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,...
What the book's about: I Am Malala is Malala Yousafzai's account of her life in the Swat Valley in Pakistan, her desire to see ALL people, especially girls, have access to education, and her fight for her own life after being shot by the Taliban...
The other day, a teen walked into our youth room. Another student immediately grew excited and exclaimed, “Oh great! It's the funny kid!”
I'm pretty sure the funny kid didn't hear this other teen and for that I'm thankful. I responded by greeting...
My teens care deeply about issues that affect the marginalized in society. They long to make sense of what their faith says about such things and wrestle with how they can make a difference in regard to these issues. To that end, my student...
What the book's about: Notes from a Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider is about living intentionally in a chaotic world. It's about living simply in regard to five key areas of life: food, work, education, travel, and entertainment.
Why I read...
On Saturday, my youth ministry gathered together to play the summer's hottest game: Slip 'N Slide Kickball.
One of my seniors, a student leader in my ministry, came up to me at the start of the event, eager to share with me her experience of...
A few weeks ago, we looked at 3 types of parents that you'll work with as a youth pastor. Today, we'll continue looking at strategies for dealing with each type of parent. Here are 7 strategies for working with spaceship parents – those who are...
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...
As I've been breastfeeding, I've been binge watching Grey's Anatomy. I recently watched an episode in Season 5 in which Addison's brother, Archer, has worms in his brain – something that's clearly a very serious condition. In an attempt to save...
Letting teens influence my youth ministry's teaching calendar means that sometimes, we talk about topics I have no interest in or even real knowledge of; Topics that if, it were solely up to me, would never in a million years make our teaching...