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understand your words. We sat down with the Champion Forest student team to unpack how a “one church, two languages” model becomes one student ministry that actually belongs to everyone. If your context includes Spanish-speaking parents, English-dominant teens, and first-generation families navigating two worlds, this conversation offers a blueprint that’s both practical and hopeful.

We share how one student ministry serves Spanish-speaking families and English-dominant students without splitting community. From staffing to services, we explain the model, the mistakes, and the practical moves that make unity real.

• one church in two languages with one student ministry
• culture valued over vocabulary in programming
• integrated Wednesdays with bilingual worship moments
• Sunday hours aligned with adult services for families
• intentional staffing across student, admin and production
• communication to parents in both languages at once
• planning events together to avoid silos
• defining success as connection, not room counts
• honoring family traditions and calendars
• giving leaders courage to try and learn

We’ll drop emails in the show notes below or folks that have questions

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What if the fastest way to build a strong student ministry isn’t a bigger stage, but a crowded living room? We pull back the curtain on our biggest do-overs: why we’d start with relationships, not programs; why a right-sized room beats a flashy setup; and why coaching volunteers weekly will outperform any event on your calendar.

• starting in homes to build belonging
• coaching volunteers rather than just filling roles
• using the 80 percent rule for room choice
• fast handoffs from staff to leaders and peers
• connecting new families to adult community quickly
• becoming the storyteller to senior adults
• reframing criticism with real student wins
• choosing joy and hospitality as strategy

Make sure to drop a comment below or email us at chad.higgins at lifeway.com your stories of what it's like to be ministry in the new place that you are, or the wisdom that you would give to be featured on an upcoming episode

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Ten years in and we’re still showing up, still laughing about late-night Taco Bell runs, and still fighting for youth pastors to feel seen on that drive home after midweek. We rewind to the After Nine roots—two friends comparing notes before weekend trainings—and trace how a simple idea to be a caring voice turned into a decade of community, practical help, and honest talk about the inner life of ministry.

We mark ten years by tracing our start as a late-night voice for youth pastors, then share honest, practical ways to celebrate volunteers and students without adding noise to busy calendars. The thread is clear: what we honor out loud is what our ministries become.

• origin of After9 and the late-night drive home vibe
• why healthy ministers create healthy ministries
• celebrating too quietly and how to fix it
• practical leader appreciation ideas that scale
• milestone moments for teens with simple spiritual markers
• training your heart to notice wins, not just problems
• building community with low-cost, high-meaning gatherings
• choosing meaning over more events in busy families

Thank you guys so much for being with us in this journey

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🔥 Feel like you need to throw a last-minute mega event to fix that attendance dip? You’re not alone—but there’s a better way.

This week, Chad and Zac kick things off with a hilarious misheard small group moment 😂 and dive deep into the tension youth pastors feel when numbers start to slip. Instead of chasing hype, we talk about trading panic for purpose, and crafting a longer runway for deeper discipleship.

🎯 Learn how to move from reactive programming to intentional ministry formation. We get honest about what doesn’t work (spoiler: slip‑n‑slides 🛝 aren’t a strategy), and share what does—from simple measurable goals to empowering students and engaging parents.

🔑 What's Inside This Episode: 
📉 How to name the seasonal dip without spiraling into panic
🗓 Why a 2–3 month planning runway beats last-minute burnout
📚 Building a scope and sequence that serves 2–7 years of ministry
🧠 Helping students go beyond knowledge to confidence and competence
📊 Measuring success with more than just headcount
👫 How to publish your plan to parents and leaders for real alignment
🚫 Why SWOT analysis usually flatters but doesn’t change much
💛 The soul work behind sustainable strategy
🔁 A practical 12-week focus model that builds student discipleship skills
👀 What if your youth ministry wasn’t about doing more, but about doing what matters—better?

We’re inviting you to shift from reactive busyness to a sustainable rhythm of planning, evaluating, and forming students with purpose. From testimony practice to small group consistency and Scripture engagement, we’re talking practical ways to track real growth 📈.

