The early part of my summer constitutes both the best and worst time of year for youth ministry. It’s mission trip season, which means a constant vacillation between the fringes of misery and the footsteps of glory. Missions…
After last year’s annual Rooted conference, one youth minister in attendance wrote Rooted’s chairman about his experience: “Cameron, Thanks again for all that you do with Rooted. It was truly a blessing to take part in this year’s…
“Modesty” has become a dirty word to a postmodern audience, conjuring up images of sexually-repressed, prudish religious folk who don’t know how to have fun. We youth workers start talking about modesty, and immediately youth group girls everywhere cringe…
If you spend much time watching CNN, Fox News or MSNBC, you’ll notice that people seem to regularly depend on their personality, rather than sound reasoning and facts, to give authority to their words. Proof of their convictions seems…
I am not a huge reader. For me to read a certain book every year means that it has a serious impact on my spiritual life and ministry. Here are three books that I read every year of…
I discovered Nicholas Wolterstorff’s Lament for a Son through a pastor/friend. He regularly gave copies away. “How many times have you read this?” I asked him. Reaching for the copy that would become mine, this pastor-of-pastors replied, “After twenty years, I’ve…
While there are hundreds of reasons to read The Chronicles of Narnia at least once, here are four reasons why you should read the series every year: They are fun. If you can help it, don’t read books you don’t…
It took me just 20 minutes to read Tyranny of the Urgent by Charles E. Hummel. That means that unless I am brief in this article, you could read most of the book by the time you finish reading my…
A few weeks ago I sat down to catch up with three high school students that I have been pastoring for the past seven years. When I asked them how their relationship with Christ was going, they told…
