by Jason Sansbury When the box office season began for the summer of 2017, not many people anticipated the amount of success that Warner Brothers would have with its film Wonder Woman. Based on the DC Comics superhero of the same ...
Newsflash: You have more to do than you have time to do! Solution: Get help and let go! How do you find and empower folks who can help you with your ministry? What do you need help with? Is there ...
by Andrew Zirschky Jumbo shrimp. Live recording. Pastor’s day off. They’re all oxymorons—figures of speech crafted from contradictory words that make us chuckle when we slow down to consider them. Then there is “practical theology.” While some might find practical ...
As a young youth minister, one of my greatest challenges was knowing what to do with my youth council or youth ministry team. At the Center for Youth Ministry Training (CYMT), we experience this challenge with all of our residents. ...
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 ...
Over the past five years, I have been blessed to get to know Kara Powell and Brad Griffin from the Fuller Youth Institute. In 2006, I got my first glimpse of the initial findings from the College Transitions Project research when ...
If asked an important question about the youth ministry at your church, would your pastor know the answer or have to say "I don't know." Not sure. What about these questions: 1. What is the mission of the youth ministry? ...
As I was meeting with one of our graduate residents at the Center for Youth Ministry Training (CYMT) this past week, he talked about how hard a time he was having fitting time with God into his schedule. He rattled ...
Is mission only an adjective at your church? Seems like the only use or understanding of the word mission is to preceed other words: Mission Statement Mission Team Mission Budget Mission Trip Mission is used throughout our culture to mean ...
I've got a secret. I've learned how to keep Juniors and Seniors, but I don't want it to be a secret anymore. My good friend Mark DeVries told me once that based on Brentwood UMC's youth ministry retention rate of ...
My Problem I can remember counting every hour I worked my first two years in youth ministry to justify a raise. I don't remember the exact number, but I went to the personnel committee averaging somewhere around 65 hours per ...
This is my third and final post on Intentional Discipleship. I am putting the finishing touches this fall on a book aptly named Intentional Discipleship that will be out next summer. The book is a theologically grounded how to book on developing ...
Watch this video while thinking about the question - how is training fleas similar to how we do youth ministry in the church? Training Fleas Yesterday, I looked at the Drivers License Myth and Flatline Youth Ministries. Today, I want to ...
In consulting with churches through Youth Ministry Architects and CYMT, I hear over and over again about how students become less active or drop out of youth ministry around the age of sixteen. I’m sure you are aware of the ...
I am a firm believer that an essential part of youth ministry is getting on students' turf. I find that school is an important place for us to strengthen our relationship with students while developing relationships with other students who ...
I used to coach soccer and one of the most valuable teaching tools I used was video of our games that was shot from the top of a stadium. This video was valuable because they could see the whole field. ...
[Second-Chair Leadership Conversation] Today, Andrew Zirschky (ymprof) and I have a conversation about what second-chair leadership looks like in the local church. As youth ministers, we are always second-chair leaders. Listen in as Andrew asks me questions about how to ...
