Who wants to play Airsoft?

I do not. I did not. And neither did a lot of my students. But this one kid did. Oh man did he want to shoot people with plastic pellets.

What started out in my ministry as an ever increasing "No we won't do that as an event" eventually became a "Why don't you plan that with your small group and invite some friends?"

Game changer my friends.

In this episode I talk about using small groups to plan small events and use them as an outreach tool.

Here are some things to think about:

How can you scehdule outreach in such a way that isn't a drain on you or your volunteers?

Using student ideas for events to get student buy-in.

Planning to invite friends this week to come back next week.

Elevating your small group leaders to get them more invested

Get out there and get students inviting their friends to church! And potentially airsoft matches...

Mentioned on the podcast:

Unplugged Leader Sheet

DYM Facebook Community

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This week I talked with a wizard! The great David Wood himself! David is a youth pastor out in Modesto, CA and has been at it for 2.5 years.

I met him two years ago at a great conference called DYM100 and we got to reconnect this year at DYM200. I'm so glad he took some time to talk to me, because he's about to be a very busy guy. More on that later.

I hope you enjoy our conversation. I sure did!

Here are some things to think about:

We're both really glad we don't work with the children's ministry.

6th grade peer pressure is dumb.

Magic shows are either good for 8 hours or 2 years.

Spend time being mentored.

Growing your ministry based on your personality isn't sustainable.

Developing a Student Leadership Team can be a huge win!

NYWC is going to be amazing because David will be there!

Mentioned on the podcast:

DYM Student Leadership Bundle

DYM Student Leadership Application and Forms

DYM "Jesus Took Our Place" Illustration

David's other stuff on DYM

Get David to be your next magician!

Got a middle school ministry question?

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I got a great chance to talk to Mark Ordus, a real live pastor who had a series on sex with his students! He's the Pastor of Student Ministries at Crossroads Community Church in Ottawa Lake, Michigan.

He recently did a series on sex with his students and we got a chance to catch up after things wrapped up. It was a cool conversation because we got to look at what he did, what he'll do in the future, and how things went!

Here are some things to think about:

Record your talks! This is always good for practice, but it also helps include students who can't show up.

Send your message to parents so they know EXACTLY what was said and nothing gets missed.

You probably want to encourage parents to ACTUALLY teach their kids where babies come from. For real.

Talking about sex and porn will be uncomfortable and messy. Go ahead and talk about it anyway.

Mentioned on the podcast:

DYM Facebook Community

Curriculum from Orange

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Middle School ministry is all about transitions!

Whether it's INTO middle school or OUT OF middle school, there are two major transitions that happen during the life of a middle school student. How you approach each of these transition times is HUGE. Make sure you think about these in intentional ways.

Here are some things to think about:

How can you partner with your children's director/pastor to make the transition INTO middle school a win?

How can you prepare for the 8th to 9th grade transition?

When do parents get information about the transition? What information do they get?

How do you promote the transition?

What do you teach during the transition season?

Transition can be a HUGE motivation for your group and your ministry. Change can become momentum! I hope this helps you as you think about the transitions that happen 

Mentioned on the podcast:

DYM Facebook Community

Got a middle school ministry question?

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Some student pastors would rather have back to back to back middle school lock-ins than recruit parents to help with the student ministry. Other swear that parents are the best volunteers they have!

I fall into the second category and try to tackle why in this episode. Don’t neglect to recruit from the pool of people who are the most invested and committed to your student ministry.

Why some student pastors don’t like to ask parents to help

My journey from thinking of parents as hostile to thinking of them as fantastic helpers!

What to do with parents who aren’t invested in the student ministry

Making things less awkward with parents in the room

Recruiting parents as small group leaders

Sound quality was not great for this episode. Sorry! The mic was not plugged in when I thought it was supposed to be.

 

Mentioned on the podcast:

Candid Confessions of an Imperfect Parent by McKee

Got a middle school ministry question?

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Middle School ministry is all about transitions!

Whether it's INTO middle school or OUT OF middle school, there are two major transitions that happen during the life of a middle school student. How you approach each of these transition times is HUGE. Make sure you think about these in intentional ways.

Here are some things to think about:

How can you partner with your children's director/pastor to make the transition INTO middle school a win?

How can you prepare for the 8th to 9th grade transition?

When do parents get information about the transition? What information do they get?

How do you promote the transition?

What do you teach during the transition season?

Transition can be a HUGE motivation for your group and your ministry. Change can become momentum! I hope this helps you as you think about the transitions that happen 

Mentioned on the podcast:

DYM Facebook Community

Got a middle school ministry question?

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Need student ministry resources?

Check out www.downloadyouthministry.com

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Promotion time! 

I love the fall for the reason that we get to relaunch our ministries, reset and get students excited again! During this time, I really think about two HUGE promotion times: students coming INTO the student ministry for the first time and moving 8th grade students to their Freshman year of high school.

I ask these big questions at the end:

When does your promotion take place? Why is it when it is?

Do you have all summer to welcome students, or all summer to say goodbye to older students?

Does your promotion time follow the schedule of the rest of the church?

How do you celebrate your students promotion?

What traditions surround students moving up?

How are parents involved in promotion?

What happens to your calendar when you schedule promotion? 

Promotion is a wild time! I hope your ministry is getting excited for an exciting promotion season!

Mentioned on the podcast:

Sidekick

Our Summer Calendar

Got a middle school ministry question?

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My summer plans for the podcast did not turn out like I wanted them to.

But that's ok, because the reality of life is that there are priorities we all have and MUST adjust our lives to! In this episode, I take some time to talk about my priorities, how they affected my summer plans, and how we all need to take a minute to figure out what our priorities have to be and adjust accordingly.

Here are some things to think about:

My relationship with God is the most important thing in my life.

My family has to follow that.

After family comes work, and that means turning off the cell phone sometimes.

Finally, there are "other" things we take care of.

The podcast fell into the "other" category this summer. Now I've got the space to get back at it and I hope it's helpful to you and anyone you share this with!

Mentioned on the podcast:

DYM Facebook Community

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Summer blew up in my face this year in a great way but man I am tired! In this episode I break down our summer schedule and the reasoning behind why we do what we do!

I hope you've had an amazing summer as well and that this episode will help you plan next year.

I ask these big questions at the end:

What is the summer culture for my ms students?

What is the summer expectations of my parents?

What changes to my normal programing can we make?

How can we BEST serve students during the summer?

Now I'm going to go take a nap.

Mentioned on the podcast:

MFUGE

Sidekick

Our Summer Calendar

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Summer is just around the corner! For those of you thinking about a Mission Trip for your summer, how do middle school students fit into that plan? I talk a little bit about what we do for our own mission trips AND what you might consider in planning yours as well.

In this episode I talk about:

Thinking about who, what and where of a mission trip

Building trust with parents BEFORE the trip happens

Planning some meetings to help get our information and expectations

Giving updates while on the trip

Now get out there and have a great mission trip!

Mentioned on the podcast:

Download Youth Ministry Facebook Group

MFUGE

Got a middle school ministry question?

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Listen to the Podcast? Review the podcast!