Every month or two I like to bring to the table some of the questions other ministry workers ask at MinistryQuestions.com and have a live discussion about them. There’s always a lot of great input both on the site and in LIVE YM Talk.

This week we cranked through 8 youth ministry questions:

• How to respond to a student who is tearing the youth group apart
• How not to cheat on your wife
• When should a church have a full-time youth pastor instead of a part-time pastor?
• What steps should a church take to start looking for a middle school pastor?
• How do you get teenagers to bring their Bibles to church?
• Should we do youth group on Wednesday night or Sunday night?
• How long should you spend teaching through the same book of the Bible?
• Recommendations for web-based church management software

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next LIVE YM Talk

March 15: This Monday Jason Lamb will be our guest and together we’ll talk through some common questions regarding Deep and Wide Youth Ministry. We’d love to have you join us! It starts at 2:00 PM eastern time.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Answering recent questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com
• Podcast: Answering questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com #2
• MinistryQuestions.com launches for questions, answers, advice, and mentoring

Today was a special episode of LIVE YM Talk. Some of us on the “Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti” talked publicly about our trip. Joining the conversation was myself, Clint Bokleman, Seth Barnes, Adam McLane, Jeremy Zach, and Ian Robertson.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Stories of what we’ve been processing since returning to the States
• Addressed common questions, excuses, and criticisms of going to Haiti
• How teenagers can make a difference in Haiti
• What God is doing in Haiti and how it’s impacting us
• And a whole lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next LIVE YM Talk in 2 weeks

March 8: There is no LIVE YM Talk on Monday due to me being at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference, so our next discussion in on March 8 when we talk about some of the recent questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com. Join us and give your input to answering other youth worker’s ministry questions.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• The “Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti” discusses their upcoming trip
• Video report from Haiti YMATH Missions Trip: Day 1
• Day 3: Report from Haiti YMATH Missions Trip

Today we had a special treat. Tic Long, the new Executive Director of Youth Specialties, joined us to talk about what’s been going on with the organization over the past couple months and what lies ahead. It was fun! There’s a lot of be excited about.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Who YouthWorks is and what they bring to YS
• What’s in store for the NYWC, One Day, Planet Wisdom, DCLA, and other events
• How they will serve a theologically diverse community of youth workers
• The 10-year big picture vision for YS
• And a whole lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Special YMATH show this Wednesday

February 24: Now that we’ve been home from Haiti for a couple days and have had some time to process it a bit, most of the YMATH team will be joining me to talk about our recent experiences in Haiti. We’ll also discuss what it could mean for you and your youth ministry.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• The “Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti” discusses their upcoming trip
• Special podcast: The YMATH team talks about their trip to Haiti
• Haiti videos, pictures, interviews, podcasts you gotta check out

Today was a unique show. Instead of the normal round-table discussion we usually have, a couple members from the Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti joined me to talk about our upcoming missions trip to Haiti.

In the discussion was myself, Adam McLane, Jeremy Zach, Anne Jackson, and Jeff Goins.

You can follow us on Twitter and Facebook throughout the trip!

Some of the things we talked about:

• Why we’re each agreed to go to Haiti
• What we’re expecting on the trip
• What we’ll be doing there and why it will make a difference
• How other groups can help Haiti both financially and by visiting
• And a whole lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

No Talk on February 15: I’ll be in Haiti, so there will be no LIVE YM Talk next week. However, the week after that, February 22, Tic Long will join us to talk about The future of Youth Specialties and Q&A. See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Special podcast: The YMATH team talks about their trip to Haiti
• Video report from Haiti YMATH Missions Trip: Day 1
• Haiti videos, pictures, interviews, podcasts you gotta check out

Last Monday we talked about the need for theological questioning in youth ministry. Our featured guest was Jake Bouma, a youth pastor who even named his cat after a theologian!

The discussion we had was one that every youth worker needs to recognize and consider because the implications can run very deep for the teens in our ministries.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Why it’s important to help kids wrestle through their theological questions
• Common questions our youth group kids are asking
• How to help teenagers process through the questions
• The balance between spewing answers and encouraging the self-discovery process
• And a whole lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

February 8: Join us for LIVE YM Talk again this Monday! The “Youth Ministry Advance Team: Haiti” members discuss their upcoming missions work. We will have several guests, including Adam McLane, Jeremy Zach, Anne Jackson, Jeff Goins, and others. We’d love to have you join us! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Special podcast: The YMATH team talks about their trip to Haiti
• Podcast: How to connect God’s Word with students who appear disconnected, apathetic, and distracted
• Freebie Friday #152: Dallas Theological Seminary courses in iTunes

Last Monday we talked about how to connect God’s Word with students who appear disconnected, apathetic, and distracted. Our featured guests was E.J. Swanson, a speaker who travels the country speaking to teens at camps, retreats, and conferences. His wisdom and experience where very helpful for speaking into this issue.

Some of the things we talked about:

• How passion subconsciously teaches kids
• What NOT to share from your personal life when teaching
• Creating community around your teaching
• Number of kids a full-time youth worker can adequately invest into
• Having your voice heard among many negative voices
• And a whole lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

February 1: Join us for LIVE YM Talk again this Monday! We’re discussing, “The need for theological questioning in youth ministry.” Our guest will be Jake Bouma. We’d love to have you join us! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Communicating God’s Word effectively with teenagers
• Podcast: Using social media to connect with teenagers
• Podcast: Using media in teaching students

Last Monday we spent Martin Luther King Jr. holiday talking about urban youth ministry, diversity, and what the rest of the youth ministry world can learn from those working with inner-city teenagers. Our featured guests were Adam McLane and Eric Iverson. Eric has been doing youth ministry in an urban context for decades and brought a lot of good reminders to the table about what the rest of us can learn from it.

Some of the things we talked about:

• The importance of building trust quickly and how to do it
• Good versus bad reasons for doing youth ministry
• How contextual ministry morphs our view of theology
• Handling ministry events with low-income and no budget
• And a whole lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

January 25: Join us for LIVE YM Talk again this Monday! We’re discussing, “How to connect God’s Word with students who appear disconnected, apathetic, and distracted.” Our guest will be E.J. Swanson, a national speaker at teen conferences, camps, and retreats. We’d love to have you join us! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Answering questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com #2
• Podcast: The need for theological questioning in youth ministry
• Podcast: Designing a vision for your student ministry

We had a great discussion last Monday answering some of the recent questions and debates that were posted to MinistryQuestions.com. Unfortunately, the service we use to hold the conversations, TalkShoe, was plagued with issues once again, forcing us to switch to Blog Talk Radio for next week’s talk.

Nonetheless, the phone part worked without many hitches, so we were able to discuss a couple topics before our time ran out.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Simply Youth Ministry Conference or National Youth Workers Convention this year?
• Should the ministry’s vision be shared with students?
• Reaching the punk teens versus the preppy teens
• A boy who dates YG girls and causes them to stop coming to youth group
• Online systems for scheduling volunteers
• Knowing how and when to leave a church
• And a whole lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

January 19: Join us for LIVE YM Talk again this Monday! We’re discussing, “What every youth worker can learn from urban youth ministry.” Our guest will be Eric Iverson, the Multi-Cultural Integrity Director for YouthWorks. We’d love to have you join us! The live conversation starts at 2:00 PM eastern time! See our LIVE YM Talk page for details.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Answering recent questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com
• Podcast: Answering teens’ tough questions about God
• Questions and answers from MinistryQuestions.com #3 [Podcast]

Due to a little miscommunication, the guest for today’s show wasn’t able to make it, so those of us who were on the call decided to go ahead with the topic ourselves. It actually morphed into the topic you see above, which was great. We’ll talk more about it with Todd Perkins when we reschedule him for another time, but will go more with the direction of “communicating the vision to the church and community” since we didn’t discuss that much in last week’s LIVE YM Talk.

