Here are some things you can chew on for a bit...
Stat to Chew on...63.6% of teens were introduced to sports by their Dads. (reference Stageoflife.com)
Quote to Digest... "Strap, God wants you on the floor." - Gene Hackman as Coach Dale in "Hoosiers"
Student Ministry Blogs to bite into...
Possibly Related Posts:
Did you see the Uncle Drew Pepsi Ads during the basketball season? It was an online ad that featured Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving dressed up as an old man who then, when a ball player was injured in a pick up game, proceeds to school all the other younger basketball players. The amazing thing about this ad is that it was never intended to be shown on TV at all. It was an online ad but because over 13 million people viewed the ad online, which caused the video to go viral, Pepsi decided to create another ad for the NBA Finals.
So how does this ad apply to ministry?
As I mentioned above, when Pepsi created the ad, they never intended it to go viral. It was simply suppose to be a "test" to see what stuck with the online audience. But because of the success it had, Pepsi decided to put more money into it and put it on Broadcast TV.
The question for ministry is, what are you "testing" with you students? What are you trying new that is different and out of the box thinking that may stick or cause more students to be interested and grow in Christ? In many ways, youth ministry can be "stuck" in patterns and ways that work, but are just the same thing over and over again. It is easy to do this because we can become very comfortable with "the norm"
The component that separates students ministries from other student ministries will be testing new ideas and programs with students to see what can draw them in and keep them engaged.
So what are you "testing" now? TAKE A MINUTE right now and think through some new ideas or thoughts. What's the worst thing that can happen? It not work??? The best thing that could happen is that your new idea can go viral and more and more students can come to know Christ because of it. I think that is a pretty easy risk to take.
Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Experiences? Share a few so that we can all benefit.
Possibly Related Posts:
This seminar was led by Matt McKee. Matt is a fellow blogger and founder of ROAR which focuses on mobile apps for Churches and Ministries.
SOCIAL. STRATEGY. Have Both.
Every civilization has tried to connect. The world today is very connected. There are more cell phones in the world then tooth brushes.
We use social on a personal level but we have a hard time connecting socially on an organizational level.
Social Media is any digital communication. It’s not just Facebook or Twitter. It’s photos, YouTube, text messages, email.
Social Media redefines how we communicate. “Text me don’t call me”.
Average person has 130 Facebook friend. Average church has 70 fan likes.
When you combine an Online Strategy with an Offline Strategy you will have a greater impact.
We need to anticipate where people are now, where are they going. Groups like Bufferapp.com and Hootsuite allow you to post and tweet on a schedule. So you don’t always have to be online to be reaching out socially to people. Anticipate when people are online and schedule a tweet or Facebook post.
We have to think critically. Programs like Evernote allow us to store information away that we will be able to process later.
We need to interpret. We are flooded with data constantly. We have to take that data and connect the dots and send it out to people. Google Reader helps collect the data so we can interpret later. As an organization you have to filter information for your community.
Once we filter, we need to decide what goes out to our community. Instapaper is a read later site that you can filter through later.
Then we align what you put on your blog, twitter, Facebook, etc. Twitterfeed.com allows you to send all your info out to all your outlets.
Throughout this whole process you will learn. Get a team around you to help you. Flipboard helps you see things differently and you can learn things.
To better reach your community in this day and age…to have a great impact, you have to have a strategy and you have to be social.
As an Organization:
- You have to create a Hub. Wordpess is a great hub for your community.
- Share your content. Promote other’s content.
- Make it about your message
- Make it about people, not technology
Possibly Related Posts:
One of the things I love most about being back involved in youth ministry on a daily basis is the videos and skits. Sorry, I love teaching and proclaimation too, but doing some funny videos or messy skits really gets me going.
Here's a video I helped orchestrate for 3 of our leaders as they did a skit for the students. Check it out:
It's a little different and something extra, but it is something that I really enjoy because I view it as a way to break down barriers with new students who don't know Christ. If they laugh and think something is fun, then I believe that they will be more open to hear the gospel. And that is what I am trying to get students to do - hear about Christ is that their lives can be changed forever.
TAKE A MINUTE right now and think through what pumps you up for youth ministry? Post a comment as to what pumps you up.
Possibly Related Posts:
