Just updated my volunteer info/application/screening process packet and thought I’d throw it out here for anyone else who can use it. The old one has been available on my Free Youth Ministry Resources page for a while, but now there’s a new one. Here ya go.

• Welcome letter
• How to know if God is leading you toward youth ministry
• What to expect from other youth staff
• Our philosophy of youth ministry
• Our vision for youth ministry
• Expectations of volunteer staff
• Staff boundaries with students
• Character qualities of adult volunteers
• What students need from staff
• Areas of ministry for involvement
• Staff Application
• Reference forms
• Prayer support team sheet
• Commitment form

Download the volunteer application packet

CONTRIBUTE TO FREEBIE FRIDAY: If you’ve benefited from others who have freely shared their youth ministry resources online, consider giving back to the community by sharing your own materials here. Send me your donations for review and if I publish them in a Freebie Friday, you’ll receive full credit, a link, lots of gratitude and a warm feeling inside that comes from sharing with others.

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UPDATE: My free Xbox 360 Elite, game of my choice and a 12 month subscription to Xbox Live is here! Check it out!

I’ve been wanting an Xbox 360 for a long time, but no matter how hard I try I know it will never fit into our budget. Of course, it doesn’t help that I watch Halo 3 trailers and read release notes that make my mouth water. It’s really just plain torture. So, I decided to give MacroBucks a try. Basically, you sign up for a service, fulfill a requirement and get a couple other people to do the same thing and they thank you with a free Xbox 360 Elite (the Elite is the latest upgraded version of the typical Xbox 360 Premium).

Normally I’m very skeptical of these kinds of giveaways because there always seems to be a catch hidden in the Terms of Service that makes the whole thing either illegitimate or totally not worth my time, but I’ve seen MacroBucks.com mentioned on other sites that I trust, I’ve read some positive reviews on blogs, seen lots of forum posts and even read the entire Terms of Service agreement. This is the real deal. All I need are a couple other people who want an Xbox 360 Elite for free, too!

HOW IT WORKS
It’s pretty easy to do. It probably takes about 10 minutes to setup. Click on the link below, register, pick an account type (referral is the easiest) and complete just 1 offer. This is not like other sites where you need to complete one offer on 2 or 3 different pages. And a lot of these offers are free trials with nothing else to buy and no commitments!

There are plenty of cool offers to choose from, such as Blockbuster online, Stamp.com, Netflix and Gamefly, services you might regularly sign up for anyway. I’m doing the Stamps.com 30 day free trial since I’m selling a lot of stuff on ebay and will be mailing it all within the next couple of days anyway. There’s no commitment or obligation, so I’ll cancel the order when I’m done with it. Another good offer is renting DVDs through Blockbuster online (it’ll cost ya $9.95 to try it).

After signing up and completing your one offer, simply refer 8-13 people (depending on the free prize you choose) to do the same under your link. Then they will ship your 360 Elite or your selected item for free.

Step 1: Click on this link: http://80.macrobucks.com/?referral=4342

Step 2: Sign up and choose an account type (Referral is the easiest)

Step 3: Complete just 1 offer (like Blockbuster or Stamps.com) and refer up to 10 people to do the same.

Step 4: Receive your Xbox 360 Elite for FREE!

Here’s a news report and also another one on YouTube that explain how all this works and proves that it is indeed legit.

Anyone wanna help me and work towards their own free Xbox 360 Elite?

8. Thou shalt be flexible. Small group discussions will go in more important directions than you originally anticipated, plans will change at the last minute, volunteers won’t show up and a thousand other things will remind you that you’re not in control of your ministry. Be flexible when things change and approach these unforeseen situations with grace and a positive attitude. The Lord knows what He’s doing and somehow, in the long-run, it will always work out better than what you had in mind. Besides, it keeps you humble and reliant on Him with all aspects of the ministry, which is the most important thing of all.

What advice do you have for this youth worker?

A reader sent me this to me and we dialogged about it over email a couple times, but they would love to have your input, as well. Post your advice in the comments and thanks for your help!
 

His story:
Thought I would say thanks for your ten commandments. I have been sending them to a [church leader] here that has been a real not so pleasant person. He is a great businessman but really has been giving people struggles when it comes to being a leader of faith. He tends to tear people down now so that he can get through what he wants to accomplish. I am not really sure how to read this individual because he an be your biggest pal one minute and then turn on you the next. I am tired of trying to play his game. Do you have any advice?

