How to Get Better Results in Youth Ministry - Start the Year Strong!

What do results in youth ministry look like?  How can you even measure success in a student ministry? In this episode, we will not only discuss what results in youth ministry look like but we will also be diving into how to start your year off the right way with healthy goals in mind. Start by reflecting on your previous year's journey and what that means for the path ahead.

We move forward to dissect the pressing need to provide students with opportunities to respond to the gospel.  The focus of this conversation is to reiterate the central role of gospel plays in youth ministry and to encourage youth pastors to offer consistent chances for students to develop a relationship with Jesus.  Finally, we share our tips on how to connect with students on a personal level and the importance of striving for continuous improvement. Whether you're a seasoned youth pastor or just starting, this episode promises to equip you with valuable insights for your journey in youth ministry. Join us as we navigate through this rewarding and challenging journey together.

Books mentioned in this episode:

X: Multiply Your God Given Potential by John Bevere
Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields
Jesus Centered Youth Ministry by Rick Lawrence

Are you looking to grow the size and health of your youth ministry?
GrowYourYouthMinistry.com

We love hearing from you all and we do our best to provide powerful and insightful youth ministry content on a weekly basis to be that coach and mentor you may not have, but desperately need.
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You may also enjoy these episodes:

(#156) How to Minister to the 4 Different Types of Students in Youth Ministry

(#125) Why New Students May Feel Uncomfortable at Your Youth Ministry - 5 Things to Avoid!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

What results, what fruit, what's coming out of your youth ministry? I'm looking for results. What did you do? What did you multiply? What results do you have? What fruit is there? And making sure we're hearing that voice. So when we stand before the Lord and we have this ministry, that he's interested, that he can legitimately say well done, good and faithful servant. Today we're talking all about how to be a youth pastor that delivers results, by reflecting on what we did last year and how we can do it better in the year to come.

Speaker 2: 0:44

Welcome to the Ministry Coach podcast where every week, we bring you tips and tactics to help you fast track the growth and health of your youth ministry.

Speaker 1: 0:52

My name is Jeff Lascola and this is Kristen Lascola and the year is wrapping up and we are getting reflective today. Reflective of what has been and goal oriented for what is to come, Excited for what's to come. What is?

Speaker 2: 1:09

2024 going to bring you.

Speaker 1: 1:12

Hopefully a whole other year of very effective ministry that you're not going to throw in the towel. But today we're going to talk about how to be a youth pastor that delivers results and I think that right off the bat that could probably sound anti spiritual, like what are you selling and we're not selling anything and we don't have a typical profession where we can look at a sales record and spreadsheets of numbers and like what has gone on. But it's not totally immeasurable and I don't want it to sound like we're being overly corporate. But being a results driven or a results delivering youth pastor is actually a really good thing because it means that you're being faithful to your call to make disciples, and so we could bring that all the way back to, you know, the Great Commission if you really wanted to. That's our goal to multiply. John Brevere has a really good book just about that whole concept. It's called X right.

Speaker 1: 2:22

And it's. He talks a ton about the parable of the talents and just how we serve a God that multiplies and when he sends us out. Our job is to multiply, to not just hide something in a field and wait for the day the trumpet sounds and we go home or we die. It's that we're constantly giving results to the master, to the vine dresser, to the. You know, it's like it's kind of a little shocking how results driven some scripture is. You know the whole concept of fruit and producing fruit. You know a tree by its fruit. Well, what is fruit? Fruit is results right.

Speaker 1: 3:05

So what results, what fruit, what's coming out of your youth ministry? And so what we want to do is spend a little time being reflective of that and then ask ourselves some really good questions for this coming year, to get a little more strategic with our results, because a lot of us are busy. I think we'd all say I'm busy like you're not unique if you're busy or tired, everyone is both. But you can be busy and not productive and you can be busy at the wrong thing. And so what are we busy at? What are we tired of? Are we just spinning our wheels and not really producing anything meaningful or lasting or eternal, or are we putting our energy toward the right things?

