From the category archives:
in about 1990, 20 years ago, i had two dudes in my middle school ministry in omaha, nebraska. mark arant was a short kid, fairly quiet (at least at church), and not interested in much other than skating. jeff thune was also small, not as quiet as mark, but just starting to individuate himself from [...]
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we youth workers do some pretty crazy things from time to time, right? call it “the lengths we’re willing to go to for teenagers” or “occupational risk” or just the collective risk-taking nature of our tribe, but man-alive, have i heard some stories. and, it was shockingly easy for me to pull together this list [...]
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don’t miss this article on cnn.com about kenda dean’s book, almost christian. the money paragraph: No matter their background, Dean says committed Christian teens share four traits: They have a personal story about God they can share, a deep connection to a faith community, a sense of purpose and a sense of hope about their [...]
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yesterday, one of my youth ministry coaching program cohorts had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with dr. robert epstein for 90 minutes. epstein graciously welcomed us into his home, served us iced tea and cookies, and engaged with us is a pot-stirring exploration of ideas. for an academic with such polarizing (and, some would [...]
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this made me laugh out loud (especially the last 15 seconds). btw: i’m a youth ministry volunteer, and that’s my junior high pastor in the backseat, christina robertson. and her boss, brian berry (also my pastor, i suppose, as well as a close friend) in the front, next to tic (who is not my pastor).
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i’m a big fan of “believe“, the touring junior high event hosted by ciy each year. quite a few years ago, i consulted with them about how to make it more intentional for early adolescents, and the then-new leader of the event, johnny scott (who has since become a good friend), ran hard after making [...]
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a new web portal launched this week for church leaders, appropriately called churchleaders.com. the have some original content and some aggregated content, as well as lots of other stuff. i like that they have the home page that includes a variety of content, but sections divided into specific content for pastors, worship, youth (ministry), children [...]
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i’m in the middle of reading kenda creasy dean‘s new book, almost christian: what the faith of our teenagers is telling the american church (it’s so good, and critical reading for all youth workers – i’m sure i’ll be posting more about it). the book is kenda’s interpretation of the findings of christian smith’s ‘national [...]
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usa today ran a piece on youth ministry yesterday, ominously titled ‘Forget pizza parties,’ teens tell churches. as i read it, i found myself intermittently nodding my head in agreement and being frustrated (and even angry) about the poor assumptions peppered throughout the article (both by those they quote, and by the article’s writer). there [...]
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seriously, it’s real. pansy kidd middle school, in poteau, oklahoma. there’s even a wikipedia article that mentions how they’ve “gone viral” with the pic posted on the fail blog (which just happened in the last few days). here’s the pic from fail blog: questions this brings to mind: 1. what do the 6th – 8th [...]
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