Category: youth ministry
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Too big to fail
“Too big to fail” is a colloquial term in describing certain financial institutions which are so large and so interconnected that their failure will be disastrous to the economy, and which therefore must be supported by government when they face difficulty. ~ Wikipedia Since the mid-1980’s the federal government has mandated that some banks are so…
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Right person, wrong program
I had coffee with a ministry friend yesterday. His church plant is about 5 years old so they aren’t completely tiny but they aren’t so big that they’ve become a thing. He said something pretty radical. Allow me to paraphrase. “About a year ago my youth ministry guy started a youth group. I think he…
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You know you’re onto something when…
the powers that be (doing nothing for years) are nervous about you. people from the church start leaving tracts and books on your desk anonymously. an old lady cusses at you and about you. country club members decide to worship elsewhere. tattoos and pick-up trucks outnumber lattes and minivans in the parking lot. you get…
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What happens at camp doesn’t stay at camp
Earlier this Spring I posted an infographic about the Power of Camp. I think this video from YouthDynamics illustrates the power of camp quite well. Personal challenges and personal encounters with Christ. That’s what it’s all about! The video captures my own experience as a youth pastor in getting teenagers out of their context. For them,…
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Until you get fired…
… you won’t change. … the pain of doing something outside the box outweighs the ease of trying to make the box you’re in prettier. … those sacred cows are worth feeding, watering, and printing new t-shirts for. … it’s about the depth of your relationships and not numbers. … you think you don’t have…
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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…
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Belonginger
This is the role of the youth worker. Adolescence is full of isolation. Many teenagers struggle to see the world from anyone’s perspective other than their own. While in adulthood we have learned to “look at things from the other persons perspective” many early to middle adolescents just haven’t fine tuned that skill. That’s why…
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5 Nights of Youth Group
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about youth ministry strategy. About two weeks ago I published an article on Asbury’s Seedbed which caused a lot of spin off conversation because I had the audacity to state the obvious: The current bi-modality of youth ministry, one mode built around church kids and the other built around…
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Love God. Love Neighbor. Simple. Right?
Want to teach the students and young adults in your life HOW to do this? Pick up my 6-week curriculum, Good News in the Neighborhood. ht to Steve Knight for the link. Shouts FTE.
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3 Things Teenagers Wonder About the Adults in Their Lives
Teenagers are good at asking questions. But I’ve found they often have a hard time coming to you about things they wonder about. More specifically, what are the things they are wondering about as it relates to the adults running their youth group that they have which they can’t quite put words to? Here’s the…