to quote someone else: generosity (Gordon Macdonald)

"Never forget what someone has done for you; never remember what you have done for others."

taken from Secrets of the Generous Life by Gordon Macdonald

I think this is a great principle to live by, the only problem is that it is not always easy. It can be difficult to forget "how many" times you have helped someone when they need it again. But if you want to live generously, you will.

Secrets of the Generous Life is a great devotional, you need to get a copy and go through it.

Every Youth Worker Needs: a receipt scanner

(Youth ministry is not an easy ministry. And in this series, Every Youth Worker Needs:..., I want to highlight a variety of things that might make your ministry a little easier. This ongoing series will include ministry tips, book suggestions, technology helps, and many other nuggets of advice.)

Every Youth Worker Needs: a receipt scanner
Unless you work in a very unique congregation, you have to turn in receipts in order to get reimbursed. This administrative task is always time consuming and boring. Not the reason you became a youth minister at all. But we all know that if we do not do this on a regular basis, monthly at least, then it becomes too overwhelming and then it does not get done. At the end of this train of thought is no reimbursements for items purchased (or what we ministers like to call "donations to the ministry").

I have recently come across a great little gadget that makes the process of organizing and totaling receipts much simpler. At least that is what the internet and "gift buying" news segment says. As I have watched this product in action and have seen the software to organize the items on the receipts, I have to say I am impressed.

All you have to do is slide the receipt through the scanner, if you have the travel version - which is cheaper and probably all a youth worker needs. Then after all of the receipts are scanned, you go into the program and determine which items go under which categories and which items do not need to be added to the report. Once this is done, you just print off the report and turn it in to the finance committee. (Who will probably be in amazement that a youth worker is so organized and uses spreadsheets.)

Go to this website to see the receipt scanner by neat

(I do not own one of these time saving devices, so consider it on the list of things you can get me if ever you want to get me something.)

Budgeting & Saving Money - 2 YM Today articles

A lot of ministries are either in the process of putting together their budgets for next year or they are in the process of tweaking the budget that got turned down by the finance committee. If you find yourself in one of those two places, I hope you will be able to benefit from some information I wrote earlier this year.

The great folks at YMToday took my youth ministry budgeting series and turned the information into two separate articles. If you would like to read the original series, just click on the link and read each blog post in the series. Or you can read the articles, which are broken down into budgeting and saving money.

Saving the Ministry Money

Creating a Budget

After reading the articles, I would like to hear what you think. What have you done to budget for the upcoming year? Is it dramatically different this year due to the economy? How have you saved money?

Learned from Twitter: week ending September 12, 2009

Here are a few of the things I learned from my twitter friends this week:


1. MinistryAllies (Ministry Allies) offered an invitation to anyone willing to be part of an ebook by adding input and suggestions to the written content. If you would like to take part, let him know. (if you don't know how to contact him, I can get you connected)

Looking for ppl to add input to an eBook on hanging out w/ teens outside youth group, like what marko did with ym3.0. anyone want to help?

2. gavoweb (Gavin Richardson) shared a story from the AP on Dave Ramsey. I have to say some of the info in the article makes it harder to believe he is truly "saving as much as he can and giving as much as he can away" as 2 of the 3 things mentioned. (the third being "make as much as you can" and that seems to be covered). What do you think? Can it be a ministry when its a for profit business? Maybe part of me would like to see what % of profit gets sent to "missions or other ministries."

The Associated Press: Christian money guru gets rich mixing faith, funds http://ff.im/-7S5LM

3. nywc (National Youth Workers Convention) was nice enough to inform anyone going to the Cincinnati convention about some lower rates at one of the hotels. BTW, I'll be at the Cincy convention and would love to connect with any of you who might also be there. Leave me a comment or send me an email and we'll get together.

Coming to Cincy? Check out the new rock bottom rate at the Westin. http://bit.ly/bBcwa

4. zondervan (Zondervan) linked to a free download of "The Naked Gospel." Go check it out and read it. What can you lose, its free. :)

The Naked Gospel ranked as Zondervan's top selling book on Amazon. Download your FREE copy at http://www.TheNakedGospel.com w code "farley"

What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Youth Ministry Budgeting: Spending Your Extra Money (addendum #2)

(Now that the youth ministry has become a much better steward of its resources, you might have found that you have spent less money than you budgeted. This post, addendum #2 to the youth ministry budgeting series, is about helping you figure out what to do with your extra.)


How to use your saved money:
After you have spent your budget wisely, what do you do with the money you save?

A. Hold onto it for next year.
B. Splurge on unnecessary items to make sure the ending balance is $0.
C. Divide it up among the youth coaches.
D. Use it to support another ministry organization.

I hope you answered D.


