The BackdropPraying is not difficult. Anything we say to God is a prayer. However, to make sure we know how to pray, Jesus got very specific in teaching us how.The WhatBelow is Jesus' model for prayer from Matt...

In every youth ministry I've served, I've had students who come from families that struggle financially and, therefore, cannot afford expensive events such as summer mission trips. Although we spend a year fund...

Anita KeagyVision Video, DVD, 40 min., $14.99At 17, unmarried and a pastor's daughter to boot, Anita Keagy received the devastating pronouncement: "Young lady, you're pregnant." After praying through the l...

James Derham: From Slave to DoctorGet downloadable PDF.Get downloadable PowerPoint presentation.About/DisclaimerWhat Happened:In order to make good on our promise and follow God's calling for us, many of us hav...

Youth workers are known for shaking things up and taking creative approaches to old challenges. So why do so many youth workers follow the same-old-same-old approach when it comes to mission activities and trip...

"But store up for yourselves treasure in heaven" (Matthew 6:20).Perhaps you've seen the commercials—the ones asking: "What's in your wallet?" Yeah, that one! It may be a humorous commercial, but dig ...

I was getting overwhelmed.Teaching three times weekly at youth group was wearing me out, so I asked some of my core students if they would lead a Sunday night meeting. They reluctantly agreed. In the process, t...

In more than a decade of ministry, I've planned a lot of events and trips. Some were worthwhile, and others left me scratching my head wondering why I didn't stay home and play golf. One thing I've discovered i...

I remember the first time I heard someone describe himself as a lifer—not a right-to-lifer or a Miller High Lifer (come on…)—but a youth ministry lifer. I was finishing seminary, had just take...

She smiles at me as I pass the magazine rack at Barnes Noble. Everything about her looks absolutely perfect as she stares off the cover of the December/January 2012 edition of Seventeen magazine. Her name's Ni...