This fall, my high school youth ministry watched and discussed clips from the movie, "Noah". Despite the fact that this movie angered plenty of Christians, I found it invaluable for sparking conversation about a story that we oftentimes ...
I've been in ministry at my church for seven years.
One thing I love about having been in the same context for a while is that alumni from my ministry are starting to serve with me as adult leaders.
One of those leaders was a senior my first year...
Dear Parent Whose Child Does Not Want to Go on the Mission Trip -
I know your family has hundreds of worthwhile options for how to spend it's time each summer and that you can't do it all. I can also only assume it's far easier to send your child...
As is the case every year in my congregation, Confirmation Sunday was also Reformation Sunday (the day we remember and honor Martin Luther and the beginning of the Protestant reformation). To commemorate this special occasion, Reformation Sunday...
In a recent episode of The Biggest Loser , the time came to reshuffle the teams in order to force contestants to not only work with new teammates, but also with new trainers.
Every year, contestants face this Biggest Loser milestone with fear,...
This fall in my youth ministry, we did a series on the attributes of God based on words that teens use to describe God that may or may not actually be accurate.
The last week of this series we discussed how, if at all, God resembles a genie....
The phone rang.
Upon seeing it was the parent of one of my teens, I immediately took a mental inventory of what I might have done to anger or upset this mom.
You see, my experience has taught me that when a parent calls, I've almost always done...
Over the past four weeks, my youth ministry has been experimenting with student led small groups.
Truth be told, this experiment was birthed out of a shortage of adult leaders. In an effort to keep the size of our small groups small, I invited...
This year in my youth ministry, I wanted to try utilizing student-led small groups.
Notice the operative word there: TRY.
In theory, I believe that student-led small groups are a good idea.
Yet, in reality, I feared they would prove disastrous.
...
This year, our junior high Sunday School class is learning about each of the five promises they'll be making at their confirmation:
- To live among God's faithful people.
- To hear the word of God and share in the Lord's Supper.
- To share the...