5 Questions To Consider Before Your Next Mission Trip
It’s that time of year when many student ministry leaders are making critical decisions about how they will leverage summer trips and where they will take students. Endless flyers, mailings, emails and social media blasts try to grab our attention. It’s hard to make sense of it all and choose…
Megachurches Aren’t Evil: 4 Things I Learned From A “Famous” Church.
Juggling the rolls of EDA Next Gen Director and Apex Director allows me the opportunity to stay connected with youth pastors, high school and college students. I’m always curious to see what they are talking about and what holds their interest. This summer I had the opportunity to visit a…
4 Ways To Reach The Next Generation Right Now
Despair has a permeant address deep in his gut. Everything he reads paints the picture that it’s his fault and the damage has been done. He knows something must change, but in the church that seems less likely than addressing the issue itself. If he were honest, he doesn’t want to read,…
Building A Leadership Pipeline For The Next Generation
The chair was oversized, soft and the perfect place for a late afternoon nap. With kids running around the living room and dinner preparations clanging in the kitchen, he slipped into blissful slumber. We watched in amazement as he slept through all the commotion. Nothing could wake him. Without warning the incredibly annoying…
Discipling Toward Transformation Not Information
Like most pastors, I desperately want to see every person connected with our church being transformed into the likeness of Jesus. Unfortunately, I found that most of our approaches to discipleship led to being informed, but not transformed. Most of what I read, and most of the people that I…
Intentional Discipleship as a Way of Life
Like many pastors, or church leaders, I have this deep drive to make disciples. When I say disciples, I’m thinking beyond information alone. I’m thinking about transformation. The goal of disciple-making is helping people become like Jesus. Remember the words of Jesus regarding disciple making? Jesus didn’t say teach them everything I commanded,…
Do Numbers Matter? 8 Ways To Measure Success In Ministry.
Let’s be honest… We don’t like to talk numbers. We’re afraid that if we talk about the numbers, then the numbers are the only important thing when measuring the success of a ministry. If we focus on size, then the size of the ministry will determine its value or importance. …
5 of The Best Leadership Podcasts for Youth Pastors
I enjoy reading. I go against the grain as a millennial because I like holding a physical book in one hand and a pen in the other. But with the demands of life (ministry, young kids, and the never-ending supply of leaves falling on my freshly-raked lawn), there’s just not…
3 Meaningful Ways to Launch Seniors
By Tim Gardner We’re in the midst of move-up season, and there seems to be a celebration for everything from preschool closing programs to senior proms. For many, this season is both exciting and difficult as people enter new grades and new phases. For high school seniors, this marks one…
The Danger of Being Comfortable “Doing Church”
I don’t remember when I first joined social media, but I did so because several of my college friends had joined and it was a great way to connect with them. We initially reminisced about mission trips, funny times at different churches we ministered at and all of our blooper moments…
I don’t do ministry because I’m married to a minister.
I don’t do ministry because I’m married to a minister. I participate in ministry because I feel so passionately about expanding the kingdom of God and doing work for His kingdom. He’s done such a work in me and I’m so grateful to be redeemed. I’m so grateful to be called…
The Church Needs Spiritual Formation
How is it that such a seemingly innocuous term generates so much misunderstanding and concern? In conversations with ministry leaders and pastors, who boldly proclaim Christ, there has been confusion about discussing spiritual formation – using words like “fuzzy” or “squishy” or simply choosing to not address it at all.…