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. …
So, yes, I watched about half of the just-completed season of The Bachelor. My embarrassment compels me to quickly explain—my 17-year-old daughter started watching this notorious (and wildly popular) show only this year, a permission that came with a price. Namely, that my wife and I would need to watch the show with her. …
Today someone from my daughter’s school came out to our house and planted a sign in our yard celebrating her as a 2020 graduate. She’s just finished her senior year of high school, and after a lot of hard work she’ll graduate as valedictorian of her class.…
This is a topic that freaked me out my first year in youth ministry. As a young parent myself, it’s not easy telling grown ups how to deal with their children. So it took me a while to really get to a place where I was comfortable with talking to parents.…
When we started raising our kids, it seemed like Rachel and I had an obvious decision to make: Follow somebody’s prescribed “steps to raising Godly children” or figure it out on our own with scripture, prayer, the wisdom of others, and our own common sense leading the way.…
A youth minister’s schedule can be hard on marriages and families. There a million youth events and many youth pastors are expected to be involved in everyday church happenings. Youth workers can easily find themselves far too busy and with spouses and children desperate for time and attention.…
Eventually, you’re going to see how it all plays out. Right now, they’re teenagers. Tomorrow they’ll be in in college or starting a job… then growing into their early twenties, and so on. You’ll watch from afar as all of the time you’ve poured into helping them know Jesus personally either gets scrapped or gets owned.…
Season 2, Episode 012: Are We Heading Toward a “Bibleless” Christianity? When you picture someone who has devoted his entire life to the passion of getting people to read the Bible, you might think of a person who’s a bit rigid and judgmental.…
In this week’s Whiteboard Wednesday experiment, we explore ways to take advantage of the big moments surrounding grad time and “mark” teenagers with a reflection they’ll never forget. Ever had someone believe in you more than you believe in yourself?…
“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.…
