3 Teams to Make Your Youth Ministry Better & Your Life Easier!

Youth pastors wear many hats within youth ministry and often times it causes them to get bogged down with so much of the weight to bear.  In this episode, we take a look at some specialized teams that can be a game changer for student ministry.  These teams can not only make your life easier, but your youth ministry so much better!

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You may also enjoy these episodes:

(#012) Creating a Safe Ministry - 3 Areas to Focus On

(#114) Youth Ministry Interns (Is Your Ministry Ready to Hire One?)

(#040) How to Start a Student Leadership Team in Youth Ministry

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

If you're a good teacher and they're capable and those two things intersect well, then you have these people that maybe you can start passing things off to, and it makes your life a little smoother so that you're not bogged down in every little detail. But what you give to people is a great learning point for them. Today we're talking about three teams to make your youth ministry better and your job easier.

Speaker 2: 0:39

Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we give you weekly tips and tactics to help you fast track the growth and health of your youth ministry. If we've never met before, my name is Jeff Laskola and this is.

Speaker 1: 0:46

Kristen Laskola, and today we're talking all about three teams to make your ministry so much better and your life so much easier Win-win for everybody. So number one is a safety and medical team and or medical. They could be safety and medical kind of go together. And for years I did not have a designated safety or medical person at youth group. So every time a kid fell and bumped his head or needed a bandaid or had a headache or was nauseous and need to go home, guess who was sitting with that kid, guess who was calling the parents.

Speaker 1: 1:26

It was me and I would miss out on youth group and I would have to say hey guys, can you like take over? Like got to call this kid's mom and I was doing things that a very caring, capable adult could have done for me and made it so much better.

Speaker 1: 1:43

So the way it works at my ministry is I have a safety team with a medical person. So the medical person, he is the husband of one of my volunteers, well, and the dad of one of my interns. It's like their whole family helps me out in some way, pretty much, and he works at a hospital and he's like, hey, my family is with you on Tuesday. Anyways, is there something I could do? And like, yeah, you could do medical for us. So he has a radio and is just available Should someone need ice, should a kid get sick and need to go home and take care of calling their parents and waiting with the kid and making sure they get safely in the car and all of those things.

Speaker 1: 2:27

The safety team is a group of two or three men who sort of walk around and they all have radios. They watch our security cameras to make sure nobody's leaving or entering that shouldn't be. They're kind of spreading out, pacing the hallways, making sure kids aren't doing or being in places they shouldn't, and they are there to also help with bad behavior. So again, what used to take me away from youth ministry was this kid got found with a vape or doing something bad or leaving campus, and then I'm just with you for the rest of the night trying to discipline, call parents, whatever, and still to this day.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Sometimes it is something I do have to handle and be a part of and I get bummed because I'm like I'm here with dealing with this one kid who's being bad, when I wish I was in there with everybody else and helping run youth ministry and so, if I can, I'll pass those things off to the safety team and been like hey, you know this kid, can you stick with them? Can you ask them some questions? Here's their parents' phone number. Can you get ahold of them? Can you wait with them? You know, whatever it might be? So it is so helpful to have people who can take those type of issues and emergencies so that you don't have to. Maybe you're involved to a point, but then you hit a point in the conversation where then you feel comfortable passing it yeah to that person and then you can exit.

Speaker 1: 4:00

That is so big now, especially at camp. So one of my security guys he comes to our camp also and he sets up a whole thing where kids who aren't feeling well I mean guys I used to leave camp depleted and felt like I just got back from war, because every kid that had a bee sting or a splinter or dehydrated was 90% of them they would come to me and I would have to fix it and I'm like wait. So I have to like be with all these kids who are sick or have like a splinter or a twisted ankle or something, and then I have to be running program and then I have to be like making sure the food is ready, and then I have to be making sure people are down at the beach watching kids. And it was like I cannot be this many people.

