Category: youth ministry
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Join us for Open Seattle
I’m getting really pumped for Open Seattle next week. If you live in the Pacific Northwest we’d love to have you. Yesterday, we extended the regular registration deadline until next Monday– so you can still get in for $25! What’s Open Seattle? Open is an experiment. It’s asking the the youth ministry world the question……
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Lead by Enabling
Did you catch the Do Something Awards on VH1 last night? Wow. Wow! WOWowow! It was an explosion of fun, music, and celebration of teenagers who… are doing stuff in their communities. I’m relatively new to discovering DoSomething.org but the idea behind their organization is pretty simple. They help teenagers do stuff in their community. Here’s how…
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When press releases attack
(see the full-size version of this image) In my morning stroll of Google News about teenagers I picked up on this story. On Google News it was just plain text. But when I clicked the link to bookmark it… well, you can imagine my surprise! Clearly, it was a press release sent around in hopes…
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OpenYM.org – When my dream starts to become our dream
It’s hard to put a finger on when Open started to become a dream. I can remember having conversations with Kristen in 2006 about the glass ceiling within the youth ministry world. The majority of the speaking/writing/training opportunities went to a relatively small group of people. Sadly, even though I’ve since joined the ranks as…
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What’s measurable in youth ministry?
Church attendance. (duh) Program attendance. (double duh) Baptism. Renewal/reaffirmation of baptism vows. Attend confirmation. Complete confirmation. Small group participation. Program participation. Content retention. Content progression. Content application. Becoming a volunteer. Attending volunteer training. Volunteer hours. Bringing friends. Bringing a Bible. Bringing friends with a Bible. Going on a mission trip. Going on a service trip.…
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How do you measure teenage maturity?
News on teenagers consistently conflicts. We are ecstatic about teenage Olympians. No one puts a teenage qualifier on their accomplishments, an Olympic medal is an Olympic medal, it doesn’t count for half a medal because someone is under 18. Our laws define someone as an adult the moment they hit 18 while providing a completely…
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Teenagers are incapable… until they aren’t
Gabrielle Douglas is 16 years old. This week she won 2 gold medals at the London Olympic games. She will be a junior in high school this year. Missy Franklin is 17 years old. She also won 2 gold medals in London and owns 2 world records. She’s entering her senior year in high school.…
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The 48 Hour Self-Retreat – How to plan your Fall 2012 Ministry Strategy
It’s August 1st. For most youth ministries things really kick off in 30 days. That means in the next 30 days you need a publishable Fall calendar, you need to check in with all of your volunteers to make sure they are coming back, and you need to host a volunteer training meeting as well…
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Too old for games
In act one of last week’s This American Life entitled, Amusement Parks, Ira Glass [America’s best preacher] spends time with Cole Lindbergh. Cole is the manager of the games department for an amusement park called Worlds of Fun in the Kansas City area. Cole is an amusement park management geek. His life revolves, wholly and…
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Kidnapping students and other dumb things NEVER to do in youth ministry
Kidnapping Students? Really? Raise your right hand and repeat after me: I, [state your name], do solemnly swear, to never go to jail because of my role in youth ministry. So help me God. Nothing in youth ministry is worth dying for. And nothing is worth going to jail for. Here is an easy-to-use list…