One of my early church memories is participating in my church's pony express giving campaign – a campaign in which a saddlebag was passed from home to home along with stories about our church's ministries and our pledge cards. Families were then...
Twice since returning from maternity leave, I've attended work conferences with my infant daughter, Hope. The first time, Hope was two months old; The second time, she was five months old. After the first go-round, I instagrammed the picture...
On a recent call with Alan Roxburgh, author of Structured for Mission, I heard Al say two really compelling things. First, people are no longer hardwired to go to church like they once were. Second, given this changing culture, those of us who...
While attending a remembrance about the ongoing atrocities occurring in the Congo, my husband and I attended our friend, Emile's, Congolese church.
One of the things I vividly remember about that worship service was the young children. There were...
The other day, a teen walked into our youth room. Another student immediately grew excited and exclaimed, “Oh great! It's the funny kid!”
I'm pretty sure the funny kid didn't hear this other teen and for that I'm thankful. I responded by greeting...
In grad school, I took a class called Theology of the Church taught by Dave Rahn. During it, we talked often about the form and function of the church. Dave's point was that form should always follow function, not the other way around. In other...
My teens care deeply about issues that affect the marginalized in society. They long to make sense of what their faith says about such things and wrestle with how they can make a difference in regard to these issues. To that end, my student...
What the book's about: A year into my career in youth ministry, I interviewed at a church. During that interview, I was asked about my feelings about the whole "postmodern thing". It was the early 2000s and at the time, I knew little about...
Whenever we come into contact with other people, there’s a temptation to play the comparison game. This is true of theology as much as anything else.
Theological differences are often especially apparent during events like the 30 Hour Famine,...
You can't do youth ministry alone.
Perhaps you already know that. Maybe you even believe that.
Even so, knowing and believing that doesn't make adult leaders magically appear. You still have to work hard to recruit the right people to be leaders...