Called to Be Peacemakers
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God" (Matt. 5:9, NRSV).When we think of peacemakers, we often consider illustrious names such as Ghandi or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.m but in th...
What Do You See?
"Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions" (Acts 1:17, NRSV).In 1983, while I was serving as a student pastor in rural North Carolina, there was a young girl in our yout...
Youth Ministry in a Multifaith Society
Len Kageler and Chap ClarkIVP Books, 2014, 224 pp., $13.89If you pick up my copy of Youth Ministry in a Multifaith Society by Len Kageler, you'll notice that nearly every page in the last three chapters is...
Youth Culture Lesson: Finding Faults
Who or What Defines Who You Are?Get downloadable PDF.Get downloadable PowerPoint presentation.About/DisclaimerWhat HappenedThe Fault in Our Stars, based on the young adult novel by John Green, was the No. 1 mov...
Discussion Starter: Learning from Celebrities
James Bennett, a leading academic in television and digital culture at Royal Holloway, University of London, claims young people stand to learn a lot from celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Madonna bec...
Welcome to Camp Comfort
Some mothers in New York perhaps are starting a new trend among overprotective helicopter parents. Rather than sending their children off to summer camp with a few changes of clothes, a flashlight and mosquito ...
Go Tell It—Reclaiming Missions Sunday
Missions Sunday: The day when churches honor the missionaries they support. The day when flags of two dozen nations are paraded into the sanctuary. The day of the interminable slideshows. And, at my (Jim's) chu...
Go Tell It—Guilt and Getting Your Story
If you were born before 1980, you may remember a series of TV ads in the 1990s where actress Sally Struthers narrated heart-wrenching images of starving children, in a plea for viewers to sponsor those kids.If ...
The Attractiveness of Confidence
In Him and through faith in Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence (Eph. 3:12).What is it in us that makes us lack confidence? What is inside of us that makes us so awkward sometimes? We have troub...
The Ministry of Commencement
Commencements are wonderful, but they're just too long. We sit at yet another one, knowing that this is good ministry, constantly thinking about the more productive ministries we could be doing while the speake...