Youth minstry From Ground Zero; THE PLAN!!

A plan. Without that you are just hanging out. Without a vision the youth ministry fails! (Hab 2:2) Seek God, get a vision for your group. Set goals, short term, then medium, then long term! Do not be afraid to dream big! God is big so His plans will be too!

Your vision is basically the big picture. It, in a paragraph will say what it would take you a week to explain. I have seen some said in 3 short sentences and I have seen some that you could have made a book out of. It is important that whatever your method of writing your vision is that you do write it down! God made that very clear! The reason is that when you actually see something on paper it literally seems more official. Your brain actually sees it and thinks, “Well I guess it is for real!” That is wild but when you see the vision, you believe it and it encourages you and you run with it! When others see it they believe it and they run with it too! Have you ever seen what happens when people get stirred up and united in one cause? It is incredible! The tower of Babel is a great example. God had to literally move them and separate them all over the earth because He said “Because you have one mind, nothing will be withheld from you!” That is amazing! Nothing!! So if you are able to get your team, your youth and your church behind you then nothing will be withheld from you either! Getting someone excited about what God gave you, getting them involved in it makes them much more a part of what is going on in your group. Practice casting your vision. What I mean is practice sharing your vision with somebody. Ask them if what they heard excites them. Ask them what you could do better. If you become good at being a vision caster your group will get behind you and nothing will be impossible! The key is that you have to believe it yourself! If you are convinced and believe what you are saying then there is a much better chance that they will be too! If your vision is presented right you will have people follow.
Your plan is how you intend to carry out the vision. That is the actual nuts and bolts of how things work. What you intend to do step by step. Sometimes God will give you the next year or two or five in great detail but mostly for me I get this week! So I plan this week out to the best of my ability! Then when He gives me more, I plan more. If you were about to take a trip from Orlando to New York you would not just say, “Ok so I am going to get in my car and drive North.” No you would say I am going to take I-4 to 95 then up to wherever, you know what I am saying. You will make a detailed plan to get you from point A to point B! It is the same thing for youth. If part of your vision is to see your youth to grow up spiritually, your plan will probably include some kind of discipleship or accountability group in your group. Understand? You will say, “To help the youth to grow up we will meet every Tues night for 8 weeks and teach how to study the Bible, show them how to pray and worship God. That is making a plan to see the vision fulfilled. The planning and vision is all done on your face. I have gotten more vision and plans in prayer than any other way! Not to say that I have not taken a few ideas from other youth pastors before. But it all comes down to asking God what He wants for your city, your church and your group!