One thing to do with any saved money is to support another mission. You could use the money to sponsor a child through Compassion or World Vision. You could give the money to a local food bank, shelter or community center. You might even know of another congregation or ministry in your area who could use the money for their ministry. I think the best thing you can do with your extra money is to help support another ministry. God does not want us to be good stewards of our resources to just be frivolous with the money we saved.


Here is a list of possible missions to support:
- World Vision
- Compassion International
- International Justice Mission
- Kiva
- Habitat for Humanity
- Team Expansion
- Pioneer Bible Translators
- Ronald McDonald Houses
- Local ministries (food bank, shelters, Pregnancy Care centers)
- YWAM
- Christian College
- Your congregation's missions committee


Chris Szulwach is sharing the left over money from his ministry. He says "all of our $ that we have left at the end of a year goes into sponsoring Compassion children & or Kiva.org loans."

What is your ministry doing with its extra?

Learned from Twitter: week ending May 2, 2009

This week in Twitter was full of insight, laughs, free stuff and lots of discussion. Here are a few things I learned from Twitter this past week.


1. BtotheEtotheN (Ben Boles) added something to my "wow, really?" file.
"The Catholic priest officiating the wedding opened the service with, pray for this couple to your god whom ever that may be."

2. kentshaffer (Kent Shaffer) shared this story, which is sure to make you feel a little less smart than you did this morning.
"One student gets perfect scores on the ACT, SAT, & PSAT - http://bit.ly/40vQq"

3. justayouthguy (Jon McIver) shared a great interaction he had with a student.
"Just asked Middle School girl 'why do you have a water balloon in your purse?'"

4. YouthMinBlog (Youth Ministry Blog) provided a code to get a free video download from Bluefish TV.
"Use the code BFP3 to get a free video download from http://BlueFishTV.com"

5. theofficenbc (The Office) provided a link to a new ringtone that Office fans will want to get. Might I suggest not putting this as your sr. minister's ringtone - that might get you into some trouble. :)
"You asked for it, you got it! Get the Dwight "Idiot" ringtone that Jim made in "Broke" @ http://www.nbc.com/The_Offi..."

6. 6drews (Mike Andrews) brought up a great thought for all youth ministers to consider.
"weighing the risk/reward of changing culturally based thinking in the church vs. behavior modification in order to avoid controversy"

7. AdamLehman (Adam Lehman) mentioned a church that saved money by trying to be good stewards of their resources. [Personally, I think its sad that this type of church is different enough to be considered newsworthy. We are all called to be good stewards.]
"a church saves $268,000 by going green. http://tr.im/jVdN"

8. williamhartz (William Hartz) shared some wisdom/insight he learned at his small group.
"Anyone who holds to the theory that girls don't poop... Tonight's conversation at small group has amply disproven it. #awkward"

9. kentshaffer (Kent Shaffer) provided another article link, this one tells us that most people who use Twitter quit way too early.
"60% of Twitter Users Quit Within the First Month - http://bit.ly/oIwCO"

10. drumdog00 (Justin Van Rheenen) shared a link to a free download from Thousand Foot Krutch.
"RT @chuffybass5: You can download new TFK free at www.welcometothemasquerade.com and if you're a TFK fan like me, you'll love it!!!"

11. YS_Scoop (Youth Specialties) has a really cool offer going right now.
"Help us purge our offices! You get great YS stuff and help mentor kids. http://tinyurl.com/realityc... Spread the word!"


What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Youth Ministry Budgeting: Tips for Saving Money (5b of 5)

(This is part 2 of the final post in a 5 part series on youth ministry budgeting. You can see the earlier posts here: 1 - stewardship. 2 - categories part a and part b. 3 - process. 4 - to buy or not to buy. 5 - tips on saving money part 1)

No youth ministry is immune to the economic hardship facing our country. And in order to be better stewards of our resources (and possibly stay afloat), we all need to learn to save a few bucks. Here is part 2 of my thoughts on how to save money. To see the first 5 tips, go here.


6. Involve more adults
Instead of doing things like ordering pizza or catering all of your meals, think about asking people to help cook and serve the food. It doesn't have to be food, it can be decorating for a special event, setting up, manning the tables.

This tip was shared by Sara Eden , so I'll just let her share some thoughts about it.

"The other thing we've done is moved away from the church providing dinner at youth group each week. Now what we do is ask people to sign up to provide dinner. The really cool thing is that it's giving people who don't feel led toward the traditional 'youth ministry volunteer' role an opportunity to serve the ministry and get to know the students (and allow the students to get to know them). The people who cook for us are invited/encouraged to stay and eat dinner with us and then students help with clean up. It's another step toward healthy inter-generational relations. God took something that was done as an economic measure and turned it into another awesome opportunity for ministry. He's so good like that!"

7. Donations
We all need items for the youth ministry: chairs, couches, lighting, sound equipment, electronics, transportation. Instead of going out and buying them, ask people to donate them. (Now, when you do this be prepared to get people's junk. So either you need to be very specific, simply say "no thanks," or just throw it away later.)

