Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

Send us Fan Mail "Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall" - Proverbs 16:18  There is an unhealthy attraction of the narcissist to become a youth pastor, or a head pastor or a worship leader...but as the proverb says, this can lead to destruction.  Obviously, most of those serving in ministry don't fall into the camp of the "prideful narcissist;" howe...

Send us Fan Mail Thank you so much for all of you who entered our 100th Episode Giveaway!!!  Thank you for the comments and the reviews and please, keep them coming!  We get our best episode ideas from YOU the listeners! Special shout out and thank you to Chameleon Colors for donating a Color Powder War Kit! You can also get 10% OFF any order of $100 or more at www.chameleoncolors.com ! Other give...

Send us Fan Mail Are youth pastors just one bad decision or mistake away from getting fired?  WARNING: it might be more realistic than you think AND that one bad decision or mistake might not even be made by YOU!  In this episode, we discuss the 4 fastest and most common ways for youth pastors to get fired and what you can do to avoid them! ** 100th Episode Giveaway! Details below!** To celebrate...

Send us Fan Mail Whether you are a brand new youth pastor or have been one for awhile, coming onto a new staff can be an exciting time, but also a little tricky.  What environment are you stepping in to?  What is the culture like?  What does the current staff value?  What are some good questions you should be asking?  These are some of the questions and points we will be going over in today's...

Send us Fan Mail Today we discuss 5 No Cost Youth Ministry Games that require very little or no prep!  These games are great to have for your youth group because they are free to play and can be used in a last minute situation - you never know when you might need them!    **FOR A PDF OF THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL OF THESE GAMES - EMAIL US AT MinistryCoachPodcast@gmail.com - and put in the subject or...

Send us Fan Mail Whether you are running a middle school ministry, junior high ministry or a general student ministry spanning middle school to high school, you will get a lot of useful tips in today's episode: 7 Tips for running a great middle school ministry.  In this episode, we cover some of the best practices for creating a fun, engaging place for your middle school students to worship G...

Send us Fan Mail You’ve planned your youth ministry summer camp, you’ve booked your speaker, you have food planned, you have your games planned, you are all set to go…but why aren’t students signing up??  We’ve all been there.  It’s a frustrating and very discouraging feeling.  You are hoping and praying that by the last day of sign ups you’ll get a swarm of students, but it’s stressing you out in...

Send us Fan Mail Promotion season can be such a fun time in Youth Ministry!  Yes, it can be a little sad seeing some of your students move up to the next level of student ministry, but getting the new class of students into your ministry is so exciting!  As we talked in our last episode, there are a lot of planning factors and intentionality that need to go into making promotion Sunday a smooth tr...

Send us Fan Mail It's rapidly approaching that time of year when those 5th graders move up to your Middle School Ministry, or the 6th graders move up to your Junior High Ministry, or your 8th graders move up to your High School Ministry!  How can we make Promotion Sunday go as smoothly as possible to be able to transition those students into the next ministry?  Today, we will be going over th...

Send us Fan Mail Okay...we realize that this is going to a very touchy subject since the vast majority of Youth Pastors minister to middle school through high school; but, hear us out.  What we want to make very clear is that doing student ministry with middle school through high school doesn't mean you are doing BAD ministry...it doesn't mean that you CAN'T grow...it doesn't m...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, we will be talking about how you can pull off an awesome parent night (parent open house) for your youth ministry.  Several weeks back, we did an episode on how to have an excellent parent meeting, which was geared towards inviting parents to get to know the student ministry a little better.  A parent open house or a parent night, is for students to invite their p...

Send us Fan Mail With so many demands on our time, how can we care for ourselves?  When you are working in youth ministry, the work never technically stops...there is always something more to do; however, continuing down the workaholic path can lead to dissatisfaction in your job as a student pastor and ultimately can lead to burn out in ministry.  In this episode, we will be going over 5 ways to...

