Youth ministry resources have come a long way. They have gone from just ways to study the Bible to ways to connect with your students. Which is why I would put social media in the category of youth ministry resources now, because this is one of the better ways we can keep in touch with our students and see what is truly happening in their lives. Because whether we like it or not, students spend much of their time on social media and are much more open about their lives and feelings about the world around them on social media than anywhere else.  But there can also be serious pitfalls when it comes to using this new medium to connect with your students, which is why I want to take a few moments to give you some things to consider about social media as it pertains to your ministry.

1. Accept reality.  - Honestly, I do not like social media. I think it is a waste of time and just leads to all sorts of temptations and issues.  But students are going to use it.  And the way trends are going they may have to in order to succeed in their chosen career fields.  There may come a day where we all pull away from it, and I hope that day does come, but I do not see that happening any time in the near future. Instead I just believe the networks we use and how we use them will continually change. So we must accept that to some extent we need to have a presence on social media to connect with our students and keep an eye on the choices they are making, versus what they are telling us. 

2. Know what your students are using.- Did you know that while most teens have a Facebook many of them are not using it anymore? There are many reasons for this, from fear about privacy settings to there being too much drama. But the main reason students are leaving Facebook is because their parents are there now.  And who wants to hang out with their parents?  So many students are moving to places like Instagram since it is more visual and twitter and Tumblr as micro-blogging becomes more popular.  But many students are moving to networks like snapchat. If you have not heard of this, students can post pictures and they disappear within seconds of being viewed.  What is scary about this is both that students believe that anything they post ever truly disappears and the fact of why students want a social network of this nature.  Which means we not only need to know what students are using to connect where they are connecting but also to get a glimpse into what this teenage culture is struggling with and what forms of sin are gripping their lives.

3. Set boundaries and have accountability. - Social media can quickly be a time sucker. So while it is important for us to have a presence on social media, at the end of the day it is not the best way we can connect with students and we can only accomplish so much through this medium.  So you need to set clear time boundaries, hold yourself to those boundaries, and find someone else to help hold you to those boundaries.  But maybe the more important part of this is remembering that none of us is perfect.  Everyday it seems like there is a news story about an adult, from teachers to ministers, having an inappropriate relationship or being involved in some other immorality that began on social media. Every time this is heart breaking but the danger is that it is really easy to point the finger and say thank goodness that is not us. When if we are not careful it could easily be us.  This is why we need accountability. We cannot afford for more ministers to believe they are invincible and above sin. We need clear accountability and boundaries not only to keep ourselves out of trouble but also so that we have a witness to stand with us in cases of false accusations of impropriety.  Your boundaries are up to you but I suggest things like keeping social media use to under an hour, or honestly under 30 minutes per day, or even going as far as to setting aside only a couple of days when you even look at it. I also say that when dealing with students do not send private messages. 

But enough about me. What are your boundaries in social media and what have you learned about using it in youth ministry?

If you were out one day or even one month, what would happen to your youth ministry?  Would it continue to grow and thrive or would it just last just as long as people could find youth ministry resources to fill the time? This question is important to consider for two reason.

The first is very practical. We never know what is going to happen and may need to be out due to illness, emergency, or just because we need a break.  Therefore we need to make sure that we have leadership in place that can fill in and would know what to do.  This leadership could be youth or students but you need to make sure you are investing in others who you can entrust with your ministry for a time if need be. Just as Jesus did with His disciples. He knew He had to invest in them because He would be leaving them and they would have to carry on His work.  So He trained them and empowered them to do just that and we must do the same in our ministries. 

This brings me to my second point. I firmly believe that if we are doing our job effectively, at some point the students and our leaders should not need us anymore.  I know that is a scary thought.   We all can feel our job security slipping out of our hands. But I do not mean this to be a threat to our job security but instead a gauge for how well we are doing our jobs.  If we are effectively ministering our leaders should feel confident enough that they could take the reigns of the ministry if called upon. They also would have been trained effectively enough that they could and should be in a sense, student pastors.  Our students are the same way.  If we are doing our jobs effectively they should be able to go out and be the student pastors for their campuses. And if we have effectively communicated our vision to them and ensured they were discipled, they should not miss a beat and know exactly what to do in order to keep the ministry rolling.

