Come January, I will have been in youth ministry for ten years, two of those as an intern and eight as full-time staff. Recently, I transitioned from a church in Oklahoma City where I’ve been a member and…
In the challenging episode of Ask Alice up on the youth ministry side of the blog today, we hear from licensed professional counselor Alice Churnock on the topic of suicide. Suicide affects millions of Americans; it will affect…
Discipling your children in the faith can cause parents to feel inadequate and alone, but discipleship was never meant to be a solo task. Parents, you have more resources than you often realize. Truly impacting the next generation…
One of the battle lines that is sometimes drawn in ministering to the next generation is the line between traditional youth ministry and family ministry. On the extreme end of the family ministry camp, traditional youth ministry stands…
Teenagers and adults are regularly being catechized by our culture—and very often we falsely synthesize the broader culture’s convictions with our faith in Christ. In this series, Rooted writers examine “half truths” our teenagers may be tempted to…
I had just returned from a weekend retreat with my son, who has recently entered middle school. That means I’m not only his father, I’m also his youth pastor. It’s weird. But cool. But still weird. Within the…
While our team recovers today from last week’s Rooted conference in Chicago, I thought I’d share the manuscript from my devotional, which opened the conference. We hope our time together blessed all of our attendees as much as…
Teenagers and adults are regularly being catechized by our culture—and very often we falsely synthesize the broader culture’s convictions with our faith in Christ. In this series, Rooted writers examine “half truths” our teenagers may be tempted to…
God designed the church to center on the gospel—the good news that God rescues sinners through the person and work of Jesus. Placing the gospel at the center of our ministry to students leads us to emphasize discipleship…
