linked right here on the screen.
00:14:22:10 - 00:14:41:19
Nick Clason
If you want to check that video, go ahead and do that. But we're so glad that you checked out this this podcast and this episode. Thank you, Carrie, for this amazing article. It is spot on because I believe that we need to make digital discipleship not only easy but possible and inaccessible. And so, as always, don't forget stay hybrid.
15 min
February 22, 2024 Episode 085: ✍ Youth Ministry Volunteer Training
⚡ [FREE] Digital Integration Strategy⚡
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
[FREE] DYM Games
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/9-best-dym-products
======================================
DESCRIPTION
🤔 How do we train our youth and student ministry volunteers?
📅 How frequently should we be training our volunteers?
🧑‍🏫 What are some topics?
🖥️ And what are some platforms you can utilize?
And be sure to stick around to the end because I have an idea that will help you train your volunteers but not add another meeting to your plate
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/085
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/9cB_R_vSwIo
//FREE EBOOK STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
TRAINING IDEAS
1) Leader vs Friend
2) Managing a Distracted Group
3) Taking Kids Seriously
4) Praying with your small group
5) Gen Z & Gen Alpha
> ### --https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tVACJFlwpw&t=460s
6) Cultural Trends
7) The power of listening
8) Showing up
9) Getting Teens to Serve
10) Partnering with Parents
PLATFORMS
NATIONAL DAY OF VOLUNTEER YOUTH MINISTRY TRAINING
//https://dymtraining.com/ndovymt/
HYBRID MINISTRY YOUTUBE
//https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
//PRACTICAL YOUTH MINISTRY TIPS
//https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
DYM LEADER TRAINING LIBRARY
//https://leadertraining.dymapps.com/
MYM by YM360
//https://myyouthmin.com/
PODCAST GETTING STARTED GEAR
NOTE: Some of these items are affiliate links and we do get a small commission for your purchasing of these items. None of them are marked up due to them being affiliate links
MICROPHONE: https://walmrt.us/48UTzWh
YOUTUBE STARTER KIT: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
======================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "The Full Hybrid Ministry Strategy"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🖥️ "My 9 Favorite DYM Resources"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
======================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-00:39 Youth Ministry Volunteer Training
00:39-03:22 Why do we need to train volunteers?
03:22-06:59 How often should we train our volunteers?
06:59-11:19 Topics to Train Volunteers in
11:19-16:26 Youth Ministry Training Platforms
✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;23;29
Nick Clason
How do we train our youth ministry volunteers? How frequently should we be offering trainings for our youth ministry volunteers? What are some key topics that our youth ministry and our youth ministry volunteers need to be exploring? And then finally, what are some platforms that you can utilize that you can send them to so that they can sharpen their skills as volunteers?
00;00;23;29 - 00;00;45;52
Nick Clason
And finally, make sure that you hang around all the way to the end of the video, because I have an idea that I think will not only help your volunteers level up, but also is going to not add another meeting to your plate. Well, everyone, welcome to the hybrid ministry show. My name is Nick Clason and I've been a youth pastor for 13 something years.
00;00;45;53 - 00;01;05;46
Nick Clason
And because of that, you've got to think about a youth ministry, has a lot of things that feel a little bit unnatural. Like let's just say, for example, I was a volunteer in your youth ministry and let's say I walked in for the very first time and you told me, Hey, listen, just go like, go hang out and love on teenagers.
00;01;05;51 - 00;01;35;02
Nick Clason
Like, I would probably as a 13 year youth ministry veteran, I would probably be okay and figure out how to do that. Now, if a brand new dad or mom or college student walks in and you give them those exact same instructions, they're probably not going to know what to do. For one of the reasons simply being because they are told all throughout society and culture not to do that.
00;01;35;02 - 00;01;57;06
Nick Clason
And so in a lot of ways, youth ministry is kind of creepy, right? And so we have to help A, give them the comfort and safety to do some of those things, but be help teach them in love with them on how they can do that safely and appropriately, and that it is good youth ministry for them to to go hang out with teenagers and not just be a chaperon.
00;01;57;09 - 00;02;19;47
Nick Clason
But I say that to say because you need to help sharpen their skills. You have to help level them up. Some of the things that you and I do as youth pastors, youth leaders, we already do these things naturally, but we need to level up. We need to train our volunteers. And if if one of the roles that we're trying to use have them hang out with students, well then, hey, was.
00;02;19;47 - 00;02;50;11
Nick Clason
And we should probably give them opportunities to do that. That's why I actually I created this completely free e-book. If you look through it, it's 40 ideas, a month's worth of posting content, but it's not just a bunch of still and static graphics. What it actually is, is it's teaching you in training you not only how to prerecord your messages to post them on YouTube so that you are showing up in a digital and a hybrid space on a platform where students are spending 95% or 94% of students are spending some of their time.
00;02;50;23 - 00;03;11;28
Nick Clason
But also then it will let you, your students and your leaders do things and work together on camera. Different challenges, different different games and things like that. And so that's going to be a great opportunity for your students and your leaders to start to rub shoulders. And you can kill two birds with one stone by crushing it for social media.
00;03;11;33 - 00;03;51;07
Nick Clason
How frequently should we as youth pastors and youth ministry leaders, how frequently should we be hosting trainings? Well, let's talk about that in the next video. Suffering. We should be hosting trainings. There are several schools of thought and there are a couple of different ways to think about it. First of all, every single time you meet, you may be having some sort of huddle and I would recommend some sort of thing around that, some sort of, you know, strategy of around meeting, getting everyone on the same page, giving everyone the service order service brunch sheet so that they have what they need so that they're they're not in a lurch for that night.
00;03;51;12 - 00;04;17;01
Nick Clason
However, that can give a little bit cumbersome and especially if it's like on a Wednesday night, you may be running into volunteers and they're getting off of work schedule. And so one thing that I have done in the past is instead of doing a weekly huddle, I've done more of like a monthly gathering, monthly huddle. And then that monthly gathering would not only operate as a weekly huddle to get everyone on the same page and talk to them about what we're teaching and sharing in our small group.
00;04;17;01 - 00;04;47;30
Nick Clason
But then it would also give me a moment to do some teambuilding as well as some training. And so that was sort of be a strategy to do that. But let me just say that one time, one year I was doing a monthly huddle, I shifted from a weekly huddle to a monthly huddle. And in my monthly huddle, one thing that felt like all I can explain is the feeling was myself in many of my volunteers every single time, when it was time for another huddle, they'd be like again, rather just felt like it was all the time.
00;04;47;30 - 00;05;05;09
Nick Clason
Felt was constantly something that we were turn around and doing like, we got another one of those again. yeah, that's right. It's been a month, right? And so there may be a rhythm and you just got to figure this out. What works for you? Because a monthly huddle is often probably something you have to do in an off peak time.
00;05;05;09 - 00;05;26;42
Nick Clason
So it's Sunday after church or it's Wednesday late after one of your Wednesday nights or something like that. But it's not going to be tied to and woven in to your already existing youth ministry schedule. And so you just you got to figure out when can you get all of your volunteers to commit to another moment on their calendar in their week.
00;05;26;56 - 00;06;06;27
Nick Clason
And then another idea within that is how frequently are you going to be communicating? So while you do have meetings, there are going to be infrequent or not infrequent, but but different types of communication. So things like group text messages and or emails, how frequently, how often are you going to be also sending those things? I personally I recommend weekly, so a weekly sort of communication email and then another like another form of gathering, whether that be a an annual meeting, which I haven't said yet, but that's an idea, an annual meeting, a one time meeting, whether it's twice a year, you get together for a big sort of thing, whether it's a monthly sort
00;06;06;27 - 00;06;24;42
Nick Clason
of leader gathering or some sort of weekly huddle. Now every single one of those scenarios, your training is going to have to look a little bit different. If you do annually, you probably can do a big seminar type style thing. You can probably do that if you meet twice a year. If you do monthly, you might need to make it a little more bite sized.
00;06;24;42 - 00;06;52;11
Nick Clason
Not so long, not so so many hours of a commitment. And if you meet weekly, you got to be more in like the tips and tactics zone and all those to be said. You can also share some tips and tactics to level up youth ministry training in your weekly communications via text via email. Now, you might be thinking like, okay, I see the need for this and I realize I need to figure out where I'm going to stick it on my calendar.
00;06;52;15 - 00;07;18;57
Nick Clason
But what in the world should I be talking about? Great. Let's let's talk through that in the next section. All right. Some good topics. And these are just suggestions and examples. And and if something pops up in some particular area or arena in your student ministry, then address it by all means. Right. But if you are like I know I want to me and only to help level my leaders off, but I don't even know where to start then.
00;07;19;10 - 00;07;41;38
Nick Clason
Then there's give me a list right here on the screen. If you are listening, you can head to the show notes, HybridMinistry.xyz/085 Also, if you do end up over on YouTube, be sure to give us a subscribe and a like because these topics we don't want only you to have them. We want all the youth pastors in America to know them, to have them, and to be able to turn to them in a time of need.
00;07;41;38 - 00;08;05;31
Nick Clason
But some topics that I have done or have seen or I just think can be useful. I have ten right here. Screenshot them. This could if you do a monthly gathering, this could essentially fill out your monthly training calendar for for the year. Right. One per month. So the first one is how do you distinguish between a leader versus being a friend of the students.
00;08;05;36 - 00;08;22;37
Nick Clason
You can also then chat through in another month managing a distracted group. We've all been there. We've all led a group that's distracted, especially the sixth grade boys group. How do you get them on task and what is a win for them? How do you take kids seriously? A lot of times we want to come in. We want to tell them what to do.
00;08;22;37 - 00;08;44;54
Nick Clason
But how do we take their needs, their concerns, their thoughts, their ideas, their their the things that they say? How do we take them seriously so that we can add and bring value to who they are as people? How do you pray with your small group? What are some practical ideas beyond just praying to close? But how can you be praying as a small group and be a praying small group together?
00;08;44;58 - 00;09;02;52
Nick Clason
Maybe do a little training on Gen Z and Gen Alpha? I actually have a video links right here at the top of the screen about Gen Alpha, exploring who they are and what we need to know. So maybe you could go watch that and that could be the springboard for some of your content. What are some cultural trends right these days that are going on?
00;09;03;01 - 00;09;23;21
Nick Clason
You should be thinking like, what? What's what's culturally relevant right now and how can we take those trends and how can we chat through? Some of them especially have a a team of adults. They're not living in teen culture anymore, so help expose them to some of those things that maybe even you need to do a little bit of study, a little bit of research on, but help expose them to some of those things.
00;09;23;26 - 00;09;56;11
Nick Clason
What about the power of listening? You know that it's not good for a small group leader to be in there and to just be yammer on the whole time. So help help challenge them, help challenge your small group leaders to listen first and talk second. What about the power of showing up helping, as we talked about in the last video in this youth ministry Master Class 2024 playlist as we talked about scaling up the care for leaders, shepherding you can you can spread out some of those responsibilities if if a small group leader shows up to a kid's soccer game, not only does that get you off the hook and I'm not saying that you
00;09;56;11 - 00;10;17;17
Nick Clason
should be trying to get off the hook of these things, but if you have 100 kids to get to soccer games for, that's going to be tricky for you to get to a hundred different soccer games. But your youth ministry volunteers can also show up to the kids in their small group, getting teens to serve, helping, helping equip small group leaders to to be recruiters and helping teenagers step into their God given callings and abilities.
00;10;17;17 - 00;10;40;49
Nick Clason
And finally, how do you partner with parents? Give smokable leaders tangible tips and tricks and tools to be able to reach out to parents? Very simply, something like do they have all the email lists? And if they don't, do they have access to get all the email lists? Have you allowed them to be a member of your church management software to at least be able to get in and access the group information?
00;10;41;00 - 00;11;00;13
Nick Clason
So those are just some topic ideas. It's not holistic, it's not exhaustive, but they're just ten ideas to help you begin to think about training. I remember thinking, Do I do that? Do I do you know one of those topics in a monthly gathering? Do I cram some of them together in an annual gathering? Do I weave some of them in and out of my communication?
00;11;00;18 - 00;11;38;48
Nick Clason
The answer to that is it's up to you. You guys figure out what's going to work best for you, but I do have in the next section several platforms that you can explore and look at and maybe even try to train and level up some of your youth ministry volunteers. So hey, let's go check that out. So from a once a year from an annual sort of perspective, there is no better option honestly than the NDOVYMT, which is an abbreviation for the National Day of Volunteer Youth Ministry training put on hosted by my friends over a download Youth Ministry, Josh Griffin, Doug Fields and their team.
00;11;38;52 - 00;12;09;11
Nick Clason
There is a link down in the description or head over to the show notes for our train. My volunteers Scott, which will give you info and insight into how to sign up for one of these things. The fact is the pricing is very, very cheap for training your entire team. It's only $250. If you want to be a host church or have other churches come to your church as a host, church is $400, but you get to bring as many people, as many volunteers to that training as possible.
00;12;09;11 - 00;12;30;15
Nick Clason
Plus, it's all video based. And so you get that video for the entire year. Even if you don't play the full video, you can kind of clip it up and use it throughout the year. Another platform idea platform idea number two is honestly this YouTube channel, right? Like I am focusing on helping Mel between the digital and the physical and bringing those things together.
00;12;30;15 - 00;12;50;45
Nick Clason
But I also have a lot of like just generalize youth ministry content so you could check out my youth ministry channel idea number three, you can help. You can check out the Practical Youth Ministry Tips podcast. My friend Eric with the K Williams, he is dropping gold all day long over on his channel as well. So both of our channels are completely free.
00;12;50;45 - 00;13;08;53
Nick Clason
Both of us are trying to to just get the message in the word out there. And so we want people to at these, be aware of it. But right now we're doing it for primarily for free, right? We're not charging you 400 hours like National Day Training is another couple of ideas is the do I am leader training library.
00;13;08;53 - 00;13;29;07
Nick Clason
So if you're a member of do you. I am I can't remember the tiers who gets access to this but but I know if you're at the highest couple of tiers you get access to a do I am leader training library. So there are videos that you can log into a portal and you can watch video trainings from people like Doug Fields, Josh Griffin and some of their friends over there.
00;13;29;07 - 00;14;09;37
Nick Clason
And they have several of the topics, even several topics that I was was suggesting earlier are available on that podcast site. Another thing that I have submitted content for and I have used is the My Youth Min portal by YM360. I think it's aimed a little bit more at the primary and Central youth worker, but it's a great platform to check out if it's something that you is behind a paywall, but it's got like some topflight people talking about things, people in the trenches, and it's like 19 pieces of new content drop onto that platform every single month.
00;14;09;48 - 00;14;27;55
Nick Clason
And so that's one of the keys about it, is that it is it is dynamic and it is moving. It's not just going to be like a leader training library of static videos that haven't been updated in several years. And so the MYM podcast link down below the description or the show notes, all for all these are links down the description.
