Mess with their food

As he dipped his fingers into a bowl of rice and beans, one of my students whined, "Why do you always have to mess with our food?"

At the time he made this comment, this student, along with the rest of our mission team, was busy participating in a team-building activity. During this activity, our team ate lunch from a common bowl without using silverware.

As you might have guessed from this student's comment, this wasn't the first time during our preparation process that I'd messed with our team's food. In fact, teens now know that if I tell them "Lunch will be served," something's up.

Once I ordered a single pizza to feed our team of 17.

Another time, I asked students to bring their lunch. Then when they walked into our youth room, I confiscated it. A while later, I redistributed their lunches so no one ate the lunch he or she brought.

Messing with people's food is more than a cruel joke.

Read the rest of this article here. 

Jen Bradbury on Youth Ministry

Jen serves as the Minister of Youth and Family at Atonement Lutheran Church in Barrington, Illinois. A veteran youth worker, Jen holds an MA in Youth Ministry Leadership from Huntington University. Jen is the author of The Jesus Gap: What Teens Actually Believe about Jesus (The Youth Cartel), The Real Jesus (The Youth Cartel), Unleashing the Hidden Potential of Your Student Leaders (Abingdon), and A Mission That Matters (Abingdon). Her writing has also appeared in YouthWorker Journal, Immerse, and The Christian Century. Jen is also the Assistant Director of Arbor Research Group where she has led many national studies. When not doing ministry or research, she and her husband, Doug, and daughter, Hope, can be found traveling and enjoying life together.

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A Mission That Matters: How To Do Short-Term Missions Without Long-Term Harm

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Unleashing the Hidden Potential of your Student Leaders

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The Real Jesus

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The Jesus Gap

What Teens Actually Believe About Jesus

Based on National Research

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