Learned from Twitter: week ending September 5, 2009

I took last week off from posting these updates, but this week's edition is jam packed with great information and resources. Enjoy :)



1. snavenel (Len Evans) shared a link that youth ministers need to read - the newest Youth Leader Only from Interlinc.

Savy Youth Ministry: Work Smarter Not Harder http://bit.ly/11PX8N by @interlinc

2. Psych_USA (Psych) shared a great picture from an upcoming episode. Looks hilarious.

RT @psychwrites: http://twitpic.com/flb0c -From L to R: Jaleel White, Kenan Thompson, Dule Hill, Demord Dann. THIS EPISODE IS AMAZING.

3. gavoweb (Gavin Richardson) shared a link to an article on how to turn your blog ramblings into a published book. And one about putting your youth newsletter on Twitter.

Blog to Book-12 Keys to Posting for Publishing http://ff.im/-7jBhe

How to make a Twitter Youth Group Newsletter http://ff.im/-7suNF

4. saraeden (Sara Eden Williams) reminds us that some chances are worth taking in youth ministry. (Especially if you really want to go to the amusement park) :)

70% chance of rain but we're still going to the amusement park. If I were I mom I'd probably say no. But I'm a youthworker and we're crazy.

5. Writepop (Writepop) thinks we all should know these great opening lines from great novels. I must not pay attention to the first line, because I did not know many of them.

Great list! 100 of the best first lines from novels http://u.nu/78m43 #writing #books

And he wants to inform us that laptops have been "around" for a long time, since 1937?

Is this the first appearance of a laptop in fiction, all the way back in 1937? - http://u.nu/3am43 #scifi #comics

6. SYMConference (Simply Youth Ministry Conference) is getting relationally ready for the upcoming conference in Chicago. If you haven't heard of this conference yet, you need to check it out.

lots of reconnection this week with a whole bunch of #symc volunteers who've become like family to us...I seriously love these people!

7. radarradio (Under the Radar) let us know about Amazon's free download. It only lasts until tomorrow, so hurry!

Here's link to the FREE DOWNLOAD (1 song your choice) on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ktvssj

What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Learned from Twitter: week ending August 22, 2009

Gained a few more twitter gems this week. Just had to share these ones with you. Enjoy.


1. snavenel (Len Evans) shared a great link that churches need to look at.

We Love Our Youth Worker http://www.weloveouryouthwo... 7 promises churches make to ensure they properly care for their youth worker

2. pattigibbons (Patti Gibbons) will bring a smile to your face (if you're a youth worker) with this quote from VBS.

Comment from VBS ldr after lesson on sin: "What's not fun about a room full of pre-K & K kids and a pooping snake?"

3. giveawaylist (Big List of Giveaways) posted a giveaway that could be very useful (if you won) for some great foll0w-up material for your ministry.

New giveaway listed - check it out! : 250 5X7" Custom Greeting Cards http://bit.ly/10c0VW

4. snavenel (Len Evans) suggests all youth workers (especially those who teach) read this free e-book.

Josh Hunt is giving way a free e-book Good Questions Have Groups Talking http://www.joshhunt.com/goo... great tool 4 Youth & SS teachers!

5. FlowerInTheRain (Janelle Painter) offers a great piece of advice. Read and take to heart.

Slow down. From what we know, Jesus never said, "I'm sorry, I can't help you. I need to be in Jerusalem by sundown." Pace your life.

6. AdamLehman (Adam Lehman) shared a great moment from his ministry - a "thank you" from a student. These are the things that keep a youth worker going for months.

Got my first "thank-you-for-what-youre-doing" text from a student: "Thanks for getting people together to play xbox. It was lots of fun."

What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Learned from Twitter: week ending July 25, 2009

Today is a special day for me - its my little girl's 1st birthday! So, to help you celebrate my little girl's birthday, I thought I'd share some highlights from Twitter this past week. Oh, who am I kidding, I was going to share them anyway. :)

1. YS_Scoop (Youth Specialties) shared the link to Tic Long's new blog. If you have not checked it out, you need to. Tic is a great advocate of the youth worker and have great thoughts - plus he's just a good guy.

