What the book's about: Once again, the subtitle of Wild Mind - Living the Writer's Life - is an accurate description of it. The book blends stories from Natalie's life with practical advice as well as exercises to try in your own...
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...
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: Mess.
I woke up this morning to a mess. The bathtub was filthy. Wet towels...
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...
Recently, my senior pastor had our staff watch Simon Sinek’s TED Talk, How Great Leaders Inspire Action . The basic gist of Simon’s talk is that if you want people to follow you, you’ve got to tell them why you’re doing what you’re doing. You’ve...
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...
As he dipped his fingers into a bowl of rice and beans, one of my students whined, "Why do you always have to mess with our food?"
At the time he made this comment, this student, along with the rest of our mission team, was busy participating in a...
What the book's about: Thin Places by Jon Huckins explores six postures for creating and practicing missional community. Here, the word, "posture" is significant as it blends action with contemplative practices that teach dependence on the...
As I mentioned last week, one benefit of taking the summer off is that it gives leaders the time to invest in other things. One of the things I routinely invest in during the summer is our youth ministry’s space.
Roughly every other year, we hold...