I have been doing these lists for a while now because I find that the perfect song at a graduation service is one more chance to inspire the student, the student’s family and the church as we send off those students who have meant so much to out ministry. These songs can also make room…
If you’re a youth pastor right now, chances are high that you’re carrying more than most people realize. You’re leading students who seem checked out. You’re trying to breathe life into a ministry with limited resources. You’re expected to cast vision, teach, lead volunteers, navigate church politics, and still be available for late-night texts from…
This lesson is a part of my Media2 Message Bundle where I take what is going on in the world and bring a biblical context to to it. Focus: Helping students respond, compassionately, to the needs of others. Opening: Lonely Authors Video Clips: Author One or Author Two (both are under a minute) Both of…
Teens are going to use Ai for plenty of things, mostly research an doing their book reports for them, but that doesn’t mean they can’t use it to help grow their spiritual life. We are working through Proverbs right now, in Sunday School, and I thought I’d go undercover as a teenager and ask ChatGPT…
I feel like I am about to talk to you about 8 track tapes, those boxy clunky pieces of plastic that held music inside and you would pop them into your 8 track player in your car or home stereo. Like the 8 track tape, the altar call feel like an bygone method of people…
It’s that time of year. It happens every March. Some students in your youth groups are excited for it and others could care less. Here’s the good news, your group doesn’t have to have a lot athletes for you to use March Madness as a fun tool to have fun or spiritually challenge students. For…
I asked some youth pastors what their current needs were and this was one of their questions: How can I get a more consistent groups of kids coming to youth group? The answer is in the question. You get more consistent students when you are a more consistent youth pastor. Youth pastors who are always…
Paul: Carl, we have you today, not to talk about paper games, although maybe we’ll bring you back for an entire episode about paper games, but we do want to talk about something that’s super important. And we were discussing a little bit about this before we started getting rolling is the fact that December.…
If I see one post over and over again it’s, “What are you reading?” I like post like these because I am an avid reader and I love to share what I am getting from the books I am reading. This list will be added to. subtracted from and morph over time. Not all these…
Welcome to part 6, the last in my series on mastering your youth ministry calendar. If you’d like to start this series from the beginning, check out Part 1. Have I Made Any Assumptions? Critical Thinking Challenge your assumptions and consider alternative perspectives. I thought they were going to do X I thought the church…
