Atypical Youth Ministry Podcast

We talk about what it means to be flexible in youth ministry. Movie Monday: Shang-Chi Plus, a big decision is made and then announced.

We discuss ways we take care of ourselves as a leaders. Not mentioned: putting off working on an old podcast episode after moving states and starting a new job if it'll push you over the edge. Movie Monday: we discuss the Olympics, which were going on at the time.

We talk about our approach to planning big events in this episode. We also surprisingly get distracted with the topic of mountains. Additionally, Jeff lets the news about his new church out of the bag, which he starts at today. Movie Monday: Mortal Kombat

We talk about how important our youth pastor network, Community Youth Link, has been to us and why you should consider being a part of a network yourself. Movie Monday: Chaos Walking

In this episode, we talk about all the extras a job in youth ministry might entail. Movie Monday: Boogie

On this episode, we talk about the greatest time in life: the middle school years. How do you minister to people at such a fun age? Movie Monday: Judas and the Black Messiah

We discuss how our churches handle various Human Resources issues. Movie Monday: Willy's Wonderland

We debate some youth ministry topics and preferences. Movie Monday: The Karate Kid

We discuss being interns, having interns, and our approach to interns. We include a special guest and former intern of Jeff's: Chris Johnson, not Isaac Langeland. Movie Monday: New of the World

We discuss how COVID has affected our planning strategies. Movie Monday: Wonder Woman 84

We discuss what it's like to switch roles while staying in the same church with special guest Dave Sykes, former youth pastor and current lead pastor, both at the same church. Movie Monday: Train to Busan

We talk about how we navigate political issues in our youth group settings and our personal lives. Movie Monday: Unplanned New resource to go with this topic: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/shop/politicked-two-week-teaching

We are joined by a guest! Bryan Keeley is transitioning out of a ministry right now, and he helps us discuss how to do that well. Movie Monday: Parasite

We discuss how we handle small groups, including how we're dealing with them right now in this pandemic. Movie Monday: Disney Family Singalong

We talk about dealing with transitions of incoming middle schoolers and outgoing seniors and how it's different during this pandemic. Movie Monday - Onward

We discuss our adjustment to this pandemic, both from a main church and youth ministry perspective. We also discuss this resource: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/shop/stuck And of course, a CDC-approved Movie Monday segment.

We discuss our process for preparing to teach, including whether we write our own or not. We also discuss Sonic the Hedgehog during the Movie Monday segment.

We discuss how we knew and how we know youth ministry is for us. We also discuss Fantasy Island during our Movie Monday segment.

We discuss why we use games and how we use them.

What is mental illness? How do you address it? How do you take care of your own mental health?

We talk about how we have grown and changed over time, and we give a full review of The Rise of Skywalker.

We talk about what our programs entail, how we combine them, and how we split them. Also, almost inexplicably, incest comes up.

We're just talking Christmas. Not scheduling, not ministry stuff, just plain baby Jesus lying in a manger Christmas. And we do talk about taking vacation over Christmas, so it's just work related enough to count. Also, the way aforementioned Chanukah special music is used for our outro. Enjoy!

We officially welcome an additional Chosen One to the show today: Erika Doorn, and then we get right into reviewing our NYWC experience. Why do we go? What are the expectations? And what about Galaxy's Edge? Was it worth it?

We discuss how we plan for and around different holidays, particularly Christmas and Thanksgiving

We discuss retreats. Whether you do them in the fall, winter, spring, or summer, give this a listen.

We discuss the challenges of youth rooms in a smaller church setting. We might not have offered any solutions, but you can commiserate with us!

Erika Doorn, a youth pastor in Hudsonville, MI, joins us to talk about the challenges she faces as a lady youth pastor that we probably do not face and may not even realize exist.

Sometimes you have to kill things and fire people but never the other way around.

Broom Tree Ministries was mentioned in this podcast. If you are in ministry, you should check them out at http://broomtreeministries.org.

We are talking about leaders in this episode. How do you recruit them? What do you do with them when you get them? And how do you keep them around for a long time?

In this episode, we talk about how we show care to our students, why it's important, and how it looks differently than pastoral care for adults.

Music provided by Red Eye Graphics provided by Matt Baker

Logo designed by the eminent Matt Baker. Check out some of his stuff here: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/shop?author=191 Music produced by Red Eye

This is our first podcast episode, labeled Episode 0, just like all the cool kids do it. We tell you a little about ourselves and why we're doing a podcast.