As a youth minister, I’m constantly on the lookout for great services, ideas and resources. When I find those, I bookmark them into folders in my web browser. These are a few of the resources and websites that I visit on a regular basis. Some have free stuff, some have inexpensive stuff. All of them have great stuff.
1. Funninja.org. Looking for some great youth group games? All of the game ideas on funninja.org are free. This website is published by stuffyoucanuse.org and is full of great games. Some are group games, some are upfront games. Some require little to no props. Some require a ton of prep work. All of them are sure to be a success for your youth group.
2. DownloadYouthMinistry.com. You have to pay for just about everything on their site, but the guys at DYM publish some great content for very cheap. They have class and small group materials. A TON of great games for your youth group. Even some camp & retreat ideas.
3. Pro Church Tools.com - List of free fonts It seems like I’m constantly looking for some great fonts for free for graphic design. Sure…there are a lot of websites with free fonts. But a while back I found a post that has a list of the best free fonts in graphic design right now. And each font has a link so you can go download the font.
4. Videosforstudentministry.com. I love showing funny videos at the start of youth group. But I don’t want to spend a lot of time scouring Youtube for those funny, CLEAN videos. Thanks to the guys at youthmin.org, you don’t have to do that anymore. Every day these guys are uploading clean & funny videos that you can show to your youth group.
5. GracewayMedia.com. Finally, if you’re terrible at graphic design or just need a little help from time to time, check out gracewaymedia.com. They have some of the best designs for sermons, classes, and even slides for announcements. A subscription to their site is not cheap, but if you don’t have the time or ability to become a Photoshop ninja, then you might consider purchasing a subscription to Graceway Media. And sometimes I just scroll through their newest slides just to get a little inspiration. Not to rip them off. Just to see if graphic design is changing. From time to time it sparks some creativity in me as well when I’m battling a creatively dry season.
There you go. Those are the five websites that I visit pretty much on a regular basis looking for new ideas and great resources for my youth ministry. I should also add a disclaimer that I do not endorse all theological viewpoints from these websites. But I do enjoy browsing through their resources.
Of course, I would encourage all of our readers to check out the resources that we have available at AdventuresInMinistry.com. Everything on the website is FREE, battle tested and proven to win with your students. There's also a new 5 week teaching series that we recently posted called "Silence the Chatter". I think it's a series you will enjoy teaching. I had a lot of fun with it, and our students gave a lot of positive feedback from it. Click here to check it out.