web02.fireside.fm Tue, 14 Apr 2026 17:26:27 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Hybrid Ministry - Episodes Tagged with “Church Leadership” https://www.hybridministry.xyz/tags/church%20leadership Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0500 Hybrid Ministry is complicated and hard. Or is it? How do pastors and youth pastors create a vibrant extension, not replacement, of what's already happening during their weekly church services? To cater in a digital ministry way to an online focused ministry audience. Reaching Millennials, Gen Z and even Gen Alpha is going to require us to rethink some of the ways we do church. Follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick en-us episodic Digital Discipleship made easy Nick Clason Hybrid Ministry is complicated and hard. Or is it? How do pastors and youth pastors create a vibrant extension, not replacement, of what's already happening during their weekly church services? To cater in a digital ministry way to an online focused ministry audience. Reaching Millennials, Gen Z and even Gen Alpha is going to require us to rethink some of the ways we do church. Follow along on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick no Digital, Online Church, Hybrid Ministry, Church, Meta, Gen Z, Millennials, Digital Marketing, Church Marketing, Youth Ministry, Student Ministry, Nick Clason, Digital Ministry, Church Social Media, Youth Ministry Social Media, YouTube for Church, YouTube for Youth Ministry, TikTok for Churches, TikTok for Youth Ministry, Instagram for Churches, Instagram for Youth Ministry, Facebook for Church, Facebook for Youth Ministry, Cell Phone Usage at Church Nick Clason nickclason@hybridministry.xyz Episode 196: Lock-Ins: Ministry Gold or Total Disaster? https://www.hybridministry.xyz/196 f5e38c94-7322-4aa4-b0d6-311b9d51f619 Thu, 09 Apr 2026 05:00:00 -0500 Nick Clason 196 Lock-Ins: Ministry Gold or Total Disaster? full Nick Clason Lock-ins... is there a more polarizing youth ministry topic? Should you do them? Are they valuable? Or are they the worst idea ever? In this episode, two youth pastors go head to head, and you get to decide! 20:08 no Lock-ins... is there a more polarizing youth ministry topic? Should you do them? Are they valuable? Or are they the worst idea ever? In this episode, two youth pastors go head to head, and you get to decide! Take Advantage of Andrew's FREE Lock-in Planning Session: https://www.hybridministry.xyz/contact [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE https://www.patreon.com/posts/complete-guide-142500019?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🌸 SPRING SEASONAL SOCIAL PACK https://www.patreon.com/posts/spring-seasonal-151263940?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/196 //Lock-In Survival Guide https://www.patreon.com/posts/10-year-veterans-146449370?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products //VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid //BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.patreon.com/posts/9-amazing-dym-142425755 //OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //HYBRID MINISTRY MEGA GUIDE Everything I've ever learned in one blog post [FOR FREE!] https://www.patreon.com/posts/hybrid-ministry-151264417?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 Pro or Anti Lock-in? 02:16 The Argument Against Lock-ins 05:14 The Busy Youth Worker’s Guide to Social Media 06:12 The Argument For Lock-ins 09:11 What Do You do if Kids don’t like boardgames? 10:56 Are Lock-ins only effective for Middle Schoolers? 12:16 What are the “risks” vs the “rewards” of a lock-in? 14:29 Do Lock-ins affect your Sunday morning attendance? 16:43 The Final Argument FOR Lock-ins 18:00 The Final Argument AGAINST Lock-ins 19:09 You decide - who won? -------------- TRANSCRIPT Nick Clason (00:01.102) Well, what is up everybody? Here I am this morning with Andrew and my new friend Ellen. Good morning everyone. How are we doing this morning? Ellen Partridge (00:10.995) Doing good. Nick Clason (00:12.802) Hey, are you guys, do you have coffee yet in your systems or is that long gone? All right, okay. They're doing pretty good, right, Michigan State? Andrew Jansen (00:12.964) Doing fantastic. Ellen Partridge (00:16.771) We're on the first cut. Go Spartans. Yeah, not as good as Michigan, which is a bummer, but... Andrew Jansen (00:23.46) They're doing good. Nick Clason (00:25.73) Mm, yeah. And this will drop after March Madness, so we'll all know. Comment down below, like how Michigan did. know, Michigan State, not Michigan. But I'm excited because today we are debating pro lock-in versus anti lock-in. And based on the two people that you see on your screen here, you can probably already tell who's pro lock-in. Andrew Jansen (00:33.591) it. Nick Clason (00:50.9) and who's anti-lock-in. And so I'm just so excited for you guys to get to, not only get to know these two amazing people, but also hear their positions on this. And so by random draw that happened off screen that you're gonna have to trust me because I'm a pastor and I get paid to tell the truth. Ellen, you get to go first. So one minute on the clock for you. Just introduce yourself, help the people understand your context, where you're at, how long you've been in ministry, all these types of things. Ellen, are you ready? Ellen Partridge (01:18.751) Absolutely. I'm ready. Nick Clason (01:21.58) Alright, take it away. Ellen Partridge (01:23.455) All right, everyone, my name is Ellen Partridge. I serve as the central pastor of students at Thornton Apple Valley Church. We are centralized out of Hastings at Michigan, southwest Michigan. And we are a multi-site church, but I've been in ministry for very close to two decades now. And we're in a rural context and a multi-site context. So things are a little bit different for us versus just the single site. And when I think about lock-ins, the thing that always comes to mind is the Halt analogy. If you're hungry, if you're angry, if you're tired, what are the things you shouldn't do, which is make decisions. And so we're gonna put students in a room where they are locked in together. You got the ones who, I have a kid in my youth ministry who at camp asked me if I could move our bedtime up to 9 p.m. I let him know that wasn't a thing, but you've got those kind of kids, and then you've got the kids who have snuck in. all their energy drinks and are going to be up till four in the morning. And those kids that are up are going to be picking on the kids that don't want to be up, that want to be sleeping. And then you've got a lot of that interpersonal conflict that is going on within that. And you're putting that all into a giant space where you're having to entertain them and or keep track of them as they are, you know, coming up with all of these grand ideas of how they're going to use their time. And I remember back to my youth group days, our youth ministry actually met in a old YMCA building, and for some reason, they did not lock the doors to the locker rooms, and then that locker room led to a empty pool. And I can't confirm or deny if there were children conceived in that pool, but there probably were. And it was coming from opportunities where we did lock-ins and they let us all throughout this building with lots of classrooms, lots of spaces that should have been locked that were not. And so from that perspective of hungry, angry, tired, lack of ability to, you know, keep an eye on all the students and all the places, I am very anti-lock-in. Nick Clason (03:43.896) Well, there you go. Andrew, she blew past introductions just straight into arguments. Brother, she's coming for you, right? Like she is coming in hot. So, Ellen, great argument. Man, I hope no students, babies were conceived in that pool. I don't ever want to swim there. Andrew. Andrew Jansen (03:49.24) yeah, just right past it. Yeah, she went right past it and that's okay. She's coming in hot, yeah, for sure. It's okay. Ellen Partridge (04:10.12) Me too. Andrew Jansen (04:12.365) Yeah, it's gross. Nick Clason (04:13.838) Tell us why Ellen's wrong and why lock-ins are a great idea. But first, give us a little bit of intro as you go. Are you ready, my friend? Let's go, take it away. Andrew Jansen (04:28.345) ready. Yeah, hit it. My name is Andrew Janssen. I am a middle school pastor in Manhattan, Kansas. Sorry, a couple years ago, we did play Michigan State and I know you probably knew that but we have nothing to talk about sports wise, hardly at all right now. So that's okay. But I love K State. I love serving in Manhattan. I am 36 years old. I've been a youth pastor for 10 years and I really love getting to be in Manhattan, getting to work with college students that invest in middle schoolers. That's kind of my passion. And man, I love lock-ins. just, it works within the context of our church is about 1900 people and we work with multi buildings on our campus, but not multi-site, but. It is just set up in a really easy way to execute and make lock-ins happen. And especially in our season right now where we have, and it changes, we have college students that graduate, but we have like 17, 18 youth coaches right now. And a lot of them enjoy staying up super late. And so it just really worked in this season to be able to have enough people there for a safe lock-in to happen. Middle schoolers are crazy and love staying up all night, love getting to be like, you can be at the church besides Sunday and Wednesday. And just, it was just really, really awesome. We did a New Year's Eve lock in and they just have so much fun. There's opportunities for fellowship, board games, long extended times that maybe you don't get that opportunity to play through an entire game of exploding kittens or taco cat. Mahomes cheese pizza, not taco cat goat cheese pizza. We all know Mahomes is the goat. But we play taco cat Mahomes cheese pizza and you get through two rounds and it's time for youth group to start. So we get to play through those games, have those conversations and invest in the students moving forward. Nick Clason (06:40.494) Great. All right, well there you have it. Like there's, each of you have laid down the gauntlet with your position, right? Andrews is based upon board games. Ellen's is based upon pools being present. And so with those two things in mind, plus everything else, do either of you have a question for the other that we can debate in a little bit more of an open forum? Andrew Jansen (06:55.097) You Ellen Partridge (07:10.974) All Andrea, I got one for you. So what do you do with the kids who are not your board game kids? What are your other activities that you're able to do? Because it sounds like you're pretty board game heavy. So how are you keeping the other kids occupied that are not interested in your board games? Andrew Jansen (07:27.929) Absolutely. I have, I try to make sure that every single second is accounted for at a lock-in. We have intentional time where it's like, they get to choose. We have our youth building has like carpet ball, foosball, ping pong. We have not a Nintendo switch too, but two Nintendo switches, which is kind of confusing, definitely. But so we have like Mario Kart and Smash Bros going. Nick Clason (07:49.902) That could be confusing, Andrew Jansen (07:56.882) I really try to get them away from screens as much as I can because we all know that battle. yeah, trying to have every single second with like some sort of activity, some sort of competition tournament. The last time I was on with Nick, we talked about the Assassin's like meta ongoing game that happens throughout the evening and having things like that where there isn't an opportunity to be bored. really, really is effective with middle schoolers. Because once you were right, once they're bored and exploring and they find a pool and we know what happens next, like there's just something about an empty pool. So, but with middle schoolers, that's not so much like the sneaking off and having that happen. I think that's more of a high school situation, but I just try to make sure every single second is accounted for. And that kind of helps with, you know, not having that boredom. board game time for the students that don't like board games. Ellen Partridge (08:57.362) And notice you keep saying middle school. You're not mentioning high school. So are you saying that lock-ins are only good for middle school or would you do one with high school? Nick Clason (09:06.072) Good question. Andrew Jansen (09:06.325) I would, that is a great question. I would do a, I would do a high school lock in for sure. I think that you do run that risk. They are a little bit more like, I can kind of put on the dad voice like the, Hey, what are you doing? And they'll just like freeze as a middle schooler. They still, you know, we'll listen to authority when it yells at them. So with high school, they're kind of a little bit more independent, a little bit more calloused and a little bit more. Like on their own I consider I always use this analogy of like middle schoolers are like dogs and high schoolers are like cats Like dogs are just happy that you're there and happy that you see them high schoolers. You kind of have to earn that relational like equity and I would say yes have a lock-in with high schoolers, but only do it if you have the resources and the adult volunteers and also if you're like this group is just like, this is a crazy group of high schoolers. It's not always a green light for that specific group of high schoolers if you just feel like that wouldn't be good. Does that make sense? Ellen Partridge (10:16.934) Yeah, it's good argument. Nick Clason (10:18.464) Andrew, you got a question for Ellen? Andrew Jansen (10:22.763) Yes, what do you feel is, like, I want you to tell me what is the, like, risk reward trade off where you feel like, hey, this is too risky to have a lock in for this type of reward. Ellen Partridge (10:35.422) Mmm. Ellen Partridge (10:45.35) Yeah, it's a great question. I would just say I'm a big fan of like doing late night activities, hanging out super late. The thing that gets me and where I feel like the risk comes in is once you hit that one, two, three, four a.m. that even, and you mentioned that you've got college leaders. I don't live in a college town and so I mostly have adult leaders. And so for me, I know my adult leaders are not gonna be on their A game coming into that situation. And so for me, the risk in my context is a lot higher that my leaders are gonna start maybe losing their minds or going stir crazy or sleep deprivation is gonna kick in. And it's gonna lead to students, because they're curious, ending up doing things that they don't need to do. And so for me, I would rather do a thing where it's like, hey, we're hanging out till midnight. Your parents are picking you up. and then maybe we do something again the next morning because then I know they're getting sleep, my leaders are getting sleep, and it also means that I'm not putting them at risk, I'm not putting my leaders at risk. And so for me, there doesn't seem to be necessarily, yes, there's the connection reward, but I wonder if that's always overshadowed by the sleep deprivation, the angry, hangry situations that can come up and also, I worry for my adult leaders that they're gonna say something out of their own sleep deprivation or frustration after telling the same kid eight times not to do something, that it may end up ultimately hurting a relationship that was good, and then they make a good relationship with someone that they had a bad relationship with, and so you're kind of at a net zero, is kind of how I look at Nick Clason (12:32.078) I just feel like the ultimate fact that like, I would rather sleep in my bed at two o'clock in the morning. Like that's my strongest argument for anti-lock-in. Just shooting straight. Plus I enjoy Saturdays and if I am doing a lock-in, I don't know. Also, Andrew, question for you. Do you ever notice that your Sunday morning attendance is affected post a lock-in weekend? Andrew Jansen (12:32.345) Definitely fair. Andrew Jansen (13:02.165) for sure. I mean, I tell my youth coaches, like, hey, you were just at church for 15 hours. It's OK for you to sleep in. I'll be there because I work there. And students, a lot of times parents will bring them and they might fall asleep or something during a message. Nick Clason (13:04.027) hahahaha Nick Clason (13:13.787) Yeah Yeah. Yeah. Nick Clason (13:28.622) Yeah. Andrew Jansen (13:29.079) Yeah, think it happens. There are definitely repercussions to having a lock-in, but I just think that there's just a lot of... I've seen so many good things and good conversations and relationships start at lock-ins, and it's just with a certain unchurched group of students, it's just an easy invite. It's just an easy win to get them there. Nick Clason (13:45.091) Yeah. Nick Clason (13:50.382) Yeah, which and I hear you like Sunday morning, it's like, okay, like, yeah, they didn't come on Sunday morning, which is like the senior pastor's goal. But like we had a lot more effective and fruitful time than like them sitting through a sermon or whatever, like through the lock-in and you know, the times I have done lock-ins, like it's almost always one of the number one most attended events from friends. Like we get, we would have some of our biggest. Ellen Partridge (14:12.242) Mm-hmm. Nick Clason (14:16.75) numbers and biggest reach, you know, as far as outreach is concerned. So I definitely do see like both sides for sure. So those of you listening, you're about to get your opportunity to vote. Ellen, you went first last time. Andrew, we're gonna put a minute on the clock now for you. Give us your final one minute strongest argument why Y lock-ins. Are you ready, my friend? Take it away. Ellen Partridge (14:30.173) All right. Andrew Jansen (14:42.008) I'm ready. Lock-ins are definitely the easiest first step in the door with a church. If you have the right resources, if you have the right volunteers, and you have a solid game plan going into it, you know your group of students. I think middle school or high school, it is an easy invite for the unchurched students. And that is kind of the lens in which I plan a lock-in. I don't have the whole bait and switch. Like we're going to talk to them about Jesus Christ, their Lord and savior first thing, and then just have the rest of the lock in. It is, hey, building connections, being intentional and teaching the students. That's why we're doing this. Like, Hey, we're doing this so you can bring that friend, start that relationship. And so that they associate church with fun, with safe, with They feel welcome and feel like they belong. There's something different happening here. And our hope is that continues on. Nick Clason (15:47.81) Great, almost a buzzer beater, but not quite. All right, Ellen, you get the final word, final say, anti-lock-in. Go ahead, take it away. Andrew Jansen (15:50.839) Almost. Ellen Partridge (16:00.572) All right, as fun as lock-ins can be in the memories that are made, the risk of students having bad memories, whether it's a leader who loses their cool, it's another student who says something they wouldn't have said because they're sleep deprived or because they're overtired, to me just doesn't equate to the reward. I am much more on the side of let's do a long. evening event where maybe we can start at six or seven and parents are picking up at midnight. So we're still getting that opportunity to connect with them, to have those great conversations, to have an opportunity for them to invite their friends. But at the same time, when it hits two, three in the morning, our leaders and our students are home in their beds, getting the sleep and the rest that they need. And hopefully, because they had a great time. We're gonna be able to see them on Sunday morning and they're able to stay plugged into that larger church community opposed from being just separate from the youth ministry. Nick Clason (17:05.023) Nice, nice. Another almost buzzer beater. Well, there you have it, my friends. You have your pro lock-in versus your anti lock-in debate. And so you guys get to be the decision makers. Those of you watching, let us know, comment down below. But without any further ado, we're gonna get out of here. For Andrew and for Ellen, I'm Nick. Thanks for watching everyone. See you next time. youth ministry, youth pastor, church leadership, student ministry, lock-in debate, church events, youth group games, ministry strategy, church growth, outreach ideas, student engagement, youth ministry podcast, church programming, middle school ministry, high school ministry, church safety, volunteer leadership, youth events, church culture, discipleship, student leadership, ministry burnout, church innovation, youth group ideas, Christian leadership, church community, ministry risks, church events planning, youth outreach, faith conversations Lock-ins... is there a more polarizing youth ministry topic?
Should you do them?
Are they valuable?
Or are they the worst idea ever?

In this episode, two youth pastors go head to head, and you get to decide!

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SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/196

//Lock-In Survival Guide
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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Pro or Anti Lock-in?
02:16 The Argument Against Lock-ins
05:14 The Busy Youth Worker’s Guide to Social Media
06:12 The Argument For Lock-ins
09:11 What Do You do if Kids don’t like boardgames?
10:56 Are Lock-ins only effective for Middle Schoolers?
12:16 What are the “risks” vs the “rewards” of a lock-in?
14:29 Do Lock-ins affect your Sunday morning attendance?
16:43 The Final Argument FOR Lock-ins
18:00 The Final Argument AGAINST Lock-ins
19:09 You decide - who won?

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TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01.102)
Well, what is up everybody? Here I am this morning with Andrew and my new friend Ellen. Good morning everyone. How are we doing this morning?

Ellen Partridge (00:10.995)
Doing good.

Nick Clason (00:12.802)
Hey, are you guys, do you have coffee yet in your systems or is that long gone? All right, okay. They're doing pretty good, right, Michigan State?

Andrew Jansen (00:12.964)
Doing fantastic.

Ellen Partridge (00:16.771)
We're on the first cut. Go Spartans.

Yeah, not as good as Michigan, which is a bummer, but...

Andrew Jansen (00:23.46)
They're doing good.

Nick Clason (00:25.73)
Mm, yeah. And this will drop after March Madness, so we'll all know. Comment down below, like how Michigan did. know, Michigan State, not Michigan. But I'm excited because today we are debating pro lock-in versus anti lock-in. And based on the two people that you see on your screen here, you can probably already tell who's pro lock-in.

Andrew Jansen (00:33.591)
it.

Nick Clason (00:50.9)
and who's anti-lock-in. And so I'm just so excited for you guys to get to, not only get to know these two amazing people, but also hear their positions on this. And so by random draw that happened off screen that you're gonna have to trust me because I'm a pastor and I get paid to tell the truth. Ellen, you get to go first. So one minute on the clock for you. Just introduce yourself, help the people understand your context, where you're at, how long you've been in ministry, all these types of things. Ellen, are you ready?

Ellen Partridge (01:18.751)
Absolutely. I'm ready.

Nick Clason (01:21.58)
Alright, take it away.

Ellen Partridge (01:23.455)
All right, everyone, my name is Ellen Partridge. I serve as the central pastor of students at Thornton Apple Valley Church. We are centralized out of Hastings at Michigan, southwest Michigan. And we are a multi-site church, but I've been in ministry for very close to two decades now. And we're in a rural context and a multi-site context. So things are a little bit different for us versus just the single site.

And when I think about lock-ins, the thing that always comes to mind is the Halt analogy. If you're hungry, if you're angry, if you're tired, what are the things you shouldn't do, which is make decisions. And so we're gonna put students in a room where they are locked in together. You got the ones who, I have a kid in my youth ministry who at camp asked me if I could move our bedtime up to 9 p.m. I let him know that wasn't a thing, but you've got those kind of kids, and then you've got the kids who have snuck in.

all their energy drinks and are going to be up till four in the morning. And those kids that are up are going to be picking on the kids that don't want to be up, that want to be sleeping. And then you've got a lot of that interpersonal conflict that is going on within that. And you're putting that all into a giant space where you're having to entertain them and or keep track of them as they are, you know,

coming up with all of these grand ideas of how they're going to use their time. And I remember back to my youth group days, our youth ministry actually met in a old YMCA building, and for some reason, they did not lock the doors to the locker rooms, and then that locker room led to a empty pool. And I can't confirm or deny if there were children conceived in that pool, but there probably were.

And it was coming from opportunities where we did lock-ins and they let us all throughout this building with lots of classrooms, lots of spaces that should have been locked that were not. And so from that perspective of hungry, angry, tired, lack of ability to, you know, keep an eye on all the students and all the places, I am very anti-lock-in.

Nick Clason (03:43.896)
Well, there you go. Andrew, she blew past introductions just straight into arguments. Brother, she's coming for you, right? Like she is coming in hot. So, Ellen, great argument. Man, I hope no students, babies were conceived in that pool. I don't ever want to swim there. Andrew.

Andrew Jansen (03:49.24)
yeah, just right past it. Yeah, she went right past it and that's okay.

She's coming in hot, yeah, for sure. It's okay.

Ellen Partridge (04:10.12)
Me too.

Andrew Jansen (04:12.365)
Yeah, it's gross.

Nick Clason (04:13.838)
Tell us why Ellen's wrong and why lock-ins are a great idea. But first, give us a little bit of intro as you go. Are you ready, my friend? Let's go, take it away.

Andrew Jansen (04:28.345)
ready. Yeah, hit it. My name is Andrew Janssen. I am a middle school pastor in Manhattan, Kansas. Sorry, a couple years ago, we did play Michigan State and I know you probably knew that but we have nothing to talk about sports wise, hardly at all right now. So that's okay. But I love K State. I love serving in Manhattan. I am 36 years old. I've been a youth pastor for 10 years and

I really love getting to be in Manhattan, getting to work with college students that invest in middle schoolers. That's kind of my passion. And man, I love lock-ins. just, it works within the context of our church is about 1900 people and we work with multi buildings on our campus, but not multi-site, but.

It is just set up in a really easy way to execute and make lock-ins happen. And especially in our season right now where we have, and it changes, we have college students that graduate, but we have like 17, 18 youth coaches right now. And a lot of them enjoy staying up super late. And so it just really worked in this season to be able to have enough people there for a safe lock-in to happen.

Middle schoolers are crazy and love staying up all night, love getting to be like, you can be at the church besides Sunday and Wednesday. And just, it was just really, really awesome. We did a New Year's Eve lock in and they just have so much fun. There's opportunities for fellowship, board games, long extended times that maybe you don't get that opportunity to play through an entire game of exploding kittens or taco cat.

Mahomes cheese pizza, not taco cat goat cheese pizza. We all know Mahomes is the goat. But we play taco cat Mahomes cheese pizza and you get through two rounds and it's time for youth group to start. So we get to play through those games, have those conversations and invest in the students moving forward.

Nick Clason (06:40.494)
Great. All right, well there you have it. Like there's, each of you have laid down the gauntlet with your position, right? Andrews is based upon board games. Ellen's is based upon pools being present. And so with those two things in mind, plus everything else, do either of you have a question for the other that we can debate in a little bit more of an open forum?

Andrew Jansen (06:55.097)
You

Ellen Partridge (07:10.974)
All Andrea, I got one for you. So what do you do with the kids who are not your board game kids? What are your other activities that you're able to do? Because it sounds like you're pretty board game heavy. So how are you keeping the other kids occupied that are not interested in your board games?

Andrew Jansen (07:27.929)
Absolutely. I have, I try to make sure that every single second is accounted for at a lock-in. We have intentional time where it's like, they get to choose. We have our youth building has like carpet ball, foosball, ping pong. We have not a Nintendo switch too, but two Nintendo switches, which is kind of confusing, definitely. But so we have like Mario Kart and Smash Bros going.

Nick Clason (07:49.902)
That could be confusing,

Andrew Jansen (07:56.882)
I really try to get them away from screens as much as I can because we all know that battle. yeah, trying to have every single second with like some sort of activity, some sort of competition tournament. The last time I was on with Nick, we talked about the Assassin's like meta ongoing game that happens throughout the evening and having things like that where there isn't an opportunity to be bored.

really, really is effective with middle schoolers. Because once you were right, once they're bored and exploring and they find a pool and we know what happens next, like there's just something about an empty pool. So, but with middle schoolers, that's not so much like the sneaking off and having that happen. I think that's more of a high school situation, but I just try to make sure every single second is accounted for. And that kind of helps with, you know, not having that boredom.

board game time for the students that don't like board games.

Ellen Partridge (08:57.362)
And notice you keep saying middle school. You're not mentioning high school. So are you saying that lock-ins are only good for middle school or would you do one with high school?

Nick Clason (09:06.072)
Good question.

Andrew Jansen (09:06.325)
I would, that is a great question. I would do a, I would do a high school lock in for sure. I think that you do run that risk. They are a little bit more like, I can kind of put on the dad voice like the, Hey, what are you doing? And they'll just like freeze as a middle schooler. They still, you know, we'll listen to authority when it yells at them. So with high school, they're kind of a little bit more independent, a little bit more calloused and a little bit more.

Like on their own I consider I always use this analogy of like middle schoolers are like dogs and high schoolers are like cats Like dogs are just happy that you're there and happy that you see them high schoolers. You kind of have to earn that relational like equity and I would say yes have a lock-in with high schoolers, but only do it if you have the resources and the adult volunteers and also if you're like

this group is just like, this is a crazy group of high schoolers. It's not always a green light for that specific group of high schoolers if you just feel like that wouldn't be good. Does that make sense?

Ellen Partridge (10:16.934)
Yeah, it's good argument.

Nick Clason (10:18.464)
Andrew, you got a question for Ellen?

Andrew Jansen (10:22.763)
Yes, what do you feel is, like, I want you to tell me what is the, like, risk reward trade off where you feel like, hey, this is too risky to have a lock in for this type of reward.

Ellen Partridge (10:35.422)
Mmm.

Ellen Partridge (10:45.35)
Yeah, it's a great question. I would just say I'm a big fan of like doing late night activities, hanging out super late. The thing that gets me and where I feel like the risk comes in is once you hit that one, two, three, four a.m. that even, and you mentioned that you've got college leaders. I don't live in a college town and so I mostly have adult leaders. And so for me,

I know my adult leaders are not gonna be on their A game coming into that situation. And so for me, the risk in my context is a lot higher that my leaders are gonna start maybe losing their minds or going stir crazy or sleep deprivation is gonna kick in. And it's gonna lead to students, because they're curious, ending up doing things that they don't need to do. And so for me, I would rather do a thing where it's like, hey, we're hanging out till midnight. Your parents are picking you up.

and then maybe we do something again the next morning because then I know they're getting sleep, my leaders are getting sleep, and it also means that I'm not putting them at risk, I'm not putting my leaders at risk. And so for me, there doesn't seem to be necessarily, yes, there's the connection reward, but I wonder if that's always overshadowed by the sleep deprivation, the angry, hangry situations that can come up and also,

I worry for my adult leaders that they're gonna say something out of their own sleep deprivation or frustration after telling the same kid eight times not to do something, that it may end up ultimately hurting a relationship that was good, and then they make a good relationship with someone that they had a bad relationship with, and so you're kind of at a net zero, is kind of how I look at

Nick Clason (12:32.078)
I just feel like the ultimate fact that like, I would rather sleep in my bed at two o'clock in the morning. Like that's my strongest argument for anti-lock-in. Just shooting straight. Plus I enjoy Saturdays and if I am doing a lock-in, I don't know. Also, Andrew, question for you. Do you ever notice that your Sunday morning attendance is affected post a lock-in weekend?

Andrew Jansen (12:32.345)
Definitely fair.

Andrew Jansen (13:02.165)
for sure. I mean, I tell my youth coaches, like, hey, you were just at church for 15 hours. It's OK for you to sleep in. I'll be there because I work there. And students, a lot of times parents will bring them and they might fall asleep or something during a message.

Nick Clason (13:04.027)
hahahaha

Nick Clason (13:13.787)
Yeah

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick Clason (13:28.622)
Yeah.

Andrew Jansen (13:29.079)
Yeah, think it happens. There are definitely repercussions to having a lock-in, but I just think that there's just a lot of... I've seen so many good things and good conversations and relationships start at lock-ins, and it's just with a certain unchurched group of students, it's just an easy invite. It's just an easy win to get them there.

Nick Clason (13:45.091)
Yeah.

Nick Clason (13:50.382)
Yeah, which and I hear you like Sunday morning, it's like, okay, like, yeah, they didn't come on Sunday morning, which is like the senior pastor's goal. But like we had a lot more effective and fruitful time than like them sitting through a sermon or whatever, like through the lock-in and you know, the times I have done lock-ins, like it's almost always one of the number one most attended events from friends. Like we get, we would have some of our biggest.

Ellen Partridge (14:12.242)
Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason (14:16.75)
numbers and biggest reach, you know, as far as outreach is concerned. So I definitely do see like both sides for sure. So those of you listening, you're about to get your opportunity to vote. Ellen, you went first last time. Andrew, we're gonna put a minute on the clock now for you. Give us your final one minute strongest argument why Y lock-ins. Are you ready, my friend? Take it away.

Ellen Partridge (14:30.173)
All right.

Andrew Jansen (14:42.008)
I'm ready.

Lock-ins are definitely the easiest first step in the door with a church. If you have the right resources, if you have the right volunteers, and you have a solid game plan going into it, you know your group of students. I think middle school or high school, it is an easy invite for the unchurched students. And that is kind of the lens in which I plan a lock-in.

I don't have the whole bait and switch. Like we're going to talk to them about Jesus Christ, their Lord and savior first thing, and then just have the rest of the lock in. It is, hey, building connections, being intentional and teaching the students. That's why we're doing this. Like, Hey, we're doing this so you can bring that friend, start that relationship. And so that they associate church with fun, with safe, with

They feel welcome and feel like they belong. There's something different happening here. And our hope is that continues on.

Nick Clason (15:47.81)
Great, almost a buzzer beater, but not quite. All right, Ellen, you get the final word, final say, anti-lock-in. Go ahead, take it away.

Andrew Jansen (15:50.839)
Almost.

Ellen Partridge (16:00.572)
All right, as fun as lock-ins can be in the memories that are made, the risk of students having bad memories, whether it's a leader who loses their cool, it's another student who says something they wouldn't have said because they're sleep deprived or because they're overtired, to me just doesn't equate to the reward. I am much more on the side of let's do a long.

evening event where maybe we can start at six or seven and parents are picking up at midnight. So we're still getting that opportunity to connect with them, to have those great conversations, to have an opportunity for them to invite their friends. But at the same time, when it hits two, three in the morning, our leaders and our students are home in their beds, getting the sleep and the rest that they need. And hopefully, because they had a great time.

We're gonna be able to see them on Sunday morning and they're able to stay plugged into that larger church community opposed from being just separate from the youth ministry.

Nick Clason (17:05.023)
Nice, nice. Another almost buzzer beater. Well, there you have it, my friends. You have your pro lock-in versus your anti lock-in debate. And so you guys get to be the decision makers. Those of you watching, let us know, comment down below. But without any further ado, we're gonna get out of here. For Andrew and for Ellen, I'm Nick. Thanks for watching everyone. See you next time.

]]> Lock-ins... is there a more polarizing youth ministry topic?
Should you do them?
Are they valuable?
Or are they the worst idea ever?

In this episode, two youth pastors go head to head, and you get to decide!

Take Advantage of Andrew's FREE Lock-in Planning Session:
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--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Pro or Anti Lock-in?
02:16 The Argument Against Lock-ins
05:14 The Busy Youth Worker’s Guide to Social Media
06:12 The Argument For Lock-ins
09:11 What Do You do if Kids don’t like boardgames?
10:56 Are Lock-ins only effective for Middle Schoolers?
12:16 What are the “risks” vs the “rewards” of a lock-in?
14:29 Do Lock-ins affect your Sunday morning attendance?
16:43 The Final Argument FOR Lock-ins
18:00 The Final Argument AGAINST Lock-ins
19:09 You decide - who won?

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
Nick Clason (00:01.102)
Well, what is up everybody? Here I am this morning with Andrew and my new friend Ellen. Good morning everyone. How are we doing this morning?

Ellen Partridge (00:10.995)
Doing good.

Nick Clason (00:12.802)
Hey, are you guys, do you have coffee yet in your systems or is that long gone? All right, okay. They're doing pretty good, right, Michigan State?

Andrew Jansen (00:12.964)
Doing fantastic.

Ellen Partridge (00:16.771)
We're on the first cut. Go Spartans.

Yeah, not as good as Michigan, which is a bummer, but...

Andrew Jansen (00:23.46)
They're doing good.

Nick Clason (00:25.73)
Mm, yeah. And this will drop after March Madness, so we'll all know. Comment down below, like how Michigan did. know, Michigan State, not Michigan. But I'm excited because today we are debating pro lock-in versus anti lock-in. And based on the two people that you see on your screen here, you can probably already tell who's pro lock-in.

Andrew Jansen (00:33.591)
it.

Nick Clason (00:50.9)
and who's anti-lock-in. And so I'm just so excited for you guys to get to, not only get to know these two amazing people, but also hear their positions on this. And so by random draw that happened off screen that you're gonna have to trust me because I'm a pastor and I get paid to tell the truth. Ellen, you get to go first. So one minute on the clock for you. Just introduce yourself, help the people understand your context, where you're at, how long you've been in ministry, all these types of things. Ellen, are you ready?

Ellen Partridge (01:18.751)
Absolutely. I'm ready.

Nick Clason (01:21.58)
Alright, take it away.

Ellen Partridge (01:23.455)
All right, everyone, my name is Ellen Partridge. I serve as the central pastor of students at Thornton Apple Valley Church. We are centralized out of Hastings at Michigan, southwest Michigan. And we are a multi-site church, but I've been in ministry for very close to two decades now. And we're in a rural context and a multi-site context. So things are a little bit different for us versus just the single site.

And when I think about lock-ins, the thing that always comes to mind is the Halt analogy. If you're hungry, if you're angry, if you're tired, what are the things you shouldn't do, which is make decisions. And so we're gonna put students in a room where they are locked in together. You got the ones who, I have a kid in my youth ministry who at camp asked me if I could move our bedtime up to 9 p.m. I let him know that wasn't a thing, but you've got those kind of kids, and then you've got the kids who have snuck in.

all their energy drinks and are going to be up till four in the morning. And those kids that are up are going to be picking on the kids that don't want to be up, that want to be sleeping. And then you've got a lot of that interpersonal conflict that is going on within that. And you're putting that all into a giant space where you're having to entertain them and or keep track of them as they are, you know,

coming up with all of these grand ideas of how they're going to use their time. And I remember back to my youth group days, our youth ministry actually met in a old YMCA building, and for some reason, they did not lock the doors to the locker rooms, and then that locker room led to a empty pool. And I can't confirm or deny if there were children conceived in that pool, but there probably were.

And it was coming from opportunities where we did lock-ins and they let us all throughout this building with lots of classrooms, lots of spaces that should have been locked that were not. And so from that perspective of hungry, angry, tired, lack of ability to, you know, keep an eye on all the students and all the places, I am very anti-lock-in.

Nick Clason (03:43.896)
Well, there you go. Andrew, she blew past introductions just straight into arguments. Brother, she's coming for you, right? Like she is coming in hot. So, Ellen, great argument. Man, I hope no students, babies were conceived in that pool. I don't ever want to swim there. Andrew.

Andrew Jansen (03:49.24)
yeah, just right past it. Yeah, she went right past it and that's okay.

She's coming in hot, yeah, for sure. It's okay.

Ellen Partridge (04:10.12)
Me too.

Andrew Jansen (04:12.365)
Yeah, it's gross.

Nick Clason (04:13.838)
Tell us why Ellen's wrong and why lock-ins are a great idea. But first, give us a little bit of intro as you go. Are you ready, my friend? Let's go, take it away.

Andrew Jansen (04:28.345)
ready. Yeah, hit it. My name is Andrew Janssen. I am a middle school pastor in Manhattan, Kansas. Sorry, a couple years ago, we did play Michigan State and I know you probably knew that but we have nothing to talk about sports wise, hardly at all right now. So that's okay. But I love K State. I love serving in Manhattan. I am 36 years old. I've been a youth pastor for 10 years and

I really love getting to be in Manhattan, getting to work with college students that invest in middle schoolers. That's kind of my passion. And man, I love lock-ins. just, it works within the context of our church is about 1900 people and we work with multi buildings on our campus, but not multi-site, but.

It is just set up in a really easy way to execute and make lock-ins happen. And especially in our season right now where we have, and it changes, we have college students that graduate, but we have like 17, 18 youth coaches right now. And a lot of them enjoy staying up super late. And so it just really worked in this season to be able to have enough people there for a safe lock-in to happen.

Middle schoolers are crazy and love staying up all night, love getting to be like, you can be at the church besides Sunday and Wednesday. And just, it was just really, really awesome. We did a New Year's Eve lock in and they just have so much fun. There's opportunities for fellowship, board games, long extended times that maybe you don't get that opportunity to play through an entire game of exploding kittens or taco cat.

Mahomes cheese pizza, not taco cat goat cheese pizza. We all know Mahomes is the goat. But we play taco cat Mahomes cheese pizza and you get through two rounds and it's time for youth group to start. So we get to play through those games, have those conversations and invest in the students moving forward.

Nick Clason (06:40.494)
Great. All right, well there you have it. Like there's, each of you have laid down the gauntlet with your position, right? Andrews is based upon board games. Ellen's is based upon pools being present. And so with those two things in mind, plus everything else, do either of you have a question for the other that we can debate in a little bit more of an open forum?

Andrew Jansen (06:55.097)
You

Ellen Partridge (07:10.974)
All Andrea, I got one for you. So what do you do with the kids who are not your board game kids? What are your other activities that you're able to do? Because it sounds like you're pretty board game heavy. So how are you keeping the other kids occupied that are not interested in your board games?

Andrew Jansen (07:27.929)
Absolutely. I have, I try to make sure that every single second is accounted for at a lock-in. We have intentional time where it's like, they get to choose. We have our youth building has like carpet ball, foosball, ping pong. We have not a Nintendo switch too, but two Nintendo switches, which is kind of confusing, definitely. But so we have like Mario Kart and Smash Bros going.

Nick Clason (07:49.902)
That could be confusing,

Andrew Jansen (07:56.882)
I really try to get them away from screens as much as I can because we all know that battle. yeah, trying to have every single second with like some sort of activity, some sort of competition tournament. The last time I was on with Nick, we talked about the Assassin's like meta ongoing game that happens throughout the evening and having things like that where there isn't an opportunity to be bored.

really, really is effective with middle schoolers. Because once you were right, once they're bored and exploring and they find a pool and we know what happens next, like there's just something about an empty pool. So, but with middle schoolers, that's not so much like the sneaking off and having that happen. I think that's more of a high school situation, but I just try to make sure every single second is accounted for. And that kind of helps with, you know, not having that boredom.

board game time for the students that don't like board games.

Ellen Partridge (08:57.362)
And notice you keep saying middle school. You're not mentioning high school. So are you saying that lock-ins are only good for middle school or would you do one with high school?

Nick Clason (09:06.072)
Good question.

Andrew Jansen (09:06.325)
I would, that is a great question. I would do a, I would do a high school lock in for sure. I think that you do run that risk. They are a little bit more like, I can kind of put on the dad voice like the, Hey, what are you doing? And they'll just like freeze as a middle schooler. They still, you know, we'll listen to authority when it yells at them. So with high school, they're kind of a little bit more independent, a little bit more calloused and a little bit more.

Like on their own I consider I always use this analogy of like middle schoolers are like dogs and high schoolers are like cats Like dogs are just happy that you're there and happy that you see them high schoolers. You kind of have to earn that relational like equity and I would say yes have a lock-in with high schoolers, but only do it if you have the resources and the adult volunteers and also if you're like

this group is just like, this is a crazy group of high schoolers. It's not always a green light for that specific group of high schoolers if you just feel like that wouldn't be good. Does that make sense?

Ellen Partridge (10:16.934)
Yeah, it's good argument.

Nick Clason (10:18.464)
Andrew, you got a question for Ellen?

Andrew Jansen (10:22.763)
Yes, what do you feel is, like, I want you to tell me what is the, like, risk reward trade off where you feel like, hey, this is too risky to have a lock in for this type of reward.

Ellen Partridge (10:35.422)
Mmm.

Ellen Partridge (10:45.35)
Yeah, it's a great question. I would just say I'm a big fan of like doing late night activities, hanging out super late. The thing that gets me and where I feel like the risk comes in is once you hit that one, two, three, four a.m. that even, and you mentioned that you've got college leaders. I don't live in a college town and so I mostly have adult leaders. And so for me,

I know my adult leaders are not gonna be on their A game coming into that situation. And so for me, the risk in my context is a lot higher that my leaders are gonna start maybe losing their minds or going stir crazy or sleep deprivation is gonna kick in. And it's gonna lead to students, because they're curious, ending up doing things that they don't need to do. And so for me, I would rather do a thing where it's like, hey, we're hanging out till midnight. Your parents are picking you up.

and then maybe we do something again the next morning because then I know they're getting sleep, my leaders are getting sleep, and it also means that I'm not putting them at risk, I'm not putting my leaders at risk. And so for me, there doesn't seem to be necessarily, yes, there's the connection reward, but I wonder if that's always overshadowed by the sleep deprivation, the angry, hangry situations that can come up and also,

I worry for my adult leaders that they're gonna say something out of their own sleep deprivation or frustration after telling the same kid eight times not to do something, that it may end up ultimately hurting a relationship that was good, and then they make a good relationship with someone that they had a bad relationship with, and so you're kind of at a net zero, is kind of how I look at

Nick Clason (12:32.078)
I just feel like the ultimate fact that like, I would rather sleep in my bed at two o'clock in the morning. Like that's my strongest argument for anti-lock-in. Just shooting straight. Plus I enjoy Saturdays and if I am doing a lock-in, I don't know. Also, Andrew, question for you. Do you ever notice that your Sunday morning attendance is affected post a lock-in weekend?

Andrew Jansen (12:32.345)
Definitely fair.

Andrew Jansen (13:02.165)
for sure. I mean, I tell my youth coaches, like, hey, you were just at church for 15 hours. It's OK for you to sleep in. I'll be there because I work there. And students, a lot of times parents will bring them and they might fall asleep or something during a message.

Nick Clason (13:04.027)
hahahaha

Nick Clason (13:13.787)
Yeah

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nick Clason (13:28.622)
Yeah.

Andrew Jansen (13:29.079)
Yeah, think it happens. There are definitely repercussions to having a lock-in, but I just think that there's just a lot of... I've seen so many good things and good conversations and relationships start at lock-ins, and it's just with a certain unchurched group of students, it's just an easy invite. It's just an easy win to get them there.

Nick Clason (13:45.091)
Yeah.

Nick Clason (13:50.382)
Yeah, which and I hear you like Sunday morning, it's like, okay, like, yeah, they didn't come on Sunday morning, which is like the senior pastor's goal. But like we had a lot more effective and fruitful time than like them sitting through a sermon or whatever, like through the lock-in and you know, the times I have done lock-ins, like it's almost always one of the number one most attended events from friends. Like we get, we would have some of our biggest.

Ellen Partridge (14:12.242)
Mm-hmm.

Nick Clason (14:16.75)
numbers and biggest reach, you know, as far as outreach is concerned. So I definitely do see like both sides for sure. So those of you listening, you're about to get your opportunity to vote. Ellen, you went first last time. Andrew, we're gonna put a minute on the clock now for you. Give us your final one minute strongest argument why Y lock-ins. Are you ready, my friend? Take it away.

Ellen Partridge (14:30.173)
All right.

Andrew Jansen (14:42.008)
I'm ready.

Lock-ins are definitely the easiest first step in the door with a church. If you have the right resources, if you have the right volunteers, and you have a solid game plan going into it, you know your group of students. I think middle school or high school, it is an easy invite for the unchurched students. And that is kind of the lens in which I plan a lock-in.

I don't have the whole bait and switch. Like we're going to talk to them about Jesus Christ, their Lord and savior first thing, and then just have the rest of the lock in. It is, hey, building connections, being intentional and teaching the students. That's why we're doing this. Like, Hey, we're doing this so you can bring that friend, start that relationship. And so that they associate church with fun, with safe, with

They feel welcome and feel like they belong. There's something different happening here. And our hope is that continues on.

Nick Clason (15:47.81)
Great, almost a buzzer beater, but not quite. All right, Ellen, you get the final word, final say, anti-lock-in. Go ahead, take it away.

Andrew Jansen (15:50.839)
Almost.

Ellen Partridge (16:00.572)
All right, as fun as lock-ins can be in the memories that are made, the risk of students having bad memories, whether it's a leader who loses their cool, it's another student who says something they wouldn't have said because they're sleep deprived or because they're overtired, to me just doesn't equate to the reward. I am much more on the side of let's do a long.

evening event where maybe we can start at six or seven and parents are picking up at midnight. So we're still getting that opportunity to connect with them, to have those great conversations, to have an opportunity for them to invite their friends. But at the same time, when it hits two, three in the morning, our leaders and our students are home in their beds, getting the sleep and the rest that they need. And hopefully, because they had a great time.

We're gonna be able to see them on Sunday morning and they're able to stay plugged into that larger church community opposed from being just separate from the youth ministry.

Nick Clason (17:05.023)
Nice, nice. Another almost buzzer beater. Well, there you have it, my friends. You have your pro lock-in versus your anti lock-in debate. And so you guys get to be the decision makers. Those of you watching, let us know, comment down below. But without any further ado, we're gonna get out of here. For Andrew and for Ellen, I'm Nick. Thanks for watching everyone. See you next time.

