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Do you ever get caught up in your feels?

Your students will be up in their feelings this summer (especially at camp)... so what's your plan?

In this episode of the YMB podcast co-hosts Zac and Chad talk about how emotions are an important part of youth ministering. It's part of their development and an important piece of pastoring faithfully.

And there is no season more emotional or emotive than summer. It's big events, it's the relief of less school, it's a new rhythm for life. They might actually even get a few naps in...

So in this episode we wanted to prep with you, for you, the emotional journey students might take this summer.

Lean in and review what your space and time allocates for emotional development. Are you steamrolling through? Are you often derailed at the first signs of sleepy-tired tears? How are you prepping yourself and your team?

For the middle schooler and high schooler make plans not just for what you will do, but perhaps how it will affect your students when you gather this summer.

Chad and Zac are here for you emotionally as you are planning, pastoring, and caretaking for students. Reach out and let us know how we can help.

Follow up with our team!
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What would you say you want me to do here?

In this episode of the YMB podcast co-hosts Zac and Chad challenge each other back and forth to ask the most important questions a candidate can ask when interviewing for a ministry position.

A lot is at stake when applying for a job and a candidate should have as much interest in the church/organization as they should have in the candidate.

We should all come to an interview with great questions!

It is possibly a decade long decision and so the process should be painstakingly truthful, perhaps brutally honest, and helpfully healthy for all parties involved.

Zac and Chad share some of their insights from coaching youth ministry leaders across the country for the last 8 years.

Write down the ones you like, craft them into your own language and then take them with you before your next interview.

Chad and Zac are here for you as support as you endeavor in perhaps a decade(s) defining set of interview. Longevity starts in the first interview! 

Follow up with our team!
https://studentministry.lifeway.com/

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https://www.lifeway.com/experience

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What does it take to make a disciple? How do teenage disciples grow?

Resources.

What an important word to define.

In this episode of the YMB podcast co-hosts Zac and Chad reflect on their experiences with other resource events (*cough book fairs cough*) and what those previous moments have taught them about youth ministry's work to equip students, leaders, and parents.

Truly, your students need resources and you cannot be the start and end of their discipleship informed/formation journey.

Zac and Chad talk  about why your youth ministry needs more helpful stuff and we aren't just talking books in the lobby!

Your space: the physical layout of a room/building, the community space of how people might gather, and the relational/social space of how students are welcomed are all part of the resourcing of your ministry.

Take a listen and then take a moment to reflect on the pathways and purposes of disciple-making in your space. 

Chad and Zac are here to encourage you to evaluate not just what you can do, but the space, program, and relationships you can foster as you minister. 

Follow up with our team!
https://studentministry.lifeway.com/

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https://www.lifeway.com/experience

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What makes a sermon/teaching moment great?

Like for serious though? More than just relaying insight, feeling clever, or speaking with passion, what makes a sermon or teaching moment great?

In this episode of Zac and Chad bound their way through what makes a great communicator. Biblically sound, yes! Quick to the Gospel message, of course! But what about the other bits that folks either reject, forget, or overlook?

Seriously, what grows a communicator-teacher-preacher beyond just the importance of the message to a connectedness with their receiving audience/group?

Zac and Chad talk  about why youth ministry needs more self-aware communicators.  For most the pain is too great, but for those who are willing to receive great feedback there is so much potential!

Chad and Zac are here to encourage you to dig deep into your own growth, spiritual formation, and willingness to receive feedback to uncover what makes you uniquely gifted as a communicator.

The best Gospel communicators are Biblically sound and authentic and true in their delivery.

Follow up with our team!
https://studentministry.lifeway.com/

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Why aren't more parents coming to your parent meetings?

But for real tho...

This episode is a how to plan, run, hook, and pop off the next time you are working to get your youth ministry parents/guardians together in one room. It's also about birthday parties.

For this episode Chad, Parent Ministry Specialist, spills the tea on what are the most important elements of a parent ministry meeting.

HOOK- What's the felt need of the meeting? Is it even right to call it a meeting

PROMISE- What are we going to get when we get there? People don't want to sign up in the dark for another meeting when they are already double booked?

**If you don't tell them what might happen they will probably assume the worst, like it's boring? or they can just find out from somebody else.**

CONNECTION- The one thing an email cannot do is deliver on connection. The reason to be at a meeting/event/symposium/party is for the connection. You will miss something if you are not here. It's a chance to be seen, heard, or have a need met. Otherwise it's just a gathering to communicate information.

TIMING- Does this meeting/party/event exist additionally or can you maximize the time and frequency you are asking them to meet with you?

LAUNCH- Don't read the next few months notes to them, give them away and create the channels of where they can learn more about what's next.

But seriously, what did we miss what would you add? Let us know.

