Most of my Episcopalian friends and those in North American Anglicanism are likely unaware that there are parts of the Anglican Communion that do not observe Ash Wednesday or even make much of Lent.  Why?  I found a good explanation HERE.  I’m not attempting to advocate any particular position by sharing this, just found it…

The following originally appeared on The Rooted Blog as the first of a series that asked the question “what are youth ministries for?” This part looks at how the question has been answered historically.  The others look at it Biblically and philosophically.______________________________________ Hitting a moving target requires an ever-changing aim.  This is as true in…

Over the years I have become convinced of a simple truth about ministry.  I have watched it played out in the ministries I have led and others that I have observed.  For the visit to X church a few Sundays ago it has dual implications.  That truth is this: What we win people with, we…

I previously set out to describe the experience of a recent visit to a nearby church that had me immediately reflecting on the link between the ultra contemporary church and youth ministry of recent decades.  I tried to simply describe my impressions as they related to how I believe youth ministry has impacted the church. …

It’s been documented already that what we have done in youth ministry has impacted the church.  Pete Ward in his book “Growing Up Evangelical” is all about that reality and he asserts that what we do in church today is what we did in youth groups previously.  So, we set out to visit a church…

The following thoughts are more or less observations from my years and engagement with people who are teaching, training, etc in youth ministry. I was reflecting on this during the conference because so much has changed over the years. When I started out in youth ministry full time, Youth Specialties offered two types of training…

Dr. Gretchen Tanis presented a paper titled “The History and Influence of the Young Life Organization on Youth Ministry in the United States”. Gretchen, like me, is something of a product of Young Life. In fact she served as a volunteer in the same town as I did in college (at a different time). She…

I have been at a conference of The IASYM which is an International organization advancing the study of youth ministry. It’s participants fall into three categories. Some are professors of youth ministry (or related fields) at a college or seminary. Others are doing research in youth ministry related areas and most of those are PhD…

I previously suggested that a leaders approach (and effectiveness) are influenced by those who lead us. Simply put, if we are being led well, we are more able to lead to our full potential and if we are not led well our effectiveness is hindered. There is another side to the matter though, another angle…

This was the 8th most viewed YouTube video of 2012.  I thought it is beautiful in so many ways!