]]> Episode 193: The Student Ministry Leadership Mistakes I Made My First 6 Months https://www.hybridministry.xyz/193 914e6e40-5c49-47cf-b049-3d8ce1b99829 Thu, 19 Mar 2026 05:00:00 -0500 Nick Clason 193 The Student Ministry Leadership Mistakes I Made My First 6 Months full Nick Clason I just started in a new role at my job 6 months ago. It's been much harder than I anticipated, and I wanted to share with you the leadership mistakes I made, so that you can avoid them for yourself! 13:32 no I just started in a new role at my job 6 months ago. It's been much harder than I anticipated, and I wanted to share with you the leadership mistakes I made, so that you can avoid them for yourself! [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE https://www.patreon.com/posts/complete-guide-142500019?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🌸 SPRING SEASONAL SOCIAL PACK https://www.patreon.com/posts/spring-seasonal-151263940?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/193 Time Boss https://www.timeboss.us/ Reach Out For a Potential Promo Code! Opus Clip https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 Hybrid Hero Membership https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products //VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid //BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.patreon.com/posts/9-amazing-dym-142425755 //OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //HYBRID MINISTRY MEGA GUIDE Everything I've ever learned in one blog post [FOR FREE!] https://www.patreon.com/posts/hybrid-ministry-151264417?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 6 Leadership Mistakes I've Made 02:29 Mistake #1 05:37 Mistake #2 08:57 Mistake #3 -------------- TRANSCRIPT 00;00;00;00 - 00;00;02;02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Six months into leading this 00;00;02;02 - 00;00;04;00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry team, I realized 00;00;04;02 - 00;00;05;22 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry something uncomfortable. 00;00;05;25 - 00;00;11;29 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You can be good at ministry, but that is not automatically mean you're good at leading people. 00;00;12;03 - 00;00;15;27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry In this video, I want to share with you the mistakes I've made in my first 00;00;15;29 - 00;00;23;21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry six months in leadership, in the new position that I have and some things that I would definitely be doing differently. 00;00;23;23 - 00;00;27;04 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Welcome, everybody, to the hybrid ministry show. 00;00;27;07 - 00;00;43;19 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Well hey everyone, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. If you and I have had a chance to meet you. My name is Nick Clason and in this podcast exists primarily to talk about digital ministry and making discipleship online a little bit easier. But in this episode, I want to talk about a major shift that's actually happened in my life. 00;00;43;19 - 00;01;10;27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And this might actually be one of the more emotional or even like real episodes because, I moved here three years ago to work for a guy who one of my great friends, his name is Darren, and he was an amazing boss, best boss I ever had. Now, listen, let's be honest. There's always times where I felt like I could do something better or different, but I had really learned to love and kind of settle into my role, getting things done and being a worker, for him. 00;01;10;27 - 00;01;26;25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And, the one of the things I loved about Darren, too, is that he believed in me and he trusted me, and he gave me a lot of leash to make major student ministry decisions. And so I didn't feel like I was just his right. Him or his minion. But I really felt like I got a good opportunity at leadership. 00;01;26;27 - 00;01;51;06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Fast forward to about six months ago. He chose to step away and move to a different church. And in that transition, church very like, honorably and lovingly came to me and said, you're our number one choice. You're our guy. You want his job. And it was like a no brainer. I was like, absolutely. And in the time, you know, you got to understand, he had been doing a second job at our church, as the pastor of staff development. 00;01;51;06 - 00;02;07;12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so during that season, I assumed and took on quite a bit of leadership opportunities. And so I figured this wouldn't be that big a deal. All that was really going to happen was I was going to move to his old office. And then I was just going to keep kind of doing what I was doing. But man, oh man, was I wrong. 00;02;07;12 - 00;02;30;03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Man was there. So, so many changes and so many differences. Assuming that new leadership hat and that new leadership seat. And in this episode, I want to talk through three things that I've learned. What I thought, what happened, what I did, and what the actual, learning is out of that. So let's dive in to the first leadership mistake. 00;02;30;05 - 00;02;53;27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So mistake number one is that the time battle was lost. But in a lot of cases for me, the time battle was lost by someone else. Here's what I thought. I thought I'm the boss. I'm the supervisor. I'm the manager. Now I get to not only make the decisions, but I get to help oversee people and point them in the right direction and in some cases, in the ugliest parts of my heart, I get to tell them what to do. 00;02;53;29 - 00;03;14;11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But here's what happened is that I was expecting to still do all of the same work that I was doing before, or all of the same work that was at least desired by me to do before. For example, continuing on this Side Hustle podcast that I don't get a lot of revenue or money from. But, you know, one way that you could really help hit that like or subscribe button down below that would really make a huge difference. 00;03;14;11 - 00;03;39;26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But well, then adding in anywhere from 5 to 8 new meetings per month. Let me just give you an example. Last week, I was expected to sit down with a future potential residency candidate. I had done that before. That wasn't that big a deal. Darren gave me a lot of opportunities to do stuff like that, and I was getting ready to leave town that day and so my day was mapped out. 00;03;39;26 - 00;04;01;25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I was doing some podcast stuff. I was doing some, social media stuff for our, our ministry. And I had a couple meetings to kind of in my day at like one, 1 to 2 and then 2 to 3. And then, someone said, hey, we have to have a recap meeting for this big winter retreat event that you just had. 00;04;01;28 - 00;04;18;02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry We had already had a meeting. Me and the person in the meeting had already discussed it, but like, well, no, we have to have it in this way with these people. And so I was like, well, if we want to have it before I leave town, we got to do it now. So another meeting gets stacked on to the end of my day. 00;04;18;02 - 00;04;38;15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I'm not a big meeting guy like I don't, I don't mind them, but they don't bring me a lot of energy. I would rather do the work decided in the meeting, then have a meeting where we sit down and think and talk about work. And so what I've learned is that the promotion often just means that more people have certain demands on my time. 00;04;38;17 - 00;05;03;03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so the advice I would give if you've never checked it out, check out Time boss. It was created by a guy named Andrew, and Andrew actually used to be on staff over at Download Youth Ministry, but now he stepped away from do. I am to go work on time boss full time? And I'm not joking when I tell you that when I implement and institute the principles that I've learned from time boss, I am an absolute master of my time. 00;05;03;03 - 00;05;30;02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Especially when you're in a situation like I'm in now, where other people are dictating my calendar and other people are telling me meetings that I have to go to, that I don't get to say to, avoid or not be part of. And so if you choose to manage your time, then when other people step in and give you, give you required meetings, you can either let them manage your time or you can manage your time before they come to you. 00;05;30;02 - 00;05;55;12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry The choice is yours. But that's one of the things I've had to become a master and a boss of my time. Mistake number two is that you can't communicate without communicating. I feel like my wife right in this new season of life, because what I thought was that when I communicated something, people understood the full picture of what I was saying. 00;05;55;15 - 00;06;20;05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But what I've learned is that people can't actually read my mind. I can communicate, but just because I've said words doesn't mean that they're understanding it. The exact same way that I'm thinking that they're understanding it. And so people did, in fact, not read my mind. Like, let me give you an example. I delegated a task where I required us to get three clips out of opus AI, which is an amazing tool for your social media. 00;06;20;05 - 00;06;45;09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You can check out the link down below if you're interested in that. It literally saves me and our team hundreds of hours a week, but, I would save three opus clips per week out of each of our messages. Well, when I ask someone to do opus clips, they started saving two instead of three. Small miscommunication, but one that I then had a decision to make when I went and I noticed that there weren't enough. 00;06;45;11 - 00;07;04;03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Do I say something or do I let it go right? Or hey, this is the what the expected, word count needs to be when you get in front of a camera and when they come in and there's more words than what were expected, I had to say, well, here's why the word count matters from time standpoint on YouTube and all these types of things. 00;07;04;06 - 00;07;24;13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Or when I said, hey, I like all of these events to be planned during the day and I come back. And my team had made one event planned to be happening at night in the evening. Again, not a big deal, but we just had to come around and I had said something and they didn't think it was that big of a deal, or they didn't listen to it, or they chose to override it or whatever the reason might be. 00;07;24;15 - 00;07;42;10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Or when I said, hey, let's get some hot chocolate for this event. And I go to the back and I see, my resident, my intern making hot chocolate, using the hot water from a small tea kettle, trying to fill up in a five gallon, water jug, bucket. Like, that's just not going to cut it. It's not fast enough. 00;07;42;10 - 00;08;07;15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And there's a million other ways to get to it. But so when I said make hot chocolate, I thought this was the assumed path to make hot chocolate in our youth ministry, at our church, in our space, they heard make hot chocolate. And to their credit, they were resourceful to figure out a way to do it. But to their disadvantage, they were using some of those incredibly slow and the event had already started and they were stuck in the back, still making hot chocolate because the tea kettle wasn't keeping up. 00;08;07;21 - 00;08;28;07 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry What I've learned is that I have to over communicate, and when I think I've communicated 100% of it, I've maybe only effectively communicated 60% of it. I was talking to a friend of mine. He's, youth volunteer for me. He owns his own business. And I was talking to him about this, and he said, this happens to me all the time. 00;08;28;07 - 00;08;44;01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so it made me really frustrated, to be completely honest, because I would say things, I would communicate things. I'd write them down and put them in tasks. And only a certain percentage of the task was getting completed or adhered to or listened to. And he just said, this is a very normal thing with people who are working for you. 00;08;44;01 - 00;09;06;09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So my advice, especially to myself and to you, I'm a perfectionist. I'm an Enneagram one. Don't expect perfection. Be able to roll with the punches and continue to circle back and Overcommunicate and overcommunicate. Mistake number three and this one might be the toughest one, honestly, is that I feel like I lost some of my passion for youth ministry. 00;09;06;09 - 00;09;21;13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And here's what I thought. I thought, I'm going to step into this new role, and I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. And while I'm doing what I'm doing, and now I get to be in charge, how great is that? What happened was I shifted from more of a doer of the ministry to more of a manager. 00;09;21;13 - 00;09;44;05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So last fall, for example, I had fully handed off programing to one of my associates who's in charge of all programing, like service orders, all that type of stuff. And then another, couple people on our team were in charge of a Friendsgiving for, the community like, outreach event drive, like a canned food drive kind of thing that we're, pulling together in our student ministry. 00;09;44;05 - 00;10;11;04 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then one person was in charge of the Friendsgiving event that we had, and they had two of them collaborate and work together. And then two other people were in charge of our costume party. And so I remember stepping back and thinking to myself, the only thing I'm doing here is managing these people. They're the ones that are like fully running, planning, executing and making these events all have traction getting off the ground. 00;10;11;07 - 00;10;31;06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And you know, everything that needed to happen in these event spaces. And I found myself like a little bit sitting around kind of like twiddling my thumbs, like, what am I supposed to do? Well, I learned is I and I already knew this about myself, but what I learned was I found myself in my working frustration. As Patrick Clancy only talks about it. 00;10;31;06 - 00;11;06;20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry He has a working widget with six different wheels, and I determined and discovered that my strength was invention and tenacity, and I knew that my frustration was enablement and galvanizing. So kind of rah rah and cheerleading. The team and helping make them, like, get excited around an idea. And so I had shifted out of my strength invention one like creating something out of wonder and tenacity, bringing that invention across the finish line, and then handing that over to my team and trying to encourage them to bring it across the finish line. 00;11;06;26 - 00;11;28;05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And when they're having a tough time getting across the finish line, they're having a tough time articulating their ideas. I was also having an equally tough time because I couldn't. I was feeling like I wasn't successfully getting those things accomplished and across the finish line. So the advice I took something back that I loved. I took back programing. 00;11;28;08 - 00;11;46;15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I was like, I need to do something in this job where I get to invent and I get to take it across the finish line, because if not, I'm just going to sit here and I'm just going to watch all of you guys do it. Part of my job is development, and I don't mind it, but it does shift me away from a passion point into something that I don't get to do as much. 00;11;46;15 - 00;12;02;21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I felt really bad and I felt really guilty for doing it. But, I mean, here's the thing. Like, I love programing and I love creating something. In fact, I love it so much. I have a podcast dedicated to creative programing. It's a weekly bonus podcast, and I just walk you through what our youth ministry does every single week. 00;12;02;21 - 00;12;22;18 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I'd love for you to take a look at it. There's a seven day free trial link down below. It's called Hybrid Heroes. It's part of Patreon membership tier and you get a weekly bonus podcast every single Monday morning that details, recaps, and outlines our last week of social media and our last week of creative programing. In addition to that, everything I put on my store, that costs money. 00;12;22;20 - 00;12;40;17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry It costs money to other people, but it's free to hybrid here. So $4 a month is less than the cost of a cup of coffee. It's $48 per year. If you have like a professional, or personal development budget line. Like you can charge to that if you don't feel comfortable doing that. I don't have enough money for that. 00;12;40;19 - 00;13;00;11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Get one cup of coffee from your office, from home, and then skip Starbucks for just one time, and it will cover the cost of that. But that's what I did. And I'm just going to be completely honest for you. This last season has been a really hard season for me. I was confused by it because I thought I knew what I was doing. 00;13;00;11 - 00;13;20;18 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I've been in youth ministry for a long time already. But growth doesn't happen when you're coasting, right? And no matter what you're doing and no matter what area you're growing in and learning in, whether it's growing in management skills like I am or whether it's trying to grow in areas like social media, when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations, it can feel difficult, right? 00;13;20;18 - 00;13;32;04 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But the only way to get to the other side, the only way to truly experience growth, is to go through it. So stick with it. Rooting you on, encouraging you. Don't forget my friends and as always, stay hybrid. Nick Clason, Hybrid Ministry, youth ministry leadership, student ministry leadership, youth pastor leadership lessons, leadership mistakes, ministry management, new supervisor lessons, church leadership, leading volunteers, youth pastor advice, ministry growth, church staff leadership, leadership development, time management for pastors, ministry meetings, church team leadership, leadership transition, pastor promotion, faith based leadership, ministry mindset, leading in church, Christian leadership I just started in a new role at my job 6 months ago.
It's been much harder than I anticipated, and I wanted to share with you the leadership mistakes I made, so that you can avoid them for yourself!

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 6 Leadership Mistakes I've Made
02:29 Mistake #1
05:37 Mistake #2
08:57 Mistake #3

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;02;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Six months into leading this

00;00;02;02 - 00;00;04;00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
team, I realized

00;00;04;02 - 00;00;05;22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
something uncomfortable.

00;00;05;25 - 00;00;11;29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You can be good at ministry, but that is not automatically mean you're good at leading people.

00;00;12;03 - 00;00;15;27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In this video, I want to share with you the mistakes I've made in my first

00;00;15;29 - 00;00;23;21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
six months in leadership, in the new position that I have and some things that I would definitely be doing differently.

00;00;23;23 - 00;00;27;04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Welcome, everybody, to the hybrid ministry show.

00;00;27;07 - 00;00;43;19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well hey everyone, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. If you and I have had a chance to meet you. My name is Nick Clason and in this podcast exists primarily to talk about digital ministry and making discipleship online a little bit easier. But in this episode, I want to talk about a major shift that's actually happened in my life.

00;00;43;19 - 00;01;10;27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And this might actually be one of the more emotional or even like real episodes because, I moved here three years ago to work for a guy who one of my great friends, his name is Darren, and he was an amazing boss, best boss I ever had. Now, listen, let's be honest. There's always times where I felt like I could do something better or different, but I had really learned to love and kind of settle into my role, getting things done and being a worker, for him.

00;01;10;27 - 00;01;26;25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, the one of the things I loved about Darren, too, is that he believed in me and he trusted me, and he gave me a lot of leash to make major student ministry decisions. And so I didn't feel like I was just his right. Him or his minion. But I really felt like I got a good opportunity at leadership.

00;01;26;27 - 00;01;51;06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Fast forward to about six months ago. He chose to step away and move to a different church. And in that transition, church very like, honorably and lovingly came to me and said, you're our number one choice. You're our guy. You want his job. And it was like a no brainer. I was like, absolutely. And in the time, you know, you got to understand, he had been doing a second job at our church, as the pastor of staff development.

00;01;51;06 - 00;02;07;12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so during that season, I assumed and took on quite a bit of leadership opportunities. And so I figured this wouldn't be that big a deal. All that was really going to happen was I was going to move to his old office. And then I was just going to keep kind of doing what I was doing. But man, oh man, was I wrong.

00;02;07;12 - 00;02;30;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Man was there. So, so many changes and so many differences. Assuming that new leadership hat and that new leadership seat. And in this episode, I want to talk through three things that I've learned. What I thought, what happened, what I did, and what the actual, learning is out of that. So let's dive in to the first leadership mistake.

00;02;30;05 - 00;02;53;27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So mistake number one is that the time battle was lost. But in a lot of cases for me, the time battle was lost by someone else. Here's what I thought. I thought I'm the boss. I'm the supervisor. I'm the manager. Now I get to not only make the decisions, but I get to help oversee people and point them in the right direction and in some cases, in the ugliest parts of my heart, I get to tell them what to do.

00;02;53;29 - 00;03;14;11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But here's what happened is that I was expecting to still do all of the same work that I was doing before, or all of the same work that was at least desired by me to do before. For example, continuing on this Side Hustle podcast that I don't get a lot of revenue or money from. But, you know, one way that you could really help hit that like or subscribe button down below that would really make a huge difference.

00;03;14;11 - 00;03;39;26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But well, then adding in anywhere from 5 to 8 new meetings per month. Let me just give you an example. Last week, I was expected to sit down with a future potential residency candidate. I had done that before. That wasn't that big a deal. Darren gave me a lot of opportunities to do stuff like that, and I was getting ready to leave town that day and so my day was mapped out.

00;03;39;26 - 00;04;01;25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I was doing some podcast stuff. I was doing some, social media stuff for our, our ministry. And I had a couple meetings to kind of in my day at like one, 1 to 2 and then 2 to 3. And then, someone said, hey, we have to have a recap meeting for this big winter retreat event that you just had.

00;04;01;28 - 00;04;18;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We had already had a meeting. Me and the person in the meeting had already discussed it, but like, well, no, we have to have it in this way with these people. And so I was like, well, if we want to have it before I leave town, we got to do it now. So another meeting gets stacked on to the end of my day.

00;04;18;02 - 00;04;38;15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I'm not a big meeting guy like I don't, I don't mind them, but they don't bring me a lot of energy. I would rather do the work decided in the meeting, then have a meeting where we sit down and think and talk about work. And so what I've learned is that the promotion often just means that more people have certain demands on my time.

00;04;38;17 - 00;05;03;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so the advice I would give if you've never checked it out, check out Time boss. It was created by a guy named Andrew, and Andrew actually used to be on staff over at Download Youth Ministry, but now he stepped away from do. I am to go work on time boss full time? And I'm not joking when I tell you that when I implement and institute the principles that I've learned from time boss, I am an absolute master of my time.

00;05;03;03 - 00;05;30;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Especially when you're in a situation like I'm in now, where other people are dictating my calendar and other people are telling me meetings that I have to go to, that I don't get to say to, avoid or not be part of. And so if you choose to manage your time, then when other people step in and give you, give you required meetings, you can either let them manage your time or you can manage your time before they come to you.

00;05;30;02 - 00;05;55;12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The choice is yours. But that's one of the things I've had to become a master and a boss of my time. Mistake number two is that you can't communicate without communicating. I feel like my wife right in this new season of life, because what I thought was that when I communicated something, people understood the full picture of what I was saying.

00;05;55;15 - 00;06;20;05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But what I've learned is that people can't actually read my mind. I can communicate, but just because I've said words doesn't mean that they're understanding it. The exact same way that I'm thinking that they're understanding it. And so people did, in fact, not read my mind. Like, let me give you an example. I delegated a task where I required us to get three clips out of opus AI, which is an amazing tool for your social media.

00;06;20;05 - 00;06;45;09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You can check out the link down below if you're interested in that. It literally saves me and our team hundreds of hours a week, but, I would save three opus clips per week out of each of our messages. Well, when I ask someone to do opus clips, they started saving two instead of three. Small miscommunication, but one that I then had a decision to make when I went and I noticed that there weren't enough.

00;06;45;11 - 00;07;04;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Do I say something or do I let it go right? Or hey, this is the what the expected, word count needs to be when you get in front of a camera and when they come in and there's more words than what were expected, I had to say, well, here's why the word count matters from time standpoint on YouTube and all these types of things.

00;07;04;06 - 00;07;24;13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or when I said, hey, I like all of these events to be planned during the day and I come back. And my team had made one event planned to be happening at night in the evening. Again, not a big deal, but we just had to come around and I had said something and they didn't think it was that big of a deal, or they didn't listen to it, or they chose to override it or whatever the reason might be.

00;07;24;15 - 00;07;42;10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or when I said, hey, let's get some hot chocolate for this event. And I go to the back and I see, my resident, my intern making hot chocolate, using the hot water from a small tea kettle, trying to fill up in a five gallon, water jug, bucket. Like, that's just not going to cut it. It's not fast enough.

00;07;42;10 - 00;08;07;15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And there's a million other ways to get to it. But so when I said make hot chocolate, I thought this was the assumed path to make hot chocolate in our youth ministry, at our church, in our space, they heard make hot chocolate. And to their credit, they were resourceful to figure out a way to do it. But to their disadvantage, they were using some of those incredibly slow and the event had already started and they were stuck in the back, still making hot chocolate because the tea kettle wasn't keeping up.

00;08;07;21 - 00;08;28;07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What I've learned is that I have to over communicate, and when I think I've communicated 100% of it, I've maybe only effectively communicated 60% of it. I was talking to a friend of mine. He's, youth volunteer for me. He owns his own business. And I was talking to him about this, and he said, this happens to me all the time.

00;08;28;07 - 00;08;44;01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so it made me really frustrated, to be completely honest, because I would say things, I would communicate things. I'd write them down and put them in tasks. And only a certain percentage of the task was getting completed or adhered to or listened to. And he just said, this is a very normal thing with people who are working for you.

00;08;44;01 - 00;09;06;09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So my advice, especially to myself and to you, I'm a perfectionist. I'm an Enneagram one. Don't expect perfection. Be able to roll with the punches and continue to circle back and Overcommunicate and overcommunicate. Mistake number three and this one might be the toughest one, honestly, is that I feel like I lost some of my passion for youth ministry.

00;09;06;09 - 00;09;21;13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And here's what I thought. I thought, I'm going to step into this new role, and I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. And while I'm doing what I'm doing, and now I get to be in charge, how great is that? What happened was I shifted from more of a doer of the ministry to more of a manager.

00;09;21;13 - 00;09;44;05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So last fall, for example, I had fully handed off programing to one of my associates who's in charge of all programing, like service orders, all that type of stuff. And then another, couple people on our team were in charge of a Friendsgiving for, the community like, outreach event drive, like a canned food drive kind of thing that we're, pulling together in our student ministry.

00;09;44;05 - 00;10;11;04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then one person was in charge of the Friendsgiving event that we had, and they had two of them collaborate and work together. And then two other people were in charge of our costume party. And so I remember stepping back and thinking to myself, the only thing I'm doing here is managing these people. They're the ones that are like fully running, planning, executing and making these events all have traction getting off the ground.

00;10;11;07 - 00;10;31;06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you know, everything that needed to happen in these event spaces. And I found myself like a little bit sitting around kind of like twiddling my thumbs, like, what am I supposed to do? Well, I learned is I and I already knew this about myself, but what I learned was I found myself in my working frustration. As Patrick Clancy only talks about it.

00;10;31;06 - 00;11;06;20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
He has a working widget with six different wheels, and I determined and discovered that my strength was invention and tenacity, and I knew that my frustration was enablement and galvanizing. So kind of rah rah and cheerleading. The team and helping make them, like, get excited around an idea. And so I had shifted out of my strength invention one like creating something out of wonder and tenacity, bringing that invention across the finish line, and then handing that over to my team and trying to encourage them to bring it across the finish line.

00;11;06;26 - 00;11;28;05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And when they're having a tough time getting across the finish line, they're having a tough time articulating their ideas. I was also having an equally tough time because I couldn't. I was feeling like I wasn't successfully getting those things accomplished and across the finish line. So the advice I took something back that I loved. I took back programing.

00;11;28;08 - 00;11;46;15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I was like, I need to do something in this job where I get to invent and I get to take it across the finish line, because if not, I'm just going to sit here and I'm just going to watch all of you guys do it. Part of my job is development, and I don't mind it, but it does shift me away from a passion point into something that I don't get to do as much.

00;11;46;15 - 00;12;02;21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I felt really bad and I felt really guilty for doing it. But, I mean, here's the thing. Like, I love programing and I love creating something. In fact, I love it so much. I have a podcast dedicated to creative programing. It's a weekly bonus podcast, and I just walk you through what our youth ministry does every single week.

00;12;02;21 - 00;12;22;18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'd love for you to take a look at it. There's a seven day free trial link down below. It's called Hybrid Heroes. It's part of Patreon membership tier and you get a weekly bonus podcast every single Monday morning that details, recaps, and outlines our last week of social media and our last week of creative programing. In addition to that, everything I put on my store, that costs money.

00;12;22;20 - 00;12;40;17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It costs money to other people, but it's free to hybrid here. So $4 a month is less than the cost of a cup of coffee. It's $48 per year. If you have like a professional, or personal development budget line. Like you can charge to that if you don't feel comfortable doing that. I don't have enough money for that.

00;12;40;19 - 00;13;00;11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Get one cup of coffee from your office, from home, and then skip Starbucks for just one time, and it will cover the cost of that. But that's what I did. And I'm just going to be completely honest for you. This last season has been a really hard season for me. I was confused by it because I thought I knew what I was doing.

00;13;00;11 - 00;13;20;18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I've been in youth ministry for a long time already. But growth doesn't happen when you're coasting, right? And no matter what you're doing and no matter what area you're growing in and learning in, whether it's growing in management skills like I am or whether it's trying to grow in areas like social media, when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations, it can feel difficult, right?

00;13;20;18 - 00;13;32;04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But the only way to get to the other side, the only way to truly experience growth, is to go through it. So stick with it. Rooting you on, encouraging you. Don't forget my friends and as always, stay hybrid.

]]> I just started in a new role at my job 6 months ago.
It's been much harder than I anticipated, and I wanted to share with you the leadership mistakes I made, so that you can avoid them for yourself!

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 6 Leadership Mistakes I've Made
02:29 Mistake #1
05:37 Mistake #2
08:57 Mistake #3

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;02;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Six months into leading this

00;00;02;02 - 00;00;04;00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
team, I realized

00;00;04;02 - 00;00;05;22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
something uncomfortable.

00;00;05;25 - 00;00;11;29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You can be good at ministry, but that is not automatically mean you're good at leading people.

00;00;12;03 - 00;00;15;27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In this video, I want to share with you the mistakes I've made in my first

00;00;15;29 - 00;00;23;21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
six months in leadership, in the new position that I have and some things that I would definitely be doing differently.

00;00;23;23 - 00;00;27;04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Welcome, everybody, to the hybrid ministry show.

00;00;27;07 - 00;00;43;19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well hey everyone, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. If you and I have had a chance to meet you. My name is Nick Clason and in this podcast exists primarily to talk about digital ministry and making discipleship online a little bit easier. But in this episode, I want to talk about a major shift that's actually happened in my life.

00;00;43;19 - 00;01;10;27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And this might actually be one of the more emotional or even like real episodes because, I moved here three years ago to work for a guy who one of my great friends, his name is Darren, and he was an amazing boss, best boss I ever had. Now, listen, let's be honest. There's always times where I felt like I could do something better or different, but I had really learned to love and kind of settle into my role, getting things done and being a worker, for him.

00;01;10;27 - 00;01;26;25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, the one of the things I loved about Darren, too, is that he believed in me and he trusted me, and he gave me a lot of leash to make major student ministry decisions. And so I didn't feel like I was just his right. Him or his minion. But I really felt like I got a good opportunity at leadership.

00;01;26;27 - 00;01;51;06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Fast forward to about six months ago. He chose to step away and move to a different church. And in that transition, church very like, honorably and lovingly came to me and said, you're our number one choice. You're our guy. You want his job. And it was like a no brainer. I was like, absolutely. And in the time, you know, you got to understand, he had been doing a second job at our church, as the pastor of staff development.

00;01;51;06 - 00;02;07;12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so during that season, I assumed and took on quite a bit of leadership opportunities. And so I figured this wouldn't be that big a deal. All that was really going to happen was I was going to move to his old office. And then I was just going to keep kind of doing what I was doing. But man, oh man, was I wrong.

00;02;07;12 - 00;02;30;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Man was there. So, so many changes and so many differences. Assuming that new leadership hat and that new leadership seat. And in this episode, I want to talk through three things that I've learned. What I thought, what happened, what I did, and what the actual, learning is out of that. So let's dive in to the first leadership mistake.

00;02;30;05 - 00;02;53;27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So mistake number one is that the time battle was lost. But in a lot of cases for me, the time battle was lost by someone else. Here's what I thought. I thought I'm the boss. I'm the supervisor. I'm the manager. Now I get to not only make the decisions, but I get to help oversee people and point them in the right direction and in some cases, in the ugliest parts of my heart, I get to tell them what to do.

00;02;53;29 - 00;03;14;11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But here's what happened is that I was expecting to still do all of the same work that I was doing before, or all of the same work that was at least desired by me to do before. For example, continuing on this Side Hustle podcast that I don't get a lot of revenue or money from. But, you know, one way that you could really help hit that like or subscribe button down below that would really make a huge difference.

00;03;14;11 - 00;03;39;26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But well, then adding in anywhere from 5 to 8 new meetings per month. Let me just give you an example. Last week, I was expected to sit down with a future potential residency candidate. I had done that before. That wasn't that big a deal. Darren gave me a lot of opportunities to do stuff like that, and I was getting ready to leave town that day and so my day was mapped out.

00;03;39;26 - 00;04;01;25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I was doing some podcast stuff. I was doing some, social media stuff for our, our ministry. And I had a couple meetings to kind of in my day at like one, 1 to 2 and then 2 to 3. And then, someone said, hey, we have to have a recap meeting for this big winter retreat event that you just had.

00;04;01;28 - 00;04;18;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We had already had a meeting. Me and the person in the meeting had already discussed it, but like, well, no, we have to have it in this way with these people. And so I was like, well, if we want to have it before I leave town, we got to do it now. So another meeting gets stacked on to the end of my day.

00;04;18;02 - 00;04;38;15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I'm not a big meeting guy like I don't, I don't mind them, but they don't bring me a lot of energy. I would rather do the work decided in the meeting, then have a meeting where we sit down and think and talk about work. And so what I've learned is that the promotion often just means that more people have certain demands on my time.

00;04;38;17 - 00;05;03;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so the advice I would give if you've never checked it out, check out Time boss. It was created by a guy named Andrew, and Andrew actually used to be on staff over at Download Youth Ministry, but now he stepped away from do. I am to go work on time boss full time? And I'm not joking when I tell you that when I implement and institute the principles that I've learned from time boss, I am an absolute master of my time.

00;05;03;03 - 00;05;30;02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Especially when you're in a situation like I'm in now, where other people are dictating my calendar and other people are telling me meetings that I have to go to, that I don't get to say to, avoid or not be part of. And so if you choose to manage your time, then when other people step in and give you, give you required meetings, you can either let them manage your time or you can manage your time before they come to you.

00;05;30;02 - 00;05;55;12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The choice is yours. But that's one of the things I've had to become a master and a boss of my time. Mistake number two is that you can't communicate without communicating. I feel like my wife right in this new season of life, because what I thought was that when I communicated something, people understood the full picture of what I was saying.

00;05;55;15 - 00;06;20;05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But what I've learned is that people can't actually read my mind. I can communicate, but just because I've said words doesn't mean that they're understanding it. The exact same way that I'm thinking that they're understanding it. And so people did, in fact, not read my mind. Like, let me give you an example. I delegated a task where I required us to get three clips out of opus AI, which is an amazing tool for your social media.

00;06;20;05 - 00;06;45;09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You can check out the link down below if you're interested in that. It literally saves me and our team hundreds of hours a week, but, I would save three opus clips per week out of each of our messages. Well, when I ask someone to do opus clips, they started saving two instead of three. Small miscommunication, but one that I then had a decision to make when I went and I noticed that there weren't enough.

00;06;45;11 - 00;07;04;03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Do I say something or do I let it go right? Or hey, this is the what the expected, word count needs to be when you get in front of a camera and when they come in and there's more words than what were expected, I had to say, well, here's why the word count matters from time standpoint on YouTube and all these types of things.

00;07;04;06 - 00;07;24;13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or when I said, hey, I like all of these events to be planned during the day and I come back. And my team had made one event planned to be happening at night in the evening. Again, not a big deal, but we just had to come around and I had said something and they didn't think it was that big of a deal, or they didn't listen to it, or they chose to override it or whatever the reason might be.

00;07;24;15 - 00;07;42;10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Or when I said, hey, let's get some hot chocolate for this event. And I go to the back and I see, my resident, my intern making hot chocolate, using the hot water from a small tea kettle, trying to fill up in a five gallon, water jug, bucket. Like, that's just not going to cut it. It's not fast enough.

00;07;42;10 - 00;08;07;15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And there's a million other ways to get to it. But so when I said make hot chocolate, I thought this was the assumed path to make hot chocolate in our youth ministry, at our church, in our space, they heard make hot chocolate. And to their credit, they were resourceful to figure out a way to do it. But to their disadvantage, they were using some of those incredibly slow and the event had already started and they were stuck in the back, still making hot chocolate because the tea kettle wasn't keeping up.

00;08;07;21 - 00;08;28;07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What I've learned is that I have to over communicate, and when I think I've communicated 100% of it, I've maybe only effectively communicated 60% of it. I was talking to a friend of mine. He's, youth volunteer for me. He owns his own business. And I was talking to him about this, and he said, this happens to me all the time.

00;08;28;07 - 00;08;44;01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so it made me really frustrated, to be completely honest, because I would say things, I would communicate things. I'd write them down and put them in tasks. And only a certain percentage of the task was getting completed or adhered to or listened to. And he just said, this is a very normal thing with people who are working for you.

00;08;44;01 - 00;09;06;09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So my advice, especially to myself and to you, I'm a perfectionist. I'm an Enneagram one. Don't expect perfection. Be able to roll with the punches and continue to circle back and Overcommunicate and overcommunicate. Mistake number three and this one might be the toughest one, honestly, is that I feel like I lost some of my passion for youth ministry.

00;09;06;09 - 00;09;21;13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And here's what I thought. I thought, I'm going to step into this new role, and I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing. And while I'm doing what I'm doing, and now I get to be in charge, how great is that? What happened was I shifted from more of a doer of the ministry to more of a manager.

00;09;21;13 - 00;09;44;05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So last fall, for example, I had fully handed off programing to one of my associates who's in charge of all programing, like service orders, all that type of stuff. And then another, couple people on our team were in charge of a Friendsgiving for, the community like, outreach event drive, like a canned food drive kind of thing that we're, pulling together in our student ministry.

00;09;44;05 - 00;10;11;04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then one person was in charge of the Friendsgiving event that we had, and they had two of them collaborate and work together. And then two other people were in charge of our costume party. And so I remember stepping back and thinking to myself, the only thing I'm doing here is managing these people. They're the ones that are like fully running, planning, executing and making these events all have traction getting off the ground.

00;10;11;07 - 00;10;31;06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you know, everything that needed to happen in these event spaces. And I found myself like a little bit sitting around kind of like twiddling my thumbs, like, what am I supposed to do? Well, I learned is I and I already knew this about myself, but what I learned was I found myself in my working frustration. As Patrick Clancy only talks about it.

00;10;31;06 - 00;11;06;20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
He has a working widget with six different wheels, and I determined and discovered that my strength was invention and tenacity, and I knew that my frustration was enablement and galvanizing. So kind of rah rah and cheerleading. The team and helping make them, like, get excited around an idea. And so I had shifted out of my strength invention one like creating something out of wonder and tenacity, bringing that invention across the finish line, and then handing that over to my team and trying to encourage them to bring it across the finish line.

00;11;06;26 - 00;11;28;05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And when they're having a tough time getting across the finish line, they're having a tough time articulating their ideas. I was also having an equally tough time because I couldn't. I was feeling like I wasn't successfully getting those things accomplished and across the finish line. So the advice I took something back that I loved. I took back programing.

00;11;28;08 - 00;11;46;15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I was like, I need to do something in this job where I get to invent and I get to take it across the finish line, because if not, I'm just going to sit here and I'm just going to watch all of you guys do it. Part of my job is development, and I don't mind it, but it does shift me away from a passion point into something that I don't get to do as much.

00;11;46;15 - 00;12;02;21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I felt really bad and I felt really guilty for doing it. But, I mean, here's the thing. Like, I love programing and I love creating something. In fact, I love it so much. I have a podcast dedicated to creative programing. It's a weekly bonus podcast, and I just walk you through what our youth ministry does every single week.

00;12;02;21 - 00;12;22;18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'd love for you to take a look at it. There's a seven day free trial link down below. It's called Hybrid Heroes. It's part of Patreon membership tier and you get a weekly bonus podcast every single Monday morning that details, recaps, and outlines our last week of social media and our last week of creative programing. In addition to that, everything I put on my store, that costs money.

00;12;22;20 - 00;12;40;17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It costs money to other people, but it's free to hybrid here. So $4 a month is less than the cost of a cup of coffee. It's $48 per year. If you have like a professional, or personal development budget line. Like you can charge to that if you don't feel comfortable doing that. I don't have enough money for that.

00;12;40;19 - 00;13;00;11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Get one cup of coffee from your office, from home, and then skip Starbucks for just one time, and it will cover the cost of that. But that's what I did. And I'm just going to be completely honest for you. This last season has been a really hard season for me. I was confused by it because I thought I knew what I was doing.

00;13;00;11 - 00;13;20;18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I've been in youth ministry for a long time already. But growth doesn't happen when you're coasting, right? And no matter what you're doing and no matter what area you're growing in and learning in, whether it's growing in management skills like I am or whether it's trying to grow in areas like social media, when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations, it can feel difficult, right?

00;13;20;18 - 00;13;32;04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But the only way to get to the other side, the only way to truly experience growth, is to go through it. So stick with it. Rooting you on, encouraging you. Don't forget my friends and as always, stay hybrid.

]]> Episode 176: Youth Leader Resource Room | 5 Components to a Great one! https://www.hybridministry.xyz/176 1591b261-b6ef-46da-8ec1-a98b23da7088 Thu, 20 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0600 Nick Clason 176 Youth Leader Resource Room | 5 Components to a Great one! full Nick Clason Ever wondered what’s inside a great youth ministry volunteer room? In this episode, Nick walks through his own space—showing you everything from the snack and coffee setup to the leader resource area, check-in station, and supply closet. You’ll leave with practical ideas (and links!) to create a welcoming, well-equipped hub that keeps your leaders fueled, prepped, and connected every week. 7:25 no Ever wondered what’s inside a great youth ministry volunteer room? In this episode, Nick walks through his own space—showing you everything from the snack and coffee setup to the leader resource area, check-in station, and supply closet. You’ll leave with practical ideas (and links!) to create a welcoming, well-equipped hub that keeps your leaders fueled, prepped, and connected every week. FREE SMALL GROUP CONNECTION DOWNLOAD https://www.patreon.com/posts/30-small-group-141961735?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE! https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/176 ITEMS FOUND IN LEADER ROOM //Leader Resource Area Decks of Cards https://walmrt.us/4hs9d0u Foam Dice https://walmrt.us/4ot5h1M Playdough https://walmrt.us/3Jc5LdJ Ice Breaker Cards https://walmrt.us/47DJz5n Find & Seek Scavenger Hunt https://walmrt.us/47GrZ0I //Other Items Mini Fridge https://walmrt.us/3JmGai3 Keurig https://walmrt.us/4hKuByh Microwave https://walmrt.us/3JmG223 Personal Sized Whiteboards https://walmrt.us/475rDk6 Markers https://walmrt.us/47Gs84g First Aid Kit https://walmrt.us/4oDM25D Ultimate Guest Box Template https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry/shop/ultimate-first-time-guest-box-579557?source=storefront Volunteer Onboarding Process Explained https://youtu.be/s8HNzfZoiX0?si=A322a3wihRACq8ZM 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products //VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid //BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym //OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100 https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 Show me your volunteer rooms question! 00:23 Snacks & Coffee Area 01:01 Office Supply Area 01:34 Fall Social Pack 02:48 Supply Closet 04:14 Leader Check-in Area 05:42 Leader Group Resource Tools -------------- TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:07 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry In this episode, we are going to show you my church's youth ministry volunteer room as we're answering this question. Show me your volunteer rooms. We are looking to make a new volunteer headquarters and are looking for inspiration. We're talking snacks, decorations, and things leaders love. So let's go on a little field trip and I'm going to show you my church's leader workroom. 00:00:22:14 - 00:00:50:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Let's go. So this right here, just some basic, you know, and, like, common snacks, a leader fridge, which is also a spot where a lot of our people, store leftovers and food and then, of course, gotta have coffee. So this whole section here is filled with different, like, K-Cups, which I personally hate. Which is why I have pour over in my office in the next room over. 00:00:50:03 - 00:01:09:23 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But, this is something for our leaders, you know, Wednesday nights, Sunday morning, they come on in here, they grab a cup of coffee, they make it happen. This are here was actually paid for about one of our students, so that's pretty cool. Here's a printer. And this is where most of our, basic easy printer, printing needs can be done here. 00:01:09:23 - 00:01:34:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry There is a bigger one, in another part of the office, but we just use this one as much as we can, a microwave in case we need it. And then just some very basic, paper supplies and cards and, cutters and stapler. Hole punch, in fact, that the cutters are here. This right here is where we keep, radio for, our security and safety team when they need it, when they're looking for it. 00:01:34:12 - 00:01:51:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Hey. Quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. 00:01:51:16 - 00:02:14:25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry That's why I created this, the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed. So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. 00:02:14:28 - 00:02:35:07 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And did you know that monthly hybrid. Here are Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast. They get this pack completely for free, so if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799. Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. 00:02:35:09 - 00:03:00:14 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry, right here is meant to sort of be our like, supply closet, right? So like, a leader can theoretically come in here anytime they need it and then get anything that they might be looking for. 00:03:00:14 - 00:03:22:14 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So of course, we got markers and then we got some branded pens. And these are here are actually one of our favorite things. Like we use these like little personalized whiteboards all the time. They're really like good for games and stuff like that. These are here are like just labels, for, for check in and for printing and then down here and we just got to order. 00:03:22:14 - 00:03:40:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So don't be like, holy crap, those people are all about snacks. But this is, we just got a big Sam's order. These are our snacks. So these are what we include. Back over here. And this is, like, just the back up stock of it. This right here. I've gone over this before. This is our leader. 00:03:40:17 - 00:03:59:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry They're not a leader. This is our our newcomer welcome box. And so, this is where we store a bunch of them, and then our check in team, they know to come and stock this for actually link right up here. Top left of the screen. I'll link to video where I detail an outline, our entire welcome box process. 00:03:59:12 - 00:04:16:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So this is like a leaders like go to spot everything that they could use, everything that they can need. Plus some just like backup stuff, you know, along with like first aid and, you know, necessary things. Like a kid gets an injury, we can go straight here, we can get all we need out of there. Turning the corner here. 00:04:16:02 - 00:04:35:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This is our, leader check in station. So leaders are not allowed to check in until they've gone through our entire volunteer process, which I'll also link down below our volunteer process. And this vets them. Make sure that they went through all of our training and that they went through, all of the, the legal ministry safe things that they need to do. 00:04:35:22 - 00:04:51:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then they can go ahead and they can check in here. Well, we say is if it comes out of this printer here, you'll notice, manually, I'm going to print this here. We say that that green means screened. And so that means if someone in our ministry has on, like, a green lanyard, they're good to go. 00:04:51:20 - 00:05:16:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This board right here, you can see, different, this is like our weekly lessons, bottom lines. We'll also have the, like, connect group sheet right here, for our leaders as they come in on, like, a, Sunday to grab it. And then we have a monthly leader, a weekly I'm sorry leader podcast. And so, our leaders that win stuff, this is, our beginning of our cycle. 00:05:16:02 - 00:05:40:27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So all these leaders are new to our team, and then this is where they can grab, their leader gift, their leader mug, all that type of stuff. This right here is our, Wednesday evening safety, safety laminated sheet, assignments. So we'll post this right here on the board. And then we'll also throw it into our leader group chat so that everyone knows where they should be and where they need to be. 00:05:40:27 - 00:06:06:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then right around here, just a couple more shelves and zoom out a little bit. A couple more shelves right here. This is just some more leader, resources. So this is like some, throw Intel, some yay or nay. We got Play-Doh in case we need it. We got some dice, we got some, break the ice games are all look down, and, I'll link a bunch of this stuff. 00:06:06:09 - 00:06:26:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Financing scavenger hunt, card game. I'll link some of these things so that you can, find them. You can buy them. You can, supply them for, for your own area if there's some that you want. And then the last thing we have here is just, a stack of cards so that if any of our leaders need to write cards to any of their students, they can go about doing that right here. 00:06:26:19 - 00:06:43:28 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then finally, this is new. Someone added this, in a little bit, unbeknownst to us. We kind of like it. So it says prayers and then, you can we can put some, like, individual, prayer requests right there, there on the screen. And so that's been something that we just added, which is pretty cool. 00:06:43:28 - 00:07:08:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So, just one more time as a, take a big someone's prayer and something right now zoom out. This is our leader workroom, and, no students are that. Well, everyone, thank you so much for hanging here for this entire episode. As a reminder, link down below in the description, there are different, links for different things and resources and stuff that we have, linking to different episodes describing our volunteer process. 00:07:08:04 - 00:07:25:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry A free episode like this, hopefully is incredibly helpful to you, but a payment in the form of a like or a subscribe would really make all the difference in the world. And thank you for being here for this questions playlist. The next episode is linked right here on screen. But until next time. And as always my friends, don't forget stay habits. youth ministry, volunteer room ideas, church volunteers, youth leader resources, ministry tips, hybrid ministry, youth pastor, ministry organization, church leadership, volunteer check-in, leader training, youth group ideas, small group tools, ministry supplies, church setup, volunteer onboarding, ministry hacks, student ministry, church coffee bar, leader encouragement, youth ministry podcast, hybrid ministry show, ministry systems, leader space tour, church resource room Ever wondered what’s inside a great youth ministry volunteer room? In this episode, Nick walks through his own space—showing you everything from the snack and coffee setup to the leader resource area, check-in station, and supply closet. You’ll leave with practical ideas (and links!) to create a welcoming, well-equipped hub that keeps your leaders fueled, prepped, and connected every week.

FREE SMALL GROUP CONNECTION DOWNLOAD
https://www.patreon.com/posts/30-small-group-141961735?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE!
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/176

ITEMS FOUND IN LEADER ROOM

//Leader Resource Area
Decks of Cards
https://walmrt.us/4hs9d0u

Foam Dice
https://walmrt.us/4ot5h1M

Playdough
https://walmrt.us/3Jc5LdJ

Ice Breaker Cards
https://walmrt.us/47DJz5n

Find & Seek Scavenger Hunt
https://walmrt.us/47GrZ0I

//Other Items
Mini Fridge
https://walmrt.us/3JmGai3

Keurig
https://walmrt.us/4hKuByh

Microwave
https://walmrt.us/3JmG223

Personal Sized Whiteboards
https://walmrt.us/475rDk6

Markers
https://walmrt.us/47Gs84g

First Aid Kit
https://walmrt.us/4oDM25D

Ultimate Guest Box Template
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry/shop/ultimate-first-time-guest-box-579557?source=storefront

Volunteer Onboarding Process Explained
https://youtu.be/s8HNzfZoiX0?si=A322a3wihRACq8ZM

👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

--------------
🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉
We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context!
The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe!
https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick

--------------
🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU!
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//VIDIQ
https://vidiq.com/hybrid

//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

//OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Show me your volunteer rooms question!
00:23 Snacks & Coffee Area
01:01 Office Supply Area
01:34 Fall Social Pack
02:48 Supply Closet
04:14 Leader Check-in Area
05:42 Leader Group Resource Tools

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In this episode, we are going to show you my church's youth ministry volunteer room as we're answering this question. Show me your volunteer rooms. We are looking to make a new volunteer headquarters and are looking for inspiration. We're talking snacks, decorations, and things leaders love. So let's go on a little field trip and I'm going to show you my church's leader workroom.

