Note: I wrote this piece a while ago, in connection with my new book, Called. In the days since when it live, however, I have accepted a new job with Fuller Youth Institute and so am now (ironically) in the process of transitioning out of my role...
We woke up to about 9 inches of snow on Sunday morning and all I could think was, “I’m so glad Sunday School is virtual this morning!” Had we been in person, we would NOT have had any kids. Instead, we had a lively and robust morning of virtual...
As news of the vaccine began to spread and more and more people began taking it, like so many other youth workers, I began wondering what implications this would have for my summer ministry, which until now, has largely been on hold.
While my...
I am extraordinarily thankful for the work I get to do with young people.
Even so, I wholeheartedly believe that the primary spiritual influencer in a young person’s life is their parents. As Kenda Creasy Dean says in Almost Christian, “When it...
If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. – 1 Corinthians 12:26
I’ve been thinking about these words of Paul a lot lately, as COVID continues to spread throughout our country...
My congregation held virtual VBS a couple of weeks ago. As I’ve continued to reflect on the experience, I keep returning to these six things I learned from virtual VBS:
1. The problem isn’t Zoom. Four months into this pandemic, you’ve no doubt...
In every church I’ve ever been on staff at, we've inevitably wrestled with the question, “Who belongs?”
Oh, we never say it like that.
Instead, we raise questions like, “Who is active here? Who worships here? Or who gives an offering here?”
We...
Since taking a new call, my responsibilities have expanded to include youth and family ministry. As such, I’ve become much more intentional about ministering to parents than I ever have been before. I’ve also become much more aware of resources...
In the movie, Stepmom, a mom, Jackie (Susan Serandon) is dying of cancer, leaving her young children behind in the care of her ex-husband (Ed Harris) and his new wife, Isabel (Julia Roberts). In a poignant scene near the end of the movie, Jackie...
The event’s due date passed and my numbers were bleak.
Worse, I simply hadn’t heard from the majority of people in my youth ministry.
Were they not interested?
Did they have plans?
Had they simply forgotten to turn in the forms?
That night, I...