Two weeks ago I wrote that I was temporarily slowing down my blog postings to prepare for our first baby that’s due very soon and to give some extra attention to this season of transition in my own youth ministry.

I also mentioned that some major changes are coming to Life In Student Ministry. Much of the time I normally spend on generating content I’m using to work on that project instead.

Future vision for this site

Basically, this site will be relaunched on a new domain with a new design that will allow it to reach far more people than it currently does. More new youth workers will be able to connect to the Youth Ministry Mentorships, blessed by resources, content, videos and LIVE YM Talks. MinistryQuestions.com will receive a boost among other things, but perhaps best of all, it will no longer be branded around my name. I will remain the primary voice, but the community of youth workers who have surrounded this site over the past several years will become a bigger emphasis. I’m really excited about the possibilities of growing, learning and being challenged together!

As with most things, there’s a price tag for all of this. Life In Student Ministry has never charged for anything and it rarely asks for donations, but the vision I have in mind will cost about $8,500 (yikes!), which is why I anticipate doing it in stages as funds are available. The first stage costs $2,500 and would work best if it was reached within a week from today.

I have about $900 of personal funds to contribute (instead of buying a TV) and am more than happy to do so in order to bless you and your ministries, but I can’t do it by myself. I know your ministries can’t always get away with just giving away funds — that’s why several organizations have partnered with me to offer their products as thanks-yous for your donation to Life In Student Ministry.

$10 donation – Interlinc “Welcome to youth group” videos

Interlinc creates “drop in” videos of Christian music artists doing little promos like, “Go to camp,” or “Join the worship team.” They’re easy to drop in to PowerPoint announcements, iMovie, or burn to DVD.

For a donation of $10, Interlinc will send you

• 5 “Welcome To Youth Group” drop in videos by Christian music artists
• An article from their Youth Leader Only book titled, “An Old Guy’s Advice for Strategic Ministry”
• A great download Bible Study for a Kutless song

$25 donation – 36 Parables video from Youth Specialties

For a $25 donation, you receive both Interlinc’s gift above, plus a free download of a 36 Parables video, “The Car Lot,” from Youth Specialties.

If you like that video, check out the entire 36 Parables series!

And as an additional bonus for every Life In Student Ministry reader, regardless of if you donate or not, register for the 2009 National Youth Workers Convention, with coupon code LSMN09 to get a free convention t-shirt! The early-bird rate is good until August 14, 2009.

$50 donation – “One Month To Live” from Simply Youth Ministry

For a donation of $50, you receive Interlinc’s gift, Youth Specialties’ gift, and a free download of the 3-week sermon series, “One Month To Live,” from Simply Youth Ministry.

This series helps students identify the values that define them — while also shedding light on parts of their lives that may be holding them back from living for God. It covers topics like determining what matters most, deepening relationships, leaving a legacy.

$100 donation – 3 random ministry books

For a donation of $100 or more, you receive the 3 gifts above, plus I will mail you 3 random books from my ministry library.

(Limited to first 10 doners. 8 left.)

How to donate

Visit my ChipIn page to “chip in” and give securely online via PayPal. I will be in touch via email with links to download your gifts.

Contact me privately if you prefer to donate with a check instead of online.

Other donations

Any size gift is appreciated, whether it’s $10 or $1,000. Thank you!

Other ways to contribute

If you’re unable to donate or would like to contribute in a different way, consider building a website for your ministry through MinistryWebsites.biz or completing a referral for a free iPod Touch, iPhone, Xbox 360, Macbook, and more.

If you’ve read Simple Church, by Thom S. Rainer and Eric Geiger, then you probably know where this student ministry counterpart is going. However, unlike Simple Church that was about 10 times longer than it needed to be (especially for a book about being simple), Simple Student Ministry, by Eric Geiger and Jeff Borton, does not feel drawn out to fill pages. In fact, Simple Student Ministry is a pretty quick book that every youth pastor should read.

The problem with youth ministries

Too many youth ministries are busy and crammed full with programs and calendars, as if having a lot of people involved in a lot of stuff somehow equals spiritual growth. We strive for the wrong goals, measure our ministries by the wrong standards and strive to give kids an overload of spiritual “opportunities.” Maybe these values are not explicitly stated as such, but they often lead and guide our ministries whether we realize it or not. The result is a youth ministry with a lot of independent programs all somewhat functioning in their own separate silos. How much more effective could our youth ministries be if every program helped teens move through a process of discipleship that was clearly defined and easy to understand?

