In my opinion, and currently my experience, the weight of a small youth ministry is much heavier than running a large ministry. I want to share five weights small youth pastors have to bear that large youth group pastors do not. The weight of loss Bearing the weight of large youth ministry is certainly a…
Sunday School was a part of my teen life for forever. I wasn’t committed because of the ugly room we met in, the bad snacks or the hard chairs; I was committed because I thought that is what I was supposed to do, so I did it. Classrooms have, generally, gotten better but the structure…
Elisa started youth group in middle school and had been a part our group for a while now. As a freshman, she was involved in the band. Slowly, I started to see her blend into the background. She said she had a lot of homework and was thinking about getting a part time job. I…
This is part six in my seven part series on how to keep your youth ministry from collapsing. You can read from the beginning here. Without discipleship, the church is a halfway house for repeat offenders. That’s a strong statement, but I stand behind it. I’ve worked in enough churches that were unintentional in their…
Most youth ministries do not have the luxury of separating their middle and high school students, which is optimum, when it comes to Sunday school, small groups or even in your main meeting. This is mostly because of not enough volunteers or not enough volunteers who want to work with middle school. The challenges with…
This is a rough transcript of Chad and I’s discussion on the podcast. I do not attempt a word for word transcript, but I try to interject key points and elaborate on Chad’s excellent thoughts for your benefit. If you have a moment, if you’re a regular listener who has not left a review for…
Is this your small group? You: I ask an important question Them: Awkward silence You: C’mon guys (in whiny voice) No more! The Elevate Sessions are an interactive way to get your students talking about where their life is going: Up, Down, or Sideways. Check out the video below and then snag your Elevator ride…
This is Part II of my interview with Youth Pastor and Risk Taker Mark Cox. You can read part I here How did the students, leaders, parents, and pastor respond to your wanting to change things? Right off the bat, there were mixed reviews. Don’t get me wrong; a lot of people were supporters of…
Our gigantic youth ministry experiment commences tomorrow night. Can’t wait to see what happens!- Tweet from Mark Cox 9:11 PM Aug 24th via web This is the tweet that was that catalyst for the following interview. I love it when youth pastors take risks. I hate it when other youth pastors see other youth pastors take…