00;14;27;55 - 00;15;00;47
Nick Clason
And finally, the idea that I think because things are changing and I don't want another meeting on my calendar and, and you probably don't want another meeting on your calendar, an idea for training either to supplement or to replace some of your in-person meetings is what about creating a podcast on the go right? Like you can you can offer training to your leaders as they're going as they're heading to work, as they're running groceries, as they're picking up kids from school and soccer practice.
00;15;00;52 - 00;15;34;46
Nick Clason
If you create a podcast feed, whether it be a public or a private feed and you just do 5 to 10 minute trainings, you can pick up a pretty easy and cheap microphone. Very similar to this. I'll drop some links down below in the show notes for you to check out. If you want to do video based, you can use your cell phone and you can get up and going and listen If you if you start pre filming your messages like I recommend in my full year strategy anyway, you should have a camera, whether it be a real camera or you just using your phone and you're using my under $100 starter kit to get
00;15;34;46 - 00;16;00;06
Nick Clason
going. You can use that as a way to get some of that training up and going and then you can just start posting it to places. And so if you do audio, you do a podcast feed, if you do video, you do YouTube. But like I said, what I'm trying to think of as I'm trying to ride some of the future waves in some of the future trends, because that's actually what I'm going to be talking about in the very next video, which is going to be linked right here on the screen.
00;16;00;11 - 00;16;21;42
Nick Clason
Carey Nieuwhof in his 2024 trends. It is an amazing article. He's been doing an amazing job. And I know we're several months in now to 2024, but I wanted to do a React video and so check that video out link right here on the screen because we in this podcast are trying to make digital discipleship easy and possible and accessible.
00;16;21;42 - 00;16;25;31
Nick Clason
And so, as always, stay hybrid.
17 min
February 15, 2024 Episode 084: 🤝 Recruiting (and Retaining) The Best Volunteers
⚡ [FREE] Digital Integration Strategy⚡
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
[FREE] DYM Games
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/9-best-dym-products
======================================
DESCRIPTION
🛟 The life-line of all good student ministry is adult volunteer leaders.
🤷 So much so, Are we even needed? Eventually, hopefully not!
🇷Let’s dive into the 3 “R’s” of volunteers
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/084
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8HNzfZoiX0
//UNLEASHING VOLUNTEERS DEEP DIVE
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/084
1) RECRUITING
//FULL PROOF EMAIL
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/recruiting-email
2) ROLES
//LEAD SMALL
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Small-Ideas-Every-Leader/dp/0985411627
3) RETENTION
//TIME MANAGEMENT
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http://www.hybridministry.xyz/077
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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 The Life Line for all Youth Pastors
01:02 Finding the Best Volunteers
04:48 Full Proof Recruiting Email
10:06 Not Everybody is a Small Group Leader
14:01 Never Recruit Again with Good Retention
✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:24:22
Nick Clason
If you've been in youth ministry for any length of time, then you know that the lifeline for any good youth ministry is a Dole volunteer. Leaders, Right. Like so much So you might even ask the question, am I even needed? I mean, eventually, Hopefully. No, because you've raised these leaders up in such a way that they're competent and can do the job without you.
00:00:24:24 - 00:00:46:01
Nick Clason
We've talked deeply in the last episode about the philosophy and the reasons behind having good volunteer youth leaders. It's our last video to enjoy the top of the screen. But in this video, we're going to round out and I'm going to give you the three R's of volunteers recruitment. And I have a full proof email, so stick around to see that the roles that you can enlist them into.
00:00:46:01 - 00:01:06:26
Nick Clason
And finally, stick around all the way to the very end of the video because the third and final R is retention. And if you lay out a good foundation and if you actually stick to the plan with retention, you won't ever have to be recruiting again. Sound too good to be true? Let's check it out. So the first R in volunteerism is recruitment.
00:01:06:27 - 00:01:29:26
Nick Clason
Always be recruiting. Now you might be thinking to yourself, Well, where in the world do I even find them coming below the best places to find volunteers in your church? I mean, just think about the places that you frequent. Maybe it's your or your wife's or your families or your children's Sunday school classes. So perhaps you have a kid.
00:01:29:26 - 00:02:00:11
Nick Clason
They have a Sunday school class, another kids parents in that Sunday school class, maybe a small group that you're in or that you lead. As you get to do life with people, you'll notice more about them and you'll be looking for certain qualities or attributes. I mean, one of the best things that you need to do is you need to realize that anyone can do youth ministry, but you're probably not going to find people who come to you and say, I am so super passionate about youth ministry and they look the part and they're cool and they have piercings and they have tattoos.
00:02:00:11 - 00:02:29:07
Nick Clason
Like you'll get one or two of those. But like you also have to be willing to recruit the moms. You have to be willing to recruit the over 55 year old, almost retired men. You have to be willing to recruit like the homeschool dad, like the people that don't exactly look the part. But if they love Jesus and if they can tolerate teenagers, then they're in a good spot to be a youth volunteer and just ask.
00:02:29:08 - 00:02:50:06
Nick Clason
I remember I was coaching one of my kids flag football teams and while I was coaching the team, it was still a church. I was coaching the team, one of the moms on the team. She we had two coaches in there on the field and she kept making her way over to the sidelines and she's like, I just love helping out and being around the kids.
00:02:50:07 - 00:03:07:23
Nick Clason
Is it okay if I do this? Like she wasn't officially a coach? None of that stuff. And so we were like, Yeah, that's great because the kids are just while an hour over there on the sidelines. We needed all the help that we could get. And so her being on the sidelines immediately, like trigger my brain, I was like, I'm going to ask her.
00:03:07:24 - 00:03:28:25
Nick Clason
And so one day I had a leader drop off like a leader call me and say, Hey, I can't do it anymore. I was dropping my son off at preschool, and this mom also is dropping her kids off at the same preschool through the church, which I had never seen her do that before. And immediately in my brain, I felt the Holy Spirit say, Ask her.
00:03:28:27 - 00:03:51:07
Nick Clason
And I had to do the digging because I had to like I didn't know her name right. So I knew the kids names from the fly football team. So I found the kids in our church, you know, database. And then I found her as the mom, and then I just shot her an email. And I'm gonna share with you that imagery just so you might be thinking, okay, I think think through all the different pools that you have and I get it.
00:03:51:07 - 00:04:11:19
Nick Clason
You might be like, I don't I don't have any like at that point, start asking like, ask other other people that, you know, who do you know, who can I ask Who's in your small group? Who's who's someone who's just friendly? Right. And one of the things I like to do is I'm like, they may not have the soft youth ministry skills yet, but if they have a teachable spirit, we can level them up in youth ministry.
00:04:11:19 - 00:04:31:06
Nick Clason
And we're going to talk about in the third and final hour on retention. But how do you ask a volunteer leader? Right. So I have this this email that I've drafted. I am going to share it with you. If you're watching on YouTube, it's going to be linked right here on the screen if you're watching on YouTube, but you're dropping these now on Wednesday morning so you can listen to them on your way into the office.
00:04:31:06 - 00:04:58:08
Nick Clason
You can listen to them while you're setting up for youth ministry. If you're listening via the podcast feed, we're going to continue to drop them on Thursday morning. So you get a little bit of a bonus day if you're watching, subscribing and consuming these via YouTube. So for free, check us out there at YouTube.com slash clay cynic or just search hybrid ministry in the YouTube search bar but the leader recruitment email goes like this dear fill in their name.
00:04:58:10 - 00:05:18:05
Nick Clason
I think that you could be uniquely positioned to be a great volunteer in our student ministry. Now before you laugh, archive this email and just think that I'm full of hot air. Take a minute to think about this. Did you know that two thirds of adult Christians have made a decision to follow Jesus before the age of 18?
00:05:18:08 - 00:05:39:25
Nick Clason
This statistic alone is the reason why I do what I do and investing in the next generation. However, while you may not feel equipped, qualified or ready, I'd like to point out that God uses people like that. The underequipped, the under-qualified, and the not ready to further His kingdom every day. All throughout the pages of Scripture, Moses was a murderer.
00:05:39:28 - 00:06:09:16
Nick Clason
Jonah ran the other way. Peter was uneducated and Paul was a self-righteous bigot. Now, here's what I consider a qualification for student ministry. Love Jesus. And like teenagers, Borrow that from my friend Doug Fields. If you can check these two boxes off, then I think you have what it takes to join our team. I love to sit over a cup of coffee and discuss this idea with you a little bit more in depth, and maybe we could grab a quick phone call to chat about it.
00:06:09:19 - 00:06:35:09
Nick Clason
Give me a call or shoot me text if you'd like to do that. Signed your name. That email alone has drummed up a lot of interest in recruiting new volunteers. And when I was working at a large multisite megachurch in Chicago, I needed to do a lot of kind of cold call style emails, so I'd get names of people I'd never heard of, never met, and I would send them that email to at least sparked conversation and in a lot of cases I would get responses, but not always.
00:06:35:09 - 00:06:54:02
Nick Clason
And so if I didn't get a response out of reach back out via text or call just a couple of weeks later and say, Hey, I sent you an email, I'm just curious if you've given that email any more thought. So I love the line in that email. Two thirds of Christians have made a decision to follow Jesus before the age of 18.
00:06:54:03 - 00:07:13:03
Nick Clason
If you knew that you owe me a subscribe, and if you did it then then hit me like, right. Because what we're doing, like I says, we're dropping this this video one day before the podcast drops. All right. So that statistic alone is why I do what I do. The final thing after how to ask him is how do you onboard them right.
00:07:13:06 - 00:07:33:10
Nick Clason
So once this preliminary conversation has taken place, it's conversation number one. You're going to have to kind of streams of volunteer in intake, right? You may be thinking I need to recruit. And if that's the case, then by all means do it. But in some other cases you may get names to like a volunteer interest form or someone telling you, Hey, you should talk to John.
00:07:33:11 - 00:07:57:26
Nick Clason
Okay. So in that case, if someone else is giving you a name or if they're filling out a form on your website, you need to have a preliminary conversation with them. You need to sit down and find a way to to to kind of vet them just a little bit, not thoroughly and not like FBI style, but just a little bit of like get to know them, get to know their story and discover their reason for why they want to do youth ministry.
00:07:57:27 - 00:08:19:05
Nick Clason
Because while you may be excited about just a random name coming into you from the website, you also have to make sure that you're not enlisting somebody who might be an abuser or a pedophile or some weirdo because as we said earlier, people are just not naturally drawn to being a youth leader volunteer. So someone does say that they are just out of the clear blue sky.
00:08:19:07 - 00:08:43:06
Nick Clason
Just do a tiny little bit of homework. So once that first conversation, that first screening conversation is done, then you need to enter them into whatever your church's safety screening process is. After they've gone through their safety screening process, whether that be a background check, taking some sexual abuse awareness classes or somewhere in between the two of those, you need to find a time to enlist them for a first serve.
00:08:43:07 - 00:09:05:14
Nick Clason
Now, the way that we sort of do it is like we have our background check and that lets them get in the room for a first serve because sometimes some of that additional sexual abuse awareness training is a lot. And so we get them in the room shadowed with someone who's already cleared and screened, but they can get a feel for youth ministry also to kind of just like strike while the iron is hot.
00:09:05:14 - 00:09:21:07
Nick Clason
You don't want that lead to go cold, so you don't want someone who says they're interested and then you not give them an opportunity to come serve. So give them a first serve. Once that first serve is over, have a clearing clarifying conversation with them. I typically like to do it the same day or the same night of their first serve.
00:09:21:13 - 00:09:44:22
Nick Clason
Hey, would you think what do you think in killing begin to kind of pursue this in this direction unless they give you some sort of like big red flag of like, I don't know, man, that's really was Wow. That really wasn't for me. I would try to find a way to start enlisting them that night, make sure that they are finishing up any of their remaining screenings before you make them an official part of your team.
00:09:44:24 - 00:10:07:28
Nick Clason
But then once they have done all those things, once they've done that first serve and they've had that clarifying conversation, get them into an on board situation and do it as quickly as you can see. I think a lot of times we say we want volunteers, but then we're too busy to actually engage with them in meaningfully bring them along so that they feel loved, valued, cared for and that their time is not being wasted.
00:10:08:01 - 00:10:31:17
Nick Clason
So let's move on. Now that we've talked about recruiting, what are the roles that you're recruiting them into? All right. So rule number one is this small group leader. We talked about it at length in the last video, but the lead small book written by the folks down at Orange is, I believe, one of the best pictures of what it means to simply be a small group leader.
00:10:31:17 - 00:10:48:28
Nick Clason
It is clear. It is concise. Any one of us could have written it, but we didn't. And so they get the credit for it because they did the work. But it is a great manual for what a small group leader is pouring into and investing into the lives of just a few students that God has entrusted into their care.
00:10:49:00 - 00:11:11:13
Nick Clason
I think a lot of times when we think small group leader or when we think youth ministry leader, we think they need to be leading a small group. And when you think through the wide swath of different volunteers that you might need, you might not need every single person that says they're interested to become a volunteer small group leader.
00:11:11:13 - 00:11:41:17
Nick Clason
If you think homeschool mom, if you think 55 and older guy, like there might be some other roles in your youth ministry. In fact, we in our studio miss you. We like to use these other roles as a little bit of a feeling out time for both of us, so we get to enlist them into another role that's not directly in the spiritual care and direction of a student, but one that we get to see them, see their faithfulness if they're actually coming to the job.
00:11:41:20 - 00:11:57:12
Nick Clason
And then we also get to know them, because if they're not in some sort of volunteer small group moment, and if you're also not in some sort of volunteer small group moment, you can have a conversation with them. I remember there is a a leader at church I worked at and she was enlisted as one of our safety people.
00:11:57:12 - 00:12:25:02
Nick Clason
She was a police officer and she was a safety person and she was in the back of the room as she was kind of doing her thing. This wasn't on any of our sort of radars with it, but she was doing her thing. She actually came up. She's like, Hey, could I do that? Like instead of safety? And you see how like just being a part of the hospitality team in some way, shape or form being part of it, it initiated her thought process to kind of like say that might be something that I am also interested.
00:12:25:02 - 00:12:45:08
Nick Clason
So some of the roles that we use hospitality, so that's getting things set up, that's greeters at check in, that's saying hey to students, first time students, help them fill out gas cards, all that type of stuff. There's safety. Like I mentioned, and you may have a plan for that from like a hiring in an officer type of thing.
00:12:45:08 - 00:13:03:22
Nick Clason
Or if not, if you're too small of a church, then you need to hire a couple, maybe volunteers, to sort of oversee it, keep eyes on dark spaces in the church, you know, keep an eye on bathrooms. Just make sure that there are an additional set of eyes on everything, because you know that as programing it's going. You got a lot on your mind, a lot on your plate.
