iYouthPastor
Because Students Matter!~
Get Connected to iYouthPastor
Jan 13th
iYouthPastor.com is striving to enable youth pastors and leaders all over the world to connect with each other and share their ideas and resources. Join our list below to get resources and ideas sent to you or join our Group to share your ideas. We are new and look to grow so come be a part of something new.
 |
| Subscribe to iYouthPastor |
| Visit this group |
|
| iYouthPastor |
| Visit this group |
Hello world! iYouthPastor is better than ever…
Oct 25th
iYouthPastor.com is Back after having a website attacked with virus’s and a delay of nearly a year, we have regrouped and look to enhance and impact youth pastors across the country. Our partner sites that will be up and running and improving over the year are:
http://www.iyouthpastor.com – Because Students Matter.
http://www.youthministryhelper.com - Resources that change Students lives.
http://www.ymhelper.com – Training and Equipping Youth Pastors and Leaders.
http://www.staffyourchurch.com – Connecting People with Careers.
http://www.youthministryhelper.com - Resources that change Students lives.
Help us come together and make a difference. We are looking for authors who would like to help us narrow our focus on each of these sites.
Thanks!
The iYouthPastor Team
New Classified Ad & Job Board
Feb 5th
I have been talking to people in churches all over and they would love to have a place they can sell, trade, or ask for resources for their ministry. If you have a small group bible study you did and won’t do again, then post it here and share it with others. Maybe you can make a contact and trade for something someone else doesn’t need anymore.
Also, feel free to post any jobs you have that are church related or just if you want to get the word out you are looking for a job. Our goal is to connect people together to improve the way we work together, live together and minister together!
Please be the first to post an ad. We must approve all ads before they are posted but they are free!
Thanks!
Haiti Relief Video you can use for your church or ministry
Jan 21st
With the Haiti Earthquake on everyone’s mind, here are some links to a video made with pictures and Bible Verses put to the song “Safe” by Phil Wickham.
Haiti Earthquake Relief Video on youtube.com
Youth Ministry Tip #8: Have New Year’s Revolutions in your life instead of Resolutions!
Jan 4th
Here is a basic outline for a youth message on making life transformation Revolutions in their lives.
Title: New Year’s Revolutions
Idea: Make a Revolution in the way you live rather than just a resolution.
People view a revolution as a major change or transformation and they
view resolution as an attempt to try and do better but not really
believing it is a lasting life change (transformation).
Definition of revolution is: a sudden, complete or marked change in something:
Definition of resolution is: 1. a resolve or determination: to make a
firm resolution to do something.
2. the act of resolving or determining upon an action or course of
action, method, procedure, etc.
The difference between the 2 is a revolution sees marked change and a
resolution is just the desire to see change happen. Let’s move beyond
desiring to be more like Christ and actually having that marked change
in our lives.
I think you can go on to do another 2 parts. Here is an idea:
Do a week on Repentance: How often do we associate repentance with resolutions. What I mean is in church circles we look at repentance as this “I am sorry God, I want to do better”, instead of of changing our mind on the way we think about our sin. Repentance is more like a Revolution than a resolution.
Another week can be on New Creations: How do we live our life as a new creation? Just some thoughts on changing the way we think. Hope this helps!
Youth Ministry Tip #7: Instead of asking your students what they learned, ask them what questions they have about what you taught.
Jan 4th
Youth Ministry Tip #7: Instead of asking your students what they learned, ask them what questions they have about what you taught.
How many times have you stood before teenagers and ask them what they learned last week or what they remember? Probably more than you should have. Usually you get the blank look of “was I supposed to remember something…” Well, I really want to encourage you to think differently on how you teach students. If you can instead of feeding them information and hoping they remember start teaching them on how to ask the right questions. Everytime you feel tempted to ask the age ol’ youth ministry question of, “What did you learn last week?” STOP! Instead ask your students, “what questions do you have from last week?” Then ask, “What questions do you have about God or Life?” Use this as a great way to get your students to walk away from a youth meeting with more questions. If you students leave with only answers they will lose their curiosity to learn. Feed them questions more than you feed them answers and then teach them how to find the answers in the Word of God.
Youth Ministry Tip #6: Use Paper cups and a peppermint instead of buzzers for games
Dec 9th
Ok, I will have to give props to our Worship Pastor Aaron Leeds for this one. We had a game where we wanted people to come up front and try and answer some cool trivia questions about Christmas. We thought of having them raise hands and see who did it the quickest then Aaron came up with a great idea. He got 2 paper cups and a piece of candy. He put the candy in the middle of a table and handed the cups to the 2 people competing to answer the question. We put the question up and as soon as they knew they put the cup over the candy. There was no question on who was the fastest b/c they had the candy. We did this with name that Christmas Song as well. At your next youth event or game of family feud use the paper cups and candy..just be sure they don’t eat all your candy.
Youth Ministry Tip #5: Don’t do ministry tasks that you can get leaders/volunteer’s to do.
Dec 9th
Youth Ministry Tip #5: Don’t do ministry tasks that you can get leaders/volunteer’s to do. Invest your time in growing your volunteers. So many times in ministry we think it is not only easier but more effective if we do tasks ourselves. We know it takes time to teach someone to do something the way we want it done. The problem is if you are putting your energy into 5 things that someone else can do you are missing involving people and you are probably not doing as good of a job as you think you are too! I had lunch with a youth pastor not long ago that was struggling with this, so I asked him this one question, “What are the 3 things about youth ministry that you love to do and you feel you are really good at it.” He answered with 3 things, and I said, “Then put your energy into those 3 things and delegate as much of the rest as you can into your leaders.”