Some of the things we talked about:

• What is a vision?
• How does it different from mission/purpose/values/goals/etc.?
• Why is it important?
• How a vision directs a ministry
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

January 18: We’re working on getting Todd or someone else scheduled for this coming Monday, so keep an eye on the LIVE YM Talk page this week for updates about next week’s conversation.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Unleashing student artists to use their gifts in ministry
• Podcast: Simple Student Ministry
• Podcast: Serving as a woman in youth ministry

John Mulholland recently separated his youth group into jr. high and sr. high ministries. He joined us to talk about some of the issues that surround splitting the ministries and, together with a group of other youth workers who joined us on the call and in the adjoining chat room, we had a pretty lively discussion. Apparently this is an issue that’s much more controversial than I anticipated, with many different perspectives and opinions.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Reasons to separate jr. and sr. high ministries.
• Reasons to keep the ministries together.
• What separating can unintentionally teach teens about the body of Christ.
• If your ministry should split or stay together.
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

January 4: There is no LIVE YM Talk this week nor next week. Our next talk is on Monday, January 4, 2010, were we will talk about designing and communicating the student ministry’s vision to the church and community. Our guest will be Todd Perkins of Youth Ministry Consultants, Inc.. Join us then for LIVE YM Talk.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Partnering with other youth pastors and ministries
• Podcast: Family issues, women youth pastors, cell phones in YM, revival, more
• Podcast: High school transitions, time management, pastor’s kid goes to a different youth group

Last Monday, Walt Mueller of CPYU joined us for LIVE YM Talk. I collected several questions from you all in the weeks leading up to this conversation and we had a great time picking his brain for answers along with many other youth workers who also had good insights.

Some of the things we talked about:

• How youth workers can stay up-to-date with constantly changing social media and communication.
• Addressing the consumeristic mindset teens have about church.
• Where youth ministry needs to change for the upcoming generation of students.
• Ways to take teens deeper when they really don’t want to go deeper.
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

December 14: This Monday our featured guest is John Mulholland. He recently separated his jr. high and sr. high ministries, so we’ll use his experience to spark a conversation about issues surrounding separate jr. and sr. high youth ministries. The show starts at 2:00 PM eastern time. Call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Walt Mueller and MinistryQuestions.com coming up in LIVE YM Talk
• Podcast: Issues surrounding separate jr. and sr. high youth ministries
• Podcast: The need for theological questioning in youth ministry

Last Monday was our first MinistryQuestions.com LIVE YM Talk show where we collectively answered questions and debates that were posted to the site by other ministry workers. There was a lot of good discussion over real issues that real youth workers are experiencing.

Some of the things we talked about:

• If youth ministry is rooted in pragmatism or sound theology
• If you should have a “bring a friend” youth group night
• Siding with parents when teens disagree with them
• How to teach middle schoolers the importance of “Living for Jesus”
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

December 7: Tomorrow Walt Mueller of CPYU is joining us to answer your questions about youth ministry, youth culture, and parenting. Submit your questions here ahead of time. The show starts at 2:00 PM eastern time. Call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Answering questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com #2
• Podcast: Answering teens’ tough questions about God
• Questions and answers from MinistryQuestions.com #3 [Podcast]

Last Monday the youth pastor at NewSpring Community Church, Brad Cooper, joined us for LIVE YM Talk to discuss our topic of, “Leading a team of volunteer youth workers.” As a youth pastor who works with hundreds of teenagers and adult leaders, he shares from his experience about how to lead a team of leaders.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Setting expectations for adult leaders
• The process of “basic training”
• Helping leaders use their gifts and passions within the ministry’s vision
• Moving leaders through “Direction, Coaching, Supporting, Delegating”
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

November 30: Next week we’re doing our very first MinistryQuestions.com episode where we’ll be answering recent questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com. If you’d like us to discuss your question, post it at MinistryQuestions.com between now and then. The show starts at 2:00 PM eastern time. Call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Special podcast: The YMATH team talks about their trip to Haiti
• Podcast: How to be a volunteer and still have a full time job and a family
• Podcast: How to find and determine the Lord’s leading to a healthy church ministry

A couple weeks ago I published an article that was written collaboratively by myself and several other youth workers titled, Signs That You Should Back Away From A Church’s Youth Ministry Position. Although it’s admittedly pretty cynical, there still is more truth to a lot of the statements than some people would like to admit (especially the people who have fortunately had positive experiences and don’t talk with many other youth workers).

As a follow-up to that post, we brought in Mark Riddle to join us for last Monday’s LIVE YM Talk to discuss some of the points in that blog post. As a youth ministry consultant, author, and expert in church staffing, he’s the perfect guy to give us a larger perspective on this issue of finding and determining the Lord’s leading to a healthy church ministry.

Some of the things we talked about:

• The role a church’s vision plays in the youth pastor hiring process
• What to look for in a job description
• Figuring out if a sr. pastor is a micromanager or not
• The time frame of a healthy church’s hiring process
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

November 23: Next week Brad Cooper, the youth pastor at Newspring Community Church, will join us to talk about leading a team of volunteer youth workers. The show starts at 2:00 PM eastern time. Call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Leading a team of volunteer youth workers
• Podcast: Q&A with Walt Mueller – youth culture, ministry, parenting, and more
• Podcast: The need for theological questioning in youth ministry

Dennis Beckner joined us last Monday to talk about keys for a successful start in youth ministry as a volunteer. Dennis has been a volunteer youth leader in the sr. high ministry at Saddleback Church for the past 10 years.

Some of the things we talked about:

• The unknowns of walking into a new ministry
• Easing into the ministry vs. jumping right in
• How retreats will help you past the initial struggles
• Maintaining respect as both a friend and a leader with the teens
• And a lot more…

Although we discussed a lot things, we barely scratched the surface of everything Dennis had to share with us. So, he typed up the rest of his notes that we didn’t cover in the recording, which you can download here.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

November 9: Next week YOU are the featured guest. We’re having an open discussion where you can ask questions, seek advice, share prayer concerns, vent, share stories, whatever you want. At 2:00 PM eastern time, call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Ten easy steps to guarantee a successful youth ministry
• Podcast: How to be a volunteer and still have a full time job and a family
• Podcast: Leading a team of volunteer youth workers

Dennis Poulette joined us last Monday to talk about working with cross-cultural students and minorities at youth group. Dennis is a youth ministry professor at a seminary in Mexico, so being a minority himself down there, he’s quite familiar with how it feels and what it’s like to be that in youth ministry.

Dennis and many others in last week’s conversation added a lot of good insights and tips for working with teens who might be a little different from us.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Working with different value systems
• Helping different ethnicities feel welcomed
• Moving past potential language barriers
• Common mistakes to avoid
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

November 2: Next week’s guest is Dennis Beckner, a youth ministry volunteer at Saddleback, who will lead us in a discussion about, “Keys for successfully start in youth ministry as a volunteer.” At 2:00 PM eastern time, call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Challenges and opportuntities of working with high school students
• Podtcast: Key steps for a successful start in youth ministry as a volunteer
• Podcast: Are youth events still working?

Matt Brown joined us last Monday to talk about mobilizing students to share their faith. Matt, formerly with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, shared with us from his experience and passion for sharing the gospel. His upcoming book, Revolutionaries: Men & Women in Every Century Who Advanced Christianity, also discusses people who spread the gospel and set the example for us to follow.

Also check out my video with Matt where we discussed 5 ideas to help teenagers share their faith.

Some of the things we talked about:

• The current state of evangelism in our youth groups
• Why it’s important that we model it first
• Ideas to implement into your youth meetings
• Handling “persecution” for sharing our faith
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Monday’s discussion

October 26: Next week’s guest is Dennis Poulette, a youth ministry professor at a seminary in Mexico, who will lead us in a discussion about, “Working with cross-cultural students and minorities at youth group.” At 2:00 PM eastern time, call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• 5 ideas to help teenagers share their faith
• Podcast: Working with cross-cultural students and minorities at youth group
• Podcast: How to connect God’s Word with students who appear disconnected, apathetic, and distracted

Rick Smith joined us last Monday to talk about communicating God’s Word effectively to teenagers. Rick is a youth minister who love speaking at camps, conferences and retreats. It’s from his experience that he shared some insightful thoughts about teaching teenager the Bible.