A better solution

Simple Student Ministry presents a clear process for strategic youth discipleship that seems to coincide a lot with Andy Stanley’s book, 7 Practices of Effective Ministry. After pointing out the draining, frustrating and ineffective strategy most youth ministries take for growing disciples, Jeff and Eric proceed to lay out several principles that have the potential to change all that. It starts by bringing clarity to the discipleship process, focus to the programs, and placing those programs in alignment with each other in a way that helps students move through a discipleship process. In Andy Stanley’s book, it’s a little like “defining a win” and “thinking steps, not programs.”

Jeff and Eric also give a lot of practical examples of what this simplified student ministry looks like in many different church and para-church contexts around the country. Basically, the results are same: a simple student ministry increases life-change exponentially, not because there’s anything magical about the strategy, but because you’ll finally have a clear and focused ministry that’s aligned with itself and with the church that is moving people toward Christlikeness in a clear and focused manner.

My criticism and questions

However, my thoughts about the book are not without criticisms or questions. For example, most of the churches that are featured in the book see evangelism as part of the discipleship process, which I wholeheartedly agree, but their approach seems to be largely a “bring your unsaved friends to our church turf so a speaker can share the gospel with them.” (I’ve expressed reasons why I’ve abandoned this form of outreach in an earlier post.) Also, the assumption seems to be that spiritual growth is a straight-forward linear process. I struggle a bit with the idea that moving teenagers through a process of programs can make them a more devoted follower of Christ. We all know that the graph of spiritual growth over time is never a straight upward arrow. It’s ups, downs, setbacks, stumbles, growth spurts, and failures over and over and over again. So how do teens move through a linear strategy for discipleship when the growth process itself is not necessarily linear?

Talk with Jeff yourself!

These questions and more I’ll be asking Jeff Borton himself this Friday during our LIVE YM Talk when we talk more about Simple Student Ministry. If you’re free this Friday (June 5, 2009) at 2:00 PM eastern time, Jeff and I would love to have you join us. Bring your own questions and thoughts and share them with us during our open conversation. The conference phone call is open to anyone who wants to call in and join the conversation, or whoever wants to just listen in online and participate via the live chat room. Find the phone number and the chat room link on the LIVE YM Talk page.

[ Buy "Simple Student Ministry: A Clear Process for Strategic Youth Discipleship" on Amazon ]

Several weeks ago I told you all about a book every youth worker must read: Ministry Mutiny, by Greg Stier. You will find that Greg lays out all the struggles and frustrations you have in ministry, including the ones you’ve felt but never identified, and then gives a plan for how we should shape our ministries. Here’s the full review.

Ministry Mutiny is a required text for those in the Youth Ministry Mentorship program because it has so many critical insights for new youth workers (of things to avoid) and for veteran youth workers (of things to change). I put together a discussion guide for the mentor team to use as they go through the book with their mentees and am now making it freely available for you.

The Ministry Mutiny discussion guide goes through each chapter in the book, asking tough questions about the ideas and principles mentioned, along with self-reflective evaluations of our own lives in ministry. Dare 2 Share may distribute this guide with Ministry Mutiny in a forthcoming second revision, but for now you can grab it free right here:

Download the Ministry Mutiny discussion guide

[ Ministry Mutiny on Amazon ]

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There is NO LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation today! Instead, I’m at the National Youth Workers Convention in Sacramento, CA, liveblogging the event. Go to http://www.nywc.com/live to follow the play-by-play of thoughts, ideas, videos, pictures, and more of what’s happening at the conference.

Why do so many young adults (18 to 22) leave the church, and what will it take to bring them back? This important question is examined and duly answered in Essential Church?: Reclaiming a Generation of Dropouts, a follow-up to Thom S. Rainer’s best-selling Simple Church cowritten this time with his son, research expert Sam Rainer.

The book is based on a study of one-thousand so-called “church dropouts” who were interviewed about why they left. Their answers are quite surprising, having less to do with “losing their religion” and more about the desire for a community that isn’t made stale by simply maintaining the status quo.

That’s a summary of the new book, Essential Church. Looks like a must-read for youth workers. Fortunately, you can download the book in it’s entirety for FREE right now if you’re willing to give away your email address. I’ve never read a 278-page book on a computer before and I’m not sure I will with this one either, but at least it was good to skim through the book and decide that I should probably buy a paper copy on Amazon sometime.

Download the book “Essential Church” for FREE!

[ ht Terrace Crawford ]

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Join our LIVE Youth Ministry Conversation today at 2:00 PM EST! The topic is, “Building community with teens online to enhance community at youth group.” Adam McLane, the online community guy for Youth Specialties, will be our featured guest. He has a lot of good information prepared for our discussion. Join us using either your telephone or your computer microphone!