Speaker 1: 4:47

Having a designated medical person at camp, it was a absolute game changer. So who is that for you? Get that team up and running. If you have a small youth group, that could be one person. They could be doing safety and medical. Just someone keeping eyes on your facility, on your church, being in places you can't be but somebody just owning the overall safety of the group. Little things like we make sure bathroom doors are propped open the exterior doors so that kids aren't going in there slithering around doing little shenanigans on a bathroom floor, they will.

Speaker 1: 5:29

If it means that they're gonna get away with some shenanigans, they'll do it. And so they're kind of just watching for those things where you shouldn't be. If you're speaking and pastoring and all of that, you shouldn't also be like fbi open up, you know, like you just should be able to do ministry and somebody else take care of it.

Speaker 2: 5:48

Sometimes I feel like the fbi I'm glad you said bi after that, because that was not what it sounded like you were gonna say like.

Speaker 1: 5:57

This is a. This is being recorded. What are you doing? Sorry, I know you the listeners probably thought the same thing.

Speaker 2: 6:08

Nobody thought that, yeah, you're probably right nobody let me ask you a quick question, though, in regards to your medical team. What kind of background should they have like? Do they legitimately have to have like an rn md, like anything like that, or just cpr training?

Speaker 1: 6:23

that's a great question. All of mine in the past have been an rn or a pa or something like that, but I would be comfortable with somebody who has like basic first aid training and certification.

Speaker 1: 6:36

I've had a kid choke on a guitar pick once and need the heimlich maneuver because he was like literally could not breathe at all. So somebody needs to know Heimlich, you know, cpr, basic first aid. They need to have good judgment of when is this calling the hospital, taking their, you know, and when is this like ice and a bandage, you know. So people you want to look for would be people willing to go through a first aid training if they don't have any medical, but ideally it would be someone. Some ex military are really great because they've had some of that training. One of my guys at camp he was like an ex Marine forever, so he had seen enough.

Speaker 2: 7:18

Once a Marine, always a Marine.

Speaker 1: 7:19

True, I see you King. Um, true, I see you King. Um, his name is King and you know somebody who's an RN or a PA, but also like a paramedic or a firefighter, like those are the type of and usually this is someone in addition to your team. So this could be a parent. If you can't find one person who wants to come every single week.

Speaker 1: 7:44

I've done seasons where I've rotated people, so it's been the parent of a student and she was a nurse and I said, hey, can you come for two weeks and then we'll have this guy come for two weeks and you guys just switch every two weeks. If you have four people that want to do once a month. My guy right now he loves being there, so he wants to come all the time. So just go with whatever their schedule or ability or desire is. And if they have a kid in your ministry, it's a bonus because a lot of parents will want to be there if their kid is in your ministry. Once their kid graduates, it's a little harder of a sell like could you still come on?

Speaker 1: 8:21

tuesdays for free, like they're like. No thanks, I'd rather be home. So good question with that.

Speaker 2: 8:27

I like the rotation just because if something were to happen to them and they couldn't make it, you know, then you get, oh, this person can fill in for you, or just doing the yeah, you're only obligated to come two weeks out of the month. It's not as big of a sell like for the next 52 weeks this year.

Speaker 1: 8:40

Sign this covenant in blood, and here's something to consider when you're choosing and asking this person. So right now, my main security guy is this guy named JP and he's really, really, really, really good at his job. Here's the difference between him and some other types that are security types, some other types that are security types, some other people that are security types. Jp knows and loves our kids, so he's not like the guy.

Speaker 2: 9:13

Bouncer.

Speaker 1: 9:14

Yeah, he's not like down the hall flexing like, hey, kid, what are you doing? Like they run up to him, jp, and they get so excited to see him because he's put in the relational effort. He comes to our events. He comes to our camps. He hangs out with the kids. He knows them. So a lot of times, like when a kid's not feeling well, they sometimes at camp. I think they're just homesick and want to hang out with JP, because he's so nice you know, because they're they, they're so far away from home.

