This school year I decided to split up the kick-off events for youth ministry at Hayward Wesleyan to focus exclusively on the two different groups: middle school and high school. So the Middle School Youth (msy) Kick-off was on Wednesday, September 6, 2017 from 6:30-8:30p for grades 6-8 only, and the High School Youth (hsy) […]
Got this from some Barna research on youth ministry: “Millennials are leaving the church. Nearly six in ten (59%) young people who grow up in Christian churches end up walking away, and the unchurched segment among Millennials has increased in the last decade from 44% to 52%, mirroring a larger cultural trend away from churchgoing […]
Last November (2015), I was called to the hospital for an emergency. It was a pastoral call. An unresponsive baby was rushed to emergency room and the family didn’t know anything yet. This child’s mother was on her way home from work and didn’t yet know that her baby was in dire straights in the […]
This year in Followers I’ve been teaching through the stories in 1 Samuel. I’ve already discussed my experiment with this particular year, but I’ve since let the cat out of the bag: the students know explicitly that these ancient stories are from the Bible! What’s been fun this year has been teaching 1 Samuel’s stories through […]
Over a year ago, the high school youth group that I lead was interacting with a developmental spiritual growth template. The stages are: Spiritually Dead Spiritual Infant Spiritual Child Spiritual Young Adult Spiritual Parent I ended up teaching this developmental paradigm at our church on a Sunday morning in a sermon called: Are You Hungry?. […]
About a year ago, USA Today ran an article entitled: Has the sun set on Sunday school? After taking some time to report on the inception and original purpose of Sunday schools, the author cites a couple of reasons why Sunday school is on the decline: 1. Families are too busy. Parents and kids, as […]
I just sent this letter to the parents of our Followers students regarding what happened with the story we interacted with this past Monday. Followers is an after-school program that Hayward Wesleyan Church does every other Monday after school with grades K-5. You can read more about Followers here. Dear parents of Followers students, This […]
This year (2015-2016) in Followers, we are storying our way through the book of 1 Samuel. I’m trying an experiment. Our culture is quickly and surely heading to a post-Christendom society. In essence what this means is our culture no longer assumes Christian moral moorings by default. I like to say that our culture has graduated […]
A few years ago, hwcYouth’s youth group went on a trip to Camp Forest Springs (CFS) and participated in their High Ropes Course (I’ve already shared a few stories from this trip here and here). Unbeknownst to the students, this trip was funded by a large donation to hwcYouth so we could do things we […]
The Wisconsin District of the Wesleyan Church added a few new elements to their annual conference. One of them was a couple of breakout session opportunities. They offered four workshops, with four different presenters and gave attendants the option of going to two of them. I was asked to be one of the presenters and […]
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about discipleship and ministry and life. It all started a few years back when one of my colleagues in ministry, Pastor Loretta Sunderland, and I were looking over the fruit of the youth ministry we both so zealously engaged in over the years and we didn’t see much of […]
For the last several years, I have directed a Kids Camp. I ran all the operations, led the staff, tried to keep everyone safe, and managed the environment and expectations of all those involved. No small task. This past year, however, I demoted myself. Because I’m in graduate school I needed to step back from […]
Tim Keller shares an applicable story related to substitutionary atonement (fitting for a children’s book review, right?!): What if you and a friend were walking alongside of a river and your friend looked over at you and said: “I want to show you how much I love you,” and this friend throws him/herself into the […]
Recently we took our Youth group to a High Ropes Challenge course in the area. There ended up being a miscommunication issue that caused a misunderstanding with the logistics related to everyone in our group being able to actually participate in the challenge course. For those who manage groups on one side of the coin and […]
Recently we took our Youth group to a High Ropes Course in the area. One of the four groups had a student that was having some difficulty with her confidence. To put it more accurately, she was freaked out! She made it through the first element and decided that she was sufficiently freaked out enough to […]
Winters can be harsh in Hayward, WI. A combination of lots of snow and below zero temperatures can begin to wear on people. That’s why Spring is so welcome to us. We love the change of seasons because they are so dramatic. Well, one Spring, as the temperature was climbing and the sun was shining, […]
One night at Youth group there was a 6th grade guy that got in trouble during a small group. The small group leader can take care of most discipline issues themselves, but when they come to the end of their rope with a student, they get sent out of their small group and our security […]
These infographics describe in more detail the Five Stages of Spiritual Growth as mentioned in the Real Life Discipleship Manual. I created 5 separate infographics that are designed for 11×17 paper. The Spiritually Dead Ephesians 2:1-5 The Spiritual Infant 1 Peter 2:2-3 The Spiritual Child 1 Thessalonians 2:10-12 1 Timothy 1:1-2 Philemon 1:8-11 The Spiritual […]
Every year at the Easter Eggstravaganza, we always do some fun music, a simple story about the Jesus of Easter, send the kids and their families out to do the egg hunt, and then they gather back in the building to count their “booty” and get some popcorn and juice. It’s always a meaningful time. […]
About a year ago, I taught the parable Jesus shared called the Parable of the Talents found in Mark 12:1-12. During the small group time afterward, I had a phenomenal and productive time with my 8th grade guys! It was neat to see the guys make the connection with a simple story Jesus shared and […]