For those of us in America, this is the week where we will devour massive amounts of food in the name of thankfulness. It’s easy to get caught up and distracted by planning, house cleaning, stressful travel, football games, overeating, avoiding certain family members, and shopping–all while pretending to enjoy Aunt Gurdy’s plumb-custard-quiche-ala-nasty.…
An article from Jonathan McKee at TheSource4YM.com “Bullying” is the buzz of 2010. Articles, studies, news reports, anti-bullying banners…I can’t go a week without hearing someone talking about it, someone who hasn’t been bullied. Something happens to kids when they are repeatedly mocked and pushed around publicly.…
It seems as though this year has taken a toll on our community when it comes to dealing with death. In one of our local high schools we have had three student deaths in less than 8 months (two in one car accident, and one suicide).…
Today, we are wrapping up our ideas for leading better discussion. DONT ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS….too quickly Silence is uncomfortable for most people and most youth workers seem to want to quickly fill the void. Set the tone for your teenagers by letting them know that there will be times when silence appears and it’s within the silence that everyone has a chance to think without listening to others.…
Conversations can be the “meat and potatoes” of discipleship since they build community and develop spiritual understanding. We’re picking up where we left off yesterday and exploring a few ideas for leading better discussions: ASK GREAT QUESTIONS Asking good questions is a science and an art.…
Discipling teenagers is a critical element of a healthy youth ministry. Part of dis-cipleship is helping teenagers learn to make decisions that will impact their lives for decades. It’s our experience that good discipleship happens best within the context of a caring and accepting relationship.…
T.J. was one of those kids every parent prayed for. At 16 years old, he was strong in his faith, passionate about the mission field, full of joy, and a real practical joker. T.J. was a student who had been at our church for years and was loved by many!…
Today, we’re finishing up this series to help students build biblical filters to discern the influence of culture into their lives. TAKE A PERSONAL LIFE INVENTORY To help our students continue down the path of biblical discernment, encourage them to examine the condition of their own life.…
During my younger days, when I was fit and a little bit crazy, I used to mountain bike, and I don’t mean just on nice little rails to trails, I am talking serious, through the woods, over trees, covered with mud type of serious.…
So as I dragged my laptop out to get some writing done in my home office today, I had to sweep aside four past issues of The Amazing Spider-Man, a geometry book that might as well be written in Japanese to me, and a calculator I’d need a master’s degree to run.…