Now, I want you to know that God has specifically called you to where you are for a reason and you will have a role to play as long as He leaves you there, regardless of whether your leadership and students "need" you.  But in effort to gauge the health of your ministry, I want you to take a moment to evaluate your ministry.  What would happen if you were not there? Who would step up? What sort of ministry is being carried out beyond the walls of your church?  Wrestle with these questions. Pray over them.  Answer them honestly.  And then make adjustments accordingly based on what God reveals to you through this process. 

Have you ever asked yourself this question? Have you ever dared to answer it? Is it the great youth ministry resources you use? Is it the games you play? Is it your cool building? Is it the community and relationships you offer?

It could be any number of things, but regardless I think this is an important and empowering question to ask for a few reasons in particular.  For one, it helps you decide whether some things are necessary. For example, if you think it is all the fun theme nights you do and really your students are just there for the relationships and connections then you could save yourself some time and money and be able to focus those nights towards other spiritual growth opportunities.  This question can also help you see what you are doing well so you can both focus in on those areas and promote them more as well as seeing what you need to work on. For example, if they keep coming back because of your leaders then obviously they are doing a great job and you have recruited the right people and trained them well. So you will want to continue that because it is working and this is obviously what is keeping your ministry growing. 

But the last reason why this question is good to ask might be the most important and yet the hardest to accept. This question can help you understand whether what you are doing is moving towards life change through a relationship with Jesus Christ or just giving them a cool place to hang out.  Now, I have nothing against students having a safe, fun place to enjoy themselves. I also have nothing against high attendance and know it can be a good gauge as far as the health of our ministries.  Not to mention the pressure many of us are under to make sure are numbers are above some line on some chart.  But in the end we do not give an account for how we did on a chart but for how effectively we helped others meet Jesus.  To further understand this you can look at stories like the rich young ruler. He comes and is excited about following Jesus. But Jesus knows His heart is not fully in it and the man ends up walking away. This story always fascinates me, because I'm thinking, "Jesus you had Him. Another point for the good guys."  But Jesus knew that there was a greater purpose at work and He did not need half-hearted followers. I think we can learn from this. I say find new and exciting ways to bring students in.  But if somehow students are continually coming back just for that then it may be that those things are that are attracting them to your ministry are actually distracting them from meeting Jesus.  And may need to be done away with, even at the risk of a few students walking away for a little while.  Because while it is always sad when any student leaves, it may be worth it so you can better minister to the students who stay so they can experience life change in Jesus in such a way that they can go out and help those who left experience that life change as well. 

There are constantly new youth ministry resources becoming available and it seems like every day there is the next big thing we all "need."  I try to not go as far as to say that the resource we are going to discuss today is a need, but I would definitely rate it above a frivolous want that is just a passing fad. It is somewhere in the middle. Let's call it a weed.  Wait, that sounds wrong on so many levels. 

What we will be looking at today is the idea having a custom youth ministry app for your ministry.   I am willing to be that your church has one already or has at least considered it. But have you ever thought about having one specifically for your student ministry? 

I think this is something extremely important to consider for three reasons. First of all, The students we minister to live  in a mobile world. I mean just consider how many of them have smart phones and try to remember the last time one of them forgot to have it with them.  This is not always a good thing obviously but it does present us with an interesting opportunity.  Next,  this does give you a unique way to promote your ministry by having your information and artwork in a customized app. And while there is money up front, imagine the time and costs you save yourself by not having to make promotional cards and flyers near as often. Plus it is in a form that students might actually keep up with and use.  Finally, I want you to think beyond just marketing as most apps designed for ministry are mainly targeted to do.  What if you could turn your app into a discipleship tool? Imagine having a devotional and/or a discipleship curriculum that your students could use to reach others for Christ again and again. I firmly believe this is possible and is an incredible opportunity for us as student pastors to equip our youth like we have rarely seen before.

I encourage you to strongly consider this, but also to share with us whether you think an app would work in your ministry and why or why not? Also, what do you think an app designed for the youth in your ministry should have? 

I know that there are plenty of youth ministry resources available about getting out of the boat in the Christian life.  There is even a book about it. But recently I was studying the passage again about Peter getting out of  the boat to walk on the water I found some things in it that I believe our very valuable lessons for youth ministry and these were honestly perspectives that I had not heard yet. 

1. When we meet Jesus crazy things happen. - Have you ever really stopped to think about it?   Peter meets Jesus and decides that He can walk on water.  And later on the disciples face persecution and death to spread the Gospel.  Jesus leads to radical changes in our lives.  This will definitely be true in our students and we need to be ready for that and nurture that.  Our students may meet Jesus and say they're going to witness to their parents and bring their family back together. They may say they are going to reach their campus for Christ.  They may say that they are going to work to make sure the needs of everyone in their schools are met.  You never know what it might be and you never know if they might be able to do it. So when our students meet Jesus and have that fire burn inside of them we must not put it out with discouragement. Instead we must encourage them and pray faithfully that their vision becomes reality. And hopefully it will. I mean hey, Peter walked on water.  what's a few lives being changed?

