Vanity meaningless a chasing after the wind Are all themes of the book of Ecclesiastes and only now am I realizing that this also applies to youth ministry. When I read verses like And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my…
I was reading a blog post by Bernadette Jiwa, she starts with this question, If you had to pick one thing you need more of in order to succeed what would that be? If you are a youth worker, and I hope you are, you may be tempted to say, “more students” , but is more…
I saw an interesting post on Twitter, it said, “Have you ever seen a church within a church?” Book reviewer Melissa Harrison saw something that blew her away, “MATES MATES something brilliant just happened, well I found something brilliant, and I want to tell you about it. Sorry but THREAD INCOMING!” What did she see?…
I’ve been mentoring students for a long time, but there are three practices which are foundational to each mentoring relationship I enter into. These are the three legs to my mentoring stool, Listening, Opportunity, and Failure These three words make the mentoring relationship worthwhile for me. I want hear what kids are saying, I want…
“One of the greatest values of mentors is the ability to see ahead what others cannot see and to help them navigate a course to their destination.” — John C. Maxwell This is a great definition of mentoring, and this kind of mentoring has been a huge part of my ministry if not a part…
As you’re thinking about the fall season and planning events, activities, and messages, let’s add a wrinkle, this is your last year. If you knew this was your last year at this church does it make a difference how you will plan? What about if it was your last year as a full time youth…
It came out of my mouth so fast I barely had time to think about it, “You are helping them to fail.” My friend has a videography business. He uses the best technology but has flashes back to 1992. In the conversation we were having, he recommend to someone about making DVD. My jaw just…
I’ve tried my best to please kids, to a point, but youth ministry is not a democracy. Some things are not up for a vote. I don’t let kids vote what music is played in the youth hall or the van , I set the standard and give them options. I don’t let them vote…
“People care much more for how things look than how things are.” ― Donna Lynn Hope This quote really says a lot. I’ve worked in a few shallow churches that were all about image and lacked a ton of substance. Shallowness, although, is not limited to the church. I am disappointed with humanities lack of…
This is the 12th out of 12 posts from my series of reflections on Jeff Goins new book Real Artists Don’t Starve. It really hit a nerve in my life and I wanted to express those thoughts to you, the artists, the local youth workers who work so hard to accomplish what God has gifted…
