Youth Story

  Today in a university chapel, Dr. Dan Boone promoted his newest book: " A Charitable Discourse ". In the book Dr. Boone includes ways of talking about the tough issues that are dividing the church. Some of the tough subjects that Dr. Boone presents are: Homosexuality, Women Preachers, Drinking, Emergent Church and Science. Now I have been a student at Trevecca Nazarene University since Dr. Dan Boone was appointed as the President. I have developed a great respect for the man and the work he does. This book he promoted today was the same that he promoted at M11 conference where I sat as he took some tough questions from the audience. The same thing happened today as the chaplain opened the forum up to the chapel for questions. Never have I met a man who is able to take the amount of criticism and tough questions with such grace as Dr. Boone. Most of the book " Charitable Discourse " was taken from the once a year tough subject chapel sermons that Dr. Boone has hos...

This story comes to us from Pastor Matt Lawson. It was originally posted on his BLOG . The following is taken from a session on Recruiting and Training Volunteers for student pastors. Your need for volunteers will always be communicated in one of the following ways: 1 | NEED | Ezekiel 22:30 We communicate it something like this: “Hey, we NEED 9 more leaders for our small groups. If we don’t have leaders, students don’t get led. We need YOU.” 2 | DUTY | 1 Timothy 1:5-7 We communicate it something like this: “Hey Christian, if you’re not serving, you need to find a place in the body of Christ to plug into. It’s your responsibility to get out and get serving. Don’t be a sponge, give back.” 3 | VISION | Luke 5:1-11 We communicate it something like this: “I want to introduce you to Austin. Austin was saved in our ministry recently and has been invested into by some of our adult leaders. He’s leading a bible study on his campus that has grown larger than the campus Chri...

This story comes to us from Pastor Adam Reed, originally posted on his blog A few months ago I was talking with a 7th grade student and she asked me if I have always wanted to be a middle school pastor. I began thinking back to when I was volunteering at a church while I was in seminary and the youth pastor asked me which age group I would prefer to work with.  At that time I told him that I would rather work with high schoolers.  As I look back now it was at that time that I can begin to see my love for middle school students.  I was working with the high school students, but found myself enjoying hanging out with middle school students .  After I graduated from seminary I served at a couple of churches working with students 6th-12th grades, but it seemed like more and more I found myself enjoying spending time with the middle school students.  Here are three reasons I really enjoy working with middle school students: They are Teachable - Midd...

Youth Group Play-List How much money do you normally spend on prizes for your youth games such as "Minute to Win It"? My answer was like 1-5$. So this prize is always under $2 and you never have to go to the store to get it! A few months ago I had this idea to give away a new type of prize. Today I want to share this idea with you because it is awesome! The point is, when the students win a game and you offer them a prize, you want them to be excited about the prize. (Trust me this prize gets them excited) So I came up with the idea of allowing them to pick any Approved! song off of i-tunes to be downloaded and added to the youth group play-list as their prize. What this means is that our youth group has it's own i-pod! When we go on trips it is all we listen to and also when we are hanging around the church, the music on this i-pod is the music in the background. After a few months of doing it this way, you come up with a great list of approved songs totally gen...

This story comes to us from Matt Cleaver, it was originally posted on his blog: MattCleaver.Com 10 Things Youth Ministry Needs More Posted by Matt on Feb 15, 2011 in Youth Ministry | 8 comments This entry is part of a series, 10 Things» Entries in this series: 10 Things Youth Ministry Needs Less 10 Things Youth Ministry Needs More flic.kr/p/91X1fV (creative commons) My last post on 10 Things Youth Ministry Needs Less generated a lot more discussion than I expected. The comments left on that post were quite insightful, so make sure to go back and read the 43 comments if you haven’t yet. But the point of my last post wasn’t to simply be a critic, but to make space for things that I think are really important. For example, if your youth ministry currently puts on a midweek worship service, how much time and energy would you free up for yourself and the other leaders in your ministry if you canceled it? I would expect quite a lot. So, if we’re going to be doing le...

