I remember the day I knew I wanted to become a youth minister. It was at a Steubenville Catholic Youth Conference in St. Louis. I was going into my sophomore year of high school and was awkward, sunburnt, and commonly referred to by girls as “best friend material.” (For those of you who have never been “best friend material,” it’s a high school girl’s way of saying you will never go on a date.)
So maybe it’s a little cliché. Maybe it’s a “cheesy” way to invite teens to Youth Group. But any upper “crust” Youth Minister will tell you that no matter how you “slice” it, free pizza just sounds more appealing than: “Hey teens, join us tonight for our Fall Kickoff as we play hopscotch while eating broccoli trunks wrapped in raw spinach leaves.”
A few years ago I stumbled out of bed at 5:30 AM during a leadership conference for teenagers. I had risen at such a ridiculous hour because I knew that the teens I had brought with me would all soundly be sleeping until 7:30 AM, which is when the female chaperone and I would wake them up with an air horn. I pulled on a retreat t-shirt, gym shorts, and a baseball hat and wiped away the eye boogers that had developed during my three hours of sleep on my “luxury” dorm room mattress. I walked
In addition to a Bible, Catechism, and well-placed highlights, recent trends suggest that successful youth ministry also includes the incorporation of as much Apple brand technology as possible.
While the origin of this principle remains uncertain and is not directly cited in Renewing the Vision, many attribute the idea to Peter Pilaf’s groundbreaking seminar at St. Isidore University in the spring of 2004 where he dazzled undergraduates in attendance with slides from his MacBook. When asked about the content of the presentation, a sophomore theology major explained, “I don’t really remember, it was something about youth ministry or evangelization or whatever—I was just there for extra credit. But the graphics on Keynote were amazing.
One of the greatest dilemmas any Youth Minister faces is what to do during a long bus ride. “I Spy” gets old real quick, sing-a-longs died when the Brady Bunch was canceled, and a game of License Plate Bingo is just not as exciting as it sounds. With options dwindling, there’s always one choice that works 60% of the time every time: movies. And, as any good Youth Minister knows, if you want to fire up your teens before they even set foot on the retreat site, one movie trumps all: Rudy.
I knew a youth minister who literally worked inside of a closet. Sure, it had been “renovated,” but it didn’t alter the fact that his ministry was based out of a “former” closet. It was the kind of closet that makes a person long for a cubicle; it still smelled like toilet bowl cleaner and that stuff you use to clean up tile floor when a kid tosses his cookies post-dodgeball game.
As a Youth Minister one of the biggest parts of your job description is to teach teens the faith. Now, if the previous statement came as a shock to you . . . umm . . . well . . . you may want to chat with your Pastor. If not, then you know the pressure that comes along with this. While many well-intentioned and “very wise” parishioners and staff members think this is easy, you know that, unfortunately, a classroom, a Catechism, and a chalkboard just don’t grab a teen’s attention
You’ve only got a couple hours until youth group starts and you realize you forgot to buy food. With only $20 left in your budget and the need to feed 200 teens, as a youth minister, you know there’s only one item that can save you now: Red Vines.
What is it about Red Vines that we as youth ministers love so much?
Maybe it’s because these games immediately evoke a reaction – be it laughter or gagging – from a sometimes apathetic and lethargic group of teenagers. Maybe it’s because we are able to relate the caramel onion to the reality of sin; it may look good but it’s actually disgusting. Or maybe it’s just because after a week of parent phone calls, late permission slips, and teens texting through an entire teaching . . . a disgusting icebreaker is our way of saying, “I win.”
Ok. Admit it. You’ve used it. You know you have, but perhaps you don’t know to what extent. Perhaps you don’t realize that it’s the one word you use to describe every youth ministry activity that you’ve planned. For some reason, the word “awesome” is always on the tip of your tongue. At some point (probably in conjunction with “that one song”) it infiltrated the world of youth ministry and to this point, it has never left. “Rad” couldn’t survive. “Dope” just