I need some serious advice. I don’t know what to do or how to proceed. Let me set the scene. We have a member of our youth group (7th grader) who is new (like within the last month new) and this individual sometimes says hateful, bigoted, borderline racist comments. I have a co-leader and they don’t want to make a big deal out of it because they are more concerned with building relationships and connections. They said “they are like toddlers, they will say anything to get reactions” However… this is not a toddler… this is a teenager. Look, I get teens don’t have filters but this is not someth ..read more

Ok so like 18 years ago I went to Youth Specialties Conference in Nashville. The speaker had hand out sheets of something like “Job Duties of Youth Minister”. It was like a page full! Things like counselor, travel agent, nurse, counselor, coach, PE Teacher, Public Speaker, etc. I’m looking EVERYWHERE to try and find a copy or similar. If you have a copy, please post!! Or message me. Thank you!!! submitted by /u/AllForFunOnly [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

Hey all, post your favorite small games and big groups games down bellow to help out a fellow youth pastor! submitted by /u/Interesting-Bus-7421 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

I'm trying to find some good but inexpensive retreat areas for my Church's Youth Group but there's so much and my brain just gets fried looking at all the options. I would love some help if anyone would be willing to help me find camps/retreat centers up to 4 hours away from the Northern Kentucky area. Our price range in the past has been ~$750/night but our budget is dropping. Thanks to anyone for any info, God bless. submitted by /u/TwixDog2020 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

My middle schoolers are struggling to connect with typical discussion Bible studies. We have been using the Gospel Foundations curriculum from Lifeway and they are not engaging well in discussion. I like the Gospel Foundations because they struggle with Biblical literacy. Does anyone know of a more interactive curriculum? submitted by /u/jchanna1230 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

LOL. Actually though. One of my 9th grade boys keeps getting suspended (out of school suspension) because he keeps getting in fist fights. Somehow his little brother got ahold of a video of the most recent one, and it definitely looks like the two kids agreed they were gonna fight each other, then walked over to a clear area, got in a stance to fight, and then fought each other. Clearly the correct choice here would have been to NOT DO THAT. We know this. BUT!!!! I spoke with my kid (let’s call him Joe for ease of discussion) about what happened because he’s actually starting to miss a good a ..read more

submitted by /u/LovelyLife2000 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

I’m visiting a church for a potential job. This would be my first job as a youth pastor. Any advice when visiting? What was your experience? What questions should I be ready to answer? How did your first weeks on the job looked like? submitted by /u/__pilgrim__ [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

So I need to teach a lesson about how the church is one body but has many parts. Initially I was thinking of the game where two youth sit back to back and try to stand up against each other, BUT I would love an activity that requires more effort from more people at a time. I want an activity that fails if even 1 person doesn't do their job, but I want at least 4 people (if not 10) to be able to be in one group. Is there a version of the earlier activity I mentioned that uses a larger group? Or something that maybe I'm not even thinking of? submitted by /u/TwixDog2020 [visit reddit] [comments ..read more

Hey Everyone Basically as the title suggests, I have an idea of taking the next few months of our Youth sessions and divert them from our regular (monthly themes and weekly broken down sub-themes) MO and try take us on an un-themed journey through the bible. I want to know if this has been done before, and if so, if there are any tips you could share with me because I'm really nervous about making what feels like a big shift. Please let me know if you have any questions, thanks! submitted by /u/DAndrewCross [visit reddit] [comments ..read more