00:13:03:24 - 00:13:20:24
Nick Clason
And so some of the last things on your mind is checking to make sure that back in that back closet there aren't two kids making out in this is safety person to do that that will help you know give you an additional like set of eyes so that you can see and know what's going on without seeing and knowing every single thing that's going on.
00:13:20:26 - 00:13:45:14
Nick Clason
You may have a cafe I don't love like cafes from like the selling standpoint, having to source food, but I do love having a cafe because it gives it gives leaders an actual meaningful task to do that. We can place them in in sort of like a first step kind of role before we move them. If I if I don't know this person at all before we move them into a small group leader type role.
00:13:45:17 - 00:14:14:17
Nick Clason
And then, you know, depending on your set in your format, I was in a church that did decentralized host homes. And so we had groups meeting all throughout the city and all sorts of different houses. Your host home volunteers are a great pool of people and a great place. You can send some people so they may not be ready yet to be small group leader every single week, but they may be willing to create a warm, welcoming, inviting kind of atmosphere in a host home situation.
00:14:14:19 - 00:14:42:07
Nick Clason
The third and final or in our list is retention. So retention is how do you keep these volunteers now that you have them? So the first thing that you need to be doing is you need to be checking in with your volunteers frequently. Now, I hear you might be thinking, I don't have very much time. Listen, as a part of this 2024 on Main Masterclass, the very first video was how to manage your time and how to get more stuff done.
00:14:42:12 - 00:15:11:24
Nick Clason
I would recommend that you take a look at that because when you implement some of those processes, you will find that you have more time than you think you do. And once you realize that you can start budgeting for and scheduling conversations, relationships, lunches, coffee appointments with some of your leaders, and it's important to do that because you just have an opportunity to sit down, have a conversation with leaders, get to know them, and let them know that like you're there and they have a place that they can turn to.
00:15:11:25 - 00:15:41:08
Nick Clason
Now, if you have 50, 7500 volunteers, then that's too much for you and that's where you need to probably implement some sort of coaching structure, some sort of additional layer where there's another person kind of put in that place to help be that for you. Again, similar to the safety team, somebody who can just be an additional hand, additional shepherd, additional person to help you care for the leaders in your student ministry.
00:15:41:10 - 00:16:04:00
Nick Clason
What about relationships? Like how are you building your relationship, your rapport with these leaders, Hang out with them in a casual environment. It doesn't always have to be a formalized like meeting sit down with an agenda and three points to get through. Just who are you hanging out with your leaders? If you're hanging out with your leaders, I told you my last video about a guy named Steve that I enlisted.
00:16:04:02 - 00:16:24:03
Nick Clason
I enlisted him to be a seventh grade boy, Smoggy Peter, which in that church, seventh grade was the earliest the youngest age that we had for our students. He still to this day, they are now seniors. He still to this day is a small group leader for them. But I haven't been in that space since like eighth grade of those kids year.
00:16:24:03 - 00:16:44:06
Nick Clason
So. So he stayed all through high school all throughout COVID. Mind you all after my relationship with him left. But because I built a rapport with him, he stuck for that. And then he got hooked and he stuck and he stayed. Finally, think about appreciation. Do you leaders know that you care about them? Do you give them moments?
00:16:44:08 - 00:17:01:29
Nick Clason
Do you give them tokens of appreciation? Does it have to be a big budget buster? But I remember I talked to a youth leader one time who she said all she was doing was just a pristine, like just the mess out of her volunteers. And she asked one of her volunteers one time like, Do you feel appreciated or why?
00:17:01:29 - 00:17:24:27
Nick Clason
Why do people like serving in students? And one of their volunteers said, You'd be crazy not to because he was basically saying, You appreciate us so often and so much like anyone who does this job just feels like a million bucks. Okay. The fourth thing under tension is develop them well, which is actually the final video link in the 2024 youth ministry.
00:17:24:27 - 00:17:42:21
Nick Clason
OnDemand Masterclass is linked right here on the screen. So go ahead and check that out because you want to develop them so that you retain them. We're working to make digital discipleship in youth ministry, in in church ministry, easy possible and accessible. So as always, stay hybrid.
18 min
February 08, 2024 Episode 083: ❤️ Youth Ministry Volunteers Unleashed
⚡ FULL HYBRID MINISTRY STRATEGY⚡
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
[FREE] My Best Youth Ministry Games
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/9-best-dym-products
======================================
DESCRIPTION
🤫 The Secret Sauce in Youth Ministry, might surprise you, is Volunteers
🩹 You only have a certain capacity as one individual person.
Volunteers not only help level up your care in your youth ministry.
But also, they can be the best source of friendship and camaraderie
⏫ How do we level up our volunteers to unleash them?
🔗 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/083
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/7ytA0V0MdeA
1) PASTORAL CARE
//LEAD SMALL
https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Small-Ideas-Every-Leader/dp/0985411627
//MY FULL STRATEGY
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
2) CAMARADERIE
//DARE2SHARE
https://www.dare2share.org
3) INTERSECTED FAITH STORIES
//GROWING YOUNG
https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Young-Essential-Strategies-Discover/dp/0801019257/ref=sr_1_1?crid=338IYV0RBLJFS&keywords=growing+young&qid=1705628888&s=books&sprefix=growing+young%2Cstripbooks%2C153&sr=1-1
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
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Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
======================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "The Full Hybrid Ministry Strategy"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🖥️ "My 9 Favorite DYM Resources"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
======================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-03:41 We would all be sunk without our Youth Ministry Volunteers
03:41-06:42 Caring for youth beyond your capacity
06:42-09:13 How to find friends as a youth pastor
09:13-11:05 Students need more than you
✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
00;00;00;05 - 00;00;19;09
Nick Clason
So early on in in Youth Minister, you've probably been there. I was running a high school and a middle school ministry separate, but I was the only guy. And so the way I actually did it, which I don't necessarily recommend this as a strategy anymore, and I can tell you why in future videos. But I had youth ministry, I had middle school ministry in high school ministry, staggered.
00;00;19;09 - 00;00;41;44
Nick Clason
So one started at six or six. One started at seven or seven. Thought I was really, really cute for coming up with that idea. But no other people have come up with that idea before. Anyway, in my middle school ministry. I had a middle school ministry of girls, like only girls had about eight or six middle school girls on a regular basis and we had no boys.
00;00;41;44 - 00;01;04;00
Nick Clason
In fact, it was a pretty big issue, big enough that there were families leaving the church over it. That being said, I had literally only been there for about four months. And so one family left the church days after I accepted the job and my senior pastor was like, Bro, that's the whole reason why we're hiring this guy to like, help get more people here, get more, you know, boys here for your your son.
00;01;04;01 - 00;01;25;57
Nick Clason
And so anyway, I had missed school ministry and I was playing Leader Roulette. And I'll tell you what, leader Roula, it is I only had middle I only had girl leaders enlisted to serve in my middle school ministry. No boy leaders because I had no boy students. And so in my brain I was like, I'll get to that problem when it happens.
00;01;25;57 - 00;01;48;58
Nick Clason
And so there I was in the lobby welcoming middle school students. And I should also say that I had like 90 minutes of programing. So say, you know, 30 minutes or so of games, 30 minutes of teaching, and then 30 minutes of smart, that last 30 minutes was the overlapping part. So I sent middle schoolers off to their small group for the 30 minutes and the high schoolers sort of right at that time.
00;01;48;58 - 00;02;13;16
Nick Clason
So I was I was unavailable to ever step in as some sort of small group. So anyway, middle school ministry is starting somewhere around 606 or so. I can't say for certain the exact moment. And in walks a boy in my face. I'm like, dang, we got trouble. Now the good news was I did have some high school boys.
00;02;13;21 - 00;02;35;31
Nick Clason
And so then thus I did have high school boy volunteers. And so one of my high school boy volunteers, his name was Aaron Coons. Shout out to Aaron Koontz, Beavercreek, Ohio, AC for short. I call them up was like, dude. And no, you don't need to be here till seven, but can you pop in a few minutes early and can you help run and cover this middle school boy?
00;02;35;31 - 00;03;03;29
Nick Clason
Small group that I was now going to figure out how to staff it. Right now I had a boy. Now I needed boy, small group leaders. And so in this video today, what we are going to talk about is the why of volunteers in youth ministry. And in fact, I actually was going to make this one video. I was going to talk about the why of youth ministry volunteers, the recruiting of youth ministry volunteers and the training of youth minister volunteers.
00;03;03;29 - 00;03;22;55
Nick Clason
And as I sort of scripting it out, I realized this is a long video. So as a part of the 2024 Masterclass, I know I said in the last year, this is going to be the last one, but it's not. We are going to extend this one and break it apart into three different videos. So very a video series inside another video series.
00;03;23;00 - 00;03;42;02
Nick Clason
That's why you should subscribe. Because in this video we're talking about the why of youth ministry volunteers and in future videos, we're going to be talking about how to recruit. And then we're also going to be talking about training. All of this is a part of the free on demand training for youth ministry. Master Class. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show.
00;03;42;07 - 00;04;00;21
Nick Clason
So, everyone, welcome to the Hybrid ministry show. I am Nic Clason Just like I was saying, I've been in youth ministry. The story I shared in the intro was about, I think 13, 12, 13 years ago. Now, at this point, no boys, no boy, small group leaders. And so from that point, I have learned quite a few things about youth ministry.
00;04;00;21 - 00;04;26;15
Nick Clason
I've learned quite a few things about youth ministry volunteers. And one of the key things for youth ministry in youth ministry volunteers is the need for volunteers to help scale up in pastoral care. In fact, we have a video that's linked right here at the top of this screen where we talked about ways to use hybrid ministry to enhance the pastoral care in the shepherding in your youth ministry and in your student ministry.
00;04;26;15 - 00;04;46;30
Nick Clason
And so I'm not going to get too deep into that and tools and tips and tricks on how to equip your volunteers to reach out to your students and to care for your students. But you should check that out. There's some that you're interested in. However, one of the key things not to sound too corporate, not to sound to business, is that you need youth ministry leaders to help scale up the care.
00;04;46;30 - 00;05;11;34
Nick Clason
I mean, the reality of the fact is that you, as an individual, a singular one person, youth ministry, one man band, you only have so much capacity and maybe you're a super relational person. And so your capacity may be higher than someone who's not quite as relational as you. But at the end of the day, you realize that like once you scale past 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, I don't know, definitely 80.
00;05;11;34 - 00;05;32;22
Nick Clason
You're not going to be able to know every single student's name, every single student story, every single student's things going on. Their families are not going to be able to attend every single student's games and every single student's extracurricular types of things. And so that is why youth ministry is so important, is because your your volunteers help spread out that care.
00;05;32;22 - 00;05;55;21
Nick Clason
I mean, that's really that's the crux, the thesis is the basis for the entire book written by Orange Lead Small, one of my all time favorite resources. If you haven't checked it out, link down below in the show notes. But it is a youth ministry volunteer's job description and I actually used it in a lot of cases to help onboard some of my leaders and say, Read this and if this lights a fire within you, then let's keep talking.
00;05;55;21 - 00;06;18;03
Nick Clason
And that'll be kind of the preliminary starting foundation for a lot of my discussions. So it helps expand our reach. Speaking of expanding regional, I think all of us realize and see the need for social media. Well, what I've done for use, I've actually led a completely free digital strategy. I call it my hybrid ministry done for you one month posting strategy.
00;06;18;03 - 00;06;42;05
Nick Clason
It's linked right here down below. Very first link in the top of this video, I want you to check out my completely free e-book and not only can you become the face of your youth ministry, social media, not only can you get students as a main primary face of your youth, missed your social media, but you can now also, as a part of this video, enlist your volunteers to be a part of your youth ministry and especially what they're doing on social media.
00;06;42;14 - 00;07;09;23
Nick Clason
But reason number two, beyond scaling up pastoral care so that you can kind of spread out the need and the desire and knowing of students, there's just a camaraderie that comes with people locking arms and going together. I remember my students, we would take them to a thing called Dare to Share. You've maybe heard of it before, and at one point in the Dear Teacher conference, what they're doing it actually said, now there's a dude, Ayrshire Live, and so you kind of host it as like a livestream event.
00;07;09;23 - 00;07;23;52
Nick Clason
But back in the day they would go city to city and so we would kind of chase whatever city they're in. Sometimes they're in Dayton, Ohio, sometimes they're in Columbus, Ohio. I think maybe one time there in Cincinnati, Ohio. But nonetheless, we would kind of go to the conference. They'd have the worship and the speakers and all the things.
00;07;23;52 - 00;07;42;04
Nick Clason
But at one point they'd send youth ministries all throughout the city of wherever the hosting of the event was happening. And they would say, go door to door, collect cans, pass out lightbulbs, whatever the case may be, but share the gospel with people and my students. I remember they'd always be so nervous and freaked out. I mean, come on, wouldn't you?
00;07;42;09 - 00;08;09;23
Nick Clason
And but but one of the things that was so helpful but it was would help kind of break down the barrier and the entry level of starting a gospel conversation. But I remember the atmosphere and the attitude once we arrived back in the conference room, everyone in that place, they were hype. They were so pumped up because they had gone out and they actually I remember one time in one of the things they equated it to, like being on a military mission.
00;08;09;27 - 00;08;30;02
Nick Clason
You have this unbreakable bond because you've been on a mission together. And I think in a lot of ways that's what a youth ministry volunteer team can be. You as you pastor, you have a mission to help reach students and share the gospel and help point them to Jesus. But then you also have leaders who are who are adopting that same mindset and strategy, and maybe they're not there yet.
00;08;30;06 - 00;08;51;03
Nick Clason
You're helping kind of bring them along or level them up into that. And once you can have that unbreakable bond, you realize that even after a bad night of youth ministry, you guys are still there together, that you're still around some other people who are a like minded on the same page and beyond just that, beyond just like the camaraderie, you have the opportunity to make real friends with these people.
00;08;51;18 - 00;09;13;00
Nick Clason
I remember I worked at a church in Cincinnati, Ohio, and one of my volunteers became one of my best friends, and we met every single Tuesday morning. We met to recite Bible verses together to kind of keep each other accountable. And still to this day, even now, at that point, something like five, six, seven years ago, we'll call each other every once in a while and we'll just kind of keep up with each other's lives.
00;09;13;13 - 00;09;31;42
Nick Clason
The third reason why you need volunteers in your youth ministry is simply because of the fact that students need more than you to speak into their life and into their faith story. In fact, it takes five people in the book Growing Young by Care, Power, Power. She talked about the importance and that's going to be Campbell on the show notes or wherever your podcast catch.
00;09;31;42 - 00;09;59;34
Nick Clason
You can you can check it out in the link in the description or a hybridministry.xyz/083 beyond just three of transcripts. But Kara Powell said that we need five people. Students need five people in their lives. If they have five people speaking into their lives of their faith beyond just mom and dad. But but smart leaders and youth pastors and maybe even like adults that they serve in the nursery with the they rub shoulders with and they see on a regular ongoing basis.
