I spend my days writing for and training youth workers JUST LIKE YOU.
I Have A Dream For My Youth Ministry
Happy Martin Luther King Day to you. On this day we remember not only a great speech but a better dream. MLK's speech was not a list of How To's or upcoming events MLK wanted to have in order to enact a civil rights law. He shared his dream and...
Pray Like You Have A Kidney Stone
When the pain hit at 3:00 a.m. I thought I was dreaming about the time this girl kicked me in the groin in 5th grade. It was during recess and... o.k. that's another post. I was not dreaming. I was in pain. I thought this pain felt familiar...
Teen Testimonies: Shoot’em Up or Story Mode?
Just about all shoot'em up games offer a story mode in their menu. In Story Mode you get to sit a while, play through the story, and find potential easter eggs (special hidden features within the game) as you go. The other option is for kids to...
Playing The “What If” Game
I love stories. More than I love to see good stories portrayed in the movies or even reading good stories in a book, I enjoy creating my own stories. I just like to make stuff up or take someone else's story and riff on it and take it to...
Managing Your Youth Ministry : Wisdom From Outer Space
Space... I can't say that word without continuing...the final frontier. I love Star Trek, all generations, except for maybe Voyager, sorry Janeway. Space can be a dangerous place (see Gravity) but we are fascinated with it. The...
My Favorite Books Of 2013
I made a commitment a while back that I would not read what "everyone" was reading just to keep up . It turned out to be a good idea. Since most of my friends do not read books, I am freed up to read what I want and that jut what I did....
That Thing You Do
That thing you do, your job, school, whatever, that thing that frustrates you irritates you sucks the life from you is just that, a thing. It's the thing you do on way to the thing God is preparing. It's not the thing. the thing that...
Letting Go Of Those Two Things That Will Wreck Your New Year
Letting go is a hard thing for me. It's on this day, the last day of the year, that I have to decide what to let go of. I can't carry everything from last year with me in 2014. Two things I know I have to let go of are my failures and my...
5 Crowdsourcing Ideas For Your Youth Ministry
Happy Wednesday everyone! I hope everyone is psyched to meet with their kids tonight. I have some big new and bigger news coming. One of the big newses (newses?) I blipped in my new Real Time Training Video HERE and the other big news I'll...
My Top 10 Movies of 2013
I catch a fair amount of movies through-out the year for my own enjoyment and to keep my finger on the pulse of youth culture. I think God goes to the movies all the time. I think He moves in and through them while they are being made...
My Top 10 Christian Albums of 2013
You may be be wondering what metric I have used to decide how these albums made my list. It's simple, you make the list if I can listen to the whole album, beginning to end without skipping a song. I thought the albums, overall,...
My Successful Connection With Kids During Finals Week
This past week was finals week for our students and with me just finishing the the first chapter of Love Does by Bob Goff it resulted in this crazy, impromptu ideas Finals week can be a stressful time for students (and parents) so I thought...
The Church: A Tale of Two Elves
I went to the midnight showing of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and the movie did not make me regret getting home at 4:00 a.m. and getting back up at 6:00 a.m.. I would do it again just to watch this conversation between Tauriel, an...
Westjet’s Extravagance Should Challenge Christians To Do The Same
I was blown away by this video and that an Westjet went this far to give back to it's customers. You have to watch the video to understand the title of this post. For one flight, one day, they chose to be extravagant. I am not...
19 Questions You Should Be Asking About Your Youth Ministry in 2019
I asked these questions every year and some I could answer, some I couldn't, and some I just had to leave up to God. Having a list like this makes you want to curl up in ball and never get out of bed (been there) but it also shows us why prayer is...
The Disciple Project OUTREACH MANUAL
HOW TO TRANSFORM YOUR DECAYING YOUTH MEETING INTO A FLOURISHING CITY-WIDE MOVEMENT