🎙 Whether you're leading solo or with a team, this episode is packed with real talk, helpful tools, and hope for the road ahead. Let’s build something that lasts.

📌 Subscribe for weekly conversations that boost your ministry leadership with practical wisdom, soul care, and community.

👍 Like, comment, and share this episode if it helped you breathe a little easier about planning the next season!

#YouthMinistry #StudentMinistry

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Hey buddy...

Are your teaching methods actually connecting with how today's students learn? I mean they love Roblox, Minecraft, and Cedarwood Scents.

In this conversation, Chad and Zac challenge youth ministry leaders to move beyond traditional sermon-style approaches to create more engaging, effective learning experiences.

The disconnect is clear: while schools have changed their teaching methods to include more group work, technology integration, and interactive learning, many youth ministries still rely on one-way communication models that don't match how students absorb information the other five days of the week. 

As Chad notes, "If modern day teachers are trying to shorten lessons to be more engaging and hands-on, why are we trying to defend a longer sermon?"

• Teaching approaches should differ based on room size, audience age, and learning context
• Students learn differently in school than previous generations, with more group work and interactive methods
• Fill-in-the-blank worksheets and guided notes help students track with teaching and practice note-taking
• Visual aids and object lessons create memorable sensory connections to abstract concepts
• Teaching students to teach others builds confidence and develops them as disciple-makers
• Our goal should be equipping confident believers who can articulate and apply their faith
• Consider your specific audience when planning - teaching 10-year-olds differs from teaching adults
• Moving beyond content delivery to skill-building and confidence development transforms youth ministry

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"It's all about the numbers." Ever feel like your ministry's is trapped by attendance numbers? What if the most powerful metric isn't quantitative at all?

The stories unfolding in your student ministry reveal far more about God's work than any statistical report. We mean it! We want you to measure in stories! This webinar replay reveals why stories are a better scorecard for ministry success than numbers, showing how collecting and sharing transformation narratives creates lasting impact. 

Chuck Peters joins Zac and Chad to talk about the importance of story in leading your ministry. 

Show Notes
• Stories are already happening in your ministry whether you're collecting them or not. We just need systems to collect and share them!
• What you treasure is what you measure; focus on transformation over attendance. Stories elevate VALUES.
• Creating systems to collect ministry stories helps combat our natural forgetfulness. Become a JOURNALIST for your ministry.
• Be strategic about which stories you share with different audiences (parents, staff, church members)
• Add categories to your collected stories to easily find and share them when needed, the power of GENRE.
• Train students to tell their own stories as part of their spiritual formation, the formational discipline of TESTIMONY.
• Practice discernment; don't embellish stories or share what isn't yours to tell, INTEGRITY.
• Ask better questions to help leaders identify meaningful stories in their ministry
• Use volunteer huddles to celebrate what God is doing across different ministry areas. Help others gather PERSPECTIVE.
• Stories should make God the hero, not the ministry leader or program

Check out our storytelling resources and learn more about Youth Ministry Booster Season 7: The Power of Story at www.lifeway.com/studentleadertools.

Learn more from webinars like this one at: https://www.lifeway.com/en/special-emphasis/ministry-success-webinars

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Ever wondered if there's a way to make meetings less painful and more productive? Kate Downing pulls back the curtain on what makes ministry team gatherings work—or fail spectacularly.

Returning guest Kate Downing shares practical strategies for transforming team meetings from dreaded time-wasters into valuable, engaging experiences that build team culture and advance ministry goals.

Kate's Great Tips
• Starting meetings with celebration time (20-30 minutes) focused on relationship building and recognizing God's work
• Using language like "what are you praising God for" instead of "wins" to avoid creating competition
• Creating and sharing detailed meeting agendas that serve as both roadmaps and historical records
• Incorporating professional development through theological training and guest experts
• Maintaining focus on relevant topics while knowing when to take detailed discussions "offline"
• Ending meetings 15 minutes early for "15 minutes of fun" as a built-in reward
• Applying similar meeting principles when developing student leaders
• Setting clear start and end times to respect everyone's schedules
• Using collaborative note-taking systems that allow everyone access before and after meetings

Join us for Season 7 of the Youth Ministry Booster Podcast where you'll hear from Kate and other great leaders as we talk about what it means to fly fair and fast in youth ministry.

