“When you’re a straight, white male, your privilege bracelet looks more like a necklace,” one of my high school students told me after making a privilege bracelet at a booth at the recent ELCA Youth Gathering.
The activity was great – exposing...
At one of the congregations I served as a youth pastor, our youth ministry made care packages for our college students. In return, the college ministry made a giant “Fruits of the Spirit” tree for us out of paper. Although we hung the tree in our...
I was first introduced to Henri Nouwen in grad school, when I was assigned In the Name of Jesus, still one of the most influential books on leadership I’ve ever read. Since then, I’ve enjoyed reading other works by Nouwen, including The Return of...
A professor once told me the most important decision he makes for each class is choosing what that class will read.
In a lot of ways, I feel the same way about my student leadership team. Each summer, we read a book together. Not only does this...
When I was in grad school, author and professor, Steve Gerali, taught me about how important rites of passage are in the faith formation of young people. Since then, I've been a big fan of including these experiences in my youth ministry. I'm also...
Last night, I mentioned to my husband in passing, "Tomorrow's the first day in weeks I feel like I have some breathing room in my schedule."
For me, January is always a sprint - one of the busiest months of my ministry year. To make matters...
In grad school, I took a class called Theology of the Church taught by Dave Rahn. During it, we talked often about the form and function of the church. Dave's point was that form should always follow function, not the other way around. In other...
I blinked and suddenly it's fall, I'm back at work, and Hope is 4 months old. Where oh where did maternity leave and the summer go? Since I somehow missed doing several monthly recaps, we're going to take July - September in one fell swoop.
...Yesterday, this question popped up in a youth ministry forum I'm a part of:
Do you believe that a Master's Degree is worth it (professionally and economically) for youth pastors? Do the Pros outweigh the Cons? More education is always positive,...
This month, I began my 13th year in youth ministry. While I'm fairly good at what I do, I'm a strong believer that leaders are learners. To that end, you can almost always find me with my nose in a book, often one about youth ministry.
Recently,...