I spend my days writing for and training youth workers JUST LIKE YOU.
Youth Ministry Round Up #29
Welcome! If you're new here and are not a subscriber, subscribe here and get the Youth Ministry Round Up in your inbox. Hey Youth Workers, You may not care, but I just finished painting a house, and it wasn't even mine. It was a wreck, a smokers...
The Five Words That Are Killing The Conversation With Your Teen
This is my third reflection on the Growing With book by Kara Powell and Steve Argue. You can catch up on my journey here. I'm going chapter by chapter, fleshing out my Withing skills. I have three kids between the ages of 19 and 26 so this book has...
The Gift of Trust
Fear of the unknown can create panic attacks, but I'd rather have trust than knowledge. We'd all like to know what God will do and how he will do it. To have such knowledge would diminish our trust in God or even make trusting God irrelevant. I’m...
3 Roles Teens Need Their Parents To Take On To Help Them Grow
This is my second post in a series on the book Growing With by Kara Powell and Steve Argue and covers my thoughts from chapter two. You can read the first post here. I appreciate Kara and Steve's honesty. They are clear though-out the book...
3 Keys To Growing With, Not Apart From, Your Children
"I'm tired of her looking down on me. I'm going to tell her the truth even if she doesn't want to hear it." So goes the recent conversation I had with my 24 year old son in regards to a flare up between him and his sister (26) at a family get...
Youth Ministry Lesson On Identity In Christ
Who are we in Christ? That's the question I wanted to answer for a bunch of middle school and high school students during a weekend retreat at Life For Youth Camp in Vero Beach, Fl. The answer I came up with: Supermodels. After thinking and praying...
Youth Ministry Round Up #28
Welcome! If you're new here and are not a subscriber, subscribe here and get the Youth Ministry Round Up in your inbox. I'm getting ahead of the spring cleaning by cleaning up the YMRU articles by categorizing them into professional, spiritual...
Youth Ministry Round Up Valentines Edition
Welcome! If you're new here and are not a subscriber, subscribe here and get the Youth Ministry Round Up in your inbox. Love is in the air like the BO of your middle school students. Hard to tell them apart some times. Here's your special...
Youth Ministry Round Up #27
Hey All, The message you heard from the very beginning is this: we must love one another. (1 John 3:11) The world is filled with so much vitriol these days. Even coming from believers. All this negativity is exhausting. I've considered...
11 Incredible Things I Heard At A Middle School Campus Bible Club
I recently took on a role as representative for First Priority which seeks to reach students on campus with Bible Clubs. The Bible clubs are student led and youth workers and a sponsor teacher come along side to cheer them on in their endeavor to...
8 Qualities Students Want In Their Youth Pastor Part 8
It's taken a little while, but you have arrived at the final post in this series. If you're finding this for the first time, you can start the series here. The last quality students said they appreciated about my time with them was that I did not...
8 Qualities Students Want In Their Youth Pastor Part 7
If I brought anything to the table over the past 30 years, it's my God given gift of gab. I love sharing interesting and relevant messages with students. Many of my messages focus on growing in Christ, but I always include the gospel and what it...
5 Qualities Every Pastor Wants In Their Youth Pastor
I was absolutely clueless in my first three jobs as a youth pastor. Maybe that's why I was let go from two of them. I did't do an any thing wrong, I just couldn't the signs that I was screwing up. Part of that screwing up was my inability to detect...
8 Qualities Students Want In Their Youth Pastor Part 6
If this is your first time here. Welcome. You can check out the beginning of this series here if you like. "Engage" - Captain Picard, Star Trek Do you remember the days of walking into your middle school cafeteria and looking for sympathetic eyes...
8 Qualities Students Want In Their Youth Pastor Part 5
Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. - Leo Buscaglia Some might say I cared too much in...
The Disciple Project OUTREACH MANUAL
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR DECAYING YOUTH MEETING INTO A FLOURISHING CITY-WIDE MOVEMENT