Much of the chaos we experience as youth workers is self induced. We get entrenched in a mindset and build around that. Now, if that mindset is whole and healthy, all is well. When our mindset is unhealthy, watch out. For me, the word “accept” was unacceptable. It was a sign of surrender. What couldn’t I…
Preaching is a life giving way to affirm and to challenge students. Preaching should not be our go to method for solving problems in our youth ministry. There are problems we face both personally and professionally that require more than a message. In building terms, if we have issues within our group such as dissension,…
I was at a campus bible club this morning and the speaker did not show up. One of the youth pastors, who is a decent speaker and a good guy, shared some thoughts from his message the night before. Nothing wrong with that, but how would True Believers have handled this differently? We Don’t Always…
Like many youth workers, I am prone to let the size of the crowd or the posture of our students decide what my emotional state will be the rest f the evening. Last night I saw a kid with his hat over his eyes during worship. “Great’ I thought. Then I caught myself and said,…
I am unashamedly in favor of calling kids to commitment, but the altar call has been abused to the point where I think many youth workers second guess the Holy Spirit’s desire to call kids to commitment. Let me first say, kids can accept Christ without a physical coming up to an altar or to…
I decided this was the day. The day I would get rid of all that old youth ministry stuff that I have collected for 20 years. It was time to say goodbye to 17 (yes 17) binders of information, forms, messages, and other youth ministry trinkets. It was fun back then, but I don’t…
Every Tuesday I scan iTunes looking for new songs, motivation, and inspiration. This morning I thought I’d share what lit my fire this morning. Fan The Flames – Dustin Smith (anything with fire get me going) Te Amo – Israel and New Breed (anything with T-Bone works for me.) Mighty Fortress– Jesus Culture, Mary kat…
I have been thinking about this for a while. I have been wondering if merit pay for youth pastors would work. Is there a way to use this system in the positive without the negatives. In other words, you can never lose incentives, only gain them. “Pay” in this instance is not necessarily money. Incentives…
I love developing young leaders. Since I started I youth ministry (100 yeas ago it seems) I was taught to develop a leadership team. My first student leadership book recommended I start a S.A.L.T team, this stands for Student Action Leadership Team. From this point on I was always recruiting new leaders, we would have…
I am back from a week of ministering at The Greatest Place On Earth: Life For Youth Camp. I have included most of the links to the videos I used as well as the worship songs so you can download them for yourself. I have also included a short video of what to…