This story comes to us from Chris Harkins, it was originally posted on his Blog:  " More than this World ". I Quit...almost This week was an incredible time of learning, worshiping and spending time with some 3000 like minded youth leaders...or as I refer to them...family. It was also a time of extreme doubt, discouragement, and despair. Questions raced through my mind... Is a shepherd with out a flock still a shepherd? Is God done with me in youth ministry. Was my identity rooted in youth ministry, and if so, who am I now? Listening to some incredible speakers really got me thinking. Am I done with youth ministry, more over, is youth ministry done with me? I found myself filled with doubt, I began to break, and started to believe the lies. Its over... If I had been alone, this story might be finished here...but I wasn't, and its not! See I belong to a family of other youth leaders, and I didn't have to go through this alone. I immediately sent a T...

This story comes to us from a youth leader named Laura Milner. It was originally posted on her Blog ( Strengthening the Chain ) They Are Watching You: Worship I am excited to start my first blog series on Strengthening the Chain called “They are Watching You…” As of now it will be a three post series. However God could have other plans and I look forward to seeing what he does with it. Let us often ask ourselves whether we are doing good or harm in the world. We cannot live to ourselves, if we are Christians. The eyes of many will always be upon us. Men will judge by what they see, far more than by what they hear. If they see the Christian contradicting by his practice what he professes to believe, they are justly stumbled and offended. For the world’s sake, as well as for our own, let us labor to be eminently holy. Let us endeavor to make our religion beautiful in the eyes of men, and to adorn the doctrine of Christ in all things. ~ J.C. Ryle As believers in Christ the...

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This story comes to us from Andy Blanks ,  the Co-Founder of Youthministry360. It was originally posted on his personal blog . Small Victory . . . I have three daughters. My wife and I take the call to disciple our children seriously. It’s something we are intentional about. We are convicted by it . . . But you know . . . I still drop the ball. A lot. Whether it’s not engaging their spiritual questions as thoroughly as I should because they come at the end of the bedtime routine . . . Or whether it is absolutely failing to model godliness . . . Whatever the case, I mess up. And I hate it. However, I was reminded last night of the power of our actions as spiritual models. We want our children to know that God cares deeply about the poor and those in need. Our kids are very involved in our family’s sponsorship of our Compassion children. They pray for them every single night (without fail). They make drawings and pictures for each of them. We make sure they know when ...

This story comes to us from Pastor Darren Sutton . It was originally posted on his blog . I love the name of his blog it is called "Everyone's Called to Youth Ministry" It’s That Time Again… no, not New Year’s.  Although it is a new year, I’m looking at another familiarity. It’s time to remember that I can’t do ministry on my own.  I’ve been in youth ministry for a long time – and in some respects, it’s like riding a bike.  When I first began learning the two-wheeled wonder, I had some crashes, some ugly starts and stops, and more than my fair share of bumps, bruises, and bandages.  But true to legend, the more I rode – the better I got.  Soon – I no longer gave it a second thought when I hopped on my bike.  I didn’t have to.  It was auto-pilot for me.  It’s not that I ever lost respect for the bicycle or the injuries sustained at its influence.  I was just confident that I had what it took to ride well – and any impending ...

1: The Fireplace 2: Clean the Stove 3: The Catholic Supply Store 4: Your Buddy Who is Always More Prepared Than You 5: Most Things Turn to Ashes When You Burn Them    6: (Warning Could be Offensive) Your Grandparent's Urn on the Fireplace Mantle 7:  Pray Until Something Happens 8: Your Grill 9: Know any Smokers? (Its Called an Ash Tray) 10: Actually Go Burn Some Palm Branches Like You Were Supposed To (Slacker) To LEARN MORE Click HERE   -Just Jon

