Tag: high school

  • My Sanctuary

    Ugh. Another parking ticket. I think I already had about 10 of them. While I never intended to pay them I was still embarrassed to get ticket after ticket for parking in the women’s basketball coaches spot. She never seemed to use it anyway and the walk from the visitors lot was long. Plus, tickets…

  • 4 Ways We Hold High School Students Back

    In reading Robert Epstein’s book, Teen 2.0, the one thing that fundamentally shifted my thinking is that adults lament about childish behavior while simultaneously funding and celebrating it. Politely, Epstein says we have infantalized our youth. Maybe we need to take it a step further? We treat our young like pets. 4 Quick Examples to…

  • You Want Who to Do Whaaaaa-aaat?

    This morning I have the honor of teaching at Encounter, the high school ministry of Journey Community Church. I’m kicking off a series called Sea Jesus. And basically it’s stuff that Jesus has to teach us while he’s near the Sea of Galilee. Like everything else I produce that I’m at liberty to share, I’ve…

  • One Sexy Beast

    Man, I was smoking hot back in the day. (circa 1991-1992) Just as humble as today just twice as young. Backstory to the picture above: Over the last few months I’ve gotten reconnected with Joanne via Facebook. (pictured above) We went to First Pres in Mishawaka together back in elementary, middle, and some of high…

  • Possessed

    When someone pitches an idea my mind is running through a matrix of questions. Is this really a good idea? Is the idea even possible? Is this the right person to turn this idea into a reality? Will enough people buy into the idea that it’ll take off? Is this the right time for this…

  • Good News for High School Students

    I’m always at odds with this reality: If Jesus offers good news, what is it about how we do youth ministry that is only attractive to 1% – 2% of the high school students on our campus? That always lead same  to a place where I say, “I don’t think we’re doing this right just…

  • Bad news for suburban kids

    In the next few weeks millions of high school seniors will hear their name called and walk across the stage to recieve a high school diploma. There is an interesting phenomonon on graduation day that I’d like to point out. Kids in the city are typically pretty excited about the achievement. In the city graduation…

  • Why High School Basketball is Awesome

  • Lies of Youth Ministry, Part One

    Boys and girls in youth ministry we’ve got some problems. We in youth ministry, as a tribe, believe some lies about who we are, what we’re about, and how we should be reaching students. Let’s address these and move forward to fix them, OK? #1 Your ministry is “successful” if you have 10% of Sunday…