Dear Lonely Teenager, Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m kind of sad, how about you? Valentine’s Day is an opportunity to display and receive love through gifts, cards, candy, flowers, and fluffy animals. But sometimes this day…
When I was a teenager, I was aware that the good news of the gospel meant Jesus had saved me from sin. Still, I didn’t realize until later that the gospel also meant Jesus had saved me into…
I love youth ministry because our culture has so little hope for our students. Pundits talk about “losing a generation” to their cell phones. The sociologist Jean Twenge reports that teens “are on the verge of the largest…
My first real job was in Washington DC. I took the Metro in each morning. A homeless man sat begging on the corner between the Metro stop and my office building. Some mornings I ignored him. Some mornings…
This doesn’t happen very often, but I was only a chapter into Jessica Thompson’s latest book How to Help Your Anxious Teen when I knew I would call it a “must-read” for both parents and youth pastors. It’s…
As a youth worker, I have the blessing and privilege of stepping into the sacred spaces of students’ lives on a regular basis. While sometimes this looks like pranks and games, a lot of times it looks more…
One summer day in late July, I learned something about Jesus that changed nearly everything about me and my family, including my two teen daughters. I read in the book of Ephesians a single word that saved us…
A couple of years ago, we had one of the Chattanooga Fellows join us for our high school girls’ Bible study. Enter Caroline: a warm, cheerful, blond 23-year old with both an intensity and a generous laugh. She…
Each month we compile a Top Ten list for youth workers. This list represents ten articles from various sources that we believe will encourage you in your ministry to students and their families. Some give explicit instruction on…
