Vision and Goals for 2009

A couple of weeks ago, we had a parents meeting at church.  I had the opportunity to talk to them about some of the changes that were going on in the ministry and address some of their concerns.  I also had the privilege of sharing my vision and goals for our ministry for 2009.  I have been working with our executive pastor to determine what are some measureable goals that we could come up with for the youth ministry.

Our group has had some past problems that causes us to not have very many Juniors or seniors, so this will help us meet some of these goals just by adding a full grade.  I know ministry isn't all about numbers, but when you request staff people and big budgets, someone wants to know why...

Here are the goals that we came up with...

1. Refuel Attendance Growth by 50%, Increase from average 60 to 90 per week - Refuel is our main weekly program.  This number includes both Jr & Sr high.
   
2. Flite Group Growth by 150%, increase from 4 -10 groups that meet each week
3. Sunday School attendance by 30%, increase from 36 to 50 average weekly
4. Student Leaders Trained -15 - We are in the process of developing our student leader program.  We are trying now to determine who those students would be.
   
5. Flite Ministry Teams increase from 6 to 9 teams - Currently we have our praise band, drama team, dance team, video production team, computer team and hospitality team.  We want to add a few more teams.  Some suggestions have been a marketing team and jazz band
   
6. Adult Leader from 20 to 40 - This would be defined as those students who commit to helping the student ministry and who become "Because We Care" certified. 
   
7. Confirmation Retention 50% - The two years I have been involved in Confirmation, the percentage of retention has been 31 and 70%.  We want students to go through confirmation and stay involved in the church and the youth ministry.
   

These goals are all about our numerical growth not about the spirituality of the group.  As the year progresses we will evaluate these goals and adjust them as needed.  I feel good about these goals and really believe that we can meet them. 

Taking the blame...

1. 
   

The past couple weeks have been pretty interesting for me.  A couple weeks ago I had student get mad at me and blast me on Facebook.  They contended that I did only what I wanted to do in the youth group and was taking all the fun out of the youth group.  This started a conversation among a few students and I felt it warranted being handled publicly.  I never outed the student but I did confront them personally but also wanted to deal with the whole issue as a group.
I held an impromptu parents meeting last Sunday night.  I sent the email out on Friday and before the Sunday meeting, had received emails from all kinds of people asking questions about the meeting, worried about how far this has gone or wanted to know what was going on.  I really didn't expect the attention.  Sunday night came with almost 90 people in our worship area, over 30 of those were parents.  I was excited about the number of parents that showed up, I didn't expect that many.  I was glad for their passion for the ministry and I was eager for their input.


The overall feel of the meeting was positive.  There was no arguing, back biting or name calling.  The whole group sat around tables, this helped keep the conversation contained and productive.  I was given some great feedback from the parents and students.  Some ideas we will be able to work on, others just don't make sense for us.  As the youth pastor, I am charged with making decisions that work for all the students involved, not just a few.  This means that I sometimes have to make unpopular decisions regarding programming, curriculum or leaders.  The funny thing about the whole meeting, was I think very few students even knew really what was going on.  The positive that came out of this meeting was that I got a ton of support from parents and I was able to share my vision of the youth group with them, as well as some goals for 2009.


So how do you handle blame when it comes to changes in your ministry:

1. Be Prepared: Never make decisions in a fast manner.  Any good decision is going to take time and effort.  This goes from the smallest to the largest change.  In our case, we were making a timing change to our Sunday night youth worship, eliminating 30 minutes of hangout time for the students.  This decision took us almost 6 months to make because we wanted to make the right decision
   
2. Talk with others: Don't be afraid to be told your idea sucks.  Talking to others helps you to process the decision better.  You can list the good and bad points, weigh your options and look at it from all sides.  Even teenagers don't like change, so make sure of what you are wanting to change and why
   
3. Know the Reason Why: Always know why you are making a change.  This may seem weird, but we sometimes get caught up in wanting things our way (especially new youth pastors) that we sometimes don't think of the implications.  There are many good and valid reasons to make a change, just know what yours is
4. Keep the Leadership in the Loop: I didn't do this as well as I should have but I know next time.  We meet on Sunday night and are usually the only thing going on, thus any changes really don't affect anyone other than us.  I did reassure my senior pastor that this meeting wasn't a major deal and if I needed his help I would talk to him.

