About a month before school let out, I was counseling with a parent who has been exasperated several times over the last year. She and her husband are having a tough time financially and have little patience for their son’s behavior… and he does require a lot of patience. In one of our email exchanges, [...]

Filed under: Relationship Building | 2 Comments »

Last night at our volunteer leader meeting for The Landing, I asked all of the leaders over dinner to say their name and a little bit about themselves. Five hours and a dessert break later, we were done. It was like there was a deep desire for each member of the team to be known. [...]

Filed under: leadership, Relationship Building, The Landing | No Comments »

Every year I have the good intention of impacting my students on the family level, not just in small groups. This year I’ve actually got some good ideas to make that happen. I’ve begun copying parents on e-mails I’ve sent to the entire group so they know specifics about what’s going on; not what my [...]

Filed under: Family Focus, For your newsletter, Relationship Building | 1 Comment »

When my students get beyond high school and life goes awry or they drift off course, they need a beacon to look back on; a reminder of better, less complicated times. I do things intentionally in ministry that will be remembered. Things that are funny, meaningful or odd that will stick in the minds of [...]

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At our End-of-the-school-year Small Group Party, I always do door prizes. Most of what we give away is free stuff I gather from the youth ministry office or stuff I don’t want anymore. We always mix in a few store-bought trinkets. This year, however, I think I went a little overboard. We always gather the [...]

Filed under: Having Fun With Students, Relationship Building | No Comments »