Last week, I was privileged to lead our junior high and high school mission trip to Milwaukee through Youth Works Missions. In Milwaukee, we stayed at Unity Lutheran Church, a gracious, hospitable church located in the Bayview area. This church is...
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...
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...
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...
When I started my job, I inherited a student leadership team that was elected through a popularity contest. As a result, the team was one giant clique, interested far more in what they wanted than in what was best for our youth ministry.
After...
What the book's about: Godbearing Life is a classic book in youth ministry. In it, Kenda Creasy Dean & Ron Foster discuss, as it's subtitle suggests, "the art of soul tending for youth ministry." Published in 1998, it's withstood the...
Every Monday night, my high school students run a program for refugee kids called Kids Club. Each week, what the kids look most forward to is snacks.
When it comes to Kids Club snacks, we have one rule: Everyone gets exactly the same thing.
That's...
Today, I'm linking up with Lisa-Jo Baker‘s Five Minute Friday. The rules: Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.
This week's prompt: Encouragement.
I met with him a few weeks ago to discuss his role on...
I’m an introvert. I love people, but I hate large groups and I despise small talk.
This means that my least favorite time of Sunday mornings is “coffee hour”. I dread this time so much so that most weeks, I make a mad dash from worship to the...