“And he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.” Mt 6:33 (NLT) My pastor called all of the men of our church together for an early-morning meeting today. He shared a lot of vision for where we’re going [...]

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I’m always scattering seed in the lives of students with comments like: – When you’re in college… – When you’re a small group leader… – When you lead a cabin at camp… – … These comments assume they are going to take a certain action that they may have not either believed in themselves to [...]

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Back in the day I was a paid youth pastor fresh out of college, I wasn’t seen as the go-to guy when families sought counseling for or about their teenage kids. I remember feeling bitter as I watched one of my students being counseled by another adult in the foyer of the church for over [...]

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I’m bringing in 5 new students into my small group in the Fall. We’ve been spending a lot of time together this summer getting to know each other. One of the issues that’s come up is the city curfew which is 11:00 for drivers who have had their driver license for less than a year. [...]

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This thought, “You don’t love what you don’t know”, has been rolling around in my brain for about 24 hours. I’ve been thinking about it in terms of our love for God. If we say we love God, but don’t really know him (or spend time trying to know him), then I’m not sure we [...]

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The challenge I gave to my guys tonight was simple: – Get into a small group if you’re not in one already – If you’re in a small group already, take what you learned tonight and make it happen in your own small group Tonight was amazing! I’ve wanted my small group students to open [...]

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One of my goals at camp is to move my cabin students who don’t have a small group into mine. This year I’ve added a small group dinner for the week after camp that I’ll invite them to. I sent an invitation by Facebook to my current students so they can plan to be there. [...]

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Every time we take our students on a trip, we try to explain what to pack based on the weather where we’re going. There are always a few students who make poor packing choices based on what they think the weather “should” be. Next week we’re going to summer camp on the California coast. It [...]

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Sarah, a small group leader in our ministry, had ideas over the school year that she never got to do. There were songs that had great messages which would have made great discussion topics for her small group. As an end-of-the-year gift, she burned the songs to CD’s for her girls and gave a list [...]

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This post was written with the permission and encouragement of the person I counseled, but his name has been changed. This post is also likely going to ruffle some feathers. The purpose of the method was to help the student realize the big picture, rather than only his current feelings. Scott and I met the [...]

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