Category: Youth Ministry

What can we learn about leadership from Pelicans? Recently on vacation in the Outer Banks of NC, Jane and I were observing the flight habits of pelicans.  We were captivated as they moved their way up and down the coast in search of food. Their flight patterns got us talking about leadership. Leadership creates order.…

What a joy it is to work with people who share your core values and are humble! So often in creating youth retreats there are variables that can change the dynamics of the weekend. Will the speaker deliver the messages that were asked for? Will the musicians provide the most suitable song selection?  Will the…

“Can you do a Lent series for us?” the headmaster of a prestigious private school asked me. Being so eager for the opportunity to speak at the school, I quickly agreed to speak in school assemblies for 4 weeks. Two factors fueled my enthusiasm.  One was that the student body was largely (and by that…

“So, it’s more than just playing games?” I was stunned in my phone conversation with my sister when she made this comment. I had just told her about the release of “Gospel Centered Youth Ministry” and how I had written a chapter for it. I thought back to the days in our diocese when the…

A new book just came out that I had the privilege  of writing a chapter for.  It’s called Gospel Centered Youth Ministry and was written by a lot of different contributors.  We are excited for the possible impact of the book in helping youth pastors who want to do more effective youth ministry. Here’s an…

It turns out that on the Rooted Blog, the article on Engaging Millennials made the top 10 most read articles of 2015.  It was number 4 on the list. Interesting that sex related articles captured 4 of the places, representing 40% of the top 10. I think that says a lot about where we are…

Sitting in a session with the Young Anglicans Project, my friend Matt asked the question “Why Anglicanism?” What he was getting at was whether or not we could easily articulate what we found attractive about the Anglican tradition in an age where denominations are said to be dying.  I began to reflect on my first…

Matt Walsh makes an interesting argument here. I think CS Lews, as usual, put it best: There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it.…

I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to be part of steering The Rooted Conference which took place recently.  A friend from Rooted, Clark Fobes, who is the youth pastor at Sunset Church in San Francisco wrote the following on his way home from the conference. It really captures some of the beauty of the conference.…

I found a great article on “10 Things you Can’t Expect from Church Volunteers” here and really found it helpful.  I highly commend it for reading!