Almost every youth leader knows that dealing with today's generation of youth can be a little tricky. Trying to keep them engaged or just trying to think of how you can plan tonight's youth meeting so last minute. Whatever the case may be, being a youth leader has taught me so much about spreading the Word of Jesus to the youth.

Here are 12 things being a youth leader has taught me

1. Prayer is everything

The first thing you do at any youth meeting is start in prayer. As a youth leader, I realized that it is so important to stay in prayer. My daily prayer list includes the name every single young person in our youth group. Living in a world with so many temptations and cruelty can be really harsh on Christian youth. Keeping our youth in prayer is very important because as a youth leader, it is our responsibility to make sure they’re doing well and pray about any prayer requests they may have.

2. You can literally make a game out of anything

Believe me when I say this: it is very easy to make up games when you have no plans. For example, ever heard of the cup game? All you need are a few paper cups and voila! Hello, Stacking cups competition! Young people love games and competitions so it is very important to keep them engaged because it is easy to lose their attention. Young people tend to have a short attention span, so games are a great way to keep them awake!

3. Hillsong and Elevation Worship all da way

Most of the songs from Hillsong and Elevation Worship are very popular and very well known. (Not to mention, very, very powerful!) Most of the songs from these artists are always playing on the radio, so many young people tend to know the songs and sing along during worship. Powerful lyrics and powerful worship can literally impact a group or a congregation in such a spiritually positive way. The music that most teens listen to nowadays have lyrics that just don't give off a positive vibe. As a youth leader, I am so happy that Christian artists are making songs that are deemed “cool” and attract the younger generations.

4. Some people have crazy ideas that don’t even mean anything

When you're planning an event with a group of people it can be kind of hard. Some people offer such cool ideas that make you want to jump up and down with joy and then there are the people that offer ideas that make you want to bang your head against a wall. When you're planning events for youth, you want to make sure the events are filled with fun and entertainment. So ideas about playing tag or pin the tail on the donkey, blindfolded, may seem fun but we're targeting college-aged people, not 5-year-olds. Building ideas for your target audience is important to keep in mind when planning any type of activity.

5. The group chats can go off topic very quickly

From cat memes to Spongebob Squarepants gifs, they're all in our group chat. You can start a simple conversation about who's up for playing for worship for the next youth meeting, and suddenly we're talking about Fortnight. How did we get to this conversation? No idea. I call it the meme flu. It's very contagious and very easy to get. As much as I can complain about group chats getting off topic, that cat video Sarah sent last week still has me LOLing. I mean who can resist cats doing dumb things?

6. Putting people into groups can be tricky

There's nothing wrong with shy people, but when you have an entire group of shy people, it just doesn't work out. On the other side, you could have a group full of non-stop yappers who just don't stop talking! Real perfection is when you can get people from both groups to work together. If only that could actually happen! Group discussions can be hard to facilitate but as youth leaders, we want people to make new friends outside of their comfort zone. Yay!

7. People don’t use real bibles anymore

It's the age of new technology! Who uses real Bibles anymore, right? Most of the youth I see use the Bible app on their phone because it's easy to just pull up the app rather than carry their Bible around. I, on the other hand, believe wholeheartedly in carrying a real Bible. There's just something about holding a Bible in your hands and actually highlighting it with a pen. Call me old school, but I definitely think it's easier and better to use a real Bible and notebook to plan the lesson for the day.

8. Worship can change lives

It really can. Everyone's hands up in the air with no care in the world. Seeing everyone sing the lyrics with their whole heart touches my soul. There's something about worship that can change the atmosphere of a room. They say music is a language that can touch your soul in a unique way and I definitely agree with that. I've witnessed people just drop their life of worldliness and follow Jesus as a result of spending time in worship. It's probably my favorite part of our youth meetings. :)

9. Social media outreach is KEY

Social Media outreach is a real thing and is CRUCIAL to spreading the word about different events. I've learned that as a youth leader, I also double up as a social media manager! If you have an Instagram account, then you probably know that maintaining your Instagram theme rises above all else. Making sure every post follows the page’s theme will further attract your audience. Colors matter! Make sure each post is eye-catching or else there's no point. I'm not exaggerating.

10. Retreats and camps are the highlights of the year

I mean who doesn't love a weekend of getting away from your parents and spending time with some of your closest friends? Retreats are always fun for everyone, no matter how old they are. The bonding that can happen during a retreat is really interesting to see as a youth leader. Witnessing a weekend fully involved in the Word, listening to great testimonies, and watching people grow spiritually is an amazing thing to watch. I love retreats and the unique bonding that can come along with it.

11. Pinterest saves lives

Pinterest is my go to! Anything you want to do, whether it be game ideas, icebreakers or lessons, Pinterest has it all. No wonder it has become so popular! I have multiple boards dedicated to youth meetings and I can confidently say that Pinterest has given me many ideas on things to do for every youth meeting. For special events, I use Pinterest for decoration inspo and my pins let me ideas come to life! Thank you Pinterest! Love, a very thankful but modern youth leader.

12. We are a close-knit family

Last but not least I can say that our youth meetings have made us become like family. We know every little secret about each other as well as details about our past. Meeting once a month or even several times a month, our youth group grows and becomes more attached to each other. The bond we share is incomparable to any other. I'm so lucky to witness it as a youth leader and I'm especially thankful for being not only a leader, but a friend these young people can count on.