Summer is over. Are you ready for the fall?
Each summer I like to spend considerable amount of time working on the calendar, praying, and thinking about the next school year. I never want to have my youth ministry come across half baked. I want it to be done well…no, excellent. That means having everything ready to go when fall hits.
Here is my fall checklist:
1. Goals for the school year. I used to hate having goals, but I was young and unfocused. Now I like to have goals. My church that I am currently at have faith goals, and then work goals that correspond. I love the idea of having goals that I am praying about, and seeking God for. I know that some of these goals might not happen, but if I got close to those goals I would be amazed at what God is doing in his Youth Ministry.
2. Life plan is updated and focused. I use a life plan, and really so should you (you can check out the post Why I created a life plan (and why you should too!). You need to be focused and have goals for your life or you won’t achieve anything. I would love to share my personal life plan, but it is so personal. Each summer/winter I take time to evaluate it, and assess where I am and where I want to be. This for me is the best time to refocus on the things that matter. It’s your life.
3. Weekly Teaching planned out. I want all my teaching planned out and ready to go for the fall. Feel free to purchase talks from www.youthmin.org. They have some world class teaching on there. We are trying to develop our own like Mars Hill campaigns. We would love to give you all the notes, background, and main point for each text. We would love to see youth workers speaking to their own students, sharing their hearts with them.
So, the goal is to do all the heavy lifting for my talks in the summer, when I have the time to focus on each week and put hours into it.
4. Events penciled in. I have six events penciled in and designed ready to go by the fall. The rest of the events I will let my student leaders plan out and execute. I want my student leaders to know that the youth ministry is theirs. They have the power to make change happen in any area of the youth ministry if there is mission behind it. The student leadership team gets me excited when they are passionate about reaching their friends, and telling them about Jesus.
5. Student leadership team material is ready to go. I am trying to build a toolbox for my student leaders. I want a 3-4 year system to disciple them. One go to book that I used is Bill Clem’s book, Disciple. This is one book you need to check out. I am also using material from student leaders. What resources do you use to train your student leaders?
I am working on being ready for the fall. Are you ready for the fall? What does that mean to you and your youth ministry?
