Faithful Messages or Millstones? . . .
I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Well, let me correct that. Truth be told, I could believe it for the simple reason that I’ve seen and heard it before. . . perhaps not in such a straightforward manner. I…
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Making Sense of Sex/Gender Trends. . .
Twelve-year-old Seventh grade student Liam Morrison is gutsy. . . times two. Back on March 21, Liam wore a t-shirt to Nichols Middle School in Middleborough, Massachusetts that wound up getting him sent home. . . something he never expected…
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Youth Ministry, Jeremiah, And The Lies We Tell. . .
Rock slide and avalanche warnings are everywhere. I’ve seen them all week as I’ve been traveling through the mountains of Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. Evidence of these very real dangers is all over the place out here. Especially notable are…
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Youth Ministry: Nurturing Adolescent Belief and Behavior. . .
Because I grew up in a Pastor’s home, we oftentimes had missionaries visit and stay with us. I remember listening to the stories and watching the slide shows they’d deliver during the all-ages Sunday School hour. These encounters shaped my…
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On This Day After The Cross. . .
Paul Tripp writes these words about the Cross: “In God’s righteous and wise plan, this dark and disastrous moment was ordained to be the moment that would fix all the dark and disastrous things that sin had done to the…
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What Teens Love: A Helpful Infographic. . .
Once again, the folks at Piper Sandler have released their Taking Stock With Teens survey of 14,500 teenagers, all in an effort to gain insight into what’s trending among our kids. Knowing where they spend their money helps us to…
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Ministry In a Trauma-Filled World. . .
And so, here we are again today. Tragedy did yesterday what it does everyday. . . it begets trauma. Yesterday and today – like everyday somewhere and in some way – the lives of young and old alike were changed…
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The Pain of Getting Picked Last. . .
All of us have things from our childhood that we think are better left forgotten. . . flushed from our memories. . . washed away forever. For me, it’s that seemingly never-ending chunk of my childhood where I was a…
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High-Intensity Drinking: A Helpful Infographic. . .
Teen alcohol abuse continues and we must be concerned for our kids. Having knowledge of what, where, when, and how kids are drinking allows us to craft our preventive and redemptive responses with an informed understanding of what’s actually going…
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