Speaker 1: 9:43

They've maybe never been on a camp this long and they're they're so far away from home, they've maybe never been on a camp this long and they're just feeling a little like oh, I want, like a I want a daddy, or mommy right now and he'll just sit with them and comfort them and hey, tell me about your day and what was the best part.

Speaker 1: 9:58

and so you're looking for someone who is, like you said, not a bouncer, but someone who can do ministry and who loves kids, who has that gentle heart and is not out here, cause I've had other dynamics where it's like whoa bro, chill.

Speaker 2: 10:17

Right, this isn't the military.

Speaker 1: 10:18

No, it's like hey, we're doing ministry. We're not like we don't work in a juvenile detention center. These aren't some like thug punks who are trying to catch in the act of you know, just be nice and you know, just watch that person.

Speaker 1: 10:33

If you have someone in mind, think of like how do they interact with people? Are they intimidating? The last thing you need, especially a new kid showing up, is some intimidating security guard at church for crying out loud. It's like that is not the vibe we're trying to create, but someone who's for you, but someone who's here to keep everybody safe, and I think that is actually a really hard person to find but when you find them.

Speaker 1: 10:58

JP, never leave me, okay, never. So he is like a youth ministry treasure. Sometimes wonder if god is like kristen. I'm gonna reward you for staying in the game so long you get a jp here you go and I'm like, thank you, yes, he is.

Speaker 2: 11:18

But I got one more thing to say here real quick before we move on to the next one. But in regards to kind of saying, a warm personality and just someone that's can keep everybody safe but is also, you know, approachable and things like that, a key component that your safety specifically should have is the kind of person that can deescalate.

Speaker 2: 11:37

Oh, amen, because, and we've done a whole episode kind of, and just specifically this topic and safety and you know and teams like that how to keep your youth ministry safe. I would encourage you to check it out. We'll link it below. But part of that is just you don't want that because every now and then someone might come on to the church campus. Maybe they're lost, maybe they're high, maybe they're drunk, whatever it is.

Speaker 1: 12:00

We've had all of the above Exactly.

Speaker 2: 12:02

And maybe wherever your church is located, you might have similar situations. But what you don't want to do is take a possible situation and turn it into a escalated situation. So, if you can have that personality type, which JP actually all the ones I know are on- your security team are really good. And some of them are more intimidating looking, but can use words to say hey, what are you doing?

Speaker 2: 12:23

here, like how's it going? What can I help you with? Things like say hey, what you know? What are you doing here, like how's it going? What can I help you with things like that instead of what are you doing?

Speaker 1: 12:29

you know, and just grabbing for the weapon, or you know, whatever. You're like whoa, I'm just here to pick up my kid a little early, you know like down on the ground, down on the ground. So yeah, and you have people that are really trigger happy and our safety team will say no pun intended they like will filter those people out.

Speaker 1: 12:48

You know, like that is their number. They said the number one weapon you have is someone who can talk to people and ask questions and, like you said, de-escalate not escalate a situation where it's like like where they just know how to ask a good question. Calm people down, get to the bottom of it stay in control, stay calm.

Speaker 1: 13:12

And yeah, this is, I mean, probably one of the hardest combinations to find someone who has some kind of medical ability, someone who is ministry minded and someone who has people, skills and gifts and can be a safety presence. That's what I mean. Like JP, I mean, and Jesse, you know they, they both do it every week. I mean, they're rare, rare rare finds.

Speaker 1: 13:41

So if you find these people, maybe if you don't have anyone in mind, start praying that person, God could deliver. God knows what you need, God knows. Your ministry will be better with these people. So pray for that and then, once you have them, never let them go and be so nice to them and appreciative of what they do, because you will find, when that role is filled, your ministry is so much better and your life is so much easier.

Speaker 1: 14:06

Same with number two your ministry will be better and your life will be easier with an intern team Now interns. It's a win-win because interns are trying to learn ministry and you can teach them ministry, which is a lot of work, but there is that role and benefit where you can start passing things off to them. If you're a good teacher and they're capable and those two things intersect well, then you have these people that maybe you can start passing things off to and it makes your life a little smoother so that you're not bogged down in every little detail. But what you give to people is a great learning point for them.

