BARF Evangelism

(Submitted by Travis Jenkins)

We have been going through a church-wide emphasis on personal evangelism and on Sunday nights is when we have been sharing the curriculum with the students. The long-standing acronym for understanding how to be a Christian uses the "ABC's": Admit, Believe, Confess. As we talked about this idea this past week, we discussed a small error in the understanding of the ABC's and the students decided to come up with a new acronym. They decided that you can't admit you are sinner and need God if you don't first believe in Him. With that determined they decided to move "B" to the beginning and after a few minutes of brainstorming one of the students shouted out, "BARF": Believe, Admit, Repent, and Follow. I just thought this was a funny and cool idea that students came up with all on their own.

Family Retreat Promo

Here is a video that Lynn and I (Travis) made to promote Central Baptist's family retreat. We literally recorded them on our webcams at the same time in adjacent rooms and then I edited together the footage to make it look like a video chat. Hope somebody likes it.




(Travis Jenkins and Lynn Puryear serve as Minister to Students and Minister to Children respectively at Central Baptist Church in Carthage, TX.)

Dodgeball Postcard

Here is a postcard I (Travis Jenkins) made for a 6th grade only dodgeball game night to get them introduced to the student ministry. We print these up and have them passed out at the school in their classrooms.

Travis Jenkins is the founder/creator of The Youth Ministry Network and the Minister to Students at Central Baptist Church in Carthage, TX.

Revivals and Easter

(Submitted by Travis Jenkins)

My church is gearing up for a series of revival services the week before Easter. The revival is definitely focused on adults and not a youth-focused revival with a v-neck wearing contemporary praise band and ipad toting preacher. I am very excited about who and what we actually have going on. The question I wanted to pose and see about feedback on is specific ways to integrate youth into the "adult revival". Comment and send some ideas. Anything will be helpful.

After-Prom Lock-in

(Submitted by Travis Jenkins)

I have never been a big fan of lock-ins. In fact, they drain all the energy out of an already worn out guy. Throw in the fact that occasionally lock-ins can be on Saturday night instead of Friday night means that I get to be a zombie on Sunday morning at church.

With all of the reservations I have about lock-ins I caved this year at the students request. This is how it went down: They begged and begged me to let them have a lock-in after prom. After all, the selling point was that they would be safe at the church instead of a field somewhere doing stuff they shouldn't. So yes, I am hosting a lock-in for the high school students after prom. The night is mostly consisting of games, movies, and lots of food. I did have students ask for a big midnight breakfast which is the only real "planning" thing that had to happen. I am hoping the lock-in goes off without a hitch. We'll see though.

If anyone has any ideas for lock-ins (besides not doing them...EVER)  please share them with us. If we are going to be stuck doing them we may as well have some good ideas for them to make them rock.