(more…)

(more…)

I grew up in church my entire life, and I felt like I constantly heard the same two things over and over: read your Bible and pray. And while I most definitely agree that these are two huge parts of having an active relationship with God, as a 15-year-old, these concepts were intimidating. How was I supposed to pray? What exactly was I supposed to be reading? The Bible is a complicated book. When I opened the Bible as a teenager, it felt similar to when I opened my Geometry book in high school. I thought, I don’t get it. Other people get it. I must be stupid. (As a side, I took Geometry as a senior. The class consisted of 90% freshmen. That should shine some light on my Math fatuity.)

(more…)

We are about to enter into a few crazy weeks of camp. I’m pumped! Right after though, we will be talking through the fall and what that looks like. We are going to do a little 24 hour get away and plan. This year, we are bringing some volunteers with us. Why? It is a simple brain storming meetings asking for their thoughts on the direction we should be going, what they think their students need to hear, and what was missed in the material we provided for them this year. I figured, who would have a better pulse on our students than the ones who spent the most time with them?

(more…)

So I don’t know if you have noticed yet, maybe you don’t have a TV or any form of social media, but there is a TON of things happening around us. People are flooding to social media putting up opinions for all to see (which is not a bad thing, everyone has that right). My mind goes to the question, “What does this mean for my ministry and my students?” because I don’t doubt they are seeing a bunch of different articles being posted left and right about a whole bunch of things and they will have a ton to process and a ton of questions. Where can they do this safely? My hope is in your ministry. One of the safest places on the planet to talk through life, faith and culture should be their student ministry.

(more…)

I had someone ask me why we plan such big events sometimes and what the philosophy behind it is. The person was saying they are more drawn to “deeper” more theolgical discussion based philosophy of ministry, which is great, there is nothing wrong with it, I like it too. I like it because I’m almost 30 and although some students like and are capible to think this too, fun is the universal languge of students. The philosphy of having fun events is pretty simple really.

(more…)

“The line” is such an important thing to keep in mind. Comedy has gotten darker and more risky over the last few years and which means that many youth pastors have an ongoing question going through their mind, “how can I stay relevant without crossing ‘the line?’” I’ve had a ton of friends overlook forget to ask themselves that question and seen it cost many of them their jobs. It is hard to say specifically “this is where the line is” because it changes from church to church. But as you think about where yours is, keep these things in mind:

(more…)