On a Sunday morning not all that long ago, I stood behind a young mom and her toddler-aged daughter as they exited church. When they reached the doors in the back of our church, the mom said to her daughter, “Say good-bye to the church.”
The...
As a youth worker, I'm constantly amazed at the mysteriousness of adolescence. One minute, I'm baffled by the immaturity of my teens. The next, I'm blown away by their insight. Somehow, in the adolescent world, immaturity and insight regularly...
This summer, my student leaders & I read and discussed the book, Help! I'm a Student Leader by Doug Fields. Using the questions below, we had some incredibly powerful discussions about leadership and faith.
Questions about the Ch. 2 of...
According to David Kinnaman in You Lost Me , 52 percent of youth group teens aspire to science-related careers but only one percent of youth workers have addressed issues of science in the past year.
Knowing this, I was excited when my student...
Nadia Bolz-Weber is as close to a celebrity pastor as the ELCA has. I've gotten to hear her speak on two different occasions, first at the Extravaganza (a training event for youth workers in the ELCA) and later at the 2012 ELCA Youth Gathering.
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Recently, one of my new adult leaders asked me, “Why don’t we talk about the Holy Spirit more with our high school students? It seems like we’re very focused on Jesus.”
Truthfully, this is a pretty fair assessment of my high school ministry: It ...
My husband and I have been blessed to be part of a long-standing small group. Together with this group, we've celebrated milestones and walked with each other through some of life's darkest moments. We've also reflected on our faith stories and in...
This summer, my student leaders & I read and discussed the book, Help! I'm a Student Leader by Doug Fields. Using the questions below, we had some incredibly powerful discussions about leadership and faith.
Questions about the Intro of...
During the wee hours of our summer mission trip, I realized one of my student leaders was in the midst of a spiritual crisis.
Just before the trip, her atheist friend asked her, “Why do you believe in God?” In that moment, she realized she didn't...
Over the last two weeks, there has been extensive news coverage about the impact of the government shutdown on various services.
We've seen headlines about WWII veterans trying to visit a closed WWII monument in Washington DC; About frustrated...