This week I have a very special resource for you guys. I’ve been working on this project for a while now and am excited to finally release it to you all. This ebook, titled, 130 Youth Ministry Tips and Ideas, is based on the past two years of blogging here at Life In Student Ministry.

Who this ebook is for
This ebook was written for the small-church youth leader who volunteers their time from a huge heart for students but has very little training and even feels a little lost in this whole youth ministry thing. It’s also for the new youth pastor who is just starting out in his or her first youth ministry position and needs some pointers to help get started and tips to avoid common mistakes. However, that said, there are still plenty of ideas here that will benefit even the veteran youth worker.

The inspiration for this ebook
My wife’s grandmother follows much of what I write concerning youth ministry at Life In Student Ministry and is always eager to pass it along to her church’s youth ministry volunteer team. Several times she’s asked me to pull all my content together in a book and sell it. Although I’ll never sell this ebook because I’m a strong supporter of the open source community, I finally heeded her advice and attempted to compile many of the youth ministry tips and ideas from Life In Student Ministry into one place. Youth Specialties also has a list of tips for youth workers that inspired some of these ideas.

This ebook is completely free and will always be distributed free of charge. Please download it and pass it around to your heart’s content.

130 Youth Ministry Tips & Ideas (English, by Tim Schmoyer)

130 Tips und Ideen fur Jugendarbeit (German, translated by Waldy Schröder.)

See the Ebook on Scribd.com

If you feel so inclined to make a donation as a way of saying thank you for this ebook, use the PayPal button to the left. Thanks for your support!

Help Promote this Ebook
I’d greatly appreciate any publicity you can give to this ebook.

Copy and paste this code into your blog or website for a small icon:
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Download this FREE Ebook!
 

Copy and paste this code into your blog or website for a large icon:
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Download this FREE Ebook!
 
 

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[tags]ebook[/tags]

Scott Aughtmon was nice enough to send me a copy of his new ebook, How to Build a Lasting Student Ministry, to review for you guys.

SUMMARY
He starts by observing that Jesus’ ministry lived long beyond his earthly leadership, that he reproduced leaders to carry on the ministry and that he provided them with the authority to accomplish all that he had called them to do. Jesus took men “off the street” and taught them to have a faith that impacted the kingdom throughout history. Unfortunately, in youth groups across America, students are involved in church, but aren’t being impacted to be the spiritual leaders this generation needs. Jesus started a lasting ministry that still affects us today and Scott wants to see that continue to happen through our youth ministries.

His ebook is based on the following scenario and four questions:

You are snatched from yo current church (or other current job) and put at a church in the suburbs where you have to start all over again. There are five kids there. Two are the senior pastor’s kids. There are three boys and two girls. Two are in High School and three are in Junior High. You are asked to build a ministry that will continue on after you leave. You have one year to do this. You have a limited budget.

1. What are two common mistakes most pastors make when starting a youth ministry that you would be careful to avoid?
2. What methods/steps would you use to lay a strong foundation that would last beyond you time there?
3. What is the one method/system you would use to see numerical growth as quickly as possible?
4. What is one method/system you would use to see lasting spiritual growth?

What follows in the ebook are the responses of 14 well-known youth workers who share their insights from decades of experience and wisdom. Contributors include Mark Oestreicher, Jonathan McKee, Greg Stier, and more.

WHAT’S GOOD ABOUT IT
Scott’s ebook is full of great tips. Little nuggets of wisdom are scattered throughout, as you might expect from some of these authors. Plus, after you get through the first couple pages, the content is fairly skimmable. So if you’re in search of some specific information, it shouldn’t be too hard to find. And while the information is clear and concise, the best part is that it’s all so very practical. There’s not a lot of theoretical ideas or philosophical debates — it’s all down-to-earth, good ideas that can be implemented into any youth ministry.

WHAT MADE ME GO, “HMMM…”
However, first impressions mean a lot to me and at first glance the ebook looks a lot like a college term paper. I opened the PDF and saw nothing put plain text in Arial 12-point font with lots of spacing. This left me with two feelings. The first was, “Oh man, where do I start with this?” and the second was, “Is this thing credible?” If I hadn’t agreed to review it for him, I probably wouldn’t have continued to read it, but I’m glad I did. This is a classic example that I should not judge a book by it’s cover.

Just One note: be careful not to confuse outreach with recruitment. Evangelism should be done with a burden for lost souls, not for the purpose of building a larger youth group. Nowhere does How to Build a Lasting Student Ministry suggest otherwise, but the vibe may tend to come across that way.

Anyone just starting out in youth ministry with a brand new group will benefit from Scott’s ebook, although veterans can also stand to be reminded of much of the content it contains.

