The Internet has opened up so many amazing opportunities for the world of student ministry. I can remember the days where youth pastor’s used overhead projectors and transparencies. When I first started in youth ministry we also used books of clipart to copy images for flyers and other activities. I want to share with you some tools I use that have made an awesome impact in the way I communicate with our students and our Wednesday night program thExchange. One thing I really enjoy about my job is networking with other student pastor’s if I can give you any ideas that will help you—please take it—chances are someone gave me the idea as well!

1. Simply Youth Ministry offers all kinds of incredible games, crowdbreakers, countdowns (t-minus), message series, powerpoint backgrounds and many other items. Send me an email if you need some recommendations. This site is by far the BEST for practical help in preparing for your program!
2. Powerpointsermons.com, My Pastor introduced me to this website, it does require a fee however it has made our Sunday morning graphics at our church come alive. I use it for messages and announcement slides on Wednesday nights and it has made a tremendous impact. Here are a few of my favorites.
3.
Not sure what we did before moving images during worship. This will add a whole new dynamic to your praise and worship time. Make sure your computer has the specs that Media Shout needs. I know there is other companies out there but Media Shout is what we use and I have been very happy with the results!
4.
When I first started out at my present church Mount Zion I sent mail to all of my parents, then I went to everything being on the website (which I still do), email….facebook….now I send out mass text messages to my entire group. I have the largest plan so for $40 a month I can inform over 100 people an important announcement in a matter of seconds. They just added a new feature that allows text forwarding back to my phone so if I need to answer a question I can. You can also create groups and teams within the software. One thing we know for sure…..teenagers ALWAYS have their phone and they love getting text messages! This software has become invaluable to me!
5.
Remember all the video books we used to have to buy and the many rentals in order to show video clips in our groups—now you just have to search hard enough on youtube and you will find good stuff. I have saved money by having wi-fi in our youth building and showing clips from the internet rather than renting. Here are some recent clips I have used from youtube.
Making friends, What is a friend, Be Still, God’s Chisel, Intro to Jesus, In the Beginning
6.
It is difficult to impress a teenager however this software will do it—have you ever wanted to see what your students were really thinking about the topic you are speaking about? Are you curious where they are in their relationship with Christ? Poll Everywhere is completely confidential so it allows you to get a sense of your groups thoughts and beliefs. Here is a video of the software being used in my youth group MZS, watch our Wednesday night promo video here. I have the $65 a month package and Poll Everywhere allows you to pay month by month as needed. Thanks to Josh Griffin for the idea!
7.
One great way to inform your students of what is coming up in your ministry is a website. One of the best decisions I have made was purchasing 2 snapshot websites for our church and my student ministry MZS. If you decide to buy a website, I would be happy to get you started and help you with your ministry site just shoot me an email. I had no experience in building a website until we bought from snapshot and it was a great decision and very simple to use! Now I am able to update both websites with no problem at all!
Here is a few more tools:

—I use the group feature for getting word out along with Simplytxt.
—Absolutely amazing–requires a lot of space on your computer but if you got the space you need glo, we use it for pictures on Wednesday night and also bookmark passages that you can navigate with the click of a button!

—Josh is the owner and does amazing work, he designed our MZS logo and has done a ton of work for our church, his prices are great and he is easy to work with, which is a big deal. Here is one piece he just did for our recent emphasis at Mount Zion. Checkout Fit Brochure

—I have been using these guys for t-shirts, logos, sweat shirts etc.. They do a fantastic job at a great price–talk to Spencer when you call he is a great guy and will do anything to help you get what you need.
So here are my secrets, hope you get some fresh ideas!!!