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I’m pretty excited about our Sundays in July!

June 28, 2015 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

SSFproThis is a postcard I made to promote our activities this summer. They were handed out this morning and to say the least they are pretty stoked. We don’t always do CRAZY games, so they are looking forward to these Sundays in July. I also made matching slides for our instagram account and have buffered reminders throughout the summer so they can be reminded about what’s next. I found an amazing program to help me with buffering posts (more about that in my next blog) …I’m about to go on vacation but have 20 instagram posts scheduled for the month! Wahoo!

 

Filed Under: Student Ministry Tagged With: buffer, games, instagram, ssf, sunday summer funday

Just “like” it.

February 23, 2014 by Chris Parker Leave a Comment

instalikes

Why? Tonight a sophomore girl that frequents our youth group had over 150 likes on a photo, yet she goes up to my wife and says, “You liked my photo!” She felt so loved, understood, valued, important… simply because my wife saw a photo and liked it. That student scrolled through a myriad of names to find my wife’s name, then seek her out, to share that she felt loved and noticed.

Bottom line, if the pic is appropriate “like it.” If the photo is appropriate just double tap the screen letting your student or leader know you where there. In a fantastic book,  “Lead Small” it mentions showing up randomly as very important to the student. One of the easiest yet personal ways we can show up randomly for a student is through social media. Follow your students on instagram, facebook, twitter, etc. and when they post that picture of them being goofy at school or bored at home, simply “like” it.

It’s become too easy. To show a student you value them simply takes tapping a screen twice, but it means the world to them. I still vote for taking them out for a Starbucks, movie, or attending a school sporting event, these can produce some more time for conversation. Though these outings can be counted as a glue for connecting with and staying connected to the student world, there is something quite invasive yet extremely valuable to a student in simply saying, “I like it”. To the student it means: I’m rooting for you, great job, cool stuff, that’s fun, way to go, I’m a fan!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: instagram, like it, social media, student ministry, student pastor, youth pastor

Leveraging Social Media! (DIY5.10)

April 27, 2013 by Chris Parker 1 Comment

InstagramLogo

This is in response to a former article I wrote on DIY Student Ministry. This is the fifth of ten areas that I’m covering in this series.

If you know anything about students, you know how much they value social media. It’s where they connect with each other. Whether it be through pictures, text, or video…long gone are the days that the student actually calls a friend to have a phone conversation or shows up on their front door step to play outside on a Saturday. Their turf is digital and it’s glued to their hand. We know in student ministry that we cannot always expect the student especially the unchurched to come to us, our church building. We need to go to them, and meet them on their turf. Showing up at their game or at school for lunch has amazing impact, and that’s physically getting on their turf and into their world – you should do it. The next best thing is to get where they are at through social media. “Follow, Like, Friend”…your students on facebook, twitter, instagram, vine, etc. Paul said, “I became all things to all people…that I might win some for Christ.” For students this means to think like a student and interact with students on their level – through their means of communication.

Leverage Social Media for your ministry:

  • This can pay huge dividends for your ministry when it comes to communication, don’t feel like you have to be the one to own it, give it away to another student or volunteer. Get away from the DIY model.
  • Use facebook as a homepage. Create a cover photo to match each series or to promote upcoming events. Create something to scale using photoshop (851×315)
  • Build your presence on Instagram. I printed a 4’x4′ canvas with the app logo that hangs in our student space. You can’t help but notice it. We have also had Instagram scavenger hunts, this builds your audience because your students are promoting for you amongst their friends! In 5 months we have reached over 200 students and their friends.
  • Find out what other social media is hot for your students, trends tend to come in waves depending on your geography. While twitter might be popular among one crowd, vine might be popular among another.
  • Interesting fact: It seems most of my HS students have or use facebook…almost none of my MS students do. For this reason it’s important to diversify your social media to extend your reach.
  • Posting at least 3 times a week is a good average. One silly picture, one reminder about programs, and one of students hanging out, playing games, band rocking out, etc.

“But what if I see students interacting or communicating in a way that I don’t approve of?” It will happen, more than once. I have bumped into many unsettling, even disturbing facebook posts, instagram photos and even text messages. First and foremost, consider social media an education piece. You will learn more about the student culture through social media than you could through having a conversation with a student. Why? They aren’t afraid to speak their mind on social media. It must be a psychological mishap, but for some reason students either think they can post something and no one cares, or our teen culture has evolved to such an inappropriate level that bad words, lack of clothing and bullying are just the norm of social media.

So should you engage a student in conversation if you see something like this? It depends on the student, and it depends on the content.

For example, let’s pretend I have one student “Suzie” that frequents church and is somewhat engaged with our student ministry – she posts on facebook “Can’t wait for the party after prom!” I have another student that is unchurched, “Jessica” has only visited twice and I haven’t seen her in a while, I follow her on Instagram and it seems that she had quite the party last night according to the picture #partygirl #allnight #wasted. Both show up to church the next morning. To both of these girls I think you could say something. To Suzie, you could ask more of a leading question to find out more about this party and help her better understand what ambiguity on social media can do to your reputation…I have had this conversation with multiple students, I really think they are ignorant sometimes.  To Jessica, do everything except confront her on her behavior. BE CAREFUL HERE…DO NOT RUN HER DOWN OR MAKE HER FEEL GUILTY – THIS DOES NOT PROVIDE THE WELCOMING FACTOR FOR A STUDENT. Tell her that you are so glad to see her and excited that she chose to come to church. As you or other leaders build trust, then consider making a soft approach to the party life by first talking about how much you care for them. I have seen too many students walk away from church because they feel judged – if you are following students on social media and only point out the bad behavior, your chances of seeing them again are slim. Like or comment on the good stuff you see to show your encouragement toward better behavior.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: church, communication, Facebook, gatewaystudents, high school, instagram, lifeofayouthpastor, middle school, social media, student ministry, student pastor, students, stumin, twitter, vine, youth pastor

Get more followers on Instragram – Do a Scavenger Hunt!

March 28, 2013 by Chris Parker 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

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: app, games, group game, instagram, iphone, photo, scavenger hunt, social media, student ministry, stumin, youth pastor

Hey there, my name is Chris. I wake up every morning thinking youth ministry. If you are in the same boat, then I know you will identify with me, because you also live the life of a youth pastor .

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