Category Archives: Youth Ministry

Posted on

Toothpaste, TSA and Youth Ministry

Last week I spent a few days in Colorado at a youth ministry retreat called Wilderness, put on by Christ In Youth.

This is an incredible weekend each year, and is a time for me to renew, refresh, and refuel my relationship with God. It’s something I won’t miss because it’s so beneficial to my life right now. You can read more about my thoughts on Wilderness here and here.

Airport Security

photo credit: gfxdave99 via photopin cc

In the past, I’ve always driven to Colorado, camping out a night or two along the way. However, with our move to Florida, that became impossible. So I flew.

I don’t fly often; it’s just not something that I need very much. And with a large family, it gets expensive fast.

But this time I flew.

The trip out was uneventful. But my experience on the trip home gave me some things to think about.

The Transportation Security Administration stole my toothpaste.

My toothpaste.

Before I left home, I checked my airline’s website for what I could and could not bring with me. According to their website, I could carry on up to 17 ounces of personal products, such as shampoo, deodorant, and toothpaste. I checked most of my personal items, but I wasn’t sure what the lack of air pressure would do, and I really didn’t want toothpaste on all my clothes for the week, so I packed it in my carry-on with my shampoo.

Going to Colorado was no problem.

Coming home was.

Posted on

7 Advantages Of Starting A New Youth Ministry

This post is part of the Foundations Of Youth Ministry series. Check out the rest of the series!

Just over four months ago, I moved my family from the middle of the United States to the Gulf coast of central Florida in order to accept a new youth ministry position.

It’s been a crazy transition. We have five kids, with one one the way, so that means a lot of stuff to move. We’ve never moved this far before either, which made things even crazier.

And to top it all off, we moved out of the Bible belt of southern Missouri. The culture shock has been pretty significant. But we are adjusting nicely. The kids are building new friendships, and so are my wife and I.

New Sprout

But for the past few months, I’ve been the “new guy” in the area.

One one hand, that means that I may get lost trying to find someone’s house, or even the local Wal-Mart, but on the other hand, I’ve noticed some great advantages to being the new guy.

I have the opportunity to build this ministry the way I want

When we moved to Brooksville, I was told that this youth ministry had experienced some struggles. As a result, I have the opportunity to build this ministry from the ground up.

Posted on

4 Benefits Of Building Trust In Your Youth Ministry

This post is part of the Foundations Of Youth Ministry series. Check out the rest of the series!

Successful leadership communicates trust.

It’s that simple. If you want to be successful as a leader, so matter where you are, you must make sure your people know that you trust them.

While this is true for every workplace, this is especially true in ministry, with your students, and especially with your leaders.

If you don’t trust your people, there is no way that you can reach your potential.

Key and Lock

Here are a few of the benefits of building trust in your youth ministry:

Posted on

Back In The Saddle Again

Gene Autry wrote and recorded a song in 1939 called Back In The Saddle Again. Reminiscent of the Old West, Autry’s distinctive voice carried this song through the years to become a well-known classic. Here are a few lines:

I’m back in the saddle again
Out where a friend is a friend
Where the longhorn cattle feed
On the lowly gypsum weed
Back in the saddle again

Whoopi-ty-aye-oh
Rockin’ to and fro
Back in the saddle again
Whoopi-ty-aye-yay
I go my way
Back in the saddle again

Starting Line

It has been a very busy season for my family, especially for the last couple of weeks.

In case you missed it, we moved halfway across the country, from south-central Missouri to the Gulf Coast of Florida. We left Missouri on April 30, arrived in Florida on May 2, and have been unpacking boxes ever since.

Posted on

Three Important Things I Learned From My Youth Ministry Network

Today was my final opportunity to meet with the other youth ministers from the south-central area of Missouri where I’ve been serving for the past few years. It was definitely a sad moment for me.

Missouri/Arkansas Youth Ministry Network

Today, we celebrated our time of ministry together by eating at a great little Thai restaurant in Mountain Home, Arkansas.

These guys have been a great network of peers during my ministry here. In fact, they’ve been great friends. I’ve enjoyed our time together.

We’ve shared resources with each other. We’ve suggested books to read. We’ve encouraged each other through times of great joy, like when one of the guys lost over 100 pounds, and when another got married last year. And we’ve been there for one another through tough times, like when my dad and step-dad passed away last June.

With these guys, I’ve always known exactly where I stand, and if I needed something, I had but to ask. And many times, they would see my need and stretch to meet it before I could even speak out.

And they are all different, in tremendous ways. I can have great discussions centered around favorite authors, like Timothy Keller or C. S. Lewis, with a couple of these men. And with a couple of others, we could stay up till the wee hours of the morning playing Phase 10 and laughing our heads off.

We’ve planned summer camps, and winter retreats. Some of us floated the Jack’s Fork River for three days, in January. And once, four of us loaded up in my car and drove to Colorado for CIY’s Wilderness, camping out downwind of a cattle slaughter house on the way.

Posted on

Why You Need The Church (And Why The Church Needs You!)

One of the more disturbing trends I’ve seen in my experience in youth ministry is the perceived lack of need for church. This is something that seems to be an ever-growing problem.

Stained Glass

I hear it all the time:

  • “I don’t like organized religion.”
  • “I don’t like the music/preaching/style/time/etc.”
  • “I don’t have time for church.”
  • “Sunday is my only day to sleep in.”
  • “I don’t need any help.”
  • “I don’t need the church.”
  • “I can do this on my own.”

This really bothers me, for several reasons. But let me state it succinctly: You need the church. And the church needs you.

Posted on

The State Of The Youth Ministry And A Winter Retreat

Over the weekend, I took several of our teens to the Winter Retreat at Rock Garden Christian Camp.

This was a weekend that a few other area youth ministers and I have been planning since back in September.

@God: Winter Retreat 2012

In my opinion, it was a huge success!

We took a bit of a different approach this year rather than how we had been doing it. We brought in a different type of speaker, not your normal local guy, and used a band we’d never worked with before for the worship. Again, it was hugely successful.

We asked John Luzadder to speak to our teens. John is a former youth minister who now works with CIY, overseeing Wilderness, a youth minister’s retreat that I attend every fall.

I was a bit unsure just how all our teens would relate to John. John deals more with youth leaders in his current position, and while he was in the youth ministry trenches in the past, I wasn’t sure how our students would take to him.

He knocked it out of the park!

Our theme for the weekend was “@God: More Than A Facebook Friend“. Over the course of the weekend, we examined each aspect of the Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, and then wrapped it up with a “What does this mean to me?” session.

On top of the excellent preaching John brought about God, here are a few of the things I took away from the weekend: