I was on Notre Dame’s sideline watching #52 warm up a week ago. #52 is Braxton Cave, an amazing young man whom I’m so very proud of. I’m not gonna lie, it’s kind of fun to be able to say that kid was in my middle school youth group when his whole body was about the size of his current bicep.…
There’s a man in my church who won’t look me in the eye. He won’t say hi to me; he won’t shake my hand. For whatever reason, this guy seems to not like me very much. For a youth pastor, that’s hard.…
There are all kinds of transitions. This isn’t necessarily about a new church; it could be moving into a new position in the church you are in, transitioning your programming, a new boss, or maybe you are in transition in your personal life.…
I’ve finally fulfilled my New Year’s resolution. It’s only taken me 11 months and 10 days, but I finally signed up for a gym membership. I decided to sign up for someone to show me around. I needed some direction, some pushing, and a personal trainer to guide me in this new territory called “getting in shape.”…
My wife got one of those food sealer contraptions. You know, the ones you can vacuum seal everything from chickpeas to chicken. It really is quite a thing. As soon as I saw it, my mind went to youth ministry. I started thinking about incorporating a bit in our programming called “Will it seal?”…
Whether you’ve been in youth ministry for three years or 30 years, you quickly learn that coffee (or caffeine for that matter) is a staple. You can take joy in the fact that at any time you can press a button and have a beautiful beverage.…
It seems that a lot of pastors and ministers use the early church as the ultimate model of what the church should be today. And honestly, I’m one of those pastors. What did it look like in its purest form? But I’m also the guy who thinks that the church of today has brought some great additions to the table.…
I remember it like it was yesterday. I reflected on the past five years in youth ministry. How much time, energy, money have I put in, how many sacrifices have I made to be there every Friday night with a new program?…
From crane games to duck-duck goose, we were born to choose. Often these choices are based on what we find appealing, attractive, or intriguing. This becomes an interesting dilemma when we begin building a team of leaders to serve alongside us in youth ministry.…
Leadership Reflections –Tom Lately it seems that I’ve been doing a lot of travelling in my car. Over the last few weeks I’ve been in cities and towns from New Hampshire down to North Carolina. I’ve become very good at spotting the gas stations and fast food places that are right off the exit so I don’t have to venture too far off the beaten path.…