"Keep up with Tic and what is next in his life at http://ticlong.wordpress.com/"

2. snavenel (Len Evans) shared some news about a new stage of his life. Check out his blog to find out more about Len and see how you can be praying for him in this transition.

"Shared today, that I'm no longer the youth pastor at the church. Have applied to work with the http://nnym.com Gathering prayer supporters"

3. timschmoyer (Tim Schmoyer) shared two links for resources youth workers might be able to take advantage of in their ministries. Check out these links and see how they can benefit your ministry.

"FREE City cars time lapse video download in HD. Might be good as a title background for a YG video: http://bit.ly/2DoEc"

"RT @slickdeals: 20 5x7 Photo Prints $0.99 http://bit.ly/1ZHnf // Perfect for all your camp and missions trip pictures!"

4. StudentMinistry (John from Lifeway Student Ministry) linked to an article on helping your students after you get back from camp. If you took kids to camp, or know some who went, you'll want to read the article.

"Help Your Students Keep Their Camp Committments" now on LifeWay.com/Students - http://bit.ly/gQ7du

5. MikeFoster (Mike Foster) shared this little bit of wisdom (and truth). I agree wholeheartedly with his statement.

"true leaders take ownership of their contribution to a bad event."

6. rainnwilson (Rainn Wilson: aka Dwight) offered a little bit of hope for those Office fans who are tired of watching "summer television." The Office is back to work!

"Office table read today. Like first day of school. What to wear!? Make sure to ask for spoilers cause I will def. be revealing all!(um, no)"

7. theofficenbc (The Office on NBC) provided a little bit more information for Office fans - the first episode is entitled "Gossip" (oh, the possibilities).

"Scoop! Season 6 of "The Office" officially begins today, with a table read of Episode 1, entitled "Gossip." Welcome back everyone!"

What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Learned from Twitter: week ending July 11, 2009

What a fun week its been, on and off Twitter. Here are a few of the nuggets of wisdom and wonder I learned on Twitter this week.

1. saraeden (Sara Eden) was blessed by some generous people at her church. These are the people who both bless & humble us as we serve God and students.

"the grandparents of 2 students just offered to write a check for my @nywc registration. Humbled by this church family over and over."

2. riddlegroup (Mark Riddle) shared a great opening line for your next message.

"A great intro to a sermon/talk: "Your job is to take notes, my job is to make that impossible." - Peter Rollins"

3. MarkMatlock (Mark Matlock) asked a great question for anyone with kids to answer. So, what is your answer?

"Sit-down meals with family 'keep youths out of trouble''. How often does your family eat together? http://tinyurl.com/mmsv2o"

4. (Anonymous twitterer) shared one of the reasons youth ministers do what we do.

"Had a great meeting with a young man considering going into full time ministry."

5. shawnmichael (Shawn Michael Shoup) quoted me for the first time of anyone on Twitter (that I know of). Thanks Shawn. (I just thought I'd share with you, blog readers, because I thought it was cool that he actually quoted me.)

"You need 2 B involved in a youth worker network & more importantly, U need 2 strive 2 help make it the best network anywhere."(via @lilkup)

6. saraeden (Sara Eden) shared a great moment she had with a senior and freshman. Sometimes, high schoolers are just amazing, aren't they?

"Just heard a senior say 'woo hoo! You're officially a high schooler!' and high five a new freshmen. Love it!"

What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Learned from Twitter: week ending May 23, 2009

This week, my Twitter feed brought some laughs and great youth ministry reminders. Here are a few of the highlights...


1. MatthewMcNutt (Matthew McNutt) shared a great moment in mass text messaging. A reminder to the rest of us to always set your cell phone to silent or turn it off while in church.
"Blasted a text message out to 90+ people today with SimplyTXT. The problem? Middle of the worship service. Phones buzzing everywhere! FAIL."

2. youthministry (YouthMinistry.com) reminded us that middle schoolers are awesome. Or they just have a lot of energy (one of the two).
"the jr highers I work with would be all over this. Mt Dew Nite http://budurl.com/ymdew Thanks Chad Shiffer for sharing!"

