Is the author of Ecclesiastes suggesting our work in student ministry is not worth it when he opens with the following remarks? “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 1:2) I’ve been sitting with…
Tempting as it is to revel in last year’s glory, we want to plan for success the second time around, and that means getting our expectations in the right place.
Dear Parent, I know how you must be feeling… You’re a failure. I know shame is whispering that lie as you wonder who your child has talked to and whether or not they’ve told; you’re desperately hoping the…
I’m often guilty of viewing the prominence of smartphones and tablets as a purely negative development in the fabric of our society. Tim Keller wisely brings me back to the center. “Every culture is a mixed bag of…
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…
Historian David Brooks, when asked about NBC News anchor Brian Williams’ fall from grace, said: “It speaks to a couple of truths. The one is that no amount of public success is satisfying. You can have all the…
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…
In Richard Kim’s fantastic talk from our 2016 conference in San Diego, he addressed the three largest temptations with which ministers are faced (deeply related to Satan’s three temptations of Jesus in the wilderness): we are what we…
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…
