“How honest should I be with my students?”. This is the question I asked myself in my inner debate over whether I should share my disappointment with them concerning their lack of motivation in bringing guests to our youth meeting. My concern was that my words would deflate them and make me look weak; like…
So many people fall away from faith when their expectations of God are not met or when life get’s too hard. They feel like God has left them or that his commands are too restrictive. Trials and trouble are not going anywhere, so it’s best for you to know that they are going to continue…
For 30 years I’ve rooted for the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. If I told you how many times I’ve screamed at the tv, stormed out of a room or said so many potty words, you would blush. I was a true Notre Dame fan. I am a fan no more, mainly because the media…
I think we have to realize that there are many kinds of situations as to why a student who comes to church but not youth group. They live further away but attend a youth group near them Families can travel up to 45 minutes, one way, to come to church which makes bringing their teens…
All youth pastors have done it. And if you haven’t, you will. You’ll play the game that goes sideways and a kid get’s hurt. You’ll tell parents you’ll be back at this time and show up at that time. You’ll get loose lipped in a message or conversation and say something you should not have…
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…
Welcome to part five of my series The Five Plans Every New Youth Pastor Should Have. You can check out the beginning of the series here. Can I tell you when I most often felt the burn of burn out? It was was when the wheels in my head started to grind together effecting the…
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…
I was a big comic book reader. In many of the comics I read I would see an ad for Tony Atlas body building, like this. In my view, the guy/girl usually getting sand kicked in their face, in the church, is the youth pastor. The “bully” could be anyone, the pastor, a board member,…