00;09;59;34 - 00;10;21;00
Nick Clason
You need leaders in your life because you are not going to be the only primary person speaking into students lives. And if you are, that's going to leave them with a less lustful, less less robust faith. They need other voices speaking into it so you can be a voice in their smug habit. It can be a voice and maybe their small group co-leader can be a voice.
00;10;21;00 - 00;10;39;39
Nick Clason
And maybe some are on the serving team that's overseeing the greeters, which they're they're a member of serving on the youth ministry team or whatever the case might be. But fill it in. So there's five people. Five people seems to be the kind of key marker and not wasn't I get it? You might be sitting there thinking, I don't have five people I know it can be difficult.
00;10;39;39 - 00;11;01;32
Nick Clason
And that's why we're talking on the next video about how to recruit the best youth ministry volunteers, where to get them, where to find them, how to do it that is linked right here on the video. So don't forget, in this podcast we are making digital discipleship easy, possible, accessible in this particular video through the ministry of our small group leaders.
00;11;01;32 - 00;11;05;42
Nick Clason
So don't forget and as always, stay hybrid.
12 min
February 01, 2024 Episode 082: 💡 5 No Prep Youth Group Game Ideas
⚡ 9 FREE DYM GAMES ⚡
https://www.patreon.com/posts/9-amazing-dym-142425755?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
** 2024 Social Media Strategy*https://www.patreon.com/posts/complete-guide-142500019?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
*======================================**
DESCRIPTION
🎮 Games & Youth Ministry
We’ve been doing them since the invention of Youth Ministry.
📨 But what do you do when you’re in a hurry or a pinch?
💪 Don’t worry, we got you!
This is part 5 of the 2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/082
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/QyUfb0kQlL4
#1 BRING ME
//BRING ME
https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/bring-me-10-game-bundle/games-bringmebundle.html
#2 DYM Membership
(DownloadYouthMinistry.com)
//DYM Membership
https://www.dymmembership.com/pricing
//TRY SIDEKICK
https://app.sidekick.tv/auth/create?code=NickClason
//MY BEST DYM GAMES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
//9 FREE GAMES
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/9-best-dym-products
//HYBRID MINISTRY E-BOOK
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
#3 CLUMPS
//CLUMPS
https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/clumps/games-1717.html
#4 STEAL THE BACON
#5 ENLIST A VOLUNTEER
//VOLUNTEERS ARE THE NEXT VIDEO IN THE PLAYLIST
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
======================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🖥️ "My 9 Favorite DYM Resources"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
======================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-00:28 Why Youth Group Sermons Don't Do We Want them to do!v
00:28-01:50 #1 Bring Me
01:50-06:25 #2 DYM Membership
06:25-07:23 #3 Clumps
07:23-08:18 #4 Steal the Bacon
08:18-09:29 #5 Enlist a Volunteer
✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
00;00;00;05 - 00;00;21;15
Nick Clason
Games and youth ministry. They go together like Bert and Ernie, Batman and Robin, the Lone Ranger and Tonto. Do you even get that reference? Because I barely dude from an old worship song. But what happens when you are running low on time and you don't have time to pull a game together and you have barely any prep ready?
00;00;21;20 - 00;00;48;31
Nick Clason
Well, here are my five best go to ideas in a low prep, no prep situation. Let's check it out. Idea number one is one of my all time favorite games. I like to call it Bring me In. It's simply, Hey, you're standing on stage and you say, bring me a penny, Bring me a shoelace, bring me your leader's left sock, bring me a gum wrapper, bring me a couch cushion, bring me a hat, bring me a cell phone charger.
00;00;48;43 - 00;01;13;14
Nick Clason
Bring me a Stanley, bring me a sweatshirt, Bring me your cell phone case. But your cell phone can't be in if you if you head over to a hybridministry.xyz/082, which is this episode, you are out. I actually have nine of my favorite doing games that I've ever submitted and put on Doom's website on there completely for free.
00;01;13;18 - 00;01;26;37
Nick Clason
Bring me is one of them. But you don't even need a screen for this. You can just screenshot all the ones I just said, put them down on a list and then just get up there and say when you don't know what to do, when you don't have time, when you don't have prep, bring me is a great game.
00;01;26;37 - 00;01;49;41
Nick Clason
It incites a lot of chaos and panic. Students are running up and back and forth to the stage to try and win, be the first one up there, especially if you make it something difficult. Like I like to do a shoelace, but it can't be in the shoe anymore. So I have to like on threat it, stuff like that that makes it take a little bit more time, but then still creates a lot of moments of just excitement and running and all those absurd things.
00;01;49;41 - 00;02;14;41
Nick Clason
Super fun. Idea number two is get a dude gym membership. Now if you have not checked out, download Youth Ministries. DuHaime For sure. I mean, they have absolutely changed the game when it comes to youth ministry and youth ministry games. In fact, at the top of this video, I have a detailed an outline of the entire history of why we even do games in youth ministry.
00;02;14;41 - 00;02;37;12
Nick Clason
So check that out for something you're interested in. But for the rest of us you need to check out dkim. And there member pricing is so cheap they just upped it. And so they have one now called platinum, but they have a starter for just 1199 a month. Gold for 24, 74 month gold plus for 30 a month and then platinum for 74, 92 a month and platinum we just upgraded to platinum.
00;02;37;12 - 00;02;58;14
Nick Clason
It has everything. It's like 800 a month. You get your curriculum, you get access to sidekick and phone voting. You get like store credit per month, you get all the member downloads. So I remember my brother, he just upgraded to the download Youth Ministry membership and I remember telling him I was like every single month you get new stuff.
00;02;58;14 - 00;03;24;44
Nick Clason
And then I was like, And then the credit reloads every single month. And he literally said to me on the phone, Dude, this is a game changer. And so if you have not checked out sidekick, which has live polling, one of my favorite hybrid like advancements in youth ministry that we have today, they have the spinning wheel they have name picker but the phone voting, the live voting, they used to be a service you had to pay for poor everywhere.
00;03;24;44 - 00;03;44;57
Nick Clason
Now it just rolled into the do I am memberships. If you're not a DUI I member, it may sound pricey to you with a little bit of sticker shock, but once you get any start using some of their products, you realize just how cheap it really is. And when you're in a pinch, DuHaime is a must. It is a go to you can jump online, you can grab a game that looks done.
00;03;45;02 - 00;04;10;29
Nick Clason
Pro-level or pro ready, you drop it into your pro presenter, you drop into sidekick and boom, you are off to the races and no one's none the wiser that you just pulled that together in 5 minutes. Having a DUI membership is an absolute game changer and one of my actually favorite hacks for DUI games is taking one of those games and turning it into a social media moment.
00;04;10;29 - 00;04;35;50
Nick Clason
And so I have a lot of games in my nine best DuHaime blog posts, which if you scroll all the way to the bottom, have a link on there though. Actually just give it to you completely for free so you don't have to pay for them, any of them. You can check it out. You can test those are all Nick Leeson games, but I would take some of those games and yes, I have vertical based videos, vertical based graphics for some, so you can just post the graphic on your social media feed and that that's one way to do it.
00;04;35;50 - 00;04;51;39
Nick Clason
But a next level way that I like to use it is to hand the graphic to a student on a phone and then have them walk around, kind of like Mr. Beast style. All throughout my building on a Wednesday night or on a Sunday morning and ask other students or ask other leaders to try and play the game, to try and guess the thing.
00;04;51;39 - 00;05;09;21
Nick Clason
So we do that a lot with one of my games I've created called Emoji Phraseology. And so they'll take the the social media graphic and they'll walk around and they'll be like, Hey, what is this emoji phrase? Was this camp emoji phrase? What is this New Year's emoji phrase? What is this Christmas emoji face? Was this back to school emoji phrase?
00;05;09;26 - 00;05;27;56
Nick Clason
And then we get to watch other people kind of deal with it. One of the recent adaptations we did, I would usually do that for like one question at a time. So one student gets one question and we just film them and see how they respond. One of the most recent adaptations I did was I brought five students into my office and then I asked all of them all ten questions.
00;05;27;56 - 00;05;45;10
Nick Clason
And then I went back through each of the ten questions and I spliced up the best moments from those. And so every question had five students, and we would cut to them thinking and and wrestling with it and giving answers, whether they're right or wrong. And then, you know, when they gave the right answer a little ding would pop up on screen.
00;05;45;10 - 00;06;03;22
Nick Clason
So all kinds of different ways to adapt that. You know what? I actually have all that type of stuff detailed for you in my completely free e-book, which wants to help you crush social media. It's actually got a month's worth of social media resources, but it's not what you think. It's not just a bunch of graphics that you can scheduled to your feed.
00;06;03;27 - 00;06;31;14
Nick Clason
It actually helps you take and adapt a real true next Gen. Gen Z Gen Alpha friendly Hybrid Ministry, Digital Ministry Integration of strategy to your ministry where you film your messages ahead of time. That's the bedrock of all that you do. And then you post short form, vertical based videos on your feed throughout the month and you and your your youth ministry, your volunteers and your students, they are the faces of the youth ministry.
00;06;31;19 - 00;06;53;23
Nick Clason
You're not just a social media with a bunch of graphics. You are a social media with humans, entertainment based, fun based and also spiritual content. My e-book outlines details all of that 100% completely for you. Moving on to idea number three, when you are in a pinch for games, it is one of my favorite elimination style games. It's called clumps.
00;06;53;34 - 00;07;08;08
Nick Clason
You don't need a screen for it. You can use a screen for it. Do you? AIM has a version of it. You can check it out. Link in the show notes where ever you are listening on a podcast catch or if you're watching here news you read down below, but you can essentially just say, Hey, in groups of four.
00;07;08;08 - 00;07;38;47
Nick Clason
And then if you get groups of four and then anyone who's not in a group of four, whether they are the slowest or they just are less standing, they are eliminated and you start to whittle your group down to you have a last group or last team standing. It's super fun game. Check it out. It's a it's a go to in a pinch idea number four for going to in a pinch is steal the bacon If you've never played it before you get two lines of people on each side and you number everybody one through however many you have, make sure it's a even number on each side and then you put something in the
00;07;38;47 - 00;07;54;07
Nick Clason
middle. And this is the no prep part. You can literally put a hat in the middle, you can put a sweatshirt in the middle, you can put a couch cushion from your youth room in the middle, and then you call out numbers. And so when you say number one, each person's number one runs in. They have to grab it and then have to bring it back to their side.
00;07;54;12 - 00;08;12;43
Nick Clason
That's it. You can get creative. You can start calling multiple numbers. You can call number one and number seven. And then they both come running and trying to grab the pillow and then run back. It is a no prep low prep game. It is fun, it is active. It gets people moving, it gives people sweaty. So if you've never played steal the bacon before, go ahead and try.
00;08;12;43 - 00;08;33;58
Nick Clason
If you do, please tag us. Let us know on social media so that we can repost you. That would be super fun to know. And then idea number five if you are running low on time and Prep is perhaps enlist a volunteer. Enlisting a volunteer is a great way to get the stress of games off of your plate and then you can put them in charge of choosing the game.
00;08;33;58 - 00;08;52;10
Nick Clason
You can put them in charge of hosting the game and you can even help put them in charge of creating a student hosting team. I remember when I was in middle school there was a volunteer. Your name was Bruce Craig, and Bruce Craig, wasn't you? He wasn't your quintessential volunteer leader that you think of, right? He wasn't like young hip tows like he was a dad.
00;08;52;10 - 00;09;14;55
Nick Clason
I think he had a high school kid, but he ran games for our middle school ministry every single week in the gym, on the microphone, and he was making it happen. And here's the thing. Adult volunteers are truly the lifeblood of everything that we do in student ministry, which is why I saved adults for the very end of this 2024 Youth Ministry on Demand playlist.
00;09;14;55 - 00;09;28;35
Nick Clason
It's the seventh and final video link right here on the screen. Click it and we will take you to that and we will talk to you next time. Don't forget, we are making digital discipleship easy inaccessible. So as always, stay.
10 min
January 25, 2024 Episode 081: 😲 Your Youth Sermons Don’t Matter
⚡ Youth Ministry [On-Demand] Masterclass ⚡
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
[FREE] 2024 Social Media Strategy
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
======================================
DESCRIPTION
👎 Do your youth group sermons stink?
🤷The ultimate goal we have for our students is to grow in their love for God and their love for others. However, does what you teach actually matter?
🤯In this vide we are going to share the surprising things that need to be in place, for your teaching to be effective! And GOOD NEWS: None of them have anything to do with your actual teaching! This is part 5 of the 2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/081
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/gqOPjD5hN-g
//7 CHECKPOINTS
https://www.christianbook.com/the-seven-checkpoints-for-student-leaders/andy-stanley/9781439189337/pd/189337?utm_source=google&kw=161716281504&mt=&dv=c&event=PPCSRC&p=1186432&gclid=Cj0KCQiAkKqsBhC3ARIsAEEjuJhcSbVs_Wbqnq8WgKR-HbmYbSVDHHSUTO1p-Np1urnuM_Yt6U5dstMaAjwvEALw_wcB
//ATTENDANCE CONUNDRUM
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/03/22/more-houses-of-worship-are-returning-to-normal-operations-but-in-person-attendance-is-unchanged-since-fall/?utm_source=adaptivemailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rel%20-%2022-03-22%20worship%20attendance&org=982&lvl=100&ite=9703&lea=2048393&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0d3j0000112o9deae
//HYBRID MINISTRY E-BOOK
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
======================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🖥️ "My 9 Favorite DYM Resources"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
======================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-01:26 Why Youth Group Sermons Don't Do We Want them to do!v
01:26-06:10 The Best Youth Sermon Curriculum Scope in Existence
06:10-10:04 2 Things Your Youth Group Needs for Better Sermons
10:04-10:53 The #1 Thing Our Students Needc
✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
00:00:00:03 - 00:00:27:08
Nick Clason
Teaching in discipleship. Honestly, the core components of what we do in youth ministry. But what if you're teaching sucks? I mean, listen, like you probably think I'm here to sell you some sort of curriculum or something. That's not it, right? But what if what you're doing is not actually contributing to your students attending the way that you and, frankly, your boss want them to be attending?
00:00:27:09 - 00:00:47:11
Nick Clason
I mean, let's be honest. The entire reason that that youth ministry exists is because we want to help teach students about Jesus. Jesus taught us the aim. What we should be teaching our students is to love God and to love others. And so the goal of all youth ministry is be to help students grow in that love of God and love of others.
00:00:47:14 - 00:01:14:28
Nick Clason
So today I want to talk to you about, number one, a great scope and sequence for your teaching calendar for your students. However, the problem which we talked about in the video length right here is that 57% of regular church goers didn't go to church during the course of one month. And so we're going to talk in this video about the two key things that you actually need to address in your youth ministry and in your youth ministry space before you can even solve the attendance issues as it relates to teaching.
