The “untraditional family” has become the “traditional” family. The US Census indicates over 7 million grandparents in the US raising their grandchildren. I have found on some sites discussing the issue of “fatherlessness” that one in three children are born to a never married parent.…
So if I was your youth ministry volunteer, or hoping to be, here’s what would keep me around: 1) Advanced scheduling: I want to be all in but I can’t do that without advance notice, especially for retreats or trips. Just because I’m uber-busy, I can make time for things I know about.…
Regardless of the size of your group, every healthy youth ministry has a healthy volunteer staff. Many new youth leaders start out with lots of energy and lots of ideas, but not a lot of confidence when it comes to inviting others to help out.…
Caring for your staff and volunteers year-round should be a priority, but Christmas is the perfect time to express appreciation with a gift. Here’s a list of what I’ve given my ministry leaders throughout the years. Some gift ideas are cheaper than others, but they’re all practical, affordable, and doable.…
I could hear my heart beating in my ears. The oxygen in my lungs felt like concrete, dragging me down. I could barely breathe. Everything was riding on this, and I had only one shot. But I missed. Again. In the sun and sweat of the playground, it felt like the 40th time I’d whiffed at kickball (reality check—maybe it was really only the second or third time).…
Ahhh summer. In ministry it’s filled with camps, trips and exhaustion. In the world of my children it’s filled with more flexibility, days at the beach, and of course camps. School starts for us in a week or so. …
A youth minister’s schedule can be hard on marriages and families. There a million youth events and many youth pastors are expected to be involved in everyday church happenings. Youth workers can easily find themselves far too busy and with spouses and children desperate for time and attention.…
I’d love to say I’ve never judged a parent or a family situation throughout my years in youth ministry. It would be great to claim I’ve always listened, been a strong advocate, and formed opinions based only on facts. Saying those things wouldn’t make them true, however.…
Being a small group leader is great and scary at the same time. I took a group of guys from freshman year to senior year. It was great, but there were some things I had to learn to be okay with throughout the four years that I wish I knew at the beginning.…
Today someone from my daughter’s school came out to our house and planted a sign in our yard celebrating her as a 2020 graduate. She’s just finished her senior year of high school, and after a lot of hard work she’ll graduate as valedictorian of her class.…