Speaker 1: 3:47

And it's a good tired, like job, well done, results and the fruit is coming. And when you have the fruit it's like worth the labor. But if you've ever had a garden, I would spend that survived exactly because I'd be out there and I'm watering and I'm weeding and I'm this and that, and I wouldn't get anything from anything because the rabbits ate everything or the squirrels ate everything, and it was like I toiled for nothing.

Speaker 1: 4:11

I never, even got to enjoy. You know what I? So I just gave up. But the point is, if you're never enjoying the fruit of the labor, you have to kind of question the methods at some point. Right, and so the Bible has a lot to say about laziness and slothfulness, and obviously none of it is good, never says anything good about it. And so here's sort of like. At our church we kind of have these team charter like expectations for being results driven to work hard with excellence and enthusiasm and remembering the joy of your calling. Working hard with excellence and enthusiasm, excellent, excellent and enthusiasm I'm so enthusiastic I can't even say it to remember the joy of your calling.

Speaker 1: 5:00

And if you have hit this point where ministry has become drudgery and there is no joy left in it, I think we need to pause there for a second and figure out what's going on. Are you lonely? Are you tired at the wrong thing? Do you just have a really difficult class and there's drama and strife among students and relationships are bad? But what's making you tired? Because there should be joy in our ministry. We should get joy from it, because we're serving the Lord, making disciples. I know not all of you are paid, but we are paid to preach the gospel.

Speaker 1: 5:40

There's no better job I can think of. There is joy in seeing people come to know the Lord and all of that. If you're not feeling the joy, you might not be having results right now. It might feel like you're going backwards. We build trust by following through on our promises and commitments. That's another one is a big push on results driven youth pastors. Follow through on what you do, what you say you're going to do. You're not the person who's canceling things. Last, minute.

Speaker 1: 6:10

You're not the person that says we're going to go here, do this, and then we never do. You just hope everyone forgets about it and it's now awkward and no one can really bring it up. You promise something and you do it. Even if there's two kids here, we go, we're doing this. You always deliver what you promised. Lastly, here, and then we're going to go into some examples.

Speaker 1: 6:31

Our church we say this we serve for the applause of nail scarred hands in the final words of well done, good and faithful servant. This is pointing to who is our audience and remembering when that parent is mad at you for something outside of your control, and it's like these kids are bad, our ministry is not bad and I couldn't control what they did. Now you're bearing the brunt of their anger. That's hard when the kids just I mean I always say junior hires are one of the most humbling groups to speak in front of, because you're pouring out your heart and the Holy Spirit's moving. You raise your hand and ask what time is it? It's just like, oh my gosh, what am I doing with my life In those moments, thinking of who is my audience, what words do I work for the 12-year-old? Do I work for their parents Okay, their parents tied, and so that's where I get my paycheck. But who do I ultimately work for? I need to remember who my boss is, and that should make a strive toward results. Again, that whole parable of the talents is when he comes back, he has some questions for everybody. It's not just hey, good to see you, whatever you did is fine.

Speaker 1: 7:45

I think that we can get a little lazy in ministry. Sometimes they're just like hey, I'm here, hey, I showed up. I did a job most people didn't want to do. I should get a pat on the back. And he's like I'm looking for results. What did you do? What did you multiply? What results do you have? What fruit is there? Making sure we're hearing that voice. So when we stand before the Lord and we have this ministry, that he's interested, that he can legitimately say well done, good and faithful servant, and I just can't think of any better words to hear, quite honestly.

Speaker 1: 8:25

So let's talk about some examples of results. So that's kind of the mindset. I don't know if you're paying attention, but there are four things. The Bible says a lot about laziness and slothfulness. None of it's good. That was number one. Work hard with excellence and enthusiasm, remembering the joy of recalling Number two. Number three is we build trust by following through on promises and commitments. Number four we serve for the applause of nail scarred hands and the final words of well done, good and faithful servant. So that's like the results mindset. Let's get practical. Let's talk about examples and how do we live this out? So you might think to yourself, how do I know if I have a results driven? You're like, yes, I agree with all those four things he said. But now, how do I know? Yeah, I mean, did we sell the gospel more than we did last year? Like, how do you measure it?

Speaker 2: 9:16

Right.