00:00:22:14 - 00:00:50:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Let's go. So this right here, just some basic, you know, and, like, common snacks, a leader fridge, which is also a spot where a lot of our people, store leftovers and food and then, of course, gotta have coffee. So this whole section here is filled with different, like, K-Cups, which I personally hate. Which is why I have pour over in my office in the next room over.

00:00:50:03 - 00:01:09:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But, this is something for our leaders, you know, Wednesday nights, Sunday morning, they come on in here, they grab a cup of coffee, they make it happen. This are here was actually paid for about one of our students, so that's pretty cool. Here's a printer. And this is where most of our, basic easy printer, printing needs can be done here.

00:01:09:23 - 00:01:34:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
There is a bigger one, in another part of the office, but we just use this one as much as we can, a microwave in case we need it. And then just some very basic, paper supplies and cards and, cutters and stapler. Hole punch, in fact, that the cutters are here. This right here is where we keep, radio for, our security and safety team when they need it, when they're looking for it.

00:01:34:12 - 00:01:51:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey. Quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall.

00:01:51:16 - 00:02:14:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's why I created this, the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed. So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon.

00:02:14:28 - 00:02:35:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And did you know that monthly hybrid. Here are Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast. They get this pack completely for free, so if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799. Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting.

00:02:35:09 - 00:03:00:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry, right here is meant to sort of be our like, supply closet, right? So like, a leader can theoretically come in here anytime they need it and then get anything that they might be looking for.

00:03:00:14 - 00:03:22:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So of course, we got markers and then we got some branded pens. And these are here are actually one of our favorite things. Like we use these like little personalized whiteboards all the time. They're really like good for games and stuff like that. These are here are like just labels, for, for check in and for printing and then down here and we just got to order.

00:03:22:14 - 00:03:40:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So don't be like, holy crap, those people are all about snacks. But this is, we just got a big Sam's order. These are our snacks. So these are what we include. Back over here. And this is, like, just the back up stock of it. This right here. I've gone over this before. This is our leader.

00:03:40:17 - 00:03:59:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They're not a leader. This is our our newcomer welcome box. And so, this is where we store a bunch of them, and then our check in team, they know to come and stock this for actually link right up here. Top left of the screen. I'll link to video where I detail an outline, our entire welcome box process.

00:03:59:12 - 00:04:16:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So this is like a leaders like go to spot everything that they could use, everything that they can need. Plus some just like backup stuff, you know, along with like first aid and, you know, necessary things. Like a kid gets an injury, we can go straight here, we can get all we need out of there. Turning the corner here.

00:04:16:02 - 00:04:35:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is our, leader check in station. So leaders are not allowed to check in until they've gone through our entire volunteer process, which I'll also link down below our volunteer process. And this vets them. Make sure that they went through all of our training and that they went through, all of the, the legal ministry safe things that they need to do.

00:04:35:22 - 00:04:51:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then they can go ahead and they can check in here. Well, we say is if it comes out of this printer here, you'll notice, manually, I'm going to print this here. We say that that green means screened. And so that means if someone in our ministry has on, like, a green lanyard, they're good to go.

00:04:51:20 - 00:05:16:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This board right here, you can see, different, this is like our weekly lessons, bottom lines. We'll also have the, like, connect group sheet right here, for our leaders as they come in on, like, a, Sunday to grab it. And then we have a monthly leader, a weekly I'm sorry leader podcast. And so, our leaders that win stuff, this is, our beginning of our cycle.

00:05:16:02 - 00:05:40:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So all these leaders are new to our team, and then this is where they can grab, their leader gift, their leader mug, all that type of stuff. This right here is our, Wednesday evening safety, safety laminated sheet, assignments. So we'll post this right here on the board. And then we'll also throw it into our leader group chat so that everyone knows where they should be and where they need to be.

00:05:40:27 - 00:06:06:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then right around here, just a couple more shelves and zoom out a little bit. A couple more shelves right here. This is just some more leader, resources. So this is like some, throw Intel, some yay or nay. We got Play-Doh in case we need it. We got some dice, we got some, break the ice games are all look down, and, I'll link a bunch of this stuff.

00:06:06:09 - 00:06:26:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Financing scavenger hunt, card game. I'll link some of these things so that you can, find them. You can buy them. You can, supply them for, for your own area if there's some that you want. And then the last thing we have here is just, a stack of cards so that if any of our leaders need to write cards to any of their students, they can go about doing that right here.

00:06:26:19 - 00:06:43:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then finally, this is new. Someone added this, in a little bit, unbeknownst to us. We kind of like it. So it says prayers and then, you can we can put some, like, individual, prayer requests right there, there on the screen. And so that's been something that we just added, which is pretty cool.

00:06:43:28 - 00:07:08:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, just one more time as a, take a big someone's prayer and something right now zoom out. This is our leader workroom, and, no students are that. Well, everyone, thank you so much for hanging here for this entire episode. As a reminder, link down below in the description, there are different, links for different things and resources and stuff that we have, linking to different episodes describing our volunteer process.

00:07:08:04 - 00:07:25:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
A free episode like this, hopefully is incredibly helpful to you, but a payment in the form of a like or a subscribe would really make all the difference in the world. And thank you for being here for this questions playlist. The next episode is linked right here on screen. But until next time. And as always my friends, don't forget stay habits.

]]> Ever wondered what’s inside a great youth ministry volunteer room? In this episode, Nick walks through his own space—showing you everything from the snack and coffee setup to the leader resource area, check-in station, and supply closet. You’ll leave with practical ideas (and links!) to create a welcoming, well-equipped hub that keeps your leaders fueled, prepped, and connected every week.

FREE SMALL GROUP CONNECTION DOWNLOAD
https://www.patreon.com/posts/30-small-group-141961735?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE!
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/176

ITEMS FOUND IN LEADER ROOM

//Leader Resource Area
Decks of Cards
https://walmrt.us/4hs9d0u

Foam Dice
https://walmrt.us/4ot5h1M

Playdough
https://walmrt.us/3Jc5LdJ

Ice Breaker Cards
https://walmrt.us/47DJz5n

Find & Seek Scavenger Hunt
https://walmrt.us/47GrZ0I

//Other Items
Mini Fridge
https://walmrt.us/3JmGai3

Keurig
https://walmrt.us/4hKuByh

Microwave
https://walmrt.us/3JmG223

Personal Sized Whiteboards
https://walmrt.us/475rDk6

Markers
https://walmrt.us/47Gs84g

First Aid Kit
https://walmrt.us/4oDM25D

Ultimate Guest Box Template
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry/shop/ultimate-first-time-guest-box-579557?source=storefront

Volunteer Onboarding Process Explained
https://youtu.be/s8HNzfZoiX0?si=A322a3wihRACq8ZM

👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

--------------
🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉
We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context!
The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe!
https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick

--------------
🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU!
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//VIDIQ
https://vidiq.com/hybrid

//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

//OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Show me your volunteer rooms question!
00:23 Snacks & Coffee Area
01:01 Office Supply Area
01:34 Fall Social Pack
02:48 Supply Closet
04:14 Leader Check-in Area
05:42 Leader Group Resource Tools

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In this episode, we are going to show you my church's youth ministry volunteer room as we're answering this question. Show me your volunteer rooms. We are looking to make a new volunteer headquarters and are looking for inspiration. We're talking snacks, decorations, and things leaders love. So let's go on a little field trip and I'm going to show you my church's leader workroom.

00:00:22:14 - 00:00:50:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Let's go. So this right here, just some basic, you know, and, like, common snacks, a leader fridge, which is also a spot where a lot of our people, store leftovers and food and then, of course, gotta have coffee. So this whole section here is filled with different, like, K-Cups, which I personally hate. Which is why I have pour over in my office in the next room over.

00:00:50:03 - 00:01:09:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But, this is something for our leaders, you know, Wednesday nights, Sunday morning, they come on in here, they grab a cup of coffee, they make it happen. This are here was actually paid for about one of our students, so that's pretty cool. Here's a printer. And this is where most of our, basic easy printer, printing needs can be done here.

00:01:09:23 - 00:01:34:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
There is a bigger one, in another part of the office, but we just use this one as much as we can, a microwave in case we need it. And then just some very basic, paper supplies and cards and, cutters and stapler. Hole punch, in fact, that the cutters are here. This right here is where we keep, radio for, our security and safety team when they need it, when they're looking for it.

00:01:34:12 - 00:01:51:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey. Quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall.

00:01:51:16 - 00:02:14:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's why I created this, the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed. So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon.

00:02:14:28 - 00:02:35:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And did you know that monthly hybrid. Here are Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast. They get this pack completely for free, so if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799. Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting.

00:02:35:09 - 00:03:00:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry, right here is meant to sort of be our like, supply closet, right? So like, a leader can theoretically come in here anytime they need it and then get anything that they might be looking for.

00:03:00:14 - 00:03:22:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So of course, we got markers and then we got some branded pens. And these are here are actually one of our favorite things. Like we use these like little personalized whiteboards all the time. They're really like good for games and stuff like that. These are here are like just labels, for, for check in and for printing and then down here and we just got to order.

00:03:22:14 - 00:03:40:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So don't be like, holy crap, those people are all about snacks. But this is, we just got a big Sam's order. These are our snacks. So these are what we include. Back over here. And this is, like, just the back up stock of it. This right here. I've gone over this before. This is our leader.

00:03:40:17 - 00:03:59:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They're not a leader. This is our our newcomer welcome box. And so, this is where we store a bunch of them, and then our check in team, they know to come and stock this for actually link right up here. Top left of the screen. I'll link to video where I detail an outline, our entire welcome box process.

00:03:59:12 - 00:04:16:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So this is like a leaders like go to spot everything that they could use, everything that they can need. Plus some just like backup stuff, you know, along with like first aid and, you know, necessary things. Like a kid gets an injury, we can go straight here, we can get all we need out of there. Turning the corner here.

00:04:16:02 - 00:04:35:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is our, leader check in station. So leaders are not allowed to check in until they've gone through our entire volunteer process, which I'll also link down below our volunteer process. And this vets them. Make sure that they went through all of our training and that they went through, all of the, the legal ministry safe things that they need to do.

00:04:35:22 - 00:04:51:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then they can go ahead and they can check in here. Well, we say is if it comes out of this printer here, you'll notice, manually, I'm going to print this here. We say that that green means screened. And so that means if someone in our ministry has on, like, a green lanyard, they're good to go.

00:04:51:20 - 00:05:16:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This board right here, you can see, different, this is like our weekly lessons, bottom lines. We'll also have the, like, connect group sheet right here, for our leaders as they come in on, like, a, Sunday to grab it. And then we have a monthly leader, a weekly I'm sorry leader podcast. And so, our leaders that win stuff, this is, our beginning of our cycle.

00:05:16:02 - 00:05:40:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So all these leaders are new to our team, and then this is where they can grab, their leader gift, their leader mug, all that type of stuff. This right here is our, Wednesday evening safety, safety laminated sheet, assignments. So we'll post this right here on the board. And then we'll also throw it into our leader group chat so that everyone knows where they should be and where they need to be.

00:05:40:27 - 00:06:06:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then right around here, just a couple more shelves and zoom out a little bit. A couple more shelves right here. This is just some more leader, resources. So this is like some, throw Intel, some yay or nay. We got Play-Doh in case we need it. We got some dice, we got some, break the ice games are all look down, and, I'll link a bunch of this stuff.

00:06:06:09 - 00:06:26:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Financing scavenger hunt, card game. I'll link some of these things so that you can, find them. You can buy them. You can, supply them for, for your own area if there's some that you want. And then the last thing we have here is just, a stack of cards so that if any of our leaders need to write cards to any of their students, they can go about doing that right here.

00:06:26:19 - 00:06:43:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then finally, this is new. Someone added this, in a little bit, unbeknownst to us. We kind of like it. So it says prayers and then, you can we can put some, like, individual, prayer requests right there, there on the screen. And so that's been something that we just added, which is pretty cool.

00:06:43:28 - 00:07:08:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, just one more time as a, take a big someone's prayer and something right now zoom out. This is our leader workroom, and, no students are that. Well, everyone, thank you so much for hanging here for this entire episode. As a reminder, link down below in the description, there are different, links for different things and resources and stuff that we have, linking to different episodes describing our volunteer process.

00:07:08:04 - 00:07:25:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
A free episode like this, hopefully is incredibly helpful to you, but a payment in the form of a like or a subscribe would really make all the difference in the world. And thank you for being here for this questions playlist. The next episode is linked right here on screen. But until next time. And as always my friends, don't forget stay habits.

]]> Episode 175: The Calendar that Rules Them All! [Most Skip Step 1!] https://www.hybridministry.xyz/175 b7eb79c1-7238-487b-b390-9fcaaf8707c2 Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:00:00 -0600 Nick Clason 175 The Calendar that Rules Them All! [Most Skip Step 1!] full Nick Clason Struggling with youth ministry planning, church communications, or ministry calendars? In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast, learn the 5 levels to create the ultimate Youth Ministry Calendar that rules them all! Most skip Level 1—but stick around for the one strategy that fixes all your communication issues and grabs parents’ attention with tips, visuals, and free downloadable designs. 10:56 no Struggling with youth ministry planning, church communications, or ministry calendars? In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast, learn the 5 levels to create the ultimate Youth Ministry Calendar that rules them all! Most skip Level 1—but stick around for the one strategy that fixes all your communication issues and grabs parents’ attention with tips, visuals, and free downloadable designs. FREE CALENDAR TEMPLATE https://www.patreon.com/posts/winter-spring-141564188?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE! https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/175 Custom Curated Playlist https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaK80OxdNPbfrvTH_6cML8VB Nucleus https://www.nucleus.church 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products //VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid //BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym //OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100 https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 At a Glance Calendars 00:44 Level 1 - Most Miss! 02:51 Level 2 - FREE Download 05:27 Level 3 06:58 Level 4 - An All Time Idea! 08:10 Level 5 - THIS RULES THEM ALL -------------- TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00:07 - 00:00:24:17 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:14 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Have you been doing your planning and creation of your youth ministry calendars all wrong this whole time? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to share with you the five levels to create a solid youth ministry calendar, the one that will rule them all. While most don't make it past level one, you should stick around to the end of the video and see the whole thing because I reveal at the end the one trick that I've started adding to all of my calendars that it solves the communication problem once and for all. 00:00:34:16 - 00:01:06:25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Oh, and plus there's a free calendar link down below in the YouTube video or the podcast description. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Ministry show. Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. I am your host, Nicolas, and excited to be with you. As we're talking through the five levels of a youth ministry calendar creation. And the reason we're doing this because we're actually, and we actually are and have been in a playlist where we've been discussing different questions that I have come across on different youth pastor Facebook groups. 00:01:06:25 - 00:01:30:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And today, this one, I have, a question that says, hey everyone, I'm looking for examples of an at a glance calendar that highlight your major annual events. Pictures, please. You don't need to include spontaneous or smaller events, just the main ones that plan each year. And so we're going to be looking at what I have been passing out historically, and how we've tried to not only solve the communication problem, but it also helps with our, our visitors and all that sort of thing. 00:01:30:17 - 00:01:51:27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So actually, there's a carefully curated playlist with all of those elements, calendar discussions and a welcome box that we have and communication issues linked right here. Tap the video. Go ahead and check it out on YouTube. But step number one is you need to have and this is the one that most skipped. But you need to have a reputable website okay. 00:01:51:28 - 00:02:17:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Because if you want a quote as this question says an at a glance calendar, then you need to have a website that is actually up to date that when people don't have the information that they need from your calendar, they know where they can go and what they should do. In fact, everyone in our student ministry knows and understands that like the calendar doesn't exist with this this piece of literature that they're bringing home. 00:02:17:08 - 00:02:43:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This is, again, as the question as this is high level, this is simply highlights. This isn't every single thing. I've seen calendars designed with every single thing, the entire calendar for the year. But like that, that is not what we pass out. And I'm going to share multiple different reasons why. But one of the reasons is because our website handles a lot of the rest of the stuff that is going to be needed in order to communicate that. 00:02:43:05 - 00:03:04:29 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So you need to make sure that you have a website that's actually like navigate. Well, that's decent. It's a decent guest experience and it's up to date. The second thing is you want something that's designed well. If you look at the one here on screen, this is one that we, are giving away. Link down below. The templated, the blank version. 00:03:05:01 - 00:03:29:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This is within our church's approved brand color palette and guides. So like, these are the student ministry colors within our church's color palette. So that's the first step of it. The second thing is like when I'm designing it, I typically choose a font or two that are like our fonts for the year. And then I'm just gonna be honest, like, icons are fun, but like, emojis are great. 00:03:29:13 - 00:03:50:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I try to just like link an emoji to some of the different events that we have. And that does a great job for it. The other thing is, like you see off to the side, here's like I also try to create some sort of icon that goes with like this season. So for fall we've done like coffee cups or we've done football helmets for the summer, we've done suns. 00:03:50:09 - 00:04:11:18 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And we, you know, in the spring we've done flowers. And so it gets tricky, especially if you're trying to do different ones and you're like doing them year over year. But you'll see the one linked right here. And you can go ahead and get the templated version link down below in the description. But you want your design to be something that, like, feels a little bit familiar but doesn't feel identical because you don't want them to think I've already got this. 00:04:11:18 - 00:04:28:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like they need to understand, like, no, this is a new one. Hey, quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. 00:04:28:15 - 00:04:50:24 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created these the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed. 00:04:50:29 - 00:05:10:25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly hybrid here? A Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast? They get this pack completely for free. So if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799. 00:05:10:25 - 00:05:37:27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. And another major thing that you're going to want to do here, which is level three, is you only want to include events that you, particularly and specifically choose. 00:05:37:27 - 00:06:00:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And want to highlight. You don't want to put every single thing on your calendar. No, no, you want things that you only want at a high level. And so the way to make it visually appealing, in my opinion, and in my book, and to make it small and concise, is to not overwhelm it with information, but to only make it things that are noteworthy for families to know. 00:06:00:21 - 00:06:23:26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry For example, we a lot of times say we meet every single Sunday. We meet every single Wednesday. However, these are ones you want to know about, and these are also ones that you want to know that we're not meeting because we meet every single week. But these in particular take note. We are not meeting. Additionally, and especially as it pertains to our spring calendar, we will post things about our, about our like winter weekend. 00:06:23:26 - 00:06:44:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And we'll also post, say, the dates for our summer camp communications already gone out for that. By the time this calendar gets in the hands of our students mid-year and like December. But this one is important that it just, you know, it gets on there because it's actually going to happen during this cycle, which I should say, for context, we produce three calendars per year. 00:06:44:09 - 00:07:05:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry We produce a fall one, we produce a spring one, and then we also produce a summer one. And so in light of that, we're pumping out calendars three different times per year to get into the hands of students. The fourth level, and this I think, is, one of them, the most impressive, like, decisions that I ever stumbled into. 00:07:05:20 - 00:07:24:22 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I honestly can't even tell you how I stumbled into it. And I would say that this is the key. However, level five, is a new one that we've recently unlocked, and I think it's even better. But number four is we make this design and then we print this using like sticker mule. We print this on a magnet. 00:07:24:25 - 00:07:43:07 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Here's the psychology. Here's my thought behind it. Right. Everyone passes out a calendar for the year. There's the sports calendar. There's the academic calendar. And in a lot of cases, there's the youth group calendar. But what I want and maybe this is just my competitiveness, but like I want my calendar to be the thing holding on other calendars. 00:07:43:07 - 00:08:05:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Right. Like if you got your sports calendar, I want the youth calendar to be the thing that is keeping the sports calendar affixed to the fridge. That puts us on top of it. And they're probably going to choose sports over student ministry. But I just like to think in my own head, like, think about all of these calendars that are on magnets, that are on people's fridges, that are at the top of line, top of sight. 00:08:05:03 - 00:08:33:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And hopefully they're seeing, and remembering and keeping us again, top of mind. The fifth and final level, which I think is like the ultimate is, you'll see here. And you've probably noticed that we actually and this is helpful because of our website, we build our website and our calendar on our website, on the provider of, of nucleus, and on nucleus, what you can do is you can link in a dot ICS, which is an iCal calendar extension. 00:08:33:21 - 00:08:48:27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So it's all you put in like your phone. But it's also like a shareable option out of like even a Google calendar. So we create just like a Google Calendar, we keep the Google Calendar up to date. That auto populates to our website, right? Which is like again, and I said, like, you want to make sure that your, your website is up to date. 00:08:48:27 - 00:09:09:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And if people land on your website, that's information is not on your your big calendar, your highlight calendar, your magnet calendar that they do end up on your website, they're able to obtain the information that they need and that they're looking for. But then we've created a QR code where they can simply subscribe to the calendar in their phones. 00:09:09:07 - 00:09:32:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so this is, in my opinion, the penultimate, because this makes these, at a glance calendars great, but not the most crucial thing. I think a lot of youth pastors treat this calendars the most crucial thing. But what happens when students don't have access to it? What happens when they lose it? What happens when you give it to them and they accidentally set it down before they get it into the hands of their parents? 00:09:32:18 - 00:09:56:22 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry If a parent can subscribe to our calendar, then they will never miss an event. They'll never miss an update. It will be populated onto the very device and onto the very app that they use to manage and control their entire life. Their calendar app. And what a better place than for your youth ministry and your church calendar to be on parents phones and on students phones. 00:09:56:22 - 00:10:18:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so put a QR code, put some sort of link where they can go and they can subscribe to the events. And so all of the events are exactly where they're supposed to be and where you ultimately want them to be at the end of the day, remember, the goal of this is communication so that people know what's going on and that they then also hopefully choose to attend your church and your event in your youth group. 00:10:18:04 - 00:10:39:25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry The the goal and this is not a beautiful calendar. Hopefully we can help you create one. And once again link down below free in the in the podcast or YouTube description. But the goal is communication at its core. And so that fifth and final layer adding adding a QR code so that people and parents can, subscribe to your church and your youth ministry calendar. 00:10:40:01 - 00:10:54:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Such a game changer. Well, hey everyone, the next episode is linked right here on the screen as well as the subscribe button. If you found this episode helpful, a payment for this free calendar would be amazing. A like a subscribe and share it with a friend. But until next time. And as always, don't forget. Stay hybrid. youth ministry, youth pastor, student ministry, hybrid ministry, church communications, church marketing, ministry calendar, ministry planning, church leadership, church growth, youth group ideas, youth group events, digital ministry, church media, church event planning, social media for churches, free ministry resources, youth pastor training, ministry systems, qr code calendar, church website design, hybrid church, next gen ministry, discipleship tools, church content creation Struggling with youth ministry planning, church communications, or ministry calendars? In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast, learn the 5 levels to create the ultimate Youth Ministry Calendar that rules them all! Most skip Level 1—but stick around for the one strategy that fixes all your communication issues and grabs parents’ attention with tips, visuals, and free downloadable designs.

FREE CALENDAR TEMPLATE
https://www.patreon.com/posts/winter-spring-141564188?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE!
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/175

Custom Curated Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaK80OxdNPbfrvTH_6cML8VB

Nucleus
https://www.nucleus.church

👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

--------------
🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉
We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context!
The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe!
https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick

--------------
🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU!
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//VIDIQ
https://vidiq.com/hybrid

//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

//OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 At a Glance Calendars
00:44 Level 1 - Most Miss!
02:51 Level 2 - FREE Download
05:27 Level 3
06:58 Level 4 - An All Time Idea!
08:10 Level 5 - THIS RULES THEM ALL

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:07 - 00:00:24:17
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Have you been doing your planning and creation of your youth ministry calendars all wrong this whole time? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to share with you the five levels to create a solid youth ministry calendar, the one that will rule them all. While most don't make it past level one, you should stick around to the end of the video and see the whole thing because I reveal at the end the one trick that I've started adding to all of my calendars that it solves the communication problem once and for all.

00:00:34:16 - 00:01:06:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Oh, and plus there's a free calendar link down below in the YouTube video or the podcast description. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Ministry show. Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. I am your host, Nicolas, and excited to be with you. As we're talking through the five levels of a youth ministry calendar creation. And the reason we're doing this because we're actually, and we actually are and have been in a playlist where we've been discussing different questions that I have come across on different youth pastor Facebook groups.

00:01:06:25 - 00:01:30:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And today, this one, I have, a question that says, hey everyone, I'm looking for examples of an at a glance calendar that highlight your major annual events. Pictures, please. You don't need to include spontaneous or smaller events, just the main ones that plan each year. And so we're going to be looking at what I have been passing out historically, and how we've tried to not only solve the communication problem, but it also helps with our, our visitors and all that sort of thing.

00:01:30:17 - 00:01:51:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So actually, there's a carefully curated playlist with all of those elements, calendar discussions and a welcome box that we have and communication issues linked right here. Tap the video. Go ahead and check it out on YouTube. But step number one is you need to have and this is the one that most skipped. But you need to have a reputable website okay.

00:01:51:28 - 00:02:17:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because if you want a quote as this question says an at a glance calendar, then you need to have a website that is actually up to date that when people don't have the information that they need from your calendar, they know where they can go and what they should do. In fact, everyone in our student ministry knows and understands that like the calendar doesn't exist with this this piece of literature that they're bringing home.

00:02:17:08 - 00:02:43:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is, again, as the question as this is high level, this is simply highlights. This isn't every single thing. I've seen calendars designed with every single thing, the entire calendar for the year. But like that, that is not what we pass out. And I'm going to share multiple different reasons why. But one of the reasons is because our website handles a lot of the rest of the stuff that is going to be needed in order to communicate that.

00:02:43:05 - 00:03:04:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So you need to make sure that you have a website that's actually like navigate. Well, that's decent. It's a decent guest experience and it's up to date. The second thing is you want something that's designed well. If you look at the one here on screen, this is one that we, are giving away. Link down below. The templated, the blank version.

00:03:05:01 - 00:03:29:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is within our church's approved brand color palette and guides. So like, these are the student ministry colors within our church's color palette. So that's the first step of it. The second thing is like when I'm designing it, I typically choose a font or two that are like our fonts for the year. And then I'm just gonna be honest, like, icons are fun, but like, emojis are great.

00:03:29:13 - 00:03:50:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I try to just like link an emoji to some of the different events that we have. And that does a great job for it. The other thing is, like you see off to the side, here's like I also try to create some sort of icon that goes with like this season. So for fall we've done like coffee cups or we've done football helmets for the summer, we've done suns.

00:03:50:09 - 00:04:11:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And we, you know, in the spring we've done flowers. And so it gets tricky, especially if you're trying to do different ones and you're like doing them year over year. But you'll see the one linked right here. And you can go ahead and get the templated version link down below in the description. But you want your design to be something that, like, feels a little bit familiar but doesn't feel identical because you don't want them to think I've already got this.

00:04:11:18 - 00:04:28:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like they need to understand, like, no, this is a new one. Hey, quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet.

00:04:28:15 - 00:04:50:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created these the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed.

00:04:50:29 - 00:05:10:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly hybrid here? A Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast? They get this pack completely for free. So if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799.

00:05:10:25 - 00:05:37:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. And another major thing that you're going to want to do here, which is level three, is you only want to include events that you, particularly and specifically choose.

00:05:37:27 - 00:06:00:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And want to highlight. You don't want to put every single thing on your calendar. No, no, you want things that you only want at a high level. And so the way to make it visually appealing, in my opinion, and in my book, and to make it small and concise, is to not overwhelm it with information, but to only make it things that are noteworthy for families to know.

00:06:00:21 - 00:06:23:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For example, we a lot of times say we meet every single Sunday. We meet every single Wednesday. However, these are ones you want to know about, and these are also ones that you want to know that we're not meeting because we meet every single week. But these in particular take note. We are not meeting. Additionally, and especially as it pertains to our spring calendar, we will post things about our, about our like winter weekend.

00:06:23:26 - 00:06:44:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And we'll also post, say, the dates for our summer camp communications already gone out for that. By the time this calendar gets in the hands of our students mid-year and like December. But this one is important that it just, you know, it gets on there because it's actually going to happen during this cycle, which I should say, for context, we produce three calendars per year.

00:06:44:09 - 00:07:05:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We produce a fall one, we produce a spring one, and then we also produce a summer one. And so in light of that, we're pumping out calendars three different times per year to get into the hands of students. The fourth level, and this I think, is, one of them, the most impressive, like, decisions that I ever stumbled into.

00:07:05:20 - 00:07:24:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I honestly can't even tell you how I stumbled into it. And I would say that this is the key. However, level five, is a new one that we've recently unlocked, and I think it's even better. But number four is we make this design and then we print this using like sticker mule. We print this on a magnet.

00:07:24:25 - 00:07:43:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Here's the psychology. Here's my thought behind it. Right. Everyone passes out a calendar for the year. There's the sports calendar. There's the academic calendar. And in a lot of cases, there's the youth group calendar. But what I want and maybe this is just my competitiveness, but like I want my calendar to be the thing holding on other calendars.

00:07:43:07 - 00:08:05:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. Like if you got your sports calendar, I want the youth calendar to be the thing that is keeping the sports calendar affixed to the fridge. That puts us on top of it. And they're probably going to choose sports over student ministry. But I just like to think in my own head, like, think about all of these calendars that are on magnets, that are on people's fridges, that are at the top of line, top of sight.

00:08:05:03 - 00:08:33:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And hopefully they're seeing, and remembering and keeping us again, top of mind. The fifth and final level, which I think is like the ultimate is, you'll see here. And you've probably noticed that we actually and this is helpful because of our website, we build our website and our calendar on our website, on the provider of, of nucleus, and on nucleus, what you can do is you can link in a dot ICS, which is an iCal calendar extension.

00:08:33:21 - 00:08:48:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's all you put in like your phone. But it's also like a shareable option out of like even a Google calendar. So we create just like a Google Calendar, we keep the Google Calendar up to date. That auto populates to our website, right? Which is like again, and I said, like, you want to make sure that your, your website is up to date.

00:08:48:27 - 00:09:09:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if people land on your website, that's information is not on your your big calendar, your highlight calendar, your magnet calendar that they do end up on your website, they're able to obtain the information that they need and that they're looking for. But then we've created a QR code where they can simply subscribe to the calendar in their phones.

00:09:09:07 - 00:09:32:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so this is, in my opinion, the penultimate, because this makes these, at a glance calendars great, but not the most crucial thing. I think a lot of youth pastors treat this calendars the most crucial thing. But what happens when students don't have access to it? What happens when they lose it? What happens when you give it to them and they accidentally set it down before they get it into the hands of their parents?

00:09:32:18 - 00:09:56:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If a parent can subscribe to our calendar, then they will never miss an event. They'll never miss an update. It will be populated onto the very device and onto the very app that they use to manage and control their entire life. Their calendar app. And what a better place than for your youth ministry and your church calendar to be on parents phones and on students phones.

00:09:56:22 - 00:10:18:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so put a QR code, put some sort of link where they can go and they can subscribe to the events. And so all of the events are exactly where they're supposed to be and where you ultimately want them to be at the end of the day, remember, the goal of this is communication so that people know what's going on and that they then also hopefully choose to attend your church and your event in your youth group.

00:10:18:04 - 00:10:39:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The the goal and this is not a beautiful calendar. Hopefully we can help you create one. And once again link down below free in the in the podcast or YouTube description. But the goal is communication at its core. And so that fifth and final layer adding adding a QR code so that people and parents can, subscribe to your church and your youth ministry calendar.

00:10:40:01 - 00:10:54:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Such a game changer. Well, hey everyone, the next episode is linked right here on the screen as well as the subscribe button. If you found this episode helpful, a payment for this free calendar would be amazing. A like a subscribe and share it with a friend. But until next time. And as always, don't forget. Stay hybrid.

]]> Struggling with youth ministry planning, church communications, or ministry calendars? In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Podcast, learn the 5 levels to create the ultimate Youth Ministry Calendar that rules them all! Most skip Level 1—but stick around for the one strategy that fixes all your communication issues and grabs parents’ attention with tips, visuals, and free downloadable designs.

FREE CALENDAR TEMPLATE
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SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/175

Custom Curated Playlist
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaK80OxdNPbfrvTH_6cML8VB

Nucleus
https://www.nucleus.church

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We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context!
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Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 At a Glance Calendars
00:44 Level 1 - Most Miss!
02:51 Level 2 - FREE Download
05:27 Level 3
06:58 Level 4 - An All Time Idea!
08:10 Level 5 - THIS RULES THEM ALL

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:07 - 00:00:24:17
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:34:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Have you been doing your planning and creation of your youth ministry calendars all wrong this whole time? Well, in today's episode, I'm going to share with you the five levels to create a solid youth ministry calendar, the one that will rule them all. While most don't make it past level one, you should stick around to the end of the video and see the whole thing because I reveal at the end the one trick that I've started adding to all of my calendars that it solves the communication problem once and for all.

00:00:34:16 - 00:01:06:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Oh, and plus there's a free calendar link down below in the YouTube video or the podcast description. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Ministry show. Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry Show. I am your host, Nicolas, and excited to be with you. As we're talking through the five levels of a youth ministry calendar creation. And the reason we're doing this because we're actually, and we actually are and have been in a playlist where we've been discussing different questions that I have come across on different youth pastor Facebook groups.

00:01:06:25 - 00:01:30:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And today, this one, I have, a question that says, hey everyone, I'm looking for examples of an at a glance calendar that highlight your major annual events. Pictures, please. You don't need to include spontaneous or smaller events, just the main ones that plan each year. And so we're going to be looking at what I have been passing out historically, and how we've tried to not only solve the communication problem, but it also helps with our, our visitors and all that sort of thing.

00:01:30:17 - 00:01:51:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So actually, there's a carefully curated playlist with all of those elements, calendar discussions and a welcome box that we have and communication issues linked right here. Tap the video. Go ahead and check it out on YouTube. But step number one is you need to have and this is the one that most skipped. But you need to have a reputable website okay.

00:01:51:28 - 00:02:17:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Because if you want a quote as this question says an at a glance calendar, then you need to have a website that is actually up to date that when people don't have the information that they need from your calendar, they know where they can go and what they should do. In fact, everyone in our student ministry knows and understands that like the calendar doesn't exist with this this piece of literature that they're bringing home.

00:02:17:08 - 00:02:43:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is, again, as the question as this is high level, this is simply highlights. This isn't every single thing. I've seen calendars designed with every single thing, the entire calendar for the year. But like that, that is not what we pass out. And I'm going to share multiple different reasons why. But one of the reasons is because our website handles a lot of the rest of the stuff that is going to be needed in order to communicate that.

00:02:43:05 - 00:03:04:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So you need to make sure that you have a website that's actually like navigate. Well, that's decent. It's a decent guest experience and it's up to date. The second thing is you want something that's designed well. If you look at the one here on screen, this is one that we, are giving away. Link down below. The templated, the blank version.

00:03:05:01 - 00:03:29:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is within our church's approved brand color palette and guides. So like, these are the student ministry colors within our church's color palette. So that's the first step of it. The second thing is like when I'm designing it, I typically choose a font or two that are like our fonts for the year. And then I'm just gonna be honest, like, icons are fun, but like, emojis are great.

00:03:29:13 - 00:03:50:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I try to just like link an emoji to some of the different events that we have. And that does a great job for it. The other thing is, like you see off to the side, here's like I also try to create some sort of icon that goes with like this season. So for fall we've done like coffee cups or we've done football helmets for the summer, we've done suns.

00:03:50:09 - 00:04:11:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And we, you know, in the spring we've done flowers. And so it gets tricky, especially if you're trying to do different ones and you're like doing them year over year. But you'll see the one linked right here. And you can go ahead and get the templated version link down below in the description. But you want your design to be something that, like, feels a little bit familiar but doesn't feel identical because you don't want them to think I've already got this.

00:04:11:18 - 00:04:28:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like they need to understand, like, no, this is a new one. Hey, quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet.

00:04:28:15 - 00:04:50:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created these the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed.

00:04:50:29 - 00:05:10:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly hybrid here? A Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast? They get this pack completely for free. So if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799.

00:05:10:25 - 00:05:37:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. And another major thing that you're going to want to do here, which is level three, is you only want to include events that you, particularly and specifically choose.

00:05:37:27 - 00:06:00:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And want to highlight. You don't want to put every single thing on your calendar. No, no, you want things that you only want at a high level. And so the way to make it visually appealing, in my opinion, and in my book, and to make it small and concise, is to not overwhelm it with information, but to only make it things that are noteworthy for families to know.

00:06:00:21 - 00:06:23:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For example, we a lot of times say we meet every single Sunday. We meet every single Wednesday. However, these are ones you want to know about, and these are also ones that you want to know that we're not meeting because we meet every single week. But these in particular take note. We are not meeting. Additionally, and especially as it pertains to our spring calendar, we will post things about our, about our like winter weekend.

00:06:23:26 - 00:06:44:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And we'll also post, say, the dates for our summer camp communications already gone out for that. By the time this calendar gets in the hands of our students mid-year and like December. But this one is important that it just, you know, it gets on there because it's actually going to happen during this cycle, which I should say, for context, we produce three calendars per year.

00:06:44:09 - 00:07:05:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We produce a fall one, we produce a spring one, and then we also produce a summer one. And so in light of that, we're pumping out calendars three different times per year to get into the hands of students. The fourth level, and this I think, is, one of them, the most impressive, like, decisions that I ever stumbled into.

00:07:05:20 - 00:07:24:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I honestly can't even tell you how I stumbled into it. And I would say that this is the key. However, level five, is a new one that we've recently unlocked, and I think it's even better. But number four is we make this design and then we print this using like sticker mule. We print this on a magnet.

00:07:24:25 - 00:07:43:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Here's the psychology. Here's my thought behind it. Right. Everyone passes out a calendar for the year. There's the sports calendar. There's the academic calendar. And in a lot of cases, there's the youth group calendar. But what I want and maybe this is just my competitiveness, but like I want my calendar to be the thing holding on other calendars.

00:07:43:07 - 00:08:05:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. Like if you got your sports calendar, I want the youth calendar to be the thing that is keeping the sports calendar affixed to the fridge. That puts us on top of it. And they're probably going to choose sports over student ministry. But I just like to think in my own head, like, think about all of these calendars that are on magnets, that are on people's fridges, that are at the top of line, top of sight.

00:08:05:03 - 00:08:33:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And hopefully they're seeing, and remembering and keeping us again, top of mind. The fifth and final level, which I think is like the ultimate is, you'll see here. And you've probably noticed that we actually and this is helpful because of our website, we build our website and our calendar on our website, on the provider of, of nucleus, and on nucleus, what you can do is you can link in a dot ICS, which is an iCal calendar extension.

00:08:33:21 - 00:08:48:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's all you put in like your phone. But it's also like a shareable option out of like even a Google calendar. So we create just like a Google Calendar, we keep the Google Calendar up to date. That auto populates to our website, right? Which is like again, and I said, like, you want to make sure that your, your website is up to date.

00:08:48:27 - 00:09:09:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if people land on your website, that's information is not on your your big calendar, your highlight calendar, your magnet calendar that they do end up on your website, they're able to obtain the information that they need and that they're looking for. But then we've created a QR code where they can simply subscribe to the calendar in their phones.

00:09:09:07 - 00:09:32:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so this is, in my opinion, the penultimate, because this makes these, at a glance calendars great, but not the most crucial thing. I think a lot of youth pastors treat this calendars the most crucial thing. But what happens when students don't have access to it? What happens when they lose it? What happens when you give it to them and they accidentally set it down before they get it into the hands of their parents?

00:09:32:18 - 00:09:56:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If a parent can subscribe to our calendar, then they will never miss an event. They'll never miss an update. It will be populated onto the very device and onto the very app that they use to manage and control their entire life. Their calendar app. And what a better place than for your youth ministry and your church calendar to be on parents phones and on students phones.

00:09:56:22 - 00:10:18:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so put a QR code, put some sort of link where they can go and they can subscribe to the events. And so all of the events are exactly where they're supposed to be and where you ultimately want them to be at the end of the day, remember, the goal of this is communication so that people know what's going on and that they then also hopefully choose to attend your church and your event in your youth group.

00:10:18:04 - 00:10:39:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The the goal and this is not a beautiful calendar. Hopefully we can help you create one. And once again link down below free in the in the podcast or YouTube description. But the goal is communication at its core. And so that fifth and final layer adding adding a QR code so that people and parents can, subscribe to your church and your youth ministry calendar.

00:10:40:01 - 00:10:54:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Such a game changer. Well, hey everyone, the next episode is linked right here on the screen as well as the subscribe button. If you found this episode helpful, a payment for this free calendar would be amazing. A like a subscribe and share it with a friend. But until next time. And as always, don't forget. Stay hybrid.

]]> Episode 172: The Cellphone Problem in Youth Groups https://www.hybridministry.xyz/172 638ad9c0-ba4b-4a3f-99e7-f1127a82e225 Thu, 23 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0500 Nick Clason 172 The Cellphone Problem in Youth Groups full Nick Clason In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we tackle the cellphone problem in youth groups and reveal a 3-step phone prevention strategy for youth ministry that actually works. Instead of fighting students for their phones, you’ll learn how youth pastors can use a variety of tools to their benefit, including how to turn phones from a distraction to an actual asset. If you’re looking for practical youth ministry tips, phone management strategies, and digital discipleship tools to keep students engaged, this episode is for you. 11:51 no In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we tackle the cellphone problem in youth groups and reveal a 3-step phone prevention strategy for youth ministry that actually works. Instead of fighting students for their phones, you’ll learn how youth pastors can use a variety of tools to their benefit, including how to turn phones from a distraction to an actual asset. If you’re looking for practical youth ministry tips, phone management strategies, and digital discipleship tools to keep students engaged, this episode is for you. 🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE! https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/172 LINKS https://www.Coleader.co CODE: HybridMinistry10 Sidekick + Pro Presenter Setup https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/setup 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products //VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid //BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym //OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100 https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 Phones in Youth Group 00:23 How Do you Keep Kids off Phones? 00:38 Step #1 01:24 Step #2 02:15 Step #3 04:09 Idea #1 06:09 Fall Social Media Plan 07:22 Idea #2 -------------- TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:08:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry In this episode, we're going to talk about my three step phone prevention strategy for youth ministry. 00:00:08:05 - 00:00:17:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But what I also want to show you is how I've turned phones from a distraction to an asset in our youth ministry. And frankly, it's 00:00:17:01 - 00:00:24:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry a lot easier than fighting kids to get rid of their phones. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Ministry Show. 00:00:24:10 - 00:00:29:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Well, hey, everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. In this episode, we are answering this question. 00:00:29:05 - 00:00:34:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry What are the ways that you have been able to keep students from being on phones during lessons and smog? 00:00:34:17 - 00:00:34:26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Glad you 00:00:34:26 - 00:00:51:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry asked. Here's my three step strategy. Step number one is a central parking location. Like you read the comments of this post and just about everyone has either like some charging stations solution a little like hanging basket, 00:00:51:02 - 00:00:54:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry place for them to just like, leave their phones in the middle. 00:00:54:23 - 00:01:11:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Some different pictures, some different links to different things. We even had at our church at one point in time, we had like cell phone lockers. So this is like lockers with temporary codes where you go, you put your phone in, you create your own code, and then you come back and you get it. At the end of the night, we no longer have them. 00:01:11:12 - 00:01:30:26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I tell you why in a minute, but, that's an option that was like the most, like next level solution. But basically everybody does it. Like, you just make that the thing. Hey, everyone, put your phones here before we go on into the room for youth group. The other option, let's be honest, like one of the good things that they could be using on their phone is like the Bible app. 00:01:30:26 - 00:01:49:19 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so if you're teaching from the Bible, you're going to give them some sort of like scripture lesson, and they're going to pull their Bibles out on their phone to read it. But then you know how phones work. That's because distraction there, over there, then playing clash clans in a minute, and they're no longer reading the Bible because you stopped reading the Bible in your lesson. 00:01:49:19 - 00:02:15:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so, the solution set in two is just very simply like, provide paper Bibles, like if you want kids not on their phones and you want kids in the Bible, provide paper Bibles everywhere, all throughout your space so that there's no excuse for it and or also encourage, and even like potentially bribe and reward students who do bring their paper, Bibles to youth group to engage with Scripture in that way. 00:02:15:23 - 00:02:16:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry The third 00:02:16:13 - 00:02:20:04 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry and most effective way, in my opinion, this is more of like in a small group setting. 00:02:20:04 - 00:02:25:04 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So if you're in like a large group, room, this doesn't quite work. But in a small group setting, 00:02:25:04 - 00:02:35:27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I'm a huge fan of the idea of a thing called a group covenant. Okay. And a group covenant is essentially something that you do at the beginning of a small group term or cycle. 00:02:36:09 - 00:02:55:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So you got to think about this. If you have like groups that never break for any sort of rhythm or any sort of reason, then you got to create natural kind of like start points. So, you know, beginning of the school year, maybe like beginning of the calendar year, something like that. Or in certain contexts I've worked in, we've, we had three distinct small groups cycles. 00:02:55:12 - 00:03:15:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So we had the fall, the winter and then the summer. And so and then each of those ran for 12 weeks at a time or whatever. And so, during the beginning section of those, you, you have a small group covenant. So you talk about rules and expectations. What's the expectation in this group for treating one another and all those types of things? 00:03:15:21 - 00:03:20:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry However, in that the other thing that I recommend, 00:03:20:13 - 00:03:41:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry is you ask, what are we going to do about phones? And you let the students decide, and that's more powerful than you having temporary cell phone lockers. That's more powerful than you having paper Bibles. When you let the student say, decide and dictate what's going to happen with phones, that's where the wind is found. 00:03:41:10 - 00:04:07:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so you just simply ask, what are we going to do about phones? They come up with it. And I've always found that students in a group covenant setting actually make stricter rules than rules that you would probably want to make for them. And so let them decide through the avenue of a group covenant, which, by the way, is one of the things I did not see in the comments of the description, however, of that of that question. 00:04:07:11 - 00:04:24:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry However, this is the hybrid ministry show, and so I would be remiss to not talk about the ways in which I have actually tried to use phones as an asset. And so in our student ministry, when I started here and this episode links right 00:04:24:00 - 00:04:31:26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry here, I detailed and discussed how our hybrid ministry strategy has to our growth over the last three years. 00:04:31:29 - 00:04:55:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so when I got here, one of the moves we made was we went from rows to tables. That was a major decision and quite frankly, a thing that people had. Some issue with that at first. But now we do tables pretty much consistently. And whenever we take them away, people like you don't like rows anymore. So it's just funny to watch how people kind of change and transform over time. 00:04:55:18 - 00:05:21:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But one of the things that we're leaning into is sidekick. And so we have a poll, a QR based poll, which is one of the features of the new beta sidekick, which, by the way, if you didn't know, you can jump into co-leader or co-leader Premium plus, with code Hybrid Ministry 1001 word. They'll give you 10% off co-leader, which also gives you access to all of the sidekick stuff. 00:05:21:08 - 00:05:41:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so one of the benefits and they're still kind of working out some of the kinks, about sidekick and its relationship with the legacy version. But one of the kinks or but one of the best parts about the new version, the beta version of sidekick is, the, the poll voting. And so we use that all the time. 00:05:41:20 - 00:05:59:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so poll voting kids get their phone out their skin and they can vote. They can use it for games. They can use it for messages. We even use it sometimes in the pre-roll. I tell you what, I'm going to do that I'm going to link down below our sidekick set up because, it's still not all the way full proof yet. 00:05:59:12 - 00:06:09:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so sometimes pro presenter is a better option. And so we actually run both on two different machines, and show you how we set that up. Link down below. 00:06:09:06 - 00:06:16:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Hey, quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? 00:06:16:11 - 00:06:45:24 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created this the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed. 00:06:45:27 - 00:07:05:24 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly hybrid. Here are Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast. They get this pack completely for free, so if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799. 00:07:05:24 - 00:07:22:24 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. 00:07:22:24 - 00:07:37:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry The other thing that we use is a feature called Digital Notes, which is just a US leaning into the resource and the platform of the YouVersion Bible app, live event section that, YouVersion includes. 00:07:37:06 - 00:07:59:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so we set up a YouVersion live events, reading plan. Or it's not even a reading plan necessarily, but a YouVersion live events to follow along with the notes every single week. And like I said, we sit at tables and so we have like a little placard, plastic about this big. It sits in the middle of the table and it says, follow along with this week's digital notes, and it's got a QR code. 00:07:59:28 - 00:08:27:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so the QR code stays the same. But then on our QR code service generator, we turn around and we change the link to that every single week. So we change the link to the newest, iteration of the digital notes of the YouVersion, events plan. And so, they can also, you know, navigate into it and find it on the YouVersion live, section of the YouVersion events, and they can follow along. 00:08:27:10 - 00:08:49:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry As you know, we're very like, video centric and hybrid ministry centric youth ministry. So we create thumbnails for all of our talks. And so all of our in-room talks also have the thumbnails that go at the top of the YouVersion live events plan. But the, other beautiful thing, frankly, about the YouVersion live events plan is you can link to things external. 00:08:49:16 - 00:09:10:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So once they're on there, you got them hooked in and you can help them follow along. You can ask them questions and they're things that they can interact with. They can highlight scripture, they can take notes. But then you can also include external links. So we have a next step like form on our website that we use. And so at the end of every single lesson we say are you ready to take a next step? 00:09:10:12 - 00:09:30:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Click here to let us know and it'll navigate them off to our website. And then the final piece in the YouVersion events is we include a Bible reading plan that relates to the topic of sorts. And so any single given week a student on the YouVersion live event plan, they are encouraged or asked at least if they want to take some sort of spiritual next step. 00:09:30:13 - 00:09:37:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And they're also fed some sort of Bible reading plan. And so I want to point that out as a way to say we have 00:09:37:13 - 00:09:55:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry use phones and sidekick gives us a sliver of that. But our digital notes really opens up a wide avenue of ways that we can help students take next steps and be more intentional and meaningful during the lesson, so that they're using their phones to follow along with what's going on. 00:09:55:15 - 00:10:15:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Now, I told you I made a calculated risk with tables. I also want to let you know that phones is another calculated risk. And in fact, like one of the one of the comments on this post of the question that I'm reading said, man, just let kids have their phones, stop making it a fight. And like I tend to actually agree with that guy, but I will let you know. 00:10:15:00 - 00:10:37:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like phones are still a fight and they are still a distraction. Just last week, two nights ago in our youth group, one of our leaders, one of our table leaders. So we have students that are in, senior high that are leading groups in discussions. He was playing a game on his phone, and one of our staff one up, and they said, our table leaders are allowed to play games on their phones. 00:10:37:01 - 00:10:54:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And he knew the answer to that was like, no. And so he had to go to that kid and say, hey, put your phone down. So if that's coming from one of our leaders, it's there's that much even trickle down to the rest of students. So, well, hear me say, what we do is not foolproof, all right. But it's a calculated risk that I'm willing to take. 00:10:54:01 - 00:11:12:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And one that when a student brings their friend for the first time and a mom and dad. Imagine this. Your parent, you send your kid to imagine you send your kid to a completely different denomination or different religion to go with one of their friends, and then they don't have their phones for an hour. How would you feel if you couldn't get in contact with them? 00:11:12:17 - 00:11:32:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You know, we're the millennial generation of of parents. We want to have contact with our children, especially if we've paid for and given them a phone. And so we try not to make that an obstacle for people to be able to come into our ministry. But again, it's a calculated risk and one that we are, used to, fighting and using. 00:11:32:11 - 00:11:48:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So let us know down below in the comments what you do in your youth ministry as it pertains to cell phones. And go ahead and subscribe what you see right here on the screen and check out the next question. Video. There's also here on screen. But until next time. And as always my friends, don't forget stay happy. youth ministry, youth group, youth pastor, hybrid ministry, student ministry, youth group ideas, youth group games, discipleship, phones in youth group, cellphone problem, youth ministry tips, youth pastor training, how to keep kids off phones, youth ministry strategy, youth group teaching, paper bibles, group covenants, sidekick, pro presenter, digital notes, fall social media plan, youth leaders, church leadership, youth group discipleship, student engagement, church tech, youth ministry growth In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we tackle the cellphone problem in youth groups and reveal a 3-step phone prevention strategy for youth ministry that actually works. Instead of fighting students for their phones, you’ll learn how youth pastors can use a variety of tools to their benefit, including how to turn phones from a distraction to an actual asset. If you’re looking for practical youth ministry tips, phone management strategies, and digital discipleship tools to keep students engaged, this episode is for you.

