Annual private meetings with youth.

Make it a practice to call every youth every year to “check in.”

• This may be the only interaction a kid has with the church.
  
• Try to get a appointment with them for a 15 minute meeting (in a public place) “just to chat and get caught up.”
  
• These chats keeps the door open for future conversations: They help the kid remember that you are there; they sometimes turn into important conversations; they are perfectly all right to be surface level; these may be the only connection the youth has with the church.
  
• Make these meetings in a public or semi-public place 
  
  Don't give up if they turn you down each year – I had one turn me down for 6 years straight, then accepted, came in, we had a great conversation and they became active in the church for the first time in his life.