Getting into the Christmas season we often see lists of things people are going to want or need under the tree. With help from fellow youth ministers, I’ve come up with a list of 5 geeky things a Youth Pastor might want in the next year personally or for their ministry. Now This list is in no way exhaustive.
When I reached out to youth pastors to see what they wanted I got lots of “Big Dream Answers.” For example: the ability to pay off student loans, a new house, a new car, or even just a car with under 200,000 miles on it. I was amazed at the reasoning behind all of these. Most simply want to pour more money into their ministries, to do more with their ministries, or to give back to their community. I thank all those awesome youth pastors for what they do. And without further lolly gagging around, here’s five things you could get for your youth pastor in appreciation this Christmas—in no particular order:
- Video game machine, video games, or just games (board or card games): Playstation, Xbox, Steam, or even Jackinthebox.tv game bundle. Some people really don’t understand this. Games are one of the largest things teens do to socialize. They play all kinds of games together and bond over moments that are truly unique to them. This is also a great way for a youth pastor to connect and bond with students. Many great opportunities for games exists from the video game systems, popular games, and hardware extras are always a great idea for your youth minister. Recently Jack in the Box released a great bundle for $24.99 that provides games for anyone with a computer and up to 6 players with smart devices. They provide filters to ensure content isn’t too racy and provides a way for bonding while enjoying games. These games like Bidiots and Drawful provide unique experiences all the time.
- Tablet or iPad is becoming quite popular for the youth pastor. Some may see this as a bad thing, but really it does become a large helping hand for a youth pastor. From apps like MinHub youth, to many other great attendance apps, to things like being able to have the Bible and your notes on the same screen when teaching and creating easy ways to follow along. Even controlling the presenting software from the tablet or iPad has become a helpful thing. It’s really cut down on the amount of paper many youth pastors would go through and help keeps their desk and area clean.
- GoPro or other waterproof/durable cameras. This sounds silly, also considering most youth pastors have a cellphone, but there’s just somethings you should never have handed to a youth in the ministry. This is a quick pull out camera with many great and versatile features and accessories. GoPro’s and other action camera’s have great value to a youth pastor on the go. Nice part is there are many options for GoPro’s now that it no longer requires $500 to get into using these cameras in youth ministry. Over all, not all youth pastors can see the value of this, but those who do and have used them are very grateful they have action cameras.
- A solid laptop may sound silly for many, but it goes far beyond the budget pricing of laptops. Over the years many youth pastors I know have purchased far to many laptops under the $500 mark and been severely unhappy. Seriously, when you get into laptops and it’s your primary computer and needs to run where ever you go, the budget minded laptops are not the best for that. But price doesn’t always mean great laptops. I say this to anyone asking my opinion on what they should buy, “What are you going to use it for.” Things like photo editing, video editing and multitasking beyond normal (couple tabs on browser, music, possibly Netflix at same time) then you really need to research what people who are doing that are buying. For example, if you plan to do any quality video editing, you need to step up your price in order to be able to not waste time waiting for rendering. The more stuff you want to do, the more research you should do. I say all this as the budget minded laptops are basic usage laptops. The entire purpose of a budget laptop is to get someone on the Internet or using a computer. They don’t build them thinking people will play games, edit videos or photos, or multi-task on it. So a laptop made for one or all those things would probably be a great idea if feel so generous.
- Gift cards to restaurants, coupons for babysitting, coupons to clean office or car of the youth pastor. This final gift isn’t that techie, but it’s more for the mental and social health of the youth pastor. Seriously, many burn the candle at both ends and put some much into the the ministry they often don’t take care of themselves. Also, many have kids and are not provided ways for them and their significant others to get away. Both these are vital needs the youth pastor must make time for and someone helping them out would be a great and wonderful idea. On top of that, if you’ve ever been in the car of a youth pastor, there may be lots of junk and trash in the car. This is most often because a youth pastor’s primary office now a days is in a vehicle. This means they eat lots of food while traveling. They have lots of trash. Not all, but many will not have time or take time to clean. This is an awesome gift you can give your youth pastor. As much fun and great wonder technology is for youth ministry, it’s really a necessity for a youth pastor to disconnect and walk away from the constant contact that technology provides.
Like I said, this is in no way a complete list of tech things a youth pastor would like. Some of these things may be large item tickets. Some of these may items may be out of bounds for many financially. My goal in this is spur on ideas for things they may use personally, but also they may use for their ministry.
The world is changing and this new generation is more connected with more things. It’s good for a youth pastor to connect in the ways they can by the means they have available to them. We know the reason for Christmas is Christ who is the greatest gift of all. In this season it’s often great to remember those who are shepherding the next generation of leaders and that is the intent of this list.
Is there something on my list I missed? Or is there something completely out of bounds? What would you have on your top 5 list?
We’d love to know by the comments below and social medias.
Eric Dye says
Great list, Auggie!
Auggie says
Thanks, I feel like this is a pity comment but there’s much truth. Probably could have added nerf gun
Eric Dye says
I pity the foo! 😛