When Elijah was born things changed. Certainly there were the typical changes to our lives that everyone would expect, like new sleep patterns and priorities in our lives. But there were also several new things that were previously unacceptable for a grown man, but now were completely acceptable because I have a young child.
Have you ever experienced something so delicious that you had to eat more? Maybe you've opened a bag of Doritos and minutes later discovered that you've eaten almost the whole bag. Or maybe you've experienced the feeling of walking into a kitchen with fresh baked brownies; the aroma fills the room and you can't help but eat several. One of the best snacks that I've ever experienced is my mom's chocolate chip cookies. My mom makes the best chocolate cookies in the world. There is nothing better than a tall glass of milk and a chocolate chip cookie that has been warmed up in the microwave.
If you are leading a youth ministry, you are likely also utilizing some form of web technologies as a way to communicate with parents and students about your ministry. Oftentimes student ministries choose to have their own websites apart from the main church website, which allows for some extra flexibility and freedom when it comes to posting new information, sharing media, and making it "youth friendly." Building a website can be a daunting task; from working with FTP servers, writing html code, and all kinds of other tasks that will hurt your brain. There are countless services and options that are available to make this easier for you; the following describes one option that we use when we build our websites.
This is a video of our confirmation students affirming their faith using the words of the Apostles' Creed.
This post is not about specifically the hiring process, but more importantly about some of the things that are needed if you hope to get your name in the hat when a church is going through the hiring process. When I was in college I was fortuante enough to be a part of a student ministry that gave me incredible opportunities that shaped me as I tried to figure out the whole youth ministry thing. By the time I was done with college, I was "ready" to dive into full-time ministry.
What are the Top 10 iPad apps that I use for youth ministry?
If you're an e-mail subscriber to this blog, you might notice a couple of changes to your daily e-mails. This past week I spent some time working to improve the options that I offer to people who subscribe to the blog. I love the fact that some of you choose to get my posts sent straight to your inbox every day so I wanted to put some time into making it the best possible experience for you and any future e-mail subscribers.
Starting last weekend and throughout this month, our middle school is working through a sermon series called "Grow Up." This series is a part of XP3 Students produced by Orange. If you've been wondering why you havne't seen teaching notes, I haven't been posting them because several main ideas from the series is a part of the curriculum. There are times throughout the year that using produced curriculum is highly beneficial. As we are preparing for the summer season, I wanted to have a series that I could use that would also allow me some freedom creatively to begin thinking about summer events and retreat themes.
Every super hero has a weakness. Superman has kryptonite. The Hulk can destroy and be destroyed by his anger. Batman can't save Gotham City until he gets over his fear. Iron man's heart is what makes the suit work and is also killing Tony Stark. Every super hero has their own weaknesses and their enemies attack them where they are vulnerable. Lex Luthor attacks Superman with kryptonite, he doesn't try to make him afraid. Tony Stark's life isn't at risk because his archnemesis shows up with some Kryptonite.
Market Colors is a new non-profit that is focused on seling hand-made products made in Africa. Poor people throughout the country that normally don't have access to any market beyond the locals and missionaries passing through are being given an opportunity to support themselves and their families by giving their products a much larger market. One of my favorite things about buying something through market colors, which will start selling items this summer, is that you aren't just buying a purse or a laptop case, but you are connecting yourselves to a story.
Have you ever referred to your church as you "church family?" The church is a family. Regardless of our race, our family background, or our socio-economic status because of Christ we are one family. And when somebody joins a local church they are becoming a part of a family. They are not connecting themselves to a pastor, a building, or a program but to group of believers that have committed to doing life with each other. And as with any family there are a lot of family dynamics that come along with becoming part of a new family.
This series focused on the importance of both knowing the truth of the gospel and daring to live it out in our daily lives. While the game truth or dare allows us to choose one or the other, our faith requires us to choose both. When I think of what it would like like to live a life, that solely focused on the truth of the gospel, but never dared to live it out, I can’t wrap my mind around how that can be justified.
Not only do I love preaching and listening to preachers, but I also love to read books about preaching. There are tons of incredible preachers, leaders, and writers who have a lot of valuable insight about the craft of preaching and a lot of books have really helped me as I've spent time learning how to be a better communicator of God's word. I've put together a list of some of my favorite books on preaching. The books are a variety of styles ranging from the practical to theological in nature, but they all have had value for me as I've read and studied them.
Confirmation is not something mandated by scriptures. Despite not being written about in the scriptures, the idea of instructing students on important theological issues is certainly a scriptural practice. In fact confirmation is a form of youth ministry that has been happening in many main line denominations even before modern youth ministry was prevalent. Because scriptures don't require confirmation, there are also several different ways that a church might go about doing confirmation.
In the book Faithful Preaching by Tony Merida he listed out a great list of ten points of a great preacher. His list of preaching points are referenced from Martin Luther's table talks. The list has some obvious points like, "Be able to speak well." But it also lists some other great reminders that we might forget like, "Be ready to benture body and blood, wealth and honor, for the word of God."