All About the Heart and Soul of YouthWorkers
It’s over. It’s done. Life is back to normal. Except for one little fact – it’s not. That’s because it’s really just beginning. What God has done in Easter is not just an act tethered in history or a day of the year denoted on a calendar. It’s reality. In fact, it’s the most real…
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The youth gathering is wrapping up, you are standing back and gazing over a crowd of teenagers bouncing around and talking to each other. Parents start to show up to collect their offspring and give obligatory greetings to you as they see you there. Then shows up Bob. Bob has two children in the youth…
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Continued from Part 1 Preparedness is the key to survival. Implementing a few of these things can make the difference between merely surviving during summer and thriving during the summer. Here are some helpful guidelines to make the most out of your summer ministry. Empower your leadership! Hopefully you have your own format of youth…
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Looking for a proven successful youth ministry event idea to kick off your summer? Try this: Ultimate Nerf Wars. What you need: Tables, anything camouflage, tarps, bandannas in two colors (1 per person), score sheets, pens, Sharpies, glow-in-the-dark bracelets/necklaces, medals or prizes (optional) Bullet buckets to gather up bullets for reloading. Lots of volunteers. What people…
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A tornado destroyed our Arlington, Texas, church building today. It’s crazy to try to get my mind around that. I’m sharing a few pictures with you, but what I’ve really got to share is this awesome story about our Church. After I picked my three kids up from school, we stopped by the…
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When is it OK to stop growing? We’ve had a “vitality team” form and hold several meetings to develop our church’s Vital Congregations growth goals for the coming few years. As they wrestled with numbers for worship attendance, professions of faith, and people in missions an amusing report emerged from that room; apparently, one enthusiastic…
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Your phone rings right after the youth event is over. It’s a mom. She reads to you from the same script again, “My son/daughter is making everything so hard. We’ve been arguing non-stop, and today I found out that he/she has been smoking/drinking/sneaking out/insert rebellious action here.” You console; you offer reassurances, but the bottom…
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It’s inevitable. A horde of activity-hungry adolescents are closing in. Soon they’ll be released from their ever-demanding schedules and let loose on an unsuspecting populus, free to roam and devolve into brainless indeterminate automatons! It seems there’s no way to make it out alive. Unless… Unless you’re prepared for survival. And survive you must. For…
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Something old-something new! The life changing DISCIPLE BIBLE STUDY is now available for use with youth totally online. No manuals, no picking a time or place to meet, no transportation obstacles. In fact, youth from neighboring communities or even other countries can join in. If we are going to transform the world, we need our…
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It would be nice if life were easy. But it’s not. You deal with difficult people, tough issues, circumstances beyond your control and the fact that life keeps coming at you fast. You have several choices how to respond. You can give up and decide you’re a victim. Fight with everything you have and take…
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“Expectations of community and true community are never the same thing. You have to get rid of the first to find the second.” I ran across this quote the other day and for some reason it really convicted me. It made me consider what it means to practice true community. As a youth worker, I…
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I’ve been asked to offer a mid-Lent reflection on my particular journey through this season. I’ve been blogging at www.kevinalton.com where I know I have a smaller audience, but that’s partly also why. In person I’ve been pretty good about not talking about it much and most of the “hey, Stinky” jokes have subsided in…
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It’s the worst. The student walking up to you has been coming to youth group on and off for about a year…and you just completely blanked out on her name. “Hi, you! How’s it going?” you say awkwardly. “You forgot my name, didn’t you?” Gah! Busted. (her name was Monica, by the way, and I…
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Over the last few weeks, we have been examining the 7 promises of the We Love Our Youth Worker Covenant, an agreement between covenant churches and their employee-youth workers. This week we are going to delve into Promise 7 – a promise about celebrating the youth ministry of your church. From the church’s point of…
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When I first heard that term, I had no clue what this guy (Jeff Dunn Rankin, VP of Youth Ministry Architects) was talking about. The phrase sounded both creepy and sad. He even had a picture to go w/ it of the outline of Mickey with an ear missing. Here’s how he ‘splained it to…
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