This is something a friend of mine, Bill Nance, said he has been able to do in his ministry, which has helped since he doesn't have a big budget and really needs to stretch it.

8. Think "in house."
When you are planning an event, the two biggest costs are always the speaker and the band. Next time you are planning an event, think about using someone from within your ministry to do the speaking or worship (concert). If that will not work, try to find someone local to cut down on travel costs.

9. Use Open Source software
Instead of paying full price for your software - you might want to look into some of the open source alternatives. Most of them are just as good as the expensive versions, and they are free.

More information about open source software will be in another post.

10. Stop spending money
This sounds simple enough, doesn't it? But there are more than a few youth ministries that simply refuse to stop buying stuff. You do not need that new Wii or flat screen TV. You may not really need new carpet right now, it could wait a year or two longer.

The best way to save money in your youth ministry is to simply spend your money wisely. Think twice before making purchases. Hold off on major purchases as long as you can.


Six more ideas on stretching your budget.

Youth Ministry Budgeting: Tips for Saving Money (5a of 5)

(This is part 1 of the final post in a 5 part series on youth ministry budgeting. You can see the earlier posts here: 1 - stewardship. 2 - categories part a and part b. 3 - process. 4 - to buy or not to buy.)


Everybody needs to save some money, including youth ministries. So what does it take? How can you save a few dollars here and a few dollars there? In this post, I want to share a few tips on how your youth ministry can save money. As you will see, a few dollars saved on a regular basis will add up to big savings over time.

I do not think I need to spend a lot of time convincing anyone that they need to save money. Well, I hope I do not need to. Youth ministries across the country are struggling just like any other organization, company or individual. People are making less; therefore, they are giving less to the church. When the overall church offering is down, each ministry has to reduce its expenses in order to help stay in the "black."

Here are a few areas to look at next time you are thinking about saving some cash.

Ways to save money:

1. Salaries
Allow me to start with the least popular thing I am going to write. The first place to look for ways to save money is in the salaries. Are you really being a good steward of your congregation's resources with your salary? Can you afford to live on less?

Let me share an example of what I mean. I know a congregation that was running a couple hundred people a few years ago. Now they are averaging maybe 80 each week. Yet, there are 3 staff members: sr. minister, associate minister, and secretary. I think the secretary is full-time, but I am not sure. I do not know what the associate minister is paid, but I know the sr. minister is being paid more than someone in this size of a congregation should be paid. The congregation is struggling to meet salary each week, and they are sending emails each week asking for more money to meet those salaries. Are those ministers being good stewards? In my opinion, no. Think about the impact the minister would have if he offered to take a paycut to help the congregation from having to close its doors.

2. text messaging
It seems as though every teen has a cell phone with text messaging. So, it makes sense that the youth staff would need the ability to text teens. But what option do you use? Here are a few choices:

MinistryTxt
This option starts at $5/mo.
(thanks Len Evans for the info)

Tatango
starts at free
has option to send text from computer or cell phone

SimplyTxt
starts at $10/mo.

I have not used any of these services, but many of my youth ministry friends have and talk very highly of each service.

3. Curriculum/Lesson Material
Many of the major publishing companies offer some great resources in this category. And if you want to just get everything in one bundle, this might be the way to go. You can check out Group, Standard, teamce to name a few (well, three to be exact).

But if you really want to save money (and not spend any, either), here are a few other suggestions.

*Online "Freebies"
There are a bunch of great freebies available on the internet. Check out this top 5 list, for examples. In fact, there are so many great freebies that a youth minister could simply use freebies and not do any work. I THINK THIS IS THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO - so be careful not to become dependent on using freebie lessons!

*curriculum swap with local churches
Take your old curriculum and find another congregation in the area that will be willing to swap their old stuff for your old stuff. You will each get new curriculum, plus you won't have to find a place to leave and forget about store your old stuff.

*reuse older stuff
Or you can just reuse the older stuff with a new group within your congregation.

*Rotate material
Take your material and rotate through the years. For example, use a 4 year scope/sequence for the high school and rotate through material every 4 years. If you have a 7/8 grade class; rotate every 2 years. Using this rotation model will help you save money and will help you be intentional about what you are teaching the students.

4. Prizes/Giveaways
Students like getting stuff and we like giving it away. But it can get expensive to have prizes on a regular basis. How do you save money on prizes? By taking one of these steps...

*Buy from thrift stores, garage sales or on clearance.
You cannot afford to have really cool (read, expensive) prizes every week. So do not try. Just get some fun, old or silly stuff to use and have a big box to keep it in. Then let the students grab one prize from the box.

*Ask for donations
For those bigger events, you might want a better prize to offer. In those cases, ask companies and individuals to donate prizes (or money to go toward buying prizes) for you to give away. This gets the community involved with the group, saves you money and promotes your group at the same time.

