Youth Ministry

14 Podcasts You Need to Know About

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With just a tap on the screen, you can be on your way to find inspiration, get new ideas, and grow yourself both professionally and personally. With a great list of podcasts, you can be mentored while brushing your teeth, your drive time can be redeemed, and your leadership can go further faster. You can listen in when the leading experts are gathering behind closed doors and you can hear MainStage presentations; all for free. After talking with those in the trenches in youth ministry, here are 14 of the top podcasts that you need to listen to today.

1. RETHINKING YOUTH MINISTRY by XP3 Students

These 40 minutes conversations tackle the difficult and essential topics of youth ministry. From evaluating small group leaders to understanding the teenage brain, these topics will challenge your thinking and equip you to take your next steps in leading middle school and high school students.

2. THE DOWNLOAD YOUTH MINISTRY SHOW by DYM Podcast Network

With 330+ episodes, this podcast is a library of topics to answer your youth ministry questions. You will walk away feeling like you sat through an encouraging staff meeting. Also: Did you know DYM has a podcast network with 8 different youth ministry podcasts to help you win! Check them all out at HTTPS://PODCAST.DOWNLOADYOUTHMINISTRY.COM

3. THE CAREY NIEUWHOF LEADERSHIP PODCAST by Carey Nieuwhof

According to Edison Research, 15% of Americans over the age of 12 listened to a podcast this week. And based on how many folks recommended it, I wonder if most of these folks were tuning into Carey Nieuwhof’s Leadership Podcast! Every week, Carey interviews leaders in a way that brings life change to listeners. 

4. YOUTH MINISTRY FOR THE LONGER HAUL PODCAST by Jody Livingston & Chris Trent

We all know the demoralizing statistics on how few youth ministry leaders stay in it for the long haul. Jody Livingston and Chris Trent desire to survive and thrive. With a deep understanding of not only student and youth ministry culture but also the Word, these episodes will help you keep the main things on the top of your priority list.

5. THE THINK ORANGE PODCAST by Orange Leaders

The Think Orange Podcast is for your entire ministry team. These long-form podcasts are a deep dive conversation with multiple featured guests on the same subject. The practical tips, intentional strategy, and insights offered in each episode will have you thinking orange in no time.

6. YOUTH MINISTRY BOOSTER PODCAST by Zac Workun, Chad Higgins, and Kristen Lascola

Each of these encouraging episodes works to answer Student Ministry’s most honest and pressing questions. Here you will find timely advice that works around your youth ministry calendar.

7. NICK BLEVINS FAMILY MINISTRY PODCAST by Nick Blevins

Each week, Nick Blevins interviews a leader to discover principles and practices for family ministry. With 100 episodes, Nick has covered topics on growing your volunteer teams, partnering with parents, core values in family ministry, and how to know when it’s time to stay or go.

8. CRAIG GROESCHEL LEADERSHIP PODCAST by Life.Church

This leadership podcast describes itself as, “a conversation designed to help you make the most of your potential as you work to become the leader God created you to be.” Craig Groeschel is the founder and senior pastor of Life. Church and teaches over 100,000 people weekly. This podcast invites you to learn directly from Craig without paying for a conference or leaving the comfort of your living room.

9. YOUTH MINISTRY ANSWERS by Kenny and Elle Campbell

Where else can you go to get your youth ministry questions personally answered through a podcast? Kenny and Ellllllllllle Campbell, feature a new question every month and often bring other youth ministry experts in to get you the best answers. You can submit your question at YMANSWERS.COM

10. LEAD TO WIN WITH MICHAEL HYATT by Michael Hyatt & Company

Personally, I love that Michael and his daughter work together to make this podcast a success. If you are looking to better manage time and influence then listen in for insights and tools to win at work and succeed in life.

11. 5 LEADERSHIP QUESTIONS by Todd Adkins, Eric Geiger, and Daniel Im

Through five strategic questions, these hosts interview leaders to learn how they practically learn both inside and outside of the workplace. If you ever wanted to know what your favorite author or conference speaker would tell their 20-year-old self, then this podcast is for you.

12. UNSEMINARY PODCAST by Rich Birch

Going back to seminary would cost you an arm and a leg, but each unSeminary episode is a free step back into the classroom for practical leadership training. With over 20 years in church leadership, Rich has a depth of knowledge you will want to take in.

13. THE SCIENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA by Buffer

Social media plays a huge role in youth ministry today. This short weekly podcast gives you the strategic tips you need to stay relevant on a variety of apps and social media options. Subscribe now and rock your social media channels.

