Life of a youth pastor .

Take a brain dump!

by 1 Comment

 

BrainDumpLogo2

Vocational ministry can be quite overwhelming at times, especially on top of family responsibilities and scheduling. This exercise is quite relieving, at least it was for me. I can’t promise it will make everything go away but perhaps make life a bit more enjoyable because you’re organized and your mind will be a little less… constipated.

Today amidst a busy schedule and to-dos that seemed to keep piling up I tried my hardest to collect and rationalize all my thoughts…but simply couldn’t, there was too much on my mind. What happened next was extremely satisfying. I took a brain dump.

  • Grab a stack of sticky notes and a pen.

  • Write down the first thing on your mind.

  • Take the next sticky note and write the next thing. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

  • Organize all sticky notes into 3 categories – work, home, personal.

  • Rank the sticky notes in each category and assign calendar due dates for each one.

When it was all said and done my brain had more than it could handle! I ended up with 62 post it notes in a matter of 15 minutes. Give it try!

IMG_0024

(My brain dump.)

 

Forward thinking.

by 1 Comment

october-calendar

Does your family calendar look like this? If it doesn’t there are 10 students in your ministry that it does represent. We are way too busy, and if you can’t slow people down you need to get ahead of their schedule.

Many times, those young bucks in charge of the kiddos are known as the last-minute man. Simply, don’t be that person. I had a parent approach me earlier this week telling me how impressed they were, being that they got a calendar for the entire school year last fall. This allowed them to plan family vacations around special dates, like camps and mission trips. It simply took me a few days to look at the school calendars and block out the times I needed from families to run special activities for our students and make a calendar.

I guarantee that forward thinking and planning will only increase your participation rate. It’s worth the investment.

When using forward thinking and calendaring out 6 plus months in advance respects the family and partners with parents to provide an experience for their child. With a game plan in hand, they will walk away aware of two things when you schedule a camp, mission trips, or a special event.

  1. Save the date. Most parents would say, “I want my kid at this church activity.” They are  more responsible than the student and will mark it on the calendar making sure nothing gets scheduled on top of it.
  2. Save the money. They know this will cost money. (Even if they don’t, now you don’t have to feel bad announcing the price tag that is attached… they knew the $150 retreat was coming 6 months ago)

Now that I have done this for the past year, my job is simply to be consistent. Get the calendar in the hands of the parents late in the summer and do my best to stick to the same dates of camp/trips of the previous year. Consistency is your best momentum builder, this investment over time yields big rewards for your ministry as the years go on.

Do you have a plan for the next 6 months? 12 months? How will you communicate that plan to parents?

Caring for Volunteers.

by Leave a Comment

It’s a task for sure. My wife and I are doing our best to have a one-to-one meeting with each of our leaders and volunteers as we hit the ground running. It is important to give individual attention and care to each sheep in the flock. This comes naturally for some, but is difficult to follow through for anyone. My calendar is quickly filling up with back to back meetings for the next month! I would ask the question, “What are your priorities? Are they on your calendar?” As the shepherd of a flock, you must prioritize your sheep, all of them. If you aren’t caring for them, I hope someone is leading them to food and water! Sure, some eat more than others and some like to sleep all day, but being handed the duty of shepherd the initiation is on you to reach out and care for them. Eventually you should provide a good shepherd to sheep ratio by developing other shepherds, you cannot provide quality care for 30+ people. A quote for the day from a book I’m reading, “The Way of the Shepherd”

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

While developing a team and sharing vision, it doesn’t matter if you know how to build a rocket ship…go out of your way to show sincere encouragement, compassion, and love for your staff and volunteer team. Think about serving them before you think about leading them.