"It seems like our ministry team meetings are just when you have fun with all of your favorites. I don't want to be a part of it anymore."It was like I'd just gotten socked in the stomach. Stephanie had joined ...

Sometimes the Back Row Club makes me want to give up this whole ministry thing and do something less messy—like being a plumber.You know the Back Row Club: the crew that comes late and leaves early, doesn...

"So I've been smoking with some friends lately." The seriousness with which Jared was sharing this with me suggested that he wasn't talking about cigarettes."You mean you were smoking pot?""Yeah."Then a pause. ...

There are a lot of wonderful things about youth ministry: free pizza; unclaimed lost-and-found items (I haven't bought a towel in years); all-expense-paid trips to some of the finest retreat centers in the coun...

The very title seems almost sacrilegious, doesn't it? You don't manage worship. You just do it. Right? Well, it's my opinion that those who don't spend time managing their group's view and practice of worship...

When I was studying the Book of Psalms in seminary, one of my professors, Dr. V, was exploring the topic of the imprecatory psalms, which are the ones that include some pretty nasty things that the psalmist hop...

We all have a favorite manipulative story, and mine is that of the drawbridge operator and his son. The man sits in his little box and lifts the bridge when a boat comes by and lowers it for the passing trains....

On vacation this past summer in Galveston, Texas, I saw a book for sale called Rules of Thumb, which contains 1,000 "general principles of living." It gives guidance on things such as which puppy to pick from ...

Technology always has changed the world. Ever since we discovered fire and then the wheel, and (more recently) the eight-track player and cell phone, new technology has been adjusting how we do life.A little mo...

During my first week on the job as youth pastor, an associate pastor on staff told me his theory on teenagers. He said they're like children in adult bodies. I hadn't worked with them long enough to know exactl...