The Gospel According to “APT.”. . .
When a song wins the MTV Video Music Award for “Song of the Year”, we need to sit up and take notice. And when that song tops the charts in over 50 countries, has well over 2 billion views on…
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Youth Ministry Training. . . Come Join Us!
“I’ve finally found my people!” That clear sense of belonging is what we all desire, isn’t it? And my heart leapt for joy when a respected veteran youth worker pulled me aside at the end of our first-ever Northeast Youth Ministry…
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What Teachers Say About Cellphone Bans – A Helpful Infographic
What’s happening with students, cell-phones, and classrooms in your state? As of the recent start of this current school year, 31 states and the District of Columbia now have some kind of restrictions in place regarding cell-phones in schools or…
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Labor Day. . . All Work Matters to God!
Labor Day. When I was a kid, I knew it was a holiday that occurred before the first day of school. . . a kind of last-hurrah as summer came to an end. I clearly remember one Labor Day “holiday”…
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Leading Our Kids to Truth In An Age of Feelings. . .
I’m afraid that all too often in our youth ministry and parenting efforts we are tempted to soften the truth so as to not alienate or lose our kids. I get it. Been there myself. The temptation is real. And…
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Texas. . . and All Creation. . . Groans
Creation is groaning for redemption. All you have to do these days. . . any day in fact. . . is to turn on the news. The Romans 8 groanings of all creation are – if we are paying attention…
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A Quick Thought on Youth Ministry Focus
A youth worker friend asked me a provocative question regarding how those of us in our youth ministry world spend our time. He was wondering if we are spending too much time on things that don’t matter, as opposed to…
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A Prayer For This Father’s Day
As we celebrate our Fathers today, here is a Father’s Day prayer from Scotty Smith. . . Dear Heavenly Father, on this Father’s Day, it’s an unparalleled joy to acknowledge that you are the Father we’ve always longed for and needed. Our…
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Telling The Truth Is Kindness
I remember that many of the arguments in the neighborhood of my childhood included go-to sentences thrown back-and-forth between the boys who found themselves at odds with each other. Sometimes these words preceded punches, but oftentimes these words were the…
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A Prayer For This Memorial Day
Over the course of the last few years I’ve come to appreciate the prayers Scotty Smith has written to guide us as we pray. I have found that written prayers are most helpful in guiding me to remember both how…
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How I Kicked My Phone Habit. . .
The six words at the top of this page caught my eye earlier this week when I saw them in the subject line of an email from First Things magazine. The email directed me to a short yet compelling first-person…
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If You Were The Devil: Strategies For Destroying Kids
I recently asked ChatGPT to play the devil. If you’re unfamiliar with ChatGPT, it’s an artificial intelligence chatbot that can understand and respond to text in a human-like way, helping with tasks like answering questions, writing, etc. It operates rather…
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