00:01:14:29 - 00:01:36:00
Nick Clason
And finally, I have the number one thing that you and I need to disciple our students. I think it's an ultimate game changer. Welcome to the hybrid ministry show. Welcome, everyone to the Hybrid Ministries show. My name is Nicholas and coming at you during the flex week in between Christmas and New Year. At least that's when I'm recording.
00:01:36:03 - 00:01:57:20
Nick Clason
I almost forgot my glasses. I don't have my watch on. I got my new Christmas mug that my five year old made for me at preschool. It's an amazing week, but we are still going strong in the 2024 Youth Ministry OnDemand Masterclass. You're going to want to make sure that you subscribe because we're going to lay out all of everything that I've ever learned in my 13 years of youth ministry experience.
00:01:57:20 - 00:02:14:15
Nick Clason
My name is Nick Clason, youth pastor now living and working in the DFW Dallas, Texas area. But when we talk about scope and sequence, one of my favorite resources of all time, I mean, it's so dated. I mean, just look at the graphic here. If you're not watching on YouTube, you can see it. If not, you'll just have to go check out the show notes.
00:02:14:15 - 00:02:33:09
Nick Clason
But it's called seven Check points for Students. It's written by Andy Stanley. And I think this is a really, like thorough and a really good swath of things that students need and should be learning as it pertains to what we teach them when they're in youth ministry. So some of those check point, some of those things are, number one, an authentic faith.
00:02:33:12 - 00:03:04:04
Nick Clason
Number two, spiritual disciplines. Number three, more boundaries. Number four, meaningful friendships. Number five, why is choices Number six, ultimate authority? And then finally, number seven, putting others first. I mean, if you want to try to poke holes in that like you may, there may be some things that you're like that's missing here, that's missing there. But like, if were to say love God, love others, you can almost go back through that, similar to what Jesus did with the 635 different commandments and put all of them into a classification of love, God love others, right?
00:03:04:04 - 00:03:23:04
Nick Clason
So like an authentic faith that we love God and spiritual disciplines, it's like love God and moral boundaries, a combination of the two. But I would probably put it in love. Others and meaningful friendships is also love others. But there's also a benefit to us in that as well, making wise choices about loving others and ultimate authority is probably about loving God and finally putting others first.
00:03:23:04 - 00:03:39:26
Nick Clason
Let's love others, right? And so if you break it down to those different categories, like if you just have those seven things sort of on your mind of like, okay, these are the main kind of core things that we want our students to learn. What I would do is I would kind of sprinkle those throughout the year, kind of kind of space them out.
00:03:39:26 - 00:04:06:25
Nick Clason
Right? And so I'll just give you a quick snapshot into what we're doing in our student ministry. You know, I'm not trying to say any sort of curriculum. I have a curriculum to sell you, but there are a ton of different resources out there. Why? I'm through 60 so series do you I am has series even have a new thing called co-leader if you haven't checked that out Collider does everything for you, not just your message content but also like your slides and your smog questions and your games and your content in your worship, like it does everything for you.
00:04:06:25 - 00:04:28:02
Nick Clason
It is, and it's much cheaper than some of the other content companies out there, like, say, like an XP three or like an orange. But if you have the budget, you might want to try them out too, because they have a lot of really good resources. So back in September, what we talked about is we actually led the year off starting a few weeks early in August, kind of more like the back to school around August 20th is when our students go back to school in Texas.
00:04:28:05 - 00:04:48:15
Nick Clason
And we did a three ways How to not ruin your school year. That was kind of like our focus and is basically like, if you don't connect with God, if you don't connect with us, if you're not in a small group, right, like those are some of the ways in which you can like ruin your school year. Then we moved on in October and we talked about Elephants In the Room is one of my favorite series that we did.
00:04:48:15 - 00:05:08:02
Nick Clason
We talked about racism and cheating and bullying and some of the bigger kind of like hot topic things. Like everyone know the label. If we don't really address them very often, Then we did a series called Gratitude or Gratitude is your typical Thanksgiving series doing did a Christmas series. And that's one of the tricky things about that's what the tricky things about the scope and sequence is.
00:05:08:02 - 00:05:30:00
Nick Clason
You only really get a few months and then you kind of into your like Thanksgiving and your Christmas kind of vibes. In January, we're doing a series called Kings, and it is exploring four different kings of Israel. We got David, we got Joe Joash, we got real boom and then we got Hezekiah. So everyone knows David, but the other three are a little bit less known and it's about how to make the most of the hand that you're dealt.
00:05:30:02 - 00:05:47:25
Nick Clason
In February, we're going to look at like a biblical literacy type of thing and basically teaching students how to navigate the Bible, how to read it, why it's important, why the Bible should have, you know, ultimate authority in your life. In March, we're going to do a Easter type series, and then we're going to end the year with Faith's biggest questions.
00:05:47:25 - 00:06:07:04
Nick Clason
And we're going to, again, kind of zero in and some more hotter topic type of things. And so that's how we laid out our scope in our sequence. If you look back at any Stanleys, like some of them tie in there, some of them don't, you know, But at the end of the day, like we're trying to give our students a good understanding of how to love God and how to love others.
00:06:07:04 - 00:06:28:21
Nick Clason
But the problem is that we've all been trying to navigate what do we do when our students don't show up to hear what we have to teach them? So what do we do about this attendance conundrum? People are attending church less and less, especially post pandemic. And so I think there really like two things that we need to try and create in our student ministry.
00:06:28:21 - 00:06:48:15
Nick Clason
And these things actually have nothing to do with teaching. But if we create these things, they will enhance our teaching. And the first one is this Students need a place to belong. It's no longer if you build it, they will come. I worked at a large church in Cincinnati. Eric Geiger, who is now the lead pastor at a manchester.
00:06:48:19 - 00:07:08:24
Nick Clason
He was a youth pastor there, and they built the space that I inherited for Eric Geiger. I don't think he ever made it into that building during his tenure there, but there were people that that grew up in Eric's youth ministry, and they said that like that youth ministry was the talk of the town and everyone like to come in and play billiards.
00:07:08:24 - 00:07:30:21
Nick Clason
And so I inherited so many billiards tables and you know, that that's like ultimately a curse because you can't actually move those things. And so that was sort of under the mindset that like if we build it, if we have this thing, they will come. But I think now it's shifting in a more and more digital sort of way, a more digital sort of mindset.
00:07:30:21 - 00:07:51:04
Nick Clason
I think students and teenagers are more thinking like, if my friends are here, then I'll show up, has and listen, you should still do a good job, you should still focus, you should still plan, you should still prep. But I think far less of that has to do anything with what you produce, what you put out there, what your programing and more.
00:07:51:06 - 00:08:12:20
Nick Clason
Are we creating a place for students to belong? I it doesn't really sound very spiritual and no amount of prep on your message is really going to help create some of that. Right? But that really is, I think, the crux of where we find ourselves. That's the first one. The second thing is that students need to have ownership and they will stick and they will stay attached to youth ministry, especially the older they get.
00:08:12:20 - 00:08:36:03
Nick Clason
And once they start getting keys and driver's license and cars, if they feel a sense of ownership of what's going on in our youth ministry. And so for teaching right to be good, you need students to find a place to belong. And you also want to help them find an opportunity to attach and be accessibly owning some of what your student ministry has to offer.
00:08:36:03 - 00:08:57:15
Nick Clason
So as far as your content goes, like you should, you should care about your scope and sequence, you should pray about it, you should think about it, you should pore over it. However, oftentimes that isn't what is keeping sticking and attracting students, right? As far as the content goes, you can preach more than just the one time a week that you live in the room with all of your students.
00:08:57:18 - 00:09:28:27
Nick Clason
Right? And that's why I would say I'd actually make the argument that I think the Internet is better for content delivery. Obviously, community ownership, serving prayer, some of those those are not better on the Internet, but content delivery and teaching can be done on the Internet. And so if students and if people are attending 57% not coming to church during the course of the month, then I want to I want to ask you to consider would you think about the idea of going hybrid?
00:09:28:27 - 00:09:49:09
Nick Clason
And when I say hybrid, I'm not just talking about only your online presence. I'm not just talking about only your in-person presence. I'm talking about a melding of the two. What can you produce? What can you put out there digitally? What kind of teaching content can you create? Can you do more podcasts? Can you do smaller bite sized social media, short type things?
00:09:49:11 - 00:10:14:04
Nick Clason
I have a fully laid out strategy right here linked down below in my completely free e-book, and that will help you be able to focus on the belonging and the ownership pieces and still deliver content. Because we need students to have content, We need students to learn things. We need students to be disabled. But the only way in which are disabled does not have to be live and in the room.
00:10:14:07 - 00:10:34:04
Nick Clason
So as I said at the beginning, what is the ultimate number one thing that we need from our students is this is we need to help create for them a meaningful attach statement to Jesus. And when you choose to go hybrid, you can offer all of this content, all the content that you want in the world, paired with a warm community.
00:10:34:04 - 00:10:59:01
Nick Clason
And that really is the best of both worlds. Your environment matters, which is why I think the way in which we approach programing and games is such a crucial component of youth ministry, especially in the face of this mental health crisis that we're all facing with teenagers helping students be able to laugh. And that video is linked right here on the screen because we're making digital discipleship not only easy, but also accessible.
00:10:59:01 - 00:11:02:28
Nick Clason
So as always, don't forget stay hybrid.
11 min
January 18, 2024 Episode 080: 🛑 Stop Posting Church Announcements on Social Media
⚡ [FREE] Crush Social Media This New Year ⚡
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
2024 [FREE] Youth Ministry Masterclass on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
======================================
DESCRIPTION
😫 Are you tired of seeing church announcements flood your social media feeds? It's time to rethink this strategy and take a closer look at the potential hazards it poses.
📹In this video, we delve deep into the reasons why posting church announcements on social media might not be the wisest choice.
👍But, don’t worry! We’ll show you exactly what to do! And how to not lose your life to it! Especially if you follow our time management tips, which is a part of the 2024 Youth Ministry [on-demand] Masterclass
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
======================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/080
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/slB0Rmf_X0c
PURPOSE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
//OPUS.PRO [1 CLICK VIRAL SHORTS SOLUTION]
https://youtu.be/TiW4ooQpAvo?si=W_4pCZZbZmUnzsB9
//METRICOOL
https://metricool.com/
POST YOUR MESSAGES ON YOUTUBE
//[FREE] E-BOOK
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
//$100 STARTER KIT
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
//YOUVERSION LIVE EVENTS
https://my.bible.com/events
TAKE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA TO THE NEXT LEVEL
//OPUS.PRO [1 CLICK VIRAL SHORTS SOLUTION]
https://youtu.be/TiW4ooQpAvo?si=W_4pCZZbZmUnzsB9
//SONLIFE
https://www.sonlife.com/
//[FREE] E-BOOK
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
IDEA #2: TELEPATHY
//ADOBE PREMIERE PRESETS
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
IDEA #3: RANK 'EM
//DYM RANK 'EM RESOURCES
Christmas: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/rank-%27em%3A-christmas-edition/christmas-games-9126.html
Fall: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/rank-%27em---fall-edition/holiday-or-seasonal/fall-8962.html
IDEA #6: EMOJI PHRASEOLOGY
//MY FAVORITE 9 DYM PRODUCTS
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
IDEA #8: SPIRITUAL PRACTICE VIDEOS
//SPIRITUAL PRACTICE VIDEOS
https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/spiritual-practice-videos/social-media/instagram-8804.html
WHAT TO DO ABOUT FACEBOOK?
//CANVA PRO FOR [FREE!]
https://youtu.be/g0FQWvKjP_E?si=D6jJLxEdkEy9z0FV
WHAT TO DO ABOUT INSTAGRAM?
//BUDGET GRAPHIC DESIGN EDITORS
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaIdZ-RLm5uVVlHj46FKrMYw
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
======================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
======================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-01:06 Stop Doing this on Social Media
01:06-04:14 What is the purpose of social media?
04:14-07:04 Post Your Messages to YouTube
07:04-11:42 Taking your social media to the next level
11:42-12:12 Idea #1: Drafts
12:12-13:45 Idea #2: Telepathy
13:45-14:04 Idea #3: Blind Rankings
14:04-14:20 Idea #4: Know it or Nah
14:20-14:33 Idea #5: Staff Videos
14:33-15:39 Idea #6: Emoji Phraseology
15:39-15:44 Idea #7: Sermon Clips
15:44-16:35 Idea #8: Spiritual Practice
16:35-16:46 Where to Post all these videos?
16:46-17:34 What to do about Facebook?
17:34-19:27 What to do about Instagram?
✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
Nick Clason (00:00):
Summer camp, fall retreat D. Now your next outreach experience, the reality is there are always things to do. You're always trying to get students to come to you. You're always trying to get people to fill and populate your next church events. So naturally, what do we do? Well, we need to put it on the church website. We need to make sure that it gets listed in the church bulletin. We need to add it to the pre-roll before the service and post it to social media. Stop it. No, seriously, stop it. Stop posting your announcements to social media. Don't do it. Don't do it. We're tempted always to post our announcements to social media because we think it's another outlet, another strategy, another place to inform people. But the reality is nobody wants that on their social media feeds. I hear you. You're like, yeah, but what else should I do? Nobody listens, dude. I get it. Okay, but let's look at it. What should we be doing on social media?
Nick Clason (01:07):
So stop posting your announcements on social media. I saw this reel the other day about this guy talking about the Red Bull social media experience, and he said, red Bull is crushing it. He said, what are the local pizzerias and restaurants in your town doing? People are not getting on social media and thinking like, man, I wonder what's on the menu today. Because if you look at a pizzeria on social media, you know that they're going to be posting or you know that they're going to be serving pizza. That's just a part of the experience. And so he said, what Red Bull's doing on social media, we know that Red Bull serves Red Bull energy drinks, but what their primary goal on social media is entertainment. So that's why people get on social media. They get on social media to be entertained. Can we as a church adopt some of those strategies not forever and forsaking some of the spiritual components that can come about on social media, but can we do that on social media?
Nick Clason (02:08):
And the fact is, yeah, actually social media has ushered in a new era with the discovery platforms, with short form video based and videos are still king. And you know what you can do? You can actually take clips and snippets of your message and use this strategy right here. It's linked at the top of the video and this completely free tool Opus Pro. Check out in that video link in this description, link in that video description. But the fact of the matter is you can use tools out there. You can use AI to help you and aid you if you're not a great video editor, if you don't know how to clip things up on social. But the fact is, you might even be thinking, well, what am I supposed to do? How can I post things there? There's a lot of services out there to post things on the feed.
Nick Clason (02:52):
So you may be scheduling your lock-in post. You may be scheduling your church announcement post. You may be scheduling your summer camp. Stop doing those things. You can create videos, you can create moments of entertainment, and you can use a posting service if you want. Linked Below is my experience with a posting service called Metrical. That's probably who I would recommend. I do still like to just post everything I do live. I find that the algorithms prefer that and that things just perform better from a views and metrics standpoint. But if you don't have time for that and you're like, there's no way I could do that, then check out Metrical. It's completely free for most up to a certain number of posts and it's worth it. But you never want to get on a feed. Think about your own habits. You never just want to get on a feed that's just littered with, come to this event, come to this event, come to this event, come to this.
