CurryStew

Summers over, now it’s time to ramp up and launch our school year program.  Here are some ways we try to kick off the school year.  (Some of these are spoken amongst staff but most of these are just built into the DNA of how to do ministry) Start with a bang! Whatever a “bang” [...]

(Photo from Mark Beeson at Camp this past summer! Picture doesn’t say anything about these leaders it’s just a great photo!) I’ve found that there are generally several types of Student Ministry Leaders when it comes to interacting with students.  Which one/ones are you? Pleaser: Tells students what they want to hear so they “like [...]

(I keep hearing, “She’ll be grown-up before you know it“.  My internal response, “shut it, let me enjoy every moment until then“.  In case your wondering, my outward response, I just smile.) Everyone knows that students are “growing older younger” but not everyone knows  this is called “Age Compression”.  Not that it really matters what [...]

Scrapping through my email I got this great reminder from Kara Powell over at Fuller Leadership Institute. She wrote: “Recently I’ve been thinking about how much of a leader’s energy goes into 30% of the people in their community.  For a youth worker, that means you’re investing lots of energy into the 15% of your [...]

I’ve taken some time off work to be with Brooke and Jada, and during that time I’ve been thinking about how much I love what I get to do. A couple of things I observed about the student ministry world over last week: If you care about results, feedback, encouragement, deliverables, follow through, etc., it [...]

(Continuation of Youth Pastor Challenge week) What do students need that we can’t give them? Sometimes in student ministry we can ‘operate‘ as if we’re all that a student needs and from time to time I have to ask myself what are the things I “can’t” give them. I’ve found in our ministry that we [...]

(Continuation of Youth Pastor Challenge week) We must call students to a life “WE’RE” living as we follow Jesus.  Let’s not fill this generation with “theory”, let’s show them how to live this! LIVE WELL. If students know it’s possible they’re pursue it….if you’re blowing smoke, they’ll sniff it out and assume you don’t believe [...]

(Continuation of Youth Pastor Challenge week) This is something I can chew on for a while. “Sin ALWAYS takes you farther than you want to go, Sin ALWAYS keeps you longer than you want to stay and Sin ALWAYS costs you more than you want to pay” -Mark Beeson in our weekend service on Mother’s [...]

(Continuation of Youth Pastor Challenge week) (Warning: this might sound like a rant, but it’s totally not, just offering some perspective about some things I’ve been processing…hope they’re helpful and if you totally agree, that’s cool.  Just leave a comment on help shed some light on this for me.) “What really matters is…”  I’ve been [...]

(Continuation of Youth Pastor Challenge week) What are you doing to help your students apply your teachings? This isn’t a rhetorical question, I’d really love to know so if you get a second leave a comment. I’ll explain later in the week where this question comes from and why I could use your help.