the Monday Morning Debrief: Building Momentum

Did you see the Uncle Drew Pepsi Ads during the basketball season?  It was an online ad that featured Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving dressed up as an old man who then, when a ball player was injured in a pick up game, proceeds to school all the other younger basketball players.  The amazing thing about this ad is that it was never intended to be shown on TV at all. It was an online ad but because over 13 million people viewed the ad online, which caused the video to go viral, Pepsi decided to create another ad for the NBA Finals.

So how does this ad apply to ministry?

As I mentioned above, when Pepsi created the ad, they never intended it to go viral.  It was simply suppose to be a “test” to see what stuck with the online audience.  But because of the success it had, Pepsi decided to put more money into it and put it on Broadcast TV.

The question for ministry is, what are you “testing” with you students?  What are you trying new that is different and out of the box thinking that may stick or cause more students to be interested and grow in Christ?  In many ways, youth ministry can be “stuck” in patterns and ways that work, but are just the same thing over and over again.  It is easy to do this because we can become very comfortable with “the norm”

The component that separates students ministries from other student ministries will be testing new ideas and programs with students to see what can draw them in and keep them engaged.

So what are you “testing” now?  TAKE A MINUTE right now and think through some new ideas or thoughts.  What’s the worst thing that can happen?  It not work???  The best thing that could happen is that your new idea can go viral and more and more students can come to know Christ because of it.  I think that is a pretty easy risk to take.

Thoughts?  Comments?  Suggestions? Experiences?  Share a few so that we can all benefit.