5. Buy online
All youth ministers have things to buy: books, supplies, classroom material, water guns, whoopee cushions. Why not look into buying those items online. A few onlines places to try - ebay, half.com, amazon, craigslist.

In part 2 of "Tips for saving money" we will look at 5 more ways that your youth ministry can save a few dollars.

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?

Youth Ministry Budgeting: To Buy or Not to Buy - Spend Wisely (4 of 5)

(This is part 4 of a 5 part series on youth ministry budgeting. See part 1 - stewardship, part 2 - categories, part 1 & part 2, and part 3 - the process for more budgeting information.)

Now that you've got your budget together and know what categories have what money, you need to start thinking about spending that money. I'm not talking about going out and spending all of your budget by February or March. I'm talking about putting thought into what you are buying and not buying. You have to use your budget wisely or you'll just be wasting money.

What does it mean for your youth ministry to spend its budget wisely? In some youth ministries, it means not buying curriculum or not attending more than one youth conference a year. Other ministers might only attend a youth ministry training conference every other year to save money. You might decide that you only need two inflatables at your carnival or that hiring an entire circus to entertain the kids is a little too much. Or you can quit buying donuts and milk each week for the Sunday School class.

Deciding how to spend wisely means you have to think about your purchases. Every time you want to purchase something think twice about buying it. Even youth ministries can make impulsive purchases. I have made those purchases before. I see something and think, "we could really use that for _____." If its not too much, I will go ahead and buy it and use it a few times. Then it will sit in the corner of my office collecting dust for months. Did I really need to buy it for the ministry? No, we probably would have been just fine without it.

I learned to stop and rethink my desire to purchase. Now if I see something that seems useful for the ministry, I will talk to another youth coach about it first. If I'm out with my wife, I'll ask her opinion. Taking a little extra time to rethink whether the item is really needed has saved me from purchasing a lot of unneeded items. On the other hand, there have been occasions when I buy an item using my personal money knowing that it will occasionally be used for the ministry. If you make these "donations" to the youth ministry make sure you are not making an impulsive decision.

When it comes to more expensive purchases, I never buy anything without doing a couple things first. First, I get approval from the rest of the youth team. Second, I spend time researching the product, and similar products, to find the best option for our ministry. Additionally, during this time, I am watching for deals or sales that can save the ministry money. Finally, once I have a better idea of what my options are, then I will make the purchase. I feel it is necessary to take the extra time in order to make the best decision (and use the ministry's money wisely).

Some categories to consider adjusting:

1. Teaching Material
There are advantages to buying curriculum written by someone else. You will save time by not researching and writing the lesson yourself. The lesson material is written by someone who is more knowledgeable about the topic than you are. It usually comes with classroom helps and handouts.

There are disadvantages to buying curriculum, too. The author of the material does not know your class structure, the students or your teaching style. After reading over it (which you need to do a few times before teaching), you might find areas of disagreement or parts you do not want to use within your class. The more curriculum bought by some youth workers equals that much less studying and learning.

One of the biggest continuous expenses that any youth ministry will incur is teaching material. Not only do companies offer the teacher material, but you can also buy student booklets. If you use books for small groups, then you have to buy each student a book so they can read it. Sara Williams told me she has gone back to writing the curriculum for their small groups, because the ministry had to cut costs. I'm sure she is not the only youth minister who has made this transition lately. When its time to reorder your lesson material for next quarter, think twice about just ordering like you always have. Maybe the youth ministry needs to spend its money in a different area for now.

2. Prizes and giveaways
Prizes can be fun. Prizes can get students to show up. Prizes can be expensive. It seems that if you try to "impress" the students by having cool prizes, you are going to have to spend more and more money each year to keep up. The question each youth ministry needs to ask itself is this, "Is it worth the cost?"

3. Electronics
Youth ministers love electronics. The televisions, projectors, digital cameras, video cameras, sound boards, mp3 players and video game systems all seem to be standard for most youth ministries. These "toys" can carry a pretty good price tag; one that does not need to be paid.

4. Events
Putting on an event can be costly. Before you put on your next event, you will want to consider the costs vs. the benefits.



In case you still are not sure how to spend the youth ministry money wisely, watch this clip from Saturday Night Live. It offers one final piece of advice.




(next week, we will look at ways to save money)

Reflections on: 999 posts (or Post #1000: a retrospective)

This is my 1000th post, and it took me a long time (compared to some bloggers I know) to get to this point. It has taken me a little less than 4 years to get here (May 26, 2005 was the first post). It took me more than 2 years to get to post #500 (Sept. 10, 2007). If you want to see some highlights from the first 499 posts, you will want to check out #500.

