by Stephanie Dodge and Lauren Gilliland Rule #1 Avoid lock-ins. Don't put one on the yearly schedule. Wait for someone to bring it up, then try to work it in. Depending on your ministry setting, plan around community events when ...
by Chris and Joanna Cummings Hi there, we are the Cummingses and we are both in church ministry. Yes, you read that right. We were asked to share how we get the bills paid and live off of little income, ...
by Julie Richardson Brown It was one of those moments where everything suddenly becomes as if a slow-motion sequence in a particularly intense moment of a Jerry Bruckheimer film (cue dramatic power ballad music). The toe of his sneaker bent ...
Editor’s Note: This is an excerpt from It Happens: True Tales from the Trenches of Youth Ministry, edited by Will Penner. by Steve Argue Bill and Jane were every youth worker’s dream. They registered their daughter, Sarah, for the freshman ...
Recently, I had the distinct privilege of teaching our church's Parents of Teens Sunday school class. I taught a three week series which gave me a good amount of interaction time with the parents. During the first week, I spent the class ...
Whomp, whomp, whomp… That's the sound of the rotors turning on “helicopter parents.” You have them in your ministry and frankly they can drive you crazy. The “whomp whomp” of their questions can begin to sound like the drone of ...
by Leigh DeVries About six months ago, I felt like this: Imagine I have three papers, 300+ pages of reading, and a final exam due in the next two weeks. I have to coordinate, recruit, and teach a spiritually impactful ...
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared on Crystal Kirgiss' personal blog: Miley does not define 20-year olds (or: six people you should know). It is reprinted here with permission. by Crystal Kirgiss Well. Fifteen hours after millions of people watched 20-year-old ...
by Stephen Ingram I work in a community that has a great running park alongside the road I take to get to the church. I also work in a community where running in this park is something that EVERYONE does. ...
Editor’s Note: The following is a conversation with two youth ministers: one who left a position under positive circumstances and one who left under duress. We have elected to not reveal the names of either. The intent of this article ...
This is the third in a three part series on how to create a curriculum plan for your youth ministry. In step 1, we developed lists of what we want our youth to know, feel, or do while they are in the ...
The Center for Youth Ministry Training has a youth ministry library full of more than 700 resources and books. We created the library because we wanted folks to be able to see the curriculum and try it out before making a large purchase for ...
by Jason Sansbury In June 2012 I was finishing up a week of summer camp with senior high students in Panama City when I wound up in the Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital. I was in ICU for ...
Teaching youth is a major part of any youth ministry and whether you are teaching yourself or equipping others who will teach, preparation is essential. Follow these steps to be well prepared to teach youth or adults. Being well prepared ...
This is the second in a three part series on how to create a curriculum plan for your youth ministry. In Part 1, we developed lists of what we want our youth to know, feel, or do while they are ...
In this final installment of the this three-part series on being a professional youth minister, I want to take a look at what makes someone a "pro" youth minister. What does a "pro" youth minister do well? Professional athletes do ...
by Julie Richardson Brown “Oh Julie...I don’t know. I don’t have anything to say that they’d care about.” “But I’m too old for that.” “Are you kidding? They don’t want me around. They want younger folks to take them on ...
by Deech Kirk As we explored in "Four Requirement for Becoming a Professional Youth Minister," the word "profession" has two meanings. First, professional means someone who meets the accepted standard for a certain profession. Second, a professional is someone who ...
by Deech Kirk Is a “professional youth minister” simply someone who gets paid to do youth ministry? Someone could pay you to treat an illness, but that would not make you a doctor, nor would winning a friendly bet on ...
Youth ministries choose curriculum in a variety of ways. You might find yourself using some of these methods: Two hours before youth group you grab something off the shelf Your Sunday School teachers teach whatever is on their hearts You ...
