Summer's nearly over and your youth group members are returning to school. As a youth worker, you know what that means, right?

Even if your bags are barely unpacked from this summer's trip, it's time to start planning your next mission trip.

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For the past month, my suburban community has been slowly making improvements to our sewer system.

Truthfully, I don't exactly understand the details.

What I do understand is that when the Insituform truck arrives outside my house, it's going...

Everyone faces “giants” in their lives: Fears, issues, and struggles that must be overcome. In their book, Five Stones: Conquering Your Giants, authors Shane Stanford and Brad Martin attempt to use the story of David and Goliath to “arm” us to “...

My students are, in a word, obsessed with the 2012 movie version of Les Miserables. Knowing this, I decided to use Les Mis as the basis for our first, three-week series of the year. This series is written as discussions, designed to be...

I am a musical geek.

Much to my husband's dismay, I listen to soundtracks constantly. Day and night, they're what I blast from Itunes.

Since I first got the soundtrack for The Book of Mormon nearly two years ago, one song has consistently...

This post is part of a synchroblog on Loving Nature: "Is God Green?"

Long before being green was a thing, my family was.

My parents have always driven highly fuel efficient cars. They rarely run their air conditioning. In the winter, their...

My first year in ministry, I was 22 years old.

I was young and naïve, incredibly passionate and excited to be in ministry. I was also arrogant, convinced I was God’s gift to the church (or at least to the particular church I was serving in).

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I am unashamedly a fan of Kenda Creasy Dean. Her book, Almost Christian, is one I believe every pastor, youth worker, and parent should read. 

As as result, when my colleague and I decided to use a book as the framework for our adult...

Recently, as I was reading through Scripture as part of Margaret Feinberg's 40 Day Wonderstruck by Scripture challenge, I was struck by the Message's paraphrase of 2 Kings 17:32-33, “They honored and worshiped God, but not exclusively… They...

More often than not, my attempts to recruit adult leaders are met with the recruit saying something like, “You know I’m not a Bible scholar, right?”

So often, I just want to respond, “You know I’m not looking for a Bible scholar, right?” Usually,...

What the book's about: The subtitle of Help! I'm a Student Leader accurately describes what this book is about - Practical ideas and guidance on leadership. It is written specifically for youth serving as leaders in a church context. 

Why I...

As an only child, my parents instilled in me the belief that I could do and be anything I wanted. An education at an all-girls Catholic high school reinforced this.

Rather than bemoan my gender, I was taught to embrace it; To not fear...

One of the best things my congregation does to help transition junior high students into our high school ministry is a tradition I inherited: The confirmation home visit.

Each fall, our associate pastor (who runs confirmation) visits all the 7th...

On the way to our summer mission trip in Red Lake Indian Reservation, an ELCA church graciously allowed us to spend the night in their facility. The next morning, we worshiped with them.

Later, many of my students commented on how the church we...

Recently, I met with a potential adult leader. I shared my heart with him, interviewed him, and then asked if he had any questions for me

He proceeded to tell me about how his son, who’s now in his 20s, was never involved in our church’s youth...

What the book's about:  Henri Nouwen's The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming  chronicles the author's encounter with Rembrandt's The Return of the Prodigal Son and the exploration of Luke's parable prompted by it. 

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One of the steps in my adult leader recruitment process is an interview. Interviews provide me with an invaluable opportunity to get to know a potential adult leader (and for him to get to know me.) 

In addition to basic "getting to know you...

As I've been reading the Bible in Margaret Feinberg's 40 Day Bible Reading Challenge, I've been struck by the physicality of our faith. Our Christian faith is one that's very much attached to people and places. It is physical, tangible, and real....

This week marks the slow trickle of kids returning to school in my community.

The return to school also means that the start of my fall youth ministry program is imminent. Needless to say, it's a stressful time of year, especially for a Type-A...

Like so many church kids, I associate the word light with songs.

First, it was “This Little Light of Mine”. Thanks to this song, even as a young child I knew I was supposed to let my light shine rather than hide it under a bushel or let Satan...