What I Learned From the Boston Bombing

The Boston Marathon bombing has hit me on two personal levels in a way unlike any major tragedy in the past. First, one of our most faithful, beloved Sunday school teachers was within a mile of the bombing…

Fear, Patience, and Prayer in Discipling Kids

Recently, I made a presentation to parents in our youth ministry, entitled, “Why Kids Abandon the Church.” Two years earlier, when I made a similar presentation, called “Grace-Driven to Postmodern Teens,” the class drew five people. Not surprisingly,…

Resisting the Urge to Do Cutting Edge Youth Ministry

In my early twenties upon moving to Birmingham, AL, I attended for three months a mega-church with an impressive growth rate. The pastor regularly boasted about the church’s increasing attendance in between opportunities to talk about the large…

Confessions of a Small Town Student Pastor

Every now and then we take our regular worship service and change things up. I give our band a night off to thank them for their hard work and to create an environment that doesn’t become dependent on…

What the Lord Taught Me at Rooted

I write from “The Left Coast” as I reflect upon how the Lord impacted me at this year’s Rooted Conference.  We are known here in Pacific Northwest for liberal viewpoints, coffee, and LOTS of rain.  But we are…

The Busy Youth Minister: Theology = Methodology

My mentor in my early days of youth ministry was a straight-talking, loud-walking, 6 foot, 9 inches, 280-pound man who had done student ministry for over twenty years. He had about eight maxims that he would repeat, reminding…