Ashley Bohinc is the Director of Middle School Strategy for Orange. As time consuming and important as that is, that isn’t all she does. In fact, she is very passionate about an organization called Carry 117. She is so passionate about it, she is the US Executive Director.

I’ve known Ashley for a few years now through stuff at Orange, and every time we talk Carry 117 comes up so today I invited her back to talk specifically about this wonderful mission. Today we will talk about what this, how did it get started and how you and your ministry can connect with it for future involvement.

ACTION STEPS:

* Share your thoughts! Have you heard about Carry 177 before? What questions do you have about it and how could you get involved? Share below or on Twitter using #ymsidekick when you post.

* If you want to connect with Ashley, you can find her on Twitter. She is very active on social media so definitely hit her up if you have a question. She also co-hosts Think Orange Podcast so check that out as well.

*  Also, if you want more information on the ministry Ashley does with Ethiopia, Carry 117, click here.

* Facebook Group! Join the Digital Bootcamp Facebook Group to learn how to be more effective using digital tools for your ministry join the group. This is for ALL Ministers, not just Church Communicators or Social Media Managers. If you are a ministry leader or volunteer, this is the group just for you!

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.

This is one of my podcasts I look forward to doing each year. Its the podcast where I highlight 6 people or groups that I follow regularly that are great content creators. The is the 3rd year in which I have done this. You can check out the lists from 2016, 2017 and 2018 to see who made the list.

With this new year I have 6 new ones to follow. The criteria that I have is that they are involved in Church Communications, Social Media, Student or Family Ministry or Online Ministry. They also need to be producing great blogs, vlogs or podcasts on a consistent basis. If they do not post regularly, they aren’t one the list. I am not going recommend you follow someone if they aren’t being consistent in their postings, no matter how great their content is. And that’s it. It’s pretty simple but those are the two important aspects of my criteria.

So, in NO particular order, here are the top 6 to seek out in 2019:

Jeanette Yates. Jeanette is the Director of communications at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church. She also is co-host to the Two Church Girls and a Microphone Podcast where Jeannette and fellow co-host Meghan Howard helps “you create a strategy, build community, and keep it real in church communications”. It’s a great podcast and Jeannette is a wonderful resources for all church communicators as she is constantly learning and is very active in the Church Communication world.

Jeff Reed. I just met Jeff this past year and heads up The Church Digital (a great resource for Online Ministers. Jeff has a background in Online ministry spending about 20 years experience working in the digital/technological fields for the Church. He blogs consistently and has ebooks that will help any Church or Online Minister do online ministry more effectively.

Dan Isvantik. Dan is the 5th – 8th pastor at Victory Church in Lancaster, PA.  Although I just recently discovered him, he has been doing ministry for over 20 years. He has a fantastic blog called the Middle Years where she shares his insights and experiences as well as resources – both his own and those he finds for others. If you minister to any student with the grades of 5th – 8th grade, he is someone you want to look up and start following.

Seth Muse. Seth is Communications Director at Hope Fellowship Church in Texas. Although he began his  ministry career as a Student Minister, over time has moved into becoming a fantastic Church Communicator. In fact, whenever there is a question I have with Instagram, I ask Seth. He loves it and is a great Instagram strategist. You can check out his blog and podcast here and join his Facebook group as well.

Youth Specialties. When I first started doing Student Ministry in the late ’90s Youth Specialties was the premier student ministry resource group. They had a ton of resources and a great conference. However, over time their influence and popularity amongst student ministers lessened and they went through years “in the wilderness” where different groups bought and took ownership of them, but their influence was still minimal. However, in the summer of 2018 Orange and Download Youth Ministry bought Youth Specialties and has brought new life to group.

Scope and Sequence is an education term mostly applied to curriculum. The Department of Education from the state of Massachusetts has a great definition of it. A “scope and sequence is an overview of the skills and content covered in your program’s curriculum at each class level over a period of time (scope) and in a particular order (sequence)”. So how does scope and sequence impact a student ministry?

That is why Dan Istvanik is on the podcast today. Dan is the 5th-8th pastor at Victory Church in Lancaster, PA. He has been involved in ministry for over 23 years and has a ton of thoughts on creating the right scope and sequence for ministry.

