I think every youth pastor needs an Iphone.  The iphone increase productivity, communication, and spirituality.

The youth ministry geek agrees with me.

Top Apps Every Youth Pastor Needs For Their Youth Ministry:

Tasks, Lists, and Notes [Free]

Jott

Remember the Milk

EasyTask Manager

YouNote

Tasks, Lists, and Notes [Paid]

OmniFocus

Informant

Things

Checklist

Account and Password Management

A Personal Assistant

eWallet

Tap Forms

File & Computer Resources

FileMagnet

Dropbox

MobileFiles

ACTPrinter

MINT

Documents

Spirituality

Logos

Holy Bible

Touch Bible Loaded

Matthew Henry Concise Commentary

TED

Youth Ministry Needs

Bible Trivia Test

Tough Topics presented by Youth Specialties

Would You Rather

Facebook

Echofon

FriendSync

USA Today

Amazon

Nooma

What apps work for you in your youth ministry?  What apps am I missing?

Also make sure to check out Shoreline Youth Ministry Suggested Iphone App List

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

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Augustine argued that God works in and out of time.  Therefore, youth pastors should not view time as a barrier, but as working in our favor.  Time should NEVER be a problem when youth pastors are managing their youth ministries and personal schedules.  But why do we still say “only if I had enough time, I would do [fill in the blank]”?  The problem is we are not giving what is important enough time.  Lack of time is actually lack of priorities.  Youth pastors are responsible for their time, we always have a choice to say NO.  If our paycheck and people’s expectations are controlling our schedules this is merely adolescent behavior.

Youth Pastors need to understand that we can be more effective by doing less.

Youth pastors shouldn’t be trying to do more in each day, and trying to fill every second with a “ministry opportunity.”  Doesn’t it feel great jumping from meeting to meeting?  It is great knowing that people want to meet with us.  Unfortunately, being busy is an illusion for being productive.  Sometimes we do a lot of good youth ministry stuff to avoid what really needs to get done.  Think about it?

How many times have you avoided the tough phone call and checked your email instead?

Being busy is a form of sloppiness and laziness.

Every youth pastor needs to learn how to be most effective.

According to Timothy Ferriss in his book:  The 4-Hour Work Week, states that effectiveness is doing the things that get you closer to your goals.

Youth pastors need to know they need to work hard and keep their priorities and boundaries.   Youth pastors have to evaluate not how many hours they are working, but what is being accomplished in the allotted time.  I want to stress that working 8 hours doesn’t necessary mean high productivity.  Isn’t it funny that if we know we only have 3 hours to get something done, 9 out of 10 times we will get it done.  Why do we get it done?  Because we are focused and aware of our allotted time period to complete the task.

Focus, be selective, and do less is the ultimate principle for high productivity.

Action steps:

1.        Every single time you step into your office take a post-it note and write down the top 3 -4 tasks/goals that need to get done in that day.  Make sure to post this post-it note on your computer screen or keyboard so you are always reminded of the task at hand.

2.       Identify and clarify what things keep you busy.  Basically identify what are your go to “time wasters”.  My time wasters are:  facebook, twitter, email, and randomly checking my cell phone. Once you have compiled a list of your time wasters, eliminate them from your work day.

3.       Don’t multi-task.  Multi-tasking increases your chances of losing focus.

Now quit reading this post, and go get things done.

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

Youth ministry productivity is a tough thing to manage.

To-do lists
Time management is an issue for any youth pastor, and the best way to stay organized is by utilizing to-do lists.
To-do lists help you stay focused on the days and weeks ahead, and guard against forgetfulness when juggling multiple things.  I highly recommend the Getting Things Done Method.  See flow chart for details. (I stole this flow chart from Rhett Smith a few months ago).  I currently have the software application NextAction on my blackberry, which greatly helps me organize my projects.  There are also a lot of great productivity iphone apps out there.

It is essential to write out both your long and short time to do lists.  Here are a few other to do lists:

Ta-Da Lists – http://tadalist.com
- Backpack – http://backpackit.com
- Remember The Milk – http://rememberthemilk.com

Time-tracking
Another great productivity habit is to track your time.  Find patterns in your youth pastor and youth ministry productivity.  When during the day are you most productive?  Find times in your day where you are most productive.  When are the best time for you to have office hours?

For example here is a good example of how I use my time as a small church youth pastor:

15 hours a week youth programs (including before and after time)
8 hours a week preparing for talks / sessions/ programs
2 hours a week think about small church youth ministry strategies and future planning
4 hours a week meeting staff
4 hours a week doing 1-to-1 stuff
hopefully 4-5 hours a week doing admin stuff, in reality probably a bit more.

