Recently I commented on Yahoo.com’s 1o Things You Shouldn’t Buy in 2010. David asked via comment section what the youth ministry list would look like. And that was a great concept.
10 Things You’re Youth Ministry Shouldn’t Buy (and what they should instead) in 2010!
- You shouldn’t buy an expensive video camera. $2,000 is a risky investment to make for the industry’s premier camcorder. Instead, pick up a Flip Camera. They run about $200. The picture looks great. The software is user friendly. And you can take it to any event with ease, as it’s the size of your hand.
- On that note, you shouldn’t buy already made ministry videos. They cost a couple bucks, they’re prepackaged, and impersonal. Instead, make your own with your Flip Camera! You’re kids will enjoy doing it, seeing it, and sharing it with their friends (a free-plug for your youth ministry).
- You shouldn’t buy a professional website. It takes a lot of money, time, and talent to buy/design/upkeep a website. And by the time you invest everything you have into it, the chore of bringing in traffic is burdensome. Instead, make a facebook.com “Fan Page”. It’s easier to design. Your students are already on facebook (so you can upload your videos, picture, and status updates in a place they’ll check). Plus, it’s free.
- You should buy SYM’s TXT feature. When I bought this feature last year, I never knew how valuable this feature would be. Before, I would find myself searching though my phone’s contacts, texting 10 people at a time. Instead, this TXT feature is a mass texter that I use for announcements, updates, and devotional plugs. It’s relatively cheap, too at $10-40 a month.
- You shouldn’t buy a traditional projection screen. They’re boring, poorly made, and fairly expensive for what you get. Instead, go to DJScreen.com and pick up their Lycra Spandex screen. It’s both functional, attractive, and cool! I picked one up about a month ago, and the aesthetic difference in our youth room was incredible.
- You shouldn’t buy nothing for your small group curriculum. Instead, buy Simply Youth Ministry’s Live Curriculum. The sticker price will shock you at $500 but it’s a 4-year program, making each lesson about $3.50. Well worth the price for a comprehensive, customizable, practical, and theologically grounded youth ministry. I haven’t picked it up yet, but it’s on my docket list.
- You shouldn’t buy commentaries. It hurts me saying this, as a seminary student but they’re expensive, limited, dated. Instead pick up the Logos Bible Software. You get the most bang for your buck with $10,000 worth of resources for 10% of the price. My seminary requires us to purchase this software, and I’m not disappointed in the least.
- You shouldn’t buy game consoles at a retail store. Picking up a Wii, Xbox, or Play Station will put you $1,000 after picking up some games, controllers, and accessories. Instead, buy one off of your youth. Come Christmas they’ll get the newest consoles and part ways with their old one for a fraction of the cost to you.
- You shouldn’t buy anything off of customink.com. I have had and heard of several complaints about their products. Instead, I use a ministry-friend with a screen printer. They’re cheaper, there is a person to talk to, and I get the product that I want. What a concept!
- You shouldn’t buy anything that will be outdated quickly, easily broken, maintained frequently, or complex to use. Make sure it will be something that can serves multiple functions for years to come. Because the bottom line is, your purchases should help you do what you’ve been called to do: minister to your students. Everything else isn’t worth it. Let that be our mantra.
Good list. I do disagree about logos, though. If you don’t know Hebrew or Greek, I think you need to have access to good quality (read: NOT Matthew Henry) commentaries written by people who know what the heck they are talking about.
I think you could change your statement to say “Don’t buy commentaries. Learn Biblical Hebrew or Koine Greek instead.”
The Logos software has a ton of commentaries in the system, which is why I would recommend it. More bang for the buck.
And I agree. Hebrew and Greek are a must (as terrible as I am at them both!)
Hey, Great list. Love the resources. Though I do have an upgrade for #4, try http://www.joopz.com/. Thats all. Have a great day.
Awesome. I’ve never seen joopz before. You think its better than SYM TXT?
I’m using SYM TXT and i just went to the joopz website to compare. joopz is cheaper, but only lets you send out to groups of 10 or less. most phones will let you do that or more. I do like the “Chat mode” feature from Joopz. I bet that would get annoying to some people though.
so if you have a ministry of more than 10 kids, you probably need SYM TXT. just my opinion.
I like and agree with your list. I would make only one addition to your comment about Facebook. I would suggest opening up a free blog account. I find that a blog can compensate for what little Facebook lacks.
Also, we use the text feature available through Simply Youth Ministry. For smaller churches, however, I’d recommend opening a Twitter account. If all of the students and/or parents subscribe to your ministry’s Tweets to come to their phones, you have the same thing for free. Another nice thing about Twitter is if students or parents decide they don’t want your messages anymore, they can unsubscribe instead of having to ask you do remove them from your list. That’s one less thing for the youth worker to do.
I do agree with a free blog– if only for those who don’t have a facebook account. But I’ve read (and witnessed) that younger people aren’t on twitter as much. I think facebook is still the best networking hub.
Thanks for the comments, Dennis. And I love your blog btw!
Thanks! I appreciate the good word. You’re the man.
I’m taking a lot of the ideas from my blog to do my first volunteer youth worker training this weekend out in Riverside. Super stoked.
It’s the first of what I hope becomes many training events for volunteers.
I love the Flip Camera suggestion. They shoot in 720p which is more than adequate given most youth group viewing options.
Someone should write a list of 10 music items every youth group should and should buy…
someone named WilliamJosh?
You can get the Sony version of the flip for a couple more bucks and it’ll shoot in 1080! Crazy cool.
I would write a 10 music items that every youth group should and shouldn’t buy… but I’m still in the dark in that avenue… if you help me out, we’ll do it!
We picked up a Kodak Zi8 last year for $179 and it’s ridiculous! It shoots in 720 or 1080, plus has an external mic input which is a feature we couldn’t find on traditional video cameras. Same concept as the Flip and Sony, small, compact, records to SD, and make sick quality videos. Definitely recommend – might buy an additional one this year so we have one for Jr. High and one for Senior High.
Thanks for the great list – I’m buying Logos today!
eBay has all kinds of video cameras for way under $200, why buy new?
But good stuff on your list overall~
Love it here’s my list. I’m laughing at how similar some of our points are… Check it out here… http://tinyurl.com/top10youthmin
That is a GREAT list!! Thanks for the idea, Dave!
[...] really liked this post from Josh Herndon’s blog about 10 Things Your Youth Ministry Shouldn’t Do in 2010. Some good stuff, here’s a couple of the highlights: 1. You shouldn’t buy an expensive [...]
I love this list of things to use in ministry. Great Idea. I do agree with customink.com I was so angered by poor service I started a company with a friend called print in a click. Being in youth ministry for over 20 years I know what youth pastor want in t-shirts. So we started this company to help churches and keep the cost low. Come check us out printinaclick.com If you need help you talk to me.
What a great service! I’ll keep your site on-hand for sure! Thanks Scott for the heads up!
I needed to see this. Thanks.
IF YOU get a blackberry or probably most newer cell phones, you can create groups for text messaging. I have a group of 32 that I can send to without having to select each one every time…