I’ve had the same love-hate relationship with service projects that you have over the years. On one hand, we love how a single day of selflessness can wake students up to Jesus-centered priorities that their normal routine stifles. On the other hand, we hate how easy it is for youth to get a circumstantial high off the event and stop just short of tuning into Jesus through the event.…
Ministry is rooted in relationships. Your best days serving God are directly impacted by the people you work with and for – not to mention the people under your own roof. That’s why in this first installment of “Ask a Senior Pastor” we’re addressing two common tensions within our closest connections.…
The camp had bugs in the beds. Was it the worst camp ever? I’m not sure. Perhaps your story has mine beat. Still, there were insects of all shapes and sizes crawling on the mattresses our students and leaders were to sleep on.…
Tight budgets are commonplace in ministry. That means that decisions about spending money are equally as common. Someone in our church recently asked me, “Why can’t the church do ‘x’ when it’s only thirty bucks a month?” “It’s a great idea,” I affirmed, “but there are so many other great ‘thirty dollar’ ideas people have proposed.…
I’m taking a week off from youth ministry. It’s not because I’m going on vacation. It’s not because I have too many things in my schedule. It’s not because I no longer love students. I’m just about ready to rip some of their heads off… that’s all.…
Ned Nederlander. Franck. Jiminy Glick. These popular fictional characters were given life through the creative mind and talent of Martin Short. And then there’s Ed Grimley… Martin Short’s first breakthrough character. You may not know the backstory of how this greasy-hair-cowlicked-vertically-in-the-air, teeth-baring hyperactive manchild came to be… let alone how it all relates to the nerves and presumptions we all wrestle with in struggling to say something profound. …
I can’t believe how many opportunities I’ve wasted taking students on mission trips. I know I’m not the only one. Mission trips are an amazing idea…but what we tend to do with them (or not do with them) is the real issue.…
Once upon a time, I thought it would be a great idea to fill a hot tub full of milk, sardines and pigs feet. Who hasn’t, right? It was one of those crazy youth ministry program nights where our leadership team thought up absurd things we thought we could get students to do.…
One of my favorite things to do is speak to middle school and high school students. Over the years of being privileged to do this at weekend retreats, I’ve learned that I need to keep an open mind about what to expect.…
Does your church or youth ministry need small groups? Allen White had a great post on this and it got me thinking about the varying forms of community that people of all ages crave at different levels: Massive: Conferences, conventions, concerts, local cross-church gatherings and multi-youth group mission trips can serve this.…