Here are some slick websites that can help a youth pastor track his or her time:

- SlimTimer – http://slimtimer.com
- Tick – http://tickspot.com
- Harvest – http://getharvest.com
- PunchyTime – http://punchytime.com

Dealing with Distraction
If a youth pastor can learn how to deflect, delegate, and listen to their distractions, then he/she will be very effective and productive.  The goal is to take immediate action.  The GTD flow chart greatly helps with how I know what to do when things are distracting me.
• Starting the day on the right foot
Start your days strong.  Get up early, have your cup of coffee and your quiet time, and get your butt in the office and get ready to work.
A morning routine might include waking up at a reasonable hour, having a shower and getting dressed, and being at your desk before 9am. This will help you avoid procrastinating on the couch (or in bed).  Get up, get your day in motion, and don’t dink around.
• Strict deadlines
Don’t be lazy.  Bottom line get the job done.  Set up real deadlines.
• Set regular office  hours
Set up specific office hours where you will be available to return phone calls and emails.  Make sure you notify not only the church secretary of your office hours, but also the parents and students.  Setting up strict office hours reinforces that you have great boundaries.  People know when and when you aren’t available.

• Have a set day off.
Give yourself a day off and do nothing productive.  (this will be tough for you type A personalities)  By giving yourself a day off, will greatly contribute to the rest of your week’s productivity.  If you are well rested and relaxed, more than likely you will have more emotional energy and determination to get things done.  

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

Being a youth pastor  means you will take on many roles, namely the pastor, counselor, finance manager, web designer, vision and strategy planning, administration, program planning, teacher, recruiter, graphic designer, trainer, etc….  Some of these roles may not be your strong suite, but unfortunately you have to do them because who else will?

So the question still remains:  How does a youth pastor continuously be productive?  What are your youth ministry productivity patterns?  Are you (the youth pastor) productive?

pt. 1 Creating a Comfortable Office Space

pt. 2 Possible Methods of Being Productive in your youth ministry

To be productive in youth ministry, you need to feel good about your work space.  That is why I am arguing in order to be a productive small town youth pastor you need to have a legit location to work and you need to feel good about it.  Walking into your office spot should instantly motivate you to work.

Here are some factors to consider in order to create a comfortable and productive office work space:
• Your location
Ideally, your desk should face the door, so when you are seated you are facing it. This is not only the position found to be the most calming for the occupant, but is also the most welcoming for someone entering the room.
• Natural light
If at all possible, find a space with a good source of natural light. A window allows you to give your eyes a break by looking out every so often, not lose track of time, improves your mood and lessens eye fatigue from looking at a bright screen. Plus if you are a graphic designer or illustrator, natural light will help you view colours accurately on printed materials.
• Your chair
In all likelihood you will spend at least eight hours a day in this chair, so it is worth investing in a good one. When looking for a chair, it is best to go into a store and sit on the chair before purchasing it. You may wish to find a better price online after that, but don’t skip giving it a test-sit, so to speak.  Overstock.com has a great selection of cheap chairs.
• Your desk
It is pivotally important that you get a desk that is the right height. Work on a desk that is too high or too low and your posture and circulation can suffer, increasing the risk of strain and injury.
• Your computer screen
It is important to adjust the brightness of your screen. A good rule of thumb is that your screen should not be brighter than the brightest point in your room. This means you should never work in the dark!
Glare or reflections on your screen can be very distracting, not to mention bad for the eyes. Avoid facing your screen towards a light source.
Finally your screen should be at least an arm’s length away from you. When seated, you should have your screen positioned so that you are staring straight ahead with a relaxed neck.
• Your keyboard
Your keyboard should be relatively close to your screen, so that when you type your elbows can rest on your desk. This puts your arms in a resting position and reduces the strain on your wrists.

Tips and Tricks For Your Workspace
Here are some tips and tricks on how to optimize your workspace:
• Lock your workspace door
• Buy some sound-isolating earphones
• Keep it light
• Empty the room of clutter
• Avoid patterned or dark walls
• Consider a bulletin board or white board

(I got some of these tips from the book:  How to be a Rockstar Freelancer)

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.

The other day I was meeting with a local youth pastor and he directly asked me:  How do you evaluate your youth ministry?

It is tough measuring such an abstract thing such as youth ministry.  I wish we could put our YM in a test tube, run the scientific method, and get our results.  We simply cannot pin it down.  Evaluating our YM is like trying to pin down mercury.  We just cannot do it.

