Summer is over. Camps, conferences, missions trips, and VBS are in the rearview mirror. Fall is staring you in the face. August is a transition month for most student ministries. There’s a different mindset ...

I'm in countdown mode. My fall programming starts in 5 weeks... And I'm on vacation for two of them. Needless to say, that means I'm knee-deep in program prep for the fall. I'm recruiting adult leaders, tra...

At a recent youth worker convention, one presenter made the observation that the average youth pastor has a four-year tenure before experiencing frustration, failure and burnout. This is a sad commentary on the...

There are few things more exciting to a ministry minded individual than arriving at a new job or ministry assignment.  Seeing new faces, new possibilities, and praying new prayers about what God could do throu...

A year ago I made one of the best decisions. One of the bravest decisions I could make. I started going to counseling. It’s kind of weird to write. Because I didn’t think I would ever really need to sa...

The amount of things you want to change, that need to change in your youth ministry can be overwhelming. After every book you read, after every training you receive or conference you attend, you come home fille...

It is a ministry situation like none other. It involves moving trucks, rollaway carts, sound systems on wheels, renting space at a local school or movie theatre, and a newborn vision of what God could do with...

Leadership in general is tough, but leadership in a church or ministry setting even more so. We’re not just expected to lead people; we’re expected to lead them like Jesus would have. We lead by serving, by...

Perhaps the most formative prayer of the church is the Lord’s Prayer.  In Catholic tradition this prayer is know at the “Our Father”.  Many congregations pray this prayer every week.  Some Christians p...

I think everyone knows the simple story of the “ugly ducking”. It is the story of a little lost egg that hatches into a family of ducks, only to realize that it does not look like any of them.  The story f...