The natural progression for a WordPress.com blog is to eventually upgrade to a WordPress.org self-hosted blog. I’m about to make the switch, but want to make sure I pick the best of all options available (web hosting, features supported by the host, etc.) I welcome input from any who have already made the transition so [...]

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Tonight we began a 2-week series on David. The goal of this lesson was to help students see the value of the inner strength we gain from our devotion to God verses the outward strength the world looks at. We discussed how David was the least of all of his brothers, but was chosen to [...]

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I thought of these videos today some of my students made a while back. They were always shooting silly videos to post on the Internet so I said they should shoot some announcement videos for our small group. They did three. Super silly, effective and fun. For National Milk Day (which does actually exist) – [...]

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Last weekend Kyle and I co-lead a cabin at our high school ministry’s discipleship retreat. It was a great time not only because we love being together, but because Kyle was one of my students who graduated from high school 2 years ago. After the evening chapel service, I watched as Kyle led the discussion. [...]

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There were two news stories within the last couple of weeks about planes crashing. One landed in the Hudson River and everybody survived, while the other slammed into a house and everybody, including one person on the ground died. Two planes went down with completely different results. [Continued below...] These situations are good to get [...]

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In January we had a record number of days over 80 degrees here in Orange County, California. This Saturday through Monday I’m heading to the local mountains for a retreat with our high school ministry. I just got chills looking at the weather report. It’s going to be a great weekend of ministry, but a [...]

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The goal of tonight’s lesson was to help students grasp the need to help their friends find Christ and decide a practical first step to making it happen. Here’s how the night went: 1. For the last few weeks we’ve told the students we would have dinner for them if they agreed to bring their [...]

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Simply Youth Ministry published my article on dealing with the death of a student. This was an amazing time of sadness for our ministry, but also a great source of learning. Click here to view the article

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Hoops of Hope is an organization started by Austin Gutwein when he was 12 years old. It has turned into a large scale fundraiser to help orphans in Africa. Last year at the PDYM conference, I saw Austin being interviewed by Doug Fields. I was amazed at this outstanding student who is making a huge [...]

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Riders 4 Christ is a group of X Games champions who use their talent to reach others for Christ. Today Jeremy Lusk, one of their members, had a tragic accident as he was attempting a backflip on his motorcycle which resulted in his passing. Riders4Christ can use your prayers as they go through this incredibly [...]

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