This Story comes to us from a very interesting guy named Jon Huckins. It was originally published on Youth Specialties website and then posted on Jon's Blog   Lead By Position or Through Influence? I recently wrote an article chronicling some of the key tensions I faced while working in the formal position of Youth Pastor.  It was published on the Youth Specialties site today.  Can you relate or have you experienced this tension? It was my first day working in the local public high school.  The teenagers walk into my classroom, 70% listening to their iPods while the other 30% are busy texting.  They turn the chairs from their desks and face them towards their friends so they can carry on the conversation they were having on the bus.  Trying not to show my inner panic, I calmly walk around the room and keep a stern face while thinking, “I’m sure they will all focus once the final bell rings for...

 This Story comes to us from Pastor Daniel Griswold. originally posted on his blog . http://www.nts.edu/ I read the same tweet that Walt Meuller read, which was sent by the highly influential pastor Rick Warren, which said:   “It takes about 10 yrs of local church pastoring to lose the arrogance u pick up in seminary, otherwise u likely won’t lose it.”  Walt blogged on his thoughts on the possible link between seminary and arrogance here: http://learningmylines.blogspot.com/2009/10/rick-warren-and-seminary.html – it is a very good blog for those thinking about going to seminary.  Walt really breaks with Rick’s notion that arrogance comes from the knowledge of Seminary arrogance, but rather states that pride and arrogance, already embedded in the heart of the seminarian, merely comes out as they are propped (or puffed) up by all the data flowing into and often out of the brain. But I want to tackle the question for those in youth ministry who are struggling ...

Today was an interesting day at church. It was the first Sunday for my new Senior High Sunday School teacher. That was an interesting class to sit in. See this week we begin Lent season. Most of my kids don't know a thing about Lent or Ash Wednesday. I can't wait until Wednesday to teach them. Our new teacher is ordained and has gone to Seminary. It is neat to have conversations with her about ways to involve the teens in the liturgical calendar. A lady from my church actually bought boxes of candy bars and donated them to the youth group. So today after Sunday School  I sent an army of students armed with snickers, twix and smiles into the crowd of church goers hoping to raise some funds for the youth budget. They sold all the candy bars! Today was a special day for our youth group because one of our teens was having her baby dedicated. Her little baby boy and her went on stage during service and had a rose dipped in water placed on his forehead as the church prayed for them. ...

 This story comes to us from Pastor Stevan Sheets originally posted on his blog . On being a pastor’s kid AND a pastor with kids. My dad has been a pastor for my entire life. That fact instantly places me into the “pastor’s kid” category with the likes of Katy Perry , the Jonas Brothers , NBA coach Phil Jackson , and even famed actor Denzel Washington . Growing up in the church there were obvious expectations about me and my sisters as a result in us being PK’s. I think we knew about most of the expectations from those within and those outside of the church, but my parents did a great job of sheltering us from some of those expectations and allowed us to grow up “normal”. As a pastor’s kid, I honestly tried to convince myself to never become a pastor. I was willing to break the family tradition of going into the ministry even with a grandfathers and great-great-grandfathers who pastored local congregations. I’m thankful that the Lord had other plans and I can ...

This Youth Story comes to us from Pastor Tim Ghali originally posted on his Blog . Reflecting on My Experience Leading an Adult Sunday School on the Faith of Teenagers Primary Audience – Youth workers and those interested in youth ministry. Last month I had the privilege of leading an adult Sunday School class that I entitled, “The Faith of the American Teenager”. I’m grateful to say this four week class for parents went pretty well. I have always known that a youth pastor my age cannot teach a class on parenting but I was hoping that I would be credible in sharing on the faith of a teenager. Relying on the research from the National Youth and Religion conducted by Christian Smith and Melinda Denton was the key for me. From the research, Smith and Denton released a book called Soul Searching , and from that book, there is Kenda Creasy Dean’s contribution called, Almost Christian . It was Kenda’s book that I had based much of the Sunday School content on. Here’s ...