For better or for worse, we are all currently building a legacy. When we move on to whatever comes next in our life journey, the next generation of leaders will inherit the foundations that have been laid in our youth ministries as well as everything we’ve left unfinished. …
EDITOR’S NOTE: Michael Novelli was a full-time youth pastor for 13 years before he launched his own ministry called Echo (echothestory.com), helping both young people and adults learn through the art of “Storying,” an experiential and dialogical approach to growing deep in relationship with God.…
How one longtime youth pastor has morphed his ministry into a “student-led, adult-mentored” culture, where there are no adults leading small groups or, really, any ministry. By Brandon Kennard“These middle school kids have way too much energy for me; I think I may be in over my head.”And…
On a recent visit with my family I had the chance to catch up with my nephew who is a small group leader in youth ministry and is also a second year college student studying Church Ministry. I wanted to know what this college sophomore would say to me about his experience as a small group leader and youth ministry volunteer.…
“If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em!” I’m not sure who first coined that infamous saying, but it is somehow simultaneously genius and defeatist. Pragmatically speaking, it makes sense. Why fight against the inevitable? But few things seem as depressing as giving up and giving in when we know there’s a better way!…
Adolescence is a time of significant physical and psychosocial development. As youth develop, they are typically informed by and supported by their peers. Experimentation, exploration, and risk characterize adolescence, and many engage in high-risk behaviors during this time. Beyond the impulsive, risk-taking nature of adolescents their budding identity is being shaped as well. …
I woke up with an anxious knot in my stomach. I had no idea where it had come from or why it had decided to take up residence in my gut. Laying in bed, I started to go through a mental checklist of reasons it could be there.…
By now you are probably either neck-deep in summer activities or about to jump into the summer frenzy (just looking out our youth group’s summer calendar makes me tired!), so you probably aren’t looking to add any extra stuff to your plate.…
A few years ago, our goal was to have at least one of our adult staff or volunteers at every one of our graduates’ parties. As our number of high school seniors grew, this task became more and more challenging … and exhausting.…
There are preconceived ideas of who “people in ministry” are supposed to be.This holds especially true in youth ministry. You can make the stereotypical list yourself, I don’t think I even need to name the traits. The problem is that not all of us are capable of becoming the resident IT person.…