14. TED WORKLIFE WITH ADAM GRANT by TED

It’s almost impossible to make a podcast list without mentioning TED. You spend a quarter of your life at work, so shouldn’t you enjoy it? Check out this new podcast by TED, they are only a few episodes in, but I think you will enjoy.

So open up your podcast app or go download OVERCAST, SPOTIFY, or POCKET CAST and add a few of these to your list! With more than half a million active podcasts, I’m sure I’ve missed a few. What would you add to this list?

(Originally posted to Youth Specialties at https://youthspecialties.com/blog/14-podcasts-you-need-to-know-about/)

How to Host an Innovative Silent Event

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Are you looking for an event to draw students in and build momentum for your ministry? A silent event is a one of a kind event mixing technology and music to create a high energy atmosphere of community. Students wear wireless headphones and tune into their preferred channel, so at one venue there can be multiple styles of music being enjoyed simultaneously. Even if some of your students don’t enjoy dancing, they might really enjoy people watching and just singing along. With a little research and planning, a silent event might just be the next big event for your youth ministry!

RESEARCH EQUIPMENT

Not all headphones are created equal. With a tech-dependent event, failing to research the rental companies can make or break the entire night. When we hosted our Silent Event we used the highly recommended Silent Events® Company (HTTPS://WWW.SILENTEVENTS.COM) and were blown away by their plug & play ease of use and attention to detail. We rented light-up headphones with 3 channels so students could choose which of 3 songs they wanted to listen to. Our students enjoyed controlling the volume of their headphones and it was crazy to see the wave of color change in the headphones as a song grew in popularity.

If renting the complete system is out of your budget, consider renting headphones that do not light up with only one channel or wireless receivers where students can plug in their own headphones.

Watch the videos and read the tutorials to fully understand how the equipment can work for your event.

PLAN YOUR VENUE

Does your regular meeting space create the environment for which you are striving? Maybe you need to switch things up and add special lighting or decorations to your room. Or maybe you can take this event off campus and bring your students to a unique venue for their unique event. You might also consider hosting two events in one night to get the most use out of your equipment rental.

For our junior high students, we hosted a blacklight rave in a large, dimly lit room in the church and asked everyone to wear white. The students showed up to a room filled with black lights, optional blacklight face paint they all took advantage of, and the glowing LED lights on each individual’s headphones. Later that night, for our high school students we threw a throwback party in an old mansion downtown and asked the students to wear their best throwback outfit. Having two events in one day allowed us to rent a smaller number of headphones, keeping the cost down.

Bring your best party planners into the making of this event to ensure your venue adds to the fun.

CREATE MULTIPLE PLAYLISTS

Renting the highest tier headphones, the unique technology allows for your students to listen to one of three channels. If you want your event to flop, only pick songs that you enjoy. If you want success, get help in creating your playlists. Ask students for input and research lyrics to avoid embarrassment. You have so many options to choose from so you might want to create a theme for your playlists.

At our silent event, we had these three playlists:

Party

Random

Throwback

If you click: The Party Playlist you will see these are generic songs with more modern dance options.

The Random Playlist is weird and fun songs to switch things up.

The Throwback Playlist includes popular songs from past decades.

Let your students know that if they don’t like a certain song they can change to another station on their headphones. Pay attention to how the songs will flow through the night and make sure you save a crowd favorite to end the night on a good note. Our last song for our high schoolers was “Living on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi and the entire group sang it together at the top of their lungs!

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Reach Your Goal

In youth ministry, there is always a goal behind your events. If you are using a silent event to bring in new students, how are you going to collect their information and get them plugged into your youth ministry after the event? If your silent event is to build community, how will you further leverage this technology to bring people together and how will you measure if it was successful?

The goal of our silent event was to unite and build up life groups, so in order to attend students had to be involved in one of these faith communities. At the event, we leveraged the technology by creating a Mp3 Experiment where students participated together in their small groups in an audio adventure. Students listened to synchronized instructions to complete humorous coordinated tasks. We started the night with the Mp3 Experiment, which made for an easy transition into the dance music. For ideas on creating your own Mp3 Experiment check out the amazing work of Improv Everywhere.

A silent event might just be the innovative event you have been looking for in your youth ministry. Take the necessary time to research and plan to ensure this event is something your students will love. If you’ve seen a fresh event that you would like to share with our readers, let us know in the comments!

(Originally shared to the Youth Specialties Blog at https://youthspecialties.com/blog/host-innovative-silent-event/)

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