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 counselor who must deal with upset parents and discouraged adolescents, and an EMT who has to treat the occasional dodgeball injury. Often, all in the same day. As you walk through the ups and downs of your calling, we’re here to support, encourage, and equip you with ideas that will fuel your journey as a Jesus-centered leader.
What You’ll Find
Our leadership topics are designed to give you the knowledge and skills to confidently guide your ministry. We’ll cover the must-know areas—including working with parents and volunteers, planning and productivity, and the broad range of skills you need as an adolescent specialist in ministry. And, most important, we’ll help you grow your own relationship with Jesus so your leadership flows out of a “deeper well.”
“I didn’t get in this for the money.” You’ve said that to a few people over the years, and you’ve said it to yourself more than few times too! And while you didn’t get into youth ministry for the money, it would be nice to make a little bit more of it along the way.…
Ever thought how do I grow my youth ministry? Well, Kurt and I will spend the next few weeks discussing some ways to grow your ministry. So tune in!!! Hope it helps, AC & Kurt…
In my last post about whether small church youth workers should or shouldn’t go to big conference, one of the reasons TO go is an opportunity to connect to other youth workers. More directly, youth networks run a-plenty in visibility at conference crossroads whether formally (through sponsorships or booths) or informally (through notes tacked up on a bulletin board).…
Ever had students show up to youth group, and they look like a deer caught in head lights? They know no one, and feel super awkward. We’ve definitely experienced this in our ministry, and especially with freshman. So we did a few things to help them out this year.…
Our student ministry had Kurt Johnston teach for us this past month. “Jealous?” (I tried to write that in my best Jon Lovitz impersonation) TBH – that’s how “the kids” say “To be honest…” – we had Kurt “in house” via video.…
This week we are still talking about small groups.This week we bring in one of our veteran volunteers to talk about training, leadership, and care for our small group leaders. We had a lot of fun. Check it out!! Hope it Helps, Kurt & AC…
In what it becoming a popular trend these days, another “live-coming-out” video has been posted on Youtube. These stories will temporarily trend in social media feeds, including one in particular that Facebook highlighted this week: It features a teenager who hid a camera with just the right line of sight to capture his mom’s reaction to his announcement that he is gay.…
A few days ago I wrote a post on the pros and cons of having a youth group name. Check it out here. If you are thinking about giving your youth group a name, here are a few things I would think through before naming my group: Think about the purpose or mission of your youth group.…
I’d love your perspective… How young do you think a child can be to legitimately become a Christian? We can certainly have some fun with this, and definitely get off on some tangents… but I’m genuinely asking. Please share your thoughts.…
Yesterday I had a conversation with a new youth worker who just got a lead youth ministry position. The conversation was on when should they change the name and thought I’d share a few of my thoughts. To be honest, I believe there is a strong case to have or not to have one, so I thought I write some pros and cons that I see to having one.…