In this post I attempt to dispel some YM evaluation myths, provide tangible YM evaluation methods, and present possible assessment and evaluative categories.

Myth #1:  Taking our YM to the next level.

Unfortunately, leading a youth group is NOT like playing a video game.  The youth pastor doesn’t do A, B, and C and expect to automatically advance to D.  YM are always in transition.

Myth #2:  Kids verbally sharing their faith is NOT the ultimate sign you have a healthy YM.

Yes this is a great thing, but because a kid can evangelize his/her friends isn’t a major sign your YM is legit.  Why?  There are too many direct and indirect variables that may be driving that kid to share his/her faith, namely personality and youth pastor is making him.  There is an illusion that if a kid can share his/her faith, then this kid is spiritually growing.  Evangelism is one of the many upon many things that determine the spiritual health of a student.  Simply because a kid can throw a football well, doesn’t imply he/she will be a quarterback.

Myth #3:  Gambling with the Numbers Game

Yes, we all have heard it over and over.  It isn’t about numbers.  Well guess what it is about numbers.  Think about it….if people are showing up, then their is a buzz and student enjoy coming to your program.  What do we tell people when they ask how the YM is doing?  Generally it starts with the number of kids we are serving.  I am really great at the numbers game, because I know exactly what events to do so I can automatically grow my group by 15% in one night.  So when someone asks me:  So Jeremy how many are attending your YM?  I will use the number from the cool “outreach” event to convince Joe that I have a huge youth ministry.  I dare myself that every time someone asks me how many students are coming I intentionally quote a low number, but clearly describe how deep those few students are growing with the Lord.

Myth #4:  Your Big youth room doesn’t determine the quality of your YM

For some reason, we invest a lot of time, energy, and money into our youth rooms.  We think if the youth room looks great, surely our YM is doing great.  Wrong.

Possible YM Evaluation Methods:

#1:  Establishing Effective Communication Lines Within your YM

I am not talking about your preaching/teaching.  I am talking about how is your communication with other YM and church staff members, your adult volunteers, parents, and with the students.  Do messages easily get relayed to the receiver.  Are there effective lines of communication in your ministry?  Do your messages move quickly amongst your people?

#2:  Health of Adult Volunteers and Parents

What percentage of the parents are pleased with you?  Are your adult volunteers excited about being with students?  Are some of your adult volunteers jaded by the leadership?  I highly encourage you talk to the people who don’t like you.  Hear what they have to say.  Go after the problems.  Typically, youth pastors like to dodge anytime of problems and we sweep it under the rug.  I am suggesting you go after the problems and resolve them.  The indirect people (volunteer and parents) are the ones who can fairly assess how the YM is doing; and it may be painful to hear the realities.

#3:  Is there a genuine DESIRE to serve God in our YM?

Desire is such a unique word.  Are we facilitating environments that encourage students to desire God?  The beauty about desire is that it isn’t manipulative.  Desire is much like passion.  Marko said it best in YM 3.0:  Passion seduces us; being driven guilts us and passion is full of emotions and driven is cold and calculating (113-114).

#4:  Are students befriending and hanging around other Christian students?

This is huge.  Why?  Well if a students wants to immerse him/herself with God, then he/she needs to surround him/herself with positive and Godly influence.  Remember friends are the top influences in a teenagers life.  If a student is choosing to hang around other Christians, then there is an agreement that they want to pursue and live out the teachings of Jesus.  Plus, there is even more accountability.

#5:  Develop some type of goals, mission, or strategic plan so your YM is focused and knows where it is going and why.

Steps to do this:

1.  Answer the question of why does your youth ministry exist?   Typically first ask yourself what is disturbing you about the students in your youth group?  What is bothering you?  Take what is disturbing you and make that a focus.  Make sure whatever that is disturbing you has a solid theological case.

2.  Identify and clarify your goals and the actual results.  Define what the results will be from the goal.

3.  Clearly write out a massive action plan with specific dates.  Break your action plan into steps with particular due dates.

4.  Celebrate your win with each step you accomplish.

An example on how to develop a YM focus:

Goal 1:  Establish better parent communication

Result:  Parents will be in the loop and will have an easier time understand what is going on in YM

Action Plan:  1)  Quarterly newsletter   2)  Parent interactive website   3)  Weekly Parent E-mail

I would argue that you assess and evaluate your youth ministry every 6 months.  In this assessment be honest.

Possible Assessment and Evaluative Categories:

1.  Teaching

2.  Communication

3.  Student’s spiritual health

4.  Adult Leaders/Staff

5.  Budget

6.  Goals

7.  Church assimulation

© 2009, Jeremy Zach. All rights reserved.