Speaker 1: 14:45

So that can be things like setting up, like I have my interns come and set up the church and the youth room and the auditorium and they get all the supplies out and ready, put all the game supplies out, put everything where it needs to go, make sure the gaga pit is set up, turn on all our sound systems and all of our lights and music, and they have a little checklist of going around making sure these doors are locked.

Speaker 1: 15:10

And if they weren't doing it, I'd be doing it, you know. And it doesn't mean I can't or won't do, it just means great, I can be doing other things while you do that. They can help welcome students. So having interns in the room, that is a great like takes a little bit of the relational burden off of the youth pastor to have to meet and be with every single kid. But it's like hey, there's 20 kids in here, I'll hang out with five, you hang out with five, and between all of us some every kid has been talked to and greeted and welcomed and all of that talk to and greeted and welcomed and all of that.

Speaker 1: 15:51

They can help run and ref games. That has been a huge thing for me is teaching my interns Like I just take emceeing from the front for granted.

Speaker 2: 15:57

Like.

Speaker 1: 15:58

I just get up and I emcee but I realized, oh, that was a skill I learned. So if you teach your interns how to get game control of a room, how to be engaging from the front, how to keep things moving along and organized well, they can MC. And not only that, you can teach them how to run games, how to rough games, how to set up games, and there's a whole chunk of your program that someone else got to do and learn. And now and it's so fun now because now I only do half the program- yeah.

Speaker 1: 16:28

So I used to have to MC, ref the game, lead the game, do the icebreaker, announce worship, do all this stuff, all the transitions, speak and then send them off to their small groups. But now we kind of split it up. Hey, if you're doing the front end of everything, you're doing the welcome and the funny video and the possible shot and the game and roughing the game, and then worship happens.

Speaker 2: 16:50

Deescalating the game.

Speaker 1: 16:52

Deescalating, yes, and then I come up after worship and I just do the message. That's great. Or vice versa. You could even teach your interns how to teach and how to speak. Little by little. They can start with their testimony and then they can teach more and more. Or you can help them gain public speaking skills and give them some prepackaged curriculum so they don't have to develop talks but more learn how to communicate. And you know it's a win for them because they're learning ministry, and a win for you.

Speaker 1: 17:21

Now you're not doing everything. Having an intern team they can do office stuff like attendance and make copies and input things. And my interns right now they get all of my small group folders ready so they print the talk sheet, take out the old ones, put them out on the info table, get them ready for the small group leaders. So there's having an intern team sometimes feels like more work for you because now you have this other main team to maintain. But at the same time, when you get in the rhythm and the flow and you've taught them and they kind of know, then you start to see the fruit of it.

Speaker 1: 18:00

It's always really hard right at the beginning because that's such a teaching heavy time and you feel like it's so much handholding and babysitting and will they ever get it and how will they ever learn? And they have such different paces of learning and what they're capable of. But then when you get in that sweet spot, like one of them I have four interns and one of them Arden she texted me this weekend like hey, you know I've been taking on a lot more at youth group. What about the weekends? Like should I start coming to all the services? Like I noticed you and Caleb never take a break.

Speaker 1: 18:35

I'm like oh my gosh, yeah, please. And like now, she's excited, she's like I want to do more, like I. I've been getting this taste of ministry, I'm feeling successful, I've been learning new things and can I have some more? Sure, you can. I just don't want her to get burnt out.

Speaker 1: 18:50

So I said hey, just communicate with me when you're like would like a weekend off or whatever. I don't want to. You know, the worst thing is when you have something amazing and then it gets overused and then they're like I can't go any further. So make sure you treat people really well. But an intern team is a game changer and then it's so healthy for the ministry because it's like more than just the, you show like the, the face of the ministry can be you and all your interns.