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https://www.hybridministry.xyz/172

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Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Phones in Youth Group
00:23 How Do you Keep Kids off Phones?
00:38 Step #1
01:24 Step #2
02:15 Step #3
04:09 Idea #1
06:09 Fall Social Media Plan
07:22 Idea #2

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:08:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In this episode, we're going to talk about my three step phone prevention strategy for youth ministry.

00:00:08:05 - 00:00:17:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But what I also want to show you is how I've turned phones from a distraction to an asset in our youth ministry. And frankly, it's

00:00:17:01 - 00:00:24:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
a lot easier than fighting kids to get rid of their phones. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Ministry Show.

00:00:24:10 - 00:00:29:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, hey, everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. In this episode, we are answering this question.

00:00:29:05 - 00:00:34:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What are the ways that you have been able to keep students from being on phones during lessons and smog?

00:00:34:17 - 00:00:34:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Glad you

00:00:34:26 - 00:00:51:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
asked. Here's my three step strategy. Step number one is a central parking location. Like you read the comments of this post and just about everyone has either like some charging stations solution a little like hanging basket,

00:00:51:02 - 00:00:54:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
place for them to just like, leave their phones in the middle.

00:00:54:23 - 00:01:11:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Some different pictures, some different links to different things. We even had at our church at one point in time, we had like cell phone lockers. So this is like lockers with temporary codes where you go, you put your phone in, you create your own code, and then you come back and you get it. At the end of the night, we no longer have them.

00:01:11:12 - 00:01:30:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I tell you why in a minute, but, that's an option that was like the most, like next level solution. But basically everybody does it. Like, you just make that the thing. Hey, everyone, put your phones here before we go on into the room for youth group. The other option, let's be honest, like one of the good things that they could be using on their phone is like the Bible app.

00:01:30:26 - 00:01:49:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if you're teaching from the Bible, you're going to give them some sort of like scripture lesson, and they're going to pull their Bibles out on their phone to read it. But then you know how phones work. That's because distraction there, over there, then playing clash clans in a minute, and they're no longer reading the Bible because you stopped reading the Bible in your lesson.

00:01:49:19 - 00:02:15:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, the solution set in two is just very simply like, provide paper Bibles, like if you want kids not on their phones and you want kids in the Bible, provide paper Bibles everywhere, all throughout your space so that there's no excuse for it and or also encourage, and even like potentially bribe and reward students who do bring their paper, Bibles to youth group to engage with Scripture in that way.

00:02:15:23 - 00:02:16:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The third

00:02:16:13 - 00:02:20:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
and most effective way, in my opinion, this is more of like in a small group setting.

00:02:20:04 - 00:02:25:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you're in like a large group, room, this doesn't quite work. But in a small group setting,

00:02:25:04 - 00:02:35:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm a huge fan of the idea of a thing called a group covenant. Okay. And a group covenant is essentially something that you do at the beginning of a small group term or cycle.

00:02:36:09 - 00:02:55:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So you got to think about this. If you have like groups that never break for any sort of rhythm or any sort of reason, then you got to create natural kind of like start points. So, you know, beginning of the school year, maybe like beginning of the calendar year, something like that. Or in certain contexts I've worked in, we've, we had three distinct small groups cycles.

00:02:55:12 - 00:03:15:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So we had the fall, the winter and then the summer. And so and then each of those ran for 12 weeks at a time or whatever. And so, during the beginning section of those, you, you have a small group covenant. So you talk about rules and expectations. What's the expectation in this group for treating one another and all those types of things?

00:03:15:21 - 00:03:20:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, in that the other thing that I recommend,

00:03:20:13 - 00:03:41:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
is you ask, what are we going to do about phones? And you let the students decide, and that's more powerful than you having temporary cell phone lockers. That's more powerful than you having paper Bibles. When you let the student say, decide and dictate what's going to happen with phones, that's where the wind is found.

00:03:41:10 - 00:04:07:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you just simply ask, what are we going to do about phones? They come up with it. And I've always found that students in a group covenant setting actually make stricter rules than rules that you would probably want to make for them. And so let them decide through the avenue of a group covenant, which, by the way, is one of the things I did not see in the comments of the description, however, of that of that question.

00:04:07:11 - 00:04:24:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, this is the hybrid ministry show, and so I would be remiss to not talk about the ways in which I have actually tried to use phones as an asset. And so in our student ministry, when I started here and this episode links right

00:04:24:00 - 00:04:31:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
here, I detailed and discussed how our hybrid ministry strategy has to our growth over the last three years.

00:04:31:29 - 00:04:55:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so when I got here, one of the moves we made was we went from rows to tables. That was a major decision and quite frankly, a thing that people had. Some issue with that at first. But now we do tables pretty much consistently. And whenever we take them away, people like you don't like rows anymore. So it's just funny to watch how people kind of change and transform over time.

00:04:55:18 - 00:05:21:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But one of the things that we're leaning into is sidekick. And so we have a poll, a QR based poll, which is one of the features of the new beta sidekick, which, by the way, if you didn't know, you can jump into co-leader or co-leader Premium plus, with code Hybrid Ministry 1001 word. They'll give you 10% off co-leader, which also gives you access to all of the sidekick stuff.

00:05:21:08 - 00:05:41:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so one of the benefits and they're still kind of working out some of the kinks, about sidekick and its relationship with the legacy version. But one of the kinks or but one of the best parts about the new version, the beta version of sidekick is, the, the poll voting. And so we use that all the time.

00:05:41:20 - 00:05:59:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so poll voting kids get their phone out their skin and they can vote. They can use it for games. They can use it for messages. We even use it sometimes in the pre-roll. I tell you what, I'm going to do that I'm going to link down below our sidekick set up because, it's still not all the way full proof yet.

00:05:59:12 - 00:06:09:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so sometimes pro presenter is a better option. And so we actually run both on two different machines, and show you how we set that up. Link down below.

00:06:09:06 - 00:06:16:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey, quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media?

00:06:16:11 - 00:06:45:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created this the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed.

00:06:45:27 - 00:07:05:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly hybrid. Here are Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast. They get this pack completely for free, so if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799.

00:07:05:24 - 00:07:22:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry.

00:07:22:24 - 00:07:37:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The other thing that we use is a feature called Digital Notes, which is just a US leaning into the resource and the platform of the YouVersion Bible app, live event section that, YouVersion includes.

00:07:37:06 - 00:07:59:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so we set up a YouVersion live events, reading plan. Or it's not even a reading plan necessarily, but a YouVersion live events to follow along with the notes every single week. And like I said, we sit at tables and so we have like a little placard, plastic about this big. It sits in the middle of the table and it says, follow along with this week's digital notes, and it's got a QR code.

00:07:59:28 - 00:08:27:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so the QR code stays the same. But then on our QR code service generator, we turn around and we change the link to that every single week. So we change the link to the newest, iteration of the digital notes of the YouVersion, events plan. And so, they can also, you know, navigate into it and find it on the YouVersion live, section of the YouVersion events, and they can follow along.

00:08:27:10 - 00:08:49:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
As you know, we're very like, video centric and hybrid ministry centric youth ministry. So we create thumbnails for all of our talks. And so all of our in-room talks also have the thumbnails that go at the top of the YouVersion live events plan. But the, other beautiful thing, frankly, about the YouVersion live events plan is you can link to things external.

00:08:49:16 - 00:09:10:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So once they're on there, you got them hooked in and you can help them follow along. You can ask them questions and they're things that they can interact with. They can highlight scripture, they can take notes. But then you can also include external links. So we have a next step like form on our website that we use. And so at the end of every single lesson we say are you ready to take a next step?

00:09:10:12 - 00:09:30:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Click here to let us know and it'll navigate them off to our website. And then the final piece in the YouVersion events is we include a Bible reading plan that relates to the topic of sorts. And so any single given week a student on the YouVersion live event plan, they are encouraged or asked at least if they want to take some sort of spiritual next step.

00:09:30:13 - 00:09:37:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And they're also fed some sort of Bible reading plan. And so I want to point that out as a way to say we have

00:09:37:13 - 00:09:55:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
use phones and sidekick gives us a sliver of that. But our digital notes really opens up a wide avenue of ways that we can help students take next steps and be more intentional and meaningful during the lesson, so that they're using their phones to follow along with what's going on.

00:09:55:15 - 00:10:15:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, I told you I made a calculated risk with tables. I also want to let you know that phones is another calculated risk. And in fact, like one of the one of the comments on this post of the question that I'm reading said, man, just let kids have their phones, stop making it a fight. And like I tend to actually agree with that guy, but I will let you know.

00:10:15:00 - 00:10:37:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like phones are still a fight and they are still a distraction. Just last week, two nights ago in our youth group, one of our leaders, one of our table leaders. So we have students that are in, senior high that are leading groups in discussions. He was playing a game on his phone, and one of our staff one up, and they said, our table leaders are allowed to play games on their phones.

00:10:37:01 - 00:10:54:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And he knew the answer to that was like, no. And so he had to go to that kid and say, hey, put your phone down. So if that's coming from one of our leaders, it's there's that much even trickle down to the rest of students. So, well, hear me say, what we do is not foolproof, all right. But it's a calculated risk that I'm willing to take.

00:10:54:01 - 00:11:12:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And one that when a student brings their friend for the first time and a mom and dad. Imagine this. Your parent, you send your kid to imagine you send your kid to a completely different denomination or different religion to go with one of their friends, and then they don't have their phones for an hour. How would you feel if you couldn't get in contact with them?

00:11:12:17 - 00:11:32:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know, we're the millennial generation of of parents. We want to have contact with our children, especially if we've paid for and given them a phone. And so we try not to make that an obstacle for people to be able to come into our ministry. But again, it's a calculated risk and one that we are, used to, fighting and using.

00:11:32:11 - 00:11:48:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So let us know down below in the comments what you do in your youth ministry as it pertains to cell phones. And go ahead and subscribe what you see right here on the screen and check out the next question. Video. There's also here on screen. But until next time. And as always my friends, don't forget stay happy.

]]> In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we tackle the cellphone problem in youth groups and reveal a 3-step phone prevention strategy for youth ministry that actually works. Instead of fighting students for their phones, you’ll learn how youth pastors can use a variety of tools to their benefit, including how to turn phones from a distraction to an actual asset. If you’re looking for practical youth ministry tips, phone management strategies, and digital discipleship tools to keep students engaged, this episode is for you.

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE!
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/172

LINKS
https://www.Coleader.co
CODE: HybridMinistry10

Sidekick + Pro Presenter Setup
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/setup

👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

--------------
🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉
We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context!
The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe!
https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick

--------------
🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU!
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
//VIDIQ
https://vidiq.com/hybrid

//BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

//OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Phones in Youth Group
00:23 How Do you Keep Kids off Phones?
00:38 Step #1
01:24 Step #2
02:15 Step #3
04:09 Idea #1
06:09 Fall Social Media Plan
07:22 Idea #2

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:08:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In this episode, we're going to talk about my three step phone prevention strategy for youth ministry.

00:00:08:05 - 00:00:17:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But what I also want to show you is how I've turned phones from a distraction to an asset in our youth ministry. And frankly, it's

00:00:17:01 - 00:00:24:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
a lot easier than fighting kids to get rid of their phones. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Ministry Show.

00:00:24:10 - 00:00:29:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, hey, everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Ministry show. In this episode, we are answering this question.

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Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
What are the ways that you have been able to keep students from being on phones during lessons and smog?

00:00:34:17 - 00:00:34:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Glad you

00:00:34:26 - 00:00:51:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
asked. Here's my three step strategy. Step number one is a central parking location. Like you read the comments of this post and just about everyone has either like some charging stations solution a little like hanging basket,

00:00:51:02 - 00:00:54:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
place for them to just like, leave their phones in the middle.

00:00:54:23 - 00:01:11:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Some different pictures, some different links to different things. We even had at our church at one point in time, we had like cell phone lockers. So this is like lockers with temporary codes where you go, you put your phone in, you create your own code, and then you come back and you get it. At the end of the night, we no longer have them.

00:01:11:12 - 00:01:30:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I tell you why in a minute, but, that's an option that was like the most, like next level solution. But basically everybody does it. Like, you just make that the thing. Hey, everyone, put your phones here before we go on into the room for youth group. The other option, let's be honest, like one of the good things that they could be using on their phone is like the Bible app.

00:01:30:26 - 00:01:49:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if you're teaching from the Bible, you're going to give them some sort of like scripture lesson, and they're going to pull their Bibles out on their phone to read it. But then you know how phones work. That's because distraction there, over there, then playing clash clans in a minute, and they're no longer reading the Bible because you stopped reading the Bible in your lesson.

00:01:49:19 - 00:02:15:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, the solution set in two is just very simply like, provide paper Bibles, like if you want kids not on their phones and you want kids in the Bible, provide paper Bibles everywhere, all throughout your space so that there's no excuse for it and or also encourage, and even like potentially bribe and reward students who do bring their paper, Bibles to youth group to engage with Scripture in that way.

00:02:15:23 - 00:02:16:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The third

00:02:16:13 - 00:02:20:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
and most effective way, in my opinion, this is more of like in a small group setting.

00:02:20:04 - 00:02:25:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you're in like a large group, room, this doesn't quite work. But in a small group setting,

00:02:25:04 - 00:02:35:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm a huge fan of the idea of a thing called a group covenant. Okay. And a group covenant is essentially something that you do at the beginning of a small group term or cycle.

00:02:36:09 - 00:02:55:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So you got to think about this. If you have like groups that never break for any sort of rhythm or any sort of reason, then you got to create natural kind of like start points. So, you know, beginning of the school year, maybe like beginning of the calendar year, something like that. Or in certain contexts I've worked in, we've, we had three distinct small groups cycles.

00:02:55:12 - 00:03:15:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So we had the fall, the winter and then the summer. And so and then each of those ran for 12 weeks at a time or whatever. And so, during the beginning section of those, you, you have a small group covenant. So you talk about rules and expectations. What's the expectation in this group for treating one another and all those types of things?

00:03:15:21 - 00:03:20:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, in that the other thing that I recommend,

00:03:20:13 - 00:03:41:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
is you ask, what are we going to do about phones? And you let the students decide, and that's more powerful than you having temporary cell phone lockers. That's more powerful than you having paper Bibles. When you let the student say, decide and dictate what's going to happen with phones, that's where the wind is found.

00:03:41:10 - 00:04:07:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you just simply ask, what are we going to do about phones? They come up with it. And I've always found that students in a group covenant setting actually make stricter rules than rules that you would probably want to make for them. And so let them decide through the avenue of a group covenant, which, by the way, is one of the things I did not see in the comments of the description, however, of that of that question.

00:04:07:11 - 00:04:24:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, this is the hybrid ministry show, and so I would be remiss to not talk about the ways in which I have actually tried to use phones as an asset. And so in our student ministry, when I started here and this episode links right

00:04:24:00 - 00:04:31:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
here, I detailed and discussed how our hybrid ministry strategy has to our growth over the last three years.

00:04:31:29 - 00:04:55:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so when I got here, one of the moves we made was we went from rows to tables. That was a major decision and quite frankly, a thing that people had. Some issue with that at first. But now we do tables pretty much consistently. And whenever we take them away, people like you don't like rows anymore. So it's just funny to watch how people kind of change and transform over time.

00:04:55:18 - 00:05:21:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But one of the things that we're leaning into is sidekick. And so we have a poll, a QR based poll, which is one of the features of the new beta sidekick, which, by the way, if you didn't know, you can jump into co-leader or co-leader Premium plus, with code Hybrid Ministry 1001 word. They'll give you 10% off co-leader, which also gives you access to all of the sidekick stuff.

00:05:21:08 - 00:05:41:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so one of the benefits and they're still kind of working out some of the kinks, about sidekick and its relationship with the legacy version. But one of the kinks or but one of the best parts about the new version, the beta version of sidekick is, the, the poll voting. And so we use that all the time.

00:05:41:20 - 00:05:59:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so poll voting kids get their phone out their skin and they can vote. They can use it for games. They can use it for messages. We even use it sometimes in the pre-roll. I tell you what, I'm going to do that I'm going to link down below our sidekick set up because, it's still not all the way full proof yet.

00:05:59:12 - 00:06:09:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so sometimes pro presenter is a better option. And so we actually run both on two different machines, and show you how we set that up. Link down below.

00:06:09:06 - 00:06:16:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Hey, quick break. Let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media?

00:06:16:11 - 00:06:45:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created this the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed.

00:06:45:27 - 00:07:05:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly hybrid. Here are Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast. They get this pack completely for free, so if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799.

00:07:05:24 - 00:07:22:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry.

00:07:22:24 - 00:07:37:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The other thing that we use is a feature called Digital Notes, which is just a US leaning into the resource and the platform of the YouVersion Bible app, live event section that, YouVersion includes.

00:07:37:06 - 00:07:59:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so we set up a YouVersion live events, reading plan. Or it's not even a reading plan necessarily, but a YouVersion live events to follow along with the notes every single week. And like I said, we sit at tables and so we have like a little placard, plastic about this big. It sits in the middle of the table and it says, follow along with this week's digital notes, and it's got a QR code.

00:07:59:28 - 00:08:27:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so the QR code stays the same. But then on our QR code service generator, we turn around and we change the link to that every single week. So we change the link to the newest, iteration of the digital notes of the YouVersion, events plan. And so, they can also, you know, navigate into it and find it on the YouVersion live, section of the YouVersion events, and they can follow along.

00:08:27:10 - 00:08:49:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
As you know, we're very like, video centric and hybrid ministry centric youth ministry. So we create thumbnails for all of our talks. And so all of our in-room talks also have the thumbnails that go at the top of the YouVersion live events plan. But the, other beautiful thing, frankly, about the YouVersion live events plan is you can link to things external.

00:08:49:16 - 00:09:10:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So once they're on there, you got them hooked in and you can help them follow along. You can ask them questions and they're things that they can interact with. They can highlight scripture, they can take notes. But then you can also include external links. So we have a next step like form on our website that we use. And so at the end of every single lesson we say are you ready to take a next step?

00:09:10:12 - 00:09:30:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Click here to let us know and it'll navigate them off to our website. And then the final piece in the YouVersion events is we include a Bible reading plan that relates to the topic of sorts. And so any single given week a student on the YouVersion live event plan, they are encouraged or asked at least if they want to take some sort of spiritual next step.

00:09:30:13 - 00:09:37:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And they're also fed some sort of Bible reading plan. And so I want to point that out as a way to say we have

00:09:37:13 - 00:09:55:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
use phones and sidekick gives us a sliver of that. But our digital notes really opens up a wide avenue of ways that we can help students take next steps and be more intentional and meaningful during the lesson, so that they're using their phones to follow along with what's going on.

00:09:55:15 - 00:10:15:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, I told you I made a calculated risk with tables. I also want to let you know that phones is another calculated risk. And in fact, like one of the one of the comments on this post of the question that I'm reading said, man, just let kids have their phones, stop making it a fight. And like I tend to actually agree with that guy, but I will let you know.

00:10:15:00 - 00:10:37:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like phones are still a fight and they are still a distraction. Just last week, two nights ago in our youth group, one of our leaders, one of our table leaders. So we have students that are in, senior high that are leading groups in discussions. He was playing a game on his phone, and one of our staff one up, and they said, our table leaders are allowed to play games on their phones.

00:10:37:01 - 00:10:54:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And he knew the answer to that was like, no. And so he had to go to that kid and say, hey, put your phone down. So if that's coming from one of our leaders, it's there's that much even trickle down to the rest of students. So, well, hear me say, what we do is not foolproof, all right. But it's a calculated risk that I'm willing to take.

00:10:54:01 - 00:11:12:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And one that when a student brings their friend for the first time and a mom and dad. Imagine this. Your parent, you send your kid to imagine you send your kid to a completely different denomination or different religion to go with one of their friends, and then they don't have their phones for an hour. How would you feel if you couldn't get in contact with them?

00:11:12:17 - 00:11:32:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know, we're the millennial generation of of parents. We want to have contact with our children, especially if we've paid for and given them a phone. And so we try not to make that an obstacle for people to be able to come into our ministry. But again, it's a calculated risk and one that we are, used to, fighting and using.

00:11:32:11 - 00:11:48:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So let us know down below in the comments what you do in your youth ministry as it pertains to cell phones. And go ahead and subscribe what you see right here on the screen and check out the next question. Video. There's also here on screen. But until next time. And as always my friends, don't forget stay happy.

]]> Episode 171: Grow Your Youth Group: EXPLOSIVE Attendance Secrets https://www.hybridministry.xyz/171 d0e78d66-6bd7-415a-acef-3ab0f166b880 Thu, 16 Oct 2025 05:00:00 -0500 Nick Clason 171 Grow Your Youth Group: EXPLOSIVE Attendance Secrets full Nick Clason These 5 Shifts in my approach to volunteers revolutionized by youth ministry. These aren’t quick hacks — they’re the foundational principles that changed my thinking but they led to real, measurable growth. The best news of all, not for me in the moment, but you is that each of these shifts were like levels in a video game that come with the big bad boss of a failure story that I had to defeat, from one of my 15 years in youth ministry, each boss becoming more and more epic, the final one left me questioning not only my job, but my career in ministry. 17:39 no These 5 Shifts in my approach to volunteers revolutionized by youth ministry. These aren’t quick hacks — they’re the foundational principles that changed my thinking but they led to real, measurable growth. The best news of all, not for me in the moment, but you is that each of these shifts were like levels in a video game that come with the big bad boss of a failure story that I had to defeat, from one of my 15 years in youth ministry, each boss becoming more and more epic, the final one left me questioning not only my job, but my career in ministry. 🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=postsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE! https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/171 100th Episode - How it Started https://youtu.be/q0L-Dxhs7cI 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products //VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid //BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym //OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100 https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 5 Levels of Volunteer Shifts 01:14 FAQ Playlist 02:04 Level 1: Chaos 04:21 Level 2: Lone Ranger 07:38 Level 3: Event 11:08 Level 4: Desperation 15:03 Level 5: Arrogance -------------- TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00:08 - 00:00:25:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry For years, I thought the formula to youth ministry growth were better sermons and bigger events and flashier games. But I'm just going to be honest, none of that, none of it moved the needle. It wasn't until I learned not only that volunteer leaders matter, but it's when I unlocked these five shifts. It directly impacted the size in the health in the reach of my youth ministry. 00:00:25:04 - 00:00:46:23 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry These aren't just some quick hacks. No, they're foundational principles that have revolutionized my thinking and led to real, measurable growth. But the best news of all for you? Not necessarily me. In each of these moments is that each one of these shifts, similar to like levels in a video game, come with a big bad boss of a failure story. 00:00:46:23 - 00:01:08:25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I'm going to share each and every one of those failure stories with you until I had to defeat a different boss in one of my different 15 years of youth ministry, each boss becoming worse and the failure stories becoming more and more epic until we get to the final one, which left me not only questioning my job in that church, but also my youth ministry career. 00:01:08:27 - 00:01:29:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry We're going to share these together in the hybrid ministry. So welcome everyone. Glad to have you. Well what's up everybody. Welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show. If you didn't know, we've been in a playlist here, talking and answering some different questions that I stumbled across in youth pastor Facebook groups. And this one today says I have officially crossed the line of 50 small group leaders. 00:01:29:00 - 00:01:47:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And for those of you who have 50 plus volunteers that are deeply invested in a week, how is you? How is your leadership of that team different than maybe a smaller team or so those of you who've crossed that line, how did you shift your leadership? So we're going to talk about the five levels of leadership, shifts that I've made. 00:01:47:02 - 00:02:07:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And, frankly, I'm sitting right now at a position with greater than 50 leaders, and I would attribute, some of these shifts to be, what, some of those kind of, like, main things are. So with kind of that context out of the way, let's look through and chat through the five different levels. So the first level was the chaos level okay. 00:02:07:13 - 00:02:22:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So like in this chaos level I would constantly be frantically getting things set up. And I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit of a time optimist. And so what that means is like if I was like, okay, youth group starts at six, that means I need to get there at five to start getting things ready. 00:02:22:20 - 00:02:40:18 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I quickly learned I had to start moving that time back more and more because, you know, one of the things that would happen is I'm getting ready when students start showing up and I think they're going to show up at like 550, but instead students show up at like 530, and I am running out of time to get things set up. 00:02:40:18 - 00:03:02:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I feel chaotic in my spirit as they're there. And I'm also not able to give them any sort of attention or any sort of like relational equity, because I'm getting set up. So the next week I bump it back to five to maybe say 430, so I get a little bit more time. But then as I grow and as things in the ministry get more and more elaborate, and as we add more and more elements, I need more and more time. 00:03:02:05 - 00:03:21:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So the shift I had to make was the shift from the chaos to the control. Right? And so I could be in control. I could make that a moment that I actually owned that thing. And that was honestly a very like level one, very rookie mistake. And so the main shift I had to do is I had to start getting ready earlier. 00:03:21:08 - 00:03:36:25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I had to start planning before Wednesday. I had to start planning on Tuesday, I had to start setting up earlier in the day. Whatever I needed to do. And the feel is this is that, early on, kids would walk in while I'm getting ready and I would be annoyed that a kid is there and like, I shouldn't be that way. 00:03:36:25 - 00:03:53:27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like, I'm a youth pastor, right? And so the shift, the very simple shift I had to make was if I just get set up earlier, then when a kid walks in, I'm done. They're not taking away something that I feel like I need to do, and I can devote and give my full attention to that kid who shows up early, which is a great thing for that kid. 00:03:53:27 - 00:04:14:23 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And with just that small, subtle shift, I started to see, more and more kind of like growth. I was more prepared for my leaders. I wasn't scrambling to get them things like printed out and handouts and service orders and all those types of things like those are all ready to go. When I started to do that, when I was more in control, when I was in less of a chaotic vibe, that all started to help. 00:04:14:23 - 00:04:35:29 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Now, there wasn't much right in that first level, as it pertains with volunteer leaders, because the second level here is the lone Ranger level. And for many, many years in youth ministry, I felt like it was my job because frankly, I'm getting paid by the church to do the youth ministry. But it wasn't until I started to learn this idea of delegation. 00:04:36:01 - 00:04:57:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Right? And, the only real moments where I was able to get to a spot where I realized I had to go from Lone Ranger to delegation was when I had to defeat this big, bad boss. One Thursday. I was sitting in my office and I had, like, 20 to 25 new student, welcome. Like postcards that I had to write. 00:04:57:12 - 00:05:21:04 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry It was just something that we had to do. Every time we had a new student, we had to write out a card. And every single week at this church, I was getting more and more new students, like 20, 25, like I was at a multi-site megachurch, and I was getting more than 20 new students every single week. And so I was, I had just started, taking over that position full time, independently. 00:05:21:04 - 00:05:37:28 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I had worked with, a coworker for, several months, and it was my first week without her, as kind of my counterpart in my my boss walks in, who's my campus pastor who didn't know anything about these cards or anything like that. It wasn't him who assigned those to me. And so he's like, hey, you got a minute? 00:05:37:28 - 00:06:02:07 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I was like, literally, no. And I didn't look up. And I kept frantically writing while he's at my door and I'm trying to talk within. I'm trying to have conversation with them. I can't even remember what it was about, but. And I knew that that was rude. I knew I should have put my pin down. I looked at him, but what that was going to mean was I wasn't going to get to leave work on time when I needed to leave work, and that was also a value of mine. 00:06:02:07 - 00:06:25:04 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so in that moment, I was like, I never want to get to the spot again. Like, I need to delegate some of this off. I need to do what only I can do. And there are plenty of volunteers and there are plenty of people. I had an amazing check in team that could have very easily at the end of check in when you know, it's like, let's say the event starts at six and it's 610 and most of the students have checked in. 00:06:25:06 - 00:06:46:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry They're there for the next hour and 20 minutes like they had plenty of time to write 25 notes between five of them, you know what I'm saying? But I didn't delegate it to them. So therefore the fail was that it ended up on my desk the very next day. And I had, instead of five cards to write, which is what five different volunteers with 25 cards would have, written. 00:06:46:15 - 00:07:06:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I wrote all 25 of them, and so I had to learn to start delegating. And it took a minute. And that's part of the the, the fail in this is that it takes a minute to get up over that initial hurdle of creating a system of delegation, like getting the postcards down there, telling them where they are, telling them how to check on who the first time guests are. 00:07:06:20 - 00:07:27:25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You know how we're going to handle that, because they might not know in the moment, like when a kid checks in. But once we get past all of that, then, I start to experience a little bit more, success. And I beat that level. Of delegation. We all know that there's only a certain amount of capacity that any one person has, and you might be a person with an extraordinarily high capacity. 00:07:27:25 - 00:07:47:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But as your church and as your youth ministry grows, you're going to reach a breaking point where you definitely need to move on and defeat that big bad boss to delegation. Which led me then to my third level, where I had to shift my mindset, from the event is this is the event level. I had to move from event to hybrid. 00:07:47:03 - 00:08:06:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And the fail is that early on in some of my early on days, every single event was crucial, and every single attendance marker in that event was even more crucial. So if we had a big event, the first thing I was doing was I was checking guest cards and I was checking our, check in kiosks because I wanted to see how many kids we had. 00:08:06:21 - 00:08:24:26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I thought to myself, you know, like, if we have this event and last event we had, say 50 kids, I wanted to get to 55, or I wanted to get to 60, or I wanted to get to 65. And I started to put all my effort and my worth honestly into that bottom line number. And I started making it all about events. 00:08:24:26 - 00:08:46:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then Covid happened and what I realized during Covid, was that we had and I actually share this entire story right here at this video linked up, here at the top of the screen in my 100th episode, I made a little documentary style, like, kind of how and where this hybrid thing all came from. But what I realized was that there were multiple avenues of touch points. 00:08:46:02 - 00:09:09:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry In fact, my very first day, on a job at a church was the first day of Covid. And in that I realized, out of sheer like constraints, like we didn't have in-person, I couldn't speak to the students live in a room. So all of the normal touchpoints were gone. And so I had to get creative about how we can still connect with students through writing things like postcards, which probably were some of that started. 00:09:09:17 - 00:09:27:22 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But I wasn't delegating quite yet. Right. Or, social media or all those types of things. And that's really where a lot of this hybrid stuff came from, realizing that we can still do pastoral care even when we're not in the room. Now, I wouldn't recommend, like, Covid going back to that where we we're never in the room and that's never a possibility. 00:09:27:29 - 00:09:45:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But there's some both and right there's there's the both of being able to be in the room and also some of the pastoral care that can happen when we're not in the room and we can lean in to some of that sort of hybrid thing. And so the fail was when I would ride or die based off of some of those event numbers. 00:09:45:25 - 00:10:02:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But I had to get over and realize that Covid allows me to have more touch points with it, which is honestly the entire reason why this podcast exists. Hey quick break, let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media? 00:10:02:15 - 00:10:31:28 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created this, the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed. 00:10:32:02 - 00:10:51:27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly Hybrid hero Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast? They get this pack completely for free. So if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799. 00:10:51:27 - 00:11:11:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. The fourth level is to move. 00:11:11:11 - 00:11:35:14 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This is called the desperation level. I don't know if you've ever been there before, but you look at a spreadsheet and you just realize, like, man, I have so many gaps. I have so many holes in our, volunteer schedule and so you're desperate and you're recruiting people that, might not even be the best fit. You're recruiting people that you don't even really want to recruit, but you are desperate. 00:11:35:16 - 00:11:55:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And, the shift I had to make was I had to move from desperation to confidence. And the confidence comes from this. Right. And I don't know how to tell you to to move from this aside from prayer, and just a mindset shift. But the confidence should come from the fact that this is not your student ministry. 00:11:55:06 - 00:12:12:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And while, yes, you're being paid to run and manage this student ministry, this is God's church. And Jesus told Peter that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church, that he is going to set up like you have the ability. And so therefore, you should have the confidence to lean on that promise. This is God's church. 00:12:12:20 - 00:12:31:04 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This is God's student ministry. And so you don't have to be desperate. He cares more about it than you do. And so I will tell you one year, this is the boss that I had to defeat. This is the fail story that I had to overcome. One year I was, rolling hard. Like the weeks were just going by me to do. 00:12:31:10 - 00:12:49:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And all of a sudden, like, the the drop dead deadline for me where I needed to have all my leaders in place for small groups and new students and promotion week, we did it at the end of the summer. And so it was like early to mid August, which meant by like Labor Day or maybe even a little bit before that was going to be back to school. 00:12:49:14 - 00:13:04:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry We were going to be having new students roll on up into our student ministry, and this particular class of students had a couple of kids in it that were, known throughout the entire church that like, they were tough ones. Right. And so I was having a really hard time because no one really wanted to be their leader. 00:13:04:23 - 00:13:27:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so, I was I was trying in that moment to practice the confidence. And I remember, low key inside freaking out. But I was sitting in church, okay. And I just, I remember exactly where I was sitting, and I looked across the auditorium a little bit of the ways, and I laid eyes on just this dude. 00:13:27:06 - 00:13:45:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I knew, that he worked with, the homeless shelter in town. I knew that he had kind of like a, history of volunteering in sort of that arena and and he worked with a demographics that were maybe a little bit, above and beyond what our normal volunteers were used to working with, let's just say. 00:13:45:08 - 00:14:06:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I looked at him and I felt the Spirit of God say, go ask him. And so I went straight over to him and I said, hey, I got an idea for you, and I got a proposition. And we hadn't even really met. Right? Like his, his step kids were in my ministry, so like, we had that relationship like him, and I hadn't really talked very much, and he jumped in, and it was a beautiful pairing. 00:14:06:16 - 00:14:24:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry It was a beautiful like decision. Like he was exactly the right guy for that moment. And I just remember I look back at that story a lot of times and that's a success story, frankly. But it was almost a fail story because I almost didn't have enough volunteers to start the year. But God reminded me, this is my student ministry. 00:14:24:21 - 00:14:43:23 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This is not yours. And so, you should still put the work in. You should still make the asks, you should still do the recruiting. But at the end of the day, you can operate out of a position of confidence. And quite frankly, this is something that I'm always working on because even in my current setting right now, we're still short a few volunteers. 00:14:43:23 - 00:15:03:25 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But I'm not trying to be desperate. I'm trying to come from a position of strength, and I'm trying to come from a position of confidence. And when I did that in my spirit, well, maybe not all the holes got plugged from a pragmatic standpoint in my spirit, I was able to rest and relax and just lean on God and realizing this is his student ministry. 00:15:03:25 - 00:15:20:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Which leads me to my fifth level. And it was the arrogance level, right? Very similar to level two, which is the Lone Ranger level behind the Lone Ranger level is this idea that, like, I can do it and I want people to know that I can do it, that I can do an amazing job in the Lone Ranger level. 00:15:20:03 - 00:15:43:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry It's I'm just bad at delegating. But in this level, not only was I bad at delegating, I refused to delegate because I wanted the glory. I wanted the accolades, I wanted the credit and the the massive fail story. And this is, I was brand new in a church, and I changed what they did for camp. So the first year I went, it was my actual very first week on the job. 00:15:43:09 - 00:16:04:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I went to camp the very next year. I knew in my spirit I wanted to run my own camp. I wanted, all of the the glory, all the accolades that went along with that. And I could have gotten my leaders on board, but I was a being a lone Ranger and b being arrogant because I wanted to prove that I could do it, and I wanted them to be impressed with what I could do and what I could pull off. 00:16:04:12 - 00:16:21:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And frankly, what we pulled off was great. And we had a lot of like, God still used it, right? It's like that verse where where Paul says, like, I don't care why people are preaching. Like the fact that, Jesus is being preached like that's still the wind, but like, in that, like I lost a lot of equity. 00:16:21:12 - 00:16:42:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I lost a lot of track record. I lost a lot of trust with my leaders. And one night I was sitting out outside on, like a bank at the camp, kind of in a private spot, fielding a phone call from my senior pastor who said, hey, listen, if you wouldn't have handled this conversation a little bit better, we might be talking about your job. 00:16:42:06 - 00:17:03:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I was I was in that moment was one of my deepest, darkest, worst kind of moments in all of ministry. And simply, it was because I needed to make the shift from arrogance to humility and realized that the the leaders that God had put around me got to put around them, put them around me, to help maybe overcome some of the weaknesses that he knew that that I had. 00:17:03:15 - 00:17:28:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I could lean on them and I could trust them. And they were willing participants and willing people there that wanted to help me. I had to defeat that big, bad boss of arrogance. So these five leadership shifts have absolutely revolutionized my thinking. From chaos to control, from Lone Ranger to delegation, from event based to a hybrid ministry strategy, from desperation to confidence, and finally from arrogance to humility. 00:17:28:26 - 00:17:38:23 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I pray, and I hope that you can make those five shifts in your youth ministry and in your volunteer leadership delegation rooting you on. And don't forget, my friends, to stay hybrid. youth ministry, youth pastor training, grow your youth group, volunteer leader tips, student ministry leadership, delegation in ministry, hybrid ministry, youth group strategy, ministry growth tips, how to lead volunteers, small group leaders, youth group chaos, leadership development, church leadership, discipleship strategies, youth group recruiting, confidence in ministry, humility in leadership, ministry mistakes, ministry lessons, next gen ministry, church growth, volunteer recruiting These 5 Shifts in my approach to volunteers revolutionized by youth ministry.
These aren’t quick hacks — they’re the foundational principles that changed my thinking but they led to real, measurable growth.

The best news of all, not for me in the moment, but you is that each of these shifts were like levels in a video game that come with the big bad boss of a failure story that I had to defeat, from one of my 15 years in youth ministry, each boss becoming more and more epic, the final one left me questioning not only my job, but my career in ministry.

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 5 Levels of Volunteer Shifts
01:14 FAQ Playlist
02:04 Level 1: Chaos
04:21 Level 2: Lone Ranger
07:38 Level 3: Event
11:08 Level 4: Desperation
15:03 Level 5: Arrogance

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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:08 - 00:00:25:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For years, I thought the formula to youth ministry growth were better sermons and bigger events and flashier games. But I'm just going to be honest, none of that, none of it moved the needle. It wasn't until I learned not only that volunteer leaders matter, but it's when I unlocked these five shifts. It directly impacted the size in the health in the reach of my youth ministry.

00:00:25:04 - 00:00:46:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
These aren't just some quick hacks. No, they're foundational principles that have revolutionized my thinking and led to real, measurable growth. But the best news of all for you? Not necessarily me. In each of these moments is that each one of these shifts, similar to like levels in a video game, come with a big bad boss of a failure story.

00:00:46:23 - 00:01:08:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I'm going to share each and every one of those failure stories with you until I had to defeat a different boss in one of my different 15 years of youth ministry, each boss becoming worse and the failure stories becoming more and more epic until we get to the final one, which left me not only questioning my job in that church, but also my youth ministry career.

00:01:08:27 - 00:01:29:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We're going to share these together in the hybrid ministry. So welcome everyone. Glad to have you. Well what's up everybody. Welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show. If you didn't know, we've been in a playlist here, talking and answering some different questions that I stumbled across in youth pastor Facebook groups. And this one today says I have officially crossed the line of 50 small group leaders.

00:01:29:00 - 00:01:47:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And for those of you who have 50 plus volunteers that are deeply invested in a week, how is you? How is your leadership of that team different than maybe a smaller team or so those of you who've crossed that line, how did you shift your leadership? So we're going to talk about the five levels of leadership, shifts that I've made.

00:01:47:02 - 00:02:07:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, frankly, I'm sitting right now at a position with greater than 50 leaders, and I would attribute, some of these shifts to be, what, some of those kind of, like, main things are. So with kind of that context out of the way, let's look through and chat through the five different levels. So the first level was the chaos level okay.

00:02:07:13 - 00:02:22:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So like in this chaos level I would constantly be frantically getting things set up. And I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit of a time optimist. And so what that means is like if I was like, okay, youth group starts at six, that means I need to get there at five to start getting things ready.

00:02:22:20 - 00:02:40:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I quickly learned I had to start moving that time back more and more because, you know, one of the things that would happen is I'm getting ready when students start showing up and I think they're going to show up at like 550, but instead students show up at like 530, and I am running out of time to get things set up.

00:02:40:18 - 00:03:02:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I feel chaotic in my spirit as they're there. And I'm also not able to give them any sort of attention or any sort of like relational equity, because I'm getting set up. So the next week I bump it back to five to maybe say 430, so I get a little bit more time. But then as I grow and as things in the ministry get more and more elaborate, and as we add more and more elements, I need more and more time.

00:03:02:05 - 00:03:21:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So the shift I had to make was the shift from the chaos to the control. Right? And so I could be in control. I could make that a moment that I actually owned that thing. And that was honestly a very like level one, very rookie mistake. And so the main shift I had to do is I had to start getting ready earlier.

00:03:21:08 - 00:03:36:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I had to start planning before Wednesday. I had to start planning on Tuesday, I had to start setting up earlier in the day. Whatever I needed to do. And the feel is this is that, early on, kids would walk in while I'm getting ready and I would be annoyed that a kid is there and like, I shouldn't be that way.

00:03:36:25 - 00:03:53:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, I'm a youth pastor, right? And so the shift, the very simple shift I had to make was if I just get set up earlier, then when a kid walks in, I'm done. They're not taking away something that I feel like I need to do, and I can devote and give my full attention to that kid who shows up early, which is a great thing for that kid.

00:03:53:27 - 00:04:14:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And with just that small, subtle shift, I started to see, more and more kind of like growth. I was more prepared for my leaders. I wasn't scrambling to get them things like printed out and handouts and service orders and all those types of things like those are all ready to go. When I started to do that, when I was more in control, when I was in less of a chaotic vibe, that all started to help.