Speaker 1: 9:18

So here's a few to consider as you wrap this year up. Number one how many people made first time decisions in your youth ministry whether it was a camp, a youth night, like a program night, a weekend service, some event that you did whatever how many people made decisions to follow Jesus? One of our senior pastors tells the best story about this and he said I used to take my students to camp and I would be so like half just so proud and half so bummed that like they're all raising their hand to accept Jesus oh, because the camp speaker. And then he's like, all of a sudden I had this gut punch moment of oh my gosh, it's not because they love the camp speaker, Never give them a chance.

Speaker 1: 10:04

It's because I never give them the opportunity. I just keep teaching like let's talk about relationships this month and let's talk about the book of James next month, but if we're really teaching the way we should be teaching, every single thing we've done a whole episode on this, I think is making a beeline to the gospel, everything we do. Rick Lawrence wrote an incredible book about this and I forget the name of it. But look up Rick Lawrence book. It is so great because he says whatever the lesson is, it comes back to the gospel, comes back to Jesus. You can preach the gospel at every. Like access on your message and Craig Groschel does this so well.

Speaker 1: 10:46

I got the privilege to see him live and Edmund at Life Church. We went out to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving. I'm like I'm going Saturday night and I was like I think he looked at me as very exciting and he was teaching all about generosity and money and giving and all of that which was appropriate for the holiday season. And all of a sudden at the end he's like but you can't out give God and here's what Jesus has done for us. I'm like, look at you and it was a full on altar call.

Speaker 2: 11:15

Craig, you met Jesus. You've done it again.

Speaker 1: 11:20

Man, jesus is proud, and it was so cool and he did the whole prayer and he's like, if that was you, if you need Jesus today, and I want you to raise your hand, and everywhere you know, and he gets all fired up and it was like, yes, craig, like no matter what you're talking about, you bring it back to the gospel, to the altar called giving opportunity, opportunity, opportunity, and it's amazing. And so If you're like, okay, Kristen, I don't know because I didn't keep track, maybe there was kids who accepted Jesus and I just don't know about it. Okay, fair, that happens to me a lot. I usually am not like, all right, raise your hand, elk, whole eyes bowed and eyes closed or whatever, and nobody looking around the room. I always just feel kind of awkward chills when I do that, and so I might pray like, hey, if that's you, I just want you to pray this prayer with me. And if you said that prayer, I want you to know. Here's what that means.

Speaker 1: 12:14

I usually don't say raise your hand. Once in a while, I have them fill out a card or something like that. So ask yourself maybe you don't know the exact number Well, 51 kids to be exact. But I want you to ask yourself then a secondary question how many times did you give them the opportunity? Because if you're like our senior pastor when he was a youth pastor and you're having that moment of like, oh my gosh, I never do an altar call and I will be totally vulnerable with you as a young youth pastor, that to me, I could preach, preach, preach, preach. Something about doing the altar call made me freeze, right, I don't. Maybe it was. Who knows? Pride cloaks itself in all kinds of distortions.

Speaker 1: 12:57

So who knows what the root of it was. I felt like maybe it was pride, because I kind of felt like I'm not gonna do a good enough job and then no one's gonna respond because I'm not gonna say it right and I'm not gonna stir them the right way, because those pastors, they know how to like like Craig, he knows how to bring it there and like pack a punch and like whoa, jesus. And I don't know if I can do that, and so let me just stick to the safe hears what the Bible says and I can teach you in illustrations and maybe a funny story or something like that. But if I have to like get you to make a decision, to me that felt like a sales call. And what if you say no, I feel rejected, not Jesus. So yeah, jeff, maybe you're right, maybe it is pride and it-.

Speaker 2: 13:39

If you say pride, you're right about 95% of the time.

Speaker 1: 13:42

True most sin has its root in pride, right? And so, yeah, I think we need to really get real with ourselves of okay, well, if I'm results driven, if I'm a youth pastor who delivers results and results as people responding to the gospel, I can't control their inner workings and what happens between them and the Holy Spirit, but I can give opportunities. So I think that's what you need to do is just ask yourself how often, realistically, do we give opportunities to respond to the gospel? So is it just at camp Like no, if you didn't go to camp, you can't become a Christian, you know.

