by Amy Jacober You know what camp love looks like. You've seen it more than once. Teenagers gazing at one another across the room. The carefully orchestrated seating so paths cross. The choice of free time activities hoping for "chance" ...
by Jason Sansbury Want to do an interesting experiment? Create a Google news alert that will send you a message every time the words “youth pastor arrested” show up in a news story. I did this experiment for a few ...
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 Jenn Parrish Every time Youth Sunday rolls around my stomach ties itself up in knots. My hands start to shake and I swear I drink at least drink one pot of coffee throughout the morning to calm myself down ...
by Jayna Leitze Youth Sunday (yooth suhn-day) noun: Traditionally, a day during which the youth group of a church is in charge of the church service(s) on a particular Sunday of the year. adjective: A crazy idea, meant to drive ...
by Joanna Bellis When spring rolls around, I renew my love/hate relationship with a tradition that was passed to me in the church in which I serve: Youth Sunday. What’s to dislike about Youth Sunday? There’s always a possibility that ...
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 ...
I've felt called to formal ministry since I was in high school in Central New York in the early 2000s. I registered for a lay speaking class offered by the United Methodist district where I was living at the time. My intent ...
Theological Foundations for Youth Ministry is one of our core Master of Arts in Youth Ministry courses. Just one day in Theological Foundations will dismiss the idea that youth ministry is simply about fun, games, and devotionals. This course introduces ...
by Andrew Zirschky As a junior political science and philosophy major at a Christian college on the West Coast, Laura looked to be the paragon of devoted and vibrant faith: she prayed and read her Bible daily, spent her weekends ...
Two years ago, the Center for Youth Ministry Training made the decision to hire Kris Konsowitz as our Memphis Regional Director. Kris is making a significant impact on the ministry and mission of CYMT. She is responsible for recruiting partner churches ...
Editor's Note: This article stems from the author's final paper in Theological Foundations for Youth Ministry, a graduate course offered through the Center for Youth Ministry Training and Memphis Theological Seminary, taught by Dr. Andrew Zirschky. by Andrew Mochrie I ...
Have you ever noticed that every story can be told from a positive or negative perspective? One team's story of winning the national championship at the last second is another team's heartbreak of losing the championship at the last second. ...
by Chris Mucha It’s the students that constantly talk while you are trying to teach, the ones who disappear during programming, the guy and girl who seem to think youth night and date night are the same thing, and the ...
by Michael Adkins If we’re being honest, the question of technology in youth spaces is really one of mobile devices (such as phones, iPods, and tablets) in youth spaces. And we have to face facts: Our students are increasingly wired ...
by Joseph Robinson Oh, cell phones… There is almost nothing I can think of that has as much potential to be either great or terrible for youth ministry. I’m a big believer that there’s not really anything that is inherently ...
I was fresh out of college. I had been in professional youth ministry less than two years. I was six months into my first full-time youth ministry job when it happened. Joel had been attending our youth group for three ...
John Padgett serves as CYMT’s Chairman of the Board of Directors, and has been on the board for three years. “Our children had a wonderful, positive experience as they progressed through the youth program at Brentwood United Methodist Church led ...
Lauren Gilliland (front row, center) serves as the youth minister at Munford First United Methodist Church in Munford, Tenn. She graduated in May 2013 from Memphis Theological Seminary and CYMT. I first became introduced to CYMT through Kris Konsowitz, CYMT's ...
Editor's Note: This article stems from the author's final paper in Theological Foundations for Youth Ministry, a graduate course offered through the Center for Youth Ministry Training and Memphis Theological Seminary, taught by Dr. Andrew Zirschky. by Neal Wilkinson “God ...
