Clik here to view.
Idea Swap: Volunteer Training
Earlier this week, I gathered with YS Blog Authors, national ministry leaders, and other trusted youth ministry voices for a casual conversation about how they approach training for their volunteers....
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Prayer I No Longer Pray
My youngest child is leaving soon for a mission trip with her youth group. In my morning walking/praying routine, I was thinking about her upcoming experience. I prayed for a lot of things during my...
View ArticleClik here to view.
4 Steps to Plugging in a New Leader
How do you know if a youth leader is going to be the right fit for your youth ministry team? I mean, it’s next to impossible to gauge if a person is going to fit from your first interview with them....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Making A Real Job Of Youth Ministry
Youth workers have a terrible reputation. That statement should not come as a shock to you, most people don’t even think of a youth pastor as a real job. You may have fielded questions like, “So, what...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Doctor Who? The issue of the messiah complex in youth ministry
My love of Doctor Who goes all the way back to my early years in school. The small video section of my school library contained a few PBS specials, a Bugs Bunny Cartoon in Spanish and a few random...
View ArticleClik here to view.
13 Reasons Why, Suicide & Our Identity in Christ
Like many of my fellow youth workers, I recently found myself watching the Netflix original series “13 Reasons Why.” More importantly, I found myself prayerfully wrestling over how to best address the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
How Youth Ministry Crushes Your Self-Esteem
It is crazy to think about, but I am rounding the corner on 20 years of student ministry. That is so long. That is so many hours, days, weeks, months and years pouring my guts out for students in an...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Successful Failure
Failing is something that normally people do not like. Failure means that we did not do something successfully. It is never a good feeling to know that you failed at something you really wanted to do...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Civil War Dodgeball
Yet another twist on the old youth ministry classic dodgeball. Just in case you are sick and tired of the same old week in and week out of playing dodgeball. “ A favorite around our 5th-8th-grade...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sacred Privilege: An Interview with Kay Warren
Kay Warren, the cofounder of Saddleback Church, took a few minutes to share with Maina Mwaura about her family’s life in ministry, being the spouse of a pastor, and her latest book, Sacred Privilege:...
View ArticleClik here to view.
3 Signs You Are Losing Your Passion For Serving
How was your energy level after serving at church on Sunday? Every volunteer, staff member, and pastor walks through passionless seasons of ministry. We feel frustrated, burned out, under-appreciated...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Better Way to Handle Criticism
I remember the excitement of the first month of being a full-time youth minister. I had so many ideas of how I was going to evangelize the world and raise up a new generation of sold-out Jesus-freaks....
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Easy Ways to Care for Your Soul This Summer
Summertime brings about many memories of childhood days gone by for me. While I absolutely loved school growing up, I could not wait for the lazy days of summer. That’s when the hardest question I had...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Making the Best Use of Summer
Summer is a time when things change for our students. Sometimes that means they get busier. They are working a summer job, going to summer sports workouts, going to summer camps and trying to hang out...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Top 10 No or Little Prep Youth Ministry Games
Often times, games and activities fall by the wayside during a youth group night. We get swamped during the week, we spend much of our time planning the lesson, we focus on counseling students or we...
View ArticleClik here to view.
White Picket Fences: Teaching that Singleness is OK to Our Teens
How many of us didn’t grow up believing or were encouraged to believe in the white picket fence dream? You know…the dream where we graduate high school, get our college degree, meet our future spouse...
View ArticleClik here to view.
5 Steps to a Better Referral Guide
We have all been taught when the struggles of a teenager seem like more than you’re equipped to handle, to refer, refer, refer. But to who? And how? Especially if you’re new to the area or to the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Connecting Beyond Competition
God made us to be in community. As ministry leaders, we are often left creating an environment of community for others, yet being left out of close community ourselves. Connecting with other pastors...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Youth Ministry is in Danger of Becoming the Phone book
It is well documented in business circles that “blaming the customer” is a terrible practice. It’s also popular to talk about how we must “change or die.” Oddly enough, there are a surprising amount of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
4 Things You Can Do This Summer to Hit Your Goals in the Fall
For some of us, summer means things slow down a bit for a few months. For others, things seem to somehow move even faster. But, no matter what speed you find yourself moving right now—no matter how...
View Article