This week we are doing VBS at our church and I must say if you want a good idea – get some of your middle school students from the youth ministry to help you lead games or crafts or assist teachers.
Here’s Why:

Tons of energy – Middle schoolers will bring a natural energy to the group. This is really great for boosting enthusiasm and creativity.
Gives them some leadership – Since they are under an adult leader still, they are still able to lead but in a controlled way. Controlling probably isn’t …

Why are youth pastors blamed for every bad thing any young person ever does in church?
And why do some parents put so much pressure on youth pastors to disciple their students, while taking little responsibility for their own kids’ spiritual lives?
These questions will probably continue to haunt us for a while, but it’s interesting to see study after study demonstrate just how influential parents can be (like this one and this one).
Here’s the kicker. In spite of the incredible influence parents have on teens, they don’t use it. Parents are …

88% of children raised in Christian families leave church at the age of 18, never to return. 64% of decisions for Christ are made before the age of 18, and 77% are made before the age of 21. We can’t sit back and watch this generation be stolen out of our own churches and homes. By God’s grace, we must take action, and we must do it now.

This week’s Monday Ministry Helper is from Dr. James McDonald’s book: 10 Choices. The 5 title’s are Dr. James McDonald’s, but I have placed in my own thoughts about this. This week is about making God’s word a priority. Below are 5 practical things you can do to help you and your team make God’s word a priority:

Read it – We all know that the Bible is long and so it’s important that you take a steady dose each day to maintain a health spiritual heart, mind and soul. It’s …

I’m excited to be blogging again this week. Today’s Monday Ministry Helper is about dealing with our sin.
In the Sunday School class that I’m attending we are going through a book by Dr. James MacDonald called “10 Choices“. You can read more about it HERE.
Chapter two is about Choosing forgiveness and at first I thought that it would be more focused on how to forgive people that wronged you and how to let go of things that you are holding on to, but rather the whole chapter was focused on …

It’s May. Seniors will soon be graduating and moving on in no time at all. But, wait! Wouldn’t it be great to have them leave something for the rest of the youth that will be back next year?
For the past 3 months, we have been having the seniors at our youth group giving their testimonies. It’s been a really powerful thing as these seniors shared about their lives before, during, and after they accepted Christ. Almost every week they have been sharing the students get really focused in because they …

This past Friday I had the wonderful opportunity of picking up a student after school and taking him out for ice cream (mmmmm – ice cream). Our time together was only for 30 minutes, however, it was very significant. I had the opportunity to share with him and he with me.
One of my visions for student ministry is mentors for every student. Mentoring can be very powerful as a spiritual father or mother get to speak life and guidance to a student on a consistent basis. As I met with …