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Broncos, Gameboys, Doves... er uh Pigeons? 

Join Zac for an interview with Shane Pruitt. As they discuss how our culture has shifted to embracing a distorted version of a personalized Jesus while rejecting biblical authority, and why youth ministers must help students discover the authentic Jesus of Scripture.

SHOW NOTES
• Culture has shifted from accepting God-talk but rejecting Jesus-talk to accepting Jesus-talk but rejecting Bible-talk
• People reshape Jesus into their own image, creating an idol with Jesus' name
• The Jesus many claim to follow often aligns perfectly with their preferences and prejudices
• False views of Jesus lead to incorrect evangelism, discipleship, and mission
• The Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) are where we rediscover the authentic Jesus
• If our understanding of Jesus never challenges us, we might be following a false version
• The new "Not My Jesus" Bible study is available for both teens and adults to study together
• Jesus makes the invisible God visible – to know God's heart, look to Jesus' heart

Check out "Not My Jesus" Bible study from Lifeway, with free teaching videos included with each purchase.

https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/not-my-jesus-teen-bible-study-book-with-video-access-P005850065

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Have you ever wondered why it seems so many youth ministers quit or leave around the three-year mark? 

In this candid conversation with longtime youth ministry veteran and author Jody Livingston, we talk the secret to youth ministry longevity. 

It's 2 old friends with personal stories, hard-earned wisdom, and practical insights that are meant to encourage youth ministers young and old. Fresh and wizened. 

In Staying Power, Jody Livingston shares his journey of ministry longevity through the lens of his passion for Volkswagen buses and how he navigated challenging seasons to build a sustainable youth ministry career.

Grab a copy of Staying Power by Jody here.

https://www.lifeway.com/en/product/staying-power-P005850004

Key Points From This Interview

• Personal connection between father-son relationship and Volkswagen obsession
• The critical "2.5-3 year mark" where most youth ministers face their greatest challenges
• How unrealistic or unclear expectations from various church stakeholders create friction
• The importance of defining and communicating your own metrics for ministry success
• Navigating seasons where visible ministry fruit seems absent
• Recognizing burnout warning signs in yourself and ministry colleagues
• Finding authentic community and friendship despite the isolating nature of ministry
• Implementing intentional rest rather than merely "vegging out" on days off
• Practical approaches to sustaining your calling when ministry gets difficult

Remember your calling is in this time, to a place, and this next generation, now. When things get hard, lean into the why behind your ministry rather than focusing solely on results or metrics.

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Jay Winn shares how his youth ministry at Riverpoint Church is shifting toward a more relational approach in response to changing student needs. Despite having fewer resources following leadership transitions, Jay is finding success by investing deeply in authentic connections with students rather than focusing primarily on programs and events.

• Returning to "old school youth ministry" with a focus on authentic relationships and personal discipleship
• Making small groups optional rather than mandatory, resulting in more engaged participation
• Moving midweek gatherings to Thursday nights with a discussion-based format that has grown from 30 to 85 students
• Creating systems where youth staff have specific students to check on regularly, making relationships a measurable part of ministry
• Recognizing Gen Z students' increasing need for one-on-one mentoring amid rising anxiety and information overload
• Structuring Sunday morning as the ministry's "front door" with high-energy programming while reserving other gatherings for deeper discussion
• Working toward a staffing model with one full-time staff member for every 50 students
• Planning a fall retreat focused on helping students reconnect with God personally rather than focusing on service to others

Join the Youth Ministry Booster community to connect with other youth pastors who are growing, learning, and adapting their ministries to meet today's challenges.

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