If this is your first time here. Welcome. You can check out the beginning of this series here if you like. “Engage” – Captain Picard, Star Trek Do you remember the days of walking into your middle school cafeteria and looking for sympathetic eyes of those who might let you sit at there’re table? I…
“You will know as much of God, and only as much of God, as you are willing to put into practice.” ― Eric Liddell, The Disciplines Of The Christian Life I’m fond of saying, “It’s not what you believe, it’s what you practice.” That is not to say that beliefs are not important, but without…
If you continually do what you’ve always done, you will always have what you’ve always had. – Unknown The above quote has been my mantra for a long time, which is why I don’t allow myself, or the students I’ve led, to get to comfortable. I wanted my students to have more. This might be…
I’ve treated every youth ministry I’ve led with the mentality of, “What we do every week is equally as important, or more, as what you do in band, football practice or key club” If I did not put the value on what we did every week, no one else would. Many youth ministries operate sloppy…
In my last weeks of being a full time youth pastor, I sat with my students in a small group and asked them a serious question, “What did I do well, so I can pass it on to other youth workers?”. I didn’t ask them to flower me with compliments or niceties, I ask them…
We all host events and hopefully those events are powered by values not by need. When kids don’t show up for our events we have to ask some questions on why they some or many did not show up. Did they just not like the event? How much were they in on the planning of…
I was reading the newest study on teens and media from Common Sense Media Report on Tweens and Teens and one stat, among many, stood out to me Everyone can be a maker, but not many are. The vast majority of kids’ engagement with media consists of consuming media, with only a small portion devoted to…
I came out of my office to discover a meeting I had not called and I was not leading. This is my favorite kind of meeting. Some students had come early to youth to plan a Disney themed costume party. They’re on a good track and all I asked was for them to answer three…
I pray for my students in all kinds of ways because I am a little ADD I need to pray for our students in different ways or I’ll fall asleep. O.k., not really fall asleep but you know what I mean. Here are three ways that work for me and they may work for you…
I tried an experiment a few days ago. I texted a bunch of my kids, maybe 12-15, and asked them to take a picture of something that they are struggling with. They could have taken a picture of their homework, a bully, a teacher, their parents, etc. How many pictures did I get back? Nil,…