Speaker 1: 14:16

And so there's probably a lot of nuance here that we could unpack. But basically, you just need to confront that question Do we bring our sermons back to the gospel and are we giving students a consistent opportunity? Because maybe they weren't ready that one time at camp but it was like, ooh, I'm on the edge here and I just need one more push and I just need one more chance, and I'm kind of regretting it and now I kind of it's fuzzy to me and I wish someone would ask me again, so something like that.

Speaker 2: 14:46

There's also, like you know, when you're at camp, I think there's a lot of hype and you know it's a really cool experience and a lot of kids I don't wanna say get like swept up in that. I think it's a legitimate decision, but it's more like encouragement maybe to do it.

Speaker 2: 15:00

I think there's also the kid that's like there's no way I'm doing it right now because of all these people, but if it was in a more private setting like our, just our church, then I would. So I think everyone can be a little bit different, maybe with, again, pride, you know, but how they feel comfortable or not comfortable or uncomfortable about going up in front or raising a hand in who they're in the presence of. So yeah, the camp speaker that's a great opportunity.

Speaker 2: 15:25

But there's also that kid that's like I know I can't. I can't right now. It's too many people.

Speaker 1: 15:30

You can't give too many opportunities. It's not like, oh no, we shared the gospel last week, you know it's like you can't overdo it on that one. So that's the good news is just do it all the time, and a lot of pastors do, craig, I think he tries to do it every single sermon. Miles McPherson does it almost every single sermon. So okay, and kind of along the same lines. Number two a good gauge of your results would be well, how many baptisms and all of this? It's like this isn't the end. All be all of like oh, we did this many. That means we are healthy.

Speaker 1: 16:03

But if we need to measure something and look at, give us some kind of general idea. If there are people making decisions and movement in their faith, baptism is a good way to look at that. And again, if you don't know the answer to that, my question would be opportunities. So have you given them a chance to get baptized? So, obviously we do that at summer camp. They can get baptized in the river where we raft and it's a really cool experience.

Speaker 1: 16:29

But some parents are like, wait a minute, I'm not at camp with you, I wanna be there for it, which I would totally be that parent, and so you need to do church baptisms or a youth night, find someone with a pool, or a beach day where families are invited, whatever. But how many opportunities for baptism did you give? Because that kind of brings people out of the woodwork too, of like, well, yeah, I like made a decision, and then that kind of solidifies it for them. It's like this moment in time where and we know baptism doesn't save you it's just more of like wow, they were publicly declaring like this is what I'm gonna put my life toward.

Speaker 2: 17:11

And this is I'm following Jesus the outward expression of the inward decision, Exactly.

Speaker 1: 17:16

Just like I always tell my students, like the other day I put my wedding ring on one of the girls and I'm like, does that mean she's married? And they're like no. I'm like, okay, so baptism on its own doesn't save you. It's just, it's like the ring, it's like telling the world this is a decision I've made. Anyways, that's a free illustration for you. Okay, number three have we grown from last year?

Speaker 1: 17:42

Again, none of these by themselves tell the entire story. So don't panic if your numbers have stayed the same. Don't panic if you've even declined. Some of you are splitting junior, high and high school right now and your numbers are dipping because you're weathering the storm for long-term health. We get that, but numbers don't tell the whole story. They tell some of the story and they're worth paying attention to.

Speaker 1: 18:06

Are our numbers going in a positive direction? And that there can be really large youth ministries that are super unhealthy? So that's why we can't look at numbers only. We look at numbers to tell us something. It's like, okay, well, we did grow, and is this a healthy growth? And does this feel healthy? And are these people making decisions and becoming involved? And you know, it just tells you a little bit of what might be going on. People love our ministry so they're inviting friends. That's a healthy thing. It's like this is good enough to where I would bring another teenager to this.

Speaker 1: 18:41

So look at the numbers. What did we average last year this time of year? What are we averaging this time? And try to analyze why those numbers are either the same, more or less, because it doesn't necessarily mean it's bad if it's less. Number four how many people join small groups or a serving team or discipleship and leadership team? Basically, with this question, you're trying to gauge how many people are becoming more involved. So, like Core kids, yeah, for example, an adult attends your church. I think it's almost two years before, like on average, before a new adult attendee start tithing because they haven't considered this their home church yet they're.

