Category: Youth Ministry

In the workshop I suggested that Gospel Centered Youth Ministry: 1. Recognizes that how we do ministry impacts whether or not students will plug into the church in the future. 2. Teaches students how to be the body of Christ, the church. 3. Looks to scripture to inform how we make disciples. It is incredibly…

For years I thought I had an unchanging message to proclaim in a rapidly changing culture. I thought I had license to do ministry however I saw fit. This worked great with my innovator instinct as a youth pastor.  However, I have come to believe otherwise.  It’s time to explore the second reality I shared…

Several realities should shape our pursuit of Gospel Centered Youth Ministry.  Due to the brevity of this workshop, I only have time to dive into two.  They are both facts.  One is observable in experience and the other is observable in scripture. I’ll unpack the first one here and then the second one in a…

An awkward question… I raised this in the workshop without time to really reflect on it.  The question is this: Where in the life of a teenager does a team, a club, or a school do something irrelevant in order to attract students to their purpose?  My friend Ken Moser points out that in his…

The result of the training that was so common in the late 80’s and into the 90’s and the need to produce “results” contained some unintended consequences.  My first several years of ministry revolved around efforts to attract and retain. I had the advice of a guy on our staff who had previously been a…

I confessed that my circumstances as a rookie youth minister led me to fall into several traps that have been common amongst youth pastors for decades.  Having been hired by a mega church as a rookie straight out of college, I was way over my head.  Given that no young guy wants to fail in…

In following up to the workshop on Gospel Centered Youth Ministry, I thought I would unpack some of the details of what I spoke on given so little time in the workshop to explain what all I meant.  What will follow will be several posts to cover the impetus behind the workshop material.

Following a fantastic time at The Gospel Coalition Conference in Orlando, I plan to post some notes and thoughts on what I presented in a workshop on Gospel Centered Youth Ministry.  I only had about 20 minutes to work with, so I cruised rather too quickly through a few ideas.  I hope to unpack those…

I’ve found life too busy of late with writing a research paper, preparing “Epic”, and getting ready for The Gospel Coalition, not to mention doing taxes and financial aid for my 3 in college, and keeping the marriage alive.  All is going well though and the things completed went very well.  I’ll post a few…

9 March 2013 For the past 12 years I have stood before this convention and reported to you that youth ministry is strong and vibrant in the Diocese of South Carolina.  In recent years I shared with you about the development of an apprentice program that trained youth ministers who are now serving here and…