Supplies for this Youth Bible Study You’ll need copies of Philippians 4:6-7 (NIV) on sheets of paper and a pen for each student. You’ll also need a video display and Internet connection. Preview the following YouTube clips: • Pre-Blessed Food: http://youtu.be/j9JUqS4Q2A0…
One of the things we’ve enjoyed most in our nearly 25 years in youth ministry is the conversations we have with students. (And the free T-shirts—we love the free T-shirts.) Although these conversations sometimes happen spontaneously, we can make the most of every encounter by asking better questions.…
As a former military member, I learned the value of a ‘go-bag’ long ago. Here’s the idea: You keep a bag ready to go at a moment’s notice. In this bag you put everything you will need for a specific operation, or in the case of youth ministry, an event.…
There are different types of tragedy that strike our ministries. Sometimes they happen to students under our care, other times it is an illness or accident or a devastating choice a student makes that ends in pain. the scenarios can vary, but in my experience the feelings that follow almost always are the same: grief, hurt and a helplessness that there is nothing you can “do” to “fix” the situation.…
If you are like most youth workers, you probably find yourself in some sort of teaching environment once or twice a week! Let that settle in for a second; a couple of times a week you are responsible for creating learning environments in which the members of your youth group are exposed to, and wrestle through, some of life’s most crucial topics.…
The proverbial “good kid” can come in many shapes and forms. They might be the ones that always show up early to actually help set up, or sit in the front row so they can pay attention and take better notes, or we ask to be on the student leadership team, or are the first to sign up for the missions trip, show up to every fundraiser and actually pay on time.…
At Summer camp last month, one of our counselors faced a classic dilemma but at an increased level of intensity. One of the 7th grade boys in his cabin was homesick. But this young man wasn’t the “normal” kind of homesick.…
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.…
We love summer! No more alarm clocks, bonfires, and planned spontaneity! And if you’re a youth worker, we’re guessing you probably love it too. Our summer youth calendar is jam-packed with cool stuff like camp, mission trips, and summer activities all designed to help our students grow in their trust in Jesus.…
April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. The most recent figures from the 2014 Children’s Defense Fund’s Annual State of America’s Children report that 1,825 children are abused or neglected each day in the U.S. And considering it’s believed that less than 10 percent of sexual abuse cases are ever reported to authorities, the number of actual incidents each year is far greater.…
