Buying Into The Next Level

Before launching anything, you have to have a certain level of buy in. Whether it is a small group, discipleship group, evangelistic event, or a leadership group you need kids to buy in. You have to have kids who are interested, that have some want to. How do we get that? How do we do that?…

The Myth of Fairness

There is nothing fair about life or ministry, yet, we spend an enormous amount of time and energy trying to make everything fair for ourselves, our our youth ministry, and our leaders. Jesus was not fair. Jesus chose less qualified people and shunned the most qualified. Trying to be fair: Decreases trust in our leadership.…

Two For Flinching

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…

Is Youth Ministry A Competitive Sport? Part II

I’ll say it again. I never believed in competing with my brothers and sisters in Christ. It was never my group vs theirs or my calling vs their calling. We are not called to be competitors but rather to be competitive. You have to ask yourself why you need to stay competitive in the youth…

Is Youth Ministry A Competitive Sport? Part I

“Where is everyone tonight?” “I think a lot of them went over at First Church to their outreach.” “Man, what is going on?!” Ever have this conversation before or after a youth meeting? I know youth workers like to say they are not in competition with their brothers and sisters in Christ, and they are…

Risk Taking Youth Ministry Part 1

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…

Oh No You Didn’t! Staying Out Of Trouble With Your Teens

Teenagers can be about as stable as Homer Simpson running a nuclear reactor. The little red light could go off at any time accompanied by wailing sirens. Here a a few tips for staying out of trouble with your teens. 1. Keep your promises Promises are important to teens. They are even more important if…

When Youth Ministry Volunteers Go Rogue

We’ve all been through it. We inherit a volunteer who you think you can work with and then you notice you can’t. Why? In my case it was about getting the volunteer to teach the curriculum given to him My standards for the teacher were simple, teach, connect with new students, show up to appropriate…