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How to Take Your Summer Mission Trip to the Next Level

We love the team at Experience Mission and their heart for helping youth workers make their summer mission trips more awesome. Have you ever wondered how to take your summer missio

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3 New Games from The Middle School Ministry Campference

There are plenty of reasons why The Middle School Ministry Campference is one of the most incredible events for youth workers ever created, but here’s a big one . . . because the i

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The Key to Creating Momentum in Your Youth Ministry

Momentum is kind of a big deal in youth ministry, isn’t it? Momentum is the thing that keeps students . . . excited. engaged. coming back. inviting friends. As youth pastors, it se

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Your Top 5 Questions About Grow Youth Ministry Curriculum and Strategy

Hey fam! If you haven’t already heard the news, Stuff You Can Use just announced a brand new resource called Grow Youth Ministry Curriculum and Strategy. We are super excited about

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A 1-Year Strategy to Grow Your Volunteer Team

Building, maintaining, and growing a volunteer team is hard work. And there’s a lot to say about it. That’s why this isn’t just a blog post. It’s a huge blog post. We also made you

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4 Habits to Help Teenagers Grow Spiritually

Helping students grow spiritually is a big deal. Like, a really big deal. And there’s a lot to say about it. That’s why this isn’t just a blog post. It’s a huge blog post. We also

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6 Tips for Being an Awesome Communicator to Teenagers

Don’t feel like reading? Then listen to this post instead! Or subscribe to my podcast for more audio versions of my blog posts! My church has the best team of communicators for stu

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So We’ve Got Some News…

Don’t feel like reading? Then listen to this post instead! Or subscribe to my podcast for more audio versions of my blog posts! DISCLAIMER: Kenny & Elle Campbell, Grow Curricul

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10 Best Podcasts For Youth Ministry 2018

THE 10 BEST PODCASTS FOR YOUTH MINISTRY Over the last couple of years we’ve seen the number (and quality) of youth ministry related podcasts sky rocket, and so we decided to create

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10 Best Leadership Podcasts 2018

We asked hundreds of youth workers to tell us their favorite leadership podcasts. From that list, we ranked the top 10 based on the number of positive reviews on iTunes. Leave your

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10 Best Youth Ministry Books 2018

We asked hundreds of youth workers to tell us their favorite youth ministry books. This list is the result. But you can influence the list by leaving a comment below and letting us

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A Day In The Life Of The Mobile Teen

Are you using a texting service to connect with teenagers? The one thing that I have done right in the past few years is setting up a texting service. The best part about having a

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5 Apps That Every Youth Pastor Needs

What are your go to iPhone or android apps? There are some essential apps that all youth pastors should have. Every time I go to a conference I like to see what other apps youth pa

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Communicating Like A Social Media Pro

How many hours do you put into managing your social media accounts? If you don’t know how many hours you put in each week, you should track it this week. Social media is crucial in

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5 Ways To Partner With Parents As A Small Group Leader

A couple weeks ago I was honored to speak to the amazing preschool ministry volunteers at Park Valley Church. The topic I was asked to speak on was How to Partner With Preschool Pa

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Truly Partnering With Parents

I’m sometimes amazed how many youth ministries don’t involve parents. “The kids don’t like having them around.” “Parents just get in the way.” Think about this for a moment. The st

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6 Tips For Talking To Teenage Girls

Adolescent girls—like boys—get wrapped up in the work of parting from childhood and moving toward adulthood. This is good, important, even necessary work. But for parents and other

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5 Books to Fuel Your Creativity in Youth Ministry

This post is part of Summer Ministry Vlog Week 2016! What the heck is that, you ask? Check this out. Hey pals! Earlier this week I shared five tips that have been really helpful fo

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5 Ways to Be More Creative in Youth Ministry

Hey friends! I’m super excited to spend a few minutes talking about one of my favorite things ever – how to be and stay creative, specifically in youth ministry. But before we go a

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3 Ways to Use PHARISEES: The Party Game in Youth Ministry

“This is a legit way to get students (and adults, for that matter) to know more about the Bible and its stories in a super fun way!” You’ve probably heard by now, but um… Kenny and

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5 Kinds of Social Media Posts that Engage Teenagers

Picture this with me. You’re about to post something new on your ministry’s social media channels. Are you picturing it? Great. You frame your image beautifully. You add a sweet fi

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THE CAMPFERENCE | Building a Better Teaching Strategy

Don’t feel like reading? Then listen to this post instead! Or subscribe to my podcast for more audio versions of my blog posts! This weekend, I had the chance to hang out at The Mi

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20 Things Small Group Leaders Do on Youth Trips

Hey, ministry leaders. We put a ton of work into our student camps, trips, and retreats, don’t we? I mean, between the budget, programming, transportation, food, questions from par

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7 Things I’ve Learned from 7th Graders

This week, I was a substitute small group leader. Now, here’s the thing you need to know about being a substitute small group leader: when you sit down for the first time with a bu

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Challenging Your Volunteers… Without Scaring Them Away

I’ve written before about this idea of making bigger asks from your volunteers – especially your small group leaders. I love this topic. But if you’re going to talk challenging you

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Celebrating Our Volunteers This Christmas

I happen to be one of those people who shops for Halloween candy at 5:00pm on October 31. I am not proud of this fact. But do you know what happens when you shop for Halloween cand

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Making Bigger Asks

Don’t feel like reading? Then listen to this post instead! Or subscribe to my podcast for more audio versions of my blog posts! One of the best things we can do to help a kid exper

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Every Kid Needs a Champion

I watched an incredible TED Talk last week. Maybe you’ve seen it, maybe you haven’t. Either way, it’s worth (another) watch. Rita Pierson is an educator, but the ideas she talks ab

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My Soapbox Rant About Empowering Volunteers

Yesterday I gave you some of my favorite snippets and takeaways from the 2013 Middle School Ministry Campference. I hope you checked it out because, seriously, there was a heck of

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A Little More Office Inspiration

So, friends, we’ve come to an end of this series of posts on how to make your office more awesome. In case you missed it, we’ve already talked about de-cluttering your workspace ,

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HOW TO | Make a Sweet Volunteer Wall

Ok reader friends, we’re back with just two more installments in this “How to Make Your Office Awesome” series. So far, I’ve shared some tips for de-cluttering your workspace , a t

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HOW TO | Make Your Own T-Shirt Wall

We’re still going strong with this little “How to Make Your Office Awesome” series. So far, I’ve shared some tips for de-cluttering your workspace , a tutorial on how to make a woo

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HOW TO | Make Custom Dry Erase Boards (with a FREE Download)

In case you missed it, I’m in the middle of a little series about how to make your office awesome . Because having a cool office is fun, of course, but also because the condition o

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HOW TO | Make a Pallet Wall for Your Office

Yesterday I shared a list of tips and thoughts on how to make your office super awesome. And, in case you forgot, Tip #4 on that list was… DO ONE SUPER COOL THING. If you recall, I

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HOW TO | Make Your Office Awesome

Today, I want to talk about making our offices freaking awesome. Why? Two reasons. #1 Having a sweet office is fun . I mean, think about all the time you spend sitting at your desk

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HOW TO | Make Super Simple (and Awesome) Wall Art for Your Youth Space

Recently, our youth space needed a little makeover. I guess it’s just what happens when you’ve got hundreds of teenagers running around multiple times a week: stuff starts to fall