3. YMTV (Youth Ministry TV) inspired me with this quote. (Stick around Twitter during any given conference and you'll see a bunch of these quotes show up in your Twitter feed)
"[generic leadership comment that is really smart and I want to implement] - [conference speaker] (via @stephenwebb)"

4. justayouthguy (Jon McIver) knows that youth ministers do not need rule sheets when we play games. We either know the game or we just make the rules up as we go - that is the way youth workers operate. :)
"Watching a teacher explain Red Rover to a group of 4th graders. She keeps looking at a rule sheet. A rule sheet? Really?"

5. rockinyp (Tim Schmoyer) thinks there is a different way to grow a youth group than cool events.
"Seriously? This is how you grow a youth group, with cool events and marketing? http://bit.ly/ca7s1 I like my way better http://bit.ly/16UKmM"



What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Church Signs: money related

Recently, I have seen a couple church signs that are financially oriented. I thought I would share them with you.

"The IRS can't tax treasures stored in heaven."

"Tithe if you love Jesus, anyone can honk."

Do you have any favorite money-related church signs?

Learned from Twitter: week ending April 11, 2009

Here are some of the things I learned from Twitter, this Holy Week...


1. theuprisinglive (Chad Swanzy) offered up an idea for a "free" night of fun with your youth group.
"free slurpees for your small groups and very low budget road trip idea... http://tinyurl.com/d533wp"

2. EvanCourtney (Evan Courtney) provides a code to get some free videos from BluefishTV.com.
"10 free downloads from Bluefish TV. Use code GoGreenRev"

3. ICEHOTEL_Sweden (Ice Hotel) is close to saying goodbye until next winter.
"Only two weeks left of ICEHOTEL - We are getting closer and closer to spring, when the Midnightsun takes over... http://tumblr.com/xbv1jts3k"

4. FlowerInTheRain (Janelle Painter) proves she is one proud "parent." :)
"It's Bring Your Child to Work Day. I brought my macbook. the end."

5. YMX (Youth Ministry Exchange) offers up a free lesson on John 9.
"Thought about a lesson for next week? Hit the link & get freebie for April 9: See Believe Live Inductive Study on John 9 http://is.gd/rGS6"

6. theofficenbc (The Office) provides a link to the new opening credits.
"Notice the new opening credits? Watch the "Michael Scott Paper Company" version again @ http://tinyurl.com/d9ez5u"

7. kentshaffer (Kent Shaffer) offers up some free fonts.
"30 free fonts for professional designs - http://bit.ly/GB02A"


What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Learned from Twitter: week ending April 4, 2009

This week I learned a lot from twitter. Maybe it was a rather informative week, maybe I just paid more attention, or maybe it had to do with April Fool's Day. Whatever the reason, I'm dumping it all here for you to enjoy/learn from.

1. pastorjohnbyrne (John Byrne) shared some thoughts on evaluating your ministry. They are worth a look.
"How to Evaluate Your Ministry: http://hex.io/fqo"

2. marklee3d (Mark Lee) goes goes "Star Wars" on us.
"Watch Mac stab me with a light sabre mid-song http://tinyurl.com/dh6d67"

3. nikomas (Nikomas) thinks you'll laugh as you watch this.
"a good read: Try not to laugh while you watch http://tinyurl.com/dm3wxo"

4. YMTV (Youth Ministry TV) offered two links to free book downloads of "the Fine Line" (as of 4/4/09 it still worked) and "Get a Grip on the Basics"
"download The Fine Line audio book for free (limited time): http://www.zondervan.com/m/..."
"RT @bethjonesFREE download of entire "Get a Grip on the Basics" book to establish new believers, www.gettingagriponthebasics..."

5. hulu (Hulu) told us that you can now watch Charles in Charge online - awesome.
"Another walk down memory lane: Hulu's now streaming Season 1 of Charles in Charge. http://www.hulu.com/charles..."

