Blog Topic: Youth

Fuller Youth Institute’s Dr. Kara Powell at Mars Hill (Grand Rapids)

From the Fuller Youth Institute:

Last weekend Kara shared “Are You a Line or a Circle”– Sticky Faith insights–as part of Sunday worship services at Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Listen or download the mp3 from Mars Hill’s site.

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Why Cliff Changed His Name

Over several years in youth ministry, I’ve realized that students continually see me in a different way. I started as the Christian Jack Black; loaded with energy, donuts and an assortment of shenanigans. Then I was seen as the moral, advice-giving big brother to many of my students. Now I’ve given up [...]

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I Struggled with Martin Luther King Jr. Day

I feel pretty comfortable talking about all things related to teenagers, but not so much with children. I have a 4 and 1 year-old girls who make me feel so inadequate as a father. They don’t mean to, they just do.

Without putting too much thought into the negative side, my wife [...]

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A Call for Professionalism in Youth Ministry

 

(First, let me first say by “professionalism” I don’t mean that youth pastors need to tuck in their shirts more or sign up for Cotillion).

It had only been a few days on Youth Specialties job board that my resume drummed up a slew of churches who [...]

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Land Mines and Guardrails

Land mines: I hadn’t been on the job a month when a man who just wanted to “help” approached me with a church directory. For the next 30 minutes he proceeded to point at countless pictures in the directory as he gave me all the dirt on my new church family. I was [...]

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Just Because Someone Volunteers, Doesn’t Mean They Should

Read the title of this post again. OUCH!!

Volunteers are an important part of youth ministry. Therefore, the process of finding volunteers should be taken seriously.

Procedures: While procedures have never been the component of ministry that make me giddy, I am seeing the severe consequences of not having them. What were the [...]

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Youth Ministry and Low Cost Divorce?

Several times a week I drive past a sign on a law office that says “Low Cost Divorce“. Automatically my mind begins to recall the faces of teenagers who would gag at this statement. Is it fair to say that children of divorce are the general recipients of marital dysfunction? From my [...]

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