Nick Clason (03:47):
That's boring. And you know what? Your social media probably reflects that. If all you're doing is posting announcements, you're probably only getting a single digit number of likes because the reality is that's not what people are looking for when they get on social media. And so I know you got a lot to announce, you got a lot to get out there, but social media is not the place. So what should we be doing? Well, let's check that out. So churches, youth pastors, regardless of where you are in this on the org chart at your church, what should you be doing? Well, number one, start posting long form to YouTube. And now when I say that if you have live streaming capabilities in your room and you don't have time to sit down direct to camera, then go ahead and post your live streams to YouTube.
Nick Clason (04:38):
But if you don't, I don't. I'm a youth pastor and we are in our very own room, our very own space, and our room is not outfitted for live streaming capabilities. So we actually sit down very similar to what I'm doing here direct to camera. I have a teleprompter and I do deliver a message there. Now, that entire strategy is laid out completely for you, for free right here in my 100% completely free ebook. But that is the baseline. That's the basis for all my social media, everything else sort of branches off of there. So all of our messages that we produce and that we perform, everything that we produce in the room, we also then go ahead and do it directly on YouTube. So pre film your messages, it gives you two strategic advantages. Number one, if you don't have live streaming capability, it gives you a way to film it that is good, helpful, beneficial, looks good, direct to camera.
Nick Clason (05:32):
You can do most of that for under a hundred dollars. That's also linked below in the show notes with just a cell phone camera and a few little pieces of gear. But then from there, what you can do is you can take those messages, post them to YouTube. You also get an opportunity to practice your message. So then when you are standing up live in the room in front of a bunch of students, it's not the first time that you're looking at that material. You have done it before. You have delivered it before, once you've pre-filed, done direct to camera. The one thing that I love about that is in YouTube, they have a description thing, just like me, a lot of things down to the description in this video. Also over at hybridministry.xyz/080 But you can do the same kind of concept.
Nick Clason (06:16):
You can paste a next steps form. And so for every single one of your messages, you can push students towards a next steps form. We like to use the you version events, live events for in the room. Students can follow along, take notes, read scripture, but we also post the link to that in every single video. So if they're watching on a laptop, then they can sit down, they can scroll through that on their phone, they can take notes, they can engage with the Bible on their phone right in front of them. So you can link certain things. And then by the way, hey, if you are announcing summer camp, you can be like, Hey, summer camp registration link in the description. You don't have to make it some static boring graphic post. You can actually weave it into the rest of your strategy. But then dovetailing off of your long form YouTube videos is this next piece that you definitely don't want to miss.
Nick Clason (07:05):
So after YouTube video, the next thing I recommend that you do is that you post shorts, reels, tiktoks to your feeds. And the good news is all four of the major platforms, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook if you want to, it's really easy to link with your Instagram and TikTok are all asking for similar content. So what you can do now on social media for the first time in a lot of years is you can create one piece of content for one platform, but you can spread it across all fours. You can post the same thing to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts, and Facebook Ourto for example, I posted these this week. This week, a couple weeks leading up to Christmas when I'm filming this. You're going to get this in the new year, but we do thing, and I'm going to detail, it's actually detailed right here.
Nick Clason (07:53):
I'll completely free my ebook, but we're going to go through nine ideas that you can do to start doing entertainment based things on your social medias and stop just posting announcements. One of the things we do are drafts stole this, saw this on someone's TikTok somewhere. So we were doing drafting Christmas movies across all four platforms. We had on TikTok, we had 383 views. We had on YouTube, 280 views we had on Instagram, 214 views. And then on Facebook we had 175 views, which totaled 1052 views across all four platforms. Those aren't great numbers by the way either. That's just very standard. I picked the second most recent post that I posted just to give you a good example of a real time strategy idea. I'm not trying to highlight my best one or anything like that, right? But here's the question. Would you like for your content to get in front of a thousand people probably, right?
Nick Clason (08:46):
And that wasn't great. We've had posts that have hit 13,000 on Instagram, 27,001 time we did a football draft. So we've had way, way bigger success. But then that was a entertainment based one. Also in the same week, we've posted a spiritual based one that one did not do as well. And this is actually an underperformer in my opinion. And we've had ones that do similar to the draft response in around those numbers on all the four platforms. But we had on TikTok, we had 224 views. We had 211 on Instagram, we had only 15 on Facebook, which is pretty low. And then 1 42 on YouTube, which is also relatively low, but still that total to 592. I know for me that feels low, but we don't have 592 students or people come to our youth ministry program. So we post fun content. We also post spiritual content, and then that's anchored underneath the baseline by our long form YouTube video.
Nick Clason (09:48):
And what's crazy is that Opus Pro, the message clip that came through Opus Pro. And so you'll notice there's a little overlay that says, watch the full video on Cross Creek students YouTube channel that is just a preset that I made. And every single one of our videos spits out with that little watermark. I can change it, I can customize, I can do. The stats aren't crazy, but you should subscribe because this is actually part of the 2024 Youth Pastor Masterclass. We're right dead in the middle. If you subscribe and if you hit the bell, you'll get notified when the next video drops. But I like to think about it like this or I want, but I like to think of it like my neighbor. I want to share the gospel with my neighbor. I want to tell them about Jesus. But every single time I have a conversation with my neighbor, I'm not sitting down and telling them about Jesus.
Nick Clason (10:34):
I'm working the relationship. I'm having a conversation. I grew up in church. I grew up in a ministry called Sun Life, and they have a thing called spiritual, CPR, cultivate, plant Reap. And really the cultivate stage is just build the friendship. Plant is like sprinkle in seeds of spiritual conversations in the gospel and then reap is like present the gospel and ask them for a decision to follow Jesus. Yes or no. And a lot of times on social media, we take the approach of reap, ask them for a spiritual decision, ask them to respond to the gospel, yes or no every single time as opposed to trying to cultivate our audience as opposed to trying to plant little seeds of curiosity, spiritual moments, things like that. So here are ideas, things that I do in my own personal context. It's all outlined here. Am I completely free?
Nick Clason (11:23):
Ebook? You should definitely check it out if you haven't yet. But it will help you take your social media from being boring and dumb and announcement based to entertainment based and personality driven. Not just your personality, but students, other volunteer leaders, other staff that you might have. So these are things that we do. We do a thing called a draft, and that's what you just saw the results from. But two people sit down and then they just draft things under a certain category. We've done Christmas movies, we've done potatoes, we've done burger places, we've done Christmas songs, we've done Thanksgiving food, we've done Halloween Candy, we've done Avengers, we've done Blue Characters. Literally anything you can think of. One person next person, one person next person. The only caveat is you can pick anything you want, but if it's already been taken, it's kind of off the board.
Nick Clason (12:12):
The next thing we do is a fun little game called Telepathy or Wavelength or nsync or just guess the number. And two people sit down and one person's thinking of a number, the other person's asking them certain categories, and then the person that has the number in their brain, they're telling the other person their answers from that category based on their number. So for example, if I'm thinking of the number one and you ask me for a day of the week, I'm going to say Monday. And then if you say food, I'm going to say Tomatoes. Okay? And so then at the end of it, you ask four things, four different things. So day of the week, food, movie, Avenger, and then you give 'em all. And then at the end, the other person, I was asking the categories, they say, are you thinking number one?
Nick Clason (12:57):
And if they got it right, they got it right. If they got it wrong, they got it wrong. The one thing I love about this game is we intro it like this. Hey, we're playing this game. The number's going to be right here on the screen. The number pops in on the screen. You can edit that in an editor like Adobe Premier Pro, I got completely free presets. Link down below if you want some of those that will do animations like this and like that, and rotate in, rotate out all those things, all the things you just saw on the screen. If you're not watching on YouTube, all those things are in the link in the description. Go grab the free presets. But if not, you can do that on your phone in a phone editor like TikTok or Cap Cut. But you can say, Hey, the number's on the screen, close your eyes if you don't play along.
Nick Clason (13:37):
Alright, here we go. And then that person can open their eyes and they can watch and they can actually try to guess the number. So it's actually engaging the person on the other side of the phone. I like to do blind rankings. TikTok has a blind ranking filter, so you can blind rank all kinds of things. Disney movies, Disney characters, and a blind rank is just you're ranking them in a one through 10 or one through five order without knowing what's coming next. I also have some examples of that on Download Youth Ministry, a link to that in just a second. I like to do these things called Know it or Nah, so you've probably heard it where they play a little five second clip of a song on TikTok. Just find those audios on TikTok. And then you choose one side of the room.
Nick Clason (14:14):
So I'll get four or five people if they know it, they go to this side. If they don't, they go to that side. We'll do staff video. So we'll have our staff participate in certain things we were just giving away for our Christmas party. Craig Cash, our senior pastor's name is Craig. We were giving away Craig Cash, and so we did the Craig Cash Olympics, we did all kinds of Christmas type things. One of my favorites is a game I have on DYM called Emoji Phrase theology. People just trying to guess the emoji phrase. And I'll just sit down or have a student sit down or a leader sit down or walk around and quiz students, Hey, what's this emoji phrase saying? What's this camp emoji phrase saying, what's this Christmas emoji phrase saying? Was this back to school emoji phrase saying, and I'll clip those in.
Nick Clason (14:54):
So I take a game that's already created, and instead of just doing the kind of static standard screen-based graphics, we customize it to our own space. Link down below are my favorite nine DYM products that I have. Several of them are hybrid based. Several of them don't just focus on the screen only or digital, but it's a melding together of the two. And you can take that next layer to the next level, right? Like my emoji phrase, theology. There's a social media component, but you can take it to the next level and customize it with a host, asking people the answers to those questions. And just some simple video editing on the backside, whether that be in a software like Adobe Premiere Pro, or you can do it on TikTok or in Canva, or not Canva, but Cap Cut. I always get Canva and Cap cut mixed up.
Nick Clason (15:40):
You can use the video clips out of Opus Pro like I was talking about. I got some spiritual practice videos on Download Youth Ministry. One of my favorites is someone's scrolling through TikTok and you just point to the screen right here and it says, stay or scroll, read the Bible with me. Point, point, point, point, point, point, point. Wait a second. And you say, all right, thanks for staying. Let's read the Bible together. And you read a passage of scripture right there on social media. That's all you do. It's super basic, super simple, but it has a great response because what you're doing then is you're cultivating that relationship. You may get those people with the draft or the instinct telepathy game or the blind ranking or the know it or not back and forth, and then you're like, Hey, let's do some spiritual stuff together.
Nick Clason (16:19):
Let's memorize scripture. Let's read the Bible, let's do a prayer. All those types of things. And you can do a lot of that stuff, especially with the bedrock of your messages. Long form video, you can do a lot of that stuff on Opus Pro. Saves you hours. It saves me hours every single week. So continuing on our strategy, you can post all those types of videos to Instagram, TikTok, YouTube shorts, and Facebook. But what about Facebook groups? Well, let's check it out. You should definitely have Facebook groups. You should have a Facebook page also because a Facebook page is where those things dump into, but then have a group associated with that. If you're a youth pastor, my only strategy that I recommend on Facebook is a Facebook parents group. That's mostly where they are. You can post things like car ride questions, and you can use Canva Pro.
Nick Clason (17:06):
It's completely free for churches. It's also linked below. We did an entire video on it, so you can go check that out in the description, but you can just create square graphics for your parents to talk about stuff with their students on the way home. And that's just a great discipleship strategy. If you're a church communications person, you should probably have a little bit more active Facebook group. But for a youth pastor, most students aren't on Facebook, but most parents are. And so that's where the strategy comes in. It's for the parents. Lastly, on Instagram, you got the feed. You also got stories on stories. The ultimate goal, I would say, is to engage with your people. So repost things if they tag you for sure. You can also post engagement style questions. What's your favorite Christmas movie? What's the best Halloween candy? What's your New Year's resolution?
Nick Clason (17:53):
What's one thing you're going to be doing this weekend using only emojis? Tell us what you did this last week. Stuff like that. Engage with your audience. A lot of times, I'll take a reel that I post, so I don't post every single one of those reels to the feed, though that option has recently turned off, so I have to post it, then go back later and take it off the profile grid. I'm sure there's a setting I'm missing, but nonetheless, I'll sometimes then share the reels that didn't also get shared to the feed into a story, and that's just a way to do engagement. And then I may throw a question sticker like a slider bar or a question or a quiz sticker or something like that. Just engagement. That's my goal in stories. And then on the main feed, just post photos of your people and post recap photos from a Wednesday night, from a Sunday morning, from a Sunday night.
Nick Clason (18:36):
Brady Sheer is doing these carousel based education, entertainment based carousel posts where ask the question and he answers it. They are money, and I think that they are here to stay, and you don't need a lot of graphical work to do some of those things. You can do something simple and easy and basic like that simply on Canva. Or even simply maybe in the Instagram stories editor, we have a complete playlist where we look at budget graphic editors, if that's something you're interested in. It's also linked below. But finally, speaking of education, that's one of the main ways that we help disciple and teach our students about Jesus and help them take meaningful next steps towards him, which is the next video in this 2024 Youth Ministry Masterclass video linked right here on the screen. We'll talk to you next time as we're making discipleship easy, possible and accessible. So as always, stay hybrid.
20 min
January 11, 2024 Episode 079: 🤷 Youth Pastor: Event Coordinators? or Disciple-Makers?
⚡ [FREE] Crush Social Media This New Year ⚡
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
2024 [FREE] Youth Ministry Masterclass on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
========================================
DESCRIPTION
📈 How do we get more people to show up to our events?
How do we grow our group?
How do we attract and retain teens?
57% of American Church Goers, according to Pew Research, don’t even attend church once a month!!
👌In this episode we’re going to explore 3 key shifts in our thinking
⚙️And I have the ultimate tool to accessing and resourcing people/students in the digital age.
Subscribe to our channel and don't miss any more videos from the 2024 Youth Ministry Masterclass FREE on YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLIJceFHg7w8vxlx5ARqXeg
========================================
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/079
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/EzhYluEKZ_I
SHIFT #1 FROM PRODUCTION TO ACCESS
//PEW RESEARCH ARTICLES ON CHURCH ATTENDANCE
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/03/22/more-houses-of-worship-are-returning-to-normal-operations-but-in-person-attendance-is-unchanged-since-fall/?utm_source=adaptivemailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rel%20-%2022-03-22%20worship%20attendance&org=982&lvl=100&ite=9703&lea=2048393&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0d3j0000112o9deae
//TERRY PARKMAN
https://www.terryparkman.com/
//GEN ALPHA DATA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHpeDaLS3oo
//PRO CHURCH TOOLS
https://prochurchtools.com/
//FULL DIGITAL STRATEGY
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
SHIFT #2 FROM PERFORMANCE TO ENGAGEMENT
//EVERY YOUTH MINISTRY NEEDS A GOOD DIGITAL PRESENCE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDxepdu4iiM
SHIFT #3 FROM QUANTITY TO COMMUNITY
//THE QUESTIONS OF BELONGING
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHpeDaLS3oo
//WORLD'S GREATEST DONUT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ryhkIRyDb4
//MASTER YOUR TIME
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlS1kWcQBS8
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
========================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
========================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-01:21 Event Coordinator? Or Disciple-Maker?
