Keep in mind that mentoring is a personal and, many times, private affair and everyone’s needs are different. I asked a few people online what they look for in a mentor and they had some great answers. I mixed these with a few of my own thoughts. 1. Imperfection and transparency. My friend George says,…
It is so easy to get caught up in our job of youth ministry and all but forget why we do what we do. I recently read an article by Lisa Earle Mcleod called Why Purpose Matter: Four Business Reasons and One Emotional One, and one quote, which deals with a biotech company and it’s…
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…
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…
Some things will never change in youth ministry like middle school boys not taking showers, high school girls in conflict and church politics. Maybe this pandemic has drawn attention to your youth ministry in ways that are not flattering and you’re being scrutinized and evaluated like never before or maybe you’ve been on the battlefield…
You should be competitive but not in competition with other churches or youth ministries. Competitiveness is good. Competition is bad. The difference, I believe, is in the heart. I never wished any harm on any other churches in my area, in fact, I prayed for their success. But, if you’re down about our group, you…
In my naive days, I thought the youth ministry was my world, my silo, separate from other ministries. In reality, the only reason you have this full time, professional, role is because your boss, your pastor, signs those checks. So, try your best today to remove yourselves from harming the relationship that could be the…
It’s simple, you can’t build a 2200 sq. ft house on a 100 sq. ft foundation and yet we have all tried. You’ve tried to build your youth ministry on hype but hype is short lived. Those who want to build their youth ministry large, must build the foundations wider and deeper. Scripture says, “When…
I was told numerous times in staff meetings over the years that failure is not an option. But it is and it should be. Usually this slogan is centered around: a big church event keeping your job growing the church or youth ministry (see #2) This is small thinking at it’s worst. Failure in these…
“Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought [them] to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that [was] its name.So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and…
