This is for the teenagers in your community.
The ones whose families have been hurt by churches so much that they won’t (or can’t) go back.
The ones whose very identities make them afraid they'll be reduced to an “issue” that needs to be solved.
...
On the first day of swim lessons, the lifeguard asked my nearly four-year-old daughter, Kendall, to put her head underwater and much to my shock, she did. This immediately advanced her from Level 1 (for anyone who can’t put their head underwater)...
Several years ago during an overnight event at the church I served, my high school youth ministry filed into our sanctuary and participated in a prayer ritual around the altar that involved lit candles. Unbeknownst to me, the wax from the candles...
“You guys are making me not even want to go to church anymore!” shouted Hope, my six-year old daughter, from the backseat of our van as we headed home from our first day of church shopping.
We began church shopping at a local church that’s part...
My congregation held virtual VBS a couple of weeks ago. As I’ve continued to reflect on the experience, I keep returning to these six things I learned from virtual VBS:
1. The problem isn’t Zoom. Four months into this pandemic, you’ve no doubt...
In every church I’ve ever been on staff at, we've inevitably wrestled with the question, “Who belongs?”
Oh, we never say it like that.
Instead, we raise questions like, “Who is active here? Who worships here? Or who gives an offering here?”
We...
In these unprecedented times, with a massive number of churches opting to live stream their worship services in order to protect the public’s health and love our neighbors, families with young children might find themselves wondering, “That sounds...
Dear Future Self –
I want you to remember this week ten years from now.
This is the week you made a controversial parenting decision. Oh, don’t get me wrong. It isn’t the first you’ve made. It won’t be the last. But this is the one I want you to...
I love geeking out on research. And when that research is related to youth ministry, it’s even better. For that reason, I was excited to read David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock’s Faith For Exiles: 5 Ways for a New Generation to Follow Jesus in...
There’s a fairly common perception in the youth ministry world that graduated seniors are a critical part of a mission trip and as such, should be honored accordingly during such a trip (with things like special anointings or opportunities just...