Tonight I saw two of our students at Taco Bell hanging out with another kid I didn’t know. After a few minutes of chit chat about their fishing trip that day and seeing pictures, I turned to the kid I didn’t know and started this conversation: Me to the kid (Brett): So, are you a [...]

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This was originally posted April 30, 2009. A student watched these videos last week and said they really made her think. I thought I’d bring them to the front of the blog so new readers would get some use out of them, too. Last night I invited my friend Alex who is an Atheist to [...]

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Yesterday I sent out a message on Twitter saying I was going with my small group to meet the president of Chick fil A at an event they were putting on. My pastor, Rick Warren, happens to be friends with him. Within a couple of minutes, he sent a direct message back to me asking [...]

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Recently, Dennis approached me and asked if I would do a post for his blog. I was honored to be asked to do a blog post for him, especially because I’m so new to youth ministry. As a relatively new Junior High small group volunteer, I feel so humbled to be given this opportunity to [...]

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Caution: I wouldn’t recommend doing this with students you don’t have a solid relationship with I have a small group student who has become very lazy about attending small group. It’s a little ironic because he lives just a couple of streets over from where we meet. Others who have to drive a much longer [...]

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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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Today I: – Visited a student who lost a testicle in a freak accident yesterday – Followed up with a student whose mother and brother may move out of state with her boyfriend away from him and his dad – Got an update from a student whose parents are going through a divorce – Encouraged [...]

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The heart of small groups is relationships – the conduit of everything that happens in small groups. The condition of the group (healthy, dysfunctional, spiritually growing, stuck in fun mode, etc) is an indication of the relationships within the group. The quality of relationships can inhibit or promote the group’s effectiveness, quality, and level of [...]

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YOU MUST READ THIS POST ON KURT JOHNSTON’S BLOG! This is awesome. I posted a clip below of a great parent letter. It’s written by a volunteer to a disgruntled parent of an injured student who was injured at the leader’s small group. This letter is a great example that you might want to save [...]

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• 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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