6. Some April Fool's Day tweets:

lilkup (Me) posed this question:
"If Jesus was born on April 1st, do you think everyone would have thought it was a April Fool's Joke?"
bigsmooth433430(Matt Couch) responded with this statement:
"@lilkup Maybe even more interesting to ponder is...If Jesus had died or risen on April 1st, would people have thought it was a joke?"

crowderband "It's time for a new look. Hair and goatee are gone."
YS_Scoop "BREAKING NEWS! Stop the presses. RT @crowderband It's time for a new look. Hair and goatee are gone. <-- wow!"
StudentMinistry "BREAKING NEWS! Stop the presses. RT @crowderband It's time for a new look. Hair and goatee are gone. <-- wow! (via @YS_Scoop)"

foecuspastor "RT @human3rror: North Point Ministries launch NEW WEBSITE...! MUST SEE! http://is.gd/q6K3 // LOL!"

ymgeek "I think this http://budurl.com/6y2a was my favorite Tech April Fools prank. They spent quite a bit of time on it. It's even been twittering."

7. thirdday (Third Day) wants us all to know about a sale on iTunes.
"FYI - Revelation is on sale at iTunes for $7.99 as of today. The sale will run through 4/13. http://tinyurl.com/d6n2nr"

8. ymgeek (Youth Ministry Geek) was one of a few people to let us know about the possibility of Google acquiring Twitter.
"google in talks to aquire twitter? Interesting...http://budurl.com/fkczabou



What did you learn this week from Twitter?

5 Things that would have been great April Fool's Day jokes

While thinking about April Fool's Day jokes, I starting pondering a few things that would have made a great joke. Unfortunately these things are not jokes, they are real.

5 things that would have made a great April Fool's Day joke... if they were not real:

1. Hulk: the movie (2003)
2. Sanjaya on American Idol
3. Crystal Pepsi (check out these commercials)
   
4. the Seinfeld finale
5. the day I learned that WWF wasn't real wrestling

Honorable Mention:

1. The Cubs not being champions for 100 years
2. Furby

What would you add to this list?

Learned from Twitter: week ending March 28, 2009

This week, I learned a few things on Twitter that I wanted to share with you.


1. gavoweb (Gavin Richardson) shared a link to a free video.
"the folks at 'the work of the people' are giving away this cool video as free download. http://is.gd/oMdT i really like their work"

2. arpierson (Allen Pierson) challenged anyone to try this science experiment. I haven't tried it yet, but plan on doing it.
"I cracked open an egg into boiling water out of sheer curiosity and it was pretty much the coolest thing ever. You should try it sometime."

3. WorshipRising (Kevin Richardson) wanted to introduce everyone involved with worship ministry to Dan Wilt. Go ahead, check him out.
"Seriously, worship pastors, if you aren't aware of Dan Wilt, you should be. Start here (.pdf article): http://tinyurl.com/cvw84v"

4. UstreamTV (Ustream) shared a link to the tour for Mercy Me and Hawk Nelson. Check it out.
"The Road Show, with @MercyMe @HawkNelson, and others, streaming their whole tour! http://bit.ly/n6vjP"


What did you learn on Twitter this week?

Learned from Twitter: week ending Feb. 28, 2009

This week I learned a lot from Twitter. One of the things I learned, which I'll share in this post, was that youth ministers are awesome people.

What follows are some tweets I caught this week and what I learned from them.

1.pattigibbons (Patti Gibbons) shared a link to a video about Twitter on Dateline.
"have you see this feature about @twitter on ABC? http://tinyurl.com/bqmga7"

2.rvayp (Aaron Lee) mentioned free Quiznos subs.
"hey free Quiznos sub: http://www.millionsubs.com/..."

3.pattigibbons linked to a post on her blog you should check out.
"The under 25 youth pastor http://tinyurl.com/bdbjqc"

4.fess2us (Gerrard Fess) linked to a free ebook on leadership.
"Downloading FREE E-book on leadership http://tinyurl.com/c9t6jh"

5. crazytsup (Troy Supple) asked me a question about ministry resources. And before I could even respond, he had gotten at least 3 answers from other youth workers, all within 15 minutes of his asking. This is why I love youth workers and why I think twitter can be a great resource to your ministry.

