Youth ministry theme nights are some of the BEST ways to get students inviting friends and to build momentum in your group.

But here’s the thing nobody tells you—every single one of my theme nights has come with a mistake. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes it was painful… and one time I thought I was getting fired…

Before you try these for yourself, let me give you my five best theme nights from 15 years in youth ministry—and the one mistake I made in each, so you don’t have to learn the hard way.

🍂 FALL SOCIAL MEDIA PACK

https://www.patreon.com/posts/fall-seasonal-137477671?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

🦸 HYBRID HEROES GET THE PACK FOR FREE!

https://www.patreon.com/hybridministry

SHOW NOTES

Shownotes & Transcripts

https://www.hybridministry.xyz/169

Fall Masterclass

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLngXlSr64YaLfP12NPWmpBzXoCcEsAyBF

Duct Tape Trivia

https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/duct-tape-trivia/kids-ministry/games-1029.html

Loot & Lunacy

https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/loot-and-lunacy/games/video-enhanced-9909.html

Patreon (K)Night Episode

https://www.patreon.com/posts/back-2-school-k-137095993

Christmas Movie Bracket

https://www.downloadyouthministry.com/p/the-ultimate-christmas-movie-showdown/christmas/christmas-games-9784.html

Patreon Christmas Episode

https://www.patreon.com/posts/hybrid-christmas-117617122

👉 STAY CONNECTED WITH NICK

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@clasonnick

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hybridministry/

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@clasonnick

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HybridMinistry

Website: https://www.hybridministry.xyz

--------------

🎉 FREE STUFF 🎉

We have all kinds of FREE Things that you can use in your context!

The best way to pay us back is a review or a YouTube Subscribe!

https://www.linktr.ee/clasonnick

--------------

🛠️TOOLS I USE THAT CAN HELP YOU!

Some of the below links are affilate links in which we do recieve a small commission based on your purchase or use of products

//VIDIQ

https://vidiq.com/hybrid

//BEST DYM RESOURCES

https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/dym

//OPUS.PRO FOR AI SHORTS & REELS

https://www.opus.pro/?via=a5d361

//YOUTUBE STARTER KIT FOR UNDER $100

https://www.hybridministry.xyz/articles/youtubestarterkit

--------------

🕰️TIMECODES

00:00 Youth Ministry Theme Nights

00:42 Theme Night #1

04:37 Theme Night #2

08:52 Theme Night #3

10:35 Theme Night #4

12:25 Theme Night #5

--------------

TRANSCRIPT

00:00:00 :00 - 00:00:03 :13

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

Youth ministry theme nights are some of the best ways to get your students

00:00:03 :13 - 00:00:09 :13

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

inviting their friends to your group, as well as build momentum for the overall team. But here's

00:00:09 :13 - 00:00:20 :21

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

something that someone might not tell you about some of these theme nights is that in every single one, there is an opportunity for a huge mistake. Sometimes it was funny, sometimes it was painful.

00:00:20 :21 - 00:00:21 :14

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

And one time I

00:00:21 :14 - 00:00:23 :19

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

even thought I might be getting fired.

00:00:23 :19 - 00:00:37 :02

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

And so before you try this for yourself, in this episode, I'm going to share with you my five favorite theme nights from my last 15 years in youth ministry. And the one mistake I learned from each of those, so that you don't have

00:00:37 :02 - 00:00:39 :06

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

to learn it the hard way for yourself.

00:00:39 :12 - 00:00:54 :00

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

Welcome my friends, to the Hybrid Ministry show. Well, hey my friends, welcome back to the Hybrid Ministry Show. I am your host, Nick Claussen, and I have been in this recent playlist asking and answering different questions found in different youth ministry

00:00:54 :00 - 00:00:55 :19

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

Facebook groups. And this

00:00:55 :19 - 00:00:55 :22

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

one

00:00:55 :27 - 00:00:59 :20

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

says, hey, what are some theme nights you've done with your group that your kids have really enjoyed?

00:00:59 :20 - 00:01:03 :16

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

Like Jersey night? Crazy hair. Looking forward to some ideas.

00:01:03 :16 - 00:01:03 :22

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

And

00:01:03 :22 - 00:01:03 :28

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

so

00:01:03 :28 - 00:01:23 :22

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

I figured, hey, I want to share some of my best theme nights. And I've discussed this before in some recent episodes. In fact, we did kind of like a fall playlist master class thing where I talked about my strategy for youth ministry. And oftentimes I'll make a theme night, a cultivate night, which is a bring your friends and invite style night.

00:01:23 :22 - 00:01:36 :16

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

And so one of the very first, invite style nights that I did as a youth pastor was one that I grew up as a teenager doing my youth pastor shout out to Pastor Tim Blow. He did an event

00:01:36 :16 - 00:01:42 :06

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

called Duct Tape Night. And, then I went several years later to intern for him, and he also did it.

00:01:42 :06 - 00:02:02 :28

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

And so then when it was my turn to be a youth pastor, it was time to do duct tape night. And so we do all kinds of different duct tape. We buy a bunch. We encourage students to, you know, bring like, bring something made out of duct tape that they made, will play, you know, games with duct tape or I even have a game I download youth ministry, called duct tape Trivia.

00:02:02 :28 - 00:02:23 :00

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

It's one of my very, very first vivid early on games. And then we'll even play, like, steal the bacon. But in the middle, we'll we'll play, like, steal the duct tape instead. But one probably like the star of the show. Like the thing that kids and students and even leaders look the most forward to is the duct tape a student to the wall challenge.

00:02:23 :00 - 00:02:41 :17

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

And, like, I was, like I said, within my first couple, months, even weeks of of taking this new job and got a couple kids and decided to duct tape them to the wall. And that's all well and good. No one got hurt. I mean, if you get enough duct tape, they literally can stick to the wall and they're not going to fall down.

00:02:41 :20 - 00:02:42 :27

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

That wasn't the problem.

00:02:42 :27 - 00:03:00 :12

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

What was the problem was as soon as, they started to fall off the wall, we started to take them down off the wall. It took the paint with them. Mind you, I'm in week, like, three and a half of this job. And so, you know, it's Wednesday night. The entire church is their kids ministry, youth ministry, adult ministry.

00:03:00 :12 - 00:03:01 :18

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

And so at the end of the night,

00:03:01 :18 - 00:03:14 :25

Nick Clason | Hybrid Ministry

all the adults like how duct tape night go because, like, they knew about it, heard about it, but had never, like, seen an event like this before. And we're like, oh, good, good, good. And I was talking to my, my senior pastor, my boss. Right. And I was like, oh, it's awesome.

00:03:14 :25 - 00:03:31 :29<br /