When I was 19, I left the church. I can tell you the exact day I walked out: I had returned from a college retreat and had reached my limit. I wasn't just burned out, but was frustrated with so many things w...

When you see students struggling with depression, it's hard to know what to do. You may feel helpless because you usually can't improve their circumstances or their feelings. However, you still can offer them m...

Is collaboration overrated? Let's face it: Sometimes it's easier to do things on our own. It's more expedient. We can do it in our own time frame, which might be the night before or the hour before. I...

Your senior pastor walks into your office and unloads all of the junk he's heard people saying about you and the youth ministry. Your spouse tells you that the family wants you to look for a better job, one tha...

My plan was to go to a conference in Nashville a couple of days early as I always do. I would visit with my parents, who live in town; get the supplies together from Dollar Tree, Target and Hobby Lobby; and twe...

Quick Backdrop Maybe you've seen the bumper sticker: "As long as there are tests, there will be prayer in schools." You might expand the list: As long as there are temptations, peer pressures, anxieties over t...

Every time a man objectifies women by the way he looks at them, he fuels the idea that women can become objects rather than daughters of God.

What if more churches were guiding students effectively into a healthy ontology instead of feeding them banal Christian catchphrases?

For the past several years, I have been hosting improvisational gatherings for youth ministers called Youth Specialties UnConferences. We held 12 events this past spring. They are the opposite of almost any oth...

"God is good; His steadfast love endures forever, and His faithfulness to all generations" (Ps. 100:5). One of the most common phrases heard today in casual conversation, on television, in movies or ...