00:04:14:23 - 00:04:35:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, there wasn't much right in that first level, as it pertains with volunteer leaders, because the second level here is the lone Ranger level. And for many, many years in youth ministry, I felt like it was my job because frankly, I'm getting paid by the church to do the youth ministry. But it wasn't until I started to learn this idea of delegation.

00:04:36:01 - 00:04:57:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right? And, the only real moments where I was able to get to a spot where I realized I had to go from Lone Ranger to delegation was when I had to defeat this big, bad boss. One Thursday. I was sitting in my office and I had, like, 20 to 25 new student, welcome. Like postcards that I had to write.

00:04:57:12 - 00:05:21:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It was just something that we had to do. Every time we had a new student, we had to write out a card. And every single week at this church, I was getting more and more new students, like 20, 25, like I was at a multi-site megachurch, and I was getting more than 20 new students every single week. And so I was, I had just started, taking over that position full time, independently.

00:05:21:04 - 00:05:37:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I had worked with, a coworker for, several months, and it was my first week without her, as kind of my counterpart in my my boss walks in, who's my campus pastor who didn't know anything about these cards or anything like that. It wasn't him who assigned those to me. And so he's like, hey, you got a minute?

00:05:37:28 - 00:06:02:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, literally, no. And I didn't look up. And I kept frantically writing while he's at my door and I'm trying to talk within. I'm trying to have conversation with them. I can't even remember what it was about, but. And I knew that that was rude. I knew I should have put my pin down. I looked at him, but what that was going to mean was I wasn't going to get to leave work on time when I needed to leave work, and that was also a value of mine.

00:06:02:07 - 00:06:25:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so in that moment, I was like, I never want to get to the spot again. Like, I need to delegate some of this off. I need to do what only I can do. And there are plenty of volunteers and there are plenty of people. I had an amazing check in team that could have very easily at the end of check in when you know, it's like, let's say the event starts at six and it's 610 and most of the students have checked in.

00:06:25:06 - 00:06:46:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They're there for the next hour and 20 minutes like they had plenty of time to write 25 notes between five of them, you know what I'm saying? But I didn't delegate it to them. So therefore the fail was that it ended up on my desk the very next day. And I had, instead of five cards to write, which is what five different volunteers with 25 cards would have, written.

00:06:46:15 - 00:07:06:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I wrote all 25 of them, and so I had to learn to start delegating. And it took a minute. And that's part of the the, the fail in this is that it takes a minute to get up over that initial hurdle of creating a system of delegation, like getting the postcards down there, telling them where they are, telling them how to check on who the first time guests are.

00:07:06:20 - 00:07:27:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know how we're going to handle that, because they might not know in the moment, like when a kid checks in. But once we get past all of that, then, I start to experience a little bit more, success. And I beat that level. Of delegation. We all know that there's only a certain amount of capacity that any one person has, and you might be a person with an extraordinarily high capacity.

00:07:27:25 - 00:07:47:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But as your church and as your youth ministry grows, you're going to reach a breaking point where you definitely need to move on and defeat that big bad boss to delegation. Which led me then to my third level, where I had to shift my mindset, from the event is this is the event level. I had to move from event to hybrid.

00:07:47:03 - 00:08:06:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And the fail is that early on in some of my early on days, every single event was crucial, and every single attendance marker in that event was even more crucial. So if we had a big event, the first thing I was doing was I was checking guest cards and I was checking our, check in kiosks because I wanted to see how many kids we had.

00:08:06:21 - 00:08:24:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I thought to myself, you know, like, if we have this event and last event we had, say 50 kids, I wanted to get to 55, or I wanted to get to 60, or I wanted to get to 65. And I started to put all my effort and my worth honestly into that bottom line number. And I started making it all about events.

00:08:24:26 - 00:08:46:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then Covid happened and what I realized during Covid, was that we had and I actually share this entire story right here at this video linked up, here at the top of the screen in my 100th episode, I made a little documentary style, like, kind of how and where this hybrid thing all came from. But what I realized was that there were multiple avenues of touch points.

00:08:46:02 - 00:09:09:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In fact, my very first day, on a job at a church was the first day of Covid. And in that I realized, out of sheer like constraints, like we didn't have in-person, I couldn't speak to the students live in a room. So all of the normal touchpoints were gone. And so I had to get creative about how we can still connect with students through writing things like postcards, which probably were some of that started.

00:09:09:17 - 00:09:27:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I wasn't delegating quite yet. Right. Or, social media or all those types of things. And that's really where a lot of this hybrid stuff came from, realizing that we can still do pastoral care even when we're not in the room. Now, I wouldn't recommend, like, Covid going back to that where we we're never in the room and that's never a possibility.

00:09:27:29 - 00:09:45:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But there's some both and right there's there's the both of being able to be in the room and also some of the pastoral care that can happen when we're not in the room and we can lean in to some of that sort of hybrid thing. And so the fail was when I would ride or die based off of some of those event numbers.

00:09:45:25 - 00:10:02:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I had to get over and realize that Covid allows me to have more touch points with it, which is honestly the entire reason why this podcast exists. Hey quick break, let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media?

00:10:02:15 - 00:10:31:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created this, the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed.

00:10:32:02 - 00:10:51:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly Hybrid hero Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast? They get this pack completely for free. So if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799.

00:10:51:27 - 00:11:11:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. The fourth level is to move.

00:11:11:11 - 00:11:35:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is called the desperation level. I don't know if you've ever been there before, but you look at a spreadsheet and you just realize, like, man, I have so many gaps. I have so many holes in our, volunteer schedule and so you're desperate and you're recruiting people that, might not even be the best fit. You're recruiting people that you don't even really want to recruit, but you are desperate.

00:11:35:16 - 00:11:55:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, the shift I had to make was I had to move from desperation to confidence. And the confidence comes from this. Right. And I don't know how to tell you to to move from this aside from prayer, and just a mindset shift. But the confidence should come from the fact that this is not your student ministry.

00:11:55:06 - 00:12:12:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And while, yes, you're being paid to run and manage this student ministry, this is God's church. And Jesus told Peter that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church, that he is going to set up like you have the ability. And so therefore, you should have the confidence to lean on that promise. This is God's church.

00:12:12:20 - 00:12:31:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is God's student ministry. And so you don't have to be desperate. He cares more about it than you do. And so I will tell you one year, this is the boss that I had to defeat. This is the fail story that I had to overcome. One year I was, rolling hard. Like the weeks were just going by me to do.

00:12:31:10 - 00:12:49:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And all of a sudden, like, the the drop dead deadline for me where I needed to have all my leaders in place for small groups and new students and promotion week, we did it at the end of the summer. And so it was like early to mid August, which meant by like Labor Day or maybe even a little bit before that was going to be back to school.

00:12:49:14 - 00:13:04:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We were going to be having new students roll on up into our student ministry, and this particular class of students had a couple of kids in it that were, known throughout the entire church that like, they were tough ones. Right. And so I was having a really hard time because no one really wanted to be their leader.

00:13:04:23 - 00:13:27:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, I was I was trying in that moment to practice the confidence. And I remember, low key inside freaking out. But I was sitting in church, okay. And I just, I remember exactly where I was sitting, and I looked across the auditorium a little bit of the ways, and I laid eyes on just this dude.

00:13:27:06 - 00:13:45:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I knew, that he worked with, the homeless shelter in town. I knew that he had kind of like a, history of volunteering in sort of that arena and and he worked with a demographics that were maybe a little bit, above and beyond what our normal volunteers were used to working with, let's just say.

00:13:45:08 - 00:14:06:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I looked at him and I felt the Spirit of God say, go ask him. And so I went straight over to him and I said, hey, I got an idea for you, and I got a proposition. And we hadn't even really met. Right? Like his, his step kids were in my ministry, so like, we had that relationship like him, and I hadn't really talked very much, and he jumped in, and it was a beautiful pairing.

00:14:06:16 - 00:14:24:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It was a beautiful like decision. Like he was exactly the right guy for that moment. And I just remember I look back at that story a lot of times and that's a success story, frankly. But it was almost a fail story because I almost didn't have enough volunteers to start the year. But God reminded me, this is my student ministry.

00:14:24:21 - 00:14:43:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is not yours. And so, you should still put the work in. You should still make the asks, you should still do the recruiting. But at the end of the day, you can operate out of a position of confidence. And quite frankly, this is something that I'm always working on because even in my current setting right now, we're still short a few volunteers.

00:14:43:23 - 00:15:03:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I'm not trying to be desperate. I'm trying to come from a position of strength, and I'm trying to come from a position of confidence. And when I did that in my spirit, well, maybe not all the holes got plugged from a pragmatic standpoint in my spirit, I was able to rest and relax and just lean on God and realizing this is his student ministry.

00:15:03:25 - 00:15:20:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Which leads me to my fifth level. And it was the arrogance level, right? Very similar to level two, which is the Lone Ranger level behind the Lone Ranger level is this idea that, like, I can do it and I want people to know that I can do it, that I can do an amazing job in the Lone Ranger level.

00:15:20:03 - 00:15:43:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's I'm just bad at delegating. But in this level, not only was I bad at delegating, I refused to delegate because I wanted the glory. I wanted the accolades, I wanted the credit and the the massive fail story. And this is, I was brand new in a church, and I changed what they did for camp. So the first year I went, it was my actual very first week on the job.

00:15:43:09 - 00:16:04:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I went to camp the very next year. I knew in my spirit I wanted to run my own camp. I wanted, all of the the glory, all the accolades that went along with that. And I could have gotten my leaders on board, but I was a being a lone Ranger and b being arrogant because I wanted to prove that I could do it, and I wanted them to be impressed with what I could do and what I could pull off.

00:16:04:12 - 00:16:21:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And frankly, what we pulled off was great. And we had a lot of like, God still used it, right? It's like that verse where where Paul says, like, I don't care why people are preaching. Like the fact that, Jesus is being preached like that's still the wind, but like, in that, like I lost a lot of equity.

00:16:21:12 - 00:16:42:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I lost a lot of track record. I lost a lot of trust with my leaders. And one night I was sitting out outside on, like a bank at the camp, kind of in a private spot, fielding a phone call from my senior pastor who said, hey, listen, if you wouldn't have handled this conversation a little bit better, we might be talking about your job.

00:16:42:06 - 00:17:03:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was I was in that moment was one of my deepest, darkest, worst kind of moments in all of ministry. And simply, it was because I needed to make the shift from arrogance to humility and realized that the the leaders that God had put around me got to put around them, put them around me, to help maybe overcome some of the weaknesses that he knew that that I had.

00:17:03:15 - 00:17:28:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I could lean on them and I could trust them. And they were willing participants and willing people there that wanted to help me. I had to defeat that big, bad boss of arrogance. So these five leadership shifts have absolutely revolutionized my thinking. From chaos to control, from Lone Ranger to delegation, from event based to a hybrid ministry strategy, from desperation to confidence, and finally from arrogance to humility.

00:17:28:26 - 00:17:38:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I pray, and I hope that you can make those five shifts in your youth ministry and in your volunteer leadership delegation rooting you on. And don't forget, my friends, to stay hybrid.

]]> These 5 Shifts in my approach to volunteers revolutionized by youth ministry.
These aren’t quick hacks — they’re the foundational principles that changed my thinking but they led to real, measurable growth.

The best news of all, not for me in the moment, but you is that each of these shifts were like levels in a video game that come with the big bad boss of a failure story that I had to defeat, from one of my 15 years in youth ministry, each boss becoming more and more epic, the final one left me questioning not only my job, but my career in ministry.

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https://www.hybridministry.xyz/171

100th Episode - How it Started
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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 5 Levels of Volunteer Shifts
01:14 FAQ Playlist
02:04 Level 1: Chaos
04:21 Level 2: Lone Ranger
07:38 Level 3: Event
11:08 Level 4: Desperation
15:03 Level 5: Arrogance

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:08 - 00:00:25:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For years, I thought the formula to youth ministry growth were better sermons and bigger events and flashier games. But I'm just going to be honest, none of that, none of it moved the needle. It wasn't until I learned not only that volunteer leaders matter, but it's when I unlocked these five shifts. It directly impacted the size in the health in the reach of my youth ministry.

00:00:25:04 - 00:00:46:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
These aren't just some quick hacks. No, they're foundational principles that have revolutionized my thinking and led to real, measurable growth. But the best news of all for you? Not necessarily me. In each of these moments is that each one of these shifts, similar to like levels in a video game, come with a big bad boss of a failure story.

00:00:46:23 - 00:01:08:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I'm going to share each and every one of those failure stories with you until I had to defeat a different boss in one of my different 15 years of youth ministry, each boss becoming worse and the failure stories becoming more and more epic until we get to the final one, which left me not only questioning my job in that church, but also my youth ministry career.

00:01:08:27 - 00:01:29:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We're going to share these together in the hybrid ministry. So welcome everyone. Glad to have you. Well what's up everybody. Welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show. If you didn't know, we've been in a playlist here, talking and answering some different questions that I stumbled across in youth pastor Facebook groups. And this one today says I have officially crossed the line of 50 small group leaders.

00:01:29:00 - 00:01:47:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And for those of you who have 50 plus volunteers that are deeply invested in a week, how is you? How is your leadership of that team different than maybe a smaller team or so those of you who've crossed that line, how did you shift your leadership? So we're going to talk about the five levels of leadership, shifts that I've made.

00:01:47:02 - 00:02:07:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, frankly, I'm sitting right now at a position with greater than 50 leaders, and I would attribute, some of these shifts to be, what, some of those kind of, like, main things are. So with kind of that context out of the way, let's look through and chat through the five different levels. So the first level was the chaos level okay.

00:02:07:13 - 00:02:22:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So like in this chaos level I would constantly be frantically getting things set up. And I don't know about you, but I'm a little bit of a time optimist. And so what that means is like if I was like, okay, youth group starts at six, that means I need to get there at five to start getting things ready.

00:02:22:20 - 00:02:40:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I quickly learned I had to start moving that time back more and more because, you know, one of the things that would happen is I'm getting ready when students start showing up and I think they're going to show up at like 550, but instead students show up at like 530, and I am running out of time to get things set up.

00:02:40:18 - 00:03:02:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I feel chaotic in my spirit as they're there. And I'm also not able to give them any sort of attention or any sort of like relational equity, because I'm getting set up. So the next week I bump it back to five to maybe say 430, so I get a little bit more time. But then as I grow and as things in the ministry get more and more elaborate, and as we add more and more elements, I need more and more time.

00:03:02:05 - 00:03:21:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So the shift I had to make was the shift from the chaos to the control. Right? And so I could be in control. I could make that a moment that I actually owned that thing. And that was honestly a very like level one, very rookie mistake. And so the main shift I had to do is I had to start getting ready earlier.

00:03:21:08 - 00:03:36:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I had to start planning before Wednesday. I had to start planning on Tuesday, I had to start setting up earlier in the day. Whatever I needed to do. And the feel is this is that, early on, kids would walk in while I'm getting ready and I would be annoyed that a kid is there and like, I shouldn't be that way.

00:03:36:25 - 00:03:53:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, I'm a youth pastor, right? And so the shift, the very simple shift I had to make was if I just get set up earlier, then when a kid walks in, I'm done. They're not taking away something that I feel like I need to do, and I can devote and give my full attention to that kid who shows up early, which is a great thing for that kid.

00:03:53:27 - 00:04:14:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And with just that small, subtle shift, I started to see, more and more kind of like growth. I was more prepared for my leaders. I wasn't scrambling to get them things like printed out and handouts and service orders and all those types of things like those are all ready to go. When I started to do that, when I was more in control, when I was in less of a chaotic vibe, that all started to help.

00:04:14:23 - 00:04:35:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, there wasn't much right in that first level, as it pertains with volunteer leaders, because the second level here is the lone Ranger level. And for many, many years in youth ministry, I felt like it was my job because frankly, I'm getting paid by the church to do the youth ministry. But it wasn't until I started to learn this idea of delegation.

00:04:36:01 - 00:04:57:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right? And, the only real moments where I was able to get to a spot where I realized I had to go from Lone Ranger to delegation was when I had to defeat this big, bad boss. One Thursday. I was sitting in my office and I had, like, 20 to 25 new student, welcome. Like postcards that I had to write.

00:04:57:12 - 00:05:21:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It was just something that we had to do. Every time we had a new student, we had to write out a card. And every single week at this church, I was getting more and more new students, like 20, 25, like I was at a multi-site megachurch, and I was getting more than 20 new students every single week. And so I was, I had just started, taking over that position full time, independently.

00:05:21:04 - 00:05:37:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I had worked with, a coworker for, several months, and it was my first week without her, as kind of my counterpart in my my boss walks in, who's my campus pastor who didn't know anything about these cards or anything like that. It wasn't him who assigned those to me. And so he's like, hey, you got a minute?

00:05:37:28 - 00:06:02:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, literally, no. And I didn't look up. And I kept frantically writing while he's at my door and I'm trying to talk within. I'm trying to have conversation with them. I can't even remember what it was about, but. And I knew that that was rude. I knew I should have put my pin down. I looked at him, but what that was going to mean was I wasn't going to get to leave work on time when I needed to leave work, and that was also a value of mine.

00:06:02:07 - 00:06:25:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so in that moment, I was like, I never want to get to the spot again. Like, I need to delegate some of this off. I need to do what only I can do. And there are plenty of volunteers and there are plenty of people. I had an amazing check in team that could have very easily at the end of check in when you know, it's like, let's say the event starts at six and it's 610 and most of the students have checked in.

00:06:25:06 - 00:06:46:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They're there for the next hour and 20 minutes like they had plenty of time to write 25 notes between five of them, you know what I'm saying? But I didn't delegate it to them. So therefore the fail was that it ended up on my desk the very next day. And I had, instead of five cards to write, which is what five different volunteers with 25 cards would have, written.

00:06:46:15 - 00:07:06:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I wrote all 25 of them, and so I had to learn to start delegating. And it took a minute. And that's part of the the, the fail in this is that it takes a minute to get up over that initial hurdle of creating a system of delegation, like getting the postcards down there, telling them where they are, telling them how to check on who the first time guests are.

00:07:06:20 - 00:07:27:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know how we're going to handle that, because they might not know in the moment, like when a kid checks in. But once we get past all of that, then, I start to experience a little bit more, success. And I beat that level. Of delegation. We all know that there's only a certain amount of capacity that any one person has, and you might be a person with an extraordinarily high capacity.

00:07:27:25 - 00:07:47:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But as your church and as your youth ministry grows, you're going to reach a breaking point where you definitely need to move on and defeat that big bad boss to delegation. Which led me then to my third level, where I had to shift my mindset, from the event is this is the event level. I had to move from event to hybrid.

00:07:47:03 - 00:08:06:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And the fail is that early on in some of my early on days, every single event was crucial, and every single attendance marker in that event was even more crucial. So if we had a big event, the first thing I was doing was I was checking guest cards and I was checking our, check in kiosks because I wanted to see how many kids we had.

00:08:06:21 - 00:08:24:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I thought to myself, you know, like, if we have this event and last event we had, say 50 kids, I wanted to get to 55, or I wanted to get to 60, or I wanted to get to 65. And I started to put all my effort and my worth honestly into that bottom line number. And I started making it all about events.

00:08:24:26 - 00:08:46:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then Covid happened and what I realized during Covid, was that we had and I actually share this entire story right here at this video linked up, here at the top of the screen in my 100th episode, I made a little documentary style, like, kind of how and where this hybrid thing all came from. But what I realized was that there were multiple avenues of touch points.

00:08:46:02 - 00:09:09:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In fact, my very first day, on a job at a church was the first day of Covid. And in that I realized, out of sheer like constraints, like we didn't have in-person, I couldn't speak to the students live in a room. So all of the normal touchpoints were gone. And so I had to get creative about how we can still connect with students through writing things like postcards, which probably were some of that started.

00:09:09:17 - 00:09:27:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I wasn't delegating quite yet. Right. Or, social media or all those types of things. And that's really where a lot of this hybrid stuff came from, realizing that we can still do pastoral care even when we're not in the room. Now, I wouldn't recommend, like, Covid going back to that where we we're never in the room and that's never a possibility.

00:09:27:29 - 00:09:45:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But there's some both and right there's there's the both of being able to be in the room and also some of the pastoral care that can happen when we're not in the room and we can lean in to some of that sort of hybrid thing. And so the fail was when I would ride or die based off of some of those event numbers.

00:09:45:25 - 00:10:02:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I had to get over and realize that Covid allows me to have more touch points with it, which is honestly the entire reason why this podcast exists. Hey quick break, let me ask you a question. Are you still waking up every day? Is youth pastor scrambling to figure out what you need to post on your social media?

00:10:02:15 - 00:10:31:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Blurry dodgeball. Pick a video that your leader sent you that's a little bit pixelated, because iPhone still hasn't updated fully to RCS yet. You see, you don't need that kind of stress this fall. That's why I created this, the fall seasonal social media pack for youth pastors. It is three months worth of done for you content done for you, paired with some customization so that you and your leaders and your students are the faces and the personalities on your student ministry Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube shorts feed.

00:10:32:02 - 00:10:51:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So here's the thing. You can grab my pack right now over on Patreon. And did you know that monthly Hybrid hero Patreon members who only pay $4 per month and get a bonus podcast? They get this pack completely for free. So if you do the math for three months worth of social media content, it's only $12 where the pack is 1799.

00:10:51:27 - 00:11:11:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Either way, it is a steal for you and it will take away the stress of posting. And you can grab that pack right now and start becoming a master at social media and hybrid ministry. In your youth ministry context, rooting for you as you are crushing it this fall in your student ministry. The fourth level is to move.

00:11:11:11 - 00:11:35:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is called the desperation level. I don't know if you've ever been there before, but you look at a spreadsheet and you just realize, like, man, I have so many gaps. I have so many holes in our, volunteer schedule and so you're desperate and you're recruiting people that, might not even be the best fit. You're recruiting people that you don't even really want to recruit, but you are desperate.

00:11:35:16 - 00:11:55:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, the shift I had to make was I had to move from desperation to confidence. And the confidence comes from this. Right. And I don't know how to tell you to to move from this aside from prayer, and just a mindset shift. But the confidence should come from the fact that this is not your student ministry.

00:11:55:06 - 00:12:12:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And while, yes, you're being paid to run and manage this student ministry, this is God's church. And Jesus told Peter that the gates of hell will not prevail against his church, that he is going to set up like you have the ability. And so therefore, you should have the confidence to lean on that promise. This is God's church.

00:12:12:20 - 00:12:31:04
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is God's student ministry. And so you don't have to be desperate. He cares more about it than you do. And so I will tell you one year, this is the boss that I had to defeat. This is the fail story that I had to overcome. One year I was, rolling hard. Like the weeks were just going by me to do.

00:12:31:10 - 00:12:49:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And all of a sudden, like, the the drop dead deadline for me where I needed to have all my leaders in place for small groups and new students and promotion week, we did it at the end of the summer. And so it was like early to mid August, which meant by like Labor Day or maybe even a little bit before that was going to be back to school.

00:12:49:14 - 00:13:04:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We were going to be having new students roll on up into our student ministry, and this particular class of students had a couple of kids in it that were, known throughout the entire church that like, they were tough ones. Right. And so I was having a really hard time because no one really wanted to be their leader.

00:13:04:23 - 00:13:27:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, I was I was trying in that moment to practice the confidence. And I remember, low key inside freaking out. But I was sitting in church, okay. And I just, I remember exactly where I was sitting, and I looked across the auditorium a little bit of the ways, and I laid eyes on just this dude.

00:13:27:06 - 00:13:45:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I knew, that he worked with, the homeless shelter in town. I knew that he had kind of like a, history of volunteering in sort of that arena and and he worked with a demographics that were maybe a little bit, above and beyond what our normal volunteers were used to working with, let's just say.

00:13:45:08 - 00:14:06:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I looked at him and I felt the Spirit of God say, go ask him. And so I went straight over to him and I said, hey, I got an idea for you, and I got a proposition. And we hadn't even really met. Right? Like his, his step kids were in my ministry, so like, we had that relationship like him, and I hadn't really talked very much, and he jumped in, and it was a beautiful pairing.

00:14:06:16 - 00:14:24:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It was a beautiful like decision. Like he was exactly the right guy for that moment. And I just remember I look back at that story a lot of times and that's a success story, frankly. But it was almost a fail story because I almost didn't have enough volunteers to start the year. But God reminded me, this is my student ministry.

00:14:24:21 - 00:14:43:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This is not yours. And so, you should still put the work in. You should still make the asks, you should still do the recruiting. But at the end of the day, you can operate out of a position of confidence. And quite frankly, this is something that I'm always working on because even in my current setting right now, we're still short a few volunteers.

00:14:43:23 - 00:15:03:25
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But I'm not trying to be desperate. I'm trying to come from a position of strength, and I'm trying to come from a position of confidence. And when I did that in my spirit, well, maybe not all the holes got plugged from a pragmatic standpoint in my spirit, I was able to rest and relax and just lean on God and realizing this is his student ministry.

00:15:03:25 - 00:15:20:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Which leads me to my fifth level. And it was the arrogance level, right? Very similar to level two, which is the Lone Ranger level behind the Lone Ranger level is this idea that, like, I can do it and I want people to know that I can do it, that I can do an amazing job in the Lone Ranger level.

00:15:20:03 - 00:15:43:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's I'm just bad at delegating. But in this level, not only was I bad at delegating, I refused to delegate because I wanted the glory. I wanted the accolades, I wanted the credit and the the massive fail story. And this is, I was brand new in a church, and I changed what they did for camp. So the first year I went, it was my actual very first week on the job.

00:15:43:09 - 00:16:04:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I went to camp the very next year. I knew in my spirit I wanted to run my own camp. I wanted, all of the the glory, all the accolades that went along with that. And I could have gotten my leaders on board, but I was a being a lone Ranger and b being arrogant because I wanted to prove that I could do it, and I wanted them to be impressed with what I could do and what I could pull off.

00:16:04:12 - 00:16:21:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And frankly, what we pulled off was great. And we had a lot of like, God still used it, right? It's like that verse where where Paul says, like, I don't care why people are preaching. Like the fact that, Jesus is being preached like that's still the wind, but like, in that, like I lost a lot of equity.

00:16:21:12 - 00:16:42:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I lost a lot of track record. I lost a lot of trust with my leaders. And one night I was sitting out outside on, like a bank at the camp, kind of in a private spot, fielding a phone call from my senior pastor who said, hey, listen, if you wouldn't have handled this conversation a little bit better, we might be talking about your job.

00:16:42:06 - 00:17:03:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was I was in that moment was one of my deepest, darkest, worst kind of moments in all of ministry. And simply, it was because I needed to make the shift from arrogance to humility and realized that the the leaders that God had put around me got to put around them, put them around me, to help maybe overcome some of the weaknesses that he knew that that I had.

00:17:03:15 - 00:17:28:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I could lean on them and I could trust them. And they were willing participants and willing people there that wanted to help me. I had to defeat that big, bad boss of arrogance. So these five leadership shifts have absolutely revolutionized my thinking. From chaos to control, from Lone Ranger to delegation, from event based to a hybrid ministry strategy, from desperation to confidence, and finally from arrogance to humility.

00:17:28:26 - 00:17:38:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I pray, and I hope that you can make those five shifts in your youth ministry and in your volunteer leadership delegation rooting you on. And don't forget, my friends, to stay hybrid.

]]> Episode 163: Event Evaluation that WORKS! How to Actually Improve Your Youth Ministry https://www.hybridministry.xyz/163 0cff7999-c380-4f27-a052-f3343a16d545 Thu, 21 Aug 2025 05:00:00 -0500 Nick Clason 163 Event Evaluation that WORKS! How to Actually Improve Your Youth Ministry full Nick Clason In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we’re unpacking a proven event evaluation strategy for youth ministry that will help you actually improve your events instead of just surviving them. Learn how to run a productive post-event debrief using a 3-question framework that works for digital and in-person debrief meetings alike. Plus, get access to a sample evaluation form, hear a big announcement, and upgrade your fall youth ministry strategy with intentional feedback tools. 10:23 no In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we’re unpacking a proven event evaluation strategy for youth ministry that will help you actually improve your events instead of just surviving them. Learn how to run a productive post-event debrief using a 3-question framework that works for digital and in-person debrief meetings alike. Plus, get access to a sample evaluation form, hear a big announcement, and upgrade your fall youth ministry strategy with intentional feedback tools. 🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide" GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut DYM: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/world%27s-greatest-donut/games/food-8745.html SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/163 ☀️ SUMMER SOCIAL MEDIA PACK https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry/shop/summer-seasonal-social-media-1540452?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=productsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link *🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET THE PACK FOR FREE! * https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry ✅ CHURCH COMMS DONE FOR YOU Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications! https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms 📊 [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book 📋 "PICK NICK'S BRAIN" Coaching Call https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products //VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid //BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym //OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100 https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 Post Event Debriefs 00:25 Your Complete Fall Strategy Session 01:33 Proven Debrief Strategy 04:02 This Strategy was GENIUS!! 07:22 Your Fall Social Media Strategy is HERE! -------------- TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:06:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Post-event debriefs can feel like a roast session if we're not careful. That's why I recommend this 00:00:06:12 - 00:00:19:29 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry proven three part strategy for evaluating and making sure that your events not only get the proper evaluation that they deserve, but are even better on into the future 00:00:19:29 - 00:00:26:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry for your next year's event. Welcome, my friends, to the Hybrid Minister show. 00:00:26:00 - 00:00:29:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show. 00:00:29:07 - 00:00:57:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I am your host, Nicolas. And in this episode, episode 163. If you want to head to the show notes with transcripts. Hybrid Ministry dot xyzzy slash 163. That would be incredible. And a subscribe while you there would also just do us wonders. But if you have been following along here on YouTube, we are in a playlist for your complete fall like strategy guide and strategy session for, not only your upcoming fall outreach event. 00:00:57:12 - 00:01:22:29 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry How we run outreach events. And it's all kind of been centered around like some principles for like, fall outreach and fall launches. But if you're looking for one, and one of my favorite kind of strategies is a, month long, ongoing, like, bracket style event, and I'm giving one away or I'm giving away an event guide, to one of my products over on download this ministry called the World's Greatest Donut Bracket Event. 00:01:23:01 - 00:01:42:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry We've been walking through what those nights look like, how to include and incorporate free time, how to welcome your new guests. But now that all the dust has settled, now that all of the donut madness is over, you're ready to evaluate your event. So whether you're evaluating this particular event or just any of your fall events, this is my proven three part strategy and framework. 00:01:42:05 - 00:02:06:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I mean, I'm just going to be honest, like you've maybe heard this before. It's not unique or original to me. I've I've used it in a couple of last churches that I've worked in. But there's a few kind of like tweaks and adaptations to it. And so you might have heard this, but the first, you know, the first question worth asking in an event evaluation debrief is what went right, like, let's celebrate the wins straight out of the gate. 00:02:06:12 - 00:02:26:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like, what were the wins? What were the good things? And kind of go that route. The next question that I like to do and, you know, one of the church that I worked at, we call these questions the for hopefuls, but I like to combine these next two. And so that's why it's only three, three questions because I think these two, are cousins of one another. 00:02:26:05 - 00:02:46:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Right. And so, I like this one of, like the broken what was broken slash confusing. So, broken and confusing can kind of get, like I said, close to one another when you're kind of passing them out, you're like, oh, is this one broken? I'm not sure if that thing, that QR code was broken or if it was just confusing. 00:02:46:15 - 00:03:04:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Right. And and maybe the Q QR code was actually broken, or maybe students just don't know what they're doing, and it made it confusing. And that's kind of how I found that question to kind of land. And so just sticking those two together really like will help you in this question right here. Here's the thing I want to encourage you, don't make this personal. 00:03:04:09 - 00:03:35:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Don't take these things personal, but really like lean into these right here because this is how and this is where, and this is when and how and why you can make this event even better next year when you pull this thing together. Right. Like, this event becomes so much better when you take care of the broken and the confusing parts and you can really turn around, you can optimize, your next event or your next year's event or, some elements of this event that you're going to bring to, like the next Wednesday night, whatever the case might be like, but this is your chance to optimize it. 00:03:35:01 - 00:03:53:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Perfect. It really kind of like hone it in. And then finally, this last question, what was missing? And so it could be like, you know, while we were in the middle of the event, I thought it would have been great if we had this. We didn't think of it ahead of time. But let's next year, let's let's kind of plan to make this happen now a couple different ways that you can handle debriefs. 00:03:53:11 - 00:04:11:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I think probably the most common is just like an in person. Right. Like you get together, you talk about it with your team and you, you know, take notes and you go off to the next one. And for major events like big events like this ones you spend maybe a lot of budget money on, I would recommend doing some sort of like in-person debrief. 00:04:11:00 - 00:04:30:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry However, if you're debriefing every single event, you're never not debriefing because let's just be honest, like, if you meet once a week in youth ministry, there's always one time a week we got to get together and get a debrief. And then if you're meeting twice a week, say Wednesday night and Sunday morning, you're also getting together another time to kind of look back at Sunday morning. 00:04:30:28 - 00:04:54:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And what if you're meeting Sunday night then now you're meeting three different times for three different evaluations. And so it can become a lot and it can become a lot of meetings. And sometimes it's just like, man, we just got work to do. Right. And so, one of the things that my boss, has instituted is we use base camp, and he instituted this idea, and he just cause, our debriefs sometimes, we keep them all digital. 00:04:54:21 - 00:05:19:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So it's a digital debrief. We go into base camp, into the the message board there, and he'll ask three different questions. Sometimes he'll ask, right, right. Wrong, broken, confused. Like all that. But other times he'll throw in, like a curveball or, you know, like, and I think like this question, for example, is a good example of like, missing, you know, but he'll be like, what's one thing that we could have done to really take this event over the top? 00:05:19:19 - 00:05:35:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so it just get your brain thinking in a little bit of a different category, though, it is probably like an answer to the missing question. But it's framed really well. That makes you like, think in a different kind of way, you know what I'm saying? So but what we'll do then is everyone on the team has to complete that digital debrief comment done when they're done. 00:05:35:22 - 00:05:51:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then, he'll take those and he'll, he'll archive the, the plan. So it's out of our, like, base camp. But then next year, as we're getting ready to pull that back together, he'll, he'll go grab those archive notes. Because who in the world can remember what we did a year ago, let alone a month ago? 00:05:51:17 - 00:06:16:14 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry All right, take those archive notes and add them to the upcoming plan. So then, when the upcoming plan is coming, we look back and say, what did we say last year? And like a great example of this is like at summer camp, people said like last, like not the most recent summer camp we did, but the one from the summer last summer, people said something small like, hey, we should have a lost and found, or we should have more trash cans. 00:06:16:16 - 00:06:33:07 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so, you know, a week or two before we went, really? Hey, let's let's look back at that. Those debrief notes were like, oh, yeah, that's right. The lost and found in the trash cans. We pull those together quick. There are small things we were going to completely forget to do them, because we were so focused on all the other kind of like things and elements of camp. 00:06:33:14 - 00:06:51:26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But we looked back at our debrief notes and those two little small things like, really help. Like I said, kind of like May made the difference, right? And so however you choose to do it, one of the words that my boss always kind of used was, we need a place to memorialize these thoughts, right? So like we say them, write them down for us. 00:06:51:26 - 00:07:21:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry It's base camp. You can use whatever kind of project management tool or software that you want to do and go ahead and take that to the races, but you should use these right? Broken slash confusing and missing. Use them in your next event evaluation. And here's the thing. If you go ahead and download my donate, event guide, come back to this episode or check this episode out right after your event is over so that you can really, truly lean in to, these questions and make your event as good as it can be, on and off into the future. 00:07:21:06 - 00:07:38:22 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Now, here's the thing. All of this has been ramping up. This is a this has been focused on one night, right? One night of like a big event, one night of like bring your friends. And you know, we talked about in the first episode, but the the spiritual CPR strategy. So cultivate and then plant and then reap. That's a cultivate event. 00:07:38:22 - 00:08:06:18 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry That's a cultivate night. How do you then carry on that momentum on into the next coming weeks? One of the elements, one of the small slivers component, but one that I really think has been super huge in our student ministry around, reaching, frankly, reaching more students, and reaching more lost students in an effort to be, both like planting seeds of like, spirituality as well as just like having fun is, is through using, the means of social media. 00:08:06:18 - 00:08:26:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so obviously, here I am. It's a hybrid ministry podcast. You probably saw that one coming, but that's been a hugely beneficial and hugely big piece in our overall strategy. And it's become one of our primary evangelism mechanisms. And next week I am dropping the fall seasonal social media pack. Now here's how this is going to work next Thursday. 00:08:26:08 - 00:08:47:29 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry If you're subscribed, you're going to get it as soon as it drops. It's over on my Patreon. So is Patreon.com slash hybrid ministry. And over there there is a tier of podcast, a bonus weekly podcast where I'm just detailing an outline, all of my events, and all of our Wednesday nights, our programing, what's going well, what we're doing on social media, moves are making changes that we got going on. 00:08:47:29 - 00:09:03:13 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Here's the thing. This week at time of of filming that one, this episode drops. So at time of filming, my boss actually just submitted his resignation. So I'm actually stepping into a new role and I'm stepping into a new seat. And so I'm going to have the opportunity to share some of that with you. And I'm really excited. 00:09:03:13 - 00:09:34:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But that podcast that patrons hear is $4 per month. Now, here's the thing. The seasonal social media pack is like 1799, and it is meant to last for three months. So if you do the math, you actually come out ahead on the, on the tier. And so what I would recommend right now, if you're listening to this week leading into launch, go over to Patreon, give me the $4 per month, getting in on that tier, and then you will get everything in the store, not just this upcoming seasonal pack, but you can grab the summer pack. 00:09:34:13 - 00:10:02:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then, on Thursday, you can grab the fall pack, and there's actually a free week trial there, for you to check it out. So click the link down below. Become what we call a hybrid hero at that $4 per month tier. So excited to do that. And we're going to be dropping not only that pack next week and kind of walking through what that is, but then we're also going to start looking at how can you build and create a social media team within the the gathering in your in your context as is, that's fully and completely run by teenagers? 00:10:02:02 - 00:10:19:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I'm going to walk you how we did it and how you can do it in your youth ministry to reach students, but also create momentum for your students that are attending your church in person as well. So once again, thank you guys so much for being here. I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did like it, subscribe, share with the friend. 00:10:19:10 - 00:10:23:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But until next time and as always, don't forget to stay hybrid. youth ministry, event evaluation, youth ministry strategy, post-event debrief, youth group events, church event planning, ministry improvement, digital ministry, hybrid ministry, youth pastor tools, ministry evaluation form, fall ministry planning, student ministry, youth event feedback, youth group planning, youth ministry ideas, ministry checklist, church leadership, event debrief questions, what worked what broke what was missing, next gen ministry, youth ministry resources, volunteer training In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we’re unpacking a proven event evaluation strategy for youth ministry that will help you actually improve your events instead of just surviving them. Learn how to run a productive post-event debrief using a 3-question framework that works for digital and in-person debrief meetings alike. Plus, get access to a sample evaluation form, hear a big announcement, and upgrade your fall youth ministry strategy with intentional feedback tools.

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Post Event Debriefs
00:25 Your Complete Fall Strategy Session
01:33 Proven Debrief Strategy
04:02 This Strategy was GENIUS!!
07:22 Your Fall Social Media Strategy is HERE!

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Post-event debriefs can feel like a roast session if we're not careful. That's why I recommend this

00:00:06:12 - 00:00:19:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
proven three part strategy for evaluating and making sure that your events not only get the proper evaluation that they deserve, but are even better on into the future

00:00:19:29 - 00:00:26:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
for your next year's event. Welcome, my friends, to the Hybrid Minister show.

00:00:26:00 - 00:00:29:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show.

00:00:29:07 - 00:00:57:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I am your host, Nicolas. And in this episode, episode 163. If you want to head to the show notes with transcripts. Hybrid Ministry dot xyzzy slash 163. That would be incredible. And a subscribe while you there would also just do us wonders. But if you have been following along here on YouTube, we are in a playlist for your complete fall like strategy guide and strategy session for, not only your upcoming fall outreach event.

00:00:57:12 - 00:01:22:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
How we run outreach events. And it's all kind of been centered around like some principles for like, fall outreach and fall launches. But if you're looking for one, and one of my favorite kind of strategies is a, month long, ongoing, like, bracket style event, and I'm giving one away or I'm giving away an event guide, to one of my products over on download this ministry called the World's Greatest Donut Bracket Event.

00:01:23:01 - 00:01:42:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We've been walking through what those nights look like, how to include and incorporate free time, how to welcome your new guests. But now that all the dust has settled, now that all of the donut madness is over, you're ready to evaluate your event. So whether you're evaluating this particular event or just any of your fall events, this is my proven three part strategy and framework.

00:01:42:05 - 00:02:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I mean, I'm just going to be honest, like you've maybe heard this before. It's not unique or original to me. I've I've used it in a couple of last churches that I've worked in. But there's a few kind of like tweaks and adaptations to it. And so you might have heard this, but the first, you know, the first question worth asking in an event evaluation debrief is what went right, like, let's celebrate the wins straight out of the gate.

00:02:06:12 - 00:02:26:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, what were the wins? What were the good things? And kind of go that route. The next question that I like to do and, you know, one of the church that I worked at, we call these questions the for hopefuls, but I like to combine these next two. And so that's why it's only three, three questions because I think these two, are cousins of one another.

00:02:26:05 - 00:02:46:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. And so, I like this one of, like the broken what was broken slash confusing. So, broken and confusing can kind of get, like I said, close to one another when you're kind of passing them out, you're like, oh, is this one broken? I'm not sure if that thing, that QR code was broken or if it was just confusing.

00:02:46:15 - 00:03:04:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. And and maybe the Q QR code was actually broken, or maybe students just don't know what they're doing, and it made it confusing. And that's kind of how I found that question to kind of land. And so just sticking those two together really like will help you in this question right here. Here's the thing I want to encourage you, don't make this personal.

00:03:04:09 - 00:03:35:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Don't take these things personal, but really like lean into these right here because this is how and this is where, and this is when and how and why you can make this event even better next year when you pull this thing together. Right. Like, this event becomes so much better when you take care of the broken and the confusing parts and you can really turn around, you can optimize, your next event or your next year's event or, some elements of this event that you're going to bring to, like the next Wednesday night, whatever the case might be like, but this is your chance to optimize it.

00:03:35:01 - 00:03:53:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Perfect. It really kind of like hone it in. And then finally, this last question, what was missing? And so it could be like, you know, while we were in the middle of the event, I thought it would have been great if we had this. We didn't think of it ahead of time. But let's next year, let's let's kind of plan to make this happen now a couple different ways that you can handle debriefs.

00:03:53:11 - 00:04:11:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I think probably the most common is just like an in person. Right. Like you get together, you talk about it with your team and you, you know, take notes and you go off to the next one. And for major events like big events like this ones you spend maybe a lot of budget money on, I would recommend doing some sort of like in-person debrief.

00:04:11:00 - 00:04:30:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, if you're debriefing every single event, you're never not debriefing because let's just be honest, like, if you meet once a week in youth ministry, there's always one time a week we got to get together and get a debrief. And then if you're meeting twice a week, say Wednesday night and Sunday morning, you're also getting together another time to kind of look back at Sunday morning.

00:04:30:28 - 00:04:54:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And what if you're meeting Sunday night then now you're meeting three different times for three different evaluations. And so it can become a lot and it can become a lot of meetings. And sometimes it's just like, man, we just got work to do. Right. And so, one of the things that my boss, has instituted is we use base camp, and he instituted this idea, and he just cause, our debriefs sometimes, we keep them all digital.

00:04:54:21 - 00:05:19:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's a digital debrief. We go into base camp, into the the message board there, and he'll ask three different questions. Sometimes he'll ask, right, right. Wrong, broken, confused. Like all that. But other times he'll throw in, like a curveball or, you know, like, and I think like this question, for example, is a good example of like, missing, you know, but he'll be like, what's one thing that we could have done to really take this event over the top?

00:05:19:19 - 00:05:35:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so it just get your brain thinking in a little bit of a different category, though, it is probably like an answer to the missing question. But it's framed really well. That makes you like, think in a different kind of way, you know what I'm saying? So but what we'll do then is everyone on the team has to complete that digital debrief comment done when they're done.

00:05:35:22 - 00:05:51:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, he'll take those and he'll, he'll archive the, the plan. So it's out of our, like, base camp. But then next year, as we're getting ready to pull that back together, he'll, he'll go grab those archive notes. Because who in the world can remember what we did a year ago, let alone a month ago?

00:05:51:17 - 00:06:16:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
All right, take those archive notes and add them to the upcoming plan. So then, when the upcoming plan is coming, we look back and say, what did we say last year? And like a great example of this is like at summer camp, people said like last, like not the most recent summer camp we did, but the one from the summer last summer, people said something small like, hey, we should have a lost and found, or we should have more trash cans.

00:06:16:16 - 00:06:33:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, you know, a week or two before we went, really? Hey, let's let's look back at that. Those debrief notes were like, oh, yeah, that's right. The lost and found in the trash cans. We pull those together quick. There are small things we were going to completely forget to do them, because we were so focused on all the other kind of like things and elements of camp.

00:06:33:14 - 00:06:51:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But we looked back at our debrief notes and those two little small things like, really help. Like I said, kind of like May made the difference, right? And so however you choose to do it, one of the words that my boss always kind of used was, we need a place to memorialize these thoughts, right? So like we say them, write them down for us.

00:06:51:26 - 00:07:21:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's base camp. You can use whatever kind of project management tool or software that you want to do and go ahead and take that to the races, but you should use these right? Broken slash confusing and missing. Use them in your next event evaluation. And here's the thing. If you go ahead and download my donate, event guide, come back to this episode or check this episode out right after your event is over so that you can really, truly lean in to, these questions and make your event as good as it can be, on and off into the future.

00:07:21:06 - 00:07:38:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, here's the thing. All of this has been ramping up. This is a this has been focused on one night, right? One night of like a big event, one night of like bring your friends. And you know, we talked about in the first episode, but the the spiritual CPR strategy. So cultivate and then plant and then reap. That's a cultivate event.

00:07:38:22 - 00:08:06:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's a cultivate night. How do you then carry on that momentum on into the next coming weeks? One of the elements, one of the small slivers component, but one that I really think has been super huge in our student ministry around, reaching, frankly, reaching more students, and reaching more lost students in an effort to be, both like planting seeds of like, spirituality as well as just like having fun is, is through using, the means of social media.

00:08:06:18 - 00:08:26:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so obviously, here I am. It's a hybrid ministry podcast. You probably saw that one coming, but that's been a hugely beneficial and hugely big piece in our overall strategy. And it's become one of our primary evangelism mechanisms. And next week I am dropping the fall seasonal social media pack. Now here's how this is going to work next Thursday.

