I have been working in youth ministry in the local church, camps and campus ministry for over 30 years, but when I started, no one told me about the risks involved with working with youth. The risks I am about share with you, I discovered on my own. Risks of Youth Ministry should be a…
I did’t like the last meeting I was in charge of. I didn’t like my disposition during the meeting and I did not like my response to certain aspects of our discussion time. I could have, and initially did, blame other factors for my shortcomings. Blame is not a good strategy for life change. In…
If you’re not a subscriber of the Youth Ministry Round Up, you can sign up here and get relevant articles, videos and more twice a month. Sign up here Watch this 30 second clip before reading on. A former student of mine. Mitchell, has a podcast called The Wrestling Diaries where he interviews people with…
I posted this youth ministry experience the other day, see if you can relate, Youth Ministry is…attending a dance recital where you watch 29 other dance routines before the one your student is in. and it got over 100 likes and over 70 comments. I asked others to share what youth ministry is to them.…
If you’re following this series welcome to the fourth installment. If you’re new here, welcome to the party! You can start the series here. To summarize. Your first step to rebuilding your declining youth ministry, is not re-branding. Re-branding only covers up the internal problems that caused the decline in the first place. Instead, the…
Excuses are assassins. They are sneaky, well trained, well armed assailants whose sole job is to kill your hopes and dreams. Now, what are you going to do about it? Let me be clear, these are excuses you make, not your students and not their parents. These are excuses you use and try to convince…
Every day is, or should be, Thanksgiving, but for teens it’s sometimes hard to be thankful during tough circumstances. So, what can you do to remind them of why they should be thankful? It starts with getting them out self-pity and getting their minds on others instead of themselves. Here are some ideas/projects/crafts that will…
I can remember when reality broke for me. I was sitting in my kitchen, praying or maybe arguing with God, I can’t remember. It just dawned on me, “My dream is not going to happen, is it?” My dream was linear, being a professional youth pastor for thirty years was supposed translate to making a…
Brandon Staley could not have said it better than this in regards to Raider Coach Jon Gruden’s toxic emails and subsequent resignation . I have been an imperfect leader/pastor most of my life and I have always treasured the trust people have given me. I’d like to think I have lived up to that trust,…
Having a big ego in in church is like having the biggest balloon at the dart throwing booth at the fair, be prepared to get popped. Consider all the ego popping moments Christ endured, Rejection by his closest friends. Criticism from enemies and strangers. Insults from a dying man. Mockery from the religious while he’s…
