I’m looking for some input from youth ministry students about what you love about your leaders. I’d love your input. We’re going to use this to brag on your leaders. It’s going to be great.
Please keep your answers short. We’re just looking for a line or two about what makes you love your adult youth [...]

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This is the latest video Jake Rutenbar debuted at the 2010 Simply Youth Ministry Conference.

This trophy moment goes out to
Jamie Stolp
Youth Pastor

Jamie is honest and tells it like it is. He is straight forward with the youth. He is funny but knows when its time to be serious. Jamie makes Celebrate awesome!
Autumn
Celebrate Church
Sioux Falls, South [...]

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I caught the tail-end of a game called Cookie Face at Kurt Johnston’s breakout at SYMC. The Oreo starts on the players’ foreheads and, without touching the cookie, they must eat it.
- Great game
- Captivates the crowd
- Builds a shared experience/memory

This trophy moment goes out to
Ben McClary, Telah McClary Chriss Brandt, Jessi Brandt, [...]

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I’m reading How To Reach Your Full Potential for God by Charles F Stanley. I’m not very far into it yet, but I’m expecting it to be a great read.
Here’s a quote that I thought to be especially useful for me and fellow volunteer youth workers who teach Bible study:
A wise university professor once told [...]

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In the youth-ministry sense, I define a trophy as a memorable event that encourages me in my ministry efforts or shows how my work is making a difference. Tonight I had two events back to back that fit that description:
1. Tonight after small group, one of my newer students who was not sure he would [...]

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To a person who didn’t know, this would seem like a typical conversation between a student and adult leader. However, this is a message between an unchurched student and a guy who works security at our church. There are a few stereotypes being broken here.
This student is one of many who don’t attend our church, [...]

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I’ve developed a close relationship with a family by working with two of their kids as their small group leader. Today I received this email that adds a few years to the shelf life of my ministry. I’m very grateful for stuff like this.

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We had our first night of small group tonight. When I got home, I had this note on my Facebook page. I’ll put this in the trophy case. It’s important to celebrate the tokens of appreciation our students shoot our way.

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I was at a Catalyst ministry conference last Friday when I saw this 4Runner with a message on the back window. Even though it’s not my car, I was still encouraged by seeing a church caring for their youth pastor. Coincidentally, I happen to have a black 4Runner just like this one, that may have [...]

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I saw this blog post today on Suncrest Christian Church’s blog. This ministry “gets it” when it comes to encouraging volunteers, but also using their stories to inspire what they want others to do.

Stephanie Parks led the way to launching our Welcome table ministry at Suncrest-East. She has done an incredible job of pulling [...]

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