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. Media Shout–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. Simply Txt–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. Youtube–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. Poll Everywhere–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:

Facebook—I use the group feature for getting word out along with Simplytxt.

GLO—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!

Church Graphics—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

Action Awards—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!!!

God is doing some great things @ Mount Zion!!! Wednesday Nights @ 7:00PM

mountzionstudents.com

For many years I have been doing Wednesday night programs and have seen some changes take place in the way youth ministry is done from year to year. However, nothing has been as significant as the way it has changed in my group now. There are so many reasons why I like what we are doing at ThExchange so I thought I would list a few!

* Round tables (there is no head of the table all are equal)

* Table leaders it is amazing watching our college students and adults interact

* Connection–to see people talk about relative issues they face everyday while meeting new people who are going through similar situations.

* Live Polling of the audience—allows us to anonymously see what is going on with the students in our group.

* Discussion, it has been awesome to see students and leaders discuss during the message and apply the biblical principles being taught!

One of our live texting polls Wednesday night asked this question:

One of my scars is_____________, and I deal with it by_______________________.

Here is a few examples of some of the comments back:

Divorce—-Prayer

Emotions—-Cutting

my dad being an alcoholic—-talking to my mom

my parent’s apathy towards church—-listening to music

being short—-being sarcastic

As you can see our group is taking the necessary steps to being real. My prayer is that we go beyond surface type relationships and  begin “sharing life with one another.” God desires for us to confess our sins to one another and seek out people who can help us conform to the image of His Son Jesus Christ. One thing is certain we all experience pain and hurt and need a Refuge in our time of trouble. God is with us every step of the way!

Here are some examples of what I do: pray, study, read, keep up with teen culture (not very easy to do), preach, teach, share, text, email, facebook, administrate, organize, make phone calls, return phone calls, conflict resolution, plan activities, hospital visits, confront, encourage, get frustrated, strategize, buy new tools for ministry, edit video, clean up, talk to parents, support my pastor, go to meetings, travel, meet new people, raise money, balance my time with my family, go to school events (concerts, games, …), develop leaders, update website, share life with others, stay up all night, drive a bus and go out to eat!

There are so many reasons that I love what I do—The primary reason is seeing teenager’s give their life to Christ.  The other night at church I was talking to a girl about her life and I realized that the conversation needed a little more attention then a 3 or 4 minute chat so I gave her my cell number and we ended up talking on the phone for about 45 minutes. This young lady gave her life to Christ on the phone that night! The fact that God can use someone like me (who deserves nothing that I have) is a realistic picture of the grace of God.

My youth group aka…MZS is amazing! There are some awesome kids that God is molding and shaping into the image of HIS SON. I love to see teenager’s get connected into the group.  I feel that God has His hand upon us and is ready to use ALL of us if we will be obedient to HIS calling!  What if each student truly became obedient to what God desires for their life? What if each of us really got passionate about inviting our friends to church? What if we truly realized that God has so much more to offer us than the world. What if we dropped our masks when we came to church and told people who we really were so we could begin the process of becoming what God really wants. What if MZS became a place synonymous with love, acceptance and grace.  This is what I desire to see happen in our group. Are you willing to become an Ambassador for Jesus Christ? This is God’s plan and purpose for you! You are God’s Masterpiece—don’t settle for the status quo.