AIM: Reimagined

If you’re reading this, you're seeing our all new design for our website. We hope that AIM will continue being a great resource for you in your ministry.

It’s the same old Adventures In Ministry, just a new design. Better for you to find what you need, fast. On every page, you’ll find a search bar for quick access to what you’d like to find. There’s also a few things we prioritized:

Mobile-first. While the AIM site looked fine on mobile devices before, now it has been specifically designed for mobile first. Our bright new homepage looks great on the desktop, sure, but even better on your phone for access anywhere you are.

We want your input! Do you have a suggestion for the site or our app (update coming soon!)? We want to hear from you. Do you have a resource (lesson, game, devotional, etc.) that' you’d like to submit? Pack it up and send it over.

Again, we thank you so much for being here. Make yourself at home.

Three Must-Have Apps For Youth Minisry

As a tech-loving youth minister, I'm always looking for apps that will help increase my productivity. Over the last couple of years, I've used a lot of apps, but these are the three I've used the longest. And every time I've tried other apps, I've always come back to these. 

So here's how and why I use these apps...

App #1 - Simplenote

I love Simplenote. It is what it says. It's just a simple note-taking app. It's quick. It's got some good tagging features (if you like using tags). It's clean. It's simple. And it syncs between my Android phone, my iPad, and my MacBook Air. Not to mention, the Mac desktop app is awesome. 

I actually write all of my Bible classes, devotionals and sermons in Simplenote. I'm even writing this blog article in Simplenote right now. It doesn't have any formatting features (especially like Drafts 4), but it works. And I'm not real big into formatting in my notes anyways. I usually do all of that when I move my notes to a document later. 

Simple note automatically saves whatever you type. It's backed up. It even has security features that can require a pin code to open the app. 

Simplenote is a great app for typing down quick thoughts, quotes, lists of students who attend events, Bible class & sermon ideas, and even writing out your notes for those classes and sermons you will teach. 

And it's a FREE app. Which makes it even better. 

App #2 - Evernote

I've had a love-hate relationship with Evernote for a long time. It's like the high school relationship that you keep going back to. You take a break for a while, then you get back together. That's me and Evernote. 

I used to use Evernote for everything. I wrote all of my classes & sermons in Evernote. I used it as a to-do list. Reminders. Everything. 

But I got tired of the mobile app. It has to run a lot of stuff, and so it became kinda slow. And that bothered me. Plus, I wanted to see the notes I was working on at a quick glance. And because I used Evernote for everything, I couldn't see what I wanted to see. 

Now I still use Evernote for everything, but in a different way. Here's how...

I back up all of my classes, devotionals and sermons in Evernote. I don't know if this is a good idea or not, but I don't have any physical copies of classes & sermons that I've done for the last five or six years. It's all in Evernote. Evernote is my digital filing cabinet. They are tagged for the series that I taught them in, as well as "Bible Class" or "Sermon". And I can search all of them by typing in key words. 

If I find interesting articles that may become good illustrations, I use the Evernote Web Clipper (both for Safari & Google Chrome). The web clipper is an awesome feature. You can save a simple version of the article, or the whole page (depending on which looks better). I always struggled with saving illustrations. Not anymore. I have hundreds in Evernote. Literally. I checked the other day. 

I back up any mass email I send to our parents. I back up notes from meetings. I keep a record of baptisms of students in our youth ministry. I keep records for tax purposes. I store previous camp curriculums, staff lists, activity ideas, and anything associated with the week of camp I direct. If my wife says she likes something that may be a gift idea later, I put it in Evernote. 

I use Evernote all of the time. Mostly for backing things up. 

And there's a free version of the app.

App #3 - Google Sheets

I use Google Sheets for two reasons. 

The first reason is because I keep a track of the mileage that I drive for ministry-related purposes. This is for tax reasons. But I use the spreadsheet and pre-enter a formula so that when I enter beginning & ending mileage, it automatically adds it up for me. Plus I enter the date and reason for the trip. At the end of the year, I print it off and keep a record of it (in Evernote) as well as giving it to our CPA for end of the year taxes. 

The second reason is because Google Sheets connects to our youth ministry website, which is a Squarespace website. When someone signs up for an event on our website, it will automatically dump that information into a Google Spreadsheet (which I can view on my phone or iPad too). I then create some additional columns to keep track of who paid. After a trip or event, I log all expenses on that spreadsheet and turn it in to our secretary and leadership. It saves me a ton of time and work creating and editing spreadsheets. 

And Google Sheets is free.

These are three apps that I use on a weekly basis for youth ministry. If you have any apps that you would add to the list, send them to us in an email to [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you. 

3 Tips For Planning A Balanced Summer Calendar

Over the next couple of weeks, youth ministries will be in full swing with summer activities. 

Most likely your summer calendar is already set. Hopefully.

I've noticed over the years that some summers I had a very balanced summer calendar, and other years it was way off balance. One summer we had too many fun events. One summer we had more service events. One summer we had more worship-focused events. It always bothered me because I wanted to our summer calendar to be balanced between discipleship, worship, service, and fun events.  

Well, I thought I would give you three ways to plan a balanced summer calendar. Some things I've learned to do over the years that have been very helpful.

1. Write out your goals for that summer and purpose for your Youth Ministry. Each summer you should have goals for your youth group. Sure...every summer we want our youth groups to grow closer to God and to one another. But what other goals do you have? Do you want to get them out of their comfort zone? Do you want to encourage new leaders? Limit your goals to three to five, so that you don't set yourself up for failure because you're trying to do too much in a limited amount of time. Also, make sure you have your purpose statement in front of you. If you don't have a purpose statement, this would be a good time to write one. Every youth ministry needs a clear, concise purpose that will help bring vision and balance.

2. Put your non-negotiable events on the calendar first. What are the things that you do every summer that you will pretty much always do? For us, it would be Bible Camp, mission trip, etc. Make sure these non-negotiable events are blocked out on your summer calendar first, and list them on a separate sheet of paper with the purpose(s) and goal(s) that each event will help fulfill for your youth ministry. 

3. Put your negotiable/flexible events to the test. List every negotiable/flexible event that you are either planning or want to plan to do. Write out beside it what purpose(s) and goal(s) this event will help fulfill. Pay attention to whether or not you are missing any of your goals or purposes. If you are, write down an event/activity that would fulfill that goal. Also, keep in mind which purposes and goals your non-negotiable events are fulfilling. Start with the events that will meet a goal or purpose that haven't been met. Put them on your calendar. Then fill in the rest of your calendar appropriately. After you are done, list your goals separately. Write down each event that accomplishes each goal. Then list your purposes for your Youth Ministry. Write down each activity/event that fulfills each purpose. This will show you whether or not your summer calendar is balanced. 

Summertime is always crazy busy. And it can be some of the most impactful time we will have with our students. The more balanced our calendar, the more productive and effective our youth ministries will be. 

If you're looking for some teaching material for either you or your leaders to teach this summer, head over to our Teaching Series page and check out some of the resources we have available.