Speaker 1: 19:32

Just I'm getting to know people, I'm seeing if this is where I want to be, whatever. Well, once they start tithing, that is the indication okay, you're invested here, you see this as home base for your church and for your family, and I think that is very similar, like the tithe. That's very similar to a student joining a leadership team, being in a small group, being on a discipleship team, serving somewhere. They will tithe with their time. So if they're going from just we've talked about this before. There's different types of students and we'll talk about this Before different types.

Speaker 1: 20:06

Yeah, and I was like I'll mention it now, but we're going to talk about it at the end. You have the very outside as the crowd. If you're looking at these as circles, almost if it looks like a target, the outermost ring would be the crowd, then the concerned, the committed and the core. And basically this came from Purpose Driven Youth Ministry by Doug Fields. I believe this is an old book, one of the first books I picked up in youth ministry, but it's so great and the whole point is you're trying to get people to go from the outer circles to the inner circles and make that step.

Speaker 1: 20:42

And so if you could start to answer some of those questions like, well, how many kids joined our discipleship or leadership team this year? Are all of our kids involved in a small group? Or what percentage of the total come to small groups? So what's the difference between, like, our Tuesday or Wednesday night program and our Sunday program, kind of analyzing some of that stuff? Do we have kids who are serving on teams somewhere, maybe with children's or within the ministry, something like that? Are people going from just I show up to I'm putting roots here, and those are some good indications of it. That's results, that's people being drawn to the center of the youth ministry.

Speaker 1: 21:25

Another question to ask is are your students bringing friends? And we talked a little bit about that a second ago but that's a great indication of results too. If you have a youth ministry, that is they like it should be, like they can't keep it to themselves, right, like this is what I do on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday night. Whatever you do, this is what I do. You've got to come like this is where everyone's at. This is so much fun. You're going to love it. You're going to meet Jesus. Like they're not going to probably really say that, but you know, like if they're so fired up about it.

Speaker 1: 21:57

Like they want to bring friends. That's a really good results indication that it's. And here's towing that line between like I think kids know when something is so insider. I can't bring my non Christian friends to this. Like we take communion every single week and they're going to be so uncomfortable because they're not Christians and they can't take communion. And you know, like, and I'm not saying don't take communion.

Speaker 1: 22:24

My point was that you're believer, focused, seeker, sensitive, and that's what our pastor always says. He's like we don't water anything down, we're just very seeker sensitive. Because if somebody shows up and they realize, oh man, this is all above my head, I have no clue what you guys are doing, I can't keep up. Even the words you're using I don't understand. And so finding ways to never compromise the integrity of the message and never water it down. Or if it's offensive, oh well, you got to, it's not our message, it's Jesus's message, right? So never compromise that. But find ways to be seeker sensitive so that students can bring their friends and their students aren't like.

Speaker 1: 23:06

That felt like a cult and I have no clue how to participate in this Now. When somebody's on the inside and they know Jesus, it feels normal. But when you're just checking something out, you're already going to have a lot of questions. And so, speaking of communion, our church has decided to do communion largely within small groups, so it's like adult life groups. They do communion as a community a couple times a quarter instead of doing it at our main weekend services, because the main weekend services are also for seekers and so to exclude them and you know, I'm not saying like let's argue which one's right or wrong, I'm just saying things like that to be thinking about the visitor. Now, does it mean so we don't do communion because it can make someone?

Speaker 2: 23:54

feel weird.

Speaker 1: 23:55

No you put it in its rightful place. And when did Jesus do communion? He did it with a 12. He didn't do it at the Sermon on the Mount, when there was hundreds and hundreds of people. He did it with the 12 that he was discipling and that were followers. He didn't do it for the crowd, he did it for the core. You know.

Speaker 1: 24:12

So I think there is something to do that. So being believer focused but seeker sensitive gives our students a way to comfortably invite their friends. So I think a good question to ask are our students inviting their friends? And if not, do we have a seeker sensitive church or Is it not really a visitor friendly type of place? Like well, everyone has to recite a Bible verse and stand up and say their verse, and the visitor is like, oh my gosh, now that's more for a discipleship group, right? And so you figure out what that means for your group and all of that I could probably keep going and giving you examples.

