Tag Archives: student ministry

Before You Discipline Your Child…

By caryschmidt | February 23, 2010

Discipline is a sacred thing. Too often we parents take discipline too lightly or treat it too flippantly. In the big picture, all discipline is about bringing our children into a right relationship with their Heavenly Father, that He might bless their lives. It’s not about controlling behavior, modifying behavior, or minimizing embarrassment. Pure and [...]

Posted in family | Also tagged adolescence, family, parenting, teen life | 4 Comments

Problems with Fun-Focused Youth Ministry

By caryschmidt | February 15, 2010

Is your youth ministry Bible-focused or fun-focused? It’s easy to focus more on making the youth group fun than on making it biblical. I’m all for having a good time with students in the right context, but we have a much higher calling. How easy it is to fall into the trap of spending more [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, local church, ministry, sunday school, teen life | 8 Comments

10 Things Teens Won’t Tell You (Part 1)

By caryschmidt | February 8, 2010

Have you noticed that teens are tight lipped? For a myriad of reasons—usually intimidation being the biggest—they really find it difficult to talk to adults at times. This is especially true with parents. In every home, there is a spiritual battle against authentic communication. Let’s face it—the devil doesn’t want parents and teens to truly [...]

Posted in family, student ministry | Also tagged adolescence, family, parenting, teen life | 2 Comments

Survey for Reality-Parenting

By caryschmidt | January 4, 2010

Several weeks ago I shared a post called “Reality Parenting—Making the Grade.” This post is a follow-up.
A primary goal of every parent should be to model a right relationship with the Heavenly Father, and ultimately to see our children embrace that same relationship. Seeing a father or mother live in love with the Lord—happily submitted [...]

Posted in family | Also tagged family, parenting, teen life | Leave a comment

Transforming Teens—From Kurt Skelly

By caryschmidt | December 2, 2009

If you work with young people, I want to encourage you to read the blog series “Transforming Teens” by Pastor Kurt Skelly. This is presently a seven-part series of articles that examines how Paul mentored Timothy. It is insightful, well-written, and helpful for anyone who is mentoring young lives.
These articles highlight seven critical qualities/steps of [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged college and career, leadership | Leave a comment

Thoughts on Effective Youth Ministry

By caryschmidt | November 19, 2009

A frequent question: What are some keys for effective youth ministry? While I’m certainly not the authority, here are a few thoughts that I’ve seen the Lord bless (not listed in any particular order)…
A Strong Local Church—Jesus died for the church. It is His divine authorized institution for His work on earth. A youth group [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged college and career, local church, ministry, sunday school | 6 Comments

7 Big Parenting Mistakes

By caryschmidt | November 10, 2009

Here’s a short list of mistakes that all parents can make when it comes to seeing, understanding, and biblically responding to the spiritual growing pains of life. (This is as much to myself as to others.) Stop and think about it—and pray for godly wisdom in responding to the issues of your children’s hearts with [...]

Posted in family, student ministry | Also tagged adolescence, counseling, family, parenting, teen life | 2 Comments

Struggling Teenagers? Don’t Give Up Early!

By caryschmidt | November 4, 2009

Have you had a student come through your youth group, graduate, and not mature spiritually the way you hoped? It seems no matter how we pray, labor, plan, or serve—there are some that graduate and drift spiritually.
What about trying to help a struggling student, only to feel like you’re spinning your wheels? Gauging by the [...]

Posted in family, student ministry | Also tagged college and career, counseling, parenting, teen life | 1 Comment

How to Help a Wounded Person

By Cary Schmidt | October 6, 2009

One of the most difficult circumstances of life and ministry is to try to help someone who has been deeply hurt. These are hard moments. More than anything, you want to take away the hurt, undo the pain, and fix the problem. But it’s just not that easy. Woundedness—regardless of how it occurred—requires time and [...]

Posted in counseling, featured | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, teaching | 1 Comment

Youth Ministry Idea: Developing Leaders

By Cary Schmidt | September 21, 2009

Quick post for youth leaders (with the spirit of idea sharing) related to developing servant leaders in student ministry.
J. Oswald Sanders’ classic book Spiritual Leadership is one of the great reads on the subject. It’s worthy of revisiting on a regular basis.
The first time I read this book, I was in 8th grade, and my [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged book review, leadership, ministry | 9 Comments

Defeating the Media Monster-Part 2

By Cary Schmidt | September 8, 2009

Media will eat your family alive unless you tell it not to!

In part one we uncovered five challenges that modern media brings into our lives and homes. To beat the challenges, tame this monster, and prepare your children to have discernment and wisdom, may I make the following suggestions:
1. Build healthy relationships committed to purity [...]

Posted in family, media & tech | Also tagged biblical living, danger, family, media & tech, parenting, social networking, technology | 1 Comment

Defeating the Media Monster—Part 1

By Cary Schmidt | September 4, 2009

Media will eat your family alive, unless you tell it not to!

I have a deep inner aversion to living things that crawl, creep, fly, or slither around and find their way into places they don’t belong. They bother me. They creep me out. I just want them dead as quickly as I can make it [...]

Posted in family, featured, media & tech | Also tagged biblical living, counseling, danger, family, satanic, separation, social networking, teen life, twitter | 1 Comment

10 Ways to Lose a Teen’s Attention

By Cary Schmidt | August 24, 2009

Quick post—the top ten ways to completely bore and disconnect with those you teach:
1. Say something not worth hearing—This is basic, but if you want people to listen, start by saying something worth hearing. The number one reason we lose the attention of those we teach is that we’re not convincing them that what we [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged communication, leadership, ministry, sunday school, teaching | 5 Comments

Suggested Family Cell Phone Guidelines

By Cary Schmidt | August 22, 2009

Seems like kids are getting cell phones younger and younger these days! This post is one I’m only doing because of requests. Several years ago, as our boys became teens, we decided to get cell phones for them—primarily so we could get a hold of them in relation to school and youth group outings. It [...]

Posted in family, student ministry | Also tagged adolescence, communication, family, parenting, technology, teen life | 2 Comments

New Research on Social Networking

By Cary Schmidt | August 19, 2009

Both TIME magazine and the San Francisco Chronicle recently reported on some dangers surfacing behind the many hours that teens are spending in social networking. Here are a few quotes from the San Francisco Chronicle article that relayed the results of a poll of 1,000 teens and 1,000 parents:
“From behind their bedroom doors, more than [...]