Unfortunately, we were plagued with technical difficulties throughout the conversation: the conference call’s host service had some hardware failures along with my microphone working incorrectly, so everyone was having some issues. I’ve doctored up the audio the best I could, but it’s still pretty rough.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Allowing the Holy Spirit to teach through you
• Teaching scripture to the apathetic kids
• How our personal walk impacts our teaching
• How big of a deal it is to teach God’s Word
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Today’s discussion

October 19: Today’s guest is Matt Brown, formerly with the Billy Graham Association, who will lead us in a discussion about, “Mobilizing your students to share their faith.” At 2:00 PM eastern time, call (724) 444-7444 and enter ID 19105#, or use the link on the LIVE YM Talk page to listen online and join the chat room.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• 13 tips for teaching and communicating God’s Word to teenagers
• Podcast: How to connect God’s Word with students who appear disconnected, apathetic, and distracted
• Podcast: Teaching to large groups of teenagers

Patti Gibbons joined us today to talk from a woman’s perspective about serving in youth ministry. With 22 years of youth ministry experience, she’s seen a lot and has a lot to share. Although it seems that many paid youth leaders are male, we could never do it without the help, support and wisdom from female leaders. But it’s not always a walk in the park for them. That’s what Patti helped us think through.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Some of the unique challenges and opportunities for a female youth leader
• What male youth pastors need to know about woman youth leaders
• Earning respect as a woman in youth work
• Encouragement for women youth leaders
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

October 12: Today was our last day to have LIVE YM Talk on a Friday. Starting October 12, they will now be on Mondays. Keep your eye on the LIVE YM Talk page for an upcoming schedule.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Unleashing student artists to use their gifts in ministry
• Podcast: The economy, ministry administration, and youth leadership
• Podcast: Effects of extra-curricular activities on youth ministry

Brandon Riley joined us today to talk about unleashing student artists in our ministries. Youth leaders who are not artistically inclined themselves tend to overlook artistic students in their ministry, so Brandon shared some ideas how we can get them involved and encourage them to use their gifts for enhancing the body of Christ.

Some of the things we talked about:

• How to spot artistic teens in your group
• Ways to help them start using their artistic abilities in ministry
• Tools that could help with the process
• Tips for shooting and editing video and photography
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

September 25: Next week LIVE YM Talk is with guest, Patti Gibbons, who will lead us in a discussion about serving as a woman in youth ministry. We’ll discuss some of the unique opportunities and challenges of youth ministry for women, what male youth pastors need to know about their female youth leaders, and offer a lot of encouragement for you ladies!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: How to use improvisational techniques for group learning
• Podcast: Designing a vision for your student ministry
• Podcast: Simple Student Ministry

Mark Matlock joined us today to talk about Open Space Technology, a strategy for harnessing the collective wisdom of a group to self-teach and learn rather than depending on the traditional role of a teacher, i.e. the expect that knows it all and instructs everyone else.

It’s very intriguing to hear Mark Matlock talk about how Open Space Technology works for both small groups and larger groups and how we can use the “technique” in our own ministries. If you get a chance to listen to this podcast, as a ministry worker, it will be well worth your time.

Some of the things we talked about:

• What Open Space Technology is and isn’t
• The process a group goes through together
• How it creates energy and solutions for a problem/topic
• Lots of questions and answers from callers and chatters
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

September 25: Next week LIVE YM Talk is with guest, Brandon Riley, who will lead us in a discussion about unleashing student artists. We’ll discuss ways you can use the artistic teens in your ministry as well as how you can mentor them in video, photography, and other artistic ventures. You may even pick up some video and photography tips yourself!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Unleashing student artists to use their gifts in ministry
• Podcast: How adolescent development impacts growth and learning
• Podcast: High school transitions, time management, pastor’s kid goes to a different youth group

Today’s featured guest had to reschedule due to sick kids at home, so instead we had a laid-back, open form discussion on several youth ministry topics. We asked questions, shared stories, sought advice, and talked about real-life ministry issues. We had a great time!

Some of the things we talked about:

• High school graduates who don’t leave youth group
• Managing time between ministry and family
• Knowing what to do next when all the work seems to be done
• When your pastor’s teenager attends a different church’s youth group
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

September 18: Next week LIVE YM Talk is with guest, Mark Matlock, who will lead us in a discussion about how to use improvisational techniques for group learning. This will be a pretty cutting-edge discussion about how to great a group that can self-teach and self-direct itself in the process of self-discovery teaching. The NYWC will begin to use some of these techniques this year, so join us to hear a bit more how you can use it for your youth group, too!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Challenges and opportuntities of working with high school students
• Podcast: Rest, burn-out and time management in youth ministry
• Podcast: Issues surrounding separate jr. and sr. high youth ministries

Today we talked about, “Having and raising children in full time youth ministry,” led by our featured guest, Josh Christian. We have a great time sharing stories and laughing a lot, but we also talked about some tricky situations that can come up by being a youth pastor or full time youth director and having children, both little ones and teenagers, who are involved at the church.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Setting boundaries and priorities
• Taking your kids on youth trips and to youth events
• Taking your kids to the office with you to work
• Having your own teenagers in youth group
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

September 11: Next week LIVE YM Talk is with guest, Dennis Poulette, who will lead us in a discussion about cross-cultural youth ministry. Many of us have teens in our youth group who are not the same race or come from the same culture as we do, and Dennis will help us understand how to best reach those teens who are foreign to us.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: How to be a volunteer and still have a full time job and a family
• Podcast: Helping teens pursue a calling into full-time ministry
• Podcast: Working with cross-cultural students and minorities at youth group

After a change in plans with our scheduled guest, Tony Myles graciously stepped in at the last minute to talk with us about transferring the momentum our summers have built into the fall. In actuality, however, the conversation turned out to be much more diverse than that. Some of us on the call felt like we had no momentum from the summer to take into fall ministry in the first place.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Recap of our ministries during the summer
• Vision for fall ministry
• Connecting with teens on their campus
• Building momentum with video
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

August 28: Next week LIVE YM Talk is canceled. Sorry for the inconsistency! However, on September 4 we talk about “having and raising children in full time youth ministry” with Josh Christian. It’ll be a good conversation about raising P.K.s and balancing time and priorities at home and in ministry.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: The importance of building a youth ministry team
• Podcast: Having and raising children in full time youth ministry
• Seven benefits of shutting down youth ministry programs for the summer

Today Brian Eberly joined us for our LIVE YM Talk and led us in a discussion about the importance of building a youth ministry team. Although most of us are aware that it’s critical to have a team of leaders surrounding us in youth ministry, sometimes we forget why it’s so necessary. Brian gives us many good reminders as well as some tips and ideas for how to improve.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Why building a team is so important
• Ideas for promoting unity, training, and working with their schedules
• Good and bad reasons why someone might serve
• Answered questions from the chat audience
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

August 7: Next week Mark Matlock is our featured guest. He’s been doing a lot of research on how to use improvisational techniques for group learning where a group can follow certain guidelines and teach themselves in very unique ways. This ground-breaking discussion will definitely be a talk you’ll want to be a part of!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Building community with teens online to enhance community at youth group
• Podcast: Leading a team of volunteer youth workers
• Podcast: Rest, burn-out and time management in youth ministry

Today Shawn Shoup joined us for our LIVE YM Talk and talked with us about rest, setting boundaries, saying “no,” time management, priorities and burnout in youth ministry. Shawn and several others who joined the conversation shared a lot about their own experiences in ministry and just how difficult it can be to maintain healthy boundaries in ministry. It was a great discussion with questions, advice, and helpful comments from many people. Definitely worth listening to whether you feel like you struggle in this area or not.

Some of the things we talked about:

• What leads to burnout
• Advice for setting boundaries
• Why we feel that we should overwork
• The self-inflicted pressure of trying to perform
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

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Next week’s discussion

July 24: Next week Brian Eberly is our featured guest. He’ll share from his recent experiences about, “The importance of building a youth ministry team.”

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: High school transitions, time management, pastor’s kid goes to a different youth group
• Podcast: Marriage and youth ministry
• Podcast: Having and raising children in full time youth ministry

Today Andy Brazelton joined us for our LIVE YM Talk and gave us some very valuable input about what it’s like to be a volunteer in youth ministry, how youth workers can work better with the youth leaders on their team, and how volunteers can balance their full-time jobs and families with ministry.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Tips for paid youth workers who serve with volunteer leaders
• Ideas for supporting, encouraging volunteer leaders
• Balancing a full-time job and family with volunteer ministry commitments
• How to celebrate volunteer ministry
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

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Next week’s discussion

July 24: Next week Shawn Shoup is our featured guest. He’ll share from his recent experiences about “rest, burn-out and time management in youth ministry.”