Speaker 2: 24:51

We've done a couple of episodes of just kind of helping students feel welcome at your youth group, making it an irresistible place to be, and not just this. Oh my gosh, I have no idea what's going on. Some of that's just as simple as explaining things Like maybe everybody is familiar with it, but just in case there's that one new person like just going through and instead of just saying turn to Malachi, it's like maybe give them a little bit of a reference of where it is, because not everyone may know that and you don't want to just isolate some kids Like you're so dumb because you don't know where.

Speaker 1: 25:23

That is Our pastor always does that. He goes, go ahead, you want to flip to your table of contents. He doesn't go like well, if you don't know where Malachi is, feel free to use your table of contents Cause then it's like oh, I'm the loser that doesn't know. He just right off the bat says hey, you go find your table of contents right in the front of your Bible. If you look about halfway down, you're going to see Malachi. It's in the Old Testament. Go ahead and flip there. So he's instructing as if nobody knows where it is and that's just a little like wink to like the new person which is like I see you and it's okay and I love that and that's another reason we're going on a tangent for a sec.

Speaker 1: 25:58

But that's why I don't like making games like part of your lesson, because I just think, can a game be fun? And the visitor is like so we did this game, but it had to do with us crossing the Red Sea like Moses and I don't know. It was fun until like someone was on a chariot trying to hit us with a dodgeball, like I just feel like, okay, fun game, calm down, let's just have a game. Let's just have regular music, let's just be normal and we'll do our Bible lesson. You don't have to spiritualize every and then. The dodgeball represented sin and Satan's darts or something.

Speaker 2: 26:38

We always put the donuts out in the shape of a nativity scene so that everyone guides everyone back. No, it's like that's just a refreshment. It is what it is.

Speaker 1: 26:47

Don't be weird, bottom line. Be weird in a good way, because there's a good weird, but don't be like creepy weird, right? Okay, anyways, another indication a question to consider is have being results driven? Have we given our students opportunities to serve? So, whether that's internal or external, global community, in church, out church, basically, we need people using their gifts. Serving is like honey to the soul, right? Because everyone's made to serve. So you, as a youth pastor, have to give people opportunities to do it, students opportunities to exercise those gifts and not just be a spectator but be a contributor every single week. So think back on your year, because I would qualify that as results is that people got off the bench and they were putting their faith into action, they were using their God-given gifts and they were furthering the kingdom this year, because that is what makes a sticky church People are gonna wanna keep coming to this place.

Speaker 1: 27:49

Because I was getting on one of my leaders case the other day, because we did all these fun leader events in 2023 and he didn't come to any of them. I'm like, oh my gosh, you never wanna hang out with us. You didn't come to anything Like thanks a lot. We all wanna hang out with you and he was like laughing and he goes you wanna know the truth, why I didn't come. I have a hard time just hanging out if I don't have a role. That's why he likes coming to youth group, because he does all these special roles and he's busy and likes to like-.

Speaker 2: 28:20

Just make him clean up after the event every single time.

Speaker 1: 28:23

Well, I told him I'm like you could be our scorekeeper. We're playing and you just hold up. That's a job for you. There you go and he was laughing and goes. Okay, no, I know I need to come, but it's like those people really want to feel used and needed and that they're using their gifts and you need to ask yourself how many opportunities Again, I feel like that's the theme Are we giving people opportunities to serve?

Speaker 1: 28:48

And that's huge on results and that's what makes, like I said, people stick around. Another question am I attracting new volunteers and retaining the ones I have? You know, let me go back for a second, because I made it sound, like in this last one, that it's like just about serving at church People. Like if you're a youth pastor that delivers results, part of the church is to be a hospital for a hurting world right, and like if your youth ministry is delivering results, it's filling needs for the world. So have you given your students any opportunity to be a part of global impact, global outreach, global service? I don't take my students on any missions trips, yet we have global impact through our event Serving to Serve, where they fast for 30 hours and raise money for world hunger initiatives. Another organization we support, samaritan Aviation. Through that same event, we give a portion of the proceeds to them. They bring, like medical, emergency medical care to like Papua New Guinea and remote jungle areas. So they're getting this taste of like, hey, we're changing the world for Christ.

