Your summer mission trip is on the launching pad—the countdown is on. Maybe you just completed your last leg on the fund-raising marathon (who knew teenagers could sell that many over-priced balls of cookie dough?). Your spreadsheet mapping the intricate details of the trip is filling up.…
As followers of Jesus, we’re familiar with the Easter story and its life-altering significance. But is there a mystery embedded we often fail to recognize? After his being crucified, why was it necessary for Jesus to stay in the tomb for three days?…
Sacrifice. It’s a word that can easily bring about negative connotations, especially when viewed with an Old Testament frame of mind. What would it look like to shift our perspective to focus on and embrace the ultimate sacrifice Jesus made on the cross?…
The operating system for a computer determines how it works and what it’s capable of doing. If the operating system for humans is called “story,” how do we respond to the “bugs” that try to destroy us? What can we learn from Jesus when it comes to telling our stories and “debugging” our systems?…
Relationships are messy. And relationships are the context for our calling. Put two and two together and you get a “messy calling.” Because relationships do not run on formulas, we have no universal rules or guidelines to follow. In fact, even the best relational suggestions are often helpful only once or twice.…
Parenting my own children has helped me become a much better youth leader. Young, single, fun and crazy youth workers have the TIME to invest in teenagers, the ENERGY to go the distance with them, and the FRESH EYES to change things up.…
If you’ve grown up in the church, you might have heard the phrase “die to yourself.” While this concept is something we’re expected to embrace as Christians, do we really know what it really means? Or even how to do it?…
Who are you “supposed” to call today? Which teenager “should” you hang out with this week? How many of your own family’s activities do you “need” to show up for this month? Look, we’re all busy—it doesn’t matter whether we’re full-time, part-time, or a volunteer.…
I was relational before relational was cool… Way back in the day, I invited kids in my youth group to run errands with me, signed on to be a substitute teacher to earn street cred with kids at school, and invited the families of my teenagers over for dinner.…
“Why do bad things happen to good people?” It’s a common and extremely difficult-to-answer question, especially in cases of untimely or unexpected death. When this question is asked, what would it take to shift our perspectives from focusing on the loss to instead looking for the fruit God produces from tragedy?…
 Death to Life—Three Days in the Dark){kind=link}
 Death to Life—No Sacrifice){kind=link}
 Death to Life—The Bug in Your Operating System){kind=link}
 Death to Life—No More Death to Self){kind=link}
 Death to Life—Falling Towers){kind=link}