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Leading a team of volunteer youth workers
• Podcast: Having and raising children in full time youth ministry
• Podcast: Family issues, women youth pastors, cell phones in YM, revival, more

Today is our one year anniversary of LIVE YM Talk! We briefly reflected on the past year of guests, topics and how the show morphed into what it is today, then we all answered the question, “What have you learned about youth ministry in the past year?” We all learned quite a range of different things.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Navigating major changes in programming high school ministry
• Being creative when resources are minimal
• Transition out of ministry and into new areas in life
• The value of teaching through experiences
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Play this episode

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Next week’s discussion

July 17: Next week Andy Brazelton is our featured guest. He’s been leading a volunteer youth leader for 11 years and has been working for 10 years at Simply Youth Ministry. He’ll talk with us about “how to be a volunteer and still have a full time job and a family” both from the perspective of a volunteer and as a paid youth pastor who works with volunteers.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: One year wedding anniversary
• Podcast: How to be a volunteer and still have a full time job and a family
• Two year anniversary of this blog

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, my beautiful wife, Dana Schmoyer, joined me and together we talked about marriage and youth ministry. Fortunately, Tom Roepke, a guy who’s been married in youth ministry for the past 30 years, joined us, too. Many great insights and advice from him in this week’s podcast.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Having open communication with your spouse
• When you and your spouse disagree about something related to the youth ministry
• Expectations and boundaries for coming home after a youth group event
• Being a single person in youth ministry while dating
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

July 10: Next week is our LIVE YM Talk’s one-year anniversary show and YOU are the featured guest! Together, we’ll all ask the question, “What have you learned about youth ministry in the past year?” Think through your answer and be sure to join us next week so we can hear from you.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Rest, burn-out and time management in youth ministry
• Podcast: One year anniversary show of LIVE YM Talk
• Podcast: Q&A with Walt Mueller – youth culture, ministry, parenting, and more

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Rob Kashow talked with us about teaching theology in youth ministry. We didn’t get into any theological debates, but we did cover a lot of ground.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Ideas for integrating theology into our teaching
• Some misconceptions about theology
• Why theology is important
• Evaluating who should teach and who shouldn’t
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

June 26: Next week’s topic and guest is still to be determined. Keep your eye on the LIVE YM Talk page and Twitter for details as they’re released this week. for details on how to join us.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Using media in teaching students
• Podcast: Teaching to large groups of teenagers
• Living out our theology in youth ministry

Earlier this week I wrote a review of a brand new book, Simple Student Ministry. Today in our LIVE YM Talk, one of the co-authors of the book, Jeff Borton talked with us about some of the ideas and concepts in the book: a clear process for strategic youth discipleship.

Some of the things we talked about:

• What is a “simple” student ministry?
• Why is it important to be simple instead of complex?
• How do we implement changes for becoming simple and intentional?
• What does a process for discipleship look like?
• And a lot more…

Here’s a video promo for the book on YouTube that give more of an idea of what Simple Student Ministry is all about.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

June 12: Next week will be a more relaxed, laid back conversation. No featured guest, just a bunch of us youth workers talking about whatever is on our hearts: asking questions, seeking advice, praying for each other, and whatever else is brought to the discussion. See the LIVE YM Talk page for details on how to join us.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Book Review: Simple Student Ministry
• Podcast: Unleashing student artists to use their gifts in ministry
• Podcast: Designing a vision for your student ministry

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Mike King talked with us about adolescent development and some of the implications for that when we teach to teens and how they learn. Mike has done a lot of extensive research in this area and brings a lot of wisdom to the field of youth ministry with his expertise, some of which he shared with us today.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Why do churches have youth ministry in the first place?
• What’s the best approach to youth ministry?
• Some interesting studies on adolescence.
• Both practical and theological implications.
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

June 5: Jeff Borton recently wrote a book titled, “Simple Student Ministry”, and will talk with us about some of the concepts he explains about bringing our ministry into clarity, movement, alignment and focus. See the LIVE YM Talk page for details on how to join us.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: How to use improvisational techniques for group learning
• Podcast: The need for theological questioning in youth ministry
• Podcast: Simple Student Ministry

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Joshua Griffin, high school pastor at Saddleback Church, talked with us about working with high school students. The present both unique challenges and opportunities that are unlike anything else in jr. high ministry, college ministry or even adult or childrens ministry. Josh answered questions of other youth workers from his heart and experience.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Unique challenges and opportunities of high school ministry
• Helping freshman transition into high school
• Ways to keep upperclassmen engaged in youth group
• Balancing marriage and ministry
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

May 29: Mike King is talking with us next week about adolescent development and how it impacts their growth and learning. It should be a great discussion to help us know how teenagers grow and learn and how we can best capitalize on that in youth ministry. See the LIVE YM Talk page for details on how to join us.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: High school transitions, time management, pastor’s kid goes to a different youth group
• Podcast: Working with cross-cultural students and minorities at youth group
• Podcast: Issues surrounding separate jr. and sr. high youth ministries

If you follow StudentMinistry on Twitter you’ve probably seen a lot of references to Lifeway’s new Known curriculum over the past several months. I checked it out and actually had an opportunity to talk with Scott Stevens about it, the Director of Student Ministry at Lifeway. You can listen to a recording of our conversation at the end of this post or grab it in iTunes.

Not too long ago Lifeway did some extensive research on why 18 to 22 year olds drop out of church and their views on eternity. Generally speaking, they found that teens graduating from high school were pulling away from faith and church due to a host of reasons and influences, including life changes and biblical illiteracy.

So they started asking questions like, “What must a graduating high school student know, understand, or believe in order to take ownership of their faith and remain grounded in God and His Word after high school? How can we help that take place best?” What they came up with is a pretty holistic approach to student ministry that involves a couple key ingredients.

1. The example of Jesus’ life

Lifeway focused on the Sermon on the Mount and Luke 2:52, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” and broke it down into three main goals they want to see happen in the lives of teenagers.

1. Know: Upward Development. Jesus grew in favor with God. The Sermon on the Mount breaks this down into discipleship and Lordship.

2. Own: Inward Development. Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature. The Sermon on the Mount breaks this down into character and discernment.

3. Known: Outward Development. Jesus grew in favor with man. The Sermon on the Mount breaks this down into relationships and influence.

2. Parents and the Home

Every study I’ve ever seen, both formal and informal, indicates that parents are easily the #1 spiritual influence in a teenager’s life, which makes sense because that’s the way God established the family to work in the first place. Lifeway found this to be true, as well, and wanted to capitalize on it. So as they worked on putting together a comprehensive approach to student ministry, they knew they had to integrate both the home and the church.

The Compilation: Known Curriculum

Once the goals and strategy were set in place, it took on flesh in the form of the Known curriculum. Lifeway has seriously done a tremendous job of packaging an entire six year Bible course for jr. high through high school that flows from their research and their vision for students to “grow in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” It pretty much includes a ready-to-go youth ministry, complete with Sunday morning lessons, Wednesday night lessons, games, options for creative ideas, planned events, parent meeting, student journals, worksheets, deeper theological training sheets, devotionals and more. I don’t think they’ve left a single thing out!

Known is split into quarterly packages for fall, winter, spring and summer of each year. Each package spends a month focusing on know, own or known aspects of the strategy that incorporates studies that’s a nice blend between topical and exegetical approaches.

My Criticism

The assumption is that teaching specific content from a stage or in a small group is the answer to all the teen dropouts from church and biblical illiteracy. I agree it’s critical to have solid content, but I guess I’m wondering if our delivery mechanism is part of the problem, not necessarily the content we teach. Maybe we need to teach more through real-life experiences than sitting under florescent lights in church classrooms. Yeah, we all try to help students talk through ways the key scripture passage applies to their life, and then we naively assume that they leave and actually do it. Maybe the way we are communicating the solid content just doesn’t connect with teens. I don’t really have many solutions, just thinking out loud, but I do believe that teaching should become more experiential because teaching through experiences is where real-life and faith can truly intersect. That could be a different topic for a later blog post, though.

Of course, the other thing to be careful of is that it doesn’t become a crutch as a canned “one size fits all” youth ministry. That’s true for any youth ministry curriculum, not just Known. Regardless of what curriculum you use, you must contextualize it for your kids and you must never use it as an excuse to shut off your vision casting and direction for the future. Otherwise, your ministry will definitely get stuck in a rut and become focused on its function rather than its identity. But again, another blog post for another time.

