For those of you who haven’t seen this video of Francis Chan talking about risk and security, it’s a must-see for parents and youth workers. (If you’re reading this via email or in a feed-reader, click here to watch the video.) Here are some interesting quotes from Francis on our lives and faith: “I’m just gonna have my nice little family. We’re just gonna keep to ourselves. We’re going to live in a gated community. I’m gonna home-school my kids, make ’em wear helmets everywhere….” “You just live your life in the safety...

Seth Barnes wrote an interesting post last week called: “Does the prayer of salvation save you?“ Those of of us who do ministry in more evangelical circles may identify more with this than some. However, I think the basic premise of the post is important for all of us involved in the shaping of people’s lives, especially young people. That is, follow-up is just as important as getting someone to make a one-time decision. And if the latter is valued, it needs to not be done at the cost of the former. Barnes writes: The first AIM projects featured a heavy evangelistic component....

Maybe this topic is edgy. You could call it NSFW. Or just flat-out uncomfortable. But it’s something we’ve got to talk about, because our kids are talking about it (with each other — for many, there aren’t any authority figures talking about it with them).  I’ll put it out there — not talking about sex in youth ministry means you’re completely missing one of the most important issues in a teens’ life. You’re avoiding something they’re confronted with on a daily basis, something they worry and obsess over, something that they...

I made a choice. Or at least, I thought I did. I checked “college ministry”� off the list. Sonja (my wife) and I had just joined our church, taken the membership class, and were filling out a questionnaire about our ministry interests. Somehow, my offer of working with college kids — our church occasionally hosts international students from UNH — meant I was a top target for the youth pastor. He called me the next week. None of the leaders from my “preferred” or “adult-related”� ministries did, so Sonja and I reluctantly agreed to meet with him. I...

Last week was our group’s Fall-Kickoff-Palooza-Extravaganza-Par-tay… WE didn’t actually call it that, but I’m sure your group held a similar event. It’s the week at the beginning of the year where we officially launch the fall season, invite new people to come, and help everyone get to know each other. We did the usual — BBQ, volleyball, tons of games/prizes, and a bonfire. It was fun.  And exhausting. I worry about every detail when planning the event, scramble to get things ready (thankfully, we have a TERRIFIC team of adult leaders in place who all...

You’ve probably seen the story in the past week. It’s been all over the youth blogosphere: More Teens Becoming “Fake” Christians. In her new book, Almost Christian, author Kenda Creasy Dean reports on the findings from a recent study of 3,300 teens. She discovered that “most American teens who called themselves Christian were indifferent and inarticulate about their faith… Many teenagers thought that God simply wanted them to feel good and do good – what the study’s researchers called ‘moralistic therapeutic deism.'” According to Dean,...