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    YAMIA - What you do is hard. We're here to help.

    YAMIA is the youth and student ministries arm of the Anglican Mission in the Americas.

    Facebook | Photos of You

    Wednesday, July 2, 2008

    Facebook | Photos of You

    I printed this out on a 10 x 13 glossy. Framed and wrapped it with the sig "Keeping the Chris in Christmas" and gave it as a white elephant Christmas gift. Needless to say, it was the hit of the party as everyone was laughing hysterically.

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    Successful Youth Pastors (especially in church plants)


    (Random thoughts from my experiences and observations)

    Tend to be...

    1) Entrepreneurial
    2) Creative (individually...this is why youth ministries can be good and look so dang different from another good youth ministry. Collectively...a good youth worker who has a team will have a "culture of risk", meaning that they realize that 8 out of every 10 things they try may fail but they go for it anyway. When something fails they get back up, analyze, recalibrate, and try again!)
    3) Disciplined in their devotional lives (This is HUGE in separating those who last and those who burn out)
    4) Have a say in the vision of the church (meaning...they have a sr pastor who values their opinion...a church that uses more of a team approach to vision and values)
    5) Knows they are called to work with youth
    6) Can be any age (in fact, they tend to be over 25)

    (pic from vibewire.net)

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    Looking for a Job? Questions Every Youth Worker Should Ask - Part 3

    1) If the youth ministry is successful in three years, what would that look like? (here you get their expectations, their vision and their values)
    2) If the youth ministry is unsuccessful in three years, what would that look like?
    3) Are you hiring someone to work with each individual teen or someone who oversees a team that relates to individuals?
    4) What do you expect the big church involvement of the youth to be?

    FAMILY BASED?

    5) What does the church do with regards to families?
    6) How do you help encourage families?
    7) What do you see the role of parents in the life of teens to be?
    8) How does this relate to a youth pastor and to the youth ministry? (all the questions here are to get at one thing...the role of the family in relation to that of the youth pastor. Does the church see the parents as your resource or do they see the youth pastor as the parents resource?)

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    Looking for a Job? Questions Every Youth Worker Should Ask - Part 2

    Monday, June 30, 2008

    Environment

    1) What does a typical week look like?
    2) Where will my office be located?
    3) What will I have as far as media/cpu/phone equip etc.? Will I have a cell phone that I can text to kids on? In a visual culture, what kind of resources do I have for that type of communication?
    4) Who determines the vision in the church? Is it just the senior pastor? Is it the pastoral staff? Do admin get a say?

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    Looking for a Job? Questions Every Youth Worker Should Ask - Part 1

    Friday, June 27, 2008

    When looking for the "right fit" information is key. How do I access that essential information about a student ministry position/church? One of the most important tools to use is the art of asking the right questions.

    For example, I can ask a church board what their vision and values are for the youth ministry. And they may give a answer that revolves around their mission statement or something. Or, I can ask them questions like "If I was successful in your eyes, what would that look like in 3 years?" Questions like that cut through to the point and get the answers you need.

    So, in an effort to help you (which is the whole purpose of this site and of yamia) I offer you the first post in a series about asking the right questions. These questions are from the mind of our very own Paul Martin (youth pastor at St Peters in Birmingham). Enjoy.

    INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

    General Church Questions (these are not specific to youth ministry)

    1) What does the church do well?
    2) What is the church known for in the community?
    3) In three years, if all goes well, what will the church look like? (gets their expectations for the church)
    4) In one year, if things are floundering, what would that look like?
    5) What are the important qualities of a staff member in the church?
    6) Where does the church invest it's resources? (time, best people and money....this will tell you what the church really values)
    7) What is the church's spending philosophy? (do they go after the best or with what they can get by with)
    8) How is the budget broken down between ministries?
    9) How long are you willing to wait to see results?

    Next issue...Environment questions...

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    Went to a Pub Church Last Nite

    Wednesday, June 25, 2008


    It is a very fun (and dangerous) thing when a pastor gets a chance to go to someone else's worship service.

    I got that chance last nite as I went to a local non denom's church at a pub. Here is one take away from it I want to share with everyone. It is something I am sure many of you are already doing. However, I will share it anyway just in case.

    During their announcement and sermon time they displayed on the bottom of their tv screens (that is how you watched the sermon at this pub) a line that said this :
    "Questions? Comments? Send your text to (850)XXX-XXXX"

    I absolutely loved this. Especially for youth. Think about it. If you can have a phone with unlimited texts...you can have that up during, after or before youth group and allow kids to text in questions that come up for them etc... It could be a really cool way to find out where they are at and help shape teaching series you do with them etc...

    I am sure you can do A LOT more with it as well.

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    Family Based Youth Ministry

    Tuesday, June 24, 2008

    One of the things our yamia team is doing this summer is calling every youth minister in the Anglican Mission to get to know them and hear them with the hope and prayer that we might, by God's grace, be able to serve them. So...today I have been doing that and I just got off the phone with Allison who is a youth pastor (along with her husband Chris) at Epiphany Anglican Fellowship in Colorado.

    Anyway, they are trying a family based approach. It sounds very cool and definitely outside the box. It has grown, slowly over the last 9 months (that is how long they have been on the job) and they are doing things with a multi generational approach. Why? Simply put, they think parents are supposed to train up their kids in the faith.

    It will be fun to see how the Lord works through their ministry over the next few years. I am excited for them and I hope, somehow, we can help them in the Lord.

    *note-yamia does not endorse any one model of youth ministry. Rather, we prefer an organic approach. Our heart is for youth ministry to be Biblical, pleasing to God and in accord with the vision and values of the Anglican Mission (which is to reach the 150 million unsaved people in the US.=).

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    CZ

    Involved in Youth Ministry for over 10 years, Rev Chris Zoephel has worked with junior highers, senior highers and those who act like these folks both as a paid staff member and as a volunteer in churches and para church organizations. These days most of his time is spent chasing his son around, keeping his office somewhat organized and trying to point others toward Christ. Currently Chris is on staff at Immanuel Anglican Church in Destin, FL as the Pastor of Discipleship (which includes being a youth pastor). Chris also serves as Director of YAMIA for the Anglican Mission in the Americas.