To wrap up this little series on teaching, I thought I’d share a few random and mostly unconnected tips and tricks that can help just about any teaching environment you find yourself in go a bit more smoothly. The First Minute Is The Most Important Minute!…
When the class of 2025 heads into their future there will a be a big hole in our youth ministries. The absence of their leadership and personalities will leave big shoes to fill. If you have natural leaders coming up right behind them, this transition may be something you’re ready for.…
Because Thanksgiving lands on November 24 this year, [tweet_dis]here’s a list of 24 things to be thankful for this season[/tweet_dis]: 1. Pizza—Pizza is to youth ministry as turkey is to Thanksgiving. It wouldn’t be complete without it! 2. Senior Pastors—They paved the way and led the charge.…
Ever had someone believe in you more than you believe in yourself? Or, even deeper, ever had someone invest inexplicable belief in who you are and what you can do? Several years ago I wrote a book called Sifted. I’ve written many books over the years, but this was my first attempt to write something for a wider readership than the youth ministry community.…
To win in a game of Simon Says, we have to radically obey what we’re told. And we’re living in one big challenging game of Simon Says in our culture right now… The tension that exists as we’re “opening up” is real and widespread, because our obedience to “Simon”—government leaders and scientists—is in tension with our determination to choose what we think is right and good.…
Salvations, re-commitments, powerful worship, blood on the wall leading into the sanctuary, a busted eye leading to a parent picking up a student to go get stitches, and a trail of blood on the sanctuary carpet… Yes, each of those happened at my recent Back2School Lock-In.…
In this week’s Whiteboard Wednesday experiment, we take a surprising plunge into authenticity, and what it looks like to create a ministry environment that invites vulnerability and a sense of relaxed honesty. Teenagers growing up in a “curated” and plastic world are starved for authentic relationships—we explore the way Jesus feeds people who hunger for deeper connections in their life.…
Supplies for this Youth Bible Study You’ll need copies of Acts 2:41-47, large poster-sized sheets of paper, and markers. If you do the follow-up experience, you’ll need to plan for it. Form teams of three or four, and ask teams to make plans for their own “exclusive club” from scratch.…
Ten years ago my wife and I made the biggest transition in the history of our lives together. We moved from Michigan to California. My first thought when we started discussing it was, “You don’t move away from family.” And my reasoning was, “It’s just something you don’t do.”…
Every small group has some genuinely quirky personalities. I know because I’ve been one of them. In high school, I accepted a friend’s invitation to his youth group. Then he wanted me to check out his small group. Each member had a perceptibly unique influence on the conversation about God and life, but somehow the diversity worked.…
