If I could have banned a word last year it would have been the word: awkward. From sit-coms to general conversation, the word just creeped in to describe anything uncomfortable to talk about. Although I don’t like the over use of the word it completely describes my youth ministry and just about every other youth…
You know if someone leads with the words, “Don’t take it personally, but” you are about to be offended. Many of us take our youth work very seriously. Sometimes too seriously. We work hard at these things like peaching, programming and relationship building, and we don’t like to be challenged. We don’t make widgets. Widgets are…
When I was in youth group (a very long time ago), I remember my youth pastor doing a contest called L.I.F.E.. He broke down the youth group into four teams and we would have weekly contests between team members, etc. and at the end the winning team received X. This is still a viable tool…
There is nothing fair about life or ministry, yet, we spend an enormous amount of time and energy trying to make everything fair for ourselves, our our youth ministry, and our leaders. Jesus was not fair. Jesus chose less qualified people and shunned the most qualified. Trying to be fair: Decreases trust in our leadership.…
I don’t know what you expected when you clicked on this link, a blog in tongues and a link to a separate blog with the interpretation perhaps? I jest…. a little. This post is not a poor, woe is me type blog, but more of one to encourage an understanding among the brethren. I get…
But the souls of the upright are in the hand of God, and no torment can touch them. To the unenlightened they appeared to die, their departure was reegarded as disaster, their leaving us like annihilation; but they are at peace. If, as it seemed to us, they suffered punishment, their hope was rich with…
I hate games where you can get punched for doing something that is natural for you to do. There’s the game where you try to get people to look at a circle you make with your fingers. There is the Door Knob game where you have to touch a door knob immediately after you’ve passed…
Here’s a thought. Let’s let students lead. “Not as easy as it looks” I said in a previous post. The hardest part is letting go. Letting go of control, letting go of ego, and letting go of the outcome of students leading is tough. So, I have pulled the trigger like never before. We were having…
One of my biggest headaches in youth ministry, was the sign up system for events. It is an exercise in futility. Names on sheets of paper feels archaic. At this point in history, it feels like you’re asking students to churn butter. How do you fix that? Let’s face it, It doesn’t matter how many…
I was looking at my calendar for next year. It’s packed. The question is: What’s the point? Do I want every weekend of my life packed? Does a packed schedule = success or just business. It is a question of timing. When is the right time to do an event or no events? Students want…
