Last summer I painted several rooms in our house. The job took much longer than I had hoped or expected (doesn’t it always?!?). Even though I’m a perfectionist when it comes to painting, my desire to just get done and get back to life led to a temptation to compromise my usual standards of neatness.…
Scott and Anne came into my office for pre-marital counseling. They had both been in my youth group in a previous season of life. During one of the sessions we talked about sexuality. Both Scott and Anne were virgins and I must admit I was surprised because that is usually not the case today, even among Christian young people.…
When you work with teens, you no doubt have plenty of opportunity to observe first-hand the volatile guy/girl relationships that are part of teen life. Bad days in the romance realm can be frequent and recurring in the teen world…on any given day someone, somewhere in a teen’s circle of friends is likely going thru some high drama that may end in a relationship breakup.…
When you signed on as a youth minister, you placed yourself in the path of crises—both small and daunting. It’s all part of the deal. In fact, most of the best impact you’ll have in youth work will happen during crisis situations.…
Don’t get me wrong. I love Yoda. You know – that little green Jedi who sounds like Kermit the Frog on steroids? I love that he’s two feet tall and can whoop up on bad guys 3 times his size. I especially like how after he opens up a can of Star Wars kick tail and jumps around like a Mexican jumping bean, he leans on his staff and limps off into the sunset.…
It’s Tuesday night at our youth center—about 25 kids are milling around, shooting pool, watching a movie, and playing video games before our youth service. That’s just the veneer. When I peel back the crust, I find a lot of pain hiding in the darkness—four cutters, two rape victims, 16 from divorced homes, five molested kids, two who are struggling with their sexual identity, a few attempted suicides, a miscarriage, one with an eating disorder, and several who have alcoholic parents.…
Crisis intervention is a critical part of youth work — in fact, crises offer an open door to ministry like nothing else can. It’s 11 p.m. when your home phone jangles you out of a late-night TV stupor. “I’m at the hospital” — it’s the urgent, unnamed voice of a mother.…
This masquerading stat/lie goes something like this: “The percentage of young people who are Bible-believing Christians is steadily decreasing, and right now has dropped to a rock-bottom 4 percent.” The 4 Percent Warning has entered unopposed into the church’s vocabulary of accepted fact.…
They want responsibility. They want to be heard. And above all, they don’t want to be treated like children. Of course, the reason kids crave adults’ respect is simple—they don’t feel they’re getting it now. Why not? Well, sometimes kids’ behavior doesn’t warrant respect, as a recent letter from a Christian camp director in Pennsylvania points out: “Our camp is geared for youth groups.…
So Iran is building nuclear power plants, or are its leaders really working on nuclear weapons? Believe it or not, the answer to this question has a loopy relevance for your youth ministry. If you enrich uranium a little, you can use it to fuel a power plant.…
