Tonight I counseled with a student who wants to get rid of a bad habit. As one of the action steps, I suggested that he tell the person supplying him with the material to do his habit. His response was an aggravated, “Don’t you think I thought of that?” (The implied comment was that he [...]

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This week I was counseling a student about some recurring issues in his life. He was pretty bummed about his lack of progress in spite of his deep desire to change. This was a great opportunity for me to explain the difference between commitment and decisions. We make commitments all the time: – I will [...]

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The guys over at GenToGenYM.com had a great post today about how to help a kid in crisis. I’ll put some of the bullet points below. However, I highly recommend going over there to read what they have to say. I let them know I care and that I’m glad that they have trust in [...]

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I had dinner with a student tonight to talk about a Christian club he started at his school. I’m very proud of this student and gave him a lot of encouragement and ideas. I also made sure I expressed to others in front of him how proud I was. Tonight, however, we’ve exchanged a few [...]

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Here are a few tips for counseling your students with their parents: – Don’t be available at a moment’s notice. If you can delay the appointment for at least a few hours after the explosive argument, they’ll have a chance to cool down and the session will be more productive – Start the appointment with [...]

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Sometimes a student will reveal something monumental in their lives that we’ll need to help them through. Conversations I’ve had or other leaders have told me about include such topics as drug use, gender identity, sexual impurity, abuse, thoughts of suicide, among others. These can catch any youth worker off guard. However, it’s always an [...]

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I remember the first crisis I had to face when I first started in youth ministry. I was paralyzed at the idea of going into the home of some students I barely knew whose dad had just passed away. I’ve learned a lot since then. Seeing this article from Kurt Johnston and Josh Griffin confirmed [...]

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I recently counseled a student who was incredibly angry that his parents wouldn’t buy him what he wanted. Remember, I live in Orange County, California. Walking across any high school parking lot in town can make even the most devout Mother Theresa wanna be get envious. The collection of cars is more like a car [...]

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In the last few weeks our students have been opening up quite a bit about personal struggles. I thought I’d share some insights about handling these sensitive of conversations: For the youth volunteer to know: There are no new sins, only new ways to commit them God is not surprised Struggle is a normal part [...]

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