Worried first-time mission trip adult leaders often ask me, “What can I do to be a good adult leader?”

As someone who is not only a youth worker and a parent but also a former mission trip staffer, I have a unique perspective on this. I still...

My husband and I have traveled a LOT with our daughter, Hope. My in-laws joke that Hope has been on a plane more in her first two years than some people are in their entire lifetime. When people hear how much we've traveled with Hope, they often...

Before we had kids, my husband and I loved to travel together. As juniors in college, we studied abroad in Russia. Ever since then, whenever we've gotten the chance to go somewhere, we have.

One of my fears in becoming a parent was that we'd stop...

A few days after returning exhausted from a week-long mission trip, I woke up to the worst kind of e-mail, a nastygram from a parent chewing me out for a comment made on the mission trip.

Upon reading it, my first thought was “Seriously? I spent a...

What the book's about: Mack & Leeann's Guide to Short-Term Missions is just that: A guide to short-term missions, written by two InterVarsity Campus Fellowship staff workers who have directed numerous mission trips to Kenya, the Middle East...

At a recent event, I noticed a student sitting quietly off to the side, seemingly disengaged from her peers and the teaching. Her youth worker noticed too but chalked her disengagement up to the fact that she was an introvert and decided to just...

Today, I'm linking up with Kate Motaung's Five Minute Friday. The rules: Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

This week's prompt: More. 

"More" signed my baby girl.

More was one of the first signs...

When I first entered youth ministry, I wanted to cultivate student leaders but I had no idea what I was doing. So I did what I always do: I turned to books.

Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of resources on cultivating student leaders.

So I began...

Today, I'm linking up with Kate Motaung's Five Minute Friday. The rules: Write for 5 minutes flat – no editing, no over thinking, no backtracking.

This week's prompt: Sing.

One of the worst weeks in my professional life occurred when I...

The Yaconelli name is a familiar one to those in youth ministry. Mike Yaconelli was one of the founders of Youth Specialties and a legend in the youth ministry world. His son, Mark, is also a recognized figure in the youth ministry world.

One of...

Sometimes, life doesn't go as planned. In those moments, it can be tempting to question God's presence and purpose. In Choosing Real: An Invitation to Celebrate When Life Doesn't Go As Planned, author Bekah Jane Pogue uses personal stories and an...

My new book, Unleashing the Hidden Potential of Your Student Leaders, is out! I'm convinced that when done well, student leadership has the ability to transform your youth ministry. With that in mind, over the next few weeks, we're going to be...

My work as a youth pastor requires me to lead. Together with my colleagues, we provide leadership for our entire congregation. More specifically, I lead teams of adult and student leaders. Together, we lead our congregation's youth ministry.

...

My congregation is led by a team of lay-leaders called our Congregational Council, a group similar in function to a board of elders. When I was first hired nearly nine years ago, I was asked to write a monthly report to keep the council informed...

I'm a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.

Over the next...

My 22-month old daughter, Hope, adores animals. She loves watching them, petting them, and reading books featuring real life animals or warm, cuddly ones. For this reason, I was excited to read her I'm Going To Give You A Bear Hug! by Caroline...

My new book, Unleashing the Hidden Potential of Your Student Leaders, is out! I'm convinced that when done well, student leadership has the ability to transform your youth ministry. With that in mind, over the next few weeks, we're going to be...

What I'm Reading:

Fiction:

Best chick lit: Maybe in Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid, which reminded me a LOT of the musical If / Then. 

Book I'm still thinking about: I Liked My Life by Abby Fabiaschi

Best mystery: I See You by...

What the book's about: Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution. by Brene Brown is about what it takes to get back up after you fall.    

Why I read this book: I read Rising Strong for a discussion with my...

One of my favorite ways to teach my daughter about faith is by reading to her. For this reason, I'm always on the lookout for clever faith-related children's books.

Bible Basics: A Baby Believer Counting Primer by Danielle Hitchen,...