One of the interesting things about my new position with NNYM is that I get to see some really wild things that are off the beaten path. One of these gems is the Kaskaskia Dragon. It is located off US 40 in Vandalia, Illinois. According to Roadside America, this creation […]
Bible Study , Christian Leadership , Family Stuff , Resources , Stories
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A Youth Ministry Prayer for Today
“Be still and know that I am God – Psalm 46:10” In our society we have a hard time slowing down, to relax , to wait. We want it our way and right now. STOP IT. Just sit here and rest in the next sentence. God is. That’s it. Not […]
Bible Study , Christian Leadership , Stories
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On Suffering
For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have. Philipians 1:29-30 One of the biggest questions […]
Christian Leadership , Evangelism , Ministry , Stories
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Being a Bystander is Hard…
Last weekend, while we were out of town, my son saw another boy almost killed on a bicycle. There was nothing my son or the friend he was playing with could do to stop it. A car was driving what looked way too fast, the boy jetted across the street […]
Ministry , Rural Ministry , Stories , Student Ministry
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Staging…
A couple weeks ago, I announced that I was embarking on a new ministry adventure. There has been much preparation in the transition (and not all is complete, but we’re getting close). In all the preparation and training, I feel like the driver sitting behind the wheel of a top-fuel […]
Christian Leadership , Evangelism , Ministry , Rural Ministry , Student Ministry
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A New Adventure…
I have exciting news. I have taken a position with National Network of Youth Ministries in the Great Lakes region. I will be serving as a Rural Ministry Specialist working with youth worker networks in Illinois and Western Indiana. This position involves resourcing and encouraging youth workers in both paid and volunteer […]
Christian Leadership , Ministry , Money , Resources , Rural Ministry , Student Ministry , YM For Cheap!
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A Simple Approach to Youth Ministry Budgets…
Its that time of the year again!! Time to start looking at next year’s budget. I know some of you are asking “what’s a budget?”, I will get into that in a future post. Preparing a budget seems to be a necessary evil of Youth Ministry, but here are a […]
Christian Leadership , Ministry , Missions , Rural Ministry , Stories
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Just Stop It Already!…
“Why do we do this ministry every year?” “Well…kinda because we’ve always been the ones to do It?….” We have all had that conversation in our churches. There seems to be that one ministry in every church that is a sacred cow that happens every year only because it happened […]
Ministry , Social Media , Student Ministry , Technology
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Lets Start a Facebook Prayer Meeting…
I received an interesting Facbook notification first thing this morning. Late last night Kevin Patterson tagged me and 9 other people, stating that he was challenged by a friend to choose 10 people publicly on social media to pray for in the coming week. Kevin added the ministries those people […]
Bible Study , Ministry , Resources , Rural Ministry , Student Ministry
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Teen Devotion Ideas
One of the largest challenges in youth ministry is keeping students growing in their faith. One of the tools we have available to help in this area are daily devotions to help students think through having a daily time focused on prayer and God’s word. Here are some great resources […]
Christian Leadership , Evangelism , Ministry , Rural Ministry
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A Rural Church Millenial Story…
There was much to do over the release of the 2012 SBC Annual Church Profile statistics a few weeks ago. One of the most staggering stats was the fact that the SBC churches baptized very few or no Millennials or Youth in 2012 (the latest year we have statistics for…). I was […]
Bible Study , Ministry , Resources
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Bible Study Tools I Use…
If you are just starting out in ministry, you have a few great advantages that those before you have not enjoyed. One of those advantages is the Bible study tools available to you. When I started in Youth Ministry 14 years ago, we were just starting to drift out of […]