WHERE TO GET IT
The ebook isn’t free — it’ll cost ya $12.97, but Scott allows owners to freely redistribute the ebook to all staff and leaders on their team and throws in a couple extra bonuses, as well. If his scenario and questions appeal to you, then I suggest that the money is worth the purchase.

Click here to for more information on the book or to pick up a copy for yourself.

[tags]How to Build a Lasting Student Ministry, Scott Aughtmon, ebook[/tags]

Throughout college and seminary I noticed I was a little different than most of my classmates. Most of them would vigorously take notes, copying down word for word whatever the professor taught. If he put some bullet-points on a screen, its guaranteed that everyone would promptly replicate it in their notebooks, except me. For some reason my note-taking often looks like random thoughts scribbled in random blocks across the paper. If I want to connect two thoughts, I circle them both and draw a line between the two.

Likewise, in seminary we were given clay to play with as an example of the kinesthetic learner. As soon as the object lesson was over, everyone put the clay away and immediately took up pen and paper to start writing notes in a neat linear fashion. I, however, was the only one who continued to play with the clay throughout the entire class period. (The prof actually pointed me out at the end of class as a positive example, too. Apparently most seminarians aren’t kinesthetic.)

A couple weeks ago I posted a review on Shane Hipp’s book, The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How media shapes faith, the gospel, and church. In it he makes an interesting observation about the influence of the Internet and, having grown up with the Internet, I think he’s accurate.

A book presents an extensive, in-depth monologue or a thorough argument carefully crafted in linear, successive paragraphs and pages (left brain). In contrast the Internet presents a nonlinear web of interconnected pages and a vast mosaic of hyper links with absolutely no beginning, middle, or end (right brain). (page 132)

I’ve been playing on the Internet for most of my life. Maybe this non-linear influence is part of why I prefer magazines and blogs over books. It’s also why my notes are randomly spread out over a sheet of paper “linked” with lines. Looks like my thought-formulating process has been significantly impacted by the web. Kinda scary how technology unintentionally influences us.

I’m a guy who enjoys electronics, gizmos and gadgets. I even supported part of my seminary education by doing part-time I.T. administration for a company here in Dallas. So when I came across Shane Hipp’s book, The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church, I was immediately intrigued and picked it up.

Shane Hipps spent many years as one of the top experts on culture. His job was to constantly study media and culture and teach others how to effectively use it to market their products and services. As he grew in his walk with the Lord, he realized that his job was to convince people that they were missing something in their life and that a certain product would provide fulfillment. So, he resigned and attended seminary to learn to do the same with the Word of God. His writing therefore comes from many years of experience and knowledge of this topic of technology and culture, and it shows!

I used to just take technology for granted and explored any new way of using it in ministry. However, [tag]Shane Hipps[/tag] makes many good points why the statement, “The message stays the same but the methods change” really isn’t true. His argument is, “No, the method changes the message.” At first I couldn’t see how that could be based on anything but personal opinion, but his insights from behind the scenes of media and marketing really indicate a lot that the general public hasn’t realized about the affect media has on what’s being communicated. He starts with scriptural examples, moves on to explain the affect of the printing press and other past “phenomenons” that were considered technology, and then discusses current examples of media in church.

In no way does Shane Hipps doesn’t attack the use of media in ministry. Rather, he helps us think through different aspects of what it communicates and teaches us how to use it wisely and appropriately. It’s very helpful material.

Over at YouthMinistryTV.com Dennis posted a free e-book he wrote called, “Generation YouTube: Harnessing the Power of Internet Video for Youth Ministry.” I just finished reading it tonight and want to highly recommend it. In 35 pages he addresses almost everything you can think of relating to Internet video and using it in ministry. Included are some very helpful tutorials about how to create video, how to get it online, links to free resources and tools, as well as lots of great practical ideas for using it to enhance youth ministry. No matter where you fall on the tech-savvy continuum this e-book has something for you. In my printed copy of the e-book there are several paragraphs highlighted with ideas I’m itching to implement for promoting discussion and community in my youth group.

Dennis is generously making his e-book available online for FREE under the Creative Commons License, so download it and check it out.

I’ve been hearing about Zondervan’s new student bibles and all the flack it’s taking, mostly from the home school community. The True Images Bible for teenage girls and its guy counterpart, the Revolution Bible, seeks to address with scripture the issues most teenagers face on a daily basis: sex, relationships, self-image, school, and a long list of other challenges. Although most parents will agree that these are issues that need to be addressed with our teenagers, some think that Zondervan crossed the line with articles that semi-graphically describe homosexuality, oral sex, pornography, and more. For example: Continue Reading