All About the Heart and Soul of YouthWorkers
I hate May. It's my most despondent month in ministry. It's the month where all of my critical … [Read More...]
The idea of connection came unto its own during was birthed out of a moment in church history that … [Read More...]
Do you ever find your youth ministry being compared to other ministries in your area? Sometimes I … [Read More...]
If you have heard me speak at a workshop or keynote event or been in the proximity of me while I … [Read More...]
OK I know that sounds a little dramatic. Let me start Micro and move towards Meta. I also really … [Read More...]
I hate May. It’s my most despondent month in ministry. It’s the month where all of my critical self-assessment of our ministry comes to a head. It’s the end of the school year, which stumble-starts (in our community) a downturn in participation through the summer. Worse, another group of seniors is headed for the door,…
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The idea of connection came unto its own during was birthed out of a moment in church history that was contentious and dramatic. As America began to find itself as a representative democracy, its citizens began to desire what they saw as a more democratic style of church structure, and they began to turn more and…
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Do you ever find your youth ministry being compared to other ministries in your area? Sometimes I feel like I’m trapped in Rocky IV. Other ministries are like Drago, the powerful Soviet boxer, with all the resources, training, and technology money can buy. And then there’s me…lifting logs and chasing chickens in a set of…
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If you have heard me speak at a workshop or keynote event or been in the proximity of me while I have been on my soap box there has been a theme you probably heard. A theme that there is some holy mystery from the early Methodist movement that is part of our DNA we…
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OK I know that sounds a little dramatic. Let me start Micro and move towards Meta. I also really want your input, so this is a conversation starter. Here it goes: Well for about two weeks now I have become the acting Children’s Ministry Director at the Church where I am doing Interim Youth Ministry.…
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ME: We would like for us to recognize our seniors in service as graduating youth. PASTOR: That’s great, how would you like to do that? ME: We would want to recognize our two youth in our second service and give them a gift that we set aside budget money for to get. PASTOR: I love…
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General Conference 2012 has ended and is in the history books…what happens next should be interesting. Yoshiro Nakajima, a youth worker from the California/Nevada Conference, was there as a delegate and shares the Young People’s Personal Point of Privilege he helped draft. This address was read by Stephanie Gottschalk, clergy (31). She couldn’t quite…
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Yoshiro Nakajima, a youth worker from the Cal/Nevada Conference, was one of a handful of professional youth workers to attend General Conference 2012. (By the way, where are the youth workers at General Conference? Our guess is that you are busy planning you summer mission trips and busy doing the stuff of youth ministry when…
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Is it burnout or just a funk? In direct sales, you know right away if you’re succeeding or not – you either have the sale or don’t. In sports, you know if you scored or not, you can measure your stats to gauge success or failure. You can measure or see the results of your…
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You probably long for a day when everything falls perfectly into place. No hassles. No fires to put out. No problems with people acting out. No drama. You just go through your day with positive thing after positive thing happening all day long. But guess what? That’s just not going to happen. In fact, it’s…
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Yet another blockbuster movie has been able to get your students to skip the youth fundraiser and spend their $15 on a ticket. Of course the main reason you were upset about it was because you were stuck at the church doing yet another fundraiser instead of being where everyone else wanted to be this…
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Mark Miller stands with friends in prayer at General Conference. Photo by United Methodist News Service I don’t know if you have been watching General Conference at all. I have been watching whenever possible. So addicted this is to my church nerd DNA that I have watched the live stream while giving a bath to…
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As of last April, I began having discussions with my Senior Pastor about attending seminary in the fall of 2012. That gave me over an entire year to do my best to prepare the leadership teams in my youth ministry for the upcoming transition. Over the past year, I’ve come to realize one unanticipated truth…I…
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I stole an expensive breakfast two weeks ago while on vacation. I’ve become pretty accustomed to finding my opportunities to worship in unusual times & venues. It’s extremely rare in ministry that I find myself in an attitude of real worship within the confines of a sanctuary, so I’ve learned to seek communion with God…
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In my last post I wrote about what I think is a critical flaw in the approach that Vital Congregations used in gathering a list of potential metrics – namely that the metrics to consider must be available, in other words, already being collected. I don’t know that I made a strong enough case in…
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I woke up with a ton of thoughts in this area, and wanted to try and … [Read More...]
I remain dedicated to strengthening youth ministry and to equipping … [Read More...]
YouthWorker Movement
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