I want to acknowledge and confess my deepest struggle and frustration as a youth worker. It comes from that overbearing parent who thinks you are doing youth ministry all wrong. It comes from parents who consta...

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...

When I told some of my friends that I would be attending a meeting of the Society of Christian Philosophers at Westmont College, their responses fell into three basic categories: • Horror: "What? Why? That ...

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...

I am not an emotional person. That doesn't mean I am emotionless, that I feel nothing and exude a tough-guy persona that screams, "I'll mock you, then take your candy if you cry in front of me." I just mean tha...

I was raised in a conservative home, worshiped in a conservative youth ministry at church, and attended a conservative seminary. I'm thankful for my conservative roots. They are part of what shapes me. Inter...

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...

At 2 a.m., the lights in my bedroom switched on, and my 17-year-old daughter cried, “Mom, I swallowed a lot of pills.” It had been a rough autumn, and I knew we were all stressed; but I was not prepared ...

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...

Not long ago my wife and I experienced a series of frustrations in our house.  First, our electrical system began to develop problems—with lights going out, or not coming on at all.  Then, our furnace stopp...