• Jerry Klumas taught me how to tie a tie. His wife, Helen, had me working alongside her every week doing projects for the church • Pastor Darrel Hall allowed me to preach at the church when I was 14 (my apologies to those poor people, but I also thank them for letting me get [...]

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Traditions get kind of a “that’s my grandpa’s generation” reputation around the church. I’m kind of a fan of tradition and rites of passage. I believe it’s important to have a connection from one generation to the next. All of this came to the forefront of my mind tonight when I saw a guy wearing [...]

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Tonight one of the small group leaders called to share his concerns about not going deep enough in his teaching. He’s been a little self-conscious since two of his guys gave that as their reason for leaving his group for a group at another church. This is understandably difficult on the self-esteem and confidence level. [...]

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This is part 2 of a 4-part interview with Tom and Marla. In this segment, Marla, a 14-year veteran volunteer, answers questions and gives great advice about dealing with big issues in the lives of students. Here are links to the videos in this series: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Be sure [...]

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I’ve stumbled across a stealthy youth ministry idea lately that I will be intentional about from now on. I’ve been carrying a book in the side pocket of my cargo shorts lately. I’ve also had a magazine in my car. Both have led to some interesting conversations and a great observation. The questions I’ve been [...]

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Last night I threw a party for college students who had either been in my small group, camp cabin or mission trip village during their high school years. Besides having a lot of fun and catching up on each others’ lives, there are a few benefits to doing this: – If any have wandered from [...]

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It happened again this week. A former student told me something to make me believe something that wasn’t entirely true. He wanted me to believe the information the way I heard it. However, he left out some details so I wouldn’t know what really happened. The crazy thing is there was no reason for him [...]

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Update: To see the video of the interview I did with Alex, click here Yesterday I wrote about my friend Alex, an Atheist, who is going to come to the high school Bible study I teach on Wednesday night. The most popular response I’ve seen to inviting Alex as an Atheist to help me with [...]

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