Tag: stress
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City People Really are Wired Differently
In 2002, Kristen and I considered a position at a lovely church in rural Nebraska. The nearest large city was Lincoln some two hours away. The town was quaint and cute as a postcard. But as we dug into the realities of moving somewhere with one coffee shop, a small grocery store, a gas station,…
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Anxiety in Youth Ministry
Over the past several days I’ve started to put words to what I’ve been observing: The tribe of youth ministry is anxious. 2009 has been a ridiculously hard year. Last October when Tony Campolo spoke in Sacramento he said something like… “Church, as we know it today, will collapse with the economy. And we will…
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Remember what it was like when this was fun?
I absolutely loved what Francis Chan said in LA a couple weeks ago. (about :43 into this video) He reminded us- me- youth workers… to stop taking ourselves so seriously, find a way to laugh again, remind yourself that you’re just a stupid kid, mistakes aren’t that big of a deal, we all went into…
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Pushing Back to Find Sanity in Christ
Closing in on a year as “just a family in the pews” I have learned a ton about myself, my walk with Jesus, and what it’s like to be on the other end of church life. Having spent my entire adult life on the church leadership end of things I would often say, “I don’t…
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Responding to Stress
Here are a few categories of responses to job stress. I think I’ve exhibited them all in the past 3 months. – The ostrich: This person looks at the stress at work and just sticks their head into their own work, trying to ignore anything else that goes on. This can be good because at…