I remember the day quite clearly, because it's hard to forget that I looked and felt like a fool in front of a room full of people. A friend had promoted me so enthusiastically before I gave a presentation to h...
As I write, I'm overhearing a conversation about the overabundance of resources available for children's church ministries. In fact, these people are comparing them, talking about what they include, their pros ...
Let's face it—hanging out with middle school (I call it junior high!) students in the hopes of bringing them closer to Jesus takes serious guts. It is an energy-packed, patience-stretching, sometimes smel...
There are zillions of activities, games, curricula, resources and methods youth workers can use; but which are really the best? To find out, we asked nine youth ministry veterans to pick their "Best of the Bes...
As a student in youth group, I sometimes would get some warm-fuzzy feelings when we sang, but my relationship with God was very shallow. What changed me was when one of my leaders began bringing a guitar to mee...
We tend to minister out of life experiences. These experiences include our education, the latest books we've read, our spiritual mountaintops—when God's hand was evident, as well as our valleys—when...
If you're like me, you've probably been seen as your church's occasional (or permanent) answer to your church's worship leader role. This happens to youth workers whether we plan on it or not. That's because yo...
In 1987, my world came apart! After years of pouring my life into the church and into the lives of students, I was left feeling abandoned by those who I thought always would be there for me. The healing took ye...
This past summer, I had the totally cool opportunity to baptize my son. Because I live in San Diego and it's pretty much warm year-round (and because we have that big thing near us called the Pacific Ocean), my...
No matter your age, the kids to whom you're ministering today are living in a media world very different from the one you inhabited when you were their age—even if you graduated from high school last year...