So, today, Tom and Dan talk about what scope and sequence is, how it applies to student ministry and how you can design one yourself for your ministry.

ACTION STEPS:

* Share your thoughts! How do you plan your curriculum? What is your scope and sequence? Share your thoughts and insights below or on social media using the hashtag #ymsidekick.

* Connect with Dan. If you want to connect with Dan, check him out on Facebook. You can also check out his website as well. He has a ton of writings and resources on that page so check it out.

* Facebook Group! Join the Digital Bootcamp Facebook Group to learn how to be more effective using digital tools for your ministry join the group. This is for ALL Ministers, not just Church Communicators or Social Media Managers.

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.

Today is a very special podcast. It is the 200 episode of the YM Sidekick Podcast! And to celebrate this episode I’m bringing back my very first guest, Cory Sullivan. He joined me for episode 1 as we talked about Lead Small and the Orange Conference.

Not only will Cory and I be talking about the 200th episode, but in another nice twist to this 200th episode, we are also talking about the Orange Conference as it’s Orange Blogger Week (which it was during this very 1st episode). We share how consistency, passion and making your ministry personal can directly impact your ministry.

ACTION STEPS:

* How have you made your ministry personal? How has that impacted your ministry? Share your experiences on social media using the hashtag #ymsidekick to share. 

* Sign up up early for the Orange Conference. There is a deal on Oct. 18th that will help you save money. But also, by signing up early you get a head start on finding cheaper, closer hotel to the conference as well as cheaper airfare. Finally, by signing up early, you can get first dibs on the breakouts which fill up fast.

* Cory is a great resource and you can find him blogging here.  You can also follow him on Twitter here. He’s a great resource so hit him up and pick his brain.

* Join the Digital Bootcamp Facebook Group to learn how to be more effective using digital tools for your ministry join the group. This is for ALL Ministers, not just Church Communicators or Social Media Managers.

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.

Ministry is tough and can be mentally and physically draining. Then when you throw in the holidays into the mix, it can add an extra lawyer of stress. If not handled correctly, it can lead to some serious health problems.

That is why I have Marcy Carrico back on the podcast. Marcy is an Executive Assistant at the Church at Clayton Crossings in North Carolina. She works with social media, the website and database management. She recently had a medical scare as a result of not setting enough boundaries in her life.

So, today, Tom and Marcy talk about boundaries you can set up that will help your long term health…especially over busy Church and holiday seasons like Christmas and Easter.

ACTION STEPS:

* Share your thoughts! What kinds of boundaries do you have set up over the holidays and busy Church season to ensure your long term health? Share your thoughts and insights below or on social media using the hashtag #ymsidekick.

* Connect with Marcy. If you want to connect with Marcy, check her out on Facebook. You can also check out her website as well. She loves blogging about assimilation and Church databases. It is great stuff!

* Facebook Group! Join the Digital Bootcamp Facebook Group to learn how to be more effective using digital tools for your ministry join the group. This is for ALL Ministers, not just Church Communicators or Social Media Managers.

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.

I have been involved in recruiting and leading the New Life Internship Program since we started back up the program back in 2014. After the first 2 years being hit or miss and not as successful as I had hoped we changed things up a little and made an intentional effort to recruit more effective summer interns; interns that would most definitely fit our culture and Church the best.

In order to do that we had to include an important and VERY necessary step into recruiting interns. That step was to do face-to-face visits to every College campus we were recruiting from. Why would we do that? What is to gain from doing that? How has it helped us? Those are just some of the questions Dan Eno and I discuss in today’s episode.

Dan is the Student Minister and Worship Leader at New Life’s Linton Hall Campus and has accompanied me on these campus visits for the past 3 years.

ACTION STEPS:

* Share your thoughts! What are important and necessary steps for you as you recruit summer interns? Share your thoughts and insights below or on social media using the hashtag #ymsidekick.

* Connect with Dan: Dan is a great person to connect with. If you want to connect with Dan you can find him on Twitter. He is very active on social media so definitely hit him up if you have a question.

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.

Have you ever had a sabbatical before? Haha now that you’ve stopped laughing, it is actually a serious question. I realize that ministers don’t always make it long enough at a particular ministry or Church long enough to have a sabbatical. Truthfully, I’ve only had 1 sabbatical in my ministry career and it was just 4-5 weeks. However, length of time at a ministry job doesn’t always dictate when you can get a sabbatical and how you it looks.