"@lilkup hey know of any teaching resources for teens sharing their faith that is really good?"
(7 min. later) YMTV (youth ministry TV) responds "RT @crazytsup @lilkup hey know of any teaching resources for teens sharing their faith that is really good?"
(10 min. later) drumdog00 (Justin Van Rheenen) replies with his thoughts. "@YMTV @crazytsup @lilkup Share Jesus Without Fear is a great resource."
(12 min. later) pattigibbons offers another suggestion. "@crazytsup the 3Story materials are excellent life evangelism training. http://is.gd/kFMe"

6. nikomas (Nikomas) reminded me that being a Christian is not always comfy.
"I love God and my pillow. My pillow is more comfy though."

7. marklee3d (Mark Lee - Third Day guitarist) let us in on the fact that even professional musicians can do things last minute when it comes to a Sunday morning song service. He tweeted this at 8:05 Sunday morning.
"Mac texted me last night about playing in church with him this morning. Should be fun, if I can remember where all my gear is!"

Learned from Twitter: week ending Feb. 21, 2009

I thought it would be fun to start sharing some of the great information I get from my twitter friends. Each week*, I'm going to put some of my favorites together and post them on this blog. Hopefully you will be able to glean something from them, too.

You can expect to see links to free downloads, interesting blog posts, funny videos/pictures and insight from others who work with youth.

Here are some things I learned from Twitter this week:

1.gavoweb (Gavin Richardson) shared a great idea for encouraging your graduating seniors from his youth ministry.
"Youth Ministry Idea: @rvayp gave me the thought of sharing this tidbit of youth ministry idea http://is.gd/khNM "

2. YS_Scoop (Youth Specialties) started their YS One Day training this week.
"Today is the first day of the first weekend of http://ysoneday.com. If you're there and tweeting, use #ysoneday. Bring it on!"

3. tspencer (Travis Spencer) linked to a free Brandon Heath MP3.
"FREE brandon heath MP3 http://tinyurl.com/c67x3g and more when you look around."

4. kentshaffer (Kent Shaffer) shared a link to a Catalyst book giveaway.
"Get a free printed copy of Seth Godin's Tribes (or other books) just by calling a phone number. http://bit.ly/PYNno"

5. bgray (Ben Gray) said, "I need something to do. First suggestion wins, I"ll go do it."
I suggested he change his profile pic to an old high school photo. He changed it within hours and thus I learned that Ben is a man of his word.



*each week is a hope and may not reflect the actual occurrences of future posts.

Photo Friday: Football Upclose

Here are a couple of football pictures.

As always, if you decide to use either of these pics please give me credit for my photography. I'd love to see or hear how you use either of these images. (Enjoy the big game)

5 Ways to Use the Super Bowl in Youth Ministry

Then end of the football season means the Super Bowl is almost here. And for youth ministers that can mean the potential to connect with a greater number of students. There are several things you can do within your youth ministry to connect to the Super Bowl "hype." Take one or more of these ideas and use it within your ministry. And I'd love to hear what effect it has on your ministry.



5 ideas for using the Super Bowl in your youth ministry.
1. Host a Super Bowl Party
This includes finding a house with enough room to hold the students a big enough TV for everyone to watch. Or you could hold it at church if you have the room/technology.

Supplies:

• Food (I suggest pizza and chips & dip for sure)
• TV or multiple TVs
• Devotion or something for halftime
• Handout, trivia questions and ideas or quiz sheet
  
• prizes for winners of score contest. halftime and end of game
• prizes for contest sheet winners
• plastic silverware, cups, plates

2. Create your own Super Bowl Commercial Contest.
Have the students come up with a 30 second commercial that they want to air during the Super Bowl. You could either have them make up a product or use a real one. You will want to set obvious guidelines; language and such. Have them turn the commercials early enough to give you time to watch them and get them ready be viewed. My suggestion is that you watch them during halftime of the game. Plus you can put them on your group's YouTube, Vimeo, or webpage - that way the students can watch them over and over again.

3. Discuss why the Super Bowl is such a big deal.
Take some time before the big game and talk about why this is the biggest sporting event all year.

4. Participate in the Souper Bowl outreach event.
This is a great way to raise some money and help out a local soup kitchen. Go to the website to find out more and get your students involved. Get all of your downloadable resources here that you'll need to promote.

5. Use the commercials to start discussion on a number of topics.
After the Super Bowl, you could take a few weeks and steer some discussion to the topics brought up during the commercials. Or use the commercials as illustrations or intro material for the your messages.


