In less than a month, my 13-year old son and I will embark on a mission trip to Choluteca, Honduras with Lifetree Adventures. We’re totally stoked for this, and have plenty of wisdom from project leaders Jobe and Robin on what to expect, how to pack and so on. What I’m looking for are some “secret” [...]![]()
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Help… I Need Some Mission Trip Travel Tips!
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6 Reminders For The Frustrated Youth Leader
I’ve learned that the things that frustrate us the most as youth pastors/youth worker/volunteer are the things we can’t control in the first place. I believe that one of the top reasons we get frustrated is that we forget to remember the things that should keep us grounded in the mission of what we were [...]![]()
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For The Days We Are Failures
Recently I got a call from a former student who was struggling in their faith. Honestly, it was greater than that. They made the decision that the “cost of following Christ” was just too great. Life was not working out the way they had hoped. Trials had come and as Jesus himself predicted of [...]![]()
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Deal of the Day: $5 Student Devotional!
Hey Insiders! Save $$ on an incredible devotional book for students, Stripped Clean, written by our very own Jeff Storm (a.k.a. Storm or @zafdaddy). Here’s a little more about this cool dude/author/man/bro/designer: Storm is a designer, artist, dreamer, dad, and recovering materialoholic who still doesn’t have a flat-screen TV… but he wants one. Still on [...]![]()
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Best Free Apps
I grab a lot of apps when they drop their prices to FREE, some are great and others are worthy of being free. But how do you know when a great app is available at a discount? There are some good app searching apps and sites that help, like appadvice.com, iosnoops.com, and bestappsales.com , but these [...]![]()
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What’s Up With Modesty?
I live in a land of perpetual spandex. Everywhere you go women seem to be on their way to or from a workout wearing yoga pants or something of the like. On top of this we seem to be bent on resurrecting the 80′s as leggings and tights have made their way back on top [...]![]()
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Four Questions Every Youth Ministry Should Ask
Every Tuesday I eat lunch with our Children’s Ministry Pastor, Steve Adams. I do it for three reasons…He’s a good friend, an extremely strategic thinker and every youth pastor needs to be in cahoots with the Children’s Pastor. Last week, while I chewed on a bun-less chili burger (Yes, chili burgers are totally healthy if [...]![]()
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NEW Documentary: When God Left the Building
Heyo Insiders! Group Publishing is producing a brand new documentary about the current state of church in America and how faith may be pursued in the future called “When God Left the Building” that will premiere at the Lifetree Film Fest on April 11-12, 2014 in Loveland, Colorado and continue to be shown in cities all [...]![]()
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Q&A: Former Voice Contestant Preston Pohl
Hey Again Insiders! Our friend over at The Youth Cartel, Mark Oestreicher, recently did a Q&A with Preston Pohl, Season 5 contestant and current coach on NBC’s popular singing competition The Voice, and it’s pretty awesome so we thought we would share it with all of you! The Q&A starts to the right of the [...]![]()
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What drives you crazy?
So… what drives you crazy? It can be the little everyday things. It can be decisions other people made you can’t understand. It can be the carelessness of others. It can be the misrepresentation of what is promised. It can be mixing two things that don’t belong together. It can be in how something has [...]![]()
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#SYMC 2014 LIVESTREAM Schedule Announced!
Hey Simply Insiders! Wanted to fill you in on an amazing part of the Simply Youth Ministry Conference- the SYMC LIVESTREAM! If you cannot make it to Columbus this year, have no fear! We will have the Livestream up and running with the help our Canadian youth worker friend, Andy Disher (@AndyDisher). All of the [...]![]()
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5 Ways to Lose Credibility With Students
We all know youth workers who have lost credibility with their students. We often pass judgment on them and know personally what we would have done differently. However, what makes a youth worker credible in an teenager’s eyes may be different from what a youth worker thinks will make them credible. Credibility is often confused with trustworthiness [...]![]()
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[ Discussion Starter ] Love Your Enemies
“I am in competition with no one.” (You may need to say that several times out loud, right now.) If the Olympic games are merely a clash of competitors, then we won’t expect much more beyond “our team vs your team.” Every once in a while, you see something even greater than that… where the [...]![]()
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Being Honest with your Competition
Abraham Lincoln once observed, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” That’s a great concept, especially when in a free market culture we’re used to “Apple vs PC,” “Coke vs Pepsi,” “McDonalds vs Burger King,” and so on. Even in Christendom, you can find yourself consciously or unconsciously at odds with another church [...]![]()
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M2GT: Why Should I Care?
A few weeks ago, I shared some of my experiences as a gay teen in high school. I followed up that post with a plea to see gay teens beyond their sexual orientation. Both posts have sparked some great discussions online and offline, and that’s what I was aiming for. We need to be talking [...]![]()
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Learning Through Conversations and Observations
This past weekend I had the joy of speaking at Believe, CIY’s event for Junior Highers. 6,000 students and their leaders gathered in Northern Kentucky for 24 hours worth of music, comedy, video, interactive learning, teaching, small group discussion and more. Because my role was fairly minimal, I had space to engage in some great [...]![]()
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What I’m Teaching At SYMC and Why!
We are only one week and a half or so from the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. It is probably one of my favorite times of the year. This particular conference has truly become a place where I gather with friends to talk about ministry. I learn so much, I laugh and I hang out with [...]![]()
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Cloudy With A Chance Of Connections
There’s no question that cultivating inter-generational relationships is an obstacle many churches are seeking to overcome. We can get people from different generations to sit in the same room at the same time, but this doesn’t mean they are “connecting.” If we desire to cultivate inter-generational relationships, we must ingrain at least the following 5 [...]![]()
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Worship Song for Youth Ministry: Making Me New
My friend Jake Stemo is releasing a song today called “Making Me New.” I may be a little biased because he is a friend, but I love this song. It is Jesus-centered and has a catchy hook. Jake is a worship Leader and songwriter with a shepherds heart. He is not selling this song with hopes to [...]![]()
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Exclusive Access to my SYMC Chit-Chat
Are you open to growing in community? In an earlier post on this blog, Leneita Fix shared what she’s teaching this year at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. You totally need to check out her stuff, as well as many of the other bloggers on this site who are all presenting something. I’m not kidding… [...]![]()
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More Pages to Explore .....