00:08:26:08 - 00:08:47:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're subscribed, you're going to get it as soon as it drops. It's over on my Patreon. So is Patreon.com slash hybrid ministry. And over there there is a tier of podcast, a bonus weekly podcast where I'm just detailing an outline, all of my events, and all of our Wednesday nights, our programing, what's going well, what we're doing on social media, moves are making changes that we got going on.

00:08:47:29 - 00:09:03:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Here's the thing. This week at time of of filming that one, this episode drops. So at time of filming, my boss actually just submitted his resignation. So I'm actually stepping into a new role and I'm stepping into a new seat. And so I'm going to have the opportunity to share some of that with you. And I'm really excited.

00:09:03:13 - 00:09:34:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But that podcast that patrons hear is $4 per month. Now, here's the thing. The seasonal social media pack is like 1799, and it is meant to last for three months. So if you do the math, you actually come out ahead on the, on the tier. And so what I would recommend right now, if you're listening to this week leading into launch, go over to Patreon, give me the $4 per month, getting in on that tier, and then you will get everything in the store, not just this upcoming seasonal pack, but you can grab the summer pack.

00:09:34:13 - 00:10:02:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, on Thursday, you can grab the fall pack, and there's actually a free week trial there, for you to check it out. So click the link down below. Become what we call a hybrid hero at that $4 per month tier. So excited to do that. And we're going to be dropping not only that pack next week and kind of walking through what that is, but then we're also going to start looking at how can you build and create a social media team within the the gathering in your in your context as is, that's fully and completely run by teenagers?

00:10:02:02 - 00:10:19:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm going to walk you how we did it and how you can do it in your youth ministry to reach students, but also create momentum for your students that are attending your church in person as well. So once again, thank you guys so much for being here. I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did like it, subscribe, share with the friend.

00:10:19:10 - 00:10:23:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But until next time and as always, don't forget to stay hybrid.

]]> In this episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show, we’re unpacking a proven event evaluation strategy for youth ministry that will help you actually improve your events instead of just surviving them. Learn how to run a productive post-event debrief using a 3-question framework that works for digital and in-person debrief meetings alike. Plus, get access to a sample evaluation form, hear a big announcement, and upgrade your fall youth ministry strategy with intentional feedback tools.

🍩 "FREE World's Greatest Donut Event Guide"
GUIDE: https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/worlds-greatest-donut
DYM: https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/world%27s-greatest-donut/games/food-8745.html

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Post Event Debriefs
00:25 Your Complete Fall Strategy Session
01:33 Proven Debrief Strategy
04:02 This Strategy was GENIUS!!
07:22 Your Fall Social Media Strategy is HERE!

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Post-event debriefs can feel like a roast session if we're not careful. That's why I recommend this

00:00:06:12 - 00:00:19:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
proven three part strategy for evaluating and making sure that your events not only get the proper evaluation that they deserve, but are even better on into the future

00:00:19:29 - 00:00:26:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
for your next year's event. Welcome, my friends, to the Hybrid Minister show.

00:00:26:00 - 00:00:29:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Well, hey everybody, welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show.

00:00:29:07 - 00:00:57:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I am your host, Nicolas. And in this episode, episode 163. If you want to head to the show notes with transcripts. Hybrid Ministry dot xyzzy slash 163. That would be incredible. And a subscribe while you there would also just do us wonders. But if you have been following along here on YouTube, we are in a playlist for your complete fall like strategy guide and strategy session for, not only your upcoming fall outreach event.

00:00:57:12 - 00:01:22:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
How we run outreach events. And it's all kind of been centered around like some principles for like, fall outreach and fall launches. But if you're looking for one, and one of my favorite kind of strategies is a, month long, ongoing, like, bracket style event, and I'm giving one away or I'm giving away an event guide, to one of my products over on download this ministry called the World's Greatest Donut Bracket Event.

00:01:23:01 - 00:01:42:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We've been walking through what those nights look like, how to include and incorporate free time, how to welcome your new guests. But now that all the dust has settled, now that all of the donut madness is over, you're ready to evaluate your event. So whether you're evaluating this particular event or just any of your fall events, this is my proven three part strategy and framework.

00:01:42:05 - 00:02:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I mean, I'm just going to be honest, like you've maybe heard this before. It's not unique or original to me. I've I've used it in a couple of last churches that I've worked in. But there's a few kind of like tweaks and adaptations to it. And so you might have heard this, but the first, you know, the first question worth asking in an event evaluation debrief is what went right, like, let's celebrate the wins straight out of the gate.

00:02:06:12 - 00:02:26:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, what were the wins? What were the good things? And kind of go that route. The next question that I like to do and, you know, one of the church that I worked at, we call these questions the for hopefuls, but I like to combine these next two. And so that's why it's only three, three questions because I think these two, are cousins of one another.

00:02:26:05 - 00:02:46:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. And so, I like this one of, like the broken what was broken slash confusing. So, broken and confusing can kind of get, like I said, close to one another when you're kind of passing them out, you're like, oh, is this one broken? I'm not sure if that thing, that QR code was broken or if it was just confusing.

00:02:46:15 - 00:03:04:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Right. And and maybe the Q QR code was actually broken, or maybe students just don't know what they're doing, and it made it confusing. And that's kind of how I found that question to kind of land. And so just sticking those two together really like will help you in this question right here. Here's the thing I want to encourage you, don't make this personal.

00:03:04:09 - 00:03:35:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Don't take these things personal, but really like lean into these right here because this is how and this is where, and this is when and how and why you can make this event even better next year when you pull this thing together. Right. Like, this event becomes so much better when you take care of the broken and the confusing parts and you can really turn around, you can optimize, your next event or your next year's event or, some elements of this event that you're going to bring to, like the next Wednesday night, whatever the case might be like, but this is your chance to optimize it.

00:03:35:01 - 00:03:53:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Perfect. It really kind of like hone it in. And then finally, this last question, what was missing? And so it could be like, you know, while we were in the middle of the event, I thought it would have been great if we had this. We didn't think of it ahead of time. But let's next year, let's let's kind of plan to make this happen now a couple different ways that you can handle debriefs.

00:03:53:11 - 00:04:11:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I think probably the most common is just like an in person. Right. Like you get together, you talk about it with your team and you, you know, take notes and you go off to the next one. And for major events like big events like this ones you spend maybe a lot of budget money on, I would recommend doing some sort of like in-person debrief.

00:04:11:00 - 00:04:30:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
However, if you're debriefing every single event, you're never not debriefing because let's just be honest, like, if you meet once a week in youth ministry, there's always one time a week we got to get together and get a debrief. And then if you're meeting twice a week, say Wednesday night and Sunday morning, you're also getting together another time to kind of look back at Sunday morning.

00:04:30:28 - 00:04:54:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And what if you're meeting Sunday night then now you're meeting three different times for three different evaluations. And so it can become a lot and it can become a lot of meetings. And sometimes it's just like, man, we just got work to do. Right. And so, one of the things that my boss, has instituted is we use base camp, and he instituted this idea, and he just cause, our debriefs sometimes, we keep them all digital.

00:04:54:21 - 00:05:19:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's a digital debrief. We go into base camp, into the the message board there, and he'll ask three different questions. Sometimes he'll ask, right, right. Wrong, broken, confused. Like all that. But other times he'll throw in, like a curveball or, you know, like, and I think like this question, for example, is a good example of like, missing, you know, but he'll be like, what's one thing that we could have done to really take this event over the top?

00:05:19:19 - 00:05:35:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so it just get your brain thinking in a little bit of a different category, though, it is probably like an answer to the missing question. But it's framed really well. That makes you like, think in a different kind of way, you know what I'm saying? So but what we'll do then is everyone on the team has to complete that digital debrief comment done when they're done.

00:05:35:22 - 00:05:51:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, he'll take those and he'll, he'll archive the, the plan. So it's out of our, like, base camp. But then next year, as we're getting ready to pull that back together, he'll, he'll go grab those archive notes. Because who in the world can remember what we did a year ago, let alone a month ago?

00:05:51:17 - 00:06:16:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
All right, take those archive notes and add them to the upcoming plan. So then, when the upcoming plan is coming, we look back and say, what did we say last year? And like a great example of this is like at summer camp, people said like last, like not the most recent summer camp we did, but the one from the summer last summer, people said something small like, hey, we should have a lost and found, or we should have more trash cans.

00:06:16:16 - 00:06:33:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, you know, a week or two before we went, really? Hey, let's let's look back at that. Those debrief notes were like, oh, yeah, that's right. The lost and found in the trash cans. We pull those together quick. There are small things we were going to completely forget to do them, because we were so focused on all the other kind of like things and elements of camp.

00:06:33:14 - 00:06:51:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But we looked back at our debrief notes and those two little small things like, really help. Like I said, kind of like May made the difference, right? And so however you choose to do it, one of the words that my boss always kind of used was, we need a place to memorialize these thoughts, right? So like we say them, write them down for us.

00:06:51:26 - 00:07:21:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's base camp. You can use whatever kind of project management tool or software that you want to do and go ahead and take that to the races, but you should use these right? Broken slash confusing and missing. Use them in your next event evaluation. And here's the thing. If you go ahead and download my donate, event guide, come back to this episode or check this episode out right after your event is over so that you can really, truly lean in to, these questions and make your event as good as it can be, on and off into the future.

00:07:21:06 - 00:07:38:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, here's the thing. All of this has been ramping up. This is a this has been focused on one night, right? One night of like a big event, one night of like bring your friends. And you know, we talked about in the first episode, but the the spiritual CPR strategy. So cultivate and then plant and then reap. That's a cultivate event.

00:07:38:22 - 00:08:06:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
That's a cultivate night. How do you then carry on that momentum on into the next coming weeks? One of the elements, one of the small slivers component, but one that I really think has been super huge in our student ministry around, reaching, frankly, reaching more students, and reaching more lost students in an effort to be, both like planting seeds of like, spirituality as well as just like having fun is, is through using, the means of social media.

00:08:06:18 - 00:08:26:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so obviously, here I am. It's a hybrid ministry podcast. You probably saw that one coming, but that's been a hugely beneficial and hugely big piece in our overall strategy. And it's become one of our primary evangelism mechanisms. And next week I am dropping the fall seasonal social media pack. Now here's how this is going to work next Thursday.

00:08:26:08 - 00:08:47:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're subscribed, you're going to get it as soon as it drops. It's over on my Patreon. So is Patreon.com slash hybrid ministry. And over there there is a tier of podcast, a bonus weekly podcast where I'm just detailing an outline, all of my events, and all of our Wednesday nights, our programing, what's going well, what we're doing on social media, moves are making changes that we got going on.

00:08:47:29 - 00:09:03:13
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Here's the thing. This week at time of of filming that one, this episode drops. So at time of filming, my boss actually just submitted his resignation. So I'm actually stepping into a new role and I'm stepping into a new seat. And so I'm going to have the opportunity to share some of that with you. And I'm really excited.

00:09:03:13 - 00:09:34:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But that podcast that patrons hear is $4 per month. Now, here's the thing. The seasonal social media pack is like 1799, and it is meant to last for three months. So if you do the math, you actually come out ahead on the, on the tier. And so what I would recommend right now, if you're listening to this week leading into launch, go over to Patreon, give me the $4 per month, getting in on that tier, and then you will get everything in the store, not just this upcoming seasonal pack, but you can grab the summer pack.

00:09:34:13 - 00:10:02:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then, on Thursday, you can grab the fall pack, and there's actually a free week trial there, for you to check it out. So click the link down below. Become what we call a hybrid hero at that $4 per month tier. So excited to do that. And we're going to be dropping not only that pack next week and kind of walking through what that is, but then we're also going to start looking at how can you build and create a social media team within the the gathering in your in your context as is, that's fully and completely run by teenagers?

00:10:02:02 - 00:10:19:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I'm going to walk you how we did it and how you can do it in your youth ministry to reach students, but also create momentum for your students that are attending your church in person as well. So once again, thank you guys so much for being here. I hope you found this episode helpful. If you did like it, subscribe, share with the friend.

00:10:19:10 - 00:10:23:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But until next time and as always, don't forget to stay hybrid.

]]> Episode 149: Youth Ministry in the Summer? Should You Shut It Down or Show Up Strong? https://www.hybridministry.xyz/149 1566b6ef-5529-4852-b275-e6563591ac44 Thu, 15 May 2025 05:00:00 -0500 Nick Clason 149 Youth Ministry in the Summer? Should You Shut It Down or Show Up Strong? full Nick Clason Summer is coming, and youth pastors everywhere are asking—do we keep programming or hit pause? In this video, we’ll break down the pros and cons of both options and help you decide what’s right for your ministry this summer. Stick around till the end for a FREE resource: 100 social media ideas to keep students engaged—even if you hit pause. Plus 3 tips for summer ministry, regardless of the direction you choose 13:59 no Summer is coming, and youth pastors everywhere are asking—do we keep programming or hit pause? In this video, we’ll break down the pros and cons of both options and help you decide what’s right for your ministry this summer. Stick around till the end for a FREE resource: 100 social media ideas to keep students engaged—even if you hit pause. Plus 3 tips for summer ministry, regardless of the direction you choose ☀️ SUMMER SOCIAL MEDIA PACK https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry/shop/summer-seasonal-social-media-1540452?utmmedium=clipboardcopy&utmsource=copyLink&utmcampaign=productsharecreator&utmcontent=join_link 🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET IT FOR FREE! https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/149 //AVOID BURNOUT WITH DERRY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do3WGIctHDs&t=43s //SOCIAL CHALLENGE PLAYLIST https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaKLwZqOkQe7NzOqSVR0-P1s //100 IDEAS https://share.hsforms.com/1JOHqd4XOTbC5ZgfXB85BCwnumis ✅ CHURCH COMMS DONE FOR YOU Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications! https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms 📊 [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book 📋 "PICK NICK'S BRAIN" Coaching Call https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100 https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 Youth Ministry in the Summer? 00:56 PROS: Meeting in the Summer 03:50 Lock in Your Social Media this Summer! 05:18 CONS: Meeting in the Summer 06:45 PROS: Taking a Summer Programming Break 08:24 CONS: Taking a Summer Programming Break 09:32 Tip #1 11:13 Tip #2 12:05 Tip #3 -------------- TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Summer is coming, whether you like it or not, and youth pastors everywhere are trying to decide whether they should hit pause on their programing or whether they should keep going strong. I want to encourage you in this video, we're going to explore the pros of keeping your programing going and contrast it with the cons of what it would look like if you chose to take a little bit of a break. 00:00:22:12 - 00:00:43:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Make sure that you stick around for the entire video, because at the end, I have a hundred social media ideas for you to go ahead and take and adopt in your ministry, especially if we choose to hit pause as well as three tips for an amazing summer, regardless of the decision that you choose. Don't forget to subscribe so that you don't miss a single one of our episodes. 00:00:43:08 - 00:01:04:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Now, as we are leading into summer and during the entire course of the summer, and as always, there are chapters listed down below so that you can hop ahead to the part of the show that makes the most sense to you. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Minister Show. What's up everyone? Welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show. In this episode, we're going to compare and contrast summer programing versus taking a break. 00:01:04:08 - 00:01:27:23 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So let's not waste any time. What are the pros of staying engaged with having summer programing in your youth ministry? Well, the first pro I would say is that students, sports schedules and students extracurricular vehicular activities tend to take a little bit more of a dip. And so historically, youth ministries have been going strong through the summer. And I'm sorry if they've been going strong through the school year. 00:01:27:23 - 00:01:48:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then they take a break during the summer, they match the students schedules. So while students are going strong during the school year, we're going strong during the school year when students tend to take a dip. We would also take a dip. And I think it's worthwhile to consider while student schedules take a little bit of a dip, what if our programing ramps up or at least doesn't go anywhere? 00:01:48:10 - 00:02:10:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Why? Because you may or may not have some students who are so busy during the school year that they're just simply not able to make a Wednesday night or Sunday night. But you have in programing, you do have an opportunity to now catch them when their schedule does tend to take a break. I remember one time, it was the very first week of our summer schedule, and it was the first time that I ever chose to stay to stay engaged during the summer. 00:02:10:23 - 00:02:31:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I looked out across the audience and I saw a student who I hadn't seen for the entire time of my duration and my tenure as a youth pastor at that church. And I had messaged with her mom, and her mom was lamenting the fact that, you know, her dance schedule didn't line up with what our student ministry was, and our student sister had just made a change from Wednesday to Sunday. 00:02:31:01 - 00:02:47:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And at that same time, when our student ministry made that change, her dance schedule also made that exact same change. And so she was so bummed out that we shifted from Wednesday to Sunday because her dance schedule had just shifted from Wednesday to Sunday. So she missed literally the entire school year. But I looked out and boom, there she was. 00:02:47:20 - 00:03:08:28 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I was like, man, had we not chosen to meet, she still wouldn't have been there. And so I know that you as a youth pastor, you have a heart to reach and capture your students. And so staying engaged in your programing during the summer can offer and allow you to have that sort of opportunity. The other thing that summer programing does is, honestly, it gives you a chance to try out some creative ideas. 00:03:08:28 - 00:03:28:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry In fact, if you didn't know this, I have a, Patreon account where I, weekly share what we're doing in our youth ministry. And it's just $4 a month, which is $1 per episode, where I detail and breakdown everything I'm doing to be creative and stay hybrid. And so this summer, I'm going to be taking you along on that journey. 00:03:28:05 - 00:03:51:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I would love to encourage you if you're one that wants to increase your creativity in your youth ministry, lean into your social media and your digital presence. Come hang out with us over on Patreon, and we're going to be giving that out $1 per week for, the bonus podcast episodes. But it gives you a chance to to be a little bit creative, to try something different that maybe, I don't know, before wouldn't have worked on. 00:03:51:11 - 00:04:26:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry This episode is actually brought to you by my very own Patreon. The Patreon is my bonus podcast community, and I call those people over there who are subscribers. They're my hybrid heroes, and what we do over on my Patreon is a every single resource that I've created, and my shop is free for all Patreon members, along with a weekly bonus podcast episode and the cost right now to join my Patreon, I may go up, but right now legacy members can get it for $4 a month. 00:04:26:20 - 00:04:50:14 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So every single time I create a resource that's just through my Patreon that costs money for people who want to go on to my shop and buy something, you get it for free as a patron member, plus a weekly bonus podcast where I talk about what I do on social media every week. I talk about what I do in my programing every week to try and keep it creative and hybrid, and how we're using sidekick over there. 00:04:51:01 - 00:05:09:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry In fact, this week I talk, for example, about how I didn't even have a tech person to run Pro presenter. I ran a game from the stage on my computer with name picker on sidekick by myself on my computer. It's amazing. I'll tell you how I do all that type of stuff on my Patreon, so go check it out. 00:05:09:21 - 00:05:29:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Link down below in the description where it says become a Hybrid Hero. Click that link and check it out. Hey, you get a free week trial if you're interested in it. Back to the show. All right, so what are the cons? Well, the cons are of course, that you don't get a break in your programing. If you go straight into your school, you're programing into your summer programing. 00:05:29:20 - 00:05:50:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You don't get any little bit of a rest. And, additionally speaking, neither do your leaders. And so that, of course, is the con. And that's probably one of the major players in this decision is you've been working hard all September, from September through May all school year. And, and you're maybe looking forward to getting a little bit of a break, maybe a little bit of a breather. 00:05:50:11 - 00:06:14:26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And, staying strong with your programing throughout the summer doesn't really give you that option. And in addition to that, because school year and, like fall based launches and the start, you know, post Labor Day and welcome back and back to school Sunday and all the things that go along with traditional church ministry, especially as it pertains to launching strong and launching hard in the fall. 00:06:14:29 - 00:06:31:14 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You might need to be recruiting leaders. Not taking a break over the summer may not give you as much space to retool and get ready to launch strong in the fall. Or at least that may be some of what you're thinking and some of what, you know, you, you kind of have going on in, in your mind there. 00:06:31:14 - 00:06:52:26 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so, I just want to encourage you, like, as you're kind of debating through this, like if your priority is having a strong, school year based student ministry, end of summer Rob's from that. I can imagine where that might be a con. Let let's take a look then, here at some of the pros and the cons of, choosing to take a break during the summer. 00:06:52:26 - 00:07:11:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So the pros are that if you do feel like you're running just so hard and so fast and so strong, all during the school year, the summer definitely does offer a little bit of a reprieve. You know, burnout is real among youth pastors. Shout out to my friend dairy. Link down below or right here on YouTube at the top of the screen. 00:07:12:03 - 00:07:48:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry On my episode with him where I interviewed, how does he avoid burnout? It is a fantastic episode, and what I'll just say is, if taking time off during the summer is a way to help you avoid, burning out, then it's more advantageous to not meet during the summer so that you can tend to your soul. But I would just say, maybe it's worthwhile to go take a look at that episode from Derry and see if during this next school year, if there are some practices and some principles that he laid out, that you can actually apply so that when next summer rolls around, if you are considering maybe, not breaking for 00:07:48:00 - 00:08:07:27 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry your programing as opposed to breaking that, you won't be so tired and so burnout by the time you get on the doorstep of summer. So that you can maybe show up for your students. Another pro, of course, is that you do give an opportunity to give your leaders a break. So if you you know how important it is to lean on leaders. 00:08:07:27 - 00:08:24:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And leaders really are the backbone of student ministry. If you, don't meet during the summer, obviously you don't need your leaders to be there. If you do meet during the summer, you kind of need your leaders to show up, you know what I'm saying? So, that that is one of the pros of choosing to take a break during the summer. 00:08:24:00 - 00:08:50:29 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry The cons, of course, are like, just think about this. Do you really want to go three months without meeting, like, just like basketball? Student ministry is a momentum game. And so, taking three months off, especially when you probably got, a high level, high flying thing, like camp or a mission trip, woven throughout the programing of your summer to just do that and then come back and not have anything for several months. 00:08:51:01 - 00:09:17:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like, that's really a con that is worth considering. Like, do you really want to come back and then just be like, all right, see you guys after Labor Day? Like for me personally, that feels like a little bit long and a little bit of an arduous, break. The other thing, of course, is that you're not meeting during summer students most available seasons is the pro, to the reason why you maybe should consider keeping summer programing going. 00:09:17:08 - 00:09:38:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so those are both sides. You can probably tell that objectively speaking, we do choose to meet during the summer. We retool, we scale it back. We we're very creative. We do things that are very different. And so let me just give you three tips, regardless of which decision you're going to, land on which which camp you fallen for this debate. 00:09:38:23 - 00:10:00:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Three tips to help you program amazing things, or at least, do amazing youth ministry during the summer, whether you're meeting or not. So tip number one is follow your church's guide. If you have regular, say, midweek or regular Sunday night activities, church wide kids, ministry ministries, all the things and they take a break, then perhaps consider also taking a break. 00:10:00:21 - 00:10:18:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry If if you're the only group that meets on campus when you meet, then that's not as big of a deal. But but consider following your church's lead. However, unlike the last video in this playlist where I talked about the importance of following your church's lead as a as it pertains to promotion, that's like a level like, absolutely. 00:10:18:06 - 00:10:43:28 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Do not deviate from your church's plan on this one. I would say I think things can be a little bit different because while some of the offerings for Kids Ministry and some of the offerings for adult ministry may be a little more elective based or a little more optional, if this is your main meeting time, then if you do choose to meet during the summer while the rest of your church takes time off, then stand strong on that and and communicate the importance of meeting when students are more available. 00:10:43:28 - 00:11:11:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Again, you don't have to do as wholesale or full scale of a programing. You can scale it back, you can throw some creative options. Again, I'm going to give you some of those and some of what we're doing, in our student ministry. But you can you can kind of pull back the, the, the programing, intensity a little bit so that you can have some fun and just make it a little bit more of a casual hangout, but the tip is, if you're sure you like, follow, follow your church's lead. 00:11:11:01 - 00:11:27:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry If you're unsure which direction to lean on this debate. The second tip I have for you is if you do take a break, and even if you don't, but if you definitely if you do lean in harder than on social media, because you may not be meeting on a Wednesday night or a Sunday night or whatever night you choose to meet, so you have more time in the office. 00:11:27:10 - 00:11:48:22 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So lean harder into social media, which is linked down below. The freebie tease at the beginning of the video. A hundred different topic ideas for you, for different concepts that, you can use on social media. So for us, I have a four part social media, strategy and social challenge guide, a whole playlist detailed for free, listed down below in the description. 00:11:48:25 - 00:12:08:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Go check that out one episode per video, but this freebie gives you 100 different topic ideas to help you lean into some of the creativity and some of the social media, ideas. And then you can continue to kind of show up where your students are, even if you choose not to meet. And then the third and final idea is just simply this it's summer, man. 00:12:08:15 - 00:12:26:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Have fun. Like if you do choose to meet, have fun while you do. If you don't have fun, do it on social media. Have a blast with your students creating content both for them and also consider doing it with them. And the thing about summer that's so fun. And one of the things that we do is we try to kind of ride the National Day trend. 00:12:26:10 - 00:12:46:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So if you didn't know there is a National day every single day, multiple national days. So this summer, for example, we're choosing like, beautiful Grandparent Day where we're going to play Extreme Bingo, and National Cheesecake Day is going to round out our summer, you know, programing. And and Leon Day, which is, June 25th. It is the, backwards. 00:12:46:24 - 00:13:08:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry You know, Leon spelled backwards is Noel. So June 25th is when crafters start getting their Christmas supplies out. Last summer we did like National Avocado Day, and we celebrated some holidays like that. And so there's always an option of a thing that you can just kind of trend. So if we don't, we don't female our midweek throughout the, the the regular school year. 00:13:08:00 - 00:13:26:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But during the summer we do we kind of have fun with it. It also is a fun way to kind of create some social media content around it. We'll go around, interview people and ask them, you know, things about each of those topics or whatever, and kind of do a man on the street style video and again, some of that is detailed in that line down below in that 100 free thing. 00:13:26:15 - 00:13:47:29 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So go ahead and and grab that freebie so that you don't neglect in that you don't avoid social media this summer. Hey, everyone. Coming up in the next episode is the fourth and final installment of this versus playlist, where we're going to be looking at digital ministry versus in-person ministry. And if you're watching this, after its release, it's going to be linked right here on the screen. 00:13:47:29 - 00:13:54:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry If you're watching this live, it'll be releasing next Thursday. But until next time. And as always, my friends, don't forget stay hybrid. youth ministry,student ministry,nick clason,hybrid ministry,youth pastor summer break,summer youth group ideas,church summer programming,student ministry strategy,should youth group meet in summer,youth leader tips,church leadership,youth group calendar,summer sabbatical,derry sabbatical card,free youth ministry resources,social media for youth pastors,how to lead youth ministry,youth group content ideas,100 youth ministry ideas,patreon hybrid ministry,summer youth series Summer is coming, and youth pastors everywhere are asking—do we keep programming or hit pause? In this video, we’ll break down the pros and cons of both options and help you decide what’s right for your ministry this summer. Stick around till the end for a FREE resource: 100 social media ideas to keep students engaged—even if you hit pause.
Plus 3 tips for summer ministry, regardless of the direction you choose

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BEST DYM RESOURCES
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OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
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//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Youth Ministry in the Summer?
00:56 PROS: Meeting in the Summer
03:50 Lock in Your Social Media this Summer!
05:18 CONS: Meeting in the Summer
06:45 PROS: Taking a Summer Programming Break
08:24 CONS: Taking a Summer Programming Break
09:32 Tip #1
11:13 Tip #2
12:05 Tip #3

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Summer is coming, whether you like it or not, and youth pastors everywhere are trying to decide whether they should hit pause on their programing or whether they should keep going strong. I want to encourage you in this video, we're going to explore the pros of keeping your programing going and contrast it with the cons of what it would look like if you chose to take a little bit of a break.

00:00:22:12 - 00:00:43:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Make sure that you stick around for the entire video, because at the end, I have a hundred social media ideas for you to go ahead and take and adopt in your ministry, especially if we choose to hit pause as well as three tips for an amazing summer, regardless of the decision that you choose. Don't forget to subscribe so that you don't miss a single one of our episodes.

00:00:43:08 - 00:01:04:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, as we are leading into summer and during the entire course of the summer, and as always, there are chapters listed down below so that you can hop ahead to the part of the show that makes the most sense to you. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Minister Show. What's up everyone? Welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show. In this episode, we're going to compare and contrast summer programing versus taking a break.

00:01:04:08 - 00:01:27:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So let's not waste any time. What are the pros of staying engaged with having summer programing in your youth ministry? Well, the first pro I would say is that students, sports schedules and students extracurricular vehicular activities tend to take a little bit more of a dip. And so historically, youth ministries have been going strong through the summer. And I'm sorry if they've been going strong through the school year.

00:01:27:23 - 00:01:48:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then they take a break during the summer, they match the students schedules. So while students are going strong during the school year, we're going strong during the school year when students tend to take a dip. We would also take a dip. And I think it's worthwhile to consider while student schedules take a little bit of a dip, what if our programing ramps up or at least doesn't go anywhere?

00:01:48:10 - 00:02:10:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Why? Because you may or may not have some students who are so busy during the school year that they're just simply not able to make a Wednesday night or Sunday night. But you have in programing, you do have an opportunity to now catch them when their schedule does tend to take a break. I remember one time, it was the very first week of our summer schedule, and it was the first time that I ever chose to stay to stay engaged during the summer.

00:02:10:23 - 00:02:31:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I looked out across the audience and I saw a student who I hadn't seen for the entire time of my duration and my tenure as a youth pastor at that church. And I had messaged with her mom, and her mom was lamenting the fact that, you know, her dance schedule didn't line up with what our student ministry was, and our student sister had just made a change from Wednesday to Sunday.

00:02:31:01 - 00:02:47:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And at that same time, when our student ministry made that change, her dance schedule also made that exact same change. And so she was so bummed out that we shifted from Wednesday to Sunday because her dance schedule had just shifted from Wednesday to Sunday. So she missed literally the entire school year. But I looked out and boom, there she was.

00:02:47:20 - 00:03:08:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, man, had we not chosen to meet, she still wouldn't have been there. And so I know that you as a youth pastor, you have a heart to reach and capture your students. And so staying engaged in your programing during the summer can offer and allow you to have that sort of opportunity. The other thing that summer programing does is, honestly, it gives you a chance to try out some creative ideas.

00:03:08:28 - 00:03:28:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In fact, if you didn't know this, I have a, Patreon account where I, weekly share what we're doing in our youth ministry. And it's just $4 a month, which is $1 per episode, where I detail and breakdown everything I'm doing to be creative and stay hybrid. And so this summer, I'm going to be taking you along on that journey.

00:03:28:05 - 00:03:51:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I would love to encourage you if you're one that wants to increase your creativity in your youth ministry, lean into your social media and your digital presence. Come hang out with us over on Patreon, and we're going to be giving that out $1 per week for, the bonus podcast episodes. But it gives you a chance to to be a little bit creative, to try something different that maybe, I don't know, before wouldn't have worked on.

00:03:51:11 - 00:04:26:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This episode is actually brought to you by my very own Patreon. The Patreon is my bonus podcast community, and I call those people over there who are subscribers. They're my hybrid heroes, and what we do over on my Patreon is a every single resource that I've created, and my shop is free for all Patreon members, along with a weekly bonus podcast episode and the cost right now to join my Patreon, I may go up, but right now legacy members can get it for $4 a month.

00:04:26:20 - 00:04:50:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So every single time I create a resource that's just through my Patreon that costs money for people who want to go on to my shop and buy something, you get it for free as a patron member, plus a weekly bonus podcast where I talk about what I do on social media every week. I talk about what I do in my programing every week to try and keep it creative and hybrid, and how we're using sidekick over there.

00:04:51:01 - 00:05:09:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In fact, this week I talk, for example, about how I didn't even have a tech person to run Pro presenter. I ran a game from the stage on my computer with name picker on sidekick by myself on my computer. It's amazing. I'll tell you how I do all that type of stuff on my Patreon, so go check it out.

00:05:09:21 - 00:05:29:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Link down below in the description where it says become a Hybrid Hero. Click that link and check it out. Hey, you get a free week trial if you're interested in it. Back to the show. All right, so what are the cons? Well, the cons are of course, that you don't get a break in your programing. If you go straight into your school, you're programing into your summer programing.

00:05:29:20 - 00:05:50:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You don't get any little bit of a rest. And, additionally speaking, neither do your leaders. And so that, of course, is the con. And that's probably one of the major players in this decision is you've been working hard all September, from September through May all school year. And, and you're maybe looking forward to getting a little bit of a break, maybe a little bit of a breather.

00:05:50:11 - 00:06:14:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, staying strong with your programing throughout the summer doesn't really give you that option. And in addition to that, because school year and, like fall based launches and the start, you know, post Labor Day and welcome back and back to school Sunday and all the things that go along with traditional church ministry, especially as it pertains to launching strong and launching hard in the fall.

00:06:14:29 - 00:06:31:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You might need to be recruiting leaders. Not taking a break over the summer may not give you as much space to retool and get ready to launch strong in the fall. Or at least that may be some of what you're thinking and some of what, you know, you, you kind of have going on in, in your mind there.

00:06:31:14 - 00:06:52:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, I just want to encourage you, like, as you're kind of debating through this, like if your priority is having a strong, school year based student ministry, end of summer Rob's from that. I can imagine where that might be a con. Let let's take a look then, here at some of the pros and the cons of, choosing to take a break during the summer.

00:06:52:26 - 00:07:11:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So the pros are that if you do feel like you're running just so hard and so fast and so strong, all during the school year, the summer definitely does offer a little bit of a reprieve. You know, burnout is real among youth pastors. Shout out to my friend dairy. Link down below or right here on YouTube at the top of the screen.

00:07:12:03 - 00:07:48:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
On my episode with him where I interviewed, how does he avoid burnout? It is a fantastic episode, and what I'll just say is, if taking time off during the summer is a way to help you avoid, burning out, then it's more advantageous to not meet during the summer so that you can tend to your soul. But I would just say, maybe it's worthwhile to go take a look at that episode from Derry and see if during this next school year, if there are some practices and some principles that he laid out, that you can actually apply so that when next summer rolls around, if you are considering maybe, not breaking for

00:07:48:00 - 00:08:07:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
your programing as opposed to breaking that, you won't be so tired and so burnout by the time you get on the doorstep of summer. So that you can maybe show up for your students. Another pro, of course, is that you do give an opportunity to give your leaders a break. So if you you know how important it is to lean on leaders.

00:08:07:27 - 00:08:24:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And leaders really are the backbone of student ministry. If you, don't meet during the summer, obviously you don't need your leaders to be there. If you do meet during the summer, you kind of need your leaders to show up, you know what I'm saying? So, that that is one of the pros of choosing to take a break during the summer.

00:08:24:00 - 00:08:50:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The cons, of course, are like, just think about this. Do you really want to go three months without meeting, like, just like basketball? Student ministry is a momentum game. And so, taking three months off, especially when you probably got, a high level, high flying thing, like camp or a mission trip, woven throughout the programing of your summer to just do that and then come back and not have anything for several months.

00:08:51:01 - 00:09:17:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, that's really a con that is worth considering. Like, do you really want to come back and then just be like, all right, see you guys after Labor Day? Like for me personally, that feels like a little bit long and a little bit of an arduous, break. The other thing, of course, is that you're not meeting during summer students most available seasons is the pro, to the reason why you maybe should consider keeping summer programing going.

00:09:17:08 - 00:09:38:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so those are both sides. You can probably tell that objectively speaking, we do choose to meet during the summer. We retool, we scale it back. We we're very creative. We do things that are very different. And so let me just give you three tips, regardless of which decision you're going to, land on which which camp you fallen for this debate.

00:09:38:23 - 00:10:00:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Three tips to help you program amazing things, or at least, do amazing youth ministry during the summer, whether you're meeting or not. So tip number one is follow your church's guide. If you have regular, say, midweek or regular Sunday night activities, church wide kids, ministry ministries, all the things and they take a break, then perhaps consider also taking a break.

00:10:00:21 - 00:10:18:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If if you're the only group that meets on campus when you meet, then that's not as big of a deal. But but consider following your church's lead. However, unlike the last video in this playlist where I talked about the importance of following your church's lead as a as it pertains to promotion, that's like a level like, absolutely.

00:10:18:06 - 00:10:43:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Do not deviate from your church's plan on this one. I would say I think things can be a little bit different because while some of the offerings for Kids Ministry and some of the offerings for adult ministry may be a little more elective based or a little more optional, if this is your main meeting time, then if you do choose to meet during the summer while the rest of your church takes time off, then stand strong on that and and communicate the importance of meeting when students are more available.

00:10:43:28 - 00:11:11:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Again, you don't have to do as wholesale or full scale of a programing. You can scale it back, you can throw some creative options. Again, I'm going to give you some of those and some of what we're doing, in our student ministry. But you can you can kind of pull back the, the, the programing, intensity a little bit so that you can have some fun and just make it a little bit more of a casual hangout, but the tip is, if you're sure you like, follow, follow your church's lead.

00:11:11:01 - 00:11:27:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're unsure which direction to lean on this debate. The second tip I have for you is if you do take a break, and even if you don't, but if you definitely if you do lean in harder than on social media, because you may not be meeting on a Wednesday night or a Sunday night or whatever night you choose to meet, so you have more time in the office.

00:11:27:10 - 00:11:48:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So lean harder into social media, which is linked down below. The freebie tease at the beginning of the video. A hundred different topic ideas for you, for different concepts that, you can use on social media. So for us, I have a four part social media, strategy and social challenge guide, a whole playlist detailed for free, listed down below in the description.

00:11:48:25 - 00:12:08:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Go check that out one episode per video, but this freebie gives you 100 different topic ideas to help you lean into some of the creativity and some of the social media, ideas. And then you can continue to kind of show up where your students are, even if you choose not to meet. And then the third and final idea is just simply this it's summer, man.

00:12:08:15 - 00:12:26:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Have fun. Like if you do choose to meet, have fun while you do. If you don't have fun, do it on social media. Have a blast with your students creating content both for them and also consider doing it with them. And the thing about summer that's so fun. And one of the things that we do is we try to kind of ride the National Day trend.

00:12:26:10 - 00:12:46:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you didn't know there is a National day every single day, multiple national days. So this summer, for example, we're choosing like, beautiful Grandparent Day where we're going to play Extreme Bingo, and National Cheesecake Day is going to round out our summer, you know, programing. And and Leon Day, which is, June 25th. It is the, backwards.

00:12:46:24 - 00:13:08:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know, Leon spelled backwards is Noel. So June 25th is when crafters start getting their Christmas supplies out. Last summer we did like National Avocado Day, and we celebrated some holidays like that. And so there's always an option of a thing that you can just kind of trend. So if we don't, we don't female our midweek throughout the, the the regular school year.

00:13:08:00 - 00:13:26:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But during the summer we do we kind of have fun with it. It also is a fun way to kind of create some social media content around it. We'll go around, interview people and ask them, you know, things about each of those topics or whatever, and kind of do a man on the street style video and again, some of that is detailed in that line down below in that 100 free thing.

00:13:26:15 - 00:13:47:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So go ahead and and grab that freebie so that you don't neglect in that you don't avoid social media this summer. Hey, everyone. Coming up in the next episode is the fourth and final installment of this versus playlist, where we're going to be looking at digital ministry versus in-person ministry. And if you're watching this, after its release, it's going to be linked right here on the screen.

00:13:47:29 - 00:13:54:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're watching this live, it'll be releasing next Thursday. But until next time. And as always, my friends, don't forget stay hybrid.

]]> Summer is coming, and youth pastors everywhere are asking—do we keep programming or hit pause? In this video, we’ll break down the pros and cons of both options and help you decide what’s right for your ministry this summer. Stick around till the end for a FREE resource: 100 social media ideas to keep students engaged—even if you hit pause.
Plus 3 tips for summer ministry, regardless of the direction you choose

☀️ SUMMER SOCIAL MEDIA PACK
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry/shop/summer-seasonal-social-media-1540452?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=productshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🦸 HYBRID HEROS GET IT FOR FREE!
https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES
Shownotes & Transcripts
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/149

//AVOID BURNOUT WITH DERRY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do3WGIctHDs&t=43s

//SOCIAL CHALLENGE PLAYLIST
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaKLwZqOkQe7NzOqSVR0-P1s

//100 IDEAS
https://share.hsforms.com/1JOHqd4XOTbC5ZgfXB85BCwnumis

✅ CHURCH COMMS DONE FOR YOU
Hire me to run your church website, social media or communications!
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms

📊 [FREE] HYBRID STRATEGY GUIDE
https://hybrid-ministry-40060036.hubspotpagebuilder.com/free-hybrid-ministry-e-book

📋 "PICK NICK'S BRAIN" Coaching Call
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/coaching

👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry
Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

--------------
🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉
We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context!
The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe!
https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick

--------------
🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU!
Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products
VIDIQ
https://vidiq.com/hybrid

BEST DYM RESOURCES
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS
https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100
https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------
🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 Youth Ministry in the Summer?
00:56 PROS: Meeting in the Summer
03:50 Lock in Your Social Media this Summer!
05:18 CONS: Meeting in the Summer
06:45 PROS: Taking a Summer Programming Break
08:24 CONS: Taking a Summer Programming Break
09:32 Tip #1
11:13 Tip #2
12:05 Tip #3

--------------
TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Summer is coming, whether you like it or not, and youth pastors everywhere are trying to decide whether they should hit pause on their programing or whether they should keep going strong. I want to encourage you in this video, we're going to explore the pros of keeping your programing going and contrast it with the cons of what it would look like if you chose to take a little bit of a break.

00:00:22:12 - 00:00:43:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Make sure that you stick around for the entire video, because at the end, I have a hundred social media ideas for you to go ahead and take and adopt in your ministry, especially if we choose to hit pause as well as three tips for an amazing summer, regardless of the decision that you choose. Don't forget to subscribe so that you don't miss a single one of our episodes.

00:00:43:08 - 00:01:04:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Now, as we are leading into summer and during the entire course of the summer, and as always, there are chapters listed down below so that you can hop ahead to the part of the show that makes the most sense to you. Welcome everyone to the Hybrid Minister Show. What's up everyone? Welcome to the Hybrid Minister Show. In this episode, we're going to compare and contrast summer programing versus taking a break.

00:01:04:08 - 00:01:27:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So let's not waste any time. What are the pros of staying engaged with having summer programing in your youth ministry? Well, the first pro I would say is that students, sports schedules and students extracurricular vehicular activities tend to take a little bit more of a dip. And so historically, youth ministries have been going strong through the summer. And I'm sorry if they've been going strong through the school year.

00:01:27:23 - 00:01:48:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then they take a break during the summer, they match the students schedules. So while students are going strong during the school year, we're going strong during the school year when students tend to take a dip. We would also take a dip. And I think it's worthwhile to consider while student schedules take a little bit of a dip, what if our programing ramps up or at least doesn't go anywhere?

00:01:48:10 - 00:02:10:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Why? Because you may or may not have some students who are so busy during the school year that they're just simply not able to make a Wednesday night or Sunday night. But you have in programing, you do have an opportunity to now catch them when their schedule does tend to take a break. I remember one time, it was the very first week of our summer schedule, and it was the first time that I ever chose to stay to stay engaged during the summer.

00:02:10:23 - 00:02:31:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I looked out across the audience and I saw a student who I hadn't seen for the entire time of my duration and my tenure as a youth pastor at that church. And I had messaged with her mom, and her mom was lamenting the fact that, you know, her dance schedule didn't line up with what our student ministry was, and our student sister had just made a change from Wednesday to Sunday.

00:02:31:01 - 00:02:47:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And at that same time, when our student ministry made that change, her dance schedule also made that exact same change. And so she was so bummed out that we shifted from Wednesday to Sunday because her dance schedule had just shifted from Wednesday to Sunday. So she missed literally the entire school year. But I looked out and boom, there she was.

00:02:47:20 - 00:03:08:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, man, had we not chosen to meet, she still wouldn't have been there. And so I know that you as a youth pastor, you have a heart to reach and capture your students. And so staying engaged in your programing during the summer can offer and allow you to have that sort of opportunity. The other thing that summer programing does is, honestly, it gives you a chance to try out some creative ideas.

00:03:08:28 - 00:03:28:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In fact, if you didn't know this, I have a, Patreon account where I, weekly share what we're doing in our youth ministry. And it's just $4 a month, which is $1 per episode, where I detail and breakdown everything I'm doing to be creative and stay hybrid. And so this summer, I'm going to be taking you along on that journey.

00:03:28:05 - 00:03:51:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I would love to encourage you if you're one that wants to increase your creativity in your youth ministry, lean into your social media and your digital presence. Come hang out with us over on Patreon, and we're going to be giving that out $1 per week for, the bonus podcast episodes. But it gives you a chance to to be a little bit creative, to try something different that maybe, I don't know, before wouldn't have worked on.

00:03:51:11 - 00:04:26:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
This episode is actually brought to you by my very own Patreon. The Patreon is my bonus podcast community, and I call those people over there who are subscribers. They're my hybrid heroes, and what we do over on my Patreon is a every single resource that I've created, and my shop is free for all Patreon members, along with a weekly bonus podcast episode and the cost right now to join my Patreon, I may go up, but right now legacy members can get it for $4 a month.

00:04:26:20 - 00:04:50:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So every single time I create a resource that's just through my Patreon that costs money for people who want to go on to my shop and buy something, you get it for free as a patron member, plus a weekly bonus podcast where I talk about what I do on social media every week. I talk about what I do in my programing every week to try and keep it creative and hybrid, and how we're using sidekick over there.

00:04:51:01 - 00:05:09:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
In fact, this week I talk, for example, about how I didn't even have a tech person to run Pro presenter. I ran a game from the stage on my computer with name picker on sidekick by myself on my computer. It's amazing. I'll tell you how I do all that type of stuff on my Patreon, so go check it out.

00:05:09:21 - 00:05:29:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Link down below in the description where it says become a Hybrid Hero. Click that link and check it out. Hey, you get a free week trial if you're interested in it. Back to the show. All right, so what are the cons? Well, the cons are of course, that you don't get a break in your programing. If you go straight into your school, you're programing into your summer programing.

00:05:29:20 - 00:05:50:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You don't get any little bit of a rest. And, additionally speaking, neither do your leaders. And so that, of course, is the con. And that's probably one of the major players in this decision is you've been working hard all September, from September through May all school year. And, and you're maybe looking forward to getting a little bit of a break, maybe a little bit of a breather.

00:05:50:11 - 00:06:14:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, staying strong with your programing throughout the summer doesn't really give you that option. And in addition to that, because school year and, like fall based launches and the start, you know, post Labor Day and welcome back and back to school Sunday and all the things that go along with traditional church ministry, especially as it pertains to launching strong and launching hard in the fall.

00:06:14:29 - 00:06:31:14
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You might need to be recruiting leaders. Not taking a break over the summer may not give you as much space to retool and get ready to launch strong in the fall. Or at least that may be some of what you're thinking and some of what, you know, you, you kind of have going on in, in your mind there.

00:06:31:14 - 00:06:52:26
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so, I just want to encourage you, like, as you're kind of debating through this, like if your priority is having a strong, school year based student ministry, end of summer Rob's from that. I can imagine where that might be a con. Let let's take a look then, here at some of the pros and the cons of, choosing to take a break during the summer.

