Junior highers are my people. For most of ministry career I’ve had the privilege (did I really just say junior high ministry is a PRIVILEGE?) of focusing exclusively on this age group, and even as my role has changed this wonderful little tribe has remained the closest to my heart!…
The church I serve is a wonderful mix of conservative, evangelical theology and progressive, creative methodology. Because of this, the question of, “What do we believe and how do we minister in light of these beliefs?” can at times create a lively discussion and an interesting journey.…
It’s that time of year. In a couple short months, churches everywhere will move elementary-aged kids up into junior high ministry and 8th graders up into the big, bad world of high school youth group. For years at Saddleback, we’ve been fairly intentional in our promotion strategy.…
Seems like April is a good month to take a break from writing in series and simply pick a different topic each week for a bit. And I thought I’d start by defending what has become one of the favorite targets of youth ministry’s chattering class; attractional ministry.…
As March comes to a close, so does this little series. And because I’ve got a whole bunch of thoughts rattling around in my noggin, I figured I’d wrap up our discussion about how to last in youth ministry by listing a handful of them with a very brief explanation.…
A couple weeks ago I was talking to a young youth worker in his early 20’s who said, “Kurt, I want to be a youth ministry lifer like you. How do I do that?” To which I responded, “Well, I don’t even know if I’m a youth ministry lifer!…
In case you missed 1-4 of The Volunteer Cycle, check them out here: It Never Ends!, Enlist, Equip & Empower. Over the course of my youth ministry career I have had lots and lots of people serve on our youth ministry team only to transition off way earlier than I would have hoped.…
In case you missed 1-3 of The Volunteer Cycle, check them out here: It Never Ends!, Enlist & Equip. In this series, we are working our way through what I like to call the Volunteer Cycle; one way to think about the process of building a healthy youth ministry team.…
In case you missed parts 1 &2 of The Volunteer Cycle series, check them out here: It Never Ends! & Enlist. In this little Wednesday series, we are working our way through what I like to call the volunteer cycle (catchy name, I know). …
In case you missed the first in The Volunteer Cycle series, check it out here: It Never Ends! Youth ministry is a team sport. There are no Lone Rangers in youth ministry. Our job is to equip the saints for works of service.…
