Category: Youth Ministry

May 25, exactly 6 months to the day from my brother’s death, I found myself in the hospital for the first overnight stay since I was born. I was in Atrial Fibrillation, an irregular heartbeat that began with some palpitations.  I had heart palpitations before, but this time it left me with this weird beat. …

I recently had the opportunity to speak at Sunset Church in San Francisco.  They asked me to come do a youth leaders training conference all day Saturday as well as speak to the youth group on Friday night and preach on Sunday morning.  It was a very full weekend and a very rewarding weekend.  The…

My friend Ken Moser posted this recently on his blog. Here is Ken’s list of “things you must do to make your year of youth group a bit easier:” Work with those kids onside; these are probably the “church kids.” They are your base. As I have said many times in the past, your greatest…

This weekend we had the most amazing teaching!  It was Mondo, our annual middle school fall retreat and the speaker really nailed the subject.  We wanted teens to gain a better understanding of what is going on in the world regarding the persecution of Christians and to see that God is sovereign and looks after…

The challenge of eating at an Italian restaurant when your body does not like garlic and onions is no laughing matter. Neither is the significance of ones view of scripture. So my friend asks the waitress “what dishes do not have onion or garlic?”  She thought he merely did not like those ingredients. I tried…

Martin Saunders, former editor of Youthwork magazine in the UK, has written a great article on understanding the current generation of teens.  It’s worth reading the details behind these. 1) They’re highly connected ‘digital natives’ 2) They want to change the world 3) They’re worried about the future 4) They embody diversity 5) They’re more…

Recently I was thinking about photobombs and selfies.  I am sure some people thought these originated with the age of Facebook, social media, and digital technology in general.  They did not.  Intentional photobombs and selfies have been around far longer.  Humor me while I share. Before digital photography, while on youth trips, we had some…

There have been a few times in my career that I went to youth group without being prepared.  “What”? You say.  “Hypocrite! You just posted on always being prepared.”  No.  It was a rare time and I did have a plan. the idea came from a close friend and mentor in youth ministry – one…

Each new school year when our programs start again, I think about what it means to be a professional youth minister. The term professional in this context is simply a designation for those paid to serve rather than those who are volunteers heading up a youth group. Professional youth ministers face a unique set of…