Just before Christmas, I was leading my sixth grade guys' small group in a conversation about the incarnation. My hope was to remind them this season was about more than presents and a break from school. Pretty...

Put a 9-year-old girl in front of a mirror and ask her to describe herself. Her description most likely will be limited to two categories: physical characteristics she sees ("I have black hair and green eyes. I...

We are living in amazing times. The fact is we've learned more about teenagers in the past 10 years than in the previous decades combined. We've been exposed to challenging and solid research about youth minist...

Because the theme of this issue of YouthWorker is Best Games, I thought I'd use this space to address the issue of fun. It's pretty much impossible to stay in young teen ministry for more than a few weeks witho...

As my children grow older and my direction in ministry evolves, friends ask me whether I still like middle schoolers. Others want to know if I still want to be a middle school ministry guy. Some ask me if I eve...

After 30 years of working with middle schoolers, there are moments—plenty of them—when I wonder how I can keep it up. One of these moments (actually it was two hours) happened two weeks ago.My momen...

(At least part of the time!)I'm a fan of separating guys and girls, at least part of the time.Developmentally, it's critical that we create good and safe places for young teens to try on relational connections ...

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is this strange and wonderful word picture found in Deuteronomy 32:11: "…like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wing...

I'm sure this issue of YouthWorker Journal will be filled with amazing ideas and reflections on the use of social media in youth ministry. As a youth ministry trainer, I've often talked about the amazing minist...

I lead a small group of seventh grade guys in my home each Wednesday night. Four out of five weeks feel like we barely accomplish anything (whatever that means!).That fifth week, though. Hmm! That's the one tha...