Search
Search

Article Archives

Category: Personal Devotions

Yesterday’s Miracle Is Today’s Job Description

New. Better. Best. Those three words are consistently deployed to describe student ministry events. You’ll hear things like: We are launching a brand NEW sermon series next week. This year’s retreat will be even BETTER than last year’s retreat. This is going to be the BEST year in the history of our student ministry. Those three words are powerful. They are also exhausting.

Read More »

On Trusting and Fruiting

The goal of discipleship is christlikeness. Christlike behavior is the external fruit that is the result of an ongoing internal transformation, and this internal transformation is the result of the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work in the life of a believer who, by grace, is seeking Jesus and his kingdom (Matt 6:33). This greatly impacts how we minister to teens!

Read More »

Are you ready?

There are those that prepare and those that don’t. Those that have messages written for the next six months and those that aren’t sure what they are covering tonight. Maybe a better question than “are you ready for Christmas” would be, “are you ready for whatever God may have for you this season?” Is your heart prepared to hear his voice?

Read More »

Telling Teens God Doesn’t Have A Plan

If you’re a youth leader for more than a minute then you’ll have a teen ask, “What does God want me to do?” Here is where you have the awesome and gut wrenching responsibility to walk with a teen in teaching them that God doesn’t have a single plan for their life.

Read More »

You are not what you do . . .

Ministry on the front lines with young people is filled with ups and downs. But our success and/or failures as a youth workers don’t form our identity. Our identity comes from Him who calls us “beloved.”

Read More »

Accepting Christ …Again

There is beauty in the person that stands to profess Christ again and again and again, no matter the motives. This is the kind of grace we should run towards, standing up and professing it as often as possible.

Read More »

Chameleons or Butterflies?

Does your life resemble a chameleon or a butterfly? Your ministry? Do you live like Jesus is irresistible? May we remember that Jesus is irresistible and living for him brings a holiness that is conspicuous and transforming. May we never be afraid to challenge ourselves and our students to be the butterflies rather than chameleons.

Read More »

The Good Side of College Gameday and #carelesshashtags

As half of America and all of Oklahoma now knows, this past weekend Austin Buchanan, a Junior at Oklahoma State, prepared for the upcoming game with the Florida State Seminoles by tweeting a picture of himself behind a banner. In a surreal moment longed for by every college fan holding a sign on the big day, ESPN’s College Gameday picked it up and the tweet went viral.

Read More »

Every Nouwen Then in Youth Ministry

If you are not familiar with Henri Nouwen, you need to be.  The writings of this former Catholic priest, University professor, and Spiritual Formation prophet have touched my soul and nurtured my spiritual life as

Read More »

Working on Your Serve as a Youth Pastor

When I get caught up in the “me-things” of life I find myself drifting far from God. However, the more I serve the more I see Christ. And the more I see Christ the more I realize that what I want fails greatly in comparison to that which God wants for my life.

Read More »

3 Things Youth Can Do About ISIS and Ebola

There is some serious stuff going down all over the world right now that is putting the brokenness of our world on display. From the horrible Ebola epidemic in several African countries to what is beginning to be called genocide in the region around northern Iraq. What can our youth do to help?

Read More »