Adult leaders are the backbone of a healthy youth ministry. In order to effectively minister to teens, your ministry needs caring adult leaders. But what, precisely, should those caring adult leaders do?
Many youth ministries use adult leaders as...
My new youth ministry met for the first time last week.
By all assessments, we had a great first night. The room was full and teens were engaged in our conversation about vocation.
Afterwards, I was chatting with one of my adult leaders. When I...
My new book, A Mission That Matters: How To Do Short-Term Missions Without Long-Term Harm, is out! As a youth worker, I wholeheartedly believe that mission trips have the ability to impact teens in an incredibly transformative way. However,...
Earlier this week, I hosted a leader’s training for our junior high and high school adult leaders. Our focus was equipping leaders to facilitate small groups.
During this crash course in leading small groups, we addressed basic tips and tricks for...
My new book, A Mission That Matters: How To Do Short-Term Missions Without Long-Term Harm, is out! As a youth worker, I wholeheartedly believe that mission trips have the ability to impact teens in an incredibly transformative way. However,...
For the last year and a half, I’ve had the privilege of participating in Fuller Youth Institute's Youth Ministry Innovation Cohort. Part of this has meant creating a project to do in my youth ministry involving an ancient practice: Vocation. This...
Because mission trips are, by their very nature, short-term, it can be tempting to use them as an opportunity to try out new leaders.
Please don’t.
While mission trips are indeed short-term, their short-term nature makes them incredibly...
Today, I'm linking up with Five Minute Friday. The rules: Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
This week's prompt: Anniversary.
I started college at a time when the future seemed bright, when I expected to...
In the movie, Stepmom, a mom, Jackie (Susan Serandon) is dying of cancer, leaving her young children behind in the care of her ex-husband (Ed Harris) and his new wife, Isabel (Julia Roberts). In a poignant scene near the end of the movie, Jackie...
On the way home from a recent youth ministry trip, I sat next to my colleague, Joe, on the plane. We both knew that in many ways, this trip was the last significant thing I’d do as youth pastor in our congregation. I was transitioning out and Joe...