Youth ministry has come a long way as have the youth ministry resources that we as student pastors use. One of the more recent developments in these resources are youth ministry apps. At first, I did not pay much attention to mobile application. I figured that they were just a passing fad and that they did not serve much purpose in ministry. But more and more I have realized that not only are they not a passing fad, but the right app in the right situation can save me a lot of time and finances. In case you have not yet begun implementing apps in your ministry I want to share a few reasons as to why I believe they are beneficial as well as mentioning a few apps that we have developed that I believe can be helpful to you as a student pastor.
1. Affordable.- None of us have an unlimited amount of financial resources. If you do then we should hang out more often. But even if our resources were unlimited we still need to be wise stewards of what God has given to us. I have found apps to be a huge help in this process. Now, I can find things like devotionals, commentaries, Bible studies, or just ministry ideas for 99 cents or sometimes even free. So not only can I now get what I need but also can be freed up to use my budget on other important items. This also is helpful when working with students because you can suggest and provide resources to them that fit into their often tight or nonexistent budgets as well.
2. Easily accessible.- Instead of driving to the bookstore or scouring through a catalog you can immediately find what you need in your pocket. This is helpful to you, your leaders, and your students. This is especially helpful because if you suggest a resource that you want your students to access, they do not have to leave with you just hoping that they do. You can stand right next to them and make sure that they download it.
3. Less likely to be lost.- This has been my favorite thing because I lose things all the time and then have to purchase it again. But I rarely lose my phone. And if I do I replace it and everything on it is backed up somewhere. So no more finding resources over and over again. Not to mention that I can keep things more organized. This has also been great with our students and leaders. Because it seemed like every week we were printing the same binders and devotional books. But once we started putting things into mobile applications things were not being lost anymore and we were saving time and money as well.
These are just a few of the benefits that apps can have for your youth ministry. But in order to be of full service I want to share with you some apps that we have developed that we have found to be helpful to other student pastors, but also in our ministry as well.
1. Youth Ministry Ideas- We have spent years collecting ideas to help us do our jobs more effectively. Then we realized that other student pastors probably were in the same boat that we were. We also kept making binders for our leaders crammed full of things they could do with their small groups. And then we would have to make those binders multiple times during the year for various reasons. Well we finally decided to bundle all of those ideas into an app for you and your leaders. No more binders and no more searching for ideas. This app has 100 ice breaker questions, 100 mission project ideas, 100 ideas for fellowship, and over 50 suggestions for discipleship, all for $.99.
2. Youth Ministry Games- One of the top questions we get is, "Do you know of any games? " Well we do and we have included 100 of our favorite games categorized into indoor and outdoor games. We also have included a list of supplies needed, mess level indicators, and game instructions. And you get all this for only $.99.
3. Custom Apps- Our church, like your church possibly, has had an app for a while. After a while though we found two problems with our church's app and others like it. For one it did not promote the student ministry very much. The other problem is that much of it was just about promoting the church instead of equipping our people with a tool they could use to go out and do ministry. So we decided to change that. We created a custom app for our student ministry loaded with a Gospel tract, devotional, discipleship curriculum, life issues scripture guide, journal, Bible, and other features. It has been great to see our leaders use it to disciple our students as well as our students use it to reach their friends for Christ. We want you to have that same opportunity. So we are offering to design a custom app for your ministry that meets your wishes and specifications.
4. What /is A Disciple?- - Over 860,000 people a month are asking this question online so we set out to answer it. We did this by writing a discipleship curriculum designed specifically to teach people what a disciple is. Then we realized that now we can not just think about writing great curriculum but also the best ways to get that curriculum into the hands of students. So we bundled the curriculum into an app so they can be discipled and turn around and disciple others.
5. Youth Ministry Resources- We know that one of the best resources we have as student pastors is each other. So we have created our free app so you can stay better connected with not only our resources but also the free training and support that we want to offer you. We believe that this app will be of great benefit and encouragement to you and hope you will download it and become a part of the Youth Ministry Resources community.
1. Affordable.- None of us have an unlimited amount of financial resources. If you do then we should hang out more often. But even if our resources were unlimited we still need to be wise stewards of what God has given to us. I have found apps to be a huge help in this process. Now, I can find things like devotionals, commentaries, Bible studies, or just ministry ideas for 99 cents or sometimes even free. So not only can I now get what I need but also can be freed up to use my budget on other important items. This also is helpful when working with students because you can suggest and provide resources to them that fit into their often tight or nonexistent budgets as well.
2. Easily accessible.- Instead of driving to the bookstore or scouring through a catalog you can immediately find what you need in your pocket. This is helpful to you, your leaders, and your students. This is especially helpful because if you suggest a resource that you want your students to access, they do not have to leave with you just hoping that they do. You can stand right next to them and make sure that they download it.
3. Less likely to be lost.- This has been my favorite thing because I lose things all the time and then have to purchase it again. But I rarely lose my phone. And if I do I replace it and everything on it is backed up somewhere. So no more finding resources over and over again. Not to mention that I can keep things more organized. This has also been great with our students and leaders. Because it seemed like every week we were printing the same binders and devotional books. But once we started putting things into mobile applications things were not being lost anymore and we were saving time and money as well.
These are just a few of the benefits that apps can have for your youth ministry. But in order to be of full service I want to share with you some apps that we have developed that we have found to be helpful to other student pastors, but also in our ministry as well.
1. Youth Ministry Ideas- We have spent years collecting ideas to help us do our jobs more effectively. Then we realized that other student pastors probably were in the same boat that we were. We also kept making binders for our leaders crammed full of things they could do with their small groups. And then we would have to make those binders multiple times during the year for various reasons. Well we finally decided to bundle all of those ideas into an app for you and your leaders. No more binders and no more searching for ideas. This app has 100 ice breaker questions, 100 mission project ideas, 100 ideas for fellowship, and over 50 suggestions for discipleship, all for $.99.
2. Youth Ministry Games- One of the top questions we get is, "Do you know of any games? " Well we do and we have included 100 of our favorite games categorized into indoor and outdoor games. We also have included a list of supplies needed, mess level indicators, and game instructions. And you get all this for only $.99.
3. Custom Apps- Our church, like your church possibly, has had an app for a while. After a while though we found two problems with our church's app and others like it. For one it did not promote the student ministry very much. The other problem is that much of it was just about promoting the church instead of equipping our people with a tool they could use to go out and do ministry. So we decided to change that. We created a custom app for our student ministry loaded with a Gospel tract, devotional, discipleship curriculum, life issues scripture guide, journal, Bible, and other features. It has been great to see our leaders use it to disciple our students as well as our students use it to reach their friends for Christ. We want you to have that same opportunity. So we are offering to design a custom app for your ministry that meets your wishes and specifications.
4. What /is A Disciple?- - Over 860,000 people a month are asking this question online so we set out to answer it. We did this by writing a discipleship curriculum designed specifically to teach people what a disciple is. Then we realized that now we can not just think about writing great curriculum but also the best ways to get that curriculum into the hands of students. So we bundled the curriculum into an app so they can be discipled and turn around and disciple others.
5. Youth Ministry Resources- We know that one of the best resources we have as student pastors is each other. So we have created our free app so you can stay better connected with not only our resources but also the free training and support that we want to offer you. We believe that this app will be of great benefit and encouragement to you and hope you will download it and become a part of the Youth Ministry Resources community.