Send us Fan Mail We all know the excitement of having a new student walk into our youth ministry for the first time!  We want them to have a great experience, we want to help them grow closer to God, we want them to love our youth group, we want them to keep coming back, we want them to bring their friends...but we also need to make sure we don't make some of these mistakes when they arrive f...

Send us Fan Mail The role of youth pastor at a church can be very broad.  As we covered in a previous episode, the job description on paper and what you might actually do, not only in your youth ministry but in your church as well, can vary drastically....but what does the Bible have to say about your job description.  Today, we take a look at 1 Timothy 4:12-16 and how it applies to your role as a...

Send us Fan Mail Never underestimate what you can get accomplished in only 5 or 10 minutes!  This is a youth ministry work habits episode that gives some great tips on how to make the most of your time and get ahead of planning, especially when it comes to some of the longer, more daunting tasks that you may dread.  If you struggle being focused and productive in your student ministry, then maybe...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever felt like you might not be getting the engagement you'd like from your students during your sermons?  In this episode, we give you 6 simple and fun ways to increase your engagement with students during your messages.  This episode was inspired by an email we received!  Thank you for submitting! We love hearing from you all and we do our best to provide powerful...

Send us Fan Mail Today we are discussing the  challenges and solutions from leading multiple ministries at one church.  Youth pastors, notoriously, have to wear multiple hats within their youth ministry from being the event planner for themed nights, to being the janitor after midweek service, to being a counselor working two students through a disagreement; but sometimes, it's just more than...

Send us Fan Mail Congratulations!!  You just got hired as the new Youth Pastor at your church!  I'm sure you are ready to make so many changes, but what should you do first?  And is immediate change what your student ministry needs right now?  While it might be tempting to immediately start changing the existing youth ministry to fit your vision, you could be better off waiting a bit.  In tod...

Send us Fan Mail First, let's be clear...if your youth ministry isn't growing, there could be MANY different reasons as to why; but today, we are going to be looking at one specific thing that can have so many negative effects on your student ministry's growth.  What is that one thing?  Consistency, or the lack of.   In this episode, we will be dissecting different aspects of your m...

Send us Fan Mail Have you been hired as the youth pastor at your church and been tasked with the job of growing your youth group but the congregation's average age is....well, very old?  This episode will be able to help you look in to some of the macro and micro level things you can do to help grow not only your student ministry, but your church as a whole.  Even if you are working at a youn...

Send us Fan Mail Parent meetings are an excellent and often necessary way for youth pastors to connect with the parents of the students in their youth ministry.  Often times, this could be the first or only chance to meet them face to face.  Today, we will be going over some tips for making things go smoothly and efficiently for your student ministry parent meeting.  Thank you to Kalina Carlson fo...

Send us Fan Mail New year, new goals!  Not everyone makes New Year's Resolutions, but everyone should have goals!  And what better time than now to start the year fresh and make some new goals for improvement in your student ministry.  Today we are talking about 5 healthy habits youth pastors should implement into their youth ministries.  We love hearing from you all and we do our best to pro...

Send us Fan Mail After a year where youth ministry (and the world) began a slow recovery and rebuild, we are going into 2022 with a little more momentum.  Today, we are going over 6 areas where you can step up your youth group to make 2022 a successful one!  Whether you are just starting out in student ministry or have been doing it for awhile, this episode will give you some practical tips on imp...

Send us Fan Mail Avoid these mistakes!!  Over the years of being a youth pastor, there are inevitably things we do (or don't do) that we later on regret.  Today, we will be going over my top 10 regrets in youth ministry and how you should avoid making any of these same mistakes.  We love hearing from you all and we do our best to provide powerful and insightful youth ministry content on a wee...

Send us Fan Mail Being a youth pastor can require you to wear a lot of different hats in your youth ministry...everything from speaking on stage, to event planning, to patching holes in the drywall, to explaining to your senior pastor why the youth group got ketchup and mustard all over the carpets, to cleaning toilets.  In this episode, we discuss the 8 essential leadership skills you must master...