If you are reading this and thinking that your church leaders or pastor wouldn’t let you get away with delegating so much then you probably are already seeing the stress on your life in ministry and your family. Go to them and explain how important it is to involve people in ministry and how much of a better job you will do in the areas that you put more time in. I think after 6 months of doing this you will never want to go back and in fact the ministry you are involved with will be far better and people will notice the bigger impact.
If you don’t want to release some things including teaching sometimes, being in front all the time, then I would say your issue may be more about pride and the attention ministry brings. Well…this is another tip for another day.
Youth Ministry Tip #4: Love your Spouse!
Dec 1st
Why is it that when our husband/wife doesn’t do something the way we want, when we want we feel angry and frustrated? Why is it when someone forgot to take out the trash that instead of thinking, “I know they must of just forgot, if I ask them nicely I am sure they will do it as soon as they can,” we think, “I can’t believe they didn’t do what I asked them. It wasn’t a hard request.” Why is our first reaction to not trust the motives of the one we have chosen to love as a husband or wife?
One of the things we as Godly men and women need to have an attitude of is Grace. I can promise you that your husband or wife will forget to do something you want. They will not get to doing something as quick as you want. They will not do something as well as you want. They will even sometimes not feel like doing what you want them to do. The question is how will you respond to this in your life. Will you be one to quickly get angry, or frustrated that the expectation you placed on your husband/wife is not met. Or will you extend Grace to them and trust that if you lovingly ask them to do it that they will more likely do what you need and do it with a great attitude?
How about take things a step further and when someone you love doesn’t meet your expectation, that you realize that your expectation being met should not be more important than how your spouse feels. What is more important, getting your husband/wife to act and do what you want or to think and feel like a loving spouse should toward you? Why do we often show our spouse we care more about the tasks in our lives that need to get done than the relationship that we want to build together.
Take this and apply it to our relationship with God. Do we put those same expectations on God? Do we look to God and get frustrated when He doesn’t meet our expectations and do what we want? Or do we realize that God does love us and wants what is best for us. What is more important to you: 1) God giving you what you want out of life, or 2) Your relationship with God growing more intimate? Do we realize that our perception and expectations we place on God and others directly shapes the ability for us to have an intimate relationship with God and with our husband or wife.
I dare you today when your husband or wife doesn’t meet your expectation to not get angry and frustrated but instead go tell them how much you love them and then find a way to serve them!
Ephesians 5, ” 22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing[b] her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church— 30for we are members of his body. 31″For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”[c] 32This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”
Youth Ministry Tip #3: Make sure if you do a messy game for your youth group, you have all the cleaning supplies ready to go!
Nov 30th
You definitely want to have some time for messy, crazy games. Of course when you have a messy game you will need to make sure you have the proper cleaning supplies ready. The proper cleaning supplies include: plastic for the floor, large trash cans, paper towels, and a sham wow. If you have a sham wow you will be able to clean up any mess, any where, any time. By the way, make sure that your youth ministry is not just about the games. If it is then you will have a social club and you will be wondering why you have a ton of kids showing up but no depth. This will lead to frustration b/c when you try to go deep with them they will leave and your church leadership will wonder why your not growing your kids more. We will talk more about this in depth later.
Youth Ministry Tip #2: Get to Know Jesus
Nov 30th
Youth Ministry Tip #2: Get to Know Jesus, who He is, why He did what He did, and why He had to die on a cross to forgive our sins. The more you know Jesus the more your students will.
The heart, vision, and purpose of youth ministry is to enable our students to Get to Know Jesus.
Philippians 3:7-11,
7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
As Paul tells the Church at Philippi there is nothing greater in our life, in our ministry, in anything than Knowing Christ Jesus. In fact, he goes so far as to say that if we compare anything to knowing Christ it should look like trash. Yes, our filthy dirty trash. I don’t know about you but the last time I told my kids to go eat something, I didn’t say, “hey boys, go grab something out of the trash to eat.” The last time my boys asked for a toy or a present, I didn’t wrap up a bag of trash and say, “here you go boys, have at it!” I know better as a dad, that trash is this nasty, dirty, germ filled junk that our goal is to wrap it up in plastic bags, put it in a big plastic trash can and take it to the street to be sent away.
As I read Philippians 3, I realize that there are so many things in my life that I try and put not just near the same value as Jesus, but even above Him. But Paul describes that it isn’t just about knowing Jesus should be more important to us, but that anything, I mean anything else should be as Trash in our lives. There just is no comparison to knowing Jesus. Jesus is the only way we can be in a relationship with God the Father. Jesus is the only one who could pay the price for our sin and disobedience. Jesus is the only one who by coming to earth could send us the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. A perfect God can only live with Perfect People. I know the only way I will ever be perfect is if a Holy and Perfect God stands in my place for everything I have ever done that falls short of the Glory of God. Jesus did that for me.
What are we doing in our lives to show our students, our family, our friends, that we want to Get to Know Jesus more than anything else in this world? If you want them to get to know Jesus….we have to!
