Rest
Today, I'm linking up with Kate Motaung's Five Minute Friday. The rules: Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
This week's prompt: Rest.
I woke up with a migraine yesterday, the worst I've had in a long...
How to respond when teens claim to hate Jesus
I love Jesus.
That's probably not surprising to you. As a youth worker, I'm guessing you love Jesus, too. What's more, I'm guessing you want the teens in your congregation to love Jesus. But what happens when they don't?
Because let's face it,...
6 Strategies for Connecting Parents to Your Big Events
Part of the “magic” of mission trips and events like the 30 Hour Famine is that they take place outside of the normal context of students’ lives. Often, they take place in a different location, away from teens’ family and friends. In so doing,...
6 signs the lightbulb's gone on
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...
The importance of the nursing God
At a recent conference, I attended a workshop where, among other things, the presenter made the case for using gender-neutral pronouns to teach children and youth about God.
This is a debate that rages in a lot of circles. People fear that if we...
Why I Don't Do End-Of-The-Year Parties
In my community, it's officially the end of the year. Schools get out in the next couple of weeks and it seems that between now and then, there's a steady onslaught of end-of-the-year festivities, including parties. In some instances, students...
10 Things I've Learned In My First Year of Motherhood
Baby girl turns one on Sunday, a milestone which has left me feeling nostalgic. There's so much I want to capture about this first year; things I fear I will forget in a year in which scrapbooking has fallen by the wayside.
During my pregnancy, I...
Using movement to engage teens
Like many congregations, mine uses a traditional educational hour or Sunday school format. This means that our junior high and high school students meet separately for 45-minutes each on Sunday mornings.
I love the opportunity this time provides...
7 ways to cultivate spiritual curiosity
Recently, a new youth worker told me about how, after taking his first job in youth ministry, he decided the best way to begin his ministry would be to do a series addressing his high school students' questions about their faith. His first week on...
After they leave 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,...
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Latest Posts
- Rest
- How to respond when teens claim to hate Jesus
- 6 Strategies for Connecting Parents to Your Big Events
- 6 signs the lightbulb's gone on
- The importance of the nursing God
- Why I Don't Do End-Of-The-Year Parties
- 10 Things I've Learned In My First Year of Motherhood
- Using movement to engage teens
- 7 ways to cultivate spiritual curiosity
- After they leave our ministries