Join the Community of Catholic Youth Ministry Leaders
Have questions about youth ministry? Looking for people to bounce ideas off of? Tired of doing ministry alone? Need training for you and your volunteers? Thrive will help with all that...and more!
AND THE BEST PART: YOUR DIOCESE HAS ALREADY PAID FOR IT!
Talk about ministry with other people who get it
The Thrive community is built for conversation: Problem solve. Celebrate wins. Brainstorm ideas. with other Catholic youth ministers
Easily find other leaders in your geographical area, working in the same ministry focus, or with similar passions and connect one-on-one with them.
SHARE YOUR WISDOM
Other Catholic youth ministers are looking for answers, and I'm betting (with your experience) you've got some! While there is tons that you will get out of being a Thriver, one of the best perks is being able to help out other leaders in need.
"Thrive has been such a blessing to me and my ministry. As a new youth minister, having a community to get advice and ideas from has helped me feel less isolated and overwhelmed. Thrive helps me feel supported and empowered!" Jessica Lemoine
Discussions ORganized BY Who THey IMPACT
In the world of youth ministry, there's a lot to talk about! Those conversations can get a little overwhelming, so we organize them inside of Thrive not by "what" but by "who".
Get access to a growing library of PDFs, graphics, checklists, planning guides, and more. Spend less time creating forms and flyers and spend more time doing ministry.
THE POWER OF SEARCH
Everything inside of Thrive is searchable – and we mean everything. Every word of every post. Every word of every comment. Every word of every member profile. Every word of every video.
Yes! You can easily search our video library* for specific phrases – and then play that exact clip!
Fully Searchable VIDEO LIBRARY
We've got over 25 hours of video training content from the leading experts in Catholic youth ministry. Every video is transcribed, captioned, and fully searchable. You can even skip to exact place in the video where the phrase you searched for is used!
THRIVE PRO
This feature is available exclusively for Thrive Pro members, but don't worry: your diocese already bought you a Thrive Pro membership!
"Thrive has been awesome to be part of. I love that it is a community that is interactive in a familiar social media type platform that is easy to use. Being able to connect with other youth ministers has been such a wonderful experience and whether you have a question, prayer request or are looking for a resource, you feel like it’s more personal and you are among friends." Jenn D'Angelo Lucovic
Schedule a Video Call WITH Our Team
We're happy to jump on a call with you and: brainstorm with you, give you advice, talk through a situation, help plan out a program, pray with you, celebrate your wins, listen to you vent, or pretty much anything else you need!
THRIVE PRO
This feature is available exclusively for Thrive Pro members, but don't worry: your diocese already bought you a Thrive Pro membership!
YoU'RE PART OF THE FLOCK
The Thrive Community is filled with hundreds of Catholic youth ministers of all shapes, sizes, and flavors: Newbies and Veterans. Introverts and Extroverts. Full Time and Volunteer. From Big Parishes and Small Parishes. Planners and Improvisers.
But we're all in this together!
THRIVE COURSE LIBRARY
THRIVE PRO
This feature is available exclusively for Thrive Pro members, but don't worry: your diocese already bought you a Thrive Pro membership!
Student Leadership
Jim Beckman
Jim Beckman explores the question of "student leadership". Should you have student leaders? If so, who should they be? How should you form them? And what should they be responsible for? His answers might surprise you.
Pro Youth Ministry
Rich Curran
Rich Curran (from Parish Success Group), walks us through how to get your parish to be PRO youth ministry and (more importantly) what professional youth ministry looks like – whether you're a paid staff member or not.
All Inclusive
Lindsey West
Lindsey West (from Uniquely Catholic) helps us have the important conversation about how to change our mindset and our ministry to be more open to teens with all kinds of abilities and special needs.
Funding Your Mission
Matt Rice and Dylan Browning
Matt Rice (Founder and President of Ablaze Ministries) and Dylan Browning (Director of Development for Ablaze) discuss the importance of fundraising for your ministry and challenge us to rethink our asking strategy.
Gifted
Tony Vasinda
Tony Vasinda (cofounder of ProjectYM) talks about how we are all spiritually gifted and irreplaceable. Just like our physical DNA, we each have unique spiritual DNA, designed by God to used to serve Him and build the Kingdom.
No Perfect People Allowed
Michael and Crystal Marchand
Michael and Crystal focus on how to build a ministry that welcomes brokenness, encourages those we minister to (and with) to remove their masks, and highlights how God works through our brokenness to make us new!
Student Transitions
Michael and Crystal Marchand
Michael and Crystal talk you through the developmental phases teenagers go through from 12-22 and give practical insights on how each phase needs to be handled differently in your ministry.