That said, I am seriously considering a switch to Known in the fall for our high school meetings on Sunday mornings. Of course I’m going to run it by some youth leaders and a couple teenagers first, but I do believe it has potential and is definitely worth the $149.95 for a quarterly digital download bundle at least to try it out. It seems to fit in our Deep and Wide strategy pretty well.

For more information

Check out Lifeway’s website for more information.

• Know. Own. Known. Student Strategy
• Known Curriculum

Recording: Interview with Lifeway

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Related posts:

• Book Review: Simple Student Ministry
• Ebook Review: “How to build a Lasting Student Ministry”
• Why church is often a student’s last priority

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Mark Matlock talked with us about shaping a youth ministry around parents. We all know that parents are easily the #1 spiritual influence in a student’s life and that scripture says it’s the parents’ role to be that influence in the first place, but how can we shape a youth ministry around that? How can we help parents who are apathetic become passionate and be the spiritual role models their teenagers desperately need?

Some of the things we talked about:

• How parents view the role of the youth pastor
• The importance of capacity
• Things that help and don’t help parents assume responsibility
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

May 22: Joshua Griffin is talking with us next week about working with high school students: the unique challenges, opportunities and values that high schoolers present and what that means for our youth ministries. See the LIVE YM Talk page for details on how to join us.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Getting parents involved in the spiritual lives of their teenagers
• Podcast: Ministering to parents of unchurched kids in our youth groups
• Podcast: Family issues, women youth pastors, cell phones in YM, revival, more

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Mark Riddle talked with us about creating a youth ministry that is sustainable.

Some of the things we talked about:

• The biblical roles of youth pastors, parents and the church in nurturing teens
• The modern approach of youth ministry
• What youth ministry should look like
• Leadership issues
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

May 15: Julio Nieves is talking with us next week about soul care for youth workers, everything from personal time with the Lord to seeing professional Christian counselors. We’d love to have you join our conversation! See the LIVE YM Talk page for details on how to join us.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: The need for theological questioning in youth ministry
• Podcast: Shaping youth ministry around parents
• Podcast: Having and raising children in full time youth ministry

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Mike Kupferer talked with us about finding the right youth ministry position.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Where to find youth ministry jobs
• Tips for the interviewing process
• Questions to ask both the church and yourself
• Some warning flags to watch for
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

May 8: Next week’s featured guest will be a surprise. He’s a guy you’ve seen around Life In Student Ministry before, so it will be a treat. Keep your eye on the LIVE YM Talk page for details to be released later this week.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Having and raising children in full time youth ministry
• Podcast: The need for theological questioning in youth ministry
• Podcast: Rest, burn-out and time management in youth ministry

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Matt McAlack, Director of Youth Ministries at Philadelphia Biblical University, talked with us about the academic side of youth ministry training.

Some of the things we talked about:

• The value of an academic ministry training
• How to find training if you can’t afford Bible college or seminary
• If you really need formal youth ministry training
• How to know what school to go to for training
• The most influential aspects of formal training
• Teens who are deciding between Bible college versus secular college
• And a lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

May 1: Next week’s featured guest is Mike Kupferer and he’ll lead us in a discussion about finding the right youth ministry position.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Youth Ministry 3.0
• Podcast: Finding the right youth ministry job
• Podcast: Creating a sustainable youth ministry

Today in our LIVE YM Talk, Mark Oestreicher, President of Youth Specialties, led us in a conversation about his new book, Youth Ministry 3.0.

Some of the things we talked about:

• Experiential education
• Enabling community
• The process of changing to 3.0
• Joining God in His work
• Cliques and small groups
• Contextualizing ministry for sub-cultures
• A lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

April 24: Next week’s featured guest is Matt McAlack, my old youth ministry professor from Philadelphia Biblical University. He’ll lead us in a discussion about academic youth ministry training: college, seminary, do I need it, where to go, what happens afterwards? Join the conversation LIVE next week!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Academic youth ministry training
• Podcast: Family issues, women youth pastors, cell phones in YM, revival, more
• Podcast: The need for theological questioning in youth ministry

Yesterday in our LIVE YM Talk Ryan Nielsen of Pastor2Youth.com led us in a conversation about connecting, partnering, and working with other youth pastors and youth ministries. He also is one of the youth ministry mentors right here at Life In Student Ministry.

Some of the issues we talked about:

• Collaborating with youth workers online
• Partnering with youth workers in your community
• How to start a local youth worker network
• Ideas for reaching your community together
• The importance of having a vision for your ministry
• A lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

April 17: Next week’s featured guest is Mark Oestreicher, the President of Youth Specialties. He’ll lead us in a discussion about his book, Youth Ministry 3.0, and the direction youth ministry needs to go in the future. Join the conversation LIVE next week!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Youth pastors working with senior pastors
• Podcast: Issues surrounding separate jr. and sr. high youth ministries
• Podcast: Family issues, women youth pastors, cell phones in YM, revival, more

Today in our LIVE YM Talk Aaron Giesler led us in a conversation about mentoring teenagers. He did his seminary thesis on mentoring and is currently working with people like Mark Mattlock to develop a mentoring program for teenagers. He also is one of the youth ministry mentors right here at Life In Student Ministry.

Some of the issues we talked about:

• What is mentoring?
• “Structured spontaneity”
• People who mentored us
• How to start a mentoring program
• How mentoring works
• What kids looks for in a mentor
• A lot more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

April 10: Next week’s featured guest is Ryan Neilson, the youth ministry veteran behind pastor2youth.com. He’ll lead us in a discussion about collaborating with other youth pastors/ministries. Join the conversation LIVE next week!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Teaching to large groups of teenagers
• Podcast: How to respond to flippant teenagers
• Podcast: Helping teenagers lead their peers in worship

Yesterday, in our LIVE YM Talk, we had an open forum conversation where we discussed several issues relating to youth ministry. The top discussions were:

• When your own children are in the youth ministry
• Should women be youth pastors?
• Handling cell phones in youth group meetings
• Reviving a youth group’s spiritual passion

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

April 3: Next week’s featured guest is Joshua Griffin, sr. high pastor at Saddleback Church. He’ll lead us in a discussion about working with sr. high teenagers. Join the conversation LIVE next week!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Partnering with other youth pastors and ministries
• Podcast: Youth pastors working with senior pastors
• Podcast: How to be a volunteer and still have a full time job and a family

Yesterday’s LIVE YM Talk featured special guest, Thomas Roepke. He led us in a discussion about some of the church’s ancient traditions of holy week and implications for them in youth ministry, especially as it relates to creating learning experiences for teenagers. We shared a whole lot of practical ideas of how each of us does it in our own youth ministries, too. Some great ideas you really need to hear!

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

March 27: Next week’s discussion is still open. There are a couple options with different guests, but none are confirmed yet. Keep your eye on the LIVE YM Talk page for updates.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: The economy, ministry administration, and youth leadership
• Podcast: Qualities that grow a youth ministry
• Special podcast: The YMATH team talks about their trip to Haiti

Yesterday’s LIVE YM Talk featured special guest, Greg Stier, of Dare 2 Share Ministries. We talked about his recent experience filming The Gospel Journey: Maui and a lot of the tough questions about God that came out of that.

We discussed several things:

• Identified many of the key questions
• Discussed some answers to them
• How we can help our kids wrestling through these questions
• How experiences shape our beliefs
• How our youth ministries and churches are unintentionally do kids a disservice with these struggles
• And a lot of other things…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

March 20: Next week our featured guest is Ryan Neilson from Pastor2Youth.com. He’ll be leading a discussion on “Collaborating with other youth pastors/ministries,” both online and face-to-face with ministries in your community.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• “Answering teens’ tough questions” with Greg Stier
• Podcast: Answering recent questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com
• Podcast: Answering questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com #2

Yesterday’s LIVE YM Talk was a bit a bit open ended again. We discussed three main issues: how the economy is affecting our ministry budgets, handling administrative responsibilities of youth ministry, and what to look for in someone when recruiting leaders for the youth ministry. I referenced a blog series I wrote two months ago called Youth Leadership 101 that reviews some qualities you should look for, expectations you should have, lists of what students need from adult leaders, boundaries that need to be set, questions you should ask a new youth leader, and a video on commitments they need to make.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

March 13: Next week our featured guest is Greg Stier from Dare 2 Share Ministries. He’ll be leading a discussion on “Answering teens’ tough questions about God,” especially based on his recent experiences filming the Gospel Journey: Maui. In fact, check out this video on YouTube where I interview Greg as an introduction to our upcoming LIVE YM Talk discussion.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Answering teens’ tough questions about God
• Podcast: Ideas for holy season in youth ministry
• Podcast: The need for theological questioning in youth ministry

Yesterday’s LIVE YM Talk was a bit different. Since I’ve been pretty consumed by the launch of MinistryQuestions.com, I didn’t have a guest or topic lined up, so the conversation was pretty laid-back and relaxed. It turned into a time of sharing prayer requests, actually, which was pretty cool.

