Cultural Narratives and Youth Ministry

In his essay, “The Native Hill,” Wendell Berry examines the worth of the two worlds in which he resides; one world is the literary, the place of his profession, and the other the natural, the place where he…

Missing Out or ‘Living In’ Ministry?

Late last week, I was wrestling with content for a teaching time at our church when my phone pinged and vibrated with alerts from #SXSW (the darling arts/music/film/tech festival in Austin, TX). Each of these alerts communicated a sure and…

Have Our Kids’ Minds Gone to Pot?

When I was on my middle school track team, we trained at the high school across the street. By the time early morning practice was over, the high schoolers had gathered on the lawn outside their building to…

Apologizing to Our Children

When a Christian becomes an earthly parent, he or she rightly looks to our divine Parent for a paradigm. Our perfect Father in heaven is our true and sufficient example upon which to fix our sights regarding our…

Discipling Students by Reading Books Together

So often, our passions and drives in ministry are the byproduct of an experience or story from our own adolescence. In this series, we asked student leaders what shaped and enlivened their faith as teenagers, and how that…