Chad and Zac are here to encourage you to enjoy the ways in which our work in youth ministry matters. Parent meetings are one of the 7 most important things you can and should be doing in a regular way.


Email Chad about Cupcakes & Connect
[email protected]

Try Parent Partner For 1 Month Free:
https://www.lifeway.com/parentpartner
Use code "Parent2022" to check it out.

Follow up with our team!
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Greatest.Of.All.Time. or GOAT as the kids would say...

This is another episode in a (random but timely) series of episodes in which Chad and Zac talk about ministry things that are "GOATED."

So for this episode of Greatest Of All Times, let's ask what is your idea of a GOAT Volunteer... wait, don't say their name out loud!

But seriously, what moves a volunteer from the middle of the pack to the top of the charts? Is it an innate gifting? Coached skill? Or is it just unbounded enthusiasm?

Zac and Chad talk also about why youth ministry leaders need great volunteers and who they think are the greatest for your team (secret time... it's not just one person!).

So how who is your GOAT and have you recruited them or do you already have them?

Chad and Zac are here to encourage you to enjoy the ways in which our work in youth ministry matters. So much starts in the ways in which we perceive what we get to do with the time we have been given.

Follow up with our team!
https://studentministry.lifeway.com/

Join us for a preaching event like no other!
https://www.lifeway.com/experience

Let's hang out in your town!
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New. The feeling of the New New.

This episode is for all of those who have ever felt new at church, youth group, student ministry...

This may be you right now, or when you were a teenager, but this episode is especially for those who have NOT been new in a LOOOONNNGGG time.

There is a whole set of feelings, experiences, and unguided expectations when you are walking up new to a church building, a small group circle, or a youth ministry activity. If we want to connect with new folks, we need to take a walk in their shoes.

Zac and Chad talk also about why youth ministry leaders need to see it from the other side. Often times we are asking students to invite new friends, or we are hoping to connect with new families but we are unsure of how all that new really feels. 

So when was the last time you were new?

Looking for a resource that is NEW and designed to help you connect with NEW students? Check out HyFi!

https://myhyfi.com/

Chad and Zac are here to encourage you in not just the work but the ways in which we minister faithfully!

Follow up with our team!
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Join us for a preaching event like no other!
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Greatest.Of.All.Time. or GOAT as the kids would say...

This is the first in a (random) series of episodes in which Chad and Zac talk about ministry things that are "GOATED"

So for this episode of Greatest Of All Times, let's start with your ideal work day.

What's the best way you could spend a day doing the work you were called to do?

Zac and Chad talk also about why youth ministry leaders need a vision of what work could  and should look like because otherwise we are just spinning our wheels. Chad is loading up a day with time creating and Zac conversing.

So how would you best spend your perfect, most "goat"-able work day?

Chad and Zac are here to encourage you to enjoy the ways in which our work in youth ministry matters. So much starts in the ways in which we perceive what we get to do with the time we have been given.

Follow up with our team!
https://studentministry.lifeway.com/

Join us for a preaching event like no other!
https://www.lifeway.com/experience

Let's hang out in your town!
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Don't believe the lie. Numbers do matter, we just need better ones! 2022 was a year of great consistency and we want to share what we have learned about healthy and better numbers for all of us! 


It's another episode of Youth Ministry Booster with Chad Higgins and Zac Workun. In this episode they talk about why numbers actually do matter.

They talk about why youth ministry feels like it needs more numbers, and how to find better ones. They discuss importance of getting below the surface of what the numbers mean and what you are really looking to track if you want a healthy youth ministry.

They are here to encourage you to delve a little deeper into what you desire when you say grow and if you have thought it down all the way to the most basic unit.

Tracking - what's the number you are recording.
Consistency- what's the interval you are measuring.
Discipline- what's the habit that is forming.
Growth- what's the goal for the tracking.

Follow up with our team!
https://studentministry.lifeway.com/

Join us for a preaching event like no other!
https://www.lifeway.com/experience

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What's the most important thing you could do in the next few weeks for your own health? For your ministry? 

We think we have an idea that might serve as a really healthy new year resolution, resolve? commitment? 

Hey YM friends we are excited to be back for our 8th year and in 2023, our collective 23 year, the GOAT year let's talk about a few important things in a few different ways. 

This year we are going to circle back to 3-4 big ideas that we believe will help make this the best and most fulfilling year yet. 

In this episode Zac and Chad talk about the importance of building trust above all else in how we work, what do we, and how we relate honorably in our church, leadership teams, and with our students. 

If you have some added tips or insights then please reach out via Instagram @youthministrybooster or email [email protected] 

Love you youth ministry friend, health is important in seasons of busy and we hope you find it amongst friends. 

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