If you are a student ministry leader or worker, we invite you to participate in the Higher Call Student Summits in 2012! Beginning in February, Bryan Samms and I have the privilege of partnering with four churches in four regions of the country for the Higher Call Student Summits. These meetings are two-day events hosted [...]
The contemporary church is seeing a mass exodus of young adults walking away from their faith in their late teens and early twenties. Some studies say the percentage is around 80% while others estimate it to be much higher. The statistic highlights major failures in many contemporary church ministry on a number of levels, but [...]
I love the way God shows up in ways we least expect. This morning is another McDonald’s morning. As my system is coming out of chemo effects, the stomach was asking for pancakes and my heart longed for some quiet time with the Lord. (Funny thing is, before cancer I was no fan of pancakes.) [...]
This is the third and final post in this series. You can read part one here, and part two here. Before we begin, I want to clearly state that I am not LEGAL COUNSEL. Laws changes, and circumstances vary, so with this general information, I strongly suggest you obtain legal counsel when dealing with criminal [...]
Developing a Long-Term Ministry of Integrity We’re talking about boundaries in student ministry. In our first post we discussed boundaries with the opposite gender. Now we move on to understanding and protecting boundaries regarding parents and disciplinary situations. Here are a few thoughts:
Establishing a Long-Term Ministry of Integrity This is going to be a series of posts in which I want to discuss the establishment of appropriate boundaries in student ministry. I’ve dealt with my share of situations over the years where men and women crossed lines, hurt people, usurped authority, and in some cases even committed [...]
A new curriculum for Senior High and Single Adult ministry is now available from Striving Together Publications! Life Quest features 13 weeks of lessons taken from the book by the same name. The lessons are focused on helping an older teen or a twenty-something young adult to move forward in a culture that continues to [...]
If you had to quantify your ministry or parenting focus with the following words, which two would be the most accurate? Managing Behavior… OR Mentoring Hearts It’s easy to default to the “Managing Behavior” position—in both ministry and parenting. Why? Because managing behavior is easier. It simply requires a strong hand of authority and a [...]
Several days ago I called the young lady who sent me the letter. We had a great talk and I was encouraged by her spirit. We talked for 40 minutes. (She also commented today on my last response.) One of the most surprising aspects of her letter, to me, has been the tendency of a small [...]
I’ve been late in this final post—thanks for your patience. On top of that, I’m sure it will be too long. Several days ago I had a very good 40-minute conversation with the young lady who wrote the letter. Her heart is tender to the Lord and I will share some of that in a [...]
Wow! The “Saddest Letter” post provoked a lot of interesting discussion! Since I received it a week ago, I too have been pondering my response, and in many ways, those who commented touched on many of the things that have been on my heart. For reasons of length and direction, I think my response will [...]
Parents and Pastors—Please Read!! I received this letter from a young lady last week—a Bible college student who grew up in a Christian home and Christian school. I believe it’s the saddest letter I’ve ever read and right on the mark for so detailing the experiences of so many young Christians. I asked her permission [...]
A friend emailed this to me today and I thought it worth sharing. It’s a ten minute video about cell phone usage and text messaging while driving—sharing real stories. I will definitely make sure my kids watch it! If you have teens or a youth group, you might consider passing it along.
Have you ever wondered who you are ministering to well, and who you are missing? Whether it’s a class, a group, or a church family, it’s easy to minister to many but miss some—especially those who are quiet. Some years ago, as our youth group grew larger, we became burdened about who we might be [...]
If there’s one thing that modern culture, technology, and the evolutionary world view have killed in even our Christian teenagers, it’s a life vision. Today, we desperately need an army of student ministry leaders to awaken vision in the hearts of young people. While some teens have some small form of vision for their future, [...]
