Recently, I read this article about Bart Campolo. He’s the son of author and preacher Tony Campolo. Bart, who originally followed in his father’s footsteps, now serves as the Secular Humanist chaplain at the University of Southern California. He does a lot of the pastoral care pastors do for churches, […]
Ministry , Money , Resources , Rural Ministry
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A New Perspective on Budgets
So, I’ve been away from MinistryPlace.net for a while. It was sort of by choice. You see, I’ve had a lot of changes in the past few months. We had a new baby. I moved six hours away. I started my senior pastor position in Illinois. I began my work […]
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 , Student Ministry
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Campus Ministry
As schools across the country have started back and fall is in the air, youth ministers around the country are shifting their thinking to campus ministry. If you are a youth minister and you do not have a presence on your local school campus you are missing out on a […]
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 […]
Ministry , Resources , Student Ministry
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10 Blogs to Watch If You’re a Youth Worker…
I have been blessed to be around some folks that are smarter and more experienced than I am in the last several years. That can cause you to learn and can keep you humble. Some of them regularly blog. Here are 10 blogs that you can glean some great things […]
Homeschool , Ministry , Rural Ministry , Student Ministry
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What does See You At the Pole Look Like if you Homeschool?
See you at the pole is a basic staple in youth ministry, with its roots dating back to 1990. I was involved at our school’s events as early as 1993 as a freshman in high school. I have seen some great things happen in unified prayer at the local school. […]