Some of the issues we shared were:

• Helping a high school senior who was once a solid believer start rejecting her faith
• Helping kids keep the “camp high” going even after camp
• Setting priorities for all that’s expected of us
• Having babies and parenthood
• A youth group that’s starting to ask deep questions about God
• and some other fun topics.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

February 27: Next week there is NO LIVE YM Talk. I’ll be out at the National Youth Ministry Conference, so our next LIVE YM Talk will be on March 6.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Challenges and opportuntities of working with high school students
• Podcast: One year anniversary show of LIVE YM Talk
• Podcast: Q&A with Walt Mueller – youth culture, ministry, parenting, and more

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation we talked with Justin Ross about youth ministry with 100 kids or fewer. With more than a decade of experience with the average size youth group, he shared from his experience about things like:

• Competition with the “big youth group” in town
• Maintaining a kingdom mindset
• Handling low budget issues
• Keeping the focus on individuals more than a group
• and much more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Next week’s discussion

February 20: Next week is still TBD. Keep an eye on our LIVE YM Talk page for up-to-date information.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Ministering to parents of unchurched kids in our youth groups
• Podcast: Qualities that grow a youth ministry
• Podcast: Ideas for holy season in youth ministry

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Bill Scott of Xtreme Talk Live and Sound of Light talked with us about “teaching to large groups of teenagers.” With several decades of experience in national radio and speaking at large student conferences, he shared from his experience about aspects of public speaking, such as:

• Overcoming nervousness
• Using stories and multimedia
• Hand gestures and body language
• Voice inflection
• Content vs. presentation
• and much more…

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

Subscribe to LIVE YM Conversations in iTunes

Next week’s discussion

February 13: Next week Justin Ross will lead us in a discussion on “youth ministry with 100 kids or fewer.”

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Communicating God’s Word effectively with teenagers
• Podcast: Using media in teaching students
• Podcast: Ministering to parents of unchurched kids in our youth groups

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Jason Lamb of Dare 2 Share Ministries lead us in a discussion about the Deep and Wide Ministry model. We ran through a quick overview of what it is and what it isn’t, and then talked about ways to implement it in our ministries. Toward the end we also discussed some of the common objections and problems people have with the Deep and Wide Ministry model.

If you’re not familiar with Deep and Wide, I recommend that you first download and read the thesis from Dare 2 Share’s website. If you have questions that were not discussed in the recording below, Jason Lamb is happy to make himself available to you. Check out his blog at jasonglamb.wordpress.com and follow him on Twitter. Or, contact him directly via email: jasonlamb@dare2share.org.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

Download this episode

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Next week’s discussion

January 30rd: Next week’s topic and guest are still TBD. Keep an eye on this page during the week.

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Been in youth ministry for 2 years or fewer? Apply for a FREE 10 week one-on-one Life In Student Ministry Mentorship with one of our 13 youth ministry veterans. Application closes TODAY! Mentorship is made available for free thanks to Lifeway Students, who are supplying all the resources and materials to each mentee. Thanks, Lifeway Students!

Related posts:

• Q&A: Practical ideas for implementing Deep & Wide ministry
• Questions about Deep and Wide Youth Ministry
• My response to Dare 2 Share’s “Deep & Wide” ministry strategy

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Alejandro Reyes of ChurchWired.com lead us in a discussion about using social media to connect with teenagers. We talked about how to use Facebook to stay involved in our kids’ lives, how to use it to find out what issues they’re going through, how it should impact our teaching, if Facebook is true community or not, and many other things.

Alejandro Reyes is an online marketing consultant and speaker who specializes in teaching organizations how to use social media to better connect with their audiences. ChurchWired.com is his new project to extend this expertise to churches and ministries to learn how to further spread the message of Christ online. Check him out on Twitter, also.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

January 23rd: Next week Jason Lamb, the Deep & Wide Ministry staff member at Dare 2 Share Ministries, will talk with us about Deep & Wide Ministry — how to take our teenagers deep in to God’s Word and wide with His message.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

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Been in youth ministry for 2 years or fewer? Apply for a FREE 10 week one-on-one Life In Student Ministry Mentorship with one of our 13 youth ministry veterans. Application closes on January 24, 2009. Mentorship is made available for free thanks to Lifeway Students, who are supplying all the resources and materials to each mentee. Thanks, Lifeway Students!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Deep and Wide Youth Ministry model
• Podcast: How to connect God’s Word with students who appear disconnected, apathetic, and distracted
• Podcast: Using media in teaching students

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Dale Tadlock lead us in a discussion about achieving longevity in youth ministry. He’s been serving in youth ministry for 21 years, through good times and through hard times. Dale shares from his experience and gives some good insights related to finding balance, growing spiritually, and what it means to be “called” into ministry.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

January 16th: Next week Alejandro Reyes, a leading expert on social media and marketing, will talk with us about “Using technology and social media to better connect with teenagers and build online community.”

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Using social media to connect with teenagers
• Podcast: Q&A with Walt Mueller – youth culture, ministry, parenting, and more
• Podcast: Qualities that grow a youth ministry

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Kevin Twombly lead us in a discussion about qualities that grow a youth ministry. He’s been in the same youth ministry for over a decade, starting from nothing and building it to a strong and vibrant ministry that impacts teens all over his community. We discussed everything from the importance of balance in life, to prayer, personal time with the Lord, but most of the discussion revolved around how we reach kids — trying to bring them in with video games and big screen TVs, or by going to them on their turf. Participants gave good insights for both sides of the issue.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

December 26th and January 9th: There will be no LIVE YM Talk for the next two weeks due to Christmas and New Years. Enjoy the holidays with your friends and family!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Achieving longevity in youth ministry
• Podcast: Q&A with Walt Mueller – youth culture, ministry, parenting, and more
• Podcast: Effects of extra-curricular activities on youth ministry

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation we talked about moving teenagers who are spiritually apathetic toward being more spiritually passionate. It’s not an easy topic, that’s for sure, yet a lot of the youth workers who joined us today had many good insights.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

December 19th: Next week the topic is, “Qualities that grow a youth ministry” and will be led by youth ministry veteran, Kevin Twombly. Kevin started his youth ministry from a small church plant and over a decade later has watched it grow into the dynamic and vibrant ministry it is today.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Qualities that grow a youth ministry
• Podcast: Mentoring teenagers
• Podcast: Helping teenagers lead their peers in worship

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation we talked about big youth events and if they’re still working the way they used to. A lot of us have issues getting teenagers to show up and seeing little life-change as a result of all our hard work. Maybe there’s a better solution? Maybe big events still work great for your ministry? Maybe they frustrate you, too? We talked through some of our struggles and thoughts about the future of big events in youth ministry.

And thanks to Janelle Painter for designing the new LIVE YM Talk logo you see in this post. Eventually it’ll show up in iTunes and on your iPods if you sync the recordings there. Thanks, Janelle, for the LIVE YM Talk face-lift!

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

November 28th: There will be no LIVE YM Talk next week. Have a great Thanksgiving weekend with your families!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Working with cross-cultural students and minorities at youth group
• Podcast: Challenges and opportuntities of working with high school students
• Podcast: Working with teens who struggle with eating disorders

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Tony Myles led us in a very insightful discussion about working with sr. pastors. Having spent many years as a youth worker and now on the other side of the fence as a sr. pastor, his perspective was very helpful. He helped us understand what sr. pastors are often thinking, what they want from their youth workers, how to handle a stressed sr. pastor relationship, and a lot more. This is a conversation you’ll definitely want to listen to.

Last week Tony spoke on a related topic at Youth Specialties’ National Youth Workers Convention in Pittsburgh. His seminar was titled, “Secrets from the other side: What I learned about youth ministry by becoming a lead pastor.” Check it out for a link to download his talk from the NYWC.

