While on Sabbatical, I wanted to study through the New Testament, in particular the Gospels and some Epistles. A number of years ago, I listened to a 13-part lecture by NT Wright on Jesus and the Kingdom of God, a course he taught at Regent College. However, I did not take copious notes during that […]
“Youth ministry exists to somehow get these church kids, these adolescent versions of scribes and Pharisees to be true disciples. That is its purpose. It has no other.” “Youth ministry exists to somehow get these unchurched kids, these adolescent versions of sinners and tax collectors to be true disciples. That is also its purpose. It […]
“Evidence of numbers, creative programming, great relationships, exotic mission trips, the satisfaction of parents, the praise of senior pastors—none of these measure effectiveness. Instead, the extent to which ministry produces true, loyal, and enduring disciples is the mark of its success.” — Steve Patty in Impact: Student Ministry That Will Transform a Generation (pg. ix)
“Do you know this picture of church and unchurched kids? “Students from the church filing into the youth room, excited about everything except God, bored with the whole ‘church’ thing, daring you to somehow make them feel something? “Or students so secular, pierced and tattooed, living only to secure a college scholarship, thinking of only […]
Here is a list of “Family Ministry” and some “Parenting” books I have consolidated into a list. If I’m missing something on this list, please comment below with the title and the author and I’ll update the list. Family Ministry Field Guide: How Your Church Can Equip Parents to Make Disciples Timothy Paul Jones Perspectives […]
In almost every culture, children are valued. Historically speaking, kids are important to the family line, productive contributors to the family’s vocation, and mostly a joy to live life with. Children have been an integral part of home and community economics. However, it seems that our current American culture has exalted and centered home and […]
It’s week 1 of my two-month sabbatical from Hayward Wesleyan Church… and I really want to know what’s going on. I anticipate that two things are going to be very difficult for me while on this extended break: Believing I am more than the sum of my accomplishments in my job (identity) Letting things go […]
For the past month I have been creating and developing an interactive, resource and article-driven website for the children’s ministry department of The Wesleyan Church. It’s not fully complete (but what is on the web, right?), but it is LIVE and functioning. It’s our goal @ Wesleyan Kids to: Connect, train and resource people who disciple kids You can check […]
We play a lot of games @ hwcYouth. One of our random favorites is the “Impossible Shot” game. There’s really no rhyme or reason to this game. You can make it up on the fly or plan elaborately ahead of time. But the gist of the game is this: have an object to throw (it […]
A friend gave me the idea of thinking through one word for the year. This past year I’ve been wrestling through what it means to functionally believe the Gospel — not just in theory, but in real-life practice (like how do I believe the Gospel in the area of my finances, whether I am in […]
My blog is changing. I don’t know to what yet, but it is. I’m sure this happens to writers and content creators as things in their life changes. And I suppose I’m not immune to it. The reason I started blogging had less to do with creating an audience and writing content, but sharing resources. […]
The other day my two girls were admiring the manger scene in the foyer of our church. They were a little confused, however, as to a missing element: baby Jesus. They came to me and were worried: “Dad, the manger set is missing baby Jesus.” I said: “Really? Isn’t that the most important part? How […]
If you want to place a person (student or small group leader) on a hot seat where people can questions for 2:00 minutes, then this is a video you can use as a timer. It does not have an audio track, so you can place your own in the background, or download the video and […]
We play these quiz-style games @ msy quite frequently where we pit our 11 small groups against each other. As we go through each question, the groups who got it right get a point, while the ones who struck out get nothing. After all the questions are done, the second place group gets one piece […]
This coming Sunday in Main Street we are attempting to show the students where Jesus comes from. I came across this graphic and found it was the best to illustrate this lineage well.
We call the Abrahamic Covenant the “3 P’s” People Place Presence all for the purpose of blessing the whole world I made this graphic for the story we are doing in Main Street this coming Sunday (12.9.12) called God Provides a Wife for Isaac. We have been trucking through the story of Abraham and this is […]
I’m a children’s pastor in a small town. And I’ve been here in Hayward for almost 10 years now. This longevity has afforded me some credibility in relationships, mainly with kids. Whether I’m shopping at Walmart, going for a walk, or visiting the school lunchroom, I always have kids saying hi to me. Almost 6 […]
We complain about some dumb stuff don’t we? source YouTube
The Gospel isn’t just bringing someone coffee. Anyone could do an act to make a name for themselves. Gospel “acts” are deeds done out of a faith that believes that God makes a name for us (no matter what that name might be). We do Gospel “acts” out of nothing other than to glorify and […]
I love that this video (student ministry) encourages engagement between the students and their small group leader. source YouTube