A lot has changed since that post; family changes, ministry changes, and changes to this blog. I know that 1000 is just a number, but it feels strange to have posted that many things to this blog. I know some of them were silly, some were time sensitive, some still make me laugh or cry and some should probably have never seen the light of day. But its all part of the journey and I am glad others have joined me as I reflect on what it means to be a youth minister, father, husband, and Christian.

Some of the most visited posts:
1. some quick thoughts on football's overhead camera - almost 1 1/2 years old and still gets a good flow of traffic
2. warning labels on the Sesame Street DVDs - I still want to get these DVDs
3. discovery of part of Nehemiah's wall - check the story out if you haven't already
4. skit of Lifehouse's song, Everything - is there anyone who hasn't seen this yet?
5. Christian alternatives to Facebook - A LOT of people looking for some alternative
6. lessons to learn from teenagers enjoyment of fast food - I still wonder why fast food is so popular
7. 5 qualities I want in a President - applies to other areas of leadership, too
8. youth pastors in a negative light - some thoughts on youth ministry integrity
9. my tweetdeck review - it is a great app. to use with Twitter


Posts you might find useful/informative:
1. 2 customer feedback situations and your ministry
2. a few thoughts on starting a youth worker network - I might finish this series sometime :)
3. a quote by Stalin & evangelism - used this quote the other day with middle schoolers
4. a restickable glue stick - every youth worker needs one of these
5. open source living - a collection of open source software
6. how to make an invisible bookshelf - a cool addition to your office or youth room
7. leaving a ministry - thoughts on leaving a ministry
8. 25 White Elephant Gift ideas - can you ever have enough ideas?
9. 5 ways to use the Super Bowl in your ministry - it is the biggest TV event of the year, after all


My personal favorites:
1. SNL skit on money management - its so simple, yet a majority of Americans can't do it
2. a 3 year old & money - thoughts on something that happened with my son at the store
3. 3 reasons to read a blog - not many other reasons to read a blog, in my opinion
4. signs of a good youth ministry blog - what does it take for a youth ministry blog to be useful? (a follow-up series of evaluating several blogs will be coming in the next few months)
5. 10 ways to appreciate youth workers - we can all use a little appreciation, can't we?
6. a lesson on trust - my son taught me an important lesson on trust

Going back through some of these posts reminds me what ministry is about - following God where He leads you. It can be a lot of fun and it can be a lot of heartache. In the end, I would not trade any of it. God leads where He wants you to go and He puts you in situations that you need to be in.

May the next 1000 posts encourage, entertain, teach, challenge and cause you to think (as they do the same for me).

Youth Ministry Budgeting: The Process (3 of 5)

(This is part 3 of a 5 part series on youth ministry budgeting. See part #1 - stewardship and part #2 - categories, part 1 & 2 for more information on budgeting.)

What process do you follow when putting together your youth ministry budget? If you do not take your budget seriously, then I bet you do not actually have a process you follow. What follows is a 9 step sample process for putting together a youth ministry budget.

1 - Pray for wisdom.
As you begin the budget process, you need to take time to pray for wisdom. Pray for God to guide you, and the other leaders, as you budget for the coming year. Pray that the youth ministry will be a good steward of its resources. Pray for God to provide the ministry with the right people and supplies to reach students with the Gospel.

2 - Start early!
Give yourself plenty of time to complete the budget. You do not want to rush through this process. I would suggest starting about a month before it is due. This will give you time to go through this process without being negligent. The budget is not usually the part of ministry that youth ministers enjoy, but it is a necessary part of ministry. Starting early allows you to work on the budget little by little. But if you wait until the last minute, you will rush through it and be consumed with it.

3 - Pick your team.
You should not be the only person determining the youth ministry budget for your ministry. You will want to involve other people in this process for a few reasons. First, you do not want the ministry to get in a rut of doing the same things each year just because you did them the year before. Second, the youth ministry needs to be diverse, including things you would not have picked to include. Third, you do not have time to do it all yourself, nor do you want that pressure. Have your team work on the budget on their own and set a date to get together to compare.

If you are part of a small ministry, you might want to include everyone on your youth team. It will give the youth coaches ownership in the ministry. If you are part of a larger ministry, you will want to ask a few of the youth coaches to be part of the process. In a few cases you may only need to involve the paid staff in this process, at least until you have a version for everyone to review before submitting.

4 - Review last year's budget
You will not want to skip this step. Take your budget from last year and look at what you spent and did not spend. Were there one time only purchases? Look for items that do not need to be included in this year's budget and categories that can survive (still be effective) with less money. Once you have done this, you can then start adding items that are new for this year and increasing money in categories that need more.

Do not skip this step. To save time, you might be tempted to just add a certain percentage to each category or copy and paste from last year. That will not help your ministry be good stewards of your money/resources. When you start working on your budget early (step #1) you do not feel pressured to skip this review of last year's budget. And you will notice that you like the new budget more when you review last year's first.

