When The Holidays Are Hard. . .
This week, many of us will lift our voices as we do each Christmas to sing these words from Joy To The World: “No more let sins and sorrows grow nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings…
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Christmas: Savior or Stuff?
It’s been several weeks now since we started getting hammered with all those Christmas sale flyers, commercials, and pop-up ads from people who have something to sell. They’ve mastered the art of pushing our buttons to get us to feel…
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Getting Gender Right. . .
Truth be told, there are many parts of the Bible that stop me in my reading tracks, causing me to pause and to ponder. One of those passages that is always front and center in my mind as a father,…
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Six Things Our Kids Need to Know About Marriage
There are a couple of reasons why I’m thinking about marriage today. First, my mom reminded me yesterday that today, December 5th, is the 70th Anniversary of my parents’ wedding. Before my dad went to be with Christ, they had…
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Youth Workers – You Are Invited! . . .
Did you ever hear what John Calvin said to churches considering sending their young leaders to Geneva for pastoral education? “Send us your wood and we will send back arrows.” That captures the heart of what we’ve curated with the…
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Guiding Kids In Their Search For Identity
In the quest to discover and adopt an identity, the teenagers you know and love are looking for answers to questions such as: Am I worthwhile? What makes me worthwhile? How am I unique from others? Are those uniqueness’ good…
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On This Day In 1963. . . Kennedy, Huxley, and Lewis. . .
When I woke up this morning I looked at the date and immediately my mind rewound and settled on this day in 1963. November 22 is always a significant day for me. . . . sparking thoughts of the past…
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Training Up Biblical Carnivores. . .
Over the course of the last few years. . . for way too long in fact. . . the scuttlebutt in the world I inhabit has been increasingly filled with questions that start with the simple word “Why?” Youth workers,…
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When You Hear God’s Word Today, What Will You Keep?
As we gather to hear the Word of God preached today, what will be our resolve? Will we consider God’s Word and then decide based on our own feelings and emotions what we will keep, how we will interpret it,…
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Language Matters: Youth Workers, Sexuality, Gender, and Identity
“Why quibble over words? After all, isn’t our ultimate goal to lead people to Jesus?” As we prep here at CPYU from another gathering of youth workers for next week’s Symposium on Traditional Biblical Sexuality in a Changing Youth Culture,…
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No-Woe Youth Ministry. . .
We’ve got a problem where I live. Actually, we have more than one problem, but there’s only one I want to mention here. The curtain is pulled back on the problem, it seems, at least once a month, maybe more.…
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Prisoners To Our Phones?
It’s a common scene in film and TV that we’ve all seen dozens if not hundreds of times. Someone doing time has an attorney, family member, or friend arrive at the prison for a visit. The visitor sits waiting patiently…
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