Tag Archives: sunday school

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, student ministry, teen life | 8 Comments

New Curriculum—Salt and Light!

By caryschmidt | January 28, 2010

Striving Together Publications is excited to announce the soon availability (Feb. 12) of this new adult curriculum from Dr. Mark Rasmussen! This 13 lesson series was over two years in development, and I’m extremely happy with the finished product. Dr. Rasmussen is one of the greatest Christian educators alive today, and you will find this [...]

Posted in books and resources | Also tagged biblical living, book review, local church, striving together, teaching | Leave a comment

7 Myths of Single Life

By caryschmidt | January 19, 2010

Seven Myths of Single-Life
Myths abound in today’s culture—through urban legends, chain emails, speed-diets, and beyond! Thanks to snopes.com, it’s pretty easy to run an email, a story, or a bizarre event through a quick research test to find out if it’s true or not.
So—do you have a “snopes” for life? Has it occurred to you [...]

Posted in ministry & outreach | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, dating | 4 Comments

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, student ministry | 6 Comments

Making God’s Will Less Confusing

By caryschmidt | October 19, 2009

Life is complex. God’s will isn’t. In fact, at any given moment, there’s a powerful question you can ask to determine if you are in or out of His will. It’s simply this:
“Did I follow God to where I am right now?”
The Holy Spirit will instantly resonate the answer in your heart—you will know it [...]

Posted in christian life | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, leadership, parenting, teaching | Leave a comment

The Top Questions of Young Christian Singles

By Cary Schmidt | September 10, 2009

Throughout the year, our ministry to College and Career and Singles brings us into counseling, retreats, and venues where young Christian singles are airing really good questions. I have previously shared the details behind our Q&A times (both for teens as well as singles) and also the top 15 questions that teens ask.
Here’s the most [...]

Posted in counseling, student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, teaching | 2 Comments

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, student ministry, teaching | 4 Comments

Getting Teens to Air Their Questions

By Cary Schmidt | July 1, 2009

How an Honest Q&A Time Can Help Your Students

This week we’ve been at teen camp with 275 of our teens from LBC. It’s been a great week! One of my favorite aspects of camp is something we instituted a few years ago called “Answers to Tough Questions.” It’s a one hour Q&A time before dinner. [...]

Posted in counseling, student ministry | Also tagged adolescence, parenting, student ministry, teen life | 7 Comments

How George Mueller Discerned God’s Will

By Cary Schmidt | June 20, 2009

This past week, my Dad sent me an excerpt from a George Mueller life story that reflected on how Mueller discerned the will of God.
Mueller listed the following steps he believed were necessary in determining God’s will regarding any decision. I thought they might be helpful to others:

“I get my heart into such a state [...]

Posted in christian life | Also tagged biblical living, counseling | Leave a comment

Beating Post HS Challenges (3)

By Cary Schmidt | June 12, 2009

(This is the third in a series articles about the first big tests that high school graduates face. We’ve been studying them in our senior Sunday school class and I hope these ideas will be helpful to you or those you influence.)

The Challenge of Freedom—this third challenge speaks of the increasing freedoms that always accompany [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, student ministry | Leave a comment

Beating Post HS Challenges (2)

By Cary Schmidt | June 10, 2009

(This is the second in a series articles about the first big tests that high school graduates face. We’ve been studying them in our senior Sunday school class and I hope these ideas will be helpful to you or those you influence.)

In the first article of this series we visited the challenge of a job—how [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, student ministry, teen life | 2 Comments

Beating Post HS Challenges

By Cary Schmidt | June 6, 2009

(This is the first in a series articles about the first big tests that high school graduates face. We’ve been studying them in our senior Sunday school class and I hope these ideas will be helpful to you or those you influence.)

Have you ever seen a train wreck? There’s not a much more vivid metaphor [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, college and career, counseling, student ministry, teen life | Leave a comment

Helping Graduates Prepare for the Future

By caryschmidt | May 7, 2009

A Tool to Help High School Grads Understand Their Own Hearts and Direction

I’ve not been able to write a blog post for a while due to year-end events with our graduating seniors—which leads me to thinking this might be a helpful subject. I want to encourage pastors, youth pastors, principals, and those who work with [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged college and career, counseling, student ministry, teen life | 3 Comments

The Greatest Student Ministry Strategy

By Cary Schmidt | December 24, 2008

Reaching Students, Nurturing Life Change, and Seeing Them Stay Faithful for Life

If we were sitting at a coffee shop and you asked me, “If you could give one practical word of advice to a youth pastor regarding reaching students, seeing their lives changed, and watching them grow up faithful to God—what would it be?” Well, [...]

Posted in student ministry | Also tagged biblical living, ministry, student ministry | 4 Comments