What and Why….I can still hear the owner of the old camp that I once worked at. During staff training he always taught a class called “Interpersonal Management Skills.” He knew that my staff would be working in very close quarters for 8 weeks.…
For fans of The Office, you already know. But for those who don’t watch this show, for whatever reason, Robert California is the new CEO of Sabre’, and works half the time out of the Scranton Branch. With the recent premiere, and our first episode with the new boss, he had a great leadership principle that played itself out in the episode.…
I have always liked the title of Josh Griffin’s blog: “More than Dodgeball.” My guess is that titles like “More Than Dodgeball” are in reaction to a youth ministry approach that has been pretty popular in the past 20 years, featuring a bunch of splashing in the kiddy pool without wading into the deep end.…
An angry parent can be intimidating and overbearing. Whether the encounter is planned or by surprise it is so important to check your heart. An angry parent is most likely coming to you because they want the best for their child, not to take you down.…
From time to time we’re going to take a pause from the normal format and answer a few questions from you: the youth ministry nation. Here are two we received recently: What are the differences between a typical Jr. High program and a High School program?…
School has started, homework loads have begun, Facebook venting is at a premium over the insanity of teachers & your students are nowhere in site thanks to this lovely word…BUSINESS. It’s sad when the fall hits and you actually anticipate a certain % decrease in attendance because of business—so why not fight it!…
The beginning of a new school year is a great time to do a quick youth ministry “check up” . A perfect question to ask is, “Why does our youth ministry exist?” If you can’t clearly define why your ministry exists, then you will likely be tossed about by the most recent trends, the coolest fads, and the loudest voices. …
When crisis hits your youth group … think of it as an incredible opportunity to serve your students and their families. Time to jump into action! In future articles we’ll cover some specific things to say or to avoid – this is more of a take from 50,000 ft.…
Last week we talked about debriefing your summer calendar, and we got a great response from it (largely asking the question, “how?”) and thought it might be good to devote a whole article on the topic. So today we’re going to list 20 questions to help you begin to evaluate your summer youth ministry calendar: ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Equip your adult volunteers & students to grow as leaders in your ministry.…
People who work in youth ministry often struggle with the concept of rest. There’s always kids to Facebook or text, phones buzzing, paperwork to do, trips to plan, parents to calm, meetings to attend, and people to see. These things are necessary, yet many youth workers, their spouses and churches don’t schedule times of rest and Sabbath amidst all the chaos.…
