Category: Youth Ministry
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Are Youth Pastors An Endangered Species?
I stopped by Rob’s office on my way back from teaching a seminar at our camp. Rob has been doing full time youth ministry in our diocese longer than the 15 years I have been in SC. In those years he has served just two churches. Rob is a prime example of the longevity I…
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Staff Unity
I shared this last month at St. Christopher Camp & Conference Center with the staff. I spent a summer during college working at a Christian camp. One day the entire staff had a meeting with a local pastor who was brought in to speak to us. We did not know him, and…
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Four Observations about Leadership from Pelicans
What can we learn about leadership from Pelicans? Recently on vacation in the Outer Banks of NC, Jane and I were observing the flight habits of pelicans. We were captivated as they moved their way up and down the coast in search of food. Their flight patterns got us talking about leadership. Leadership creates order.…
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Experiencing Psalm 133
What a joy it is to work with people who share your core values and are humble! So often in creating youth retreats there are variables that can change the dynamics of the weekend. Will the speaker deliver the messages that were asked for? Will the musicians provide the most suitable song selection? Will the…
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Lent
“Can you do a Lent series for us?” the headmaster of a prestigious private school asked me. Being so eager for the opportunity to speak at the school, I quickly agreed to speak in school assemblies for 4 weeks. Two factors fueled my enthusiasm. One was that the student body was largely (and by that…
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Respect?
“So, it’s more than just playing games?” I was stunned in my phone conversation with my sister when she made this comment. I had just told her about the release of “Gospel Centered Youth Ministry” and how I had written a chapter for it. I thought back to the days in our diocese when the…
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Why Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry Is Important
A new book just came out that I had the privilege of writing a chapter for. It’s called Gospel Centered Youth Ministry and was written by a lot of different contributors. We are excited for the possible impact of the book in helping youth pastors who want to do more effective youth ministry. Here’s an…
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4th Most Read of the Year!
It turns out that on the Rooted Blog, the article on Engaging Millennials made the top 10 most read articles of 2015. It was number 4 on the list. Interesting that sex related articles captured 4 of the places, representing 40% of the top 10. I think that says a lot about where we are…
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Why Anglicanism?
Sitting in a session with the Young Anglicans Project, my friend Matt asked the question “Why Anglicanism?” What he was getting at was whether or not we could easily articulate what we found attractive about the Anglican tradition in an age where denominations are said to be dying. I began to reflect on my first…
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If Your Church Makes Christianity ‘Cool’ And Comfortable, You Should Find A New Church
Matt Walsh makes an interesting argument here. I think CS Lews, as usual, put it best: There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it.…