Speaker 1: 30:04

We were responsible for building soup kitchens in Haiti and Tijuana and South Africa and all these places such as. And then, like it's just, it makes them come alive in a different way. Like give them, put them in spaces to get these light ups in them. Like, ooh, I served. Or oh, my gosh, I had an impact. Or, oh, I could share my faith. Like you've got to put them and that's results, results, results. Okay. So, like I said before, I'll go back to it now Am I attracting new volunteers and retaining the ones I have? That's, a youth pastor who delivers results, can keep a team, and if your youth ministry is healthy, it'll be attracting new leaders. People are gonna want to serve. You're not going to have to Beg, plead, pay, but if your youth ministry is healthy and results driven and good things are happening and there's fruit and there's results, people will look at that and say I wanna be a part of that Like that's exciting, not like well, I don't know, it's kind of crickets over there.

Speaker 1: 31:11

It doesn't seem like anything's ever happening or going on or you know, never really here, but it fits the buzz and it's like did you hear what the junior hires did? Did you hear that the high schoolers did this? Did you hear like all these kids came to know Jesus at this camp? Did you know? And if you guys are telling the church this is what we're doing. We're not just babysitting these kids. Adults are like leaning into that, like maybe that's worth giving my time to and bringing new leaders in. So here's some strategic questions to end us Two is are we busy with the right things? So that's a lot of what we've been talking about. Are you busy with the right things? Because your calendar is going to reflect your values, so where you're spending your time, remember, have something for everyone on that calendar the crowd, the concerned, the committed and the core.

Speaker 1: 32:02

And are we trying to move people down the rungs of that? Like getting a kid who's just kind of looking to, hey, why don't you join a small group? And then getting those kids? Well, why don't you join a leadership team and those kids, why don't you start using your gifts up in front? And so we want to move people toward the center of ministry at all times. And then the second question do we prioritize excellence or are we okay with good enough and do we find ourselves saying they're just kids a lot Like? Do we find ourselves excusing our lack of hard work and commitment to excellence because they're just junior hires, they're just kids, it's not that big of a deal, nobody will notice, and that kind of like over promise, under deliver kind of thing. Cause if we're like telling everyone, oh my gosh, it's gonna be awesome, you should come, is it? You know what I mean, stop saying it's gonna be awesome. If it's not gonna be awesome, I'm serious.

Speaker 1: 33:01

Like it's just so exhausting to like wonder, like what's your version of awesome? Because that looks like you threw that together this afternoon and I don't feel valued because you didn't put any time into this, you know, and that is can't be your MO. Once in a while, oh my gosh, you had the flu and youth group was like real low key and we didn't do anything. Cool, okay, fine, you get a pass but, that's not your MO, right?

Speaker 1: 33:28

So here's a scenario to close us with. This is kind of a calibration for me of how calibration is the wrong word, what word am I looking for? Like anyways, I'll just tell you the scenario. So our senior pastor has three kids. They're all older now. They're like the youngest ones, like in upper high school, and the other two are in college, but they used to be in junior high and once in a while they would come to my youth group because they would visit all the different campuses just to see what's going on and they bring their kids with them. And so I want you to imagine that your senior pastors kids are attending your youth group, your weekend program, your midweek program, your camp whatever it happens all the time.

Speaker 1: 34:18

It probably does, and you know the feeling of when they're there. What do you want them to go home and tell their mom or dad about your ministry? So when your senior pastor asks hey, how was youth group tonight? What do you want that staff?

Speaker 1: 34:33

kid to say, well, I don't know, like everything was disorganized or the message was kind of or I don't think anyone was in charge, the kids were just doing whatever they wanted to do. Or they said there was gonna be this, this and this, and there was none of that. You know, whatever that is when they what do you want those kids to tell them? The senior pastor? Pretend they're there every week. Like, pretend your senior pastor's children are coming every single week and they're going to rat on you about, because your senior pastor probably every week will go hey, how was youth group? And you can tell them whatever you want.

