Before the next school year starts, I dare you to set the kind of high-level ministry goals that will revolutionize your impact. But remember, goal-setting is different than planning. Planning a summer retreat is not a goal; it’s a task. Extending your reach to 10 teenagers in your community who are not currently involved in your ministry is a goal.…
By Rick Lawrence I was driving home from a writing retreat, where I’d been off the grid for four days—no Wi-Fi, no cell service. I called my wife to let her know I was on the road, and I heard that edge in her voice that I know all too well… “Rick, there’s an active shooter situation happening right now, at the STEM school that’s 10 minutes from us.…
What’s your big dream for your youth ministry this year? And can you sum it up on a T-shirt? Leadership guru Peter Drucker made the “T-shirt” challenge famous—his argument was that big goals should be so easy to understand that they fit on a T-shirt.…
It’s important, of course, to pay attention to the “best practices” of youth ministry. It’s equally important to discover and uproot the ministry habits that masquerade as effective but are more like malpractice. Here’s the third installment of my malpractice starter list—I’ll post the final installment next week… Malpractice #3—Treating Relevance As If It Outranks Intimacy Another buzzword in youth ministry that sounds slam-dunk crucial to our effectiveness is relevance.…
Sometimes, youth ministry is like a bulldozer that plows stress-upon-stress onto your shoulders. If you let it keep piling up, it will bury you. So in the thick of stress, you need stuff you can do, not just stuff you can think about.…
Everyone is welcome around the campfire. It has no rules to regulate who can or can’t be warmed by its flames. It gives heat to whoever will close the gap between cold and warmth. The campfire doesn’t care who you are or where you’re from.…
You have an ally in your youth ministry; one that most youth workers fail to recognize or leverage. It’s an ally that shows up unexpectedly at some times and has to be created at others. And fall seems to be it’s favorite season.…
The online adventure game Fortnite is exploding in popularity among adolescents—no surprise there. But its popularity is even more stunning with adults—it’s the favorite addiction of celebrities, professional athletes, and cultural influencers of all stripes. Ninja, a famous Fortnite player and Twitch gamer (Twitch is a website dedicated to all things gaming, a YouTube-like service for streaming and viewing video games), reportedly makes $500,000 a month playing Fortnite.…
A mission trip is like the Olympic steeplechase—you’re running as fast as you can over, around, and through every imaginable obstacle to get to the finish line. Maybe it’s the girl who shows up with a piece of luggage the size of a small horse casket, or the guy who forgot to study the packing list and brought clothes that won’t work well in your context.…
On a recent visit with my family I had the chance to catch up with my nephew who is a small group leader in youth ministry and is also a second year college student studying Church Ministry. I wanted to know what this college sophomore would say to me about his experience as a small group leader and youth ministry volunteer.…