Relevant Magazine is giving away free copies of Robbie Seay’s new album, Give Yourself Away, set to release on August 28 from Sparrow Records. If you’re willing to give your email address away and sign up for both The Robbie Seay Band newsletter and Relevant’s newsletter, you can download the album for free right now. The best part is that the tracks aren’t even loaded with annoying DRM licenses! Just good ol’ mp3s. Gotta act quick, though, because the offer is available for a limited time. (Some blogs say the offer ends today, but I couldn’t verify that anywhere on Relevant’s site).

GET ROBBIE SEAY’S ALBUM

(ht to Joshua Johnson)

CONTRIBUTE TO FREEBIE FRIDAY: If you’ve benefited from others who have freely shared their youth ministry resources online, consider giving back to the community by sharing your own materials here. Send me your donations for review and if I publish them in a Freebie Friday, you’ll receive full credit, a link, lots of gratitude and a warm feeling inside that comes from sharing with others.

[ Sign-up for other freebies and content added to this site! ]

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.

 
Subscribe to the Life in Student Ministry Podcast in iTunes

 
Use the controls below to download or listen to the podcast.

 

 Youthroots.com interview with Tom Nickell [22:49m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

[tags]Youthroots.com, Lightworks New Media, Tom Nickell, social networks[/tags]

They’re actually not even programs in the traditional sense. Picnik.com and Jumpcut.com are both apps that work inside your browser in very 2.0 fashion, so there’s nothing to download, nothing to install and nothing to set up on your computer. Since most youth ministries function on pretty tight budgets, these FREE sites offer the perfect solution for editing pictures and video. Picnik takes your photos and offers real-time red-eye removal, resizing, rotating, touch-ups, and special effects while Jumpcut lets you open up your video clips in a web-based editor where you can rearrange clips and photos, add titles, effects and lots more. Both sites integrate with many popular networking sites like Flickr and Facebook, so importing media to edit and then sharing it again is pretty drop-dead easy. And I’ve gotta say, each site’s interface is pretty slick. It’s worth registering at Picnik.com just to watch the menus and navigation slide gracefully around the screen.

Free online photo editing at Picnik.com

Free online video editing at Jumpcut.com

[tags]Picnik, Jumpcut[/tags]

7. Thou shalt communicate as often as possible. Informed people are usually supportive people. Communicate well and often with your Sr. Pastor, other staff members, parents, students, volunteers and your spouse! Sharing ideas and plans will eliminate a lot of unnecessary problems. Furthermore, communicating struggles and ministry complications with your pastor on a regular basis will save your back and maybe even protect your job when a situation blows up. (I’ve experienced this first hand.) It also builds trust and an atmosphere of teamwork. If you’re not sure whether you’re presently communicating enough, err on the side of too much communication via a variety of methods rather than find out later that it wasn’t enough.

Dana and I just got back from spending a great weekend with a bunch of our jr. high kids at an annual event called M.U.U.U.C.E. (Most Ultimate Unbelievable Urban Camping Experience) hosted by our denomination. During the three days we spent some time at an indoor water park, Valleyfair amusement park, Minnesota Twins game, and of course hanging out building relationships. The general sessions were based on Ephesians 5:15-16 and encouraged students to make wise decisions.

Here are the videos and pictures of the trip:

• MUUUCE 2007 Videos
• MUUUCE 2007 Pictures

While we were there I met a fellow youth ministry blogger, Joshua Johnson, formerly of juniorhigh blogs, now at Just Joshua. He’s the guy in the yellow below, along with my wife, Dana, in green and a couple of our jr. high girls.

6. Thou shalt evaluate criticism said privately in love. Many people can see things you can’t and have great insight into the ministry. Take heed and respond accordingly, but be careful about what’s thrown around in gossip or said with a negative attitude. Don’t let it discourage you from continuing to serve the Lord the best way you know how. If it’s said privately in love for the benefit of the ministry, then it might be worth listening to. The other stuff that’s passed down through the grapevine by someone who is looking for attention can be evaluated, but don’t let it sidetrack you from what’s really important — reaching teens for Christ.