Category: Youth Ministry

Much has been written suggesting that students go off to college and lose their faith.  I am sure there is much to this but there is also another perspective which has been written about at TGC Professor Smith observes three primary and very interesting reasons why the university is not the faith-shredder we imagine it…

One of the issues I run across in youth ministry is how we do worship music with students.  I am keenly aware that what we do with them today will impact the way they perceive worship music in the future.  I ran across a Gospel Coalition Blog piece that linked to this article which made…

The following post comes from Adventures of Lauren. She is currently doing an internship in youth ministry at a church in Ashburn Virginia and had a eye opening experience on a mission trip to Philadelphia, which is what this post is about. Lauren is entering her senior year at Grove City College in PA. “For…

I’ve been reading a version of John Owen’s “Overcoming Sin and Temptation” recently and have been really amazed by it.  The following was posted on The Resurgence on the subject of the Puritans and putting sin to death. 1. SEE SIN FOR WHAT IT IS“If the thoughts of death, and the grave, and rottenness, are…

(This was posted on The Gospel Coalition Blog on June 17) Youth ministry can be an uphill battle. The congregation and church leadership often don’t fully understand the challenges that youth leaders face and don’t know how to support them. Yet many church leaders are still looking to start or develop a youth ministry.  In…

I noticed this article posted on Facebook by a guy who served as a youth pastor in Scotland for a few years. It challenges the idea of the short term mission trips that we in the USA are so fond of and yet understands that there is some good in them.  I liked the blend…

The common belief that the average youth ministry has failed to prepare students for their faith to survive in college has been challenged recently.  All the stats about the massive percentages of students who will leave the faith after high school… might not be due to the university experience but might be more about how…

This might seem a bit odd but something arrived in my inbox that I wanted to react to. It was advertising resources for churches to use that are based on the next summer blockbuster.  It was not even a “Christian film”. What happens when we base sermons on a Hollywood movie?  What about doing that…

I had the opportunity to preach at our cathedral church on the 5th of May.  They have posted the sermon online for listening HERE

The Gospel Coalition talks including the workshops are all available online now.  My workshop can be found at GCYM:Jesus Mission to the Next Generation and great messages by many excellent speakers can be found at TGC Conference Media. Enjoy!