Youth Ministry On a Tight Budget

Thursday, August 21, 2008

So the financial committee chair person comes to you and says: "Good news! We've reworked your budget...you have $100 to spend for the year for each of your programs. If you could spend less that'd be great!"

Ouch. Double ouch if you're working with several different programs!

You have a couple of options:

  1. Start writing your own curriculum, which takes a lot more time or
  2. Find quality curriculum/teaching material at a discounted price.

When working with church funds, you obviously want to be the best steward that you can with the money that people have given for the work of God's Kingdom. But that doesn't mean you have to skimp on quality to get the most bang for your buck!

Let me give a couple of ideas on how to save money on buying quality teaching material.

First, check out sites like Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com. Just a couple weeks ago I was looking for some material for our Jr. High class and someone recommended to me the Dares From Jesus series by Mark Oestricher. If you go online and buy this material, it's $15. But I bought it from a used book dealer through Amazon for $1.50. No, I'm not missing a zero. One dollar and fifty cents!

When I received it in the mail I was astonished that such a great tool was available at such a low price and in perfect condition!

Secondly, check out discount Christian bookstores. Here you can find books that are either out of print or from the previous year. I bought Nelson's Annual Youth Ministry Sourcebook which is a great resource for youth ministry talks for less than $5. I also picked up this great book for about $2. Incidently, that book is available through amazon for 44 cents.

So having a small budget is not a huge deal when it comes to buying teaching resources. You have to shop around a little bit, but you could easily fill your library with tons of teaching materials for under $100.

Monday Weigh-In #2

Monday, August 18, 2008

As of 5:05am this morning I weighed in at 196 pounds - I met my 2 pound goal for the week!

Surprisingly! I was not as careful with my food as I should of been last week. Saturday I ate over 2600 calories (Cheeseburger in Paradise is my personal weakness!) Not at all what I had hoped for but still managed to pull off the loss.

As I think about it, I'm not sure I'll make the goal to 175. Not because of lack of willpower, but because of weight gain from muscle. I started weight lifting, and when you put on muscle, you gain weight (the good kind). This is why you often see on the Biggest Loser some people either lose very little or actually gain a little weight.

But the good news is that muscle burns up to 15 times more calories than fat alone. So that's great news!

Monday Weigh-In

Monday, August 11, 2008

Today is CRAZY busy so I'll make this short.

The past 3 months I've taken a short hiatus for my weight loss. Between summer camps, CIY and crazy schedules, it was nearly impossible to lose and keep a schedule of exercise.

So today I officially start again and plan on coming on here each Monday morning to give an update on my weigh in. This helps keep me accountable.

The Goal: 175 Pounds
Target Ideal Weight Loss a week: 2 pounds
Today's weigh in: 198 pounds
Estimated Date of Goal: November 3rd (12 weeks)

I appreciate your prayers and encouragement through this journey. It's been difficult and no way I could accomplish these goals without your support. Thank you so much!

Weekly Cuteness

Sunday, August 03, 2008