01:21-07:18 SHIFT #1 from PRODUCTION to ACCESS
07:18-09:20 SHIFT #2 from PERFORMANCE to ENGAGEMENT
09:20-16:14 SHIFT #3 from QUANTITY to COMMUNITY
✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
Nick Clason (00:00):
Youth pastors. How do we get more people to show up to our events? How do we grow the size of our youth groups? How do we attract and retain teenagers? See, all these questions are common questions. They're things that we're all facing at least at some level. And regardless of if you think that the attendance debate matters or not, we talked about it in our very last video linked up here in our playlist, in our youth ministry 2024 masterclass that we are going through completely free all here online on YouTube. Love to have you subscribe, check it out, and make sure you don't miss another one. We talked about the church attendance conundrum because 54% of American Christians are not attending church according to Pew Research at least one time per month. So in this episode, I want to talk to you about three key shifts that are going to help us reach the next generation as we explore this question.
Nick Clason (00:50):
Are we in the event making business or are we in the disciple making business? And I also have the ultimate tool that I believe can help you become more accessible in resourcing both your people and your students in this new found digital age. Like I said, we'd love to have you subscribe, like leave a comment, leave a rating, leave a review. All of those things help us get found and make sure that you can get the very next episode as soon as it drops episode 80 in our 2024 Youth Ministry masterclass. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. Well, everyone, my name's Nick Clason. I'm a youth pastor in DFW Dallas Fort Worth. Been in youth ministry now being January of 2024. Mark's my 13th year in youth ministry and I've most recently went to a conference with the Gen Z guru himself. Terry Parkman. If you don't know Terry, he's amazing, but he talked about some of these shifts, so I just want to kind of elaborate on them and kick some of them around a little bit more.
Nick Clason (01:46):
But he talked about the difference that Generation Z and now subsequently generation Alpha, who if you didn't see in our last episode, we classified them being born somewhere between 2010 and 2018, probably more than 2012 rage, which is what Pew research kind of settles on as the origin date of generation alpha. Nonetheless, Terry Parkman specifically talking about Gen Z, talks about the shift in thinking from Gen Z who thinks more in a digital age, digital mindset versus all of US millennials and older Gen x boomers and so on and so forth, who are more raised in a industrial aged way of thinking and industrial age way frankly of living. And so what the first shift that is important that he talks about is we need to shift from an industrial minded way of production, which is an industrial value to one of access. The way that we talk about it is just simply build access points onto your ministry, so an industrial way of thinking and the production value production kind of mindset.
Nick Clason (02:54):
Think about seeker style churches back in the early nineties or early two thousands where you may open with a secular song, one that's familiar, one that's relatable. You may try to go for relevant lighting, you may really try to put the entire screws down on the production, the value of how important production is, and that a really well-produced thing will draw out consumers, it's almost like the mentality if we build it, they will come. It also comes down to simply how much can we produce the amount of production value that we can add? The more production value that we can add, the better, the greater, the higher the number, the more that we can produce, the more that we can attract. That's an industrial way of thinking. Meanwhile, a digital way of thinking, they don't necessarily Gen Z Gen and Alpha and the generations that are coming on behind, they don't necessarily want those things.
Nick Clason (03:49):
They're looking more for access. They're wondering, do I fit here? Can I gain access to this place and how can I let my gifts be utilized and flourish and shine here? Honestly, one of my number one pet peeves in churches is when we from a volunteer aspect say things like, we need you to do our job. That is not enticing in any way, shape, or form, and it's especially not enticing to the next generation. What I think they otherwise might more importantly, more interestingly want to hear is, Hey, we want you to shine here and how can we partner with you to make a difference in this world? It goes from US centric to them centric, and I get it. I'm hearing you scream on the other side, but that's not what a disciple of Jesus does. Correct. However, how are we ever going to be relevant and make any sort of inroads with the next generation?
Nick Clason (04:46):
If the way in which we posture ourselves is fundamentally and vehemently different than them, are we asking them to acquiesce to us as opposed to us finding ways that it's not that big of a deal to make a subtle shift? Because in the same way, we can still ask Gen Z and Gen Alpha to serve, we are just making it them centric instead of US centric. And again, you might be screaming that they shouldn't be them centric, but isn't it just as Unbiblical and Christlike for us to be US centric, organization centric, pastor centric in the land of access points. Our church right now, honestly, probably right now as I'm recording this on a random night in December, we have these things, these events, and they're amazing and they get talked about and they get promoted and they're all over social, and someone asked me how do I sign up for it and do you know what?
Nick Clason (05:37):
I said? I work there at the church, I don't actually have anything to do with it, and obviously I'm not there right now. I said, I have no idea. We have these events. There's sort of this lore about them, but how to actually access it. It's confusing, and I frankly haven't tried, so that's probably on me, but point of it is, is your church accessible? How easy to navigate is your website. I love what Brady Sheer and all of them at Pro Church Tools up in Canada say all the time and say, make your website, be a one stop shop. Don't for one thing, go sign up via the bulletin for the other thing. Send an email for the third thing, head to the website and for the fourth thing, find someone in the lobby. You never know what to do, where to go, and so only the most loyal and only the person with the most headstrong sort of stubbornness is going to ever actually find anything out.
Nick Clason (06:29):
Anybody else who comes upon any sort of roadblock or opposition, all of a sudden it's just really easy for them to crumble. And here's the fact, I don't believe I have all the answers, but one of the ways in which we are trying to create more access points in our ministry is through our digital strategy, which I have completely laid out in my 100% completely free ebook free for you. Grab the link, go download it. All I need is your name. All I need is your email and that's it. It's yours to use. It's my strategy that I've used to grow YouTube channel in a year from zero subscribers all the way up to almost 400 subscribers. It might be even past 400 by the time that this video actually drops, it's completely laid out. It's basically my social media masterclass and guess what I gave it and I'm giving it to you for free, and I would love to encourage you to just grab it, try it, implement it, and check it all out.
Nick Clason (07:18):
Shift number two is we need to shift from performance based and industrial way of thinking to more engagement based. So if you think about an industrial way of thinking where performance is king, think about the best, the prettiest, the nicest, the smelliest people on stage with a good swath of diversity and all those things, or just even in youth ministry, we've all sort of had the basis of like, let's just have some fun, and if the kids have fun, then they'll definitely want to come back. If we perform really well for them and we don't screw up, then they'll be like, man, that place was so good. I just want to come back. That's an industrial way of thinking, and here's the problem. If you are a youth pastor and you're my age or you're a millennial, that's the way that you think because that's the way and that's the age in which you were raised in.
Nick Clason (08:03):
To think that that's what is valued, but the next generation that's more in a digital age, they're not worried about performance. They want to know, am I able to engage with this? When it's all about performance, think about a conveyor belt and a factory. The way that that goes is if there's a certain part in the conveyor belt that's causing a backup, what do we do? We just stick another person in there. We don't care what that person does, who that person is, what that person can do for us or our organization. We just want to know, can that person keep the conveyor belt from stopping? Can that person keep the performance going? But a digital way of thinking, a digital shift when you go from performance to more engagement based thinking is you're wondering, Hey, how can we create good content that students want to engage with?
Nick Clason (08:48):
Which is why I link right down below or right up here on the screen, whichever one, I'm not sure if I've used my card yet or not in this video, but every youth ministry needs a good digital presence. It's my full YouTube strategy. It's my full social media strategy. It's the one that's tied to my ebook. It's the video explaining the ebook if you want to go check that out. Again, I don't have all the answers. It's just my way to sort of attempt to try and engage more with our students who are different, who are digital thinkers, who are Gen Z and coming quick behind them, generation alpha. The third shift is we need to switch from a value of quantity to a value of community, an industrial way of thinking. We are entirely built in most churches for quantity. Think about it. If you have a church with auditorium style seating, the goal of that room is to get the most amount of quantity of people in to listen to one captivating speaker, wax eloquent for a week, and listen, honestly, no shade thrown.
Nick Clason (09:48):
Most pastors, you're really good at your job, you're good at crafting sermons and you're good at delivering sermons, but the fact of the matter is, while you may be awesome at it, that's just not what's as highly valued in our world, especially in the world of digital. With audio, podcasts, YouTube podcast, people can listen to audio books, sermons. They can listen to the best preachers in the entire world. Again, no offense to you at the drop of a hat, instantly binging them, never actually running out of content. That's how accessible all of this stuff is, and so when people come to church, they don't want to just be another number kind of filtered into the auditorium to look at the back of someone's seat. That's why I believe link down below in the show notes. In this episode, we talked about why churches are dying.
Nick Clason (10:32):
I think churches are not adapting to the new issues and the new way of thinking that this next generation is so adamant about, and again, that generation, this next generation, this digital way of generation, they're not looking for a room to come and consume some more content. They're looking for community. And so if our rooms are built for quantity, thus they're not then built at least optimally for community. I mean, I know I worked at a church one time that we had Longwood ews and they were bolted to the ground. We couldn't do anything about those things, and even if they weren't bolted to the ground, they were heavy as sin. Man, I could not lift one of those things because once we finally did try to lift them, I was like, dang, who got these in here? It's like a five man job. The goal was get these things in here, never to be moved again.
Nick Clason (11:22):
This room is for one purpose and one purpose only, and the purpose that most younger people are looking for is not that. A dangerous way I believe of thinking is that we often value a Christian culture more than the Christ of the culture, and so therefore, I believe that what we're trying to do is we're trying to force people into a way of thinking, and when community trump's performance, we actually get a messy, authentic, real interaction with other believers who love Jesus and are trying to pursue and follow him. And so in a digital way of thinking, I think people who value community are looking for asking questions like, where do I belong? And are these people at my church? Are they my people? The students, they're asking those questions and they may, like we said in our last video and this masterclass in video two, this is not video three, they may be asking, are these people my people?
Nick Clason (12:15):
And they may be coming to your youth ministry, and just because they're there doesn't necessarily mean that they're engaging in religious practice. And it also doesn't necessarily mean that they're there because they want to be, because almost 50% of no, it's 65% of students come to church with at least one parent. That's where they're coming to church. They're not coming to church. They love God. They're not coming to church. They love you. They're not coming to church. They love your youth ministry. They're coming to church. They're coming to church with their parents, but if they can find a real captivating community that they can't say no to, they're not going anywhere. So it's not about what you produce, it's about the community that's available to them. We live now with the very first global generation. Students spend on average, shockingly five to eight hours on their phones screens per day.
Nick Clason (13:06):
The church world was built for consumers, and what's happening now is in that generation what's being internalized, they want to find a place to externalize it. And so one of the ideas that I have, again, I don't have all the answers, I don't know if this is a good idea or not. We did it in our space. It seemed to work well. It's a hybrid event. It's called the World's Greatest Donut, completely free event guide right here. You can click it, and it's just an opportunity to engage with students beyond your program times because I think a lot of times what we try to do is we try to get as many people, as much quantity into a room and call that success. What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to expand the relationship beyond just the one time per week, and that's what this event is all built on.
Nick Clason (13:46):
It's a one-time event for an in-person event, however it lives on for an entire month. Not only live in the room, but it also lives live on your social media. That's the in-person versus the digital creating a hybrid moment together. Hey, the ultimate tool that I teased at the beginning of this video is, and I've already said it, it's my ebook. It's my full digital strategy. The fact is I don't have it all together, but the way in which you can utilize that is you have to become a master of your time, which is a video that's linked right here on the screen. It was a couple of videos ago, and the next video in this playlist is how to implement a good social media strategy where you're not simply just posting announcements. Click either one of those and we would love to see you on the other side. And as always, my friends stay hybrid.
15 min
January 04, 2024 Episode 078: 📈 Youth Group Growth: Reaching Gen Z & Gen Alpha
⚡ [FREE] Social Media Mastery Awaits! Get Your Hands on Our Free One-Month Ebook ⚡
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
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2024 [FREE] Youth Ministry Masterclass on YouTube:
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Try Sidekick Beta!!
https://app.sidekick.tv/auth/create?code=NickClason
========================================
DESCRIPTION
📈 Youth Ministry Growth and Attendance
🔢 Do number really matter?
😤 It’s an agonizing pursuit that all of us as youth pastors and leaders are constantly feel the tension.
Whether we buy into the debate or not, pressure is real.
Maybe pressure from your senior pastor
Maybe pressure from other parents
Maybe even pressure from yourself
And furthermore, according to Pew Research, one in five church goeers in 2022 participated in virtual church once a month.
However, 57% did not attend in person or watch online per month.
Not just anyone in general.. But Americans who TYPICALLY attend services.
How do we reach Generation Z or Generation Alpha students?
Especially in light of this new reality?
Subscribe to our channel and don't miss any more videos from the 2024 Youth Ministry Masterclass FREE on YouTube
========================================
🆓 FREEBIES 🆓
📅 "1 Month Done for You Social Media Posting Tool"
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book
🎅 "The Ultimate (and FREE!) Christmas Party Gude"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/christmas-party-run-sheet
PRACTICAL YM TIPS: https://www.youtube.com/@practicalyouthministrytips
🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
😨 "Have I already Ruined my TikTok Account?"
