It's that time of year. You're getting ready for your Christmas party. You want it to be engaging, fun, and ...
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Loss is a part of life. Whether it’s a pet, a family member, or a friend, we may find ourselves ...
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All around the country, folks are preparing for a successful new year of school. Buses are running their practice routes, ...
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For many of us, VBS 2023 is over. We've loved seeing volunteers serve, loads of kids on campus, and many ...
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There was a time when I wondered, "Am I doing ministry right?" This feeling went on for years. Yes, I ...
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If you’re one of the Youth, Children’s, or Family Ministers out there whose church provides funding for continuing education, you ...
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Matt, who had been serving as a summer youth ministry intern, was excited to share a devotion with his middle ...
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Many of us will wrap up our school year within the next few weeks. I have always appreciated the transition ...
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How often do we overlook the potential of young people? Do you know what I mean? It can be easy ...
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What would our ministry look like if we could truly partner with parents in the way that we would like? ...
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You love this job. You love the people with whom you get to work, and you love the Lord! So ...
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We are in another year of ministry. And whether this is your first, fifth, fifteenth, or fiftieth, each year can ...
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You need this job.  You binged the entire Netflix catalog.  Your bedroom/office is becoming smaller every day.  And your budget ...
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“Can God create a rock so heavy that He can’t move it?” If you’ve ever had a student ask you ...
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It's nearing the end of the calendar year. Some of us are overly busy in Advent and Christmas services, while ...
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Do you often times feel overwhelmed and wonder how you will get it all done? When you find yourself in ...
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Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is ...
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For many of us, our summer ministry has ended. You may have led an incredible VBS, inspiring mission trip, or ...
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Ministry in the summer can fly by. Summer can feel like a whirlwind from ending the school year, celebrating graduations, ...
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We've all had it happen. You’re leading a group of teens on a weekend retreat. Let’s say you’ve got 25 ...
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Have you ever double-booked yourself? Or maybe had a complaint from the church finance team because you've lost receipts again? ...
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What Can We Do? Four years ago when I started in my position as youth minister at my current church, ...
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Have you ever experienced feedback? Even the best feedback can be challenging to receive. Now imagine receiving that feedback on ...
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Short answer, yes. It is perfectly normal to struggle with some doubts about your faith. The more thoughtful answer is… ...
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We Need To Be Prepared In Part 1 of Isolation and Loneliness in Teenagers, we shared normal stressors in the ...
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When I look back on my different ministry experiences, I don’t think about the books I read, or the conferences ...
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Not Just Okay - It's Necessary Whether we realize it or not, it's not just okay, but necessary to hold ...
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Let's start with what we know Firstly, we have all been young before. While we may never have felt isolation ...
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I’ve made a lot of mistakes in youth ministry—a lot! Many of my mistakes came when I first started as ...
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It can be a difficult task to make a difference in a student’s life. Sometimes, it can feel like there ...
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Teenagers tend to naturally leave their parents in the dark. Should we do the same as Youth Ministers? And how ...
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As a kid, church was a normal part of my life. During the week, I can remember attending children’s choir ...
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You know the urge. You look around the youth room, your program, or even the team and think - I ...
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Have you ever thought that ownership and talents go together? Perhaps the teens in your youth group are just looking ...
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Have you ever tried to do long-range planning, only to discover you get too busy to put that plan into ...
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Did you know that poor planning can actually lead to ministry burnout, conflict, and a failing ministry? Planning is more ...
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What if you are hiring the wrong person? Where do we find quality candidates that will fit our church's culture ...
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When my son Paul was in first grade, we moved from the Washington, DC. area, to Pittsburgh, PA. I had ...
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I can see the end in sight, the light at the end of the tunnel. The vaccine has arrived, and ...
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Imposter Syndrome. This is the name that is given to that overwhelming feeling that you are a fake, a fraud ...
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If you’ve listened to your students for any length of time, you might easily feel that you don’t have anything ...
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How will you continue to navigate this season? March 8 was the first Sunday that many churches throughout the world ...
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Right now, spirituality is a struggle for many of us. I’ve recently been following Jon Steingard, former lead singer of ...
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We’ve all done it, right? You put time, effort, and energy into prepping a virtual lesson for the youth group ...
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We have all been there as youth ministers… attempting to discern when and why to change churches. Hopefully, these ideas ...
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It’s time to set the annual calendar for the youth ministry. Who do you invite to the meeting- church pastor, ...
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I do not know who needs to hear this but give yourself a break. You are doing the best you ...
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Whether schools are out for summer break, or as we are experiencing in this current situation where a pandemic has ...
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“Losing what we thought our summer would be, just sucks!” I said that to a student a few days ago ...
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In youth ministry, your mission is to promote the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical well-being of all youth under your ...
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In part one, Dealing With Grief, we discussed how we can understand grief. As we move into part two of ...
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There is an emotion in the midst of everything I do these days. It is like a cloud, heavy and ...
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It has been several weeks of creating ways to do ministry differently. I imagine by now you have problem-solved some ...
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Whether you are serving in youth ministry, children's ministry, or family ministry, you are now doing ministry differently. The challenges ...
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You are in social distancing, so should ministry stop? Absolutely not! Here are 7 ways to minister in times of ...
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It feels that the Covid-19 situation has rapidly escalated, leaving us in ministry unsure about our roles. To help you ...
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Sometimes it is good to stop doing that - by that, I mean what you have always done or what ...
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It is probably safe to assume that you would like to see your youth ministry grow. No matter who you ...
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You may be your ministry’s worst enemy. A few weeks ago, in part one, we discussed one way you may be ...
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Toxic people create toxic groups and quickly derail your mission. As leaders, we need to learn how to overcome a ...
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No one seems able to agree about the exact dates for Generation Z. The youngest members may have been born ...
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You are a rare breed. Not many people would give up their Saturday to spend it with middle school students, ...
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Regardless of how you got into youth ministry, I think there is one thing you and I have in common ...
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You know that you need a team of leaders. To get this team, you will have to recruit people. It ...
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You could possibly be the worst enemy of your youth ministry, volunteer team, and students. As leaders, this is never ...
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