Join Rick for the fourth episode in a new series—“JESUS-PEOPLE.” In this episode we’ll explore the heart of Jesus through the lens of a broken and traumatized woman who became one of those in Jesus’ inner circle. She’s important to focus on during Holy Week, because she was there at every step—along the Via Dolorosa, on Golgotha, at the tomb when He was buried, and at the tomb when He rose from the dead.…
Join Rick for the third episode in a new series—“JESUS-PEOPLE.” In this episode we’ll explore the heart of Jesus through the lens of the man who calls himself “The Disciple Jesus Loved.” His name is John, brother of James and son of Zebedee and Salome.…
Play a game with me… Imagine you weren’t allowed to have small groups of any kind in your youth ministry. How would you build community? We all know that creating relationship-rich spaces to grow community is important, but what if our go-to greenhouse for friendship-building wasn’t an option?…
Serving in youth ministry is both rewarding and challenging. As a leader, you’re a catalyst for helping teenagers grow as disciples of Jesus, a ...
In the often-chaotic cloud that is everyday youth ministry, one goal always rises to the surface—growing disciples who follow Jesus with an all-...
Fortnite, 13 Reasons Why, Snapchat… The shifting currents of culture all play a role in shaping the teenagers you serve, and give you unique opp...
It’s time to start swinging for the fences! Settling… Attainable… Reasonable… These are all innocent word, but they are also all wolves in sheep’s clothing. Twenty pounds when I have 50 to lose? Well, the 20 is attainable. And I end up losing six and applaud the effort.…
You know that feeling when your workday is complete? It’s time to relax, hang with friends, or just grab some “me” time. My day was over, and I wanted to go home and unwind. The Spirit had other plans for me… But as I drove home, I felt a burden to go visit Amy, a teenager in our ministry who was living in a crisis-pregnancy care center.…
What’s wrong with young people today? We’ve all heard about the symptomatic things that may characterize today’s teenagers, such as lower church attendance. But what’s underneath these trends? For many young people, it’s a suffocating sense of loneliness and isolation. A Generation Defined By Loneliness “This is the most lonely generation,” said Josh Packard, sociologist and author of Church Refugees.…
“I still tell people about how great and accepting our youth group was,” a 30-year-old recently shared with me. When I was his youth pastor years ago, “Mike” never took the big step of becoming a Christian. Back then he described himself as an atheist-meets-Wiccan.…
What’s wrong with young people today? We’ve all heard about the symptomatic things that may characterize today’s teenagers, such as lower church attendance. But what’s underneath these trends? For many young people, it’s a suffocating sense of loneliness and isolation. A Generation Defined By Loneliness “This is the most lonely generation,” said Josh Packard, sociologist and author of Church Refugees.…
How can you help teens fall in love when they’ve known about God their whole life? Here’s one leader’s experience! I was born on the front pew of a church during a Sunday night worship service. Before I could say momma, I said Jesus.…
A mission trip is like the Olympic steeplechase—you’re running as fast as you can over, around, and through every imaginable obstacle to get to the finish line. Maybe it’s the girl who shows up with a piece of luggage the size of a small horse casket, or the guy who forgot to study the packing list and brought clothes that won’t work well in your context.…
Each summer for the last three years, our youth ministry has served our city through a weeklong local mission trip called “I HEART LINCOLN” (or I❤LNK). Our teenagers pay a $100 fee and are placed on a team with two leaders—each team is assigned a pre-arranged service project organized by a local organization in our city.…
Play a game with me… Imagine you weren’t allowed to have small groups of any kind in your youth ministry. How would you build community? We all know that creating relationship-rich spaces to grow community is important, but what if our go-to greenhouse for friendship-building wasn’t an option?…
 JESUS PEOPLE: Mary Magdalene){kind=link}
 JESUS-PEOPLE: The Beloved Disciple){kind=link}