Today, Ben Kerns is back on the podcast and we are talking about his sabbatical that he is on. What is he doing, why is he doing it and how you can set up a sabbatical for you at your current position.

ACTION STEPS:

* Share your thoughts! Have you ever had a sabbatical before? What did you do and what advice would you give to someone looking to take one? Share your thoughts and insights below or on social media using the hashtag #ymsidekick.

* Connect with Ben: Ben is a great friend and a tremendous ministry resource. If you would like to connect with Ben, you can a few different ways.  He’s on Email, has Twitter as well as his blogs – Average Youth Ministry (more student ministry focused) and Benjamin Kerns (more leadership focused) with tons of great insights each week.

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.

When you say the words “mental health” there seems to be negative connotation attached to it. However, mental health is something a lot of people, especially teens deal with regularly. So how do you understand mental health and what can you do as a student minister to effectively minister to students who are dealing with stresses and anxieties?

That is why I have Cory Sullivan with me today on the podcast. Cory is a Student Minister who also works with students dealing with Mental Health in a variety of contexts. Today we simply begin the conversation and get some basic tips on how student ministers can best minister to students and families by being that one caring adult.

ACTION STEPS:

* What has been your experiences working with students going through mental health issues? How have you effectively ministered to them and their families? Share your thoughts on social media using the hashtag #ymsidekick to share. 

* As always, Cory is a great resource and you can find him blogging here.  You can also follow him on Twitter here. He’s a great resource so hit him up and pick his brain.

* Mentioned in the podcast is the Youth Mental Health First Aid session. Learn more about it here.

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.

Going viral! That is what we all want to do as Social Media Managers or Communicators. You want to create a piece of content that gets you noticed and goes viral with hundreds of millions of views. The problem with

trying to go viral is that very few of us ever do go viral. Not only does content we work so hard on go unnoticed most of the time, but the pieces of content we think isn’t so good gets more traction than some of our “best content”.

It is so hard to figure out, so instead of focusing attention on what will go viral, what would it look like to play the long game in social media? This is why I have my friend Scooter Vines with me today. Scooter is in  Digital Marketing for a Real Estate broker in Northern Virginia. Today, Scooter and I talk about tips and tricks you can do today that will help you make a long play in social media that can give you greater impact and reach for your Church or ministry.

ACTION STEPS:

* Share your thoughts! How have you played the long game in social media before? What have you done that has helped you reach your community? Share below or on Twitter using #ymsidekick when you post.

* If you want to connect with Scooter you can email him here.

* Facebook Group! Join the Digital Bootcamp Facebook Group to learn how to be more effective using digital tools for your ministry join the group. This is for ALL Ministers, not just Church Communicators or Social Media Managers.

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.

Church Online is a fantastic tool to use to help reach people for Christ. However, most of the programming for Online Church is geared towards adults only. There isn’t a ton available to reach families and children. What would it look like to have an online family ministry gathering?  That is why Jeff Reed and Bobby Shaw are joining me today.

Jeff is a former Online Pastor who now leads up The Church Digital. The Church Digital gives you great support and help in using technology better so you can reach more people for Christ. Bobby is the Student Creative Pastor in Austin, TX but has a history with Children’s Ministry.

So today, Jeff, Bobby and I talk about what has worked in the past, what didn’t work and what are some ideas for the future of doing family ministry online.

ACTION STEPS:

* Share your thoughts! Are you doing a Family Ministry gathering online? If so, what are you doing and how is it working? Share below or on Twitter using #ymsidekick when you post.

* If you want to connect with Jeff you can read his blog here or you can find him on Twitter. If you want to connect with Bobby you can via Facebook.

* The Twitter Advantage – Some churches are giving up on Twitter and that’s a mistake. This platform has unique advantages over other social platforms and can be leveraged to bring people from your community through your church’s front door. Discover how Twitter can be one of the most effective tools in your communications tool box.

* Facebook Group! Join the Digital Bootcamp Facebook Group to learn how to be more effective using digital tools for your ministry join the group. This is for ALL Ministers, not just Church Communicators or Social Media Managers.

* Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it.