5 - Determine categories
Once you review the previous year' budget, your next step is to start putting together this year's. You need to determine which categories from last year will carry over to this year and which ones can be dropped. After you compare your categories to previous budgets, you will want to look at the calendar for the year to determine what events are upcoming. This will help you know if you need to add a category to cover the cost of your ministry's events. (Here are 10 possible categories to consider.)

Remember that your youth ministry budget will not look like the youth ministry budget for the congregation down the street or the high profile ministry in your town. You cannot compare the resources God has given your ministry with the resources God has given another ministry.

6 - Calculate 1st draft of budget
Once your categories are set and you know what you need to budget for this year, you are ready to calculate how much you expect to spend. There are two main ways to calculate your budget. One way is to estimate your costs based on the previous year. You would add a percentage to last year's budget without checking actual costs. Or you can research all of the items needed, looking for discounts where available and carefully calculate the total cost. I recommend the second method.

As you calculate your budget, keep in mind the cost of some items will increase throughout the year. It will cost you more to rent a van this year then it did last year. Other items are set by your ministry. You decide how much to pay a band or a speaker for an event. There will also be budget items that will fluctuate constantly throughout the year, like the price of gasoline.

7 - Evaluate your stewardship
After you calculate a first draft of the budget, I recommend you stop and reevaluate the budget based on stewardship. How can your youth ministry be a better steward of its resources? Did you include items that are not really necessary? Are you wasting money or ignoring potential resources you have access to?

8 - Get together with other youth coaches and leaders
Now that you have your version of the budget complete, it is time to met with the other leaders who were work on their version. You need to compare the budgets and look for category differences first. Allow each person to discuss why they included or left off certain categories and then, as a group, decide what is best for the ministry. After the categories are finalized, you will want to finalize the dollar amounts. This may take longer, but it needs to be agreed upon by the entire team. As you finalize numbers, remind everyone that you want the budget to be the best overall use of your money and resources - it cannot simply reflect an individual preference by any leader.

9 - Finalize proposed budget and turn in
Then, have one person type up a final budget proposal to turn in. This is your final draft; the budget you feel your youth ministry needs to be the most effective it an be in the coming year. After it is finalized and typed up, turn it into the finance committee or whoever is in charge of approving budgets. Make sure you turn it in ahead of time, do not wait until the very last minute.


What would you add to the process? How do you handle your budgeting process?

Youth Ministry Budgeting: Categories (2b of 5)

(This is the second part in a 5 part series on youth ministry budgeting, which has been split it into two posts due to its length. Others posts include: stewardship, categories A)

In part #3 of this series, we will go into more details on the typical process for youth ministry budgets. Right now I want to look at five more categories you will want to include in your proposed budget (and some reasoning or thoughts behind each one).

Possible Budget Categories:
6. Events
This category has the potential to be a rather high percentage of your entire budget, if you let it. You will want to include enough money to pay for a speaker, a band, decorations, materials, promotion and food (unless you include it in the food category). Included in this category would be any event you hold during the year, from your kickoff Sunday to a weekend retreat or area-wide gatherings.

7. Marketing
This category is for any expense you incur to "market" your youth ministry. Be creative with this category and use methods that will reach the students you want to reach. Do not get stuck in a pattern of marketing the same way every year or even the same way the congregation as a whole markets. Your marketing budget might include items like: t-shirts, ads on Google, yard signs, yearbook ads, banners, coffee mugs, temporary tattoos, buttons, backpacks, notebooks, shoes.

Regardless of what you spend your marketing money on, you need to remember that your ultimate goal is to tell people about Jesus Christ, not about your youth ministry. I would encourage you to not spend a high percentage of your total budget on this category; rather, let your ministry speak for itself and have your students market via word-of-mouth.

8. Classroom Materials
These materials are essential to your ministry, though you will most likely spend very little time thinking about them. Make sure you have the finances for paper, pens, dry erase markers, pencils. You could also include furniture or donuts in this category if you need to.

9. Technology
This is one of the fun categories where you have to be careful the money you spend is wisely spent (reread post #1 on stewardship if you have questions). You will want to budget for all costs associated with your website, any software you will need, digital and/or video camera equipment, iPods or mp3 players, televisions and DVD players. Some of you might even be able to include a laptop or projector in this budget category. Just remember that you do not need the latest technology in order to have an effective youth ministry.

10. Communication
This category is for those materials you need in order to communicate in a non-internet method. Some of you might think I'm crazy for suggesting we communicate with students and parents in any form other than text message. It is in this age of texting that I think the hand written note is most powerful. Think about this; how many written notes do your students get during an average month? Unless its a note passed during Science class, I bet the answer is zero. Most people do not stop to hand write anything, even invitations to parties are done online.

When you take time to write a note to a student it shows them you care. It only costs you a few minutes of your day, but its impact is greater than 10 emails. Start the habit of writing a note to each student during a month (if you have too many students, divide the students among the youth coaches and then rotate your recipients from month to month) and watch how it affects their attitude toward you and the youth ministry.

I have found that buying a bunch of blank notes and postcards is the easiest. You do not have to write much more than a few sentences, so you do not feel like you have to say too much. Pictures work well, too. Print off some extra pictures and send them to the students with a little note on the back. You will need to make sure you have enough postage, too. I recommend buying the letter stamps by the roll and postcard stamps a couple sheets at a time.

Youth Ministry Budgeting: Categories (2a of 5)

(This is the second part in a 5 part series on youth ministry budgeting, which has been split it into two posts due to its length. Others posts include: stewardship.)

Once you understand the point that its not your money, then you are ready to start putting the budget together. Putting the budget together will take time, or it should take time if you do not rush through it. In the next part of this series, we will go into more details on a typical process for youth ministry budgets. Right now I want to look at some of the categories you will want to include in your proposed budget (and some reasoning or thoughts behind each one).

Possible Budget Categories:
1. Curriculum
This would include books and materials, for both teacher and students, for any learning environment your ministry offers. The fourth post in this series will have a more in depth discussion on whether to write your own curriculum or buy it. If you buy curriculum, do not let the curriculum determine what you teach - let your lesson scope and sequence determine your curriculum. Know what topic or Scripture you want to cover and look for curriculum that matches that topic. Once you have found a good assortment of choices, take the time to look over each one. Take the time to evaluate, compare and determine which one would work best for your situation. Be mindful of the students and the teachers, do not just pick the one you like best or which one happens to be the newest material available.

When you are thinking about what curriculum to order/create, do not limit yourself to just a 13 week set of material. I know it goes against a lot of what is commonly offered, but I think the best way to present material is to cover the topic as best as you can. That means, if you only need three weeks to do that, do not stretch it to four for the sake of filling an entire month. If you need five months, then plan for five months. Finally, do not forget to include resources like movie clips, videos, books, and cds when you are budgeting for curriculum.

2. Scholarships
Mainly, I am talking about scholarships for the students to attend camp, retreat or conference - not to go to Six Flags or the beach. I have seen scholarships handled very differently by different churches. When it comes to budgeting, it is really an all or nothing category, you can either include them or not include them. In my first ministry, we did not include scholarship money in the youth ministry budget. All scholarship money was donated by individuals for a specific student. Then I went to a church where over 1/2 of our youth ministry budget was set aside for scholarship money. The church paid 1/2 the cost of every camp or trip a student attended, plus the adults were covered through this money.

In my opinion, helping a student get to a week of camp is a better use of money than buying a new video projector.

3. Volunteer Appreciation
This is a huge category. You cannot have a healthy youth ministry without quality adults. The youth ministry leader needs to be showing appreciation to those who put so much time, energy, and money into student ministry. Ideas for spending this money might include: candy, cards, books, gift cards, movie tickets, gas cards, or baby sitting money. Know your youth coaches well enough to be able to know what they would appreciate. Here are some ideas I have shared on appreciating youth workers (which can apply just the same to your youth coaches).

4. Staff Training
Staff training should include attending a youth ministry conference. There are multiple day options: YS's NYWC, Lifeway's LNYWC, SYM/Group's NYMC. As well as one day options: YS One Day, Catalyst. It should also include material for ongoing training within your ministry setting. If you want to go through a youth ministry book with your youth coaches, it is a good idea to buy each of them a copy. Do not make your youth coaches buy their own copy, unless there is no way your ministry can afford it. Ongoing training will help everyone stay on the same page and help them feel better prepared to minister to the students.

5. Food
This category could include food for weekly events (donuts, chips, soda, pizza) as well as making possible those last minute decisions to include food for something. Providing food and drinks are great ways to help visitors feel comfortable and give them something to do when they do not know anyone else.

If you cannot afford to budget much money for this category, you might want to try having a sign-up for students/parents to bring food for events.

Youth Ministry Budgeting: Stewardship (1 of 5)

(This is the first post in a 5 part series on Youth Ministry Budgeting.)

The most important thing to remember when working on your youth ministry budget is that the money is not your money. It is not your own personal spending money. It is God's money and your youth ministry is a steward of it. The money has been given to the church (or directly to the youth ministry) by other people as an offering for the furthering of God's Kingdom. Before you spend any of that money, make sure you remember the reason people gave. It is also good for you to remember the fact that people have gone without and sacrificed to give that money to your ministry.

Once you understand that important aspect of the youth ministry money, you need to begin thinking about the value and necessity of the things you are adding to the budget. It is crucial in this part of the process to stop and refocus yourself on being a good steward. Ask yourself questions like: What is needed? Can we find something equivalent for less? Is that a good use of our money? Is the money better spent on something else? Taking extra time on this step can help you avoid regret down the road.

