Adam McLane

Category: youth ministry

  • FREE RESOURCE: YouTube You Can Use

    Each week I produce a free resource called, YouTube You Can Use. The concept is simple. I take a viral video from YouTube and write a small discussion starter and/or devotional based on the content. Currently, more than 1100 people around the world receive it each Monday. They use in their youth groups, in small…

  • How to talk to parents about parenting

    Over the past year or so I’ve had the opportunity to lead an hour-long seminars for parents. In fact, earlier this year partnered with Simply Youth Ministry & Marko to turn the content of my seminar into a book that comes out in a few weeks, A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Social Media. For me,…

  • We need less resources, not more

    Last week I shared a graphic about decentralizing youth ministry. I thought it’d be fair to unpack that a little more and challenge you to think about where that leads us. Inverse Relationships A direct relationship is more like cause and effect. The more I invest in my 401k  before I turn 40, the more…

  • The role of father’s in adolescent sexual education

    Existing research preliminarily suggests fathers influence the sexual behavior of their adolescent children; however, more rigorous research examining diverse facets of paternal influence on adolescent sexual behavior is needed. We provide recommendations for primary care providers and public health practitioners to better incorporate fathers into interventions designed to reduce adolescent sexual risk behavior. Link “Our…

  • Infographic: Why Youth Ministry Must Decentralize

    Click here to view or download full-sized version Source: U.S. Census Data Challenge You cannot reach 427 10-19 year olds with 1 paid youth worker. We have 40 years of data which tells us this is impossible. The way we currently do things is part of the solution but we must think differently to engage…

  • Cementing Faith Steps with Action

    As I mentioned on Friday, I went on our high school ministries Men’s Retreat. 70 dudes went out to the desert of Imperial County to share life, eat meat, blow things up, and connect with God. Brian Berry makes this trip look easy. It’s not. Merely surviving in rustic conditions like that is tough enough. (This…

  • The desert & cultural exegesis

    Later this afternoon I’ll join 70 high school students and 20 other adults for the Encounter Men’s Retreat. This is my second year doing the retreat so this year I have a better idea of what to expect. Intense, respectful content that asks young men to lean into practical realities of walking with Jesus. A…

  • 5 tips for engaging students on a Sunday morning

    Newsflash. It can sometimes be difficult to connect with a teenager at church. Our culture does a lot to communicate to us that teenagers and adults shouldn’t engage with one another. As adults we think, “What could I have in common with a 14 year old?” And teenagers assume that adults don’t really want to…

  • If in doubt, teach the Bible

    Two or three times per week I hear from a youth worker asking me for a resource recommendation. When I’m asked that I’m torn. On the one hand I know (and sell!) a lot of great resources. On the other, I know that too many people are just going from resource to resource to resource.…

  • Seattleness Weekend

    I’m up in Seattle this weekend hosting the first ever Open event. Please join me in praying for a great day. There’s a lot of people traveling from all over the country (specifically the Pacific Northwest) to get here. I am praying that its a wonderful weekend of refreshment. If you’d like to follow the…