00:06:52:26 - 00:07:11:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So the pros are that if you do feel like you're running just so hard and so fast and so strong, all during the school year, the summer definitely does offer a little bit of a reprieve. You know, burnout is real among youth pastors. Shout out to my friend dairy. Link down below or right here on YouTube at the top of the screen.

00:07:12:03 - 00:07:48:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
On my episode with him where I interviewed, how does he avoid burnout? It is a fantastic episode, and what I'll just say is, if taking time off during the summer is a way to help you avoid, burning out, then it's more advantageous to not meet during the summer so that you can tend to your soul. But I would just say, maybe it's worthwhile to go take a look at that episode from Derry and see if during this next school year, if there are some practices and some principles that he laid out, that you can actually apply so that when next summer rolls around, if you are considering maybe, not breaking for

00:07:48:00 - 00:08:07:27
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
your programing as opposed to breaking that, you won't be so tired and so burnout by the time you get on the doorstep of summer. So that you can maybe show up for your students. Another pro, of course, is that you do give an opportunity to give your leaders a break. So if you you know how important it is to lean on leaders.

00:08:07:27 - 00:08:24:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And leaders really are the backbone of student ministry. If you, don't meet during the summer, obviously you don't need your leaders to be there. If you do meet during the summer, you kind of need your leaders to show up, you know what I'm saying? So, that that is one of the pros of choosing to take a break during the summer.

00:08:24:00 - 00:08:50:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
The cons, of course, are like, just think about this. Do you really want to go three months without meeting, like, just like basketball? Student ministry is a momentum game. And so, taking three months off, especially when you probably got, a high level, high flying thing, like camp or a mission trip, woven throughout the programing of your summer to just do that and then come back and not have anything for several months.

00:08:51:01 - 00:09:17:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like, that's really a con that is worth considering. Like, do you really want to come back and then just be like, all right, see you guys after Labor Day? Like for me personally, that feels like a little bit long and a little bit of an arduous, break. The other thing, of course, is that you're not meeting during summer students most available seasons is the pro, to the reason why you maybe should consider keeping summer programing going.

00:09:17:08 - 00:09:38:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so those are both sides. You can probably tell that objectively speaking, we do choose to meet during the summer. We retool, we scale it back. We we're very creative. We do things that are very different. And so let me just give you three tips, regardless of which decision you're going to, land on which which camp you fallen for this debate.

00:09:38:23 - 00:10:00:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Three tips to help you program amazing things, or at least, do amazing youth ministry during the summer, whether you're meeting or not. So tip number one is follow your church's guide. If you have regular, say, midweek or regular Sunday night activities, church wide kids, ministry ministries, all the things and they take a break, then perhaps consider also taking a break.

00:10:00:21 - 00:10:18:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If if you're the only group that meets on campus when you meet, then that's not as big of a deal. But but consider following your church's lead. However, unlike the last video in this playlist where I talked about the importance of following your church's lead as a as it pertains to promotion, that's like a level like, absolutely.

00:10:18:06 - 00:10:43:28
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Do not deviate from your church's plan on this one. I would say I think things can be a little bit different because while some of the offerings for Kids Ministry and some of the offerings for adult ministry may be a little more elective based or a little more optional, if this is your main meeting time, then if you do choose to meet during the summer while the rest of your church takes time off, then stand strong on that and and communicate the importance of meeting when students are more available.

00:10:43:28 - 00:11:11:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Again, you don't have to do as wholesale or full scale of a programing. You can scale it back, you can throw some creative options. Again, I'm going to give you some of those and some of what we're doing, in our student ministry. But you can you can kind of pull back the, the, the programing, intensity a little bit so that you can have some fun and just make it a little bit more of a casual hangout, but the tip is, if you're sure you like, follow, follow your church's lead.

00:11:11:01 - 00:11:27:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're unsure which direction to lean on this debate. The second tip I have for you is if you do take a break, and even if you don't, but if you definitely if you do lean in harder than on social media, because you may not be meeting on a Wednesday night or a Sunday night or whatever night you choose to meet, so you have more time in the office.

00:11:27:10 - 00:11:48:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So lean harder into social media, which is linked down below. The freebie tease at the beginning of the video. A hundred different topic ideas for you, for different concepts that, you can use on social media. So for us, I have a four part social media, strategy and social challenge guide, a whole playlist detailed for free, listed down below in the description.

00:11:48:25 - 00:12:08:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Go check that out one episode per video, but this freebie gives you 100 different topic ideas to help you lean into some of the creativity and some of the social media, ideas. And then you can continue to kind of show up where your students are, even if you choose not to meet. And then the third and final idea is just simply this it's summer, man.

00:12:08:15 - 00:12:26:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Have fun. Like if you do choose to meet, have fun while you do. If you don't have fun, do it on social media. Have a blast with your students creating content both for them and also consider doing it with them. And the thing about summer that's so fun. And one of the things that we do is we try to kind of ride the National Day trend.

00:12:26:10 - 00:12:46:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you didn't know there is a National day every single day, multiple national days. So this summer, for example, we're choosing like, beautiful Grandparent Day where we're going to play Extreme Bingo, and National Cheesecake Day is going to round out our summer, you know, programing. And and Leon Day, which is, June 25th. It is the, backwards.

00:12:46:24 - 00:13:08:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
You know, Leon spelled backwards is Noel. So June 25th is when crafters start getting their Christmas supplies out. Last summer we did like National Avocado Day, and we celebrated some holidays like that. And so there's always an option of a thing that you can just kind of trend. So if we don't, we don't female our midweek throughout the, the the regular school year.

00:13:08:00 - 00:13:26:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But during the summer we do we kind of have fun with it. It also is a fun way to kind of create some social media content around it. We'll go around, interview people and ask them, you know, things about each of those topics or whatever, and kind of do a man on the street style video and again, some of that is detailed in that line down below in that 100 free thing.

00:13:26:15 - 00:13:47:29
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So go ahead and and grab that freebie so that you don't neglect in that you don't avoid social media this summer. Hey, everyone. Coming up in the next episode is the fourth and final installment of this versus playlist, where we're going to be looking at digital ministry versus in-person ministry. And if you're watching this, after its release, it's going to be linked right here on the screen.

00:13:47:29 - 00:13:54:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
If you're watching this live, it'll be releasing next Thursday. But until next time. And as always, my friends, don't forget stay hybrid.

]]> Episode 141: How I Plan Events with Kaylen Adams https://www.hybridministry.xyz/141 f992a4dd-81ca-4648-8551-3cda7ef24ce7 Thu, 20 Mar 2025 05:00:00 -0500 Nick Clason 141 How I Plan Events with Kaylen Adams full Nick Clason This episode of the *Hybrid Ministry Show* kicks off the "How I..." playlist with a deep dive into event planning with guest Kaylen Adams, an expert in coordination and logistics. Kaylen shares her step-by-step approach to organizing youth ministry events, covering everything from volunteer recruitment and communication to detailed schedules and contingency planning. Whether you're a youth pastor who struggles with organization or looking to refine your event strategy, this conversation is packed with practical insights to help you run seamless, high-impact events. 31:35 no This episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show kicks off the "How I..." playlist with a deep dive into event planning with guest Kaylen Adams, an expert in coordination and logistics. Kaylen shares her step-by-step approach to organizing youth ministry events, covering everything from volunteer recruitment and communication to detailed schedules and contingency planning. Whether you're a youth pastor who struggles with organization or looking to refine your event strategy, this conversation is packed with practical insights to help you run seamless, high-impact events. 🦸BECOME A HYBRID HERO patreon.com/hybridministry ✅ CHURCH COMMUNICATIONS DONE FOR YOU https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/comms SHOW NOTES Shownotes & Transcripts https://www.hybridministry.xyz/141 👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz CONNECT WITH KAYLEN ON SOCIAL https://www.facebook.com/kaylen.maltais https://www.instagram.com/kmaltais_/ -------------- 🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉 We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context! The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe! https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick -------------- 🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU! Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products VIDIQ https://vidiq.com/hybrid BEST DYM RESOURCES https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361 //YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100 https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit -------------- 🕰️TIMECODES 00:00 How I Plan Events like a Pro! 01:10 Kaylen, who are you? 05:06 What Lanes did you own? 07:03 How can you help someone think? 08:07 How did you communicate? 11:54 How did you determine call times? 16:30 How do you recruit for an event? 20:05 How many jobs do you give a leader? 21:24 How do you calculate for food? 24:21 What Else? 26:28 What if my church doesn't do all that? 28:34 Keep People's Personalities in Mind -------------- TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:25:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry For what is up everybody? Today I am going to introduce you and have you in for a treat, because I am going to be interviewing one of my friends and coworkers, Kaylen Adams, who's fantastic at event planning. This is going to be the start of a new little playlist series on my podcast, and here on YouTube, where I am going to introduce you to some of the people that I know who do things the best in youth ministry and particular lanes. 00:00:25:00 - 00:00:46:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And Kaylen is the queen of event coordination and event management. Not only is she like, really fun and have a really good mind, but she is fantastic at getting volunteers, recruiting them. And when a volunteer comes in just feeling like they know exactly what to do. And you will. If you implement these things, you will look like a rock star. 00:00:46:09 - 00:01:04:05 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So if you're a typical youth worker who's not very organized, this episode is for you because it will help you and if you think that all hope is lost on you, then this is a great, podcast to send to a volunteer or a high level admin who might step in and help you with some of the logistical things, but you are in for a treat regardless. 00:01:04:10 - 00:01:31:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry With my interview today with my friend and coworker Kaylen Adams. What's up everyone? Here we are. I am with Kaylen Adams. Which yes, you don't even find that on your name on here because that's how that's how new this is. So it is formerly known as Maltais, not hyphenated. Straight up Adams. Which means you just got married and, 00:01:31:08 - 00:01:52:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And you might not know Kaylen, but I know Kaylen. I worked with Kaylen. Worked in the past tense. We are still on staff together, but she has switched departments, so now she's in the kids department. And the reason I ask Kaylen on here is, what was it last weekend? Two weekends ago, we had our high school weekend. 00:01:52:02 - 00:02:14:01 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And you still worked with me then, and, oh, my gosh, Kaylen crushed it. Like, you guys don't have any idea. And as she was, like, literally crushing every, like, logistical and administrative detail of the weekend, in the back of my mind, I was like, we got to get Kaylen on so I can ask her, how do you plan for these big events? 00:02:14:01 - 00:02:38:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So why don't you give us just kind of a quick overview? Kaylen, first of all, like a 20 or 30 second like synopsis of who you are, how we ended up working together. But then, like, what did you oversee, at these events? Like what particular? Like lanes and areas and avenues. And then I just think what you did is such a helpful tool to many of the youth passers that I've ever seen or worked with. And so I just think this would be helpful to get out, you know, to people. Yeah. Yeah. 00:02:38:10 - 00:03:02:13 Kaylen Adams So we've started working together because I, I went to college at the University of Wyoming and I got a degree in human resources management and entrepreneurship with minors in hospitality anthropology. There you go. So so that was. Yeah. Yeah. And so I did that. 00:03:02:13 - 00:03:29:13 Kaylen Adams Fell in love with ministry there. And then around like my senior year, I learned the opportunity to do a residency in Texas, which I hate sweating. So my family was like, I was like, I think because I love Jesus, I don't know. So I applied and I ended up getting hired in January. And so after I graduated, I moved to Texas, and I did a residency at Cross Creek Church and guest services. 00:03:29:15 - 00:03:50:22 Kaylen Adams But I love that, like ministerial aspect. And I still was kind of doing some of more of that support ministry with it. So needed and very, very special. Big shout out to everybody in support ministries. And so that's when I transitioned into students and I kind of brought a lot of my guest services and undergrad knowledge, which infuse that into what I was doing. 00:03:50:22 - 00:04:08:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And students. Yeah. So then like for the first little bit, I remember you're like, I don't really know exactly what you guys want me to do. And we were like, just keep doing like, I mean, like, you guys don't understand. Like, Kaylen was just she just knew what to do. Like, even if she didn't know what to do, she pretend like she knew what to do. 00:04:08:00 - 00:04:30:06 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And it seemed like she's known what she she's doing. But it was this last high school weekend where, like, you were pulling out, like, spreadsheets and folders and instructions and, even, like, I remember distinctly I was talking with you about our t shirt order number, and, like, our student registration was, like, lower than anticipated. And you were like, no, we're going to need this many t shirts. 00:04:30:06 - 00:04:50:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I was like, why? And you're like, because of all of our volunteers. And I was like, do you really like, do you really think that? And your confidence, you're like, absolutely. And you were right, by the way. So what like lanes did you let's talk about specifically our high school weekend, which for those of you who don't know the context, it's like a D now without the spending the night element. 00:04:50:22 - 00:05:10:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So it's like two days on campus. Yeah. Like Friday night, Saturday until like 3:00. And so it's probably like our second biggest event next to, like, a thing like summer camp, right? So yeah, in that event, what particularly did you own, like, what were those areas? And I just want to ask you kind of pepper you questions. 00:05:10:02 - 00:05:33:02 Kaylen Adams Yeah. In that in those arenas. Well so this was we originally had one winter we to middle school and high school. Was it split into middle school night high school. Well for middle school night Darren, the student pastor at Rush Creek pitched and I met my boss, so he. Yeah. So he did a lot of the the directional things for that division. 00:05:33:02 - 00:05:56:21 Kaylen Adams And then programing. And I took everything else and like, did the logistics of the event planned it all. So by the time high school weekend came around, because I wasn't middle school night, so I didn't play a part at all, which is relevant because when we played high school night, we did a lot of the same stuff. We just like copy and paste a lot of the stuff that worked and made it a little more, for high school and that middle school. 00:05:56:23 - 00:06:20:20 Kaylen Adams Oh yeah. And then we had known, like, what worked and what didn't. So we're check in by the time we got to high school again. Yeah, that's good. But yeah, by the time we got there, Nick you did programing. So like everything that you were sitting in a session and watching and experiencing. Nick was all in of planning and talking to the people, like worship people and yeah, yeah, I did everything outside of that. 00:06:20:22 - 00:06:44:20 Kaylen Adams So and how we move through the timelines, you know, when were kids eating, where were they going to be, what activities were they going to be doing. And then we had food making sure we had enough food, making sure. Yeah, we had t shirts. And there they were out and that, you know, we gave away a little like pin to all of our students, like, you made sure that that was where it needed to get and left, you know, passing out our note sheets and pens. 00:06:44:20 - 00:07:08:09 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And, I mean, you just you thought of like, every detail. So, like, I know your background helps you with that, but like, imagine you're talking to someone who's not as organized as you like. So you come by that naturally, which is what was just like a marvel to behold. But like what? What would you tell someone? Or how would you encourage someone to think if they're like planning something like that? 00:07:08:09 - 00:07:29:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like what? What's the way that you help us get inside your brain for some of the logistics? Kaylen Adams Well, when you're planning an event, yes, for a job, for ministry, ever. You write down all of your ideas like, no one is like, I'm just taking this all right here. I will accept it later. It's going to be there like you always write it down. 00:07:29:11 - 00:07:54:20 Kaylen Adams You make it through for you. And I just thought, you know, would probably be really helpful for a volunteers to see that map. Like, I don't know why I would keep it from them. They should know, like how we got from point A to point B, because by the time we're at point B and we're doing the thing, they deeply understand what they're doing and not only do what I'm telling them to do, they can actually take initiative and do the things that I missed. 00:07:54:22 - 00:08:13:05 Kaylen Adams Yeah. And so that's a huge part of it is just like, if I were a volunteer, what would I want to know? So I could do my job? Well, I feel good about it. Yeah. So then how how did you go about communicating? Like, did you have a meeting? Did you send them a text? Did you send them an email? 00:08:13:05 - 00:08:31:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like what? Because that's probably, I would imagine, a lot of stuff. And I think again, most youth pastors are like, I don't either have the time or be want to overwhelm my volunteers, or maybe see just another reason I didn't actually write it down. It is all in my head. So, I mean, I would say probably for all of us. 00:08:31:06 - 00:08:55:12 Kaylen Adams Step one is get it out of your head onto paper somehow. And then two, how did you communicate it? Yeah. So I communicated a couple different ways. So the only time that I was texting volunteers instructions or anything was a, when I was recruiting them. Okay. I never sent them like, all the information they needed individually because I needed them all to be kind of in one part. 00:08:55:12 - 00:09:16:24 Kaylen Adams So I knew who was getting one information and it always the same. Yeah. If I ever was giving instructions, it was in a group chat or a group of people that had a specialized role. Those came last minute. They weren't actually accounted for. Next time we did an event, I probably would account for them in advance. So I'm not texting information because for the smaller like you're saying, the. 00:09:17:01 - 00:09:51:02 Kaylen Adams Yeah, the smaller, more specialized groups groupings of people. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I like to create an escape room. We had game masters and we didn't know about that until like pretty close to the event. I probably would have included them into all the mass event communication before that time. Got it as okay. Got it. Yeah. Okay. So and then and then putting together all this information, I'm kind of stockpiling it in a folder called Volunteer Prep, and I'm organizing it by like, this document, they need to know this document. 00:09:51:02 - 00:10:11:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry They need to know if they don't really need to know that, I'll pull it back. What are those documents? Can you give us just a few examples, like pull back the curtain a little bit? Kaylen Adams Yeah, yeah. So I'll make a volunteer schedule that's like five position. And then I sang people to that position per day. So it's not by time blocks, it's by day and what they're doing okay. 00:10:11:16 - 00:10:28:21 Kaylen Adams And then I have a document a volunteer job description. They need to know what they're doing, why they're doing how they do it. Yeah. And then I do a document. If we're doing anything outside or in a weird space, I'll do an aerial map and I'll make, like, different stations and positions of where they're going to be. 00:10:28:23 - 00:10:51:09 Kaylen Adams I'll give them a service order so they can see just how we do, how the whole day is going to go through. They even see like how different session parts are going to work, like what sounds work. It's going to do all the stuff because they help with transitions, like really help because it's easier to be like, hey, after they do a million little miracles, I need you to come out here rather than at 737. 00:10:51:09 - 00:11:11:20 Kaylen Adams I need you to. Yeah. The more like more like, big landmarks on a map. Yeah. Once you get this song, then this is your cue to come out and help set up for lunch, like, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. That's why the service order is so important. And for them to see what's in Planning Center is for that. 00:11:11:20 - 00:11:34:07 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry We updated everything for the whole event kind of revolves around that. And you're doing the same for your volunteers. And so because then I would imagine, correct me if I'm wrong, you're able to be like, hey, if you're in charge of lunch, like, these are your three areas or meals, I guess, like these are your three. So like Friday night dinner, Saturday morning breakfast and, you know, Saturday lunch. 00:11:34:07 - 00:11:56:08 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like at this time you need to be here for this. Because if we say lunch is at 12, let's say I'm imagining you're having your volunteer get there at 11:15 or 11:30 or something like that. So how do you real quick answer this question for me. How do you determine, what time to to call for them? Like, yeah. 00:11:56:10 - 00:12:18:11 Kaylen Adams So when it comes to like food stuff because you're dealing with catering and vendors usually like I wouldn't have that start. So we had lunch at like, what was it this year? 12 I think it started and I don't remember the exact time. I just know we had it and it was ready. And that's why you're here. We had food dropped off at like 1115. 00:12:18:16 - 00:12:41:10 Kaylen Adams Okay. So plenty of time. And most of that was not because I was worried about my volunteers because they knew what to do. And we're not in like the biggest space ever is to account for vendors being late or not knowing where to park and, stuff. Yeah. When it comes to other transitions, they're a lot tighter windows and they're a lot quicker usually it was like the song before something started. 00:12:41:10 - 00:13:04:10 Kaylen Adams I would send them to go do something, but again, that's also because their space isn't really big and any materials they needed or resources. I set out in a central location, a table in the main space. We all were operating out of the auditorium, and I labeled everything with all the different times that it's going to be needed, and even put under, like during this song, you should take that, this place. 00:13:04:10 - 00:13:25:17 Kaylen Adams So my volunteers knew to flock to that table when transition times are happening. Yeah, that was so good. So then are you. So you're just labeling those like yeah, color you label like for anything. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You label like crazy. If you think like oh that'd be really obvious for someone to know it's now you should label. 00:13:25:23 - 00:13:45:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Because again, your brain versus reality. Right. Like it makes sense in your brain, our brain as we're planning the events. But it might not make sense to volunteer. Yeah, because they're just dropping in. Right. You know. Yeah. After work. Right. They've been at work all day and their mind is in a million other places. 00:13:45:10 - 00:14:06:24 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so like, they're, you know, giving up their time and they're willing and they're helpful and all those things. But like I like that. I like what you're saying, like, almost, almost dummy proof it. Right? Not that they're dumb, but, like, make it so simple. Okay. Yeah. Do it. Yeah. Well, my volunteers, they do best when they're confident. 00:14:06:24 - 00:14:24:06 Kaylen Adams When they're confident, they are empowered to take initiative, make decisions, do something really well when they're not confident in whether or not they're in the right place, holding the right thing, putting it where it should be. Then you have a lot of lag and you have a lot of like question. And that's when things start to like frame fall apart. 00:14:24:09 - 00:14:59:24 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. So your job as an event coordinator is just to how can I give my volunteers the most confidence they need in this decision. That's good. Okay. So then anything else on what you tell volunteers? I want to maybe go a different direction if you feel like you've kind of got everything in that lack thing is leading up to the event, you want to send out the longest email of your life, and then is where all of the equipment I talked about keeping in that volunteer folder and you go through, you give an overview and you kind of describe how the event's going, and they need to read those attachments. 00:14:59:24 - 00:15:26:05 Kaylen Adams I sent it all beforehand because that's our big meeting, and they can refer back to you and have in writing. And then by the time we are at the event, like 30 minutes an hour before the start, that meeting is a refresher or a question. That's not the entire meeting. Yeah, yeah. And then the other thing you did, which I thought was brilliant, was you, taped all those attachments to a wall of one of our leader workrooms. 00:15:26:07 - 00:15:47:10 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So, yeah, if they didn't want to, you know, fight with their email to find it again, they could just go reference quickly off a printed copy. So again, you don't like you think about your dummy proofing it like, yes, you communicated it in the email. And this is one of the concepts I talk about in communication a lot is like, we live in like a Netflix culture, so people live it with like an on demand mindset. 00:15:47:10 - 00:16:05:03 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so you sent it on like a Thursday at 3:30 p.m., but like, they were in the middle of like a business meeting. And so it wasn't in their mind then, but it will be in their mind when they show up on Friday at six. But like they've gotten 27 more emails since then and so. Oh yeah, where is that? 00:16:05:03 - 00:16:24:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And I think it's brilliant to put it somewhere just quick and accessible and maybe even another hack that we didn't even do or think about, but like maybe even having like a static like landing page or like QR code that they could like scan and pull open, like in a, just a tab in their safari. And then that gives them access to everything, you know, that they need. 00:16:24:23 - 00:16:58:15 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But yeah, I think that was that was so smart. So then how do you go about, like, help us get in your brain because, you know, you had a couple volunteers there that I was like, oh, like, I wouldn't have thought that they would be here. Not because they did, like a bad job or they're just they weren't like as maybe like involved or like, maybe they're only serving like once a month or once every other, week, like in our student ministry and like, you had the, like, in charge of, like, food or like certain like, you know, snack type areas, like, how did you go through and think, who am 00:16:58:15 - 00:17:16:22 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I going to recruit? Because I thought that was one of the other really special things was like, you asked a very particular or like, dedicated ask for like just very, again, very specific volunteers. You didn't I didn't feel like you did like an all call, though. You maybe you did to kind of pick up anyone who might be interested. 00:17:16:22 - 00:17:39:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry But then I think you went particularly after, like certain names or certain individuals. How did you how did you like, think about them to, to ask them and like what goes into you? You know, determining this person would be good for that. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you definitely do an all call because, well, we are desperate for people to help. 00:17:39:13 - 00:18:06:02 Kaylen Adams We're not gonna act like or not, but, honestly, I just kind of go with a philosophy of I'll never say no for somebody like, you know, I think sometimes we do that even if we say that we're not like, well, they only serve on Sundays and they're very particular about their job. And I'm like, yes. But they also probably like high school is I don't know, maybe the chances are, and so I just kind of like we always have conversations for like, oh, that person would be like, so good at this. 00:18:06:02 - 00:18:27:03 Kaylen Adams Or if only they do it. And I usually take that person and then ask, yeah, like I make a list of all. Yeah. As I am planning events and I just keep people's personalities in mind like I, we see them work all Sunday and we see them work Wednesday. And you kind of see like what things kind of light them up and what things they're like, oh can I do anything else but that. 00:18:27:07 - 00:18:42:18 Kaylen Adams Yeah. And so I just kind of catalog that and that way. And I do kind of mentally. But it wouldn't hurt to like make a list of people like I love reaching out to this person for this. This is this. And I've noticed that they've done events. We have volunteers that really get fired up for events like that. 00:18:42:18 - 00:19:02:24 Kaylen Adams Just being a part of a big beast of a programing thing, like kind of lights them up and exciting. And so I have people that I regularly reach out with, like Kyra Allen Love. She's one of our checking people. I remember when I came in, she was on like some sort of kind of understanding that she was only going to volunteer a couple times because she had some things going on. 00:19:02:24 - 00:19:26:20 Kaylen Adams And I just remember, like, she was so stoked to do this back to school bash experience. That was like a Wednesday night special because, like, I definitely would love to do events and she's been my event checking person every single time I day. Yeah, yeah that's good. Yeah. She loves it. So you have like a you're very in tune to to them like just ongoing right. 00:19:26:20 - 00:19:44:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like you're keeping an eye as you're doing your job. And so that makes it easier obviously. Then when you go to to think and yeah I like that it is not creepy but it is. No. Yeah. But I think that's part of the that again I when I saw some of those people that was like interesting but also awesome and like that was all kudos to you right. 00:19:44:20 - 00:20:01:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like I'll kudos you because like I wouldn't have thought to ask that person. Like I would have thrown a link in our leader group chat. Hey, you know, want to volunteer? They did it. And now I'm desperate, you know? And, so yeah, I was we were more than fully staffed, you know, for. Yeah. And so that was the other thing. 00:20:01:11 - 00:20:20:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like how, like how many jobs do you try to give a leader? Like how many are you trying to, like, let people do double duty? Or like, hey, you're in charge of like, food and like, that's your job the whole weekend. Like, how do you make those decisions? Kaylen Adams Yeah, some of our jobs, like, they feel very crucial and important because they are. 00:20:20:13 - 00:20:40:05 Kaylen Adams But they're not crucial. Important in that they happen the entire time of the program. Like right there. Yeah. There are a window a very important window. But then and. Yeah, and you have to remember, when you're dealing with these volunteers, they're adults with full time jobs are like at the leaders, if they're they're at your event, they are high capacity. 00:20:40:07 - 00:21:01:24 Kaylen Adams They don't do well, bored or sitting and doing nothing. They want to do something. And if they're doing something that morale is high and they'll probably do another event because they're like, that was awesome though. So yeah, it's good. Yeah. So I assign generally like 2 or 3 roles throughout the service order to people. So they're like constantly transitioning and moving to do so. 00:21:02:01 - 00:21:22:02 Kaylen Adams Yeah. And that comes back to your like schedule your map. And you're like you're thinking that ahead. Like okay. Do they after this window closes they can go to this, but then they maybe can't do this next thing because they're going to be busy doing that. Like, again, that's the next level stuff, Kaylen, that you're like, you're very good at. 00:21:22:02 - 00:21:44:02 Kaylen Adams So, okay, so then, let's talk a little bit about like, food. Okay. How do you determine, how much to order? Like, is it just as simple as, like, as many as there are registered. How do you account for, like, walk ins at an event like this where we do leave registration open all the way up until you know, it starts. 00:21:44:02 - 00:22:05:20 Kaylen Adams And so theoretically, a kid could walk in and do you have enough food for them, like how do you how do you kind of try and manage that or think about that? Yeah. It all it does depend on how, big of an invite event. This is like I think high school weekend was an invite like, but we didn't like push super hard and say like my friends going for it. 00:22:05:22 - 00:22:25:12 Kaylen Adams Yeah, yeah. So always keep that in mind. Yes. You keep the registration number, but you also want to account for all of the adults in the building. Don't forget yourself or your staff then volunteers. And if you're providing food for tech and worship or if they're doing their own thing so that all is in that number. Yeah. 00:22:25:14 - 00:22:49:00 Kaylen Adams But registration, I just kind of. I don't want to have too big of a margin because then we're spending a lot of money on food. But things that I can give out is like door prizes, like pizza. I'm a little more willing to have extra of because we could have done or do to make their night, but like, same with, you know, because no one wants like a cold, soggy sandwich by the end of like 12 of them. 00:22:49:06 - 00:23:10:08 Kaylen Adams Yeah. So I would be a little bit more tight on food like that. And also keep in mind that everyone's like, kids are so hungry they're going to eat three slices of pizza. You keep in mind the girls, because girls don't eat as much food as boys. And, like, I definitely like they're just there's camping retreat food. 00:23:10:08 - 00:23:32:14 Kaylen Adams That is great because you're hungry, but it's not a lot of kids. First choice. Really like one of it. Yeah, they'll like maybe one and a half will split with a friend. Yeah. So just keep that in mind. Like the ratio is not as monstrous as you think. Yeah, I think the ratio I've tried to use for pizza is, two and a half times your number. 00:23:32:14 - 00:23:51:06 Kaylen Adams So, like, think you're big number of all the people including tech and worship and check in and staff and everyone. And then you multiply it by two and a half. That'll give you the total number of slices that you need. And then you can divide that by eight, because that's how many slices of pizza are in, your pizza box. 00:23:51:06 - 00:24:06:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And then that'll give you a number with a decimal. And you can either round up around whatever you, you know, feel. And what's really nice is like, you know, you do the random picker thing, like, with their name. And for those who don't know, you picked the names and then they just get a random prize for doing nothing. 00:24:06:03 - 00:24:22:03 Kaylen Adams Yeah, that great. Pick that food leftovers too, because you don't want to bank on having extra if you're just kind of guessing because kids might be really hungry and you don't have it, and then you just lost a prize for a game. Yeah. So you want that to be like a random moment that if they don't get it, they have no idea. 00:24:22:05 - 00:24:48:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. All right. Let's see what else. What else do you what else do you think about for an event that I'm not thinking even to, like, ask you? Listen, you have to know if your church has any sort of, like, admin team, administrative volunteers that help put these things together with your operations at all, like your facilities and your finance people or whatever it might be. 00:24:48:04 - 00:25:09:00 Kaylen Adams You need to meet with them, like way ahead of time. So I see way ahead of time. Yeah. So I start meeting with people. We've been cutting it kind of close and cutting it close to meeting two months in advance. Okay. So you need to some of us that might be like, oh, that's when I start thinking about it. 00:25:09:02 - 00:25:34:17 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Yeah. No. Especially if it's like a really big event. Which high school weekend is a really big event for us? We need to start planning that month in advance. And depending on, like, the capacity of your team, that could fluctuate a little bit. Like if it's just you and one other person, I would say probably start looking at that at like six months and having if you have a couple other people who can share that, you could maybe do a little bit less. 00:25:34:19 - 00:25:59:21 Kaylen Adams But you definitely need to start meeting with administrative people on your church staff that are handling this, because their personalities are a lot different than yours. As a ministry person, you're used to pivoting and being creative and all the things and pulling it off at the last minute. Yeah, they are not. They love systems and processes and if you break their system, it's going to be really, really hard to get them to like be on the same wavelength with you. 00:26:00:01 - 00:26:22:11 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Good. Yeah, yeah. And like in our particular, you know, setting, we have like our facilities people like they set everything up for us, which is fantastic. But to your point, like, only if we're on top of it, if we slide in in the ninth hour and we're like, this is what we want, they're like, yo, we're already on to like, stuff for like later, next weekend. 00:26:22:11 - 00:26:43:23 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Like we've already, you know, planned our day. So, you know, to her point like, and whether you know so like, here's the thing I do know if like you're listening, you're like, okay, I don't work at a church anywhere near that. Has any of that. Like, I am the operations, I am the admin. And what I would say is, lean into your volunteers if you're like that sounds fantastic. 00:26:43:23 - 00:27:15:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry I would love that. But I don't have anyone that works for me with me on my team. Anything like that like that doesn't mean you can't do it, and it doesn't mean you still can't delegate and dish out. You just may have to do that more of like a volunteer capacity. So find a mother. Or like someone who, like, works in like an administrative like role that has a little bit of, bandwidth and margin and like, ask them, you know, like, I'm sure if I'm saying that many of you right now, as you're listening, you're like, oh, yeah, I could probably ask so and so, like that person's come into your mind like, let 00:27:15:12 - 00:27:33:00 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry that person be your Kaylen for your event. And like, yes, we had the luxury of like Kaylen being on our team payroll, but like, you know, it doesn't it doesn't, they don't have to be right. And like. Yeah, setting up you can. I mean, we employ teenagers, like, students to, like, come early and do stuff like that. 00:27:33:00 - 00:28:00:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And, you know, we call them what we call them. Simps. Yet SMPs student is tone texting is for like, student oh my gosh. Okay. Do not disturb do that anyway. Ministry student minutes protege. Protege. Yeah yeah yeah. Protege. Yeah. And so anyway, we employ them, they, get free camp, and stuff like that, but they come early in, like, sets, set things up. 00:28:00:12 - 00:28:25:02 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry So, like, they can be like facilities team. So again, as we're saying it like, don't don't be like I had never be there like you for sure can like employ volunteers and people that'll do it for free. And they like to to Kaylen's point. Yeah they do. That might not be your gifting. And you're like, no one would ever want to run administrative or set chairs up like some people genuinely do. 00:28:25:02 - 00:28:47:19 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so don't rob other people of being able to serve your youth ministry, God's kingdom, whatever. By not asking them. What else Kaylen. Anything else or do we hit it all. I just would in mind people's personalities. You're going to have people who, when they're planning events, they just run just like that's just their personality and that's how they work best. 00:28:47:19 - 00:29:06:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so they're going to ask a lot of questions and they're going to want to meet with you last minute and their vibe might kind of like make you kind of thrown off because you're like, I thought we had all this plan. Why do you need to meet and double check? They've probably done a great job. They just want to make sure that they've done everything you need to help you. 00:29:06:14 - 00:29:25:20 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so if you have someone in your life who's like that, just remember, like, just have your questions kind of written out of what you know, that they text and have those input ready for them. And that's going to help those meetings a lot quicker. I had a at one churches I worked at, I had a volunteer like that. 00:29:25:20 - 00:29:47:23 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Her name was Sarah. And the way that I would think logistically when I was planning things because, like, I was a one man band, we had a church secretary 20 hours a week that served the entire church. Right. So, like, I could get some stuff, you know, to for her to do for the youth ministry, but not like she wasn't like, there to, like at my beck and call for everything. 00:29:48:00 - 00:30:12:16 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And so as I was like dishing things off to volunteers and whatnot, like my, my filter in my head was always like, what would Sarah want to know? Right? It's I think that's a good like a good way to think about it is like, think about the volunteer who has the most questions for you. And then ask the question like, would the amount of information that I'm sending up, would it satisfy that person? 00:30:12:16 - 00:30:37:12 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry And if yes, then you're on the right track. If not, then you probably need more detail. So yeah. Yeah, I love that. Cool. Kaylen, is that it? Do we hit it? Yeah. There's our all events for future and for always going to be planned, do you think? I think I think so well, yeah probably. All right. Well hey, this was how I plan events with Kaylen. 00:30:37:14 - 00:30:57:18 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry Not Morty's Kaylen Adams. And, she's awesome. So, Kaylen, I mean, like, can people, like, follow you, like, on social media or anything if they want to? Yeah. Yeah. Where, where where can they find you? It's funny. I have to, like, go double check. Well, I can't fake my name. Oh, wait. What is it? Now that I just had to change my social media handles? 00:30:57:18 - 00:31:22:13 Kaylen Adams Because I just got mail? I know well, and Instagram is actually really hard to change your last name on, so it hasn't been changed yet. My handle, but my name on there stage so you can find me at K Maltese Underscore on Instagram. It's cmake lta s underscore on Instagram Facebook Palin Adams look me up. I think that's all in I'm on because I'm old and TikTok that's okay. 00:31:22:17 - 00:31:32:21 Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry It's banned anyway. So actually it's back. I don't know if you heard but oh all right people. Well I'm signing off for Kayla and this is Nick. Talk to you next time. Stay hybrid guys. youth ministry, youth pastor, church event planning, church leadership, student ministry, hybrid ministry, church communication, volunteer management, event coordination, church growth, church social media, youth group ideas, ministry podcast, digital ministry, church marketing, sermon planning, discipleship, church strategy, youth ministry training, church media, church tech, ministry leadership This episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show kicks off the "How I..." playlist with a deep dive into event planning with guest Kaylen Adams, an expert in coordination and logistics. Kaylen shares her step-by-step approach to organizing youth ministry events, covering everything from volunteer recruitment and communication to detailed schedules and contingency planning. Whether you're a youth pastor who struggles with organization or looking to refine your event strategy, this conversation is packed with practical insights to help you run seamless, high-impact events.

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 How I Plan Events like a Pro!
01:10 Kaylen, who are you?
05:06 What Lanes did you own?
07:03 How can you help someone think?
08:07 How did you communicate?
11:54 How did you determine call times?
16:30 How do you recruit for an event?
20:05 How many jobs do you give a leader?
21:24 How do you calculate for food?
24:21 What Else?
26:28 What if my church doesn't do all that?
28:34 Keep People's Personalities in Mind

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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:25:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For what is up everybody? Today I am going to introduce you and have you in for a treat, because I am going to be interviewing one of my friends and coworkers, Kaylen Adams, who's fantastic at event planning. This is going to be the start of a new little playlist series on my podcast, and here on YouTube, where I am going to introduce you to some of the people that I know who do things the best in youth ministry and particular lanes.

00:00:25:00 - 00:00:46:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And Kaylen is the queen of event coordination and event management. Not only is she like, really fun and have a really good mind, but she is fantastic at getting volunteers, recruiting them. And when a volunteer comes in just feeling like they know exactly what to do. And you will. If you implement these things, you will look like a rock star.

00:00:46:09 - 00:01:04:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you're a typical youth worker who's not very organized, this episode is for you because it will help you and if you think that all hope is lost on you, then this is a great, podcast to send to a volunteer or a high level admin who might step in and help you with some of the logistical things, but you are in for a treat regardless.

00:01:04:10 - 00:01:31:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
With my interview today with my friend and coworker Kaylen Adams. What's up everyone? Here we are. I am with Kaylen Adams. Which yes, you don't even find that on your name on here because that's how that's how new this is. So it is formerly known as Maltais, not hyphenated. Straight up Adams. Which means you just got married and,

00:01:31:08 - 00:01:52:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you might not know Kaylen, but I know Kaylen. I worked with Kaylen. Worked in the past tense. We are still on staff together, but she has switched departments, so now she's in the kids department. And the reason I ask Kaylen on here is, what was it last weekend? Two weekends ago, we had our high school weekend.

00:01:52:02 - 00:02:14:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you still worked with me then, and, oh, my gosh, Kaylen crushed it. Like, you guys don't have any idea. And as she was, like, literally crushing every, like, logistical and administrative detail of the weekend, in the back of my mind, I was like, we got to get Kaylen on so I can ask her, how do you plan for these big events?

00:02:14:01 - 00:02:38:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So why don't you give us just kind of a quick overview? Kaylen, first of all, like a 20 or 30 second like synopsis of who you are, how we ended up working together. But then, like, what did you oversee, at these events? Like what particular? Like lanes and areas and avenues. And then I just think what you did is such a helpful tool to many of the youth passers that I've ever seen or worked with. And so I just think this would be helpful to get out, you know, to people. Yeah. Yeah.

00:02:38:10 - 00:03:02:13
Kaylen Adams
So we've started working together because I, I went to college at the University of Wyoming and I got a degree in human resources management and entrepreneurship with minors in hospitality anthropology. There you go. So so that was. Yeah. Yeah. And so I did that.

00:03:02:13 - 00:03:29:13
Kaylen Adams
Fell in love with ministry there. And then around like my senior year, I learned the opportunity to do a residency in Texas, which I hate sweating. So my family was like, I was like, I think because I love Jesus, I don't know. So I applied and I ended up getting hired in January. And so after I graduated, I moved to Texas, and I did a residency at Cross Creek Church and guest services.

00:03:29:15 - 00:03:50:22
Kaylen Adams
But I love that, like ministerial aspect. And I still was kind of doing some of more of that support ministry with it. So needed and very, very special. Big shout out to everybody in support ministries. And so that's when I transitioned into students and I kind of brought a lot of my guest services and undergrad knowledge, which infuse that into what I was doing.

00:03:50:22 - 00:04:08:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And students. Yeah. So then like for the first little bit, I remember you're like, I don't really know exactly what you guys want me to do. And we were like, just keep doing like, I mean, like, you guys don't understand. Like, Kaylen was just she just knew what to do. Like, even if she didn't know what to do, she pretend like she knew what to do.

00:04:08:00 - 00:04:30:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And it seemed like she's known what she she's doing. But it was this last high school weekend where, like, you were pulling out, like, spreadsheets and folders and instructions and, even, like, I remember distinctly I was talking with you about our t shirt order number, and, like, our student registration was, like, lower than anticipated. And you were like, no, we're going to need this many t shirts.

00:04:30:06 - 00:04:50:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, why? And you're like, because of all of our volunteers. And I was like, do you really like, do you really think that? And your confidence, you're like, absolutely. And you were right, by the way. So what like lanes did you let's talk about specifically our high school weekend, which for those of you who don't know the context, it's like a D now without the spending the night element.

00:04:50:22 - 00:05:10:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's like two days on campus. Yeah. Like Friday night, Saturday until like 3:00. And so it's probably like our second biggest event next to, like, a thing like summer camp, right? So yeah, in that event, what particularly did you own, like, what were those areas? And I just want to ask you kind of pepper you questions.

00:05:10:02 - 00:05:33:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. In that in those arenas. Well so this was we originally had one winter we to middle school and high school. Was it split into middle school night high school. Well for middle school night Darren, the student pastor at Rush Creek pitched and I met my boss, so he. Yeah. So he did a lot of the the directional things for that division.

00:05:33:02 - 00:05:56:21
Kaylen Adams
And then programing. And I took everything else and like, did the logistics of the event planned it all. So by the time high school weekend came around, because I wasn't middle school night, so I didn't play a part at all, which is relevant because when we played high school night, we did a lot of the same stuff. We just like copy and paste a lot of the stuff that worked and made it a little more, for high school and that middle school.

00:05:56:23 - 00:06:20:20
Kaylen Adams
Oh yeah. And then we had known, like, what worked and what didn't. So we're check in by the time we got to high school again. Yeah, that's good. But yeah, by the time we got there, Nick you did programing. So like everything that you were sitting in a session and watching and experiencing. Nick was all in of planning and talking to the people, like worship people and yeah, yeah, I did everything outside of that.

00:06:20:22 - 00:06:44:20
Kaylen Adams
So and how we move through the timelines, you know, when were kids eating, where were they going to be, what activities were they going to be doing. And then we had food making sure we had enough food, making sure. Yeah, we had t shirts. And there they were out and that, you know, we gave away a little like pin to all of our students, like, you made sure that that was where it needed to get and left, you know, passing out our note sheets and pens.

00:06:44:20 - 00:07:08:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, I mean, you just you thought of like, every detail. So, like, I know your background helps you with that, but like, imagine you're talking to someone who's not as organized as you like. So you come by that naturally, which is what was just like a marvel to behold. But like what? What would you tell someone? Or how would you encourage someone to think if they're like planning something like that?

00:07:08:09 - 00:07:29:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like what? What's the way that you help us get inside your brain for some of the logistics?

Kaylen Adams
Well, when you're planning an event, yes, for a job, for ministry, ever. You write down all of your ideas like, no one is like, I'm just taking this all right here. I will accept it later. It's going to be there like you always write it down.

00:07:29:11 - 00:07:54:20
Kaylen Adams
You make it through for you. And I just thought, you know, would probably be really helpful for a volunteers to see that map. Like, I don't know why I would keep it from them. They should know, like how we got from point A to point B, because by the time we're at point B and we're doing the thing, they deeply understand what they're doing and not only do what I'm telling them to do, they can actually take initiative and do the things that I missed.

00:07:54:22 - 00:08:13:05
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And so that's a huge part of it is just like, if I were a volunteer, what would I want to know? So I could do my job? Well, I feel good about it. Yeah. So then how how did you go about communicating? Like, did you have a meeting? Did you send them a text? Did you send them an email?

00:08:13:05 - 00:08:31:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like what? Because that's probably, I would imagine, a lot of stuff. And I think again, most youth pastors are like, I don't either have the time or be want to overwhelm my volunteers, or maybe see just another reason I didn't actually write it down. It is all in my head. So, I mean, I would say probably for all of us.

00:08:31:06 - 00:08:55:12
Kaylen Adams
Step one is get it out of your head onto paper somehow. And then two, how did you communicate it? Yeah. So I communicated a couple different ways. So the only time that I was texting volunteers instructions or anything was a, when I was recruiting them. Okay. I never sent them like, all the information they needed individually because I needed them all to be kind of in one part.

00:08:55:12 - 00:09:16:24
Kaylen Adams
So I knew who was getting one information and it always the same. Yeah. If I ever was giving instructions, it was in a group chat or a group of people that had a specialized role. Those came last minute. They weren't actually accounted for. Next time we did an event, I probably would account for them in advance. So I'm not texting information because for the smaller like you're saying, the.

00:09:17:01 - 00:09:51:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, the smaller, more specialized groups groupings of people. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I like to create an escape room. We had game masters and we didn't know about that until like pretty close to the event. I probably would have included them into all the mass event communication before that time. Got it as okay. Got it. Yeah. Okay. So and then and then putting together all this information, I'm kind of stockpiling it in a folder called Volunteer Prep, and I'm organizing it by like, this document, they need to know this document.

00:09:51:02 - 00:10:11:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They need to know if they don't really need to know that, I'll pull it back. What are those documents? Can you give us just a few examples, like pull back the curtain a little bit?

Kaylen Adams
Yeah, yeah. So I'll make a volunteer schedule that's like five position. And then I sang people to that position per day. So it's not by time blocks, it's by day and what they're doing okay.

00:10:11:16 - 00:10:28:21
Kaylen Adams
And then I have a document a volunteer job description. They need to know what they're doing, why they're doing how they do it. Yeah. And then I do a document. If we're doing anything outside or in a weird space, I'll do an aerial map and I'll make, like, different stations and positions of where they're going to be.

00:10:28:23 - 00:10:51:09
Kaylen Adams
I'll give them a service order so they can see just how we do, how the whole day is going to go through. They even see like how different session parts are going to work, like what sounds work. It's going to do all the stuff because they help with transitions, like really help because it's easier to be like, hey, after they do a million little miracles, I need you to come out here rather than at 737.

00:10:51:09 - 00:11:11:20
Kaylen Adams
I need you to. Yeah. The more like more like, big landmarks on a map. Yeah. Once you get this song, then this is your cue to come out and help set up for lunch, like, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. That's why the service order is so important. And for them to see what's in Planning Center is for that.

