After spending five years serving as the youth pastor in a church that held its weekly youth service during “big church”, I knew I wanted my next congregation to be one in which families worshiped together, where worship and faith formation (or...
One of my favorite ways to teach my daughter about faith is by reading to her. For this reason, I'm always on the lookout for clever faith-related children's books.
Bible Basics: A Baby Believer Counting Primer by Danielle Hitchen,...
As a parent, I want to teach my daughter to follow Jesus.
Hope's only 21-months old, so right now, the main way we're doing this is by reading her the Bible in order to teach her the stories of her faith. One of her godmother's got her a copy of...
This year my youth ministry is offering two summer mission trips: A domestic trip to a nearby town (that we offer every other year) and an international trip to Haiti.
Some of our families do both trips but others choose only one. We know this. In...
I am in countdown mode. I leave for our intergenerational Peacemaking trip on Sunday, a mere three days from now. This will be the first time I've been away from my nearly 13-month old daughter for longer than a few hours since she was born. In...
In a recent project for Arbor Research Group, a Bible teacher at a Christian school talked about the moment “when the lightbulb goes on” for the kids in his classes. In the weeks since, this phrase has echoed around my head.
As youth workers who...
What the book's about: Saying Is Believing is a research-based book about the necessity of testimony in adolescent spiritual development. It's also a practical guide for how to invite teens to practice giving testimonies in our ministries. ...
For years, one of my high school students wrestled with the story of Jonah.
She knew it well – at least the Sunday school version of it. She'd grown up hearing about how Jonah disobeyed God and got swallowed by a big fish. While inside the fish,...
When I was in grad school, author and professor, Steve Gerali, taught me about how important rites of passage are in the faith formation of young people. Since then, I've been a big fan of including these experiences in my youth ministry. I'm also...
I despise fill-in-the-blanks.
They annoy me.
More importantly, I don't think they're particularly useful.
Needing to complete a bulletin filled with fill-in-the-blanks doesn't make me listen more attentively to the person talking – especially when...