Hi Friends-
If you have followed me at all on my blog or twitter you know that I have been engaged in the process of writing a resources book for Zondervan for a couple months. I’m sure you were wondering when I would realize that I’m not quite as smart as I thought I was and I would ask for some help. Actually that’s not true I could write this thing with my headphones on at Starbucks but it wouldn’t have the kind of impact that I think it can have without some input from you.
The book I’m working on is aimed at reframing how we think about resources. In most churches and youth ministries we tend to think of resources as falling into about 3 different categories: Budget, Staff and Space. Most of us have probably thought at some point that we could do great things if any of these three areas were to be increased. We’ve also probably not put a lot of thought into going to a new job that has a severe reduction in these areas.
The idea behind this book is to help the reader realize that these are not the only places to start from when you are planning your youth ministry. I’ll even argue that starting at these point’s neglects some great creativity that we need to do.
The reality is that most of us have had budgets cut in the last several years. Unfortunately this is probably going to be the new normal, as the economy isn’t going to turn around any time soon. Unfortunately many churches/denominations are realizing that there is a very high likelihood that financially giving we continue to decline from this point forward.
Those of you who know me know that I work in a fairly wealthy area of Dallas at a church that is not generally thought of as lacking resources. In the last 3 years though we’ve cut our youth ministry operating budget by 35% and our staffing budget by almost the same amount.
So why am I writing this book? First, it’s because I have done youth ministry for almost 20 years and I’ve learned quite a bit about how to be creative and resourceful. Second, I am committed to networking and resourcing smaller churches that have even more limited resources. I also believe that we still want to do activities, trips, missions projects and camps in youth ministry. I think I can help people think about how to do these things for less money.
Here’s where you come in. I would like to feature some of your ideas that you’ve done on the cheap that have worked. I’m looking for both short sentences or paragraphs of ideas as well as anecdotal stories. Attached to this e-mail is a PDF document of some of the chapter ideas and places where I am looking for resources. This isn’t an “ideas book” like Youth Specialties has put out before. It won’t be pages and pages of resources. Just some thoughts about specific areas to save money and a few examples or success stories.
Before you right me off to quickly or decide not to help let me just say this. I’m not making very much money on this project and that’s ok with me. I learned and accepted a while ago that I wouldn’t make a living as a writer. I’m way more interested in helping out the Youth Ministry world as a whole than I am trying to create the Lars Rood empire. If you want proof of that I can just point you to some churches here in Dallas that I am committed to helping out and resourcing. My heart is to help the Youth ministry world.
You will get credit for your writing in the book. I’m even willing to reciprocate the help if you have a project that you ever need help on. That’s an honest statement too. One of my gifts is that of a connector too. I love to get the right people together and see what happens. I’m willing to help you out any way I can.
So if you have any ideas or ways that you think Youth Ministry can be done with a “shoestring” budget please send them my way.
There you go, If you are willing to help I’m submitting the manuscript to Zondervan on December 1st so any help you can give me in the next two weeks would be of great help.
You can e-mail me ideas at: onashoestring@me.com
You can download the Table of Contents here
Very cool! As someone who recently transitioned from a church YM job (with a budget) to a para-church job where I have to raise every dime myself, I think this will be a great resource! I’ll contribute anything I can in the way of ideas. Even more than that, I’m looking forward from benefiting from others’ ideas and wisdom. Rock on!
Sara- Me too. I think that the collective wisdom is generally greater than mine and this project is a good example of that. Thanks for being willing to help.
L
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