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 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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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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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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Dear NBC, I would respectfully submit that you have not yet realized the world has changed both culturally and technologically. I concede that you seem to be using all of the new technologies available to you. Let me compliment you on your easy navigation web-site and your Facebook fan pages and of course your deft…
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In my quest to be a good United Methodist, I have been spending time here and there over the last several weeks getting up to date on all of what is up for vote and debate, but it wasn’t until this afternoon that I realized there was a great iOS app that would take care…
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The United Methodist Youth Ministry website was created for youth workers to have conversation. As General Conference 2012 runs its course, we would love to hear what you are thinking. What have you heard that you think will affect your local youth ministry? What concerns you? What are you excited about? We really would love…
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For those of my United Methodist tribe, we have in one week this monster of gathering we call General Conference. It comes around every four years and becomes the vocal & legislative body for the United Methodist Church. General Conference may not have a direct impact on you and your youth ministry at the local…
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As I made my way through Lent this year I was increasingly reluctant to post even on my own blog (even more so over here where there’s actually an audience). It was a deeply moving experience for me and difficult to wrap words around–you’d really have to do it to understand. To sum up, if…
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“So, youth, what do you want to learn about?” “Revelation, angels, and Satan? Where do we go when we die? Okay, sure, we could do that. Oh wait, look at that shiny thing over there!’ I must confess something I am not very proud of — For years, I have been a professional controversy avoider.…
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From Jack Ewing, CEO The Foundation for Evangelism The Foundation … [Read More...]
Looking for a GREAT summer Mission trip in the Dallas, Texas area? … [Read More...]
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