Do not allow yourself to get caught up in spending money just because you have money to spend. Just because you have money to buy something new does not mean you have to spend it on a new television, sound system, or even a new youth building. You are a steward of this money and people are trusting you to spend it wisely. You would be wise to not waste the money that people have entrusted to the youth ministry. Making quick decisions is not being a good steward. Throwing money into something you do not need is not being a good steward. Buying something just to look cool is not being a good steward.

Being a good steward of your youth ministry budget will look different for your ministry than it will for mine or the ministry down the street. Only your youth ministry team knows what is truly needed and what is just a want. You need to spend time in prayer asking God to give you wisdom with your budget. You need to talk about your budget with your team, allowing each person the chance to voice his/her opinion about how to be the best stewards of your youth budget. (I also know each person will have their own personal bias as to where the money is spent, and it is the youth minister's responsibility to discern what is best for the ministry as a whole.)

Being a good steward can also mean you "reduce/reuse/recycle" within your ministry. Is there some curriculum you can rework and use again? Can you rearrange classes to better use the space you have? Does food have to be served at such and such event? Where can you reduce your spending? What materials can you reuse? What materials/ideas can you give away to other ministries?

As you begin thinking about your budget and what it means to be a good steward, keep in mind these Scriptures:

Ps. 24.1 - "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it."

Lev. 25.23 - "The land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants."

Deuteronomy 6:10-12 - “When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the LORD, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”


Before you assign money to any aspect of your youth ministry, determine what it means for your youth ministry to be good stewards of your resources.

Presidental Campaign TV Ad Spending Baffles Me

As I was skimming some online articles last night, I came across this graphic on the left. I'm just baffled by the numbers on the left of the chart.

Did both Presidential campaigns really spend over $275 million on TV ads alone? What kind of money was spent on print ads, stickers, buttons, signs, billboards....?

I think it is sad that this is what it means to run for a government office. If you can raise more money then the odds are that you will get more votes. Not to mention the fact that this money could have been used to do so much more for America than fill our commercial breaks with attack ads (and this is just for President).

What would happen if at least some of the campaign money was spent on something useful? What if it went to help rebuild homes, feed the hungry, increase teachers salaries, support local community programs?

But that will never happen. We, as Americans, are too stuck on ourselves to really help out others. At least, not with our own money.

I hope that someday this might change. I hope that someday Americans will realize there is enough "wealth" in this country to allow each person to have a decent life. We don't need to "borrow" (or print more) money do what needs to be done.

I don't normally write about politics, but this just always bothers me. What do you think? Am I way off here? Could this ever change?

Good Idea, Bad Idea: helping people out of debt when you don't have money

Good Idea: Helping people get out of debt.

Bad Idea: Trying to help people get out of debt, when you are in debt yourself.


Is anyone else concerned that the gov't, who owes a lot of money to others, is willing to bail out financial companies? I find that strange.

I'm sure I'll have more thoughts on it later, but I just wanted to put it out there and see what you guys think.

Photo Friday: Southwest gift card

Not sure what to get that constant traveler as a birthday present. Try a southwest gift card. For $100 you can help get that special someone from point A to point B (and back, if you want them to return).

Maybe you know a youth worker who needs a vacation or a couple who needs to get away. This would be a great gift to those who need some time away, but can't afford to fly. It is Youth Worker Appreciation Day tomorrow (9/6/08), you know. Or maybe you want to get your youth coaches something special to say "thanks" for a year of hard work - if the budget has money, why not get them a gift card and let them pick their destination.

Discussion Starter: Your Grocery Dollar

(Here is an interesting chart that compares inflation on 4 items: crude oil, fuel, food, and consumer price index)

The price of food, gas, houses, and everything else is sure to be a topic of discussion every time you get together. So what are you doing about it? Are you talking about it or ignoring it?



Spending a lot of cash at the grocery store these days? Ever wonder where your money is going?

According to the IL Farm Bureau, here is a breakdown of where your grocery dollar is going:

19 cents - farm value
38.5 cents - labor
8 cents - packaging
3.5 cents - other costs
4 cents - transportation
4 cents - advertising
3.5 cents - depreciation
3.5 cents - fuels and electricity
4 cents - rent
3.5 cents - business taxes
4.5 cents - before-tax-profits
2.5 cents - interest
1.5 cents - repairs

I'm a little surprised that depreciation costs 3.5 cents. I would have thought advertising and packaging would be higher. Any surprises for you?

Next you buy your grocery food, just remember where each dollar is going.

You can use this info when you are talking about money, shopping, food, consumerism, economy or anything related to food or money.

Discussion Starter: The story of stuff

If you haven't seen this video (20 minutes) yet, you need to watch it. You can find it here.

Use this video to spark discussion on: consumerism, waste, money, the planet, taking care of creation, and anything it might spark in your students.

(gracias a Marko)