“My son said a lot of guys at youth group have some of the worst language he hears, even from the high schoolers. He’s pretty good at keeping his language clean but is beginning to pick up some of t...

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” This line from Juliet’s famous speech on the balcony to her tragic lover Romeo is one of the most ...

My high school history teacher used to say, “Every four years, we have an election, whether we need one or not.”So whether we needed it or not, the 2008 election is behind us; later this month, we w...

U2 is arguably the greatest rock band in the world. In my opinion, no band in history has been able to stay at the cutting edge of rock music as long as they have. The key to their success? There are a number o...

In my last column (January/February 2008), I tried to make the case that longevity in youth ministry is something to be desired. Youth workers have a reputation of being transitory, which ends up limiting their...

I was shocked. On the phone was the mother of a youth ministry student who had graduated from high school three years ago. I hadn’t seen the young woman since then, and the parents didn’t attend our...

At first, the answer was an easy one. Absolutely not. I will not get sucked into that huge time-waster that is social networking. Remember e-mail? Yeah, well, it still works the same way it always has; and th...

 The phrase “sacred space” is popular these days. Do a quick Google search and you’ll find everything from yoga centers to a Jesuit prayer site bearing the words. People consider the spac...

During my first full year in youth ministry, success—not failure—was what almost did me in. What I eventually learned not only made me a better pastor but also a better husband. I had taken ...

Watching Carly come to faith was a great joy in my early years of youth ministry. Watching her walk away was equally as painful. Carly had been invited to our youth group by a friend. She made a commi...