Hi. We’re Kenny and Elle Campbell, founders of Stuff You Can Use. We’ve been doing ministry together since 2004 and have loved every second of it. We got our start at a church called The Chapel in Buffalo, NY, where we started as volunteers, but eventually joined The Chapel’s Student Ministry staff full-time. Kenny was the Middle School Pastor and Elle was the Middle School Small Groups Coordinator. We were really lucky to serve at a church where our pastor, a guy named Jerry Gillis, taught us to think about the Church as something way bigger than just our church. He inspired us to do a bette ..read more

HOW TO STRATEGIZE YOUR TEACHING  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN How to strategically teach kids and teenagers every week. How to strategically teach kids and teenagers every month. How to strategically teach kids and teenagers every year. PLUS: What’s included in Grow Curriculum and Strategy to help you teach kids and teenagers well. It’s so important to have a strategy for what you teach kids and teenagers. Without a strategy, we run the risk of missing important ideas, teaching only the topics that personally interest us most, and ultimately failing to give kids and teenagers a f ..read more

HOW TO STRATEGIZE YOUR EVENTS  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN Why doing fewer events can make a greater impact. How to strategize a year of events for kids ministry. How to strategize a year of events for youth ministry. PLUS: What’s included in Grow Curriculum and Strategy to help you plan events for kids and teenagers more effectively. Events are a pretty big deal for most kids and youth ministries. They’re a way to have fun, connect with students or families, get new people in the door, and create some excitement. Events matter, but we’ve got to keep things in perspective. That ..read more

HOW TO STRATEGIZE YOUR VOLUNTEER INVESTMENT  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN The 7 ways you can invest in volunteers. How to strategize a year of volunteer training and investment. How to create a healthier volunteer culture. PLUS: What’s included in Grow Curriculum and Strategy to help you lead your volunteer teams more effectively. We once asked a whole bunch of youth workers this question: “What’s your biggest struggle in youth ministry?” We got hundreds of responses back, but do you know what one of the most common answers was? VOLUNTEERS. As we read through those responses ..read more

HOW TO STRATEGIZE YOUR PARENT ENGAGEMENT  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN The 4 ways you can invest in parents. How to strategize a year of parent engagement and investment. How to earn parents’ trust. PLUS: What’s included in Grow Curriculum and Strategy to help you engage parents more effectively. When it comes to parents, let’s be honest — we could all do a better job of engaging them. For some of us, sometimes even just acknowledging their existence would be a good step forward. As youth or kids pastors, this is a really important part of our jobs! That’s because every kid or teenages belo ..read more

HOW TO STRATEGIZE YOUR WEEKLY PROGRAM  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN How to strategize a year of weekly programming for kids ministry. How to strategize a year of weekly programming for youth ministry. PLUS: What’s included in Grow Curriculum and Strategy to help you make your weekly program more awesome. We all want to teach kids and students about Jesus more effectively, but let’s be honest — it’s not always easy. It’s challenging enough to teach adults, but to teach kids and teenagers whose brains are in different stages of development than our own is a challenge most of us were nev ..read more

HOW TO PLAN A YEAR OF MINISTRY  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN The 7 areas of ministry that require an annual strategy. How to lead an annual planning meeting for your ministry. How to strategize an entire year of ministry for youth and kids ministry. PLUS: Snag some links to free resources to help you make your annual planning more awesome and discover what’s included in Grow Curriculum and Strategy to help you plan your year. In youth and kids ministry, we all know what it’s like to leave our planning to the last possible second. Maybe you started planning that big ..read more

HOW TO STRATEGIZE YOUR DISCIPLESHIP  WHAT YOU'LL LEARN The 4 spiritual habits that help kids and teenagers grow spiritually. How to strategize a year of discipleship for kids ministry. How to strategize a year of discipleship for youth ministry. PLUS: What’s included in Grow Curriculum and Strategy to help you disciple kids and teenagers well. If you’re an adult (or maybe even a “professional” Christian) the idea of spiritual habits is probably pretty familiar to you. Spiritual disciplines, quiet time, devotions — whatever you call it, you’ve probably es ..read more

Quick Overview: This is a fun way to use the whole room while also keeping a high level of anticipation and excitement. It’s classic pictionary that everyone loves but on a larger scale with more people! Supplies You’ll Need: 1. Big White Boards. Whatever whiteboards you have, bring them! If they are all the same style and size that’s even better. 2. Dry Erase Markers. One for each board. 3. Pictionary Words. You can make up your own or purchase the game and use those. Prep: Place a white board in each corner of the room. Split up everyone into 4 teams. Find a place in the middle ..read more

Quick Overview: A classic youth group game that is just down right fun! Oh and remember don’t touch the chair!! Supplies You’ll Need: 1. People. You need people to play. 2. Chairs. Depending on how many people you have playing you might want to have a few chairs in the circle at the beginning of the game. Prep: Clear out the room so it’s a big open space. Place your chair(s) in the middle of the room and have everyone hold hands around the chairs.   Game Play: Everyone should be holding hands around the chair(s). If at any point someone touches the chair with any part of their bo ..read more