Yes, like sheep, we are a needy people. But we don’t really want to live under the shadow of desperate circumstances as a prerequisite for our intimate dependence on Jesus. It’s hard to live that way. But there is an “alternative fuel source” that those who are living a dependent life with Jesus have discovered.…
In the midst of the pandemic shutdown, our youth pastor and intern joined forces to create a daily devotion—a social media post called The Four Fives. It’s a visual prompt that encourages students to spend five minutes in four spiritual disciplines every day: Prayer, the Word, Worship, and Waiting.…
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders. We are prophets of a future not our own. (Cardinal Dearden, 1979) We had pulled together a handful of youth workers from our city for a little mutual encouragement (and pizza). …
Now that we’re approaching four months into the pandemic apocalypse, we know the shaping impact of this crisis goes deep and broad. But to understand exactly how these extraordinary challenges are impacting teenagers today, we must dig a little. And that’s what our contributor Maina Mwara—a youth ministry veteran, writer, and journalist—has done.…
I remember asking my supervisor for budget approval to purchase a new video camera. I was ready for him to tell me I was asking for too much money. I presented my request, and there was no discussion. It was a resounding “yes.”…
More than three decades ago I showed up for my first day of work at Group Publishing, a 26-year-old amateur theologian and journalist trained in investigative reporting, about to mount the lowest rung on my career ladder. Six months later Thom Schultz, founder and CEO of Group, asked to meet with me… I remember the nervous, intimidated feeling I had as I walked the hallway to his office.…
Like many of you, I’ve got ministry friends all over. When the rumblings of a quarantine first started, I reached out to a few of my closest friends to mine their perspective on what might happen. When reality set in, I reached back out to see what student ministry would look like inside our new reality.…
On Pentecost Sunday Calebe Silva, a teenager in New Jersey, opened his church’s Zoom church service with a short reading from Isaiah, followed by a piercing lament over the grief and pain the African-American community is experiencing right now (in the wake of the protests over the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police).…
Youth ministry has been around awhile—we have decades of paradigm shifts in the books. What started as a way to get illiterate kids off the street and into a new-and-improved morality morphed into a ticket to a pizza party and a gospel presentation.…
After co-hosting my church’s online service last weekend, I logged onto the service-stream of a friend’s church in another state. “Carl” (not his real name) was focusing on the “Hurry Sickness” that afflicts our culture (well before COVID-19 descended on us).…
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