If you are currently struggling in your relationship with your sr. pastor or have further questions for Tony personally on this issue, he gladly extends himself to you. Email him: tonymyles(at)hotmail(dot)com.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

November 14th: Again, due to some scheduling conflicts, next week’s LIVE YM Talk is still to be determined. Keep your eye on the LIVE YM Talk, Twitter and the Facebook page below for what’s going on. Either way, join us at 2:00 PM Eastern time next Friday!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Partnering with other youth pastors and ministries
• Podcast: Family issues, women youth pastors, cell phones in YM, revival, more
• Podcast: Are youth events still working?

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Terrace Crawford was our featured guest teaching us how to pull off meaningful youth events. He’s done many big events both for ministries and radio stations and has a lot of experience and ideas that were beneficial to us. We discussed responsibility delegation, fundraisers, expectations, budget and other things in relation to planning events. (I also think we laughed in this podcast more than any other one so far!)

Check out Terrace’s site at TerraceCrawford.com.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

November 7th: Again, due to some scheduling conflicts, next week’s LIVE YM Talk is still to be determined. Keep your eye on the LIVE YM Talk, Twitter and the Facebook page below for what’s going on. Either way, join us at 2:00 PM Eastern time next Friday!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podtcast: Key steps for a successful start in youth ministry as a volunteer
• Podcast: Are youth events still working?
• Podcast: Working with cross-cultural students and minorities at youth group

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation 16-year-old Michael Rothermel talked with us about how to use media to teach and communicate with his peers. Our discussion talked about music videos, photography, music and even what teenagers thing about PowerPoint.

Check out Michael’s photography site at RothermelPhotography.com.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

October 31th: Due to some scheduling conflicts, next week’s LIVE YM Talk is still to be determined. Keep your eye on the LIVE YM Talk page below for what’s going on. Either way, join us at 2:00 PM Eastern time next Friday!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Mobilizing students to share their faith
• Podcast: How to connect God’s Word with students who appear disconnected, apathetic, and distracted
• Podcast: Teaching to large groups of teenagers

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Chris Day shared about his previous youth ministry that consisted mostly of unchurched teenagers. From his experience, he shared many good insights and ideas for how we can successfully work with the some of the challenges that these students present, as well as how we can reach their parents for Christ. Great discussion!

Check out Chris’ blog at www.serialyouthpastor.com.

You can listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next week’s discussion

October 24th: Next week will be unique. Michael Rothermel, a teenager in Pennsylvania, will be our featured guest teaching us about using media like film, music, and photography in our teaching. Michael is a youth group teenager himself, so it will be good to hear about it from a student’s perspective. Join us at 2:00 PM Eastern time next Friday!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Youth ministry with 100 kids or fewer
• Podcast: Teaching to large groups of teenagers
• When parents ground their kids from youth group

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Brian Ford let a very good discussion on why teenagers often make youth group as their last priority. Sometimes it feels that sports, work, relationships, even TV shows, all come before their commitment to body of believers. Both Brian and some of the other youth workers who participated in the conversation had a lot of good insights about what shapes teenagers’ priorities. We also talked about some ideas for how we can address this in our youth ministries.

If this is something your ministry struggles with, I highly recommend you listen to this frank and honest discussion on why kids make youth group their last priority.

You can cisten to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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No discussion next week

October 10th: Next week I will be in California liveblogging Youth Specialties’ National Youth Workers Convention, so there will be no LIVE YM Talk. However, the week after that, October 17, Chris Day will talk with us about “How to minister to parents of unchurched kids in our youth groups.” In the past he worked with a youth ministry that consisted mostly of unbelievers and un-churched parents. We’ll learn both from his mistakes and his advice.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: The importance of building a youth ministry team
• Podcast: Ministering to parents of unchurched kids in our youth groups
• Podcast: Serving as a woman in youth ministry

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Adam McLane, Online Community-meister guy for Youth Specialties, talked with us about using online teen hangouts for our advantage in enhancing community at youth group. Not only did he give a lot of helpful insights and ideas for how these tools work in youth ministry, but many resources were recommended by the participants, both in the conversations and in the chat, for other ideas and ways to communicate and interact with teeangers online.

Plus, Adam offered a 30% discount on anything in the Youth Specialties store for LIVE YM Talk participants and podcast listeners. Listen to the recording to find out how to take advantage of that special offer, valid for one week only.

Listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Topic: Dealing with the demands of extra-curricular activities and how it effects our youth ministries

October 3rd: Brian Ford recently wrote a blog post that circulated to several youth ministry sites called, Are high school sports interfering with teens growing deep? He’ll be our featured guest next week to talk about the frustration we all have with teenagers: sports, jobs and almost anything else being a higher priority than youth group.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Building online Christian community for your youth group (1 of 2)
• Building online Christian community for your youth group (2 of 2)
• Podcast: The importance of building a youth ministry team

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Russell Martin lead a discussion on worship in youth group. Many issues came up, including youth bands, worship styles, struggles, and practical ideas for worshiping in other ways than music. Several resources were also recommended, including a couple websites that Russell will post on his website sometime next week.

Listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Topic: Building community with teens online to enhance community at youth group

September 26th: Next week Adam McLane from Youth Specialties will teach us how to use online teen hangouts for our advantage in enhancing community at youth group. Check out his blog at AdamMclane.com.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Guest video: Using youth to lead worship
• Podcast: Getting parents involved in the spiritual lives of their teenagers
• Podcast: Building community with teens online to enhance community at youth group

Yesterday in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation Dave Huizing from Word of Life in New York taught us a lot about eating disorders and how to work with teenagers who struggle with it. Out of his own personal experiences with his daughter and formal training in counseling, he gave lots of good information that help youth workers understand it a bit more and know how to be the first responders when a teen brings this issue to our attention. Among other things, he gave good advice on confidentiality, recommended resources, and scripture passages to use. If you’d like to talk with him personally on this matter, he made his email address publicly available for anyone who would like to do so: dhuizing@wol.org.

Listen to the whole conversation below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Topic: Helping teenagers lead their peers in worship

September 19th: Next week Russell Martin of ForkInTheRoadMusic.org will share from his experience how to help students become the worshippers God created them to be, and how that worship can be initiated and led by their peers.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Are youth events still working?
• Podcast: Challenges and opportuntities of working with high school students
• Podcast: Working with cross-cultural students and minorities at youth group

In this week’s LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation we talked about how we can evaluate the spiritual depth of our youth ministries. We all want our youth ministry to take teenagers deep in the Word so that it changes their lives, but is that really happening in your group? Most youth workers tend to think that, “Yeah, my group goes pretty deep,” but then someone visits the group who has a totally different standard of what “deep” is and walks away with nothing.

The conversation went a different direction than you might expect, so be sure to listen to the whole thing below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Topic: Working with students who suffer from depression and eating disorders

September 12th: At least for now, this is our topic. Since I have no formal training in this area, I’m still searching for a professional Christian counselor to walk us through these issues. If you know of someone to recommend for it, contact me. Thanks!

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

Related posts:

• Podcast: Getting parents involved in the spiritual lives of their teenagers
• Podcast: Working with teens who struggle with eating disorders
• Podcast: Partnering with other youth pastors and ministries

Last week in our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation we talked about the issues surrounding “youth group as a minichurch.” Youth ministries are becoming like their own little sub-church more and more: they have their own pastor, their own worship band, their own sermon and their own youth worship service. Opinions on the implications of such a structured ministry are many, from, “This is why teenagers are leaving the church after college” to, “There’s no better alternative because the adult church is totally irrelevant.” This past spring I blogged a bit about my view on how the mini-church approach can be dangerous and other’s have, too. Not everyone agrees, however. This LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation is probably one of the most stimulating discussions we’ve had yet. Listen to it below or grab it in iTunes.

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Next Topic: Evaluating the spiritual depth of your youth ministry.

September 5th: How deep is your teenagers’ faith? To what extent do they interpret the world around them through a Biblical lens? Are our youth ministries playing a significant role in taking kids to the next level in their faith? There’s no Conversation this Friday (August 29), but next Friday (September 5) we’ll discuss ways we can evaluate our youth ministry’s spiritual impact and what we need to do to create ministries that challenge kids beyond the same old messages and Bible stories re-packaged with different flavors.

