I asked the following question in a room of 60 people recently. “How many of you are consistently praying for one of the other youth leaders or pastors in your community?” ONE hand. One hand went up. We have to pray for one another. It is beyond important. I have […]
Bible Study , Christian Leadership , Resources , Rural Ministry , Student Ministry , Youth Leader Health
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Healthy Youth Leaders : Learn
In the last post in this series, we looked at what it means to be a healthy youth leader. The first element of youth leader health is a willingness to learn. I am not necessarily talking about college or seminary. There are some great programs and resources out there that […]
Christian Leadership , Ministry , Ministry Tech , Stories , Youth Leader Health
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@perrynoble and 10 Convictions on the Church…
Today, Perry Noble posted a list on 10 convictions about the church. Some of them I agree with, some I need to think/pray about before I respond openly. However, there are two things to learn from this list: 1) What are your convictions that you operate under? Are they fluid, […]
Christian Leadership , Ministry , Student Ministry , Youth Leader Health
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Healthy Youth Leaders Do This: ______….
Since accepting my new position, I have accepted several speaking and training opportunities that give me a chance to pour into Youth Leaders. Honestly, this is one of my favorite things to do in ministry. I am doing a training in Illinois for Southern Baptist Youth Leaders at the end […]
Christian Leadership , Evangelism , Ministry , Missions , Resources , Rural Ministry , SBC
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An Early Christmas Gift for SBC Pastors…
Christmas is coming, you are decorating the trees that are in your churches, hanging lights, and putting up the nativity set. We all know that there may be a lot of new faces (or ones we only see a couple times a year) at church on Christmas Sunday. Many churches […]
Christian Leadership , Redneck Tech , Rural Ministry , Stories , Student Ministry
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The Kaskaskia Dragon and Youth Ministry…
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 […]
Christian Leadership , Ministry , Rural Ministry
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Is It Too Late?
The church is dying. Literally. I don’t have a plethora of stats to back this up, at least not on the rural level. I just use my own two eyes. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist (or a statistician) to see that rural churches are aging and younger people just […]
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 […]
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 […]