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.
...