The Sweet Spot by Tom Schwolert
The term “sweet spot” is often used in sports. It is that place on the face of a golf club that creates the best possible shot or on the baseball ba... Read more.
About Your Pastor by Kristen Baltrum
One of the key ingredients to effective youth ministry is that the ministry is supported by the senior pastor. I have found this to be so true. I will never for... Read more.
Name It by Kristen Baltrum
When I first started in professional youth ministry, I simply wanted to create an environment of relationship and “church fun” that mirrored my own ... Read more.
Coaching Your Pastor by Nancy Going
Exemplary Youth Ministry is really about leadership on multiple levels — your leadership as the youth minister, your adult leaders. One of the key finding... Read more.
Dispelling Cultural Myths by Tim Coltvet
In Disconnected: Parenting Teens in a MySpace World, Chap and Dee Clark take on a popular cultural myth that, sadly, most of us in youth ministry buy hook, line... Read more.
Participatory Faith by Anita Smallin
Earlier this week, I was reminded of an article I read about the Facebook generation. In this article Gary Hamel lists 12 ideas that the Facebook generati... Read more.
The Dangers of the EYM: Fad, Fiction, or Future? by Jerry Watts
I was talking to a friend this week who wondered if all the hype about Exemplary Youth Ministry wasn’t just that. He was not discounting all the good stuf... Read more.
Life Teams Part IV by Jerry Watts
Moving into a youth ministry marked by mature faith markers is slow work sometimes. But living in Jesus’ promise in Matthew 28 to be with us always ... Read more.
Life Teams Part III by Jerry Watts
I thought I was just going to dinner with my wife and kids at the Chili’s by my house one night. As the hostess seated us, we walked past a table, and the... Read more.
Leveling the Playing Field by Nancy Going
EYM levels the playing field: We used to think that great youth ministry was built pretty much exclusively around a dynamic youth minister, so the church who fo... Read more.
Life Teams by Jerry Watts
For years I have struggled to move beyond the “if we build it they will come” programmatic formula for youth ministry. In my quest for fidelity to t... Read more.
Leadership Insights: Leading EYM Style by Nancy Lee Gauche
Recently, I was asked, “If you were to go back and do youth ministry again, how would what you know now change what you would do?” I had quite ... Read more.
Life Teams Part II by Jerry Watts
We started our Life Teams by recruiting current & former confirmation, mission trip, and Sunday School teachers to agree to join the Life Team that already ... Read more.
Listening, leadership, ethnography
Dori Baker reflects on the benefits of an “ethnography of hope” at the Alban blog. She quotes Thomas E. Frank, a seasoned observer of church life, n... Read more.
First Third Dialogues: Ministering to Children of Divorce
In September 2010, Luther Seminary’s Center for First Third Ministry, hosted a First Third Dialogue on the topic of Children of Divorce. This conference w... Read more.
The political novelty of God
I can’t resist this quote from John Howard Yoder, which is cited in David Fitch’s blog on mission and ecclesiology: The political novelty that God b... Read more.
Children of Divorce: The Loss of Family as the Loss of Being
The Children of Divorce is Root’s fourth and most recent publication. It is a book with great personal significance to Root and draws on his own experienc... Read more.
Between Two Worlds: The Inner Lives of Children of Divorce
Elizabeth Marquardt invites us into the strange and complicated experience of traveling between two homes, two parents and two families as a result of divorce. ... Read more.
A powerful Bible reference tool
At EntertheBible.org, you’ll find a wealth of resources to help you grow in faith, add depth to your Bible studies and truly discover the people, places a... Read more.
T is for teaching the Bible
The Lutheran University Press has just published the lectures from last year’s Hein-Fry series, and that series included one from Mary Hess entitled L... Read more.
Leadership lessons
Every so often I run across interesting reflections from people outside of the “church world,” reflections that I think all of us who are seeking to... Read more.