00:11:11:20 - 00:11:34:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We updated everything for the whole event kind of revolves around that. And you're doing the same for your volunteers. And so because then I would imagine, correct me if I'm wrong, you're able to be like, hey, if you're in charge of lunch, like, these are your three areas or meals, I guess, like these are your three. So like Friday night dinner, Saturday morning breakfast and, you know, Saturday lunch.

00:11:34:07 - 00:11:56:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like at this time you need to be here for this. Because if we say lunch is at 12, let's say I'm imagining you're having your volunteer get there at 11:15 or 11:30 or something like that. So how do you real quick answer this question for me. How do you determine, what time to to call for them? Like, yeah.

00:11:56:10 - 00:12:18:11
Kaylen Adams
So when it comes to like food stuff because you're dealing with catering and vendors usually like I wouldn't have that start. So we had lunch at like, what was it this year? 12 I think it started and I don't remember the exact time. I just know we had it and it was ready. And that's why you're here. We had food dropped off at like 1115.

00:12:18:16 - 00:12:41:10
Kaylen Adams
Okay. So plenty of time. And most of that was not because I was worried about my volunteers because they knew what to do. And we're not in like the biggest space ever is to account for vendors being late or not knowing where to park and, stuff. Yeah. When it comes to other transitions, they're a lot tighter windows and they're a lot quicker usually it was like the song before something started.

00:12:41:10 - 00:13:04:10
Kaylen Adams
I would send them to go do something, but again, that's also because their space isn't really big and any materials they needed or resources. I set out in a central location, a table in the main space. We all were operating out of the auditorium, and I labeled everything with all the different times that it's going to be needed, and even put under, like during this song, you should take that, this place.

00:13:04:10 - 00:13:25:17
Kaylen Adams
So my volunteers knew to flock to that table when transition times are happening. Yeah, that was so good. So then are you. So you're just labeling those like yeah, color you label like for anything. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You label like crazy. If you think like oh that'd be really obvious for someone to know it's now you should label.

00:13:25:23 - 00:13:45:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Because again, your brain versus reality. Right. Like it makes sense in your brain, our brain as we're planning the events. But it might not make sense to volunteer. Yeah, because they're just dropping in. Right. You know. Yeah. After work. Right. They've been at work all day and their mind is in a million other places.

00:13:45:10 - 00:14:06:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so like, they're, you know, giving up their time and they're willing and they're helpful and all those things. But like I like that. I like what you're saying, like, almost, almost dummy proof it. Right? Not that they're dumb, but, like, make it so simple. Okay. Yeah. Do it. Yeah. Well, my volunteers, they do best when they're confident.

00:14:06:24 - 00:14:24:06
Kaylen Adams
When they're confident, they are empowered to take initiative, make decisions, do something really well when they're not confident in whether or not they're in the right place, holding the right thing, putting it where it should be. Then you have a lot of lag and you have a lot of like question. And that's when things start to like frame fall apart.

00:14:24:09 - 00:14:59:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. So your job as an event coordinator is just to how can I give my volunteers the most confidence they need in this decision. That's good. Okay. So then anything else on what you tell volunteers? I want to maybe go a different direction if you feel like you've kind of got everything in that lack thing is leading up to the event, you want to send out the longest email of your life, and then is where all of the equipment I talked about keeping in that volunteer folder and you go through, you give an overview and you kind of describe how the event's going, and they need to read those attachments.

00:14:59:24 - 00:15:26:05
Kaylen Adams
I sent it all beforehand because that's our big meeting, and they can refer back to you and have in writing. And then by the time we are at the event, like 30 minutes an hour before the start, that meeting is a refresher or a question. That's not the entire meeting. Yeah, yeah. And then the other thing you did, which I thought was brilliant, was you, taped all those attachments to a wall of one of our leader workrooms.

00:15:26:07 - 00:15:47:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, yeah, if they didn't want to, you know, fight with their email to find it again, they could just go reference quickly off a printed copy. So again, you don't like you think about your dummy proofing it like, yes, you communicated it in the email. And this is one of the concepts I talk about in communication a lot is like, we live in like a Netflix culture, so people live it with like an on demand mindset.

00:15:47:10 - 00:16:05:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you sent it on like a Thursday at 3:30 p.m., but like, they were in the middle of like a business meeting. And so it wasn't in their mind then, but it will be in their mind when they show up on Friday at six. But like they've gotten 27 more emails since then and so. Oh yeah, where is that?

00:16:05:03 - 00:16:24:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I think it's brilliant to put it somewhere just quick and accessible and maybe even another hack that we didn't even do or think about, but like maybe even having like a static like landing page or like QR code that they could like scan and pull open, like in a, just a tab in their safari. And then that gives them access to everything, you know, that they need.

00:16:24:23 - 00:16:58:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But yeah, I think that was that was so smart. So then how do you go about, like, help us get in your brain because, you know, you had a couple volunteers there that I was like, oh, like, I wouldn't have thought that they would be here. Not because they did, like a bad job or they're just they weren't like as maybe like involved or like, maybe they're only serving like once a month or once every other, week, like in our student ministry and like, you had the, like, in charge of, like, food or like certain like, you know, snack type areas, like, how did you go through and think, who am

00:16:58:15 - 00:17:16:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I going to recruit? Because I thought that was one of the other really special things was like, you asked a very particular or like, dedicated ask for like just very, again, very specific volunteers. You didn't I didn't feel like you did like an all call, though. You maybe you did to kind of pick up anyone who might be interested.

00:17:16:22 - 00:17:39:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But then I think you went particularly after, like certain names or certain individuals. How did you how did you like, think about them to, to ask them and like what goes into you? You know, determining this person would be good for that. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you definitely do an all call because, well, we are desperate for people to help.

00:17:39:13 - 00:18:06:02
Kaylen Adams
We're not gonna act like or not, but, honestly, I just kind of go with a philosophy of I'll never say no for somebody like, you know, I think sometimes we do that even if we say that we're not like, well, they only serve on Sundays and they're very particular about their job. And I'm like, yes. But they also probably like high school is I don't know, maybe the chances are, and so I just kind of like we always have conversations for like, oh, that person would be like, so good at this.

00:18:06:02 - 00:18:27:03
Kaylen Adams
Or if only they do it. And I usually take that person and then ask, yeah, like I make a list of all. Yeah. As I am planning events and I just keep people's personalities in mind like I, we see them work all Sunday and we see them work Wednesday. And you kind of see like what things kind of light them up and what things they're like, oh can I do anything else but that.

00:18:27:07 - 00:18:42:18
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And so I just kind of catalog that and that way. And I do kind of mentally. But it wouldn't hurt to like make a list of people like I love reaching out to this person for this. This is this. And I've noticed that they've done events. We have volunteers that really get fired up for events like that.

00:18:42:18 - 00:19:02:24
Kaylen Adams
Just being a part of a big beast of a programing thing, like kind of lights them up and exciting. And so I have people that I regularly reach out with, like Kyra Allen Love. She's one of our checking people. I remember when I came in, she was on like some sort of kind of understanding that she was only going to volunteer a couple times because she had some things going on.

00:19:02:24 - 00:19:26:20
Kaylen Adams
And I just remember, like, she was so stoked to do this back to school bash experience. That was like a Wednesday night special because, like, I definitely would love to do events and she's been my event checking person every single time I day. Yeah, yeah that's good. Yeah. She loves it. So you have like a you're very in tune to to them like just ongoing right.

00:19:26:20 - 00:19:44:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like you're keeping an eye as you're doing your job. And so that makes it easier obviously. Then when you go to to think and yeah I like that it is not creepy but it is. No. Yeah. But I think that's part of the that again I when I saw some of those people that was like interesting but also awesome and like that was all kudos to you right.

00:19:44:20 - 00:20:01:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like I'll kudos you because like I wouldn't have thought to ask that person. Like I would have thrown a link in our leader group chat. Hey, you know, want to volunteer? They did it. And now I'm desperate, you know? And, so yeah, I was we were more than fully staffed, you know, for. Yeah. And so that was the other thing.

00:20:01:11 - 00:20:20:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like how, like how many jobs do you try to give a leader? Like how many are you trying to, like, let people do double duty? Or like, hey, you're in charge of like, food and like, that's your job the whole weekend. Like, how do you make those decisions?

Kaylen Adams
Yeah, some of our jobs, like, they feel very crucial and important because they are.

00:20:20:13 - 00:20:40:05
Kaylen Adams
But they're not crucial. Important in that they happen the entire time of the program. Like right there. Yeah. There are a window a very important window. But then and. Yeah, and you have to remember, when you're dealing with these volunteers, they're adults with full time jobs are like at the leaders, if they're they're at your event, they are high capacity.

00:20:40:07 - 00:21:01:24
Kaylen Adams
They don't do well, bored or sitting and doing nothing. They want to do something. And if they're doing something that morale is high and they'll probably do another event because they're like, that was awesome though. So yeah, it's good. Yeah. So I assign generally like 2 or 3 roles throughout the service order to people. So they're like constantly transitioning and moving to do so.

00:21:02:01 - 00:21:22:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And that comes back to your like schedule your map. And you're like you're thinking that ahead. Like okay. Do they after this window closes they can go to this, but then they maybe can't do this next thing because they're going to be busy doing that. Like, again, that's the next level stuff, Kaylen, that you're like, you're very good at.

00:21:22:02 - 00:21:44:02
Kaylen Adams
So, okay, so then, let's talk a little bit about like, food. Okay. How do you determine, how much to order? Like, is it just as simple as, like, as many as there are registered. How do you account for, like, walk ins at an event like this where we do leave registration open all the way up until you know, it starts.

00:21:44:02 - 00:22:05:20
Kaylen Adams
And so theoretically, a kid could walk in and do you have enough food for them, like how do you how do you kind of try and manage that or think about that? Yeah. It all it does depend on how, big of an invite event. This is like I think high school weekend was an invite like, but we didn't like push super hard and say like my friends going for it.

00:22:05:22 - 00:22:25:12
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, yeah. So always keep that in mind. Yes. You keep the registration number, but you also want to account for all of the adults in the building. Don't forget yourself or your staff then volunteers. And if you're providing food for tech and worship or if they're doing their own thing so that all is in that number. Yeah.

00:22:25:14 - 00:22:49:00
Kaylen Adams
But registration, I just kind of. I don't want to have too big of a margin because then we're spending a lot of money on food. But things that I can give out is like door prizes, like pizza. I'm a little more willing to have extra of because we could have done or do to make their night, but like, same with, you know, because no one wants like a cold, soggy sandwich by the end of like 12 of them.

00:22:49:06 - 00:23:10:08
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. So I would be a little bit more tight on food like that. And also keep in mind that everyone's like, kids are so hungry they're going to eat three slices of pizza. You keep in mind the girls, because girls don't eat as much food as boys. And, like, I definitely like they're just there's camping retreat food.

00:23:10:08 - 00:23:32:14
Kaylen Adams
That is great because you're hungry, but it's not a lot of kids. First choice. Really like one of it. Yeah, they'll like maybe one and a half will split with a friend. Yeah. So just keep that in mind. Like the ratio is not as monstrous as you think. Yeah, I think the ratio I've tried to use for pizza is, two and a half times your number.

00:23:32:14 - 00:23:51:06
Kaylen Adams
So, like, think you're big number of all the people including tech and worship and check in and staff and everyone. And then you multiply it by two and a half. That'll give you the total number of slices that you need. And then you can divide that by eight, because that's how many slices of pizza are in, your pizza box.

00:23:51:06 - 00:24:06:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then that'll give you a number with a decimal. And you can either round up around whatever you, you know, feel. And what's really nice is like, you know, you do the random picker thing, like, with their name. And for those who don't know, you picked the names and then they just get a random prize for doing nothing.

00:24:06:03 - 00:24:22:03
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, that great. Pick that food leftovers too, because you don't want to bank on having extra if you're just kind of guessing because kids might be really hungry and you don't have it, and then you just lost a prize for a game. Yeah. So you want that to be like a random moment that if they don't get it, they have no idea.

00:24:22:05 - 00:24:48:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. All right. Let's see what else. What else do you what else do you think about for an event that I'm not thinking even to, like, ask you? Listen, you have to know if your church has any sort of, like, admin team, administrative volunteers that help put these things together with your operations at all, like your facilities and your finance people or whatever it might be.

00:24:48:04 - 00:25:09:00
Kaylen Adams
You need to meet with them, like way ahead of time. So I see way ahead of time. Yeah. So I start meeting with people. We've been cutting it kind of close and cutting it close to meeting two months in advance. Okay. So you need to some of us that might be like, oh, that's when I start thinking about it.

00:25:09:02 - 00:25:34:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. No. Especially if it's like a really big event. Which high school weekend is a really big event for us? We need to start planning that month in advance. And depending on, like, the capacity of your team, that could fluctuate a little bit. Like if it's just you and one other person, I would say probably start looking at that at like six months and having if you have a couple other people who can share that, you could maybe do a little bit less.

00:25:34:19 - 00:25:59:21
Kaylen Adams
But you definitely need to start meeting with administrative people on your church staff that are handling this, because their personalities are a lot different than yours. As a ministry person, you're used to pivoting and being creative and all the things and pulling it off at the last minute. Yeah, they are not. They love systems and processes and if you break their system, it's going to be really, really hard to get them to like be on the same wavelength with you.

00:26:00:01 - 00:26:22:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Good. Yeah, yeah. And like in our particular, you know, setting, we have like our facilities people like they set everything up for us, which is fantastic. But to your point, like, only if we're on top of it, if we slide in in the ninth hour and we're like, this is what we want, they're like, yo, we're already on to like, stuff for like later, next weekend.

00:26:22:11 - 00:26:43:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like we've already, you know, planned our day. So, you know, to her point like, and whether you know so like, here's the thing I do know if like you're listening, you're like, okay, I don't work at a church anywhere near that. Has any of that. Like, I am the operations, I am the admin. And what I would say is, lean into your volunteers if you're like that sounds fantastic.

00:26:43:23 - 00:27:15:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I would love that. But I don't have anyone that works for me with me on my team. Anything like that like that doesn't mean you can't do it, and it doesn't mean you still can't delegate and dish out. You just may have to do that more of like a volunteer capacity. So find a mother. Or like someone who, like, works in like an administrative like role that has a little bit of, bandwidth and margin and like, ask them, you know, like, I'm sure if I'm saying that many of you right now, as you're listening, you're like, oh, yeah, I could probably ask so and so, like that person's come into your mind like, let

00:27:15:12 - 00:27:33:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
that person be your Kaylen for your event. And like, yes, we had the luxury of like Kaylen being on our team payroll, but like, you know, it doesn't it doesn't, they don't have to be right. And like. Yeah, setting up you can. I mean, we employ teenagers, like, students to, like, come early and do stuff like that.

00:27:33:00 - 00:28:00:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, you know, we call them what we call them. Simps. Yet SMPs student is tone texting is for like, student oh my gosh. Okay. Do not disturb do that anyway. Ministry student minutes protege. Protege. Yeah yeah yeah. Protege. Yeah. And so anyway, we employ them, they, get free camp, and stuff like that, but they come early in, like, sets, set things up.

00:28:00:12 - 00:28:25:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, like, they can be like facilities team. So again, as we're saying it like, don't don't be like I had never be there like you for sure can like employ volunteers and people that'll do it for free. And they like to to Kaylen's point. Yeah they do. That might not be your gifting. And you're like, no one would ever want to run administrative or set chairs up like some people genuinely do.

00:28:25:02 - 00:28:47:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so don't rob other people of being able to serve your youth ministry, God's kingdom, whatever. By not asking them. What else Kaylen. Anything else or do we hit it all. I just would in mind people's personalities. You're going to have people who, when they're planning events, they just run just like that's just their personality and that's how they work best.

00:28:47:19 - 00:29:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so they're going to ask a lot of questions and they're going to want to meet with you last minute and their vibe might kind of like make you kind of thrown off because you're like, I thought we had all this plan. Why do you need to meet and double check? They've probably done a great job. They just want to make sure that they've done everything you need to help you.

00:29:06:14 - 00:29:25:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if you have someone in your life who's like that, just remember, like, just have your questions kind of written out of what you know, that they text and have those input ready for them. And that's going to help those meetings a lot quicker. I had a at one churches I worked at, I had a volunteer like that.

00:29:25:20 - 00:29:47:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Her name was Sarah. And the way that I would think logistically when I was planning things because, like, I was a one man band, we had a church secretary 20 hours a week that served the entire church. Right. So, like, I could get some stuff, you know, to for her to do for the youth ministry, but not like she wasn't like, there to, like at my beck and call for everything.

00:29:48:00 - 00:30:12:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so as I was like dishing things off to volunteers and whatnot, like my, my filter in my head was always like, what would Sarah want to know? Right? It's I think that's a good like a good way to think about it is like, think about the volunteer who has the most questions for you. And then ask the question like, would the amount of information that I'm sending up, would it satisfy that person?

00:30:12:16 - 00:30:37:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if yes, then you're on the right track. If not, then you probably need more detail. So yeah. Yeah, I love that. Cool. Kaylen, is that it? Do we hit it? Yeah. There's our all events for future and for always going to be planned, do you think? I think I think so well, yeah probably. All right. Well hey, this was how I plan events with Kaylen.

00:30:37:14 - 00:30:57:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Not Morty's Kaylen Adams. And, she's awesome. So, Kaylen, I mean, like, can people, like, follow you, like, on social media or anything if they want to? Yeah. Yeah. Where, where where can they find you? It's funny. I have to, like, go double check. Well, I can't fake my name. Oh, wait. What is it? Now that I just had to change my social media handles?

00:30:57:18 - 00:31:22:13
Kaylen Adams
Because I just got mail? I know well, and Instagram is actually really hard to change your last name on, so it hasn't been changed yet. My handle, but my name on there stage so you can find me at K Maltese Underscore on Instagram. It's cmake lta s underscore on Instagram Facebook Palin Adams look me up. I think that's all in I'm on because I'm old and TikTok that's okay.

00:31:22:17 - 00:31:32:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's banned anyway. So actually it's back. I don't know if you heard but oh all right people. Well I'm signing off for Kayla and this is Nick. Talk to you next time. Stay hybrid guys.

]]> This episode of the Hybrid Ministry Show kicks off the "How I..." playlist with a deep dive into event planning with guest Kaylen Adams, an expert in coordination and logistics. Kaylen shares her step-by-step approach to organizing youth ministry events, covering everything from volunteer recruitment and communication to detailed schedules and contingency planning. Whether you're a youth pastor who struggles with organization or looking to refine your event strategy, this conversation is packed with practical insights to help you run seamless, high-impact events.

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🕰️TIMECODES
00:00 How I Plan Events like a Pro!
01:10 Kaylen, who are you?
05:06 What Lanes did you own?
07:03 How can you help someone think?
08:07 How did you communicate?
11:54 How did you determine call times?
16:30 How do you recruit for an event?
20:05 How many jobs do you give a leader?
21:24 How do you calculate for food?
24:21 What Else?
26:28 What if my church doesn't do all that?
28:34 Keep People's Personalities in Mind

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TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00:00 - 00:00:25:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
For what is up everybody? Today I am going to introduce you and have you in for a treat, because I am going to be interviewing one of my friends and coworkers, Kaylen Adams, who's fantastic at event planning. This is going to be the start of a new little playlist series on my podcast, and here on YouTube, where I am going to introduce you to some of the people that I know who do things the best in youth ministry and particular lanes.

00:00:25:00 - 00:00:46:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And Kaylen is the queen of event coordination and event management. Not only is she like, really fun and have a really good mind, but she is fantastic at getting volunteers, recruiting them. And when a volunteer comes in just feeling like they know exactly what to do. And you will. If you implement these things, you will look like a rock star.

00:00:46:09 - 00:01:04:05
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So if you're a typical youth worker who's not very organized, this episode is for you because it will help you and if you think that all hope is lost on you, then this is a great, podcast to send to a volunteer or a high level admin who might step in and help you with some of the logistical things, but you are in for a treat regardless.

00:01:04:10 - 00:01:31:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
With my interview today with my friend and coworker Kaylen Adams. What's up everyone? Here we are. I am with Kaylen Adams. Which yes, you don't even find that on your name on here because that's how that's how new this is. So it is formerly known as Maltais, not hyphenated. Straight up Adams. Which means you just got married and,

00:01:31:08 - 00:01:52:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you might not know Kaylen, but I know Kaylen. I worked with Kaylen. Worked in the past tense. We are still on staff together, but she has switched departments, so now she's in the kids department. And the reason I ask Kaylen on here is, what was it last weekend? Two weekends ago, we had our high school weekend.

00:01:52:02 - 00:02:14:01
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And you still worked with me then, and, oh, my gosh, Kaylen crushed it. Like, you guys don't have any idea. And as she was, like, literally crushing every, like, logistical and administrative detail of the weekend, in the back of my mind, I was like, we got to get Kaylen on so I can ask her, how do you plan for these big events?

00:02:14:01 - 00:02:38:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So why don't you give us just kind of a quick overview? Kaylen, first of all, like a 20 or 30 second like synopsis of who you are, how we ended up working together. But then, like, what did you oversee, at these events? Like what particular? Like lanes and areas and avenues. And then I just think what you did is such a helpful tool to many of the youth passers that I've ever seen or worked with. And so I just think this would be helpful to get out, you know, to people. Yeah. Yeah.

00:02:38:10 - 00:03:02:13
Kaylen Adams
So we've started working together because I, I went to college at the University of Wyoming and I got a degree in human resources management and entrepreneurship with minors in hospitality anthropology. There you go. So so that was. Yeah. Yeah. And so I did that.

00:03:02:13 - 00:03:29:13
Kaylen Adams
Fell in love with ministry there. And then around like my senior year, I learned the opportunity to do a residency in Texas, which I hate sweating. So my family was like, I was like, I think because I love Jesus, I don't know. So I applied and I ended up getting hired in January. And so after I graduated, I moved to Texas, and I did a residency at Cross Creek Church and guest services.

00:03:29:15 - 00:03:50:22
Kaylen Adams
But I love that, like ministerial aspect. And I still was kind of doing some of more of that support ministry with it. So needed and very, very special. Big shout out to everybody in support ministries. And so that's when I transitioned into students and I kind of brought a lot of my guest services and undergrad knowledge, which infuse that into what I was doing.

00:03:50:22 - 00:04:08:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And students. Yeah. So then like for the first little bit, I remember you're like, I don't really know exactly what you guys want me to do. And we were like, just keep doing like, I mean, like, you guys don't understand. Like, Kaylen was just she just knew what to do. Like, even if she didn't know what to do, she pretend like she knew what to do.

00:04:08:00 - 00:04:30:06
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And it seemed like she's known what she she's doing. But it was this last high school weekend where, like, you were pulling out, like, spreadsheets and folders and instructions and, even, like, I remember distinctly I was talking with you about our t shirt order number, and, like, our student registration was, like, lower than anticipated. And you were like, no, we're going to need this many t shirts.

00:04:30:06 - 00:04:50:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I was like, why? And you're like, because of all of our volunteers. And I was like, do you really like, do you really think that? And your confidence, you're like, absolutely. And you were right, by the way. So what like lanes did you let's talk about specifically our high school weekend, which for those of you who don't know the context, it's like a D now without the spending the night element.

00:04:50:22 - 00:05:10:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So it's like two days on campus. Yeah. Like Friday night, Saturday until like 3:00. And so it's probably like our second biggest event next to, like, a thing like summer camp, right? So yeah, in that event, what particularly did you own, like, what were those areas? And I just want to ask you kind of pepper you questions.

00:05:10:02 - 00:05:33:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. In that in those arenas. Well so this was we originally had one winter we to middle school and high school. Was it split into middle school night high school. Well for middle school night Darren, the student pastor at Rush Creek pitched and I met my boss, so he. Yeah. So he did a lot of the the directional things for that division.

00:05:33:02 - 00:05:56:21
Kaylen Adams
And then programing. And I took everything else and like, did the logistics of the event planned it all. So by the time high school weekend came around, because I wasn't middle school night, so I didn't play a part at all, which is relevant because when we played high school night, we did a lot of the same stuff. We just like copy and paste a lot of the stuff that worked and made it a little more, for high school and that middle school.

00:05:56:23 - 00:06:20:20
Kaylen Adams
Oh yeah. And then we had known, like, what worked and what didn't. So we're check in by the time we got to high school again. Yeah, that's good. But yeah, by the time we got there, Nick you did programing. So like everything that you were sitting in a session and watching and experiencing. Nick was all in of planning and talking to the people, like worship people and yeah, yeah, I did everything outside of that.

00:06:20:22 - 00:06:44:20
Kaylen Adams
So and how we move through the timelines, you know, when were kids eating, where were they going to be, what activities were they going to be doing. And then we had food making sure we had enough food, making sure. Yeah, we had t shirts. And there they were out and that, you know, we gave away a little like pin to all of our students, like, you made sure that that was where it needed to get and left, you know, passing out our note sheets and pens.

00:06:44:20 - 00:07:08:09
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, I mean, you just you thought of like, every detail. So, like, I know your background helps you with that, but like, imagine you're talking to someone who's not as organized as you like. So you come by that naturally, which is what was just like a marvel to behold. But like what? What would you tell someone? Or how would you encourage someone to think if they're like planning something like that?

00:07:08:09 - 00:07:29:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like what? What's the way that you help us get inside your brain for some of the logistics?

Kaylen Adams
Well, when you're planning an event, yes, for a job, for ministry, ever. You write down all of your ideas like, no one is like, I'm just taking this all right here. I will accept it later. It's going to be there like you always write it down.

00:07:29:11 - 00:07:54:20
Kaylen Adams
You make it through for you. And I just thought, you know, would probably be really helpful for a volunteers to see that map. Like, I don't know why I would keep it from them. They should know, like how we got from point A to point B, because by the time we're at point B and we're doing the thing, they deeply understand what they're doing and not only do what I'm telling them to do, they can actually take initiative and do the things that I missed.

00:07:54:22 - 00:08:13:05
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And so that's a huge part of it is just like, if I were a volunteer, what would I want to know? So I could do my job? Well, I feel good about it. Yeah. So then how how did you go about communicating? Like, did you have a meeting? Did you send them a text? Did you send them an email?

00:08:13:05 - 00:08:31:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like what? Because that's probably, I would imagine, a lot of stuff. And I think again, most youth pastors are like, I don't either have the time or be want to overwhelm my volunteers, or maybe see just another reason I didn't actually write it down. It is all in my head. So, I mean, I would say probably for all of us.

00:08:31:06 - 00:08:55:12
Kaylen Adams
Step one is get it out of your head onto paper somehow. And then two, how did you communicate it? Yeah. So I communicated a couple different ways. So the only time that I was texting volunteers instructions or anything was a, when I was recruiting them. Okay. I never sent them like, all the information they needed individually because I needed them all to be kind of in one part.

00:08:55:12 - 00:09:16:24
Kaylen Adams
So I knew who was getting one information and it always the same. Yeah. If I ever was giving instructions, it was in a group chat or a group of people that had a specialized role. Those came last minute. They weren't actually accounted for. Next time we did an event, I probably would account for them in advance. So I'm not texting information because for the smaller like you're saying, the.

00:09:17:01 - 00:09:51:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, the smaller, more specialized groups groupings of people. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I like to create an escape room. We had game masters and we didn't know about that until like pretty close to the event. I probably would have included them into all the mass event communication before that time. Got it as okay. Got it. Yeah. Okay. So and then and then putting together all this information, I'm kind of stockpiling it in a folder called Volunteer Prep, and I'm organizing it by like, this document, they need to know this document.

00:09:51:02 - 00:10:11:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
They need to know if they don't really need to know that, I'll pull it back. What are those documents? Can you give us just a few examples, like pull back the curtain a little bit?

Kaylen Adams
Yeah, yeah. So I'll make a volunteer schedule that's like five position. And then I sang people to that position per day. So it's not by time blocks, it's by day and what they're doing okay.

00:10:11:16 - 00:10:28:21
Kaylen Adams
And then I have a document a volunteer job description. They need to know what they're doing, why they're doing how they do it. Yeah. And then I do a document. If we're doing anything outside or in a weird space, I'll do an aerial map and I'll make, like, different stations and positions of where they're going to be.

00:10:28:23 - 00:10:51:09
Kaylen Adams
I'll give them a service order so they can see just how we do, how the whole day is going to go through. They even see like how different session parts are going to work, like what sounds work. It's going to do all the stuff because they help with transitions, like really help because it's easier to be like, hey, after they do a million little miracles, I need you to come out here rather than at 737.

00:10:51:09 - 00:11:11:20
Kaylen Adams
I need you to. Yeah. The more like more like, big landmarks on a map. Yeah. Once you get this song, then this is your cue to come out and help set up for lunch, like, stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. That's why the service order is so important. And for them to see what's in Planning Center is for that.

00:11:11:20 - 00:11:34:07
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
We updated everything for the whole event kind of revolves around that. And you're doing the same for your volunteers. And so because then I would imagine, correct me if I'm wrong, you're able to be like, hey, if you're in charge of lunch, like, these are your three areas or meals, I guess, like these are your three. So like Friday night dinner, Saturday morning breakfast and, you know, Saturday lunch.

00:11:34:07 - 00:11:56:08
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like at this time you need to be here for this. Because if we say lunch is at 12, let's say I'm imagining you're having your volunteer get there at 11:15 or 11:30 or something like that. So how do you real quick answer this question for me. How do you determine, what time to to call for them? Like, yeah.

00:11:56:10 - 00:12:18:11
Kaylen Adams
So when it comes to like food stuff because you're dealing with catering and vendors usually like I wouldn't have that start. So we had lunch at like, what was it this year? 12 I think it started and I don't remember the exact time. I just know we had it and it was ready. And that's why you're here. We had food dropped off at like 1115.

00:12:18:16 - 00:12:41:10
Kaylen Adams
Okay. So plenty of time. And most of that was not because I was worried about my volunteers because they knew what to do. And we're not in like the biggest space ever is to account for vendors being late or not knowing where to park and, stuff. Yeah. When it comes to other transitions, they're a lot tighter windows and they're a lot quicker usually it was like the song before something started.

00:12:41:10 - 00:13:04:10
Kaylen Adams
I would send them to go do something, but again, that's also because their space isn't really big and any materials they needed or resources. I set out in a central location, a table in the main space. We all were operating out of the auditorium, and I labeled everything with all the different times that it's going to be needed, and even put under, like during this song, you should take that, this place.

00:13:04:10 - 00:13:25:17
Kaylen Adams
So my volunteers knew to flock to that table when transition times are happening. Yeah, that was so good. So then are you. So you're just labeling those like yeah, color you label like for anything. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. You label like crazy. If you think like oh that'd be really obvious for someone to know it's now you should label.

00:13:25:23 - 00:13:45:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. That's good. Yeah. Because again, your brain versus reality. Right. Like it makes sense in your brain, our brain as we're planning the events. But it might not make sense to volunteer. Yeah, because they're just dropping in. Right. You know. Yeah. After work. Right. They've been at work all day and their mind is in a million other places.

00:13:45:10 - 00:14:06:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so like, they're, you know, giving up their time and they're willing and they're helpful and all those things. But like I like that. I like what you're saying, like, almost, almost dummy proof it. Right? Not that they're dumb, but, like, make it so simple. Okay. Yeah. Do it. Yeah. Well, my volunteers, they do best when they're confident.

00:14:06:24 - 00:14:24:06
Kaylen Adams
When they're confident, they are empowered to take initiative, make decisions, do something really well when they're not confident in whether or not they're in the right place, holding the right thing, putting it where it should be. Then you have a lot of lag and you have a lot of like question. And that's when things start to like frame fall apart.

00:14:24:09 - 00:14:59:24
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. So your job as an event coordinator is just to how can I give my volunteers the most confidence they need in this decision. That's good. Okay. So then anything else on what you tell volunteers? I want to maybe go a different direction if you feel like you've kind of got everything in that lack thing is leading up to the event, you want to send out the longest email of your life, and then is where all of the equipment I talked about keeping in that volunteer folder and you go through, you give an overview and you kind of describe how the event's going, and they need to read those attachments.

00:14:59:24 - 00:15:26:05
Kaylen Adams
I sent it all beforehand because that's our big meeting, and they can refer back to you and have in writing. And then by the time we are at the event, like 30 minutes an hour before the start, that meeting is a refresher or a question. That's not the entire meeting. Yeah, yeah. And then the other thing you did, which I thought was brilliant, was you, taped all those attachments to a wall of one of our leader workrooms.

00:15:26:07 - 00:15:47:10
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, yeah, if they didn't want to, you know, fight with their email to find it again, they could just go reference quickly off a printed copy. So again, you don't like you think about your dummy proofing it like, yes, you communicated it in the email. And this is one of the concepts I talk about in communication a lot is like, we live in like a Netflix culture, so people live it with like an on demand mindset.

00:15:47:10 - 00:16:05:03
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so you sent it on like a Thursday at 3:30 p.m., but like, they were in the middle of like a business meeting. And so it wasn't in their mind then, but it will be in their mind when they show up on Friday at six. But like they've gotten 27 more emails since then and so. Oh yeah, where is that?

00:16:05:03 - 00:16:24:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And I think it's brilliant to put it somewhere just quick and accessible and maybe even another hack that we didn't even do or think about, but like maybe even having like a static like landing page or like QR code that they could like scan and pull open, like in a, just a tab in their safari. And then that gives them access to everything, you know, that they need.

00:16:24:23 - 00:16:58:15
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But yeah, I think that was that was so smart. So then how do you go about, like, help us get in your brain because, you know, you had a couple volunteers there that I was like, oh, like, I wouldn't have thought that they would be here. Not because they did, like a bad job or they're just they weren't like as maybe like involved or like, maybe they're only serving like once a month or once every other, week, like in our student ministry and like, you had the, like, in charge of, like, food or like certain like, you know, snack type areas, like, how did you go through and think, who am

00:16:58:15 - 00:17:16:22
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I going to recruit? Because I thought that was one of the other really special things was like, you asked a very particular or like, dedicated ask for like just very, again, very specific volunteers. You didn't I didn't feel like you did like an all call, though. You maybe you did to kind of pick up anyone who might be interested.

00:17:16:22 - 00:17:39:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
But then I think you went particularly after, like certain names or certain individuals. How did you how did you like, think about them to, to ask them and like what goes into you? You know, determining this person would be good for that. Does that make sense? Yeah. Yeah. Well, you definitely do an all call because, well, we are desperate for people to help.

00:17:39:13 - 00:18:06:02
Kaylen Adams
We're not gonna act like or not, but, honestly, I just kind of go with a philosophy of I'll never say no for somebody like, you know, I think sometimes we do that even if we say that we're not like, well, they only serve on Sundays and they're very particular about their job. And I'm like, yes. But they also probably like high school is I don't know, maybe the chances are, and so I just kind of like we always have conversations for like, oh, that person would be like, so good at this.

00:18:06:02 - 00:18:27:03
Kaylen Adams
Or if only they do it. And I usually take that person and then ask, yeah, like I make a list of all. Yeah. As I am planning events and I just keep people's personalities in mind like I, we see them work all Sunday and we see them work Wednesday. And you kind of see like what things kind of light them up and what things they're like, oh can I do anything else but that.

00:18:27:07 - 00:18:42:18
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And so I just kind of catalog that and that way. And I do kind of mentally. But it wouldn't hurt to like make a list of people like I love reaching out to this person for this. This is this. And I've noticed that they've done events. We have volunteers that really get fired up for events like that.

00:18:42:18 - 00:19:02:24
Kaylen Adams
Just being a part of a big beast of a programing thing, like kind of lights them up and exciting. And so I have people that I regularly reach out with, like Kyra Allen Love. She's one of our checking people. I remember when I came in, she was on like some sort of kind of understanding that she was only going to volunteer a couple times because she had some things going on.

00:19:02:24 - 00:19:26:20
Kaylen Adams
And I just remember, like, she was so stoked to do this back to school bash experience. That was like a Wednesday night special because, like, I definitely would love to do events and she's been my event checking person every single time I day. Yeah, yeah that's good. Yeah. She loves it. So you have like a you're very in tune to to them like just ongoing right.

00:19:26:20 - 00:19:44:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like you're keeping an eye as you're doing your job. And so that makes it easier obviously. Then when you go to to think and yeah I like that it is not creepy but it is. No. Yeah. But I think that's part of the that again I when I saw some of those people that was like interesting but also awesome and like that was all kudos to you right.

00:19:44:20 - 00:20:01:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like I'll kudos you because like I wouldn't have thought to ask that person. Like I would have thrown a link in our leader group chat. Hey, you know, want to volunteer? They did it. And now I'm desperate, you know? And, so yeah, I was we were more than fully staffed, you know, for. Yeah. And so that was the other thing.

00:20:01:11 - 00:20:20:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like how, like how many jobs do you try to give a leader? Like how many are you trying to, like, let people do double duty? Or like, hey, you're in charge of like, food and like, that's your job the whole weekend. Like, how do you make those decisions?

Kaylen Adams
Yeah, some of our jobs, like, they feel very crucial and important because they are.

00:20:20:13 - 00:20:40:05
Kaylen Adams
But they're not crucial. Important in that they happen the entire time of the program. Like right there. Yeah. There are a window a very important window. But then and. Yeah, and you have to remember, when you're dealing with these volunteers, they're adults with full time jobs are like at the leaders, if they're they're at your event, they are high capacity.

00:20:40:07 - 00:21:01:24
Kaylen Adams
They don't do well, bored or sitting and doing nothing. They want to do something. And if they're doing something that morale is high and they'll probably do another event because they're like, that was awesome though. So yeah, it's good. Yeah. So I assign generally like 2 or 3 roles throughout the service order to people. So they're like constantly transitioning and moving to do so.

00:21:02:01 - 00:21:22:02
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. And that comes back to your like schedule your map. And you're like you're thinking that ahead. Like okay. Do they after this window closes they can go to this, but then they maybe can't do this next thing because they're going to be busy doing that. Like, again, that's the next level stuff, Kaylen, that you're like, you're very good at.

00:21:22:02 - 00:21:44:02
Kaylen Adams
So, okay, so then, let's talk a little bit about like, food. Okay. How do you determine, how much to order? Like, is it just as simple as, like, as many as there are registered. How do you account for, like, walk ins at an event like this where we do leave registration open all the way up until you know, it starts.

00:21:44:02 - 00:22:05:20
Kaylen Adams
And so theoretically, a kid could walk in and do you have enough food for them, like how do you how do you kind of try and manage that or think about that? Yeah. It all it does depend on how, big of an invite event. This is like I think high school weekend was an invite like, but we didn't like push super hard and say like my friends going for it.

00:22:05:22 - 00:22:25:12
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, yeah. So always keep that in mind. Yes. You keep the registration number, but you also want to account for all of the adults in the building. Don't forget yourself or your staff then volunteers. And if you're providing food for tech and worship or if they're doing their own thing so that all is in that number. Yeah.

00:22:25:14 - 00:22:49:00
Kaylen Adams
But registration, I just kind of. I don't want to have too big of a margin because then we're spending a lot of money on food. But things that I can give out is like door prizes, like pizza. I'm a little more willing to have extra of because we could have done or do to make their night, but like, same with, you know, because no one wants like a cold, soggy sandwich by the end of like 12 of them.

00:22:49:06 - 00:23:10:08
Kaylen Adams
Yeah. So I would be a little bit more tight on food like that. And also keep in mind that everyone's like, kids are so hungry they're going to eat three slices of pizza. You keep in mind the girls, because girls don't eat as much food as boys. And, like, I definitely like they're just there's camping retreat food.

00:23:10:08 - 00:23:32:14
Kaylen Adams
That is great because you're hungry, but it's not a lot of kids. First choice. Really like one of it. Yeah, they'll like maybe one and a half will split with a friend. Yeah. So just keep that in mind. Like the ratio is not as monstrous as you think. Yeah, I think the ratio I've tried to use for pizza is, two and a half times your number.

00:23:32:14 - 00:23:51:06
Kaylen Adams
So, like, think you're big number of all the people including tech and worship and check in and staff and everyone. And then you multiply it by two and a half. That'll give you the total number of slices that you need. And then you can divide that by eight, because that's how many slices of pizza are in, your pizza box.

00:23:51:06 - 00:24:06:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And then that'll give you a number with a decimal. And you can either round up around whatever you, you know, feel. And what's really nice is like, you know, you do the random picker thing, like, with their name. And for those who don't know, you picked the names and then they just get a random prize for doing nothing.

00:24:06:03 - 00:24:22:03
Kaylen Adams
Yeah, that great. Pick that food leftovers too, because you don't want to bank on having extra if you're just kind of guessing because kids might be really hungry and you don't have it, and then you just lost a prize for a game. Yeah. So you want that to be like a random moment that if they don't get it, they have no idea.

00:24:22:05 - 00:24:48:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's good. All right. Let's see what else. What else do you what else do you think about for an event that I'm not thinking even to, like, ask you? Listen, you have to know if your church has any sort of, like, admin team, administrative volunteers that help put these things together with your operations at all, like your facilities and your finance people or whatever it might be.

00:24:48:04 - 00:25:09:00
Kaylen Adams
You need to meet with them, like way ahead of time. So I see way ahead of time. Yeah. So I start meeting with people. We've been cutting it kind of close and cutting it close to meeting two months in advance. Okay. So you need to some of us that might be like, oh, that's when I start thinking about it.

00:25:09:02 - 00:25:34:17
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Yeah. No. Especially if it's like a really big event. Which high school weekend is a really big event for us? We need to start planning that month in advance. And depending on, like, the capacity of your team, that could fluctuate a little bit. Like if it's just you and one other person, I would say probably start looking at that at like six months and having if you have a couple other people who can share that, you could maybe do a little bit less.

00:25:34:19 - 00:25:59:21
Kaylen Adams
But you definitely need to start meeting with administrative people on your church staff that are handling this, because their personalities are a lot different than yours. As a ministry person, you're used to pivoting and being creative and all the things and pulling it off at the last minute. Yeah, they are not. They love systems and processes and if you break their system, it's going to be really, really hard to get them to like be on the same wavelength with you.

00:26:00:01 - 00:26:22:11
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Good. Yeah, yeah. And like in our particular, you know, setting, we have like our facilities people like they set everything up for us, which is fantastic. But to your point, like, only if we're on top of it, if we slide in in the ninth hour and we're like, this is what we want, they're like, yo, we're already on to like, stuff for like later, next weekend.

00:26:22:11 - 00:26:43:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Like we've already, you know, planned our day. So, you know, to her point like, and whether you know so like, here's the thing I do know if like you're listening, you're like, okay, I don't work at a church anywhere near that. Has any of that. Like, I am the operations, I am the admin. And what I would say is, lean into your volunteers if you're like that sounds fantastic.

00:26:43:23 - 00:27:15:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
I would love that. But I don't have anyone that works for me with me on my team. Anything like that like that doesn't mean you can't do it, and it doesn't mean you still can't delegate and dish out. You just may have to do that more of like a volunteer capacity. So find a mother. Or like someone who, like, works in like an administrative like role that has a little bit of, bandwidth and margin and like, ask them, you know, like, I'm sure if I'm saying that many of you right now, as you're listening, you're like, oh, yeah, I could probably ask so and so, like that person's come into your mind like, let

00:27:15:12 - 00:27:33:00
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
that person be your Kaylen for your event. And like, yes, we had the luxury of like Kaylen being on our team payroll, but like, you know, it doesn't it doesn't, they don't have to be right. And like. Yeah, setting up you can. I mean, we employ teenagers, like, students to, like, come early and do stuff like that.

00:27:33:00 - 00:28:00:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And, you know, we call them what we call them. Simps. Yet SMPs student is tone texting is for like, student oh my gosh. Okay. Do not disturb do that anyway. Ministry student minutes protege. Protege. Yeah yeah yeah. Protege. Yeah. And so anyway, we employ them, they, get free camp, and stuff like that, but they come early in, like, sets, set things up.

00:28:00:12 - 00:28:25:02
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
So, like, they can be like facilities team. So again, as we're saying it like, don't don't be like I had never be there like you for sure can like employ volunteers and people that'll do it for free. And they like to to Kaylen's point. Yeah they do. That might not be your gifting. And you're like, no one would ever want to run administrative or set chairs up like some people genuinely do.

00:28:25:02 - 00:28:47:19
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so don't rob other people of being able to serve your youth ministry, God's kingdom, whatever. By not asking them. What else Kaylen. Anything else or do we hit it all. I just would in mind people's personalities. You're going to have people who, when they're planning events, they just run just like that's just their personality and that's how they work best.

00:28:47:19 - 00:29:06:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so they're going to ask a lot of questions and they're going to want to meet with you last minute and their vibe might kind of like make you kind of thrown off because you're like, I thought we had all this plan. Why do you need to meet and double check? They've probably done a great job. They just want to make sure that they've done everything you need to help you.

00:29:06:14 - 00:29:25:20
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so if you have someone in your life who's like that, just remember, like, just have your questions kind of written out of what you know, that they text and have those input ready for them. And that's going to help those meetings a lot quicker. I had a at one churches I worked at, I had a volunteer like that.

00:29:25:20 - 00:29:47:23
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Her name was Sarah. And the way that I would think logistically when I was planning things because, like, I was a one man band, we had a church secretary 20 hours a week that served the entire church. Right. So, like, I could get some stuff, you know, to for her to do for the youth ministry, but not like she wasn't like, there to, like at my beck and call for everything.

00:29:48:00 - 00:30:12:16
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And so as I was like dishing things off to volunteers and whatnot, like my, my filter in my head was always like, what would Sarah want to know? Right? It's I think that's a good like a good way to think about it is like, think about the volunteer who has the most questions for you. And then ask the question like, would the amount of information that I'm sending up, would it satisfy that person?

00:30:12:16 - 00:30:37:12
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
And if yes, then you're on the right track. If not, then you probably need more detail. So yeah. Yeah, I love that. Cool. Kaylen, is that it? Do we hit it? Yeah. There's our all events for future and for always going to be planned, do you think? I think I think so well, yeah probably. All right. Well hey, this was how I plan events with Kaylen.

00:30:37:14 - 00:30:57:18
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
Not Morty's Kaylen Adams. And, she's awesome. So, Kaylen, I mean, like, can people, like, follow you, like, on social media or anything if they want to? Yeah. Yeah. Where, where where can they find you? It's funny. I have to, like, go double check. Well, I can't fake my name. Oh, wait. What is it? Now that I just had to change my social media handles?

00:30:57:18 - 00:31:22:13
Kaylen Adams
Because I just got mail? I know well, and Instagram is actually really hard to change your last name on, so it hasn't been changed yet. My handle, but my name on there stage so you can find me at K Maltese Underscore on Instagram. It's cmake lta s underscore on Instagram Facebook Palin Adams look me up. I think that's all in I'm on because I'm old and TikTok that's okay.

00:31:22:17 - 00:31:32:21
Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry
It's banned anyway. So actually it's back. I don't know if you heard but oh all right people. Well I'm signing off for Kayla and this is Nick. Talk to you next time. Stay hybrid guys.

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