2. Some students need help getting out of the boat.- Jesus still had to tell Peter to come.  He needed to speak that encouragement and cast the vision for Peter that this could be done.  We need to do the same for our students. In our youth ministry we need to make sure we have a culture that dreams about big things and does them. We need to make sure that our students know we are not only holding the bar high for them but that we are giving them opportunities to reach that bar in their lives. 

3. Getting out of the boat is a daily things.-  We cannot allow our students or ourselves to have one great moment spiritually and then allow them to just rest in that for the rest of their lives. We need to daily remind them and ourselves that we must commit to Christ today. We must share the Gospel today. We must reach others today. We must do big things for God today.  Because this is how our world will change. A daily commitment to obediently follow Jesus and not just a one time big moment. 

Maybe these lessons were not new to you but they were to me. Hopefully though you can take them and apply them in your youth ministry so your students can become followers of Christ who find ways to get out of the boat every single day. 

When it comes to youth ministry resources, one of the most important things you can do is accumulate resources that help you in the area of youth discipleship. There are two reasons for this. One is the obvious reason that we are called to make disciples and this is our primary role as followers of Christ. So everything we do must work towards that goal of making disciples.  The other reason though is slightly more alarming. Did you know that over one million people a month are searching the question, "What is a disciple?" online. This tells me two things.

1. People are being told to be disciples or at least are hearing the word.
2. Not near as many people are actually being discipled and shown what it means to be a disciple. 

In fact, with numbers like that there is a good chance that one of your students is asking that question, whether they are taking the time to search for the answer or not. 

We must make discipleship a priority.  Because it is our greatest calling and it is a calling that is obviously being neglected.  Which is why I highly encourage you to make sure that you make discipleship a priority in your ministry in the coming year. Both discipling your students and making sure they are discipling others.  We even have a brand new discipleship curriculum designed to help you in this process and help you specifically answer the question "What is a disciple?".  So let's partner together to make disciples of all nations, and see this generation's hearts turned toward Christ and our world changed because of it. 

As long as I have been around youth ministry, even long before we started Youth Ministry Resources,  it has been the same when it comes to camp. We talk about the great camp high and why we can't keep that going. While we know we cannot stay on the mountain top of camp for forever I do believe that we can ensure that camp is a launching point for our student's spiritual growth instead of a one time experience followed by a another year of wandering aimlessly spiritually.  In order to make sure this happens I believe there are three things we can do.

Connect
First and foremost we need to make sure that our students are connected. They not only need to be connected with our ministry but also need to be connected with a leader who can mentor them and help guide them in their spiritual growth. I always like to do this at camp, especially if they give their lives to Christ.  On top of this, and maybe most importantly, we need to make sure our students are connected with each other.  They need those relationships with those they will see daily so they can support one another in difficult times and push each other to do great things. 

Serve
It is not until our students live out their faith that they begin to take ownership it. But once they do they get a taste of what the Christian life is really all about and they will never want to turn back.  I know it was this way for me. Once I took my faith from just knowledge to action there was no other option for me but to live passionately for Christ.  You must find ways for your students to serve. Whether it is a mission trip or a service project in the community, your students need to live out their faith before they go back to school in the fall. 

Plan
We need to plan how these two things will happen before we even go to camp. But we also need to help our students plan for how they continue this and carry this message out once they head back to school. You need to sit down and help your students dream about how God might use them to impact their campuses and then hold them accountable to live out those plans. 

Obviously there are things that go with this, like prayer and Bible study, but I believe these three steps will help us move on from the annual camp high to true life change and spiritual growth. 

Asking what your youth ministry needs can be a loaded question. You probably automatically start thinking of a laundry list of items and youth ministry resources and maybe even some volunteer positions that need to be filled. Then you start organizing the list into wants and needs and ranking which things deserve priority. This is actually a good exercise and can help you be a good steward of the limited resources you have been given as well as strengthening your ministry.

But I want you to think a little deeper to what I believe may be the most important thing that any youth ministry needs. Yes, first and foremost we need Jesus as the focus of our ministry and the Holy Spirit empowering us. And with what I am about to say I am not diminishing that in any way or lowering the priority of this. But what I believe that every youth ministry needs, almost above anything else, is community And here are a few reasons why.