Speaker 1: 35:08

It was good, it was great, it was wonderful. Oh well, I can leave out. But you know, imagine that kid's thought all and he's gonna rat on you of like what happened? That kind of puts them perspective for me of like I should be treating every kid like that, every family like that, every parent. The way I felt when his kids would come would be like okay, every kid's gonna go home and tell a story. Pretend they're all my senior pastor. What do I want them to say? You know? So that's, I guess, all these things. It probably felt like a lot, you know, and it probably felt like whoa, whoa, whoa, but I guess these are all just things of like. If you're gonna be committed this next year to be a results driven youth pastor, these are all the things to be considering.

Speaker 2: 35:52

Yeah, no, that's a good way to put it to you know, to be reflective of what happened this year, and then also having that same mindset going into the new year, and there's a lot of books that you recommended and we'll put those in the description below, and there's also a couple episodes that we talked about, so make sure you guys check those out. Those will also be in the description below. But right now we're gonna go into a question of the day, and this goes for you guys too. In this new year, what is one thing that you would love to have in your youth ministry?

Speaker 1: 36:21

I is this. Could this be kind of like a Miss America answer, because I really wish, if I had one wish Four kids no, just kidding. I would really like them to see the value of bringing their Bible and studying their own Bible and circling and highlighting and underlining and using their Bible as the life textbook. I just don't think, no matter what I say, I can really get through to them the value of God's word and scripture. I think it's a book that's collecting dust on their shelves and they don't bring it, no matter what reward system I try.

Speaker 2: 37:01

And it's cool that they all have it on their phone. But I feel like there's a disconnect. That's my personal opinion, even though that's usually what I do. But I feel like when I'm able to really write and highlight and jot things down in my Bible.

Speaker 1: 37:14

You're never gonna forget your phone. You're gonna bring that whether you're going to church or not. I think there's something very intentional of I'm going to the house of the Lord and I'm bringing my Bible and I'm ready, I'm open. It's like this posture of readiness and this posture of learning and reverence and yeah, in a pinch user Bible app, that's fine, whatever. But I just don't think they fully grasp like the gravity of God's word and I wish I could change that. I don't just don't know how.

Speaker 2: 37:41

Sometimes yeah, well, goals, goals, goals. Could put in the comment section below, if you guys are watching on YouTube, what is something that you are hoping for in this next year for your youth ministry? And right now we're gonna do a community comment of the day. This is from I'm gonna probably pronounce this wrong Nitzel 1844 Nitzel.

Speaker 1: 38:01

Sounds like a dessert.

Speaker 2: 38:03

Could be Says you guys rock. Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication. What you're doing is making a difference. Personally, I'm planning on implementing implementing your student leadership team with my group Setting it up today. Hi from Midland Michigan.

Speaker 1: 38:19

Yeah, nitzel, I thought it was a.

Speaker 2: 38:20

Midland Michigan. It was Midland Texas, but hello Midland Michigan, hello Nitzel.

Speaker 1: 38:27

And that's great. You wanna know what I think. When people start talking about implementing our ideas, that's the number one idea they do is they start a student leadership, student discipleship team.

Speaker 2: 38:40

Good, on ya.

Speaker 1: 38:41

Yeah, it's because, like we were talking about today, we need something for the core. So the core, they're the kids. That's like you turn on the lights and you put a hot dog on the floor. I'm there, you know like I will come.

Speaker 2: 38:54

What game is that? That's dinner, Jeff.

Speaker 1: 38:57

They'll eat things out of the trash. They just wanna be at church Like they're the kids, like I don't care what we're doing, I'm there. You know what do we have for them? That's usually your discipleship kids, and so if you don't have a student leadership team for them to get plugged in, you know they need to be challenged. They're like they're your people and they can create such a big cultural influence in your youth group Totally.

Speaker 2: 39:22

That's the biggest cultural influence in your youth group, Absolutely Well. Thank you guys for watching and listening and we will see you next time.

Speaker 1: 39:28

See you next time. How to be the youth pastor that delivers results. We're gonna reflect on how your year was and what you can do better next year.

Speaker 2: 39:38

It was like don't be weird. And I was like ha ha ha. Well, you just became the chef at every single youth, or every chef.

Speaker 1: 39:47

Are you having a stroke?