When asked to describe themselves, students typically tell you what they do."I'm an athlete.""I'm editor-in-chief of the yearbook.""I'm a straight-A student."The problem is when students define who they are bas...

I participated in mission trips as a kid and then worked for a mission trip organization in college. Both ends of the spectrum had a profound impact on my faith. Neither equipped me to plan a trip from start t...

About a month or two after returning from a summer mission trip, I typically hear mission trip participants say these things:"I don't feel God here like I did there.""I'm forgetting things.""It's starting to fa...

Directed by Will BakkeProvident Films, 2011, 91 min., $9.98Because I use a lot of videos as discussion prompts with my students, I was excited to review One Nation Under God. This documentary chronicles the jou...

By youthministry360ym360, 2012, $69.99One of my primary objectives for my student leaders is to further their relationship with Christ. That's why I chose to spend time this winter studying the Book of Colossia...

The most important element of a mission trip is not worship, fun or service. Instead, the most important part of a mission trip is processing or debriefing your day with your team in order to help students wres...

At my first youth ministry job interview, I was asked, "How do you plan on fundraising the thousands of dollars required for our summer mission trip?" As a 21 year old, I'm sure I looked like a deer caught in t...

Atheism, pluralism, consumerism, secularism, universalism and Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) are a few of the isms surrounding us, profoundly influencing our lives and faith. Many in youth ministry are awar...

A few years ago, I met Steve, a high school kid and professed atheist. He and I spent a week together on a mission trip, visiting old people and leading a Vacation Bible School for kids. Without meaning to, in ...

Long before he was celebrated for his literary work (his bestselling contemporary language Bible translation, The Message, along with many books), Eugene Peterson pastored a church for 29 years. Peterson knows ...