I wrote the following article for the Baptist Times magazine Youth to Truth column, submitted March 4, 2020: With 10,000 Baby Boomers retiring every day, transitions are shaking everyone up. Take Disney, for example. When CEO Bob Iger retired last month, Disney’s stock dropped 2.8% the next day—a collective shiver rippling down the spine of investors who bailed before the new guy could tank the company. I can’t blame them. No one can read the future, and uncertainty makes people nervous. The best way to calm people’s fears is to have a succession plan, even in youth ministry. Although I
Read more →The following article first appeared in the baptisttimes.org. Playing Guitar in a Grocery Store I was doing what normal homeschool teens do—playing my guitar in a grocery store. It was a gig in exchange for an amplifier, but an event that impacted my life. A man asked, “Are you Christian?” and the conversation progressed to the topic of sign gifts. I cared about truth, and needed answers from God’s Word. I went home and devoured a book from my youth group, crafting a lengthy response email to the man. It probably did nothing to change his mind, but the research sure helped
Read more →I write two notes per week to our teens. This was one of them: Do you ever get “gun-shy” when you get in trouble? You know what I mean? You messed something up, or you hurt someone, and from then on, you think that person hates your guts. You walk into a room where they are, and even if you have made it right, it still makes your stomach sink a little. Or, you know you’re falling behind in an area and you feel bad around them. Believe me… I KNOW the feeling! There are times I’m scared to open
Read more →I write two notes per week to our teens. This was one of them: …and you weren’t there with me. It was a bummer. I missed being home, and I missed being in this class, in particular. No, not just this class—but YOU. I missed being around you. I saw a bunch of churches I recognized. I went to college with some of their youth pastors, so I got to catch up with some of them, but what I really missed was having you along for the event. The Youth Rally itself was cool. They do theirs monthly—Bible quiz, games,
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Some food for thought from tonight’s Teens of Faith announcement sheet: What is sin? Well, duh, Bro. Ryan. Breaking God’s rules. Hm… so was it always a sin to lie, even before God made it one of the 10 commandments? Yes. The point of writing it down as a law was to help people understand God’s good intentions. Even our society full of atheists has a sort of moral code: it’s generally better not to lie, cheat, steal, murder, etc. I’m talking about MORE than the law… I’m talking about common courtesy. We shouldn’t lie because it hurts people and yourself.
Read more →This tri-fold brochure explains the “Ice Cream Sundae Relationships” lesson on dating and marriage. It is a good visual illustration and object lesson for teaching young people the importance of having relationships built God’s way. Click here to download
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I wrote the following letter to parents back on April 12, 2011. Hello, Parents! I know I’m not the boss… you are. I know I’m not the parent… obviously, you are. But, I feel a big-time responsibility to help these teens’ spiritual lives in any way that I can, and I want to be sure to speak up if I can be a help. I know you’re primarily the ones who are always looking for ways to help their spiritual lives, and I appreciate that about our parents VERY much! YOU are the primary reason they are where they are,
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God answered our two main prayer requests for the Heartland Road Trip: 1) safety on the roads and 2) His speaking to our teens. It’s great to know that He cares enough about us to listen, and that he still speaks to us through His Word and through its preaching. College Days at Heartland Baptist Bible College was absolutely fantastic, not only because of the fun activities and the bonding time we had on the road, but mostly because of the great preaching we were able to hear all week. The following four messages were the main chapel sessions that
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One Summer we took on the daunting task of memorizing Romans 8. Week by week, however, the task was easy… 3 verses. That makes it sound less daunting, right? The hard part is quoting the WHOLE chapter at once at the end, but it’s absolutely doable if we’re willing to put in the effort. I LOVE what one of the parents said on a Sunday night at a Parent Meeting: “No game system till they’ve said their verses!” What a great philosophy! I wish I would have come up with it myself! Several of the teens really got on board,
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