Ep. 143: Thriving in the Middle School Madness

The middle school years are stressful for students. But they can be very stressful for student ministers as well! So how can you not only survive the middle school years but also set it up where you, your leaders, parents and students thrive during these years? Christopher Wesley joins the podcast again to talk about his blog post, “How To Handle Middle School Students Without Going Crazy“. In today’s podcast Tom and Chris talk about…

1. What Chris has been doing lately
2. Why Middle School Ministry is Important
3. The value of thinking outside the box
4. The value of loving on parents as well as students
5. How can you connect with Christopher, keep up to date on all that is happening with Marathon Youth Ministry, and listen to The Church Podcast.

Resources mentioned in this Episode

• Orange Curriculum (Tom and Chris have both used)
• Grow Curriculum (new curriculum Tom is using)
• Digital Bootcamp (FREE Facebook Group to help you improve your digital knowledge for minisry
• Youth Ministry Cohort (Sponsored this episode. Great Student Ministry Coaching starting in January 2018)
• Ministry Downloads (Great resources for ministers and you can save 25% on purchases by typing YMSidekick in the coupon code section)

If you want to connect with Chris, you can a few different ways.  He’s on Twitter, has an awesome blog with tons of great insights each week and he also blogs at both YM360.com or DownloadYM.com So what do you think? How have you thrived during the Middle School years?  Join the conversation by sharing your thoughts and insights below or on social media using the hashtag #ymsidekick.  Also, Tom would love to hear from you about what you’d like a future topic to be. To email Tom some ideas email him here. Make sure you goto iTunes and subscribe  to the podcast and see what cool things we do each and every week!  And make sure you rate the show, especially if you like it. 🙂 Lastly, sign up for the Sidekick Scoop to get content from all over the ministry world (especially online and student ministry topics).]]>