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About Jen Bradbury

Jen serves as the Minister of Youth and Family at Atonement Lutheran Church in Barrington, IL. Jen is the author of A Mission that Matters (Abingdon Press), Unleashing the Hidden Potential of Your Student Leaders (Abingdon Press), The Jesus Gap: What Teens Actually Believe about Jesus and the corresponding student devotional, The Real Jesus (The Youth Cartel). Her writing has also appeared in YouthWorker Journal, Immerse, and The Christian Century. When not doing ministry, she and her husband Doug can be found hiking, backpacking, and traveling with their toddler, Hope.
12 Oct 2017

Why you should follow up

By |2017-10-12T04:35:04-07:00October 12th, 2017|Uncategorized|1 Comment

The event’s due date passed and my numbers were bleak.

Worse, I simply hadn’t heard from the majority of people in my youth ministry.

Were they not interested? 

Did they have plans? 

Had they simply forgotten to turn in the

26 Sep 2017

A chance to preach

By |2017-09-26T05:02:27-07:00September 26th, 2017|Leadership, Teaching|1 Comment

On Sunday, I watched one of my former students, Marcy, preach in my congregation – the congregation where she grew up.  She stood at the pulpit, full of grace, and gave a beautiful message on Exodus 16:2-15.

Among other things, …

6 Jul 2017

When to Report Up

By |2017-07-06T11:05:55-07:00July 6th, 2017|Youth Pastor Life|0 Comments

As a youth pastor, as much as you might like to be the one who’s in charge of your church, you’re not. Whether it’s another person in the youth ministry or an associate or senior / lead pastor, you’ve got …

15 Mar 2017

Life-giving rules

By |2017-03-15T05:49:12-07:00March 15th, 2017|Leadership, Uncategorized|0 Comments

Our youth ministry has a set of ground rules that we reiterate every time we gather. They’re basic things that establish how we relate to and interact with one another. Our ground rules include:

  1. When one person talks, everyone

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