Rooted in Prayer
Kalista Bartee
In this course, Kalista helps you develop strategies to intentionally incorporate and teach prayer in your ministry: with teens, with volunteers, and with parents.
Small Groups
Annie Grandell
Annie Grandell (from YDisciple) breaks open the strategy of small group ministry. She outlines the process of building an effective small group ministry!
Teach It Better
Michael and Crystal Marchand
Learn valuable tried and tested tools to plan and give your best teaching. Michael and Crystal walk you through the strategy, the art, the elements, and the methods of how to teach your content better.
Creating A Culture
SARAH KACZMAREK, ERIC GALLAGHER, JOHN BEAULIEU, AND MARCEL LEJEUNE
Learn how to build the culture of your ministry to be centered around prayer, evangelization, discernment, and discipleship.
Habit Check
Michael and Crystal Marchand
Take a look at the habits that we often develop as ministry leaders: Which ones are healthy and vital? Which ones are unhealthy and need to be dropped? Which ones are we missing?
Balancing Act
Michael and Crystal Marchand
Michael and Crystal break open how you and your ministry need to be intentional about finding balance between the seemingly contradictory traits.
Recruitment Engine
Tony Vasinda
Tony Vasinda unfolds the best way to recruit more volunteers for your ministry. He challenges you to look at your team, evaluate your needs, and make a plan to grow a healthy, thriving volunteer team
Parent Relationships
Michael Marchand and Tony Vasinda
Tony and Michael walk you through how parents view us in our ministry, tools and tips to support parents along the way, and how to equip parents to form their teens.
Balancing Act
Chris Wesley
Chris Wesley (from Marathon Youth Ministry) helps you answer three important questions: Why does your ministry exist? What does your ministry do? How do you put it all together and get to where you want your ministry to go?
Fired Up
Michael Marchand, Crystal Marchand, and Tony Vasinda
This course explores the often neglected (but essential) step of how to get everyone fired up about your ministry – parents, teens, volunteers, and even your pastor!
Featured Instructors
THRIVE PRO
This feature is available exclusively for Thrive Pro members, but don't worry: your diocese already bought you a Thrive Pro membership!
Jim Beckman
Archdiocese of Oklahoma City
Jim Beckman serves as the executive director of Evangelization and Catechesis for the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City. A graduate of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Jim has served in various roles of leadership for national, regional, and local ministry ever since. Jim also is the executive director of ImpactCenter, a nonprofit dedicated to leadership development in the Catholic Church, and serves as an adjunct professor for the Augustine Institute, teaching on leadership and discipleship.
Annie Grandell
YDisciple
Annie Grandell has over a decade of experience as a parish youth minister for a cluster of 3 parishes and has a heart for reaching souls with the gospel and teaching the truth of the Catholic faith. For the past few years, Annie has run YDisciple – allowing her to work with youth leaders around the country, empowering them in the small group discipleship model.
RICH CURRAN
Parish Success Group
Rich Curran is the founder and executive director of Parish Success Group, a Catholic non-profit organization that provides on-site coaching to parishes and dioceses getting them to grow in size and spiritual depth. For more than 25 years he has served the Catholic Church within parishes, dioceses and nationally on numerous boards, associations and consulter to several Catholic publishers.
Lindsey West
Uniquely Catholic
Lindsey West is the founder of Uniquely Catholic – an organization that helps parish communities and disability communities come together in a meaningful way that promotes not just welcome, but belonging, and a sense of ownership that respects individuals with disabilities and meets them where they’re at. In addition to a Master’s degree in Systematic Theology, Lindsey has spent time as youth minister, director of religious education, and volunteer.
Matt Rice
Ablaze Ministries
Matt Rice is the president and founder of Ablaze Ministries and currently resides in Bryan, TX. He holds a BA from Texas A&M University and a M.Div. with Biblical Studies concentration. Matt began working in ministry over 18 years ago but quickly realized that there was a need that was not being met in the world of Youth Ministry. In response to this need, Matt founded Ablaze Ministries to form and train youth ministers and provide quality youth ministry to parishes of all sizes.
JOIN THE COMMUNITY!
THRIVE PRO
YOU'LL GET
Access to the Thrive Platform
Community Discussions
Downloadable Resources
Member Uploads
Private Message Other Thrivers
ThriveTV
Recommended Tools/Resources
Thrive Courses
Fully Searchable Video Library
Schedule Calls with our Team
Ministry Emergency Button
Pro Member Discounts
THRIVE PRO WOULD NORMALLY COST YOU $39/MONTH
But because your diocese believes in you and your ministry, they are investing in your success!