How do you use the Super Bowl in your ministry? What have you done in the past? We'd love to hear some of your past highlights, please leave a comment to share with the youth ministry community.

Hello Winter... Youth Ministry Style

Sunday (Dec 21) was the first day of winter and that means youth ministries around the US (b/c those youth ministries in Australia, for example, are currently enjoying summer) will be transitioning to a winterized version of youth ministry. Some aspects of youth ministry do not change, but anything that involves the outdoors has to change. Here are some of my favorite winter youth ministry games, events, ideas and more.

Disclaimer: Yes, I am aware that my friends in places like CA, GA, or FL do not need to make these adjustments because it does not get that cold or snow that much. And for that I say ":-P"

Winterized Youth Ministry:
Free Version...
1. Sledding. Just take your group, or have them meet, to a local hill. You can spend hours just sledding down and walking back up the hill. You can do something organized like races or just let everyone do what they want.

2. Build Snowmen/Snowball fights. If you get enough snow, build snowmen. This would be a great opportunity for some good video and/or pictures of the group. Have a themed-snowman competition, see who can build the largest... The snowball fights will just come naturally.

3. Shovel snow. Take a day and drive around town shoveling people's driveways and sidewalks. This is a great service project. It will help your group bond together, while doing people a wonderful service. Make sure you have enough shovels, gloves, hats, etc.

4. Outdoor Ice Skating. Depending on your area, this might be a great time to go ice skating or play ice hockey. This is one event that might just draw a smaller crowd, but it will be a fun day together.

5. Any excuse to serve hot chocolate. Find any reason to get the group together to drink hot chocolate. This might be a great addition to one of your outdoor events or just something you do as a stand-alone event. Make sure you have marshmallows (and I suggest the mini ones).

6. Special parties. During this season, most youth ministries will have their Christmas parties and New Year's Eve parties. Maybe you should have a "_______" party (fill in with whatever you want) just to have a party. This is a great time to give the students something to do, since they can't go outside. (obviously, be mindful of the family time activities this time of year)

7. Ice Sculpting. If you have a large amount of ice this is the perfect time to use it. Even if you just have a small amount of ice, set aside a time to let students sculpt it. Allow them to be creative and just make it fun.


Non-Free Version...
1. Skiing. Most students love to go skiing, but do not get to go often. Plan a ski trip with your group. Or if you live close to a ski resort, schedule regular days (or at least some days) that are official youth group ski days.

2. Indoor Ice Skating. Take the group to go ice skating at an ice rink. Depending on the size of the group you can get discounts or even rent the entire rink.

3. Broomball. Rent an ice rink for a few hours of broom ball. You play hockey with broomsticks, only tennis shoes, and a ball. It is a lot of fun. But be careful, as people will fall.

4. Trip to warmer weather. Take your group to warmer weather. Probably want it to be within driving distance, but I hear Hawaii is nice this time of year.


Those are a few of my ideas for a winterized youth ministry. What have you done in the winter that has worked or what other suggestions would you have? Leave a comment with your ideas.

25 White Elephant Gift Exchange gift ideas

Last week, I wrote that one idea for this Christmas season is to do a white elephant gift (WEG, as I like to call it) exchange at a Christmas party. As I thought back over my youth ministry career so far, I remembered quite a few good WEG ideas. So, being the generous person I am - I am posting some of the better gifts I can remember.

Disclaimer: in the case of a WEG, "better" does not always mean "better" in the normal sense. Just keep that in mind as you read the list.

25 White Elephant Gift Ideas:
1. a slice of cheese
2. two stuffed pig dolls
3. a broken "don't spill the beans" game
4. various cds (dishwalla, mercy me, a couple compilations)
5. a vhs version of any movie
6. mark twain paperback
7. 10 random buttons
8. $1 bill (which by the way no one really seemed to want)
9. a mp3 player (it will be a gift most people want)
10. headphones (nothing else)
11. Winnie the Pooh backpack
12. A Casey's top 40 record from 1983 (probably need an old DJ for this one)
13. a plethora of a charity's (like relay for life) material (buttons, stickers, cups)
14. 101 things you need to know book
15. a used sippy cup
16. girl scout cookies and hot chocolate (another item people will actually want)
17. random items from your desk (works best if its a student's desk)
18. a dance instruction vhs tape
19. potpourri (any shape or form)
20. a mostly burnt candle
21. a manual ice cream maker
22. some of your old school papers (for the adults)
23. Britney Spears cassette tape (a few kids didn't even know what a cassette was)
24. one coaster
25. a pink t-shirt that says "Britney's competition" (I'm wearing it in the picture)

