His name was Andy, and some weeks he was the only teenager who showed up for my youth group. It was a small church. And when things were good, the youth group might have 15 kids show up. But things suddenly became not-so-good as our senior pastor and congregation battled over whether or not he should resign. …
Remember when you had the perfect ministry role? It was the night before you started serving in it. After that, and every day forward, you likely thought: “This isn’t exactly what I expected.” Maybe it was close enough that you stuck it out.…
Fifteen years ago, I found myself unexpectedly let go from a full-time youth ministry role. I didn’t see it coming, nor was I prepared for what to do to provide for my family. Typical of these sorts of traumas, I saw myself as the persecuted hero and my church as the insensitive villain. …
I have a bad feeling about this. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is a great disturbance in the force for supporters and critics alike. The film ends a 42-year-old story arc spanning nine primary movies, two side films, multiple TV shows, and endless supporting books.…
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. A holly-jolly Christmas. Do you hear what I hear? Silver bells. The First Noel. We get it. The Christmas nostalgia in our soul’s cup “spilleth over.” But threaded through the music, food, and decorations of the Christmas season is a reminder of something greater and deeper—that God came near and continues to come near.…
Well, you’re not going to brag about it, but things are going great in your ministry. Your fall kick-off went better than expected, and you’re finally seeing breakthroughs in teenagers who’ve left the sidelines to get in the game with Jesus.…
What’s your big dream for your youth ministry this year? And can you sum it up on a T-shirt? Leadership guru Peter Drucker made the “T-shirt” challenge famous—his argument was that big goals should be so easy to understand that they fit on a T-shirt.…
We are shorthand people who prefer shorthand solutions to complex problems. That’s true in life, and it’s true in youth ministry. In the past, our shortcut paths to deeper discipleship included… • What Would Jesus Do—”Go beyond your identity as a church-attender and have the courage to live like Jesus.…
Spider-Man is legit. Teenagers love him. Parents giggle at him. Youth workers recognize him. He’s a bumbling, awkward 16-year-old named Peter Parker trying to have an ordinary life though he’s been given extraordinary gifts and responsibilities. Kind of like the tension our teenagers often feel.…
“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.…
