Life of a youth pastor .

Best Bible Memory Apps

by 11 Comments

memory

We live in a day and age where technology can work both for and against us. I spent my last airline flight playing a game, listening to a podcast, memorizing a bible verse and falling asleep to some classical music. All of these things were done on my phone.

While in high school I dedicated the book of Philippians to memory. This was done through long and tedious hours of writing out each verse by hand. I made note cards and [Read more…]

Lead Small App: IT’S FREE!

by Leave a Comment

Give some love to those hardworking small group leaders, get this app in their hands ASAP! We (student pastors) have been waiting for something like this for years and now those over at Orange have gone and done it, they have created the  “Lead Small” app free for small group leaders to use. My leaders are using it every week!

  • Small Group Questions? Check.
  • Database for all my students info and prayer requests? Check.
  • One click to send a text to everyone in my small group? Check.
  • Additional training to make me a better leader? Check.

I use the app during every SGL meeting to review the topic for the day and the small group questions. This thing is synced with our curriculum months in advance, it’s a time saver and super clear on what the SGL needs to do.

Churches have the option to subscribe for a small fee to customize and make content and newsfeed their own. Even if your small group leaders simply use this as database to keep in touch with their few and their parents, this thing is a game changer! Go download it and geek out with me on what we’ve all been waiting for!

Get more followers on Instragram – Do a Scavenger Hunt!

by Leave a Comment

I love scavenger hunts. It’s a thrill to race against time and compete for the prize. The team aspect is downright fun and helps people understand the importance of bringing others into the “picture” for a better outcome. When doing this hunt last night our student ministry upped our followers on Instagram by 600!!! Ok…not quite that much, but we did get 25 new followers 🙂 Before you dismiss that, really consider what this means. Extending your reach through social media by doing something like this can capture the one person that “needs” to see your photos.

instascavengerhuntOur students were the ones posting upwards of 10 photos a piece and tagging our group. Their friends from school, sports teams, work etc. saw these silly pictures, liked them and are now following the posts that I put up weekly informing students of gatherings, summer trip options, Biblical truth, and just funny, silly stuff. After the hunt we had some judges hop online and look at photos…we judged on timestamps, creativity, and those that best followed the directions. I printed off and gave them this picture to the right as an example before giving them the scavenger hunt challenge. Make sure students and those participating in the hunt understand the “MUST HAVES” so that you can leverage the game for the social media win!

MUST HAVES

  1. GEOLOCATION
  2. TEAM PHOTO
  3. @GROUPNAME

WHAT DO I HAVE THEM FIND? Here are a few…

  1. Use your team to build a pyramid.
  2. What time does our group meet on Wednesdays?
  3. Give us your best Chuck Norris pose!

See more ways that I leverage our Instagram account by visiting http://instagram.com/gatewaystudents

Got Curriculum? Communication.

by Leave a Comment

This is blog posting #2 on Got Curriculum? See #1 here.

Communication is everything when it comes to curriculum. You the youth pastor communicating with your small group leaders –> your small group leaders communicating with the students and parents –> the actual material that needs to be communicated. If there is one thing that absolutely blows my mind about LIVE curriculum is how good of a communication network it offers.

WARNING: You will get out of it as much as you put into it. Let me explain.

  • Parent E-mail – for each individual lesson there is a parent email that you can copy+paste into a distribution list of parent emails to let them not only know what Johnny is learning that week during small group, but gives them questions to engage with their kid. We did this for our small group leaders as an accountability tool, they knew mom and dad would be getting the topic email, this helped them stay on track with the curriculum path.
  • Dashboard – Every small group leader has a one-stop shop for what they need to know before leading their small group for the week. Each leader is assigned a login & password, giving them access to ALL of their lessons for the entire school year with both a leaders guide that can be crafted to their own liking along with a student handout sheet for each week. In this same forum they are able to see new messages posted by me, and have the ability to TEXT their small group!
  • Texting – Ya, I know…texting can be more impersonal than a good phone call or face-to-face conversation, but it’s 2012 and when you need to get the word out quickly so students know where you’re meeting for small group or what they should read before coming, this can be a handy tool. Texting is a communication tool also offered through Simply Youth Ministry. We purchased it to coincide with our curriculum. I will say it’s probably 50/50 when it comes down to leaders using it to contact and connect with their small groups. I also use this feature to connect with parents. For example, I will send out a “text blast” to inform all of our parents about a certain event, “Parents, remember we have a parents meeting to discuss our mission trips for this summer. See you at 3PM.”
  • There’s an app for that – Need I say more? There is a LIVE Curriculum app that is unique to each leader’s login credentials. If you are a sophomore leader, it will show your calendar for the year, all of the sophomore study guides, small group questions and updated messages from the youth pastor.

Get new postings fed directly to your mailbox by subscribing via Email in the top right corner!