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Today’s Lazy Youth Pastor
by Jonathan McKee Posted in ArticlesYouth Worker Development“Today’s youth pastors are the laziest bunch of people I’ve ever met.” Disagree with it if you want. I didn’t say it, and it wasn’t an all-inclusive statement. I know plenty of hardworking and even over-worked youth workers. This comment was said by my friend in a moment of frustration. But…was there some truth to it?
Free Bible Study: Adventurously Expectant
Posted in Featured ArticleFree ResourcesYouth Worker DevelopmentWe are so excited that our friends at InWord Resources have put together this Bible study based on the 2011 National Youth Workers Convention theme. We hope that it helps connect you with what God is doing this year in lives at the convention. It includes 2 personal lessons for you, plus 2 lessons you can use as lessons in your youth group.
YS Looks to the Future
Posted in ArticlesFeatured ArticleYouth Worker DevelopmentThe journey Youth Specialties has taken over the years is a lot like a roller coaster ride. The co-founder of YS, Mike Yaconelli, once said, “We sure didn’t know where youth ministry or our little company was headed. All we knew was that God was somehow inviting us into this…Read More
Stories of Redemption
by Jon Huckins Posted in Featured ArticleYouth Worker DevelopmentAs I write this, I am traveling internationally seeking to build common ground between two people groups who have demonized one another through polarizing rhetoric and histories of resentment. Behind the caricatures I am amazed at the dynamic human stories of hope and perseverance that share so much in…Read More
What the Tornado Taught Me
by Cameron Cole Posted in Featured ArticleYouth Worker DevelopmentAfter serving as youth director at the Cathedral Church of the Advent in Birmingham, AL for six years, Thursday, April 28, 2011 will go down as my scariest day of youth ministry. My morning involved contacting thirty-five youth group alumni currently enrolled at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, the…Read More
You Were Born What Way?
by Shawn Michael Shoup Posted in Featured ArticleYouth Worker DevelopmentHe walked into my office, a junior high student in my student ministry – a young man that I had led in the salvation prayer several years ago when he was still in our children’s ministry program. This was my first year as a student pastor – a novice. A newbie.…Read More
Derailing Spiritual Development
by Phil Prendergast Posted in Featured ArticleYouth Worker DevelopmentWith fondness and a bit of regret I remember my early days in youth ministry. In my early twenties, I was simultaneously going through the stages of healthy deconstructing of my faith, questioning everything, and leading a youth group week-by-week. In retrospect, I began to take it to an unhealthy…Read More
Lead by Influence
by Jon Huckins Posted in Youth Worker DevelopmentIt was my first day working in the local public high school. The teenagers walk into my classroom, 70% listening to their iPods while the other 30% are busy texting. They turn the chairs from their desks and face them towards their friends so they can carry on the conversation…Read More
Why I Live: Phil Cunningham
by Phil Cunningham Posted in Youth Worker DevelopmentMy name is Phil Cunningham. Seventeen years ago I left what was a seemingly normal life -- car, job, family -- to join a missions organization called Youth With A Mission. I have served with YWAM ever since. Over those 17 years I have travelled to 17 different countries, lived in 12 different homes, married one wonderful woman and had two beautiful little girls with one more due in January 2011.
Setting Up for the Long Haul: Establishing Boundaries and Self-Care
by Rhett Smith Posted in AdviceYouth Worker DevelopmentIn January of 2008, after almost 7 years on staff in the college ministry at Bel Air Presbyterian Church in Los Angeles, I grudgingly tendered my resignation. I would finish out my duties as the college director in June of that year, but the culprit of that resignation began its insidious work early on in my ministry.
