In the years of 2004 and 2005 I traveled in a full time capacity as a mission mobilizer. I had the great opportunity of meeting some extremely passionate and effective youth pastors. Many of the ideas and events that we employ in our youth ministry have come from my experiences on the road.

Many times I would meet youth pastors who had a heart for youth ministry but had bought into a lie. Many of the churches were just big enough to have two men on paid staff. Which left the youth pastor wearing many different hats. To often the youth ministry would take a back burner. I would hear youth pastor after youth pastor say they did not have time to mentor teenagers because they were too busy in the ministry. Ironic. huh? However, over the last three years I have had season where that lie began to make since to me.

I forgot something very important. The youth of the church do not keep me from ministry they are my ministry. They are not a hindrance to ministry but a great access. When you invest into students and do not just spend time with them they will help you accelerate your effectiveness and not hinder it. They have talents and desires that need to be exercises inside of the context of the local church. You can be the catalyst for this. Some of the best servants inside of our church our teenagers!

In the mainstream trends of youth ministry there are plenty of crazy ideas that I would not want to associate with. Here recently I have send a topic become popular deserves some thought. It is the death of “youth ministry” and the birth of “youth in ministry”. Churches are getting tired of the consumeristic mentality of the people in their church. They have 150 programs offered. They have bill boards asking “How may we serve you?” and they are tired of catering to people at the expense of the true Biblical ministry. They know that quality times acceptance equals effectiveness so they have focused on acceptance and forgot about the quality.

I would encourage you to read “Problems in Fun-Focused Youth Ministry”. As with most thoughts I have had about youth ministry, Cary Schmidt has already said it before and better than I could say it.
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Here are some of the events that your Student Coaches and Trainers (aka youth ministry team) have designed for the next few months to help keep us focused on the idea of “youth in ministry”. I would love to hear what you are doing to get your students involved in ministry.

Parent Appreciation Banquet
February 26th (7 pm – 9 pm)
Our teens will prepare, serve and clean up a meal for their parents. The night will be filled with testimonies from our teens about how they love their parents.

World’s Cheapest Missions Trip
March 13th (9 am – 6 pm)
Our teens will spend the day between a muslim mosque and a hindu Temple. We will spend lunch at an Indian restaurant.
After experiencing the two different religious sites they will hear from missionaries from that area who will challenge them about getting involved in their community reaching out to different ethnic and religious groups.

Kids Crusade with Evangelist Ed Dunlop
April 4th-8th (7 pm – 8:30 pm, except Sunday it will start at 6:00 pm)
This is one of favorite weeks of ministry. We intentionally planned this week during Spring Break to allow for our teens to be out on the street getting the word out.

New Bus Route
Starting mid- March
God has provided for a bus! I can not imagine a better training ground for our teens then on a bus route.

DodgeHunger
May 14th & 15th (9 pm – 7 am)
This is a wild event! It is a lock in, dodge ball tournament, evangelistic outreach, and a food drive. Our teens begin collecting cans of food throughout the month of April. On this night we have a lockin that requires you bring 10 cans of food for admission. Proceeds this year will benefit a ministry in Haiti.

Web & Graphic Design Course
Every Thursday afternoon (4 pm – 6 pm) in March, April, and May
Every advancing ministry I know of needs more hands on deck for their media and promotion ministry. Where will we get trained people to serve in this ministries? May I suggest we already have them sitting in our youth room.

Spanish Youth Ministry Plant
Every Sunday afternoon
Every Sunday afternoon our Jr High Director takes a group of teenagers to a city about 30 minutes away where our church has planted a church for spanish speaking people. Their youth ministry joins us for youth events. I am so thankful that our teens got to see a church planted. It has been a life changing experience for them.

Student Led Service
May 30th & every 5th Sunday in a month
We have been given the great opportunity to lead the church services on the 5th Sunday of a month. It has been exciting to see our teens preach, lead music, give the offering devotional, run the cameras, and run the sounds system.

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