I’m writing this post while sitting in a volunteer leadership event. Its a GREAT event. They’re doing a great job. Pastor Rick Warren came and spoke, videos and pictures of stuff we’ve done were put up on the big screen. Letters of changed lives as a result of our work have been shared. It’s been [...]

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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’s a text message I sent to a student today to let him know I’m thinking about him. It’s kind of goofy, but it speaks love into his life. I’ll never use this with any other student because it would shave off the impact with Kyle. I will, however think of goofy things to text [...]

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I have some friends who do volunteer youth ministry in Kansas. This week they got a shout out that I completely agree with. I’m reposting it here. I stole it from

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Last night a FaceTime call came in on my iPhone. It was from Donny, a student who has been my righthand man at The Landing (a program I lead for students at Saddleback Church). I’d been thinking about him all day because he had left to start school at Biola University yesterday. He called in [...]

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Last week I posted some free resources on VolunteerYouthMinistry.com.

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I was talking to one of my all-star students tonight who’s heading off to college this week. Here are a few comments I made to him that all college-bound students need to hear from their youth pastors: 1. Don’t push you parents out the door too quickly when you get there. You’ll want them to [...]

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First off: Never say the word ATTITUDE to students if you want to them to hear anything you would say following the word attitude. That word is more like a weapon than a tool. A student is coming to help me with a project today. He texted me a few minutes ago to say his [...]

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I sent this email to The Landing leaders today to fill them in on the great stuff going on here at camp. So exciting! — Leaders, There aren’t any action steps to take in regard to this email, I just wanted to take a break at camp and let you know about some great things [...]

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Last Saturday I had the honor of being a groomsman for a former student. He was a sophomore when he started dating the girl he married. She was in a small group that met in the same house as ours, but they got to know each other through school. They both graduated college recently and [...]

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