Innovation enacted with intention can transform people’s lives. Consider an example from the medical field: In the early 1990s laparoscopic surgery became commonplace and today accounts for the majority of abdominal surgeries, generally resulting in shorter recovery times, reduced pain, ...
by Jason Sansbury After having been involved in youth ministry for over 20 years, I have a theory that says if you don’t occasionally get accused of having favorites in your youth ministry, then you probably aren’t discipling and mentoring ...
by Kelly Soifer One of my favorite parts of working with youth is hearing from them after they graduate. Over the years, the spectrum of emotions can span from painful tragedy to ecstatic happiness, divorce to deep joy, confusion to ...
by Amy Jacober I was blindsided the first time I was told that a woman could NOT be in ministry. Perhaps even more surprising, I was in seminary the first time I heard this concept. How could I have made ...
by Nicole Phillips In the parable of the talents, Jesus tells us in no uncertain terms that God gives us individual talents and that he is glorified when we grow those talents. But what if we, as members of the ...
by Lisa Long I grew up in a traditionally conservative denomination, one that does not allow women to be leaders or pastors or even teach men who are not younger than they are. Sometime after my parents' divorce when I ...
by Mary Beth Bernheisel I never intended to go into youth ministry. I mean, I did at one time. During my third year of seminary I served a church in a dual capacity, both as the pastoral intern and as ...
by Mike Adkins I hope you’re better than I when it comes to this, but I am majorly guilty of critiquing speakers when I listen as a part of their audience. Conference emcees, my senior pastor, the President . . ...
by A Youth Minister “Hate” is a strong word. I try not to use it very much, but there are times when it is the only word that conveys the way I feel about something. I hate sin and suffering ...
by Peter Carlson Some of the best youth ministry happens when a student knows and trusts an adult who is willing to be a mentor, someone who can, on a regular basis, intensely show Jesus to the student through word, action, ...
One of the most difficult things to learn as a young youth minister is your role as disciplinarian. You may have little to no experience in disciplining others, but this role of the youth minister is essential if you are ...
One of my mentors, Mark DeVries, told me a few years ago that if students are not leading, then they are leaving. The more I thought about it and the more I viewed the ministry through that lens, the more ...
As youth ministers, we often serve as change agents. We begin ministry young, idealistic, eager, and often arrogant. We work in churches that have become disconnected with the culture in which they live and we know that they need to ...
Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18) I've used this scripture every time I've met with a church to do vision planning. However, I have met with a lot of churches without a vision and none of ...
Volunteers, a precious resource we can't afford to lose. —Denise Penn Do your volunteers know how much you appreciate them? They should. Lack of volunteer appreciation is a major reason for high turnover rates among volunteers, and appreciation can be directly tied ...
by Stephen Ingram I love to read. I love to read about all sorts of things, but I especially love to read about ministry and how we have the ability to shape it for the future. Some of the most ...
by Denise McKinney I've been thinking a lot about leadership lately. Most of it is from a ministry context, but those thoughts and reflections are spilling over into a variety of leadership situations I've been observing. I recently watched an ...
"My dad always said, '99% of I can't is I don't want to!'" said Bishop Jonathan Holston during his jurisdictional conference interviews. As a side note, he quoted his dad three times in a 20 minute interview; clearly his dad ...
Several years ago, I was working with our youth leadership team at our church. The youth leadership team were the youth who were willing to take on a leadership role to minister to others. We had been working with the ...
Some days my job is a joy at the Center for Youth Ministry Training. Staff and graduate residents tell me stories of all the wonderful things that God is doing in and through our ministry. I love those days. Other ...