There are 25 ideas to get you started. One of my favorite WEG moments came a few years ago. My wife reminded of it recently, because it is her favorite WEG memory. We had a new student, the Christmas party was her first event, and she brought a really nice bath set. Somehow the communication of what kind of gift to bring was lost and she actually brought a nice gift. The best part was the gift she left with, though. At the end of the night, she left with a plastic fork. Classic youth ministry moment. A moment that brings a smile to my face every time I think of it.

5 Christmas Season Ideas for Youth Ministry

December means Christmas. And in youth ministry that means a busy schedule (or the possibility of a busy schedule this month). There are so many good things to do with your students during December, but I thought I'd share just a few of my favorites.


Here are 5 ideas for your Christmas youth ministry season...

1. Christmas Party with a white elephant gift exchange.
Plan a party at one of the student's houses. Play some games, eat food, share stories or anything else you want. But you have got to do a white elephant gift exchange. It always provides a ton of laughs and some great memories.

2. Caroling.
Take the students around town, visiting some of the new families at the church. Or go to the nursing home or homes of some of the adults who can't get out much.

3. Bake cookies, then deliver them around the neighborhood.
This might be more geared toward the girls in your group, but its not limited to just girls. We always bake one day and then deliver a day or two later. This activity will help build the community within your students and it will help them get out and serve the community. Plus the community gets some homemade cookies and desserts.

4. Snow shoveling.
No one wants to shovel their walk or driveway, so why not let your students do it for them. Not only is it a way to serve, it usually turns into a fun time for the youth.

5. Sledding & snowball fights (or other classic winter events).
These are just for fun and to build community within your ministry.

No matter which of these events you do, make sure you take pictures and video. You will be able to use that media in so many ways throughout the year.

What other ideas would you consider essential to a good Christmas season?

Photo Friday: Cubs Pumpkin

Today is Halloween, so I had to repost this picture of our Cubs pumpkin.


I posted pictures of it from start to finish a few weeks ago, go here to see the progression from pumpkin to awesome Jack-O-Lantern.


And here is a picture of what it looked like last night. The poor pumpkin didn't even make it to Halloween (got tossed in the trash this morning). I like to say it had more to do with the freezes than the fact that it was a Cubs pumpkin.

Free Taco - A Must for Youth Workers

You may not think of this as a youth ministry related post, but it is. Here is the deal:




Thanks to a stolen base last night in game 1 of the World Series, Taco Bell is giving everyone in America a free taco next Tuesday (10/28) from 2-6pm (local time). So if you go to Taco Bell, you can get a free taco. I know its not a full meal, but its free and its "Mexican" food.

How to use the free taco in a youth ministry-type way:
1. Use the free taco giveaway as an excuse to take a student to Taco Bell to talk.
2. Take some students to Taco Bell, then take the free tacos and give them away to some person/people who could use some free food.
3. When you order, tell the cashier to give your free taco to the person behind you.
4. Call your local Taco Bell and ask if there is anything your youth ministry can do to help them during that time (ie. clean the tables, take the trash out, make some tacos)
5. Move your small group to Tuesday night, sometime after school til 6pm. Everyone gets a free taco and a new atmosphere for small group.


bonus - go to Taco Bell, order a water with your free taco. Then sit down and use Taco Bell's free wifi for a few hours to "work".

Cubs Jack-O-Lantern: Start to Finish

Last night, we carved our first pumpkin as a family. We decided to do a double-sided pumpkin. One side was the Cubs logo and the other side was a face (designed by my oldest son). I did the photography and videography, so all of the carving was done by my wife - and she did a great job.

I thought I would share our Jack-O-Lantern, in pictures, from start to finish