In 2007 and early 2008, I had a crazy idea to start a ministry blog. I never imagined it would lead me through two different churches, seeing the addition of two more children to my family, through writing a book, and speaking and traveling all over the country as part […]
4 Things to Look for at #SYMC2016
This weekend is the “reboot” of Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Chicago. Whether this is your first time here or you are an “old pro”, There are four things you should look for this weekend. Look for Jesus – Conferences are often disorienting. It’s easy to lose your way in […]
The Purpose of Youth Ministry…
Yesterday, I attended my mom’s church in Southern Illinois. The Pastor gave a message based on John 4, the woman at the well. One of the statements that the pastor made summed up the passage well, but also encapsulated what we should be modeling as youth workers: “Jesus knew everything […]
What does a Rural Ministry Specialist do?
In my work with National Network of Youth Ministries, I get asked this question a lot. A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to share about my work with NNYM at Nyesville Full Gospel Church. The presentation gives a great overview of the work I do in Illinois, Indiana […]
Four Things Cryptomining Can Teach You About Ministry
The people who have not heard of Cryptomining are in the majority, so lets begin here. To give a very simple definition, Cryptomining is using the processing power of your video card and/or CPU to solve complex algorithms in the attempt to uncover parts of digital currency. The algorithms both […]
One?
Youthworker, I’m going to ask a single question that I was never asked at the last church where I served, or the church before that, or even the one before that. However, it is vitally important to your ministry. Its a difficult question that should be asked after every event, […]
Ramblings from the Desert….
I’m almost a year into a journey that has included time away from being on a church staff. It has been strange to experience (in some ways) a “normal” church member experience. The disorientation of this journey has been a desert of sorts. It has removed me from most of the […]
Five Ways to Show Appreciation For Youthworkers…
Youth ministry has changed in the last 15-20 years. For the most part, the days where the youthworkers mainly managed pizza parties and all night video game marathons are behind us. Instead we have youthworkers reaching out to overstimulated, overscheduled teens that are being bombarded with negative messages from society, […]
The Difference…
One of the big questions in ministry circles today is “How do you equip students to carry their faith into College and adult life?”. There have been some great research and voices to this conversation, including a work by Chap Clark and Kara Powell at Fuller Youth Institute called “Sticky Faith“. […]
Redwing Shoes and Ministry Consulting…
Sometimes you learn life lessons in the strangest places. I learned a lesson the other day about Church Consulting at a Red Wing Shoe Store. There are some high standards for selling shoes that have the Red Wing logo. Here are some things we can learn about church from the […]
How to Join A YouthWorker Network….
This is a question I get often when I teach at workshops – “How do I get involved in a network?”…. Here are some steps to take: Is there already a network in your area? You may know about a network or group of youth workers that are meeting in […]
4 Tax Tips for Ministers…
Its that time of the year again, Tax Time! Many people dread it, most are simply happy when it is over. In ministry, we have several unique factors to our taxes that many of us struggle with. At MinistryPlace.Net, we are here to be a help to those serving in […]