Editor’s Note: The Shack is the bestselling work of Christian fiction in history—it was written by a first-time author named William Paul Young, who made 15 copies of the manuscript to give to family and friends, and never expected it to be published.…
A couple weeks ago, I (Jake) was at a Youth Ministry conference and on Friday night, I was chatting with a couple of people when the topic of our book, 99 Thoughts on Marriage and Ministry, came up. One of the youth workers got a little excited and expressed that her and her husband had been married for a little over a year, and she asked me to give her some nuggets of wisdom from the book.…
Whether you have been in youth ministry for 5-minutes or 50-years, it doesn’t usually take long to figure out that there are some difficult people within our churches. You know, that parent who always seems to have an issue with something you’re doing.…
Job interviews are so stressful that they can cause pain. We think through every word, over-analyze the questions, and beg God to tip the scales for us. And I’m describing what employers like me, not just applicants like you, must endure… In almost 20 years as a pastor (and a veteran of youth ministry myself), I’ve interviewed a lot of potential youth pastors.…
Our church’s amazing children’s director recently resigned. It’s understandable financially. We couldn’t pay her what her household needed for her to keep doing the job. It wasn’t the first time our financial team approached her over the years to explain that the money coming in simply wasn’t able to sustain her position full-time.…
We see it emerge all the time in our students. They “forgot” to turn in their camp permission slip on time, and we “just have to” let them come anyway. There is a conflict between the Saturday mission trip fundraiser and a game for the sport they play.…
In honor of the scary stuff that happens at the end of October, I’m dedicating the next several articles to some of the scarier things youth workers deal with. For example, coming face-to-face with an angry parent can be one of the scarier things you encounter as a youth worker.…
Why Are You There For Everybody Else’s Kids? The end of summer means the end of the busy season in youth ministry. It’s not that the rest of the year is cake, but summer is a beast. And don’t get us wrong, we love summer!…
Some of you may have read the title of this piece and said to yourself, “Holidays?! It’s only September! We have plenty of time before we start having to deal with the holidays!” On the one hand, yes, you’re right! Thanksgiving is a few months away, however we’ve learned that now is just about the right time to start having some conversations to have the best holiday season your family can have.…
Some days, I could care less. Other days, I couldn’t care more. It doesn’t matter what the topic is… there are days when my feelings get bullied by my logic, and other days when my emotions want to rule my life.…
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