I loved this Q&A Doug Fields did with a veteran volunteer youth worker. Here’s a clip, head over to Group to read the entire interview. It’s quite long, but full of great insights about volunteer youth ministry from the volunteer perspective (the heart of this blog). Fields: What are some of the primary reasons that [...]

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I was over at Chris Harkins’ blog today and saw that he had a list of youth ministry favorite online resources. I liked what he had (especially since VolunteerYouthMinistry.com is on the list). Head over there to check it out.

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One of our hight school students drew this picture and posted it to Facebook. He’s got an awesome set of volunteers, Matt and Mel, who co-lead his small group. When I saw this today, it warmed my heart to think about how much love there is within the members and for the leaders. Don’t be [...]

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This weekend our high school ministry is starting the You Own The Weekend series. Each weekend is assigned to students from an area high school. Those students do everything in the service from start to finish. Here are some predictable outcomes: – Quality will suffer – Attendance will skyrocket – Non-Christian students and parents will [...]

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While I don’t wish bad on anybody, I’m happy the volcano eruption in Iceland has kept my youth ministry friend, Soeren, here from Germany for a few more days. He served as an intern for our High School Ministry at Saddleback Church several years ago. Since then, he returns twice a year for a few [...]

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Recently two issues came up that I had to decide whether to address or let go. All youth workers struggle with this decision at some point. Sometimes we let things go that we really should address. Sometimes we harp on issues beyond what’s needed to make the point. Issue #1: In one of our high [...]

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We played this a few times on our New Mexico trip. This is a video of the best round we played… and the only round where somebody was successful. I’m pretty sure this game is from the TV show Minute To Win It Here’s a clip of the video. The rules are listed below. To [...]

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Here’s another game our students played on our New Mexico mission trip. It’s a fun way to shoot your friends and learn their names at the same time. Here’s a video clip of them playing the game. Instructions for how to play are below. How to play the game: 1. Students stand in a circle [...]

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On our recent mission trip to New Mexico, our students played this game. They’ve actually been playing it for years. This is the first time, however, that I got it on video. It’s pretty competitive, requires some good reflexes and is addicting for some students. Here’s a video clip of them playing the game. The [...]

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One of my pastor’s mantras is, “God never wastes a hurt.” This morning I witnessed this first hand hearing my mom talk to her cousin. If you’re a regular reader of VolunteerYouthMinistry.com, you’re aware that my sister is on the mend from Lymphoma. My mom has a cousin who was diagnosed yesterday with the same [...]

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