I was happy to see VolunteerYouthMinistry.com has made its way into 124 countries! My goal with this blog is to be a resource for other volunteers helping students make their way into adulthood as devoted followers of Christ.

We loaded up on a bus and drove down. As you can see, it was a bus where everybody faced each other. Rick went around the bus for the 2-hour ride and got to know each person and asked follow-up questions. It was very personal. The crazy thing is he either knew each person or knew something about what each person had to say. That guy has a vault for a memory. So crazy!

I’ve been around Saddleback for 12 years. I know Pastor Rick and his family. However, because of his worldwide influence, it still always catches me off guard seeing him so personal and pastoral.

So what is this doing on a youth ministry website? I use Apple’s iPhone and iPad as ministry tools frequently. While I don’t know where Steve Jobs stood with God, I do appreciate all he and his company contributed to the world of youth ministry by way of creating a place for a wide variety of apps to be created.

You’ll be missed. What a great contribution you made to the world. Thanks!

I blog about youth ministry partly out of passion for the task, somewhat as an outlet for ideas, but mostly to somehow be a resource to other youth workers. It’s great to help others avoid some of my mistakes, alter a perspective now and then or pass along the occasional joy of something that went awesome.

Then I came across Google Analytics today. It was so cool to see that people in many parts of the world have checked in at one time or another. That was amazingly cool. It’s definitely not a pride thing. I’m just stoked that not only am I writing, but somebody out there is reading. It kind of fills my tank to keep going.

Do you have something to say in the world of youth ministry? Start a blog or send in a guest post. I’d love to have more voices speaking into the lives of other youth workers through VolunteerYouthMinistry.com.

Much appreciation,

Dennis

I’ve been writing about youth ministry now for a few years. My friends at GenToGenYM.com and I would love to get together with some other volunteer youth workers in the Spring of 2012. This won’t be a youth ministry conference with all the bells and whistles. It’s just a time to come together and talk about ideas. There will probably be a cost, but just enough to cover the cost of getting together.

More details will follow. If you’re interested, click here to let me know or comment on this post.

UPDATE: The Landing shirts are now available! Click here for details

We got this new T-shirt design today for The Landing. We’re taking orders soon. If you’re interested in having them for your church, let me know. I’ll have more information on how to order them posted here soon.

Last week I posted some free resources on VolunteerYouthMinistry.com. ChurchLeaders.com was kind enough to link over to them. What happened next was kind of cool. I got to see the reach their ministry has. I’ve had visitors from their site from all over the world. Getting visitors from far off places is nothing new this blog. However, the volume and variety of the places in such a short time is super encouraging – to know their having such a great impact on so many leaders.

I’ve checked out their site a little.it’s good stuff. If you’re a church leader, I highly recommend checking out their site, subscribing to their feed in your reader and keeping tabs on what they have to offer.

Being such a fan of my iPad, I’m excited to use this new free application from Group Publishing when life groups start back up in a few weeks. If you use the Live curriculum and you have an iPad or iPhone, I highly recommend downloading this free app!

Click here to go to the app.

If you don’t have a subscription to the curriculum, you can get a sample download or subscribe by clicking the link below: