So last night marked the 100th unique face that has come through the doors of the student ministry at sawmill covenant church. pretty cool.
if anyone told me that we’d had that many faces through the doors, i would have though they were lieing or inflating the numbers. It sure feels small. It sure feels like [...]
Archive for the ‘Youth Ministry’ Category
27 Jul
our 100th face
23 Jul
Why your teenagers act the way they do.
I know a lot of parents of students read this blog. I thought I’d share some resources that may help you understand why your teenagers act the way I do.
If you’ve got a middle school students, this link may help bring some clarity: http://www.aacap.org/page.ww?name=Normal+Adolescent+Development+Part+I§ion=Facts+for+Families
If you’ve got a high school student, this link may help: http://www.aacap.org/page.ww?name=Normal+Adolescent+Development+Part+II§ion=Facts+for+Families
25 Jun
10 questions to ask yourself (youth pastor edition)
what am I doing that is distracting students from Jesus instead of pointing them towards him?
am I setting up students to carry their faith beyond high school?
how can I allocate my budget to better reflect my mission?
is my faith evident outside of lessons and programs?
in what ways am I perpetuating a weak/lame version of christianity [...]
24 Jun
success in youth ministry
Last week I sat down with some of my volunteers at Starbucks to chat. I’d been serving at Sawmill Covenant Church for almost a year.
I asked them this question: “As we look back at the first year, where have we seen God show up?”
For the next hour, we told stories. Stories of meeting new students. [...]
15 Jun
A Book You Must Read
I was given Mike Yaconelli’s Getting Fired for the Glory of God by a pastor who used to work in youth ministry. I’m reading it. Blowing me away. You should read it to. Or maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe it is just awesome because God is using it to speak to me right now. Either way, [...]
10 Jun
Faith in Student Ministry
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. ~Hebrews 11:1~
In student ministry, we have the difficult blessing of striving to teach adolescents – who are develoing (but haven’t mastered) the ability to think abstractly – to act upon something which they cannot see.
If you figure out how [...]
9 Jun
What Acts 2:42-47 means today
Acts 2:42-47:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone [...]
8 Jun
Stop Not Being the Church
Churches are a million different things these days. They’re can be online, big, emergent, multi-site, small, liberal, urban, political, country clubs, tech savy, old fashioned, ethnically diverse, wealthy, conservative, or broke. A church can have a multitude of descriptors.
All those things are fine.
But the church has got to quite defining itself using minor issues and [...]
30 May
after 13 years: “If I could do it all over again”
Chris, over at the “A New Kind of Youth Ministry” blog put together a solid list consisting of what he’d do if he could do it all over. As a guy who is just finishing up my first year in student ministry, Chris’ list was challenging and very timely. I’m definitely going to print this [...]