First of all, this generation craves community. One of the primary ways we see this is in the explosion of social media and the need to stay connected all the time. And one of the reasons is that students are not getting this community at home or at least not getting a true picture of what community is. Therefore, we must make sure we provide Biblical community to our students and fill that void that many of them feel.

Next, community and relationships are a vitally import part of being a disciple. For one discipleship is not to be done alone. Also, Jesus put loving your neighbor right up there with loving God. Not to mention that from the beginning God said it was not good for many to be alone and He made Eve. All throughout scripture we see the importance of relationships and that us and God is not enough.

Finally, real community is what will attract a lost world around us. Our world is looking for something and what they are looking for is Jesus, whether they realize it or not. Because we have this void in our lives that only God can fill and until we get that saving relationship with Jesus that void will continually be there. And with that saving relationship comes something else. We get adopted into the family of God and become part of a beautiful community the world can't come close to offering. I believe that this family is what will attract a world to the Gospel because it will stand out in such contrast to the world we live in. We see this in Acts where the early church immediately formed a community once coming to Christ because they knew they needed it and it was what Christ called them to. And I firmly believe this community attracted the world around them.

I am amazed again and again when asking students what they like best about church that it is not a band, or games, or even camp. It is the relationships they have with friends and with their small group.

You need to make sure that your youth ministry provides community to your students. Evaluate your ministry and decide where students are getting that community. Then share with us what you are doing to build community and make sure students have relationships with you, a leader, and each other.

Your youth ministry has probably been described as many things, but I bet normal is not one of them. This is probably especially true when it comes to how the rest of your church describes it.  But I am not talking about the perception of your youth ministry based on the noise levels and the number of carpet stains in your youth room.  What I am talking about is the perception of your youth ministry when it comes to the world on the outside looking in. 

You see, in ministry, I feel the worst way we could be described is normal.  I came to this realization when studying 2 Corinthians 5 while speaking at a camp this past week.  In it Paul says:

 If we are “out of our mind,” as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14 For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15 And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.

I read this after I made a big mistake at the camp I was at. I called a group of students normal.  They were so different than other students that I had met because they lived in community with one another and were passionate about Christ. And in my efforts to encourage and compliment them I messed up and called them normal. Then I realized that they were not the normal ones. The students I know who are choosing mediocrity and the way of the world are the normal ones. These students were "out of their minds" as we all should be. 

Because in following Christ we are called to stand out and be unique and this is vitally important for us to remember as student pastors.  In our desire to connect with students and bring them in to our ministries so they can meet Christ, we must be careful to make sure that we stand out and model Christ and not the world.  Does this mean we can't have games and candy? No. But it does mean that we must remember that what draws students in is the fact that we are offering them something that the world cannot, a saving relationship with Christ, Christian community, and the life of hope, joy, and freedom that this brings. 

But we also must speak this truth into the lives of our students. They need to know as followers of Christ they are to be different.  And that if it gets pointed out to them that they are strange it is a good thing.  So challenge yourself, your youth ministry, and the students in it to not be normal. Be as far from normal as you can be. Be like Jesus. 

Youth Ministry assumptions are a dangerous thing. Well I suppose assumptions in general can be a dangerous thing.  But this is especially true when working with youth because it can drastically effect our ministry and the direction we take it in. For example, I recently devoted some time dealing with the importance of ministering to all people, and how racism and division have no place in the church.  The reason was that I grew up in a place where this was a serious issue and I assumed the same problem existed everywhere and with all students. Let's be honest. These issues do exist many places and I am sure that many students do still struggle with these problems either because of their upbringing or sadly, what they have been taught in church. But with the students I was working with this was not the case.

I found this out in a small group where we were discussing something along the lines of increasing the diversity in our lives.  In the process two students shared the most beautiful quotes I may have ever heard.
1. "Why does this even have to be a discussion? Someone's race doesn't matter right?"
2. "Yeah, we all serve the same God."

I wish I could take those students on a speaking tour. So many people still do not understand that important truth.  But this taught me something else. I have to make sure that I spend time with my students discussing important things and hearing their heart and their struggles instead of just assuming what they are based on my study of culture and my personal experiences. This way I make sure that I focus the valuable time I have with them on what they need and not waste it on things they do not. This way we can move on to bigger and better things and see their maturation process in Christ happen much more quickly.