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Instagram Will Kill Your Youth Ministry

Daniel Beckworth Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Social media has swept across this great nation like wildfire. Facebook is on its way out. If you still use Myspace you’re most likely a stalker—or very lonely. Twitter is still rocking along quite steadily and has yet to be completely infiltrated by preteens...
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Families, Leadership, Volunteers

How to Lose Support of Parents in 10 Days

Kurt and Josh Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Actually, you can lose the support of parents in 10 MINUTES, but we wanted this week’s theme to be consistent. Uninformed youth workers often criticize parents as standing in the way of youth ministry. This makes us laugh…and then cry. We hope you get this: Youth ministry is about caring for... read more
Families, Leadership, Volunteers

How to Lose a Team in 10 Days

Kurt and Josh Tuesday, June 18, 2013
You’ve worked for a full year building the amazing team of volunteers in your ministry. Everyone is screened and interviewed and things are rolling along. Then, someone drops out. Someone asks for a leave of absence. One of them burns out. Suddenly your team is more like a te (okay, bad joke….it... read more
Culture

Will You Fight in World War Z?

Lane Palmer Monday, June 17, 2013
By: Lane Palmer at Dare 2 Share Would you rather… …Face an apocalypse with slow but very intelligent zombies? …Face an apocalypse with fast but very stupid zombies? Or would you be happy just to be a participant in the zombie apocalypse? Apparently Brad Pitt is.  He’s just spent the last seven... read more
Families, Leadership

Married in Ministry: A Response

Leneita Fix Thursday, June 13, 2013
I vividly remember telling my “boyfriend” how there was no way I was going to take the youth ministry position being offered. As a volunteer I had “worked” almost 40 hours a week for over six years. If we were talking marriage, and this became my first paid, full-time, youth pastor position, simply... read more
Families, Leadership

Married with Children in Ministry

Kurt and Josh Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Yesterday we talked about the single life in ministry, so it seems fair we would share some insights with the married segment of youth workers, too. We both fall into this category ourselves—Kurt with one kid left in the house and Josh in the throes of four in elementary school. Talk about a crazy... read more
Families, Leadership

Single in Youth Ministry

Kurt and Josh Tuesday, June 11, 2013
It seems like much of what’s written to help youth workers only addresses those who are married: balancing life with kids, making time for your spouse, and the like. All good and important stuff, but a little alienating to the incredible youth workers who are doing ministry as a single person.... read more
Leadership, Discipleship, Speaking, Volunteers, Small Groups

Those Numbers Represent Individuals

Jake Rasmussen Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Over the years of being a paid professional within the church—as a youth pastor, senior pastor, and church planter—the number one question that I would always dread getting would be the infamous: "How many people are you running?" This week when Kurt & Josh began posting about numbers and... read more
Leadership

The Youth Ministry Comparison Game

Kurt and Josh Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Have you ever said or thought any of these? (That’s rhetorical; we know the answer.) I could do great ministry if I had those resources, too. I’m in the shadow of the megachurch in my city. I hate ___________________ (insert name of camp, speaker, parachurch ministry, etc here). That... read more
Middle School

Transitioning Your 8th Graders: You Say Goodbye and They Say Hello!

Kurt Johnston Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Over the years, our ministry has developed a fairly effective strategy for transitioning our 8th graders into the high school group. The overriding philosophy is simple: A healthy transition takes effort from BOTH departments. We ask the junior high department to joyfully "push up" and we ask the... read more
College

Transition Through Connection

Chuck Bomar Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Too often, our goal is to transition our kids into a church service, rather than the life and body of the Church (with a capital C). High school grads’ biggest need is remaining connected to the body of Christ, not necessarily our local congregation or ministry (although that would be great, as... read more