We all have choices to make. In life. In ministry. In following Christ. Here is a video of Clint Bokelman, sharing about his days as a youth pastor when he faced a tough decision he had to make. He tells a story about his youth group and church reaching a point of spiritual breakthrough that wouldn’t have happened had it not made a choice. Our choices that we make in this life matter. We’d love to hear from you and how you’re processing through this season. Is God leading you to make a choice? What is it?What is an example of a choice that you made in your life or ministry...

Anyone else out there a big Paulo Coelho fan? (He wrote The Alchemist, one of the best-selling novels of all time and a personal favorite of mine.) He’s also a pretty prolific blogger and wrote a post recently called, “Yes, It Is Worth It.” Here it is in its entirety: Life is like a big bike race where the goal is to fulfill you personal legend. At the start, we are riding together, sharing the camaraderie and enthusiasm. But as the race progresses, the initial joy gives way to the real challenges: tiredness, monotony and doubts about our own abilities. We notice...

Here’s something I never expected to give much thought to when I started out as a youth worker: child care during youth group. Last week, I had a parent of one of our teens ask if it was okay for her son to invite a friend to youth group the next week (of course!). She’d bring her 5-month-old (wha-huh?). Put on the spot like that, it took me a few moments of sputtering and stammering to form a well-thought out answer. As my mind raced and the parent waited for an answer, I weighed the pluses and minuses of bringing a baby to youth group. On the positive side, we don’t want...

Hi, my name is Mike and I have E.D. (That’s “educator’s doubts.” Not that other thing…) I don’t know if I’m alone here, but nothing challenges me more as a youth worker than preparing a message. It’s not because I hate public speaking. In fact, I enjoy being the center of attention. I always have-it’s a firstborn thing. What bothers me isn’t the studying required to break down text, or the object lessons to drive a point home, or the fact that I have to stop a dozen times while speaking to keep the group on track. Nope, that’s...

It’s a busy time of year. There are back-to-school kickoff events to organize, lesson plans to pull together, and we’re working hard to get the youth and leaders are all excited about what the year ahead will bring. Personally, I’ve been pretty swamped lately — you?  I just started a new job (I’m a volunteer youth leader with a full-time day job), so I have another schedule to adjust to and a learning curve to navigate. This summer has been jam-packed with my wife, Sonja, and I running from one event to the next each weekend. Even our brief vacations have...

Today in church, I was sitting next to a friend of mine during announcements. Our pastor announced that we would be taking a communion offering for a church that had recently been burned in a series of arson fires. Her initial comment to me was, “Wouldn’t insurance cover it?”   Having not yet pondered this, I thought about it for a second and replied that giving to them allows them to be blessed by our giving and for us to be blessed by our giving. I posted a few days ago about how when Christians wait on the establishment to render aid that God is not necessarily...