In youth ministry, summer is the prime time for attending camps, conferences and mission trips. Regardless of what type of summertime activity you participate in with your youth, it's important to process your experience with your teens. Here's...
In addition to requiring student leaders to read, another way I train and equip students for leadership and in particular, for creating a culture of welcome is through blogging. Blogging forces teens to intentionally think about their faith...
I'm a book junkie. Just ask my father-in-law – who recently spent the better part of a day moving my library upstairs to make room for Baby Bradbury downstairs.
I wholeheartedly believe that you learn by reading. Even so, for a variety of...
As part of my student leadership team application process, I interview every teen who applies to be part of our team. This part of the application process is not only valuable, but necessary. To that end, here are 8 reasons why you should include...
Over the weekend, I saw the movie McFarland, USA.
In so many ways, this is a youth ministry movie – a powerful example of the impact adults can have in the lives of teens.
In the movie, Mr. White – a teacher who's been laid off by several...
When I first interviewed for my current position, I remember asking the pastors, “How are youth involved in worship?”
Their answer to this question was important to me because I was coming from a non-denominational setting wherein we had a...
In response to last week's post about how a fear of offending people keeps teens from talking about their faith with others, a reader reminded me how at that age, even if he'd wanted to talk about his faith with others, he wouldn't have known how....
Throughout high school, I was actively involved in my congregation's youth ministry. This was, in many ways, the activity that was most important to me during that time period. Even so, I rarely invited friends from my high school to join me for...
About four years ago, my student leaders suggested our youth ministry begin hosting book clubs. They wanted a time outside of our regular youth ministry gatherings to come together and discuss interesting books.
As someone who loves to read, I...
Small groups are only as good as the questions asked in them. If that's the case, then what exactly constitutes a good question?
Good questions...
1. Are open-ended. They cannot be answered with yes or no. This is important because when given the...