Last week, I heard a “Plugged In” review of the movie, The Fault in Our Stars , on K-Love. I read the book - a well-written young adult novel by John Greene about two teenagers with cancer - about a year ago, after hearing countless students...
I am a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.
Over the...
A few weeks ago, my youth ministry held it’s third annual spring banquet. The event started after my student leaders approached me, saying they wanted to hold a dance for our youth ministry.
That thought made me want to vomit.
Rather than express...
Every year around this time, I struggle with what to give our graduating seniors.
Early on in my career, I’d actually spend weeks agonizing over this. Indecisiveness would paralyze me until eventually, I’d give up and order a cheesy graduation...
My youth ministry recently held it's 8th Grade Orientation. Wanting to give 8th graders a taste of what our high school youth ministry is like, we included a discussion. My student leadership team chose the topic - identity - and I wrote the...
Last night, my train stopped shortly after it began moving due to a storm-related delay. Apparently, the power was out along the tracks, making it impossible for us to continue forward.
Immediately, commuters lashed out, complaining about the...
If you pick up my copy of Youth Ministry in a Multifaith Society by Len Kageler, you'll notice that nearly every page in the last three chapters is dog-eared. It's that good.
In this book, youth ministry researcher, professor, and practitioner,...
Earlier this week, my youth ministry was asked to deliver a Welcome Pack to a newly arriving refugee family of three from Bhutan.
Even though I consider myself to be a refugee champion and even though we had the supplies on hand to do this...
In recent weeks, student leadership team interviews have taken over my life. These one-on-one meetings are follow-up conversations to the written application filled out by each applicant. They typically take about an hour each.
I know that's a LOT...
Ever since my congregation stopped kidnapping people, we've had to find new, better ways to transition our kids from one ministry to the next.
One of the best things we've done is institute an 8th grade orientation. Truthfully, we borrowed this...