Editor’s Note: Any youth pastor who’s been through the trauma of getting fired (or a “forced resignation”) will tell you that it’s only a matter of time before it happens to you. So, what should you do if the axe falls?…
This weekend the new documentary The Armstrong Lie debuted. The film explores the Lance Armstrong scandal from an unusual perspective—less interested in the well-publicized ways the seven-time Tour De France winner lied about using performance-enhancing drugs to dominate the cycling world and more interested in the way so many people have steadfastly refused to accept the bitter truth about him.…
The other day I was standing in the checkout lane at our neighborhood grocery store, waiting to pay while the checker scanned a few things. After her initial (grunted) “hello,” she paid no attention to me. Instead, she talked with a co-worker about how sick of her job she was, and how she wished she could move from a “regular” lane to the self-check lanes so she wouldn’t have to interact with people.…
Are you sometimes a coward? I know I am… And because I’m quite familiar with the visceral mechanics of cowardice in myself, it’s not that hard to spot it in others, even when we do our best to camouflage it… Every Friday I go to a lunchtime spinning class at my health club—same instructor every week, with mostly the same people pedaling away around me.…
Editor’s Note: Not long ago, Willie Robertson was a small-town Louisiana youth pastor struggling to make ends meet and trying to balance the demands of ministry and the responsibilities of a dad with four small kids at home. He dropped out of seminary after a year, deciding that a business degree might come in handy down the road.…
Almost a decade ago sociologist and researcher Dr. Christian Smith pinned a name on the de facto “religion” practiced by most Americans—“Moralistic, Therapeutic, Deism” (MTD). No matter how we identify ourselves, says Smith, the way we behave unmasks our true beliefs.…
What are the top cultural forces that our teenagers must contend with today? And how can we be sure we’re “majoring on the majors” with them? I’ve put together a list of the most important influences in their life—the seven realities that are important for us to know as we pastor students living in a challenging culture.…
Suddenly I feel cornered in a dark alley, surrounded by naysayers, no-hopers, knuckleheads, and the Knights Who Say Nee (didn’t see that last one coming, right?). I mean, I can’t turn and spit without hitting someone pontificating that Christianity in the United States is terminally ill, and that youth ministry is pretty much a failure any way you slice it.…