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!

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Been in youth ministry for 2 years or fewer? Life In Student Ministry has an outstanding team of youth ministry veterans waiting to mentor you one-on-one! [Mentorship made free for you thanks to YouthBytes video curriculum.]

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• Podcast: Evaluating the spiritual depth of our youth ministries
• Podcast: Getting parents involved in the spiritual lives of their teenagers
• Podcast: How to use improvisational techniques for group learning

Today we had a great LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation about getting parents involved in the spiritual lives of their teenagers. Many of you requested that I record it due to your absence, so here it is! You can find the recording below.

In summary, here’s some things we talked about:

• Giving talk-sheets to parents after each youth group lesson so they can continue the discussion at home.
• Using monthly newsletters.
• Why we don’t use scare tactics and statistics about teens.
• Parent meetings/book clubs/small groups/classes/forums.
• Using parents as youth volunteers.
• Open house parent dinners.
• And a whole lot more.

I apologize for the poor audio quality. Technology never quite seems to work right. Ugh! One of these days it’ll work the way it’s supposed to… I hope.

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Next Topic: Problems with youth group as a “minichurch”

Youth groups often have their own worship services, their own “sermons,” their own worship bands, everything “big church” has, but tweaked for youth. It’s almost like there’s a minichurch inside the larger church. What affect does this have on a teenager’s perspective of what church is all about and their role in it? What’s happening to our churches as a result? Is there a better approach we should take? Come talk about it with us!

Upcoming Schedule

The schedule and topics are maintained on our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversations page, but here’s a glance at what’s coming up.

• August 15: No conversation.
• August 22: Problems with youth group as a “minichurch.”
• August 29: No conversation.
• September 5: Evaluating the spiritual depth of our youth ministries.
• September 12: Working with students who suffer from depression and eating disorders (special guest, TBA).

Join our next LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation!.

Related posts:

• Podcast: Evaluating the spiritual depth of our youth ministries
• A plan for helping parents reach their teenagers
• Podcast: Problems with youth group as a “minichurch”

Last Friday Steve Quatro joined our Skypecast as our featured guest. He is the director of the Kern Center for Vocational Ministry, a ministry that helps high school students pursue their calling into full-time church ministry by offering them scholarships, resources, paid internships, and a lot more. They also provide youth workers with free materials and discipleship curriculum who are working with youth group teenagers that are considering full-time ministry as a career. It was a very valuable discussion. I really learned a lot from Steve and all his practical advice and wisdom. Here’s a recording of the Skypecast for those who are interested in hearing what he had to say. Even if you don’t yet have a teenager who’s expressed an interest in ministry, encourage them to start thinking about it and have some of Steve’s tools handy for later.

NOTE: The next Skypecast is scheduled for August 1 at 1:00 PM Central Time. We’ll debrief about summer ministry and talk about the balance between “fun” and Bible study in youth group.

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Related posts:

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• Freebie Friday #89: Guide for students who are exploring full-time ministry
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We had another great Skypecast discussion last Friday! Thanks to everyone who came! It was really a beneficial time for all of us to hear about how God is working in other ministries, to be encouraged in tremendous ways and to receive advice from others who have often already gone through the exact the same things we are. I love hanging out and talking with you all about anything that pertains to “life in student ministry” and “what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Eph. 4:29).

This week we covered several great topics, including:

• Building relationships with teens this summer
• Prioritizing time and responsibilities in ministry
• The balance between teaching from a plan and allowing the Holy Spirit to lead differently last-minute
• The difference between teaching from a curriculum and teaching from our lives
• What stresses us out the most in youth ministry
• Handling conflict
• Disciplining kids in our ministry
• Keeping different literacy levels and age groups of teens engaged together without leaving some behind

It’s been over a year since my last podcast, so what better time to publish another one than to feature some of the highlights from last Friday’s Skypecast conversation. To join in the conversation again this Friday, visit the Life In Student Ministry Skypecast page at 1:00 PM Central Time and click the link to join the discussion via Skype. If you don’t have a microphone, don’t worry — you can still interact via the group chat room.

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Related posts:

• Special guest on our Skypecast this Friday
• Upcoming Skypecast schedule
• Talk with me and other youth workers LIVE this Friday

Youthroots.com is a faith-based social networking site that helps youth workers communicate and build relationships with their students online. In this podcast I interview Tom Nickell, the President and CEO of Lightworks New Media, about their history, why they started Youthroots.com, and how youth workers can best utilize this FREE resource for their ministries. If you’re looking for a safe, flexible and user-friendly web presence for your youth group, this might be the ticket.

 
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Related posts:

• Podcast: One year wedding anniversary
• Listen to my first podcast: Micah 2
• My podcast is now available in iTunes

This Sunday is my one year wedding anniversary! In this podcast I quickly recap our past year, ministry together, a conversation I could’ve had before dating and what Dana probably thought after she married me.

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Apple just sent me the approval email saying that my podcast has been reviewed and is now included in iTunes. If you have iTunes installed on your computer, you can use the following link to automatically open iTunes and display my podcast. Click the “Subscribe” button in iTunes for new episodes to be automatically downloaded and included in your music library for easy syncing to your mp3 player or playback on your computer.

Subscribe using iTunes.

If you do not yet have iTunes, you can downloaded it for free.

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Long-time readers of my blog may remember back to August of last year when I first announced my upcoming podcast. Unfortunately, life quickly changed and forced the podcast to a backburner while I settled into married life, interviewed at churches and then moved to Minnesota. I had some extra time today, though, and cranked out my very first podcast.

The future of this podcast is likely to be very random. I have ideas for different interviews, Bible studies for youth workers, ministry ideas, mission experiences, and more. So stay tuned and it’ll be fun!

Summary of “Micah 2″ podcast
It’s hard to confront specific sins in students’ lives when you’re concerned about how it might affect your relationship with them. Micah addressed sin and has a good point about the outcome.

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Related posts:

• Podcast: One year wedding anniversary
• My podcast is now available in iTunes
• Podcast: Youthroots.com interview with Tom Nickell

There’s been a delay in the podcast production I announced two weeks ago due to my church’s old sound equipment being replaced for a reason — it doesn’t work! I figured we’d easily set up the old mixer and some mics in my office to record the podcasts, but it turns out that the old equipment is indeed old and either sounds terrible or is missing parts. So, Tuesday night my wife gave me permission to purchase a new mixer, which we promptly did minutes before Guitar Center closed. It’s all set up now and ready to record. Hopefully I’ll have an episode finished within a week or two depending on students’ availability.

For anyone new, here’s what the podcast is about:

The Life In Student Ministry Podcast is a discussion of real teenagers talking about real issues in their lives and culture around them. It is our desire that this podcast will be a valuable resource to parents and youth workers seeking to understand student culture and best help other students in our areas of discussion. Our goal is to be insightful, give ideas for effective youth ministry, open windows into youth culture and prompt thoughts for youth workers to discuss with their students.

Coming soon!

Related posts:

• Upcoming “Life in student ministry” podcast
• Listen to my first podcast: Micah 2
• Podcast: Answering recent questions and debates from MinistryQuestions.com

I’ve been disappointed by the lack of quality youth ministry podcasts available. Most seem to just push products and services or ramble on and on about unrelated issues, so I thought I’d start one myself. My idea is to release an episode of about 15-20 minutes in length on a weekly basis containing discussions/interviews with teenagers on issues in their culture. The target audience will be parents and other youth workers, so these discussions with teens will pertain mostly to how adults can understand them and best help other students in those areas. Topics that come to mind include depression, MySpace, values, stress, cutting, eating disorders, faith/spirituality, sexuality, divorce, dating, suicide, abuse, etc, etc, etc. Hopefully the podcast will be insightful, give ideas for effective youth ministry, open windows into youth culture and prompt thoughts for youth workers to discuss with their students.

Bill Scott, a friend of mine, life-long radio veteran and president of Zjam Youth Ministries and Teenhopeline.com, is helping with some of the initial production. He also wants to include the podcast on Zjam’s new huge website that will release in about a month. So it looks like the Lord has some plans for this podcast that extend beyond the scope of my blog. I’m excited and looking forward to what He wants to do.

Related posts:

• The podcast is still on its way…
• Looking back on “Life in Student Ministry” in 2007
• Become a Facebook fan of Life in Student Ministry