Reimagining Youth Ministry
Reimagine Youth Ministry is an organization devoted to educating and training youth pastors to do youth ministry in the era of mental health awareness. Below, the owner of Reimagine, Kristy, has shared her story of how her mental health organization came to be. I Saw The Problem Of Mental Health Eight years ago, I felt […]
Camp Doesn’t Always Stick, And That’s Okay
It’s camp season. Best time of the year. But as you start buying an absurd amount of pool noodles and beach balls and scour Amazon for a pineapple themed Bluetooth speaker, there’s likely a small, negative thought nagging at you in the back of your mind. If you’ve been in youth ministry for a few […]
Mentoring In Youth Ministry
Let’s talk for a few minutes about mentoring in youth ministry. I had the pleasure of having a conversation with Brent Aiken on the Student Ministry Conversations podcast the other day (the episode releases in a few weeks). The conversation was around evaluating curriculum in the world of youth ministry. It was a really amazing […]
Cultivating A Culture Of Worship For Youth
This might feel like a weird starting place for a conversation about a healthy culture of worship for youth groups, but when was the last time you went to a concert? If you’re me, it’s been a while. I just don’t value the experience enough for the financial and time investment required. But I can […]
Addressing Faith and Doubt In Youth Ministry
We’ve all been there in youth ministry where a student asks a question or poses a doubt to Christianity that we’re not totally prepared to answer off the top of the dome. That’s a hard place to be because, let’s face it, none of us likes to look stumped in front of a group of […]
Fostering Authentic Faith In Teenagers
Before we jump into fostering authentic faith in teenagers, let me share why this topic is top of mind for me. My wife and I recently went from parenting three kids to parenting five. No, we didn’t have twin babies! We brought in two teenage siblings we already knew and loved from around the neighborhood. […]
Life Is Long
Can we just be honest and admit something really quick? As youth workers, we love all of our students equally, but we love some more than others. It’s okay. No one’s looking. You can just admit it. Sometimes God puts certain students in our pathway and puts it on our heart to do for that […]
Deconstruction
When college students come back, we get the scary privilege of checking in with them as youth pastors. If you haven’t had this experience yet, you will. Sometimes we discover that our former students have fallen off a bit faith wise as they’ve begun their official transition toward adulthood. Disillusionment. Disengagement. Dissection. Deconstruction. Maybe some […]
It Doesn’t Matter If It’s Sin
“He touched the butt.” That is one of my favorite quotes from, not just Finding Nemo, but maybe any animated film ever. And the fact that that is the case demonstrates very clearly that God has hardwired me for a life of youth ministry. If you’re familiar with the film, you’ll recall that Nemo had […]