Being the lead youth pastor means that I am paid to take the lumps.  I did my best to put all the weight for this decision while still making sure people knew what we were doing before we did it.  Again, change is never easy for students or adults.  Always cover your butt when making MAJOR decisions

It's a cold world we live in...

RIP Abraham Biggs.  Most of you probably don't know Abraham Biggs, but you might have heard his name.  In November, Abraham Biggs became famous for committing suicide live online.  His web cam recorded the incident while almost 1500 people watched and chatted about it. 
(You can read a story here) 


Now, being a youth pastor, it hurts me when I hear about students who felt that the only way to get relief in their life was to end it.  Within my first 2 months at PWUMC, I had to deal with 2 suicide's by father of teenagers.  I had heard the story about Abraham shortly before Thanksgiving, but what I didn't realize was what I found out when I got to my mom's house.  The day I arrived, my brother was at a memorial for Abraham.  He was my brother's friend.  My brother knew him.  Here is a somewhat anonymous person I heard about, and I find out that he is connected to me.   Needless to say my brother was heartbroken about it.  He couldn't believe it.


I continued to follow the story and couldn't believe the stories I was hearing.  The stories of people in the chat room cheering him on, telling him he wasn't doing it right and no one taking the time to call the authorities.  I know the online world has a small level of anonymity and that we see things online that are staged/fake/not-real all the time.  I can't imagine what it must have been like to sit in a chat room and encourage someone to kill themselves, whether you believed it to be true or not.  It chills me to think that there are people who knew it was real and still encouraged him.


How sad that we value human life so little, that people actually cheer when others die?  How sad it must have been for Abraham to feel so alone, that he saw no way out except to end his life?  My heart goes out to the Biggs family.  I can't imagine the pain they have felt.

Day 21, Loving the fundraisers

It seems that my 30 days of blogging is failing big time.  I haven't blogged in a few days becomes my world has been consumed by our Turkey Dinner fundraiser this weekend.  This fundraiser takes over 600 people to make happen.  Over 450 people make/deliver over 600 items of food and 150+ work the day of the event.  Planning for this event started in March or April and we started advertising in September.  Currently we have sold over 300 tickets and given away 130-150 tickets to our community.  We are hoping to feed over 700 people by the time it is done.  This is a major event for our church, one of the biggest we do, so we have to make sure it is done right.


This event has been a 30+ year tradition at this church.  I am thankful for the opportunity that the youth ministry has to put this event together.  All that to say that I have been busy this week, not doing anything major but just taking care of the little things.  I am not the biggest fan of fundraisers but I know they are important in most ministries.  Our ministry is lucky enough to only have two fundraisers to do.  These events have been a part of the church for many years and we greatly benefit by getting about $15,000 per year from our two events.  I know most youth ministries don't have this kind of opportunity but I think with the right mixture and help, you can pull off a great fundraiser.


Here are a few tips that I have learned in working with churches of various size and budgets.

1. Get parents involved.  This may seem like a no-brainer (or something you hadn't thought of) but I know many youth pastors who take on the full responsibility to raise money for students who need it.  Most of the time all the money goes to the students who help, so why not get the parents involved.  I mean, involved as in leading the fund raiser.  A friend of mine got tired of having no help at fundraisers, so he told his parents that he wouldn't be doing another one, ever.  His parents got the idea and now all the fundraisers are done by parents and he helps when he can.
2. Involve the Community.  Both fundraisers we do involve the church and the community to make them happen.  By expanding your base to include your community, you expand your opportunity to make more money.  This can be anything from car washes at a local fast-food place to a garage sale.  Involving the community also takes pressure off the church to help the youth ministry beyond their normal tithes.
3. Determine the Most Bang For Your Buck.  When we think of fundraisers, we normally think of fast and easy.  Things like bake sales, car washes, etc are events that are easy to organize and easy to run but are not always the most effective when it comes to raising money.  Remember, you get out what you put into a fundraiser.  Do some research to find out what other groups might be doing fundraisers, what kind are they doing and what has worked best.  I remember at our last church we did a car wash on a Saturday in the summer and within a 1 mile radius, there was 6-7 other car washes going on and one less than a block from us.  We made a total of $60 that day.  Doing some prior planning will go a long way in making a successful event.
4. Create a Tradition.  I have said already that each of our fundraisers bring in a good bit of money, but that is only because they have been going on for 30+ years.  Find a fundraiser that you can do each year around the same time and build on that.  Our two fundraisers are summer garage sale called Trash-n-Treasure and a Turkey Dinner.  Both of these started out small and grew over time.  By creating a tradition you build anticipation during the year, people begin to look forward to your fundraiser.
5. Most importantly, Do Something People Need.  Todays students have been turned into little Amway sales people.  Between school, sports, clubs and church, they spend a good deal of time asking people for money.  When planning your fundraiser, try to create an event where people need what you have or create something they will normally do.  Our Turkey Dinner fundraiser works because everyone eats and we provide a good meal at a reasonable price.  Work with your senior pastor to talk about the needs of the church and plug your group in.  Maybe you have a church with an older generation that needs help doing things around the house, create a Student Auction where students are "sold" for a per hour fee.  People are more likely to help when they get something good in return.

Fundraisers can be great events or they can be horror stories for youth pastors.  There are very few churches that don't have to do fundraisers.  If you are that church, great for you, enjoy it.  Churches from the smallest groups to the largest usually need some extra help for their students.  We can serve our ministry well by having well-planned fundraisers.  Be creative.  Make the fundraiser fit your group and your setting.  I remember one summer I did two car washes, one made around $50 per student, the other made $5.  

Youth Pastors fight all the time with parents over money.  I have had parents tell me they didn't have money for a specific event, but then the next week their student comes in with an iPod they just bought.  We need to help educate our parents that youth ministry events are just as important, if not more, than the other activities their students are involved in.  Good luck to you all.

Day 8, Twittering

I do everything I can to stay on top of technology.  In my previous life I was a programmer and was learning new languages every couple of years because it was changing so fast.  As a youth pastor, my need to learn is just as great because I have to keep up with what my students are doing online, via text message or however they might communicate.  Back in the day I jumped on Myspace to see what my students were up to, I joined Facebook once the Myspace fad started fading and a few months ago I joined Twitter to keep up with other youth pastors.

Twitter is an interesting tool to use because most students don't use it.  I have 1 college student that is on it, but no Sr/Jr Highers.  I use Twitter to keep up with mostly youth pastors and friends who might have one.  If  you aren't sure what Twitter is, it is micro-blogging.  You can write in 140 character increments, usually just enough to state a single point or idea.  I follow people who use it for personal updates of what they are doing in their life or they use it to talk about what is going on in their ministry.  I am mixed on how I use Twitter.  I write stuff that I am doing at the moment, promote my blog and also talk about ministry.  Twitter also updates my Facebook status through an application in Facebook.

I talk about Twitter because of a link I found that talked about different ways that people have used Twitter to get help, products, etc.  Here is the link from Mashable, http://mashable.com/2008/10/31/great-twitter-moments/

I got a kick out of some of the stories.  It is amazing that something that seems to be very early in its growth, can be used to do some great things for people.

How do you use Twitter in ministry or in life?
Do you feel it works for you or do you use it just because?