Speaker 1: 19:21

Like it doesn't have to be like I'm the youth pastor, I do every single thing and the kids see me as the figure head and the person in charge. It's like wouldn't it be amazing you were so good at sharing leadership that your students like kind of thought you were all just the leadership team and, and you know, got to learn. Like I think girls love seeing girls up on stage, boys love seeing boys up on stage. Like there's something that speaks to the heart of kids when they see different people up on stage and in leadership that it's like, oh wow, like someone like me is doing ministry. Someone like me has a leadership role in the church, someone like me. So you know, get a lot of people up there. Let kids see that all kinds of people are in leadership lot of people up there.

Speaker 2: 20:07

Let kids see that all kinds of people are in leadership. How do you distinguish between someone who might be a good intern candidate versus just a small group leader or a volunteer? Like are these people that specifically are like no, I want to go into the field of ministry, I want to be a youth pastor one day, or like what kind of you you know? How do you differentiate?

Speaker 1: 20:27

so it's usually people will ask me. I very rarely say will you be my intern?

Speaker 2: 20:33

but they're different roles, like that. You do have different. You know things that they do, while that, when they come, yeah. So so how do you?

Speaker 1: 20:40

yeah, sorry, go ahead and answer that well, I feel like they usually start out as volunteers and then they maybe want more or want to be more involved or have some ministry interests or ministry gifts, and then they will say like hey, could I start coming earlier on Tuesdays or could I help out with something? And you know, our church has something called the School of Ministry and it's for young adults who have a ministry interest, whether in children's or worship or tech or students, and then they have a particular focus and they go to some ministry classes and then they are assigned an internship. So some of them get assigned to me through the School of Ministry.

Speaker 2: 21:23

Paid or no?

Speaker 1: 21:24

Nope. And then some of them are like, hey, I would love to do some more help. School of ministry Paid or no, nope. And then some of them are like, hey, you know, I would love to do some more help with your ministry. Could I intern with you? And it's usually I mean, it's not everyone who wants to be a future youth pastor, but just has some ministry gifts and interests, you know, and and I think that's, I think time is a big one too, like there's some leaders that I'm like, man, you would be such a good intern, but you get here right as we're starting, sorry.

Speaker 2: 21:52

Crashed right into the microphone.

Speaker 1: 21:55

Nobody knew I was going to keep going. Dumb, dumb, like they get there right when youth ministry starts and they have to leave right away and they're always in class and they have a million obligations and sometimes I look at those people I'm like dang, you have some cool ministry gifts.

Speaker 1: 22:11

If your schedule ever opens up, you know I would love to have you as an intern. You know it's not the right time, so there is like that push and pull of like, hey, I see potential in you, Are you interested? Or hey, I see you youth and I would love to help you more. And what can I do? So if you're interested in getting an application going for them, we can send you the one we use for our leaders. If you just send an email to ministrycoachpodcast at gmailcom, we can send that over to you. So your third team that's going to make your ministry better and your life easier is going to be your student leadership team. And you might be thinking that is not going to make my life easier, that's going to make my life harder.

Speaker 2: 22:55

True, You're very right End of episode. Thank you, guys, for watching and listening. We'll see you next time.

Speaker 1: 23:00

It definitely will make your life harder, but in the ways that matter, it'll make your life easier. Okay, so it'll make your life harder to run a student leadership team, because a lot of times I feel like I'm just running another youth group and I have to come up with leadership, bible studies and leadership. You know, we have to have a meeting once a month and service projects and I have to keep track of their jobs and all this stuff. So, yes, there is some tediousness to it, but in the ways that really matter, it makes my life easier because they help with so much stuff and they make, like the ministry culture so much healthier. So how does it help you? Well, students on a leadership team actually do jobs. Not all the time, you know who you are, but they do. Okay, so they run my snack shack. You know they're up there taking money and helping run that. They are setting things up and tearing things down. They are helping with hand motions for worship. They're the people I rely on.

Speaker 1: 24:02

Spur the moment, like all right, we just played a really messy game. If you're on the SOS team, I need you to clean up 10 pieces of trash. Put it in the trash can, um, when new students arrive, I will look at them and say that girl's alone. What are you going to do about it? I've already said hi to her, she's still alone. You go talk to her and they always know I'll start walking Like. I was walking over to two girls this weekend and I looked at them and they're like I know and I'm like well then, why aren't you over there?

Speaker 1: 24:35

And they're like we're going and I'm like faster because she's alone and let's Easter Um, nobody should be alone on Easter. So that is a ways that it makes it healthy Like they help with tech. I used to be stuck in the tech booth, but now I'm out helping run the game and with students and all of that, and they're back there pushing buttons and doing worship.

Speaker 2: 24:58

Doing tech stuff.

Speaker 1: 24:59

Doing the tech things and they love it. So they have a job and a role and they love it and it makes them feel a purpose. And now you are in the tech booth and leading the or advancing slides for worship and all the stuff that I used to do and I don't know why it took me so long to figure out. Just have a student do this and they rotate. That's not like.

Speaker 2: 25:22

I never get to do youth group anymore because I'm back here pushing buttons chained to the computer, yeah, so they're on a schedule.

Speaker 1: 25:29

So I write them a calendar each month and I said you're on for this week and you're on for that week and you know they can do all the special service projects.

Speaker 1: 25:38

So like, instead of like, all right, we're doing a service project, sign up.

Speaker 1: 25:42

It's like well, I already know I have this many kids on my leadership team and they're going to be in and they're required to participate in a lot of our events too. So you know you will get your critical mass that way. So, like we did starving to serve, which we've talked a little bit about before in March, and right there I have 25 to 30 kids who I'm, like you have to do starving to serve, like you're leading the way, and so they just bring this bulk energy with them and they're the ones who are kind of paving the way and leading the way for everyone else to be involved and everyone else to get involved, because the other students see these core kids doing the things and showing up to the events and participating in the projects. So having a student leadership team, while tedious, and a little more time commitment on your part as a youth pastor, pays so many dividends and actually ends up making your job easier and your youth group better, and the ways that it really matters.

Speaker 2: 26:45

Yeah, so if you guys were looking to start a student leadership team, we have a whole episode dedicated to that and also I would guide you towards the episode we did. It was an underloved episode maybe because people don't think they need it, but it was about the safety stuff, where we go more in depth on all the stuff we talked about in regards to safety and medical team.

Speaker 1: 27:04

All right, so we're going to do a question of the day, and this one is how far do you live now from where you originally born?

Speaker 2: 27:17

originally born not like the second time you were reborn through christ. Do you want the mileage? Because yeah or just no, if you, I mean, you probably all know off the top of your head I have no idea.

Speaker 1: 27:23

I mean, I was born in miami and I live in san diego so nowhere however far 2000 plus. I feel like that's the furthest you could get, probably, except for maybe maine. But yeah, miami to san diego, continental united states.

Speaker 2: 27:36

Yeah, yeah. So you guys put in the comment section below how far you didn't say yours oh uh, I was born in long beach, which is like 90 miles away, so not super far here, but also in California, the LBC, lbc, snoop Doe.

Speaker 1: 27:50

That's right.

Speaker 2: 27:51

Yeah, we're buds, you know. So, anyways, you wish Make sure you guys put in the comment section below how far from where you're born do you now currently live? Okay, this is a community comment of the day which comes from John Lewis, egypt, who says thank you so much for all the teaching and leadership skills.

Speaker 1: 28:11

You're welcome, john Lewis.

Speaker 2: 28:13

Thank you, John.

Speaker 1: 28:13

I'm glad you like it.

Speaker 2: 28:15

Thank you guys so much for watching and listening and we'll see you next time. And I have forgotten what this episode is about your life easier. All right, I'm going to say it Three teams to make your life no better in your life easier. Nope, something like that.

Speaker 1: 28:35

That sounded mean how he's not Morgan.