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For Anyone Who’s Tired of Being Tired
Our youth director recently shared something that I thought was brilliant. I saw it on her blog, as she wrote about the pain and fatigue any of us can feel in serving God through church: When someone...
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60-Second Hot Seat Game
Here’s a video we use in our youth ministry for a game we call “60-Second Hot Seat.” The game is simple and it highlights a student who comes to our ministry. HOW TO PLAY: 1. Play the video 2. Ask...
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Helping Teenagers Move From “I’m Not” to “I Am!”
One night when I was in high school my youth pastor handed each student in our youth group a little sheet of neon-colored paper. On it was a list—a list he hoped would encourage the junior high and...
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Challenging Digital Dependency
#ScreenFreeWeek I was sitting at a coffee shop yesterday enjoying a café Americano with one of my favorite friends. We were catching up, being stupid, making each other laugh, and absolutely we were...
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Once Upon A Time, There Was a Headline About Bathroom Breaks
What a unique week of one hot topic in particular. Once Upon a Time endorsed a same-gender “true love’s kiss.” The actor who plays Thor endorsed his 3-year old daughter’s desire to have male anatomy...
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Discussion Starter: High School Fight Ends in Fatality
In the News Wilmington, Del.—A fight in a girls’ bathroom resulted in the death of a 16-year-old girl this week. Amy Inita Joyner-Francis, a sophomore at Howard High School of Technology, died Thursday...
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Summer at the Movies: Part 1
The Heroes, Hilarity, and Harshness of 2016’s Blockbusters An article from David R. Smith at The Source for Youth Ministry A break up in the Avengers? A house full of scantily-clad sorority girls?...
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My Students Can’t Pray
Recently, I had the awesome opportunity to offer some training and speaking in a dear friend’s small town in Kansas. After five days away, I sat on the plane ready for home. Plugging into music, a...
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Ground Rules for Counseling Students
If it hasn’t happened already, it’ll happen soon enough: the late night phone call from a student or parent dropping a bombshell. “Tim, my dad just beat me up. What should I do?” “Tasha, my mom just...
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Seven Types of Daily Influencers
The everyday ways people influence one another is astounding. I see what you see – the pain it can cause, as well as the life it can create. I believe there are seven types of people influencing our...
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Discussion Starter: First Daughter to Take Gap Year Before College
In the News Washington, D.C.—Although Malia Obama has been admitted to Harvard University, she won’t begin classes there until the fall of 2017. Like a growing number of graduates, she’s taking a “gap...
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Ministering to Senior Slackers
You suffer through it every year with a sense of guilt, frustration, and pressure. May is notorious for what I like to call the “Senior Slump”. The senior slump is the presence, or lack thereof, of...
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Mother’s Day Blitz
Blitz campaigns are meant to reach a target audience with a specific message in a short period of time yielding very direct results. A successful blitz will make you better known to your target...
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Why I Love Simply Youth Ministry Conference
Originally posted at NEDistrictYouth.wordpress.com. It’s time to register for Simply Youth Ministry Conference (SYMC) 2016 in Chicago! The dates are October 7-9 and the event is being hosted at the...
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Summer at the Movies: Part 2
The Heroes, Hilarity, and Harshness of 2016’s Blockbusters An article from David R Smith at The Source for Youth Ministry For Part 1 of this series, CLICK HERE. Ghosts. Spies. Space odysseys. A team of...
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Something Different for Your Graduates
Wondering what to do with your graduating seniors? Plenty has been written on that very subject. It’s even all over social media in virtually any forum related to student ministry. You may not need...
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6 Questions Every Youth Worker Needs To Ask
New episode of Let’s Talk Youth Ministry on questions every youth worker needs to ask! In this episode, we talk about six questions every youth worker needs to ask. I actually believe every leader...
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Helping Teenagers Identify Their Village
Hillary was right. It takes a village. Kara Powell and the research she has helped lead at the Fuller Youth Institute has confirmed in recent years that one of the primary factors in limiting the risk...
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Not An End-of-the-Year Conversation!
In the last two months it has seemed like everywhere I’ve turned students have been bringing up the topic of sex. This is not the conversation I expected to have at the end of the school year as we...
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3 Ways to Be Intentional in Youth Ministry
We stood in the middle of an arena while hundreds of junior high students were running around, playing ninja and 4-square with more AXE body spray on than any human should be allowed. The concern on...
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