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/ebook
📹 "Adobe Premiere Pro Presets for Animating Layers"
https://share.hsforms.com/1VL1oWwWwQ82PLwsPFkPITgnumis
========================================
🛠️TOOLS
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym
OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361
//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit
AUTO POD
https://autopod.lemonsqueezy.com?aff=MX7Vv
TRY REV.COM FOR TRANSCRIBING
https://rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz
📓SHOWNOTES
//SHOWNOTES & TRANSCRIPTS
http://www.hybridministry.xyz/078
//YOUTUBE VIDEO
https://youtu.be/BHpeDaLS3oo
//PEW RESEARCH ARTICLES ON CHURCH ATTENDANCE
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/03/22/more-houses-of-worship-are-returning-to-normal-operations-but-in-person-attendance-is-unchanged-since-fall/?utm_source=adaptivemailer&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=rel%20-%2022-03-22%20worship%20attendance&org=982&lvl=100&ite=9703&lea=2048393&ctr=0&par=1&trk=a0d3j0000112o9deae
//DATA ON GEN ALPHA
https://explodingtopics.com/blog/generation-alpha-guide
//DR. ELMORE'S BOOK
https://www.amazon.com/Generation-Unfiltered-Challenges-Anxious-Population-ebook/dp/B07YQ9XT8N/ref=sr_1_2?hvadid=580669290679&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9027211&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=8887138684661202423&hvtargid=kwd-831658052586&hydadcr=24309_13537702&keywords=gen+z+unfiltered&qid=1701783263&sr=8-2
//TEEN CHURCH ATTENDANCE PATTERNS
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2020/09/10/u-s-teens-take-after-their-parents-religiously-attend-services-together-and-enjoy-family-rituals/
//TEENS AND THEIR PARENTS
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/09/10/10-key-findings-about-the-religious-lives-of-u-s-teens-and-their-parents/
//4 CHAIR DISCIPLING
https://www.amazon.com/Chair-Discipling-What-Jesus-Calls/dp/0802418813/ref=asc_df_0802418813/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=266167140404&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=13879828523234723627&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9027211&hvtargid=pla-557460291481&psc=1&mcid=c72abb3a6997315793653dc9cbd8d965&gclid=CjwKCAiApuCrBhAuEiwA8VJ6Jry6x6cwpQRcpt1hnTOOVAIdS6r9rmBPSQleT8QwxqgYzqAeu6RyuBoCFo4QAvD_BwE
//GOOD TIME MANAGEMENT FOR A HYBRID STRATEGY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlS1kWcQBS8
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00-02:05 Do numbers matter?
02:05-05:30 Who are Generation Z and Generation Alpha?
05:30-07:13 Attendance Finding 1: Teens share religion with parents
07:13-10:48 Attendance Finding 2: Teens go to service, but don't engage in religious practices
10:48-16:22 Attendance Finding 3: Teens attend church with one or both of their parents
✍️TRANSCRIPT
Try Transcribing for Yourself at Rev.Com
http://www.rev.pxf.io/R5nDOa
Nick Clason (00:00):
Youth ministry growth in attendance in the age old Questions do numbers really matter? Here's what I know. I was one time called by a church that said, Hey, just a couple weeks ago in our church of multiple thousands, we've had only eight students show up. So whether you buy into the debate or not, the pressure is always there. Maybe pressure from your senior pastor, maybe pressure from youth parents, maybe even internal pressure that you just put on yourself. And what's even crazier is according to Pew Research, one in five, churchgoers back in 2022, participated in a virtual church service at least one time, which is a good thing. I mean, heck, we're in the hybrid ministry podcast, you know what I'm saying? However, 57% did not attend church in person or watch online during the course of at least one month, which means greater than 50%, not just of anyone in general of churchgoers are not typically attending church services.
Nick Clason (01:05):
So how in the world with that as the framework for church attendance and the way that youth ministry attendance is going, how in the world do we even reach Gen Z and Gen Alpha students, especially in light of this brand new reality? We're going to be sharing in this episode three key findings about teens and their attendance trends. And furthermore, I'm going to share with you one way that I as a youth pastor am shifting my thinking and maybe you can also shift your thinking about reaching this next generation. And finally, I have a bonus tip that I think is going to actually be the number one game changer in this entire conversation. Welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. You're in youth ministry, or if you're just a church leader and you're at least overseeing at some level some capacity, generation Z generation alpha, it's important because we're talking about youth group attendance and it's important to understand who we're actually talking about.
Nick Clason (02:01):
So Generation Z and Generation Alpha are kind of the two generations in play in this conversation. In fact, I have a video linked at the top of the screen. Go ahead and check it out where we did a deep dive into Generation Alpha and started to explore them. And quite frankly, it's one of the only videos I know that's out there about Generation Alpha. The data is still really new and still really young because the fact of the matter is that according to exploding topics.com link in the description, if you're watching on YouTube, you might be able to see some of these things online. If you're not watching on YouTube, you should definitely check that out. But Gen Alpha is made up of people born between 2010 and 2025. Wait, what? 2025? Yeah, you heard that, right? They're not even born yet. Okay. And so the fact of the matter is that that data actually is in opposition to some other experts such as Tim Elmore, who by the way, I have a chart right here on screen.
Nick Clason (02:53):
Again, if you're not watching on YouTube, go grab it or link in the show notes. It's from his book, generation Z Unfiltered, the Nine Hidden Challenges of Facing the Most Anxious Population of All Time. This chart is absolute goal, but you'll notice that he draws the line for the end of generation Z at 2018. So we have exploding topics at 2010. We have Tim Elmore at 2018, all of that to be said, Elmore's book is a little bit dated, and so I think that more research and just time we've honed in a little bit and gotten a little bit closer. And so while this chart is gold, you should definitely look at it and inspect it and learn a little bit more. Elmore doesn't talk about Gen Alpha. They're not on his radar yet when he wrote the book. And so according to this chart, pew research draws the line for Gen Alpha at 2012.
Nick Clason (03:40):
But again, the reason why any of this matters, not to bog you down with dates and things like that is that if you're a youth pastor or if you're in church leadership, what you need to understand is that the conversation we're having is like, do we take Elmore's date or do we take Pew Research's Day or do we take exploding topics day? Whatever it is, the reason this matters is because this is a difference between is that kid in kid's ministry or is that kid in youth ministry? And if we're talking about youth group numbers and youth group attendance, we need to understand Gen Alpha, but we also need to understand Gen Z. The kicker on this is that Gen Z, really the youngest Gen Z that we have is going to be freshmen, sophomores in high school, and now after that they're waving on up, they're in college already and they are entering the workforce.
Nick Clason (04:23):
So if you are not a youth pastor, but just like a regular pastor listening, no longer is Gen Z, something that the youth pastor needs to try and understand and uncover this matters for you. This is important for you as a pastor. And so if you've gotten value so far out of this video, I would love to encourage you to like and subscribe and hit the notification bell because we're actually in the middle of a series right now, the 2024 Youth Ministry Masterclass, this is section number two in that class. The rest of them are going to be dropped in the playlist that's linked down below in the description. So if you have not seen every single video, go back and check out video number one. We talked about time management, but without any further ado here, let's dive into the three key findings about Generation Z, generation alpha and church attendance in youth ministry moving forward in 2024 and frankly beyond.
Nick Clason (05:12):
All right, so the three key findings that are really important to understand about Generation Z and Gen Alpha is a lot of this data pulled from Pew research articles pulled and included in the description, whether you're in a podcast catcher or on YouTube, if you are not watching on YouTube, you will notice that some charts and graphs and stuff like that are going to show up on screen here on YouTube. If you're not watching, you're just listening, you can go grab the link in the show notes at http://www.hybridministry.xyz, and this is episode 78, so slash 0 7 8. But the first key finding that I want to share with you is this is that most teens share the same religious affiliation as their parents, meaning this, your attendance as a youth pastor, youth ministry leader is highly derived from the adult attendance in your church.
Nick Clason (06:00):
You've probably heard this before, but that's why it's important that we don't have silos. It's just as important for you as a youth pastor to lean in to what is going on in the rest of your church. You can't neglect it, you can't forsake it, and you can't take on a posture of arrogance that what you're doing is better than the rest of the church. Even if you low key think that the fact of the matter is that your youth ministry attendance is highly, highly tied to your adult attendance. So if your church is growing, odds are your youth ministry is growing, and if your church is struggling, odds are your youth ministry might be struggling. The biggest dropoff that you'll notice in this graph here and in this research from Pew is that the biggest dropoff from parents who attend church to teenagers who attend church happens in mainline denominations where the highest proportion is in evangelical churches.
Nick Clason (06:53):
Key finding. Number two, teens are just as likely as their parents to say that they go to services, but when it comes to more personal forms of religious expression, teens actually appear to be less devout and less religious. I have a stat I want to share with you from my own context, my own anecdotal experience in our church, cross Creek Church located in Colleyville, Texas, we have four parts to a four-part discipleship pathway. So we have explore, which is people who are far from God looking for God or maybe seeking God connect. And so once they've made a decision, cross the line, faith, connect with Jesus, connect with this church, connect with community, grow, grow in your faith, get closer to God, learn to walk with God, learn to invest in a few, learn to multiply. And then finally, the fourth one is a multiplier.
Nick Clason (07:38):
Someone who is not only making disciples, but making disciples who makes disciples. So we're very christocentric, disciple making, Bible-based church, all that to be said, we explained all of that one day on a Sunday morning to our students and we asked them to self-identify where they would put themselves in the pathway, explore, connect, grow, multiply. We used kind of pulled from one of my favorite books, link in the show notes, Dan Bader's book four chair discipling. So we used four different chairs to illustrate the sections of the pathway. The explorer phase was illustrated by a camping chair because it's really mobile portable. You can get close to church, then you can pull it back away if that's a decision that you want to make. We talked about how the connect chair is actually like a recliner. People tend to get across that line of faith and then get very fat and happy.
Nick Clason (08:23):
The grow chair is one that's marked by suffering and sacrifice, and so we got the hard metal chair, the one that hurts your butt when you sit in it for a little bit too long. And then finally the multiply phase was illustrated by a couch because the goal of it is to bring people back onto that couch with you, go back down through the pipeline, go back down through the process. So we illustrated that and we asked students to self-identify. We had 40.76 of our students say that they were in the connect phase, the recliner phase, but the overwhelming majority said that they were in 45.2% said that they were in the grow phase. So nearly half of our students self-identified as being in the grow phase where only like 4% said they're in the explore phase, and 9.5 said they were actually all the way in the multiply phase.
Nick Clason (09:07):
Now we have identifiers in our church metrics that we say if you've done these three or four things, then you are in this phase and you've moved on to the next phase. So we can pull that data on our students as well, but this is just them classifying themselves. I now lead a group of four other guys on a Sunday morning in our grow phase, we have a book that we go through a curriculum, and we just got done with the first book. There's three totals. So we just got done with the first book. It's seven weeks. It's daily reading. I mean it's a high bar. Every single one of them. At the beginning of this time, they said, I read the Bible, I pray I do all this stuff. Now that we've actually been in it, now that the rubber has met the road.
Nick Clason (09:49):
At the end of this, all of their summarization of it was like, man, this was a lot more than I'm used to. And one of the kids said back to this, teens are just as, they may go to service, but they may not practice religious expression. Part of the problem is they've gone to church so much, and so they know what the right answers are and they know what they should be doing. And so even when you ask them, how do you grow in your faith? What are you doing to grow in your faith? They would answer with the right answers. Well, I pray, read the Bible, but they all admitted at the end of it, you always said that, but we weren't really actually doing it, at least not at this level. So that just bears it out in that key finding. Key finding.
Nick Clason (10:29):
Number three, most teens report attending religious services with either both at 40% or one 25% of their parents. Again, meaning your attendance is again highly derived from your adult attendance. Again, in my own context, our own experience or Wednesday night, we would mostly say that that's classified under the explore classification. So let's bring outsiders and we probably, we average somewhere south of 45 to 40% of our Sunday morning attendance, which is our second step in our pathway, our connect phase. So I would not say that we have more students in connect than in the explore phase. What I would actually say is that Sunday morning is more convenient and that's when parents, and that's when students are also naturally making Sunday morning or just any church attendance a priority. And so that's the reason why I believe that our attendance is a little bit out of balance between Wednesday night and Sunday morning, and that's not a problem to be solved.
Nick Clason (11:29):
It's more attention to lean into and be managed, but it really just underscores this point that most teens attend church with either a parent or a single parent, meaning once again, like I said, your students are attending church either with both parents at 40% or one parent at 25%. Again, as much as we think that our programming is so relevant, captivating, so much better than the rest of the church, the reality is our success as youth pastors is often tied to the overall success of the church. However, I do think that there is something that matters and that there is something that we need to focus our mindset to shift a little bit on. So let's dive into that into the next section. All right, so the shift that I believe all of us should consider if 57% of born again claim Christians, self-proclaimed Christians are not attending church online or in person at least one time per month, I think that you and I should consider finding a way to go hybrid.
Nick Clason (12:26):
And I know you said, Hey, hey, hey, that last stat that said they weren't going online or in person. When I say hybrid, I don't just mean streaming your services. That can be an element of it, but I really believe that's a small portion of a good digital strategy. And again, I hear you. You're like, dude, I don't have time for it, and I get it. It is a lot of work and it's going to require a little bit of time management, thankfully, linked down below, I have this playlist where the last video I talked about good time management, but a good digital hybrid integrated strategy is more than just putting a camera in the back of the room and letting someone watch what's going on in the room. You're not interested in that, frankly, and neither am I. We want something that's made for the internet, something like this, something that's more relational, something that's more direct to camera, maybe something that's a little bit more interactive, but find a way to make it more hybrid.
Nick Clason (13:18):
Find a way to make it more integrated. I also hear you on the other side, but churches of family church should be about one-on-one relationships, and I agree with that. Full fledge, a hundred percent church about relationships. The best, most dynamic experiences I ever have is when I'm rubbing shoulders or sitting knee to knee with somebody. However, I'll also make the argument that churches are in the content creation and content production business. Think about it. What do you spend the majority of your time on? Programming, message prep, planning, worship services, small group, all things that are content based, and especially pastors, senior pastors, no offense to you, but Sunday morning services are some of the least relational moments in the entire week in the lifecycle of a church. Here's my deal. I'm a youth pastor, so I get in early, I get set up. Sometimes I'm a little bit late because of my setup into church.
Nick Clason (14:12):
I walk in, I sit down, I sing some songs, I sit down, I stare at the back of someone's head, I listen to a sermon for 30 something minutes. I get up early because I have stuff to do as a youth pastor, to get ready for the student ministry that meets during the last two services of our three service Sunday morning set. I'm not talking to a single human being in that entire service, but what I could do is I could consume all of that digitally. I could listen to it, my headphones on a run. I could listen to that honestly, while I'm across the way in the student building, getting things ready, having the Facebook live stream on in my ears while I'm getting things set up. I'm not saying that I should do that. I'm not saying that that's a recommended strategy, but I am saying the content consumption side, so much of what we're producing content-wise, can be done digitally.
Nick Clason (14:57):
So as youth pastors, as we're trying to reach Gen Z, as we're trying to reach Gen Alpha, a completely different generation, I wonder if it's worth considering a shift from focusing only on to finding a way to be a little bit more hybrid, which is why I've created this 100% completely free ebook right here on the screen, linked down below in the description. Also, you're going to see that as I bring about this bonus question. This is really the crux of this entire kind of argument. The question is this, are we as youth pastors, are we as youth ministry leaders? Are we in the event business or are we in the disciple making business? And you know what the fact of the matter is, we're actually going to dive even deeper into that question on the screen linked right here. So go ahead and take a look at that. If you're interested in exploring more about my hybrid strategy, that ebook, as well as that episode is linked right here on the screen as well. Hey, check you on the other side. Continue to enjoy this free masterclass, and as always, stay hybrid.
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Hybrid Ministry is complicated and hard. Or is it? How do pastors and youth pastors create a vibrant extension, not replacement, of what's already happening during their weekly church services? To…

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