Pinterest Perfect Ministry

I resisted Pinterest in the interest of keeping my MAN CARD for a long time.  In the past 12 months Pinterest has grown up a bit and stretched beyond a girly social site to a marketing social media that has way more potential than Google+ (although, that's still not saying much).

Square

This may seem like a no brainer, but if you're not setup to use Square in your youth ministry, do it now!   Square is a simple way to take credit cards for youth trips, candy from your snack shack, and everything in between.  It's also a great way to send parents a receipt for cash or checks they may give you for their teens.  Think about adding credit card payments to your next car wash!  This concept is huge.

Sharing Photos and Video

We all have videos and photos of our youth group memories we want to share. If you don't, I want to encourage you to reconsider the power of connection that displaying your youth group memories can bring. It displays friends. It displays the atmosphere your community strives for. It displays fun or compassion or acceptance or all of the above!

But how do we share those videos or pictures?

Event Roster

How do you manage who has signed up for your events?  Are you old school with a piece of paper and a pen?  Do you make a list in Word or Excel?  Do you use online registration forms and generate some sort of list?

Here's an option maybe you haven't thought of: Zenbe List or Team Coach.

Zenbe Lists

Zenbe Lists vs. Team Coach

Zenbe Lists is a simple online list maker that uses cloud technology to sync your lists from the zenbe website to your mobile devices.  I have it installed on my phone, my wife's phone, and my iPad.  I have lists of events with students who have registered in them.  I also have a list of everyone I have a medical release form for.  My wife and I also have our grocery lists so when I run to WalMart to pick up a few game supplies I can do her a favor and grab a few items for her.  Costs only $3.99 in iTunes which includes the iPhone and iPad app.

Team Coach

Team Coach is an app built for sport coaches, but it comes in really handy in youth ministry.  It allows you to create teams, which I use to create events.  Then you add individuals to the teams (events).  And last it allows you to create events for your teams, which I use to create events like "Paid" or "Registered" or "Bowling Team #1".  Team Coach is only $.99 in iTunes and does not have an iPad specific app, but it runs the iPhone version on the iPad.  It doesn't sync and I wish it had a few other enhancements

Neither of these is a perfect solution, but it can make event check-in easier!

New iPad Update

My biggest hesitation in buying an iPad was the fact that it was the first generation, that is the first model ever built.  Everyone knows that a companies 2nd generation model is better!  What helped me get over that hesitation is Apple.  Apple has been a company that gives you free updates on the operating system you're using no matter what model you have.  So I bit the bullet and bought an iPad which has become a device I use more than my iPhone and more than my PC.

Apple plans to release a big update to the iPad's OS this November.  Included in the update is multitasking and folders, making the iPad function even more like your iPhone.  Here's where youth ministry comes in.  You will be able to create an "Events" folder and put links to all your registration forms in one spot.  You can create folders for online attendance recording for different programs you have or folders for different apps you use exclusively for youth ministry.

Bottom line, the new update will help you better organize your iPad for youth ministry.

iPad Event Registration

Getting teens hyped about going on an event? Easy.  Getting them to sign up and pay is like trying to get cats to form a 5 person pyramid.  So here's a little tip on easy event registration.  If you use online forms to get students to sign up for events, navigate to the form in Safari on your iPad.  Then bookmark the site straight to your home screen.  Add all your event forms to your home screen and reogranize your apps so your event icons are all together.  The next time a teen says they want to go on an event, BAM, let them fill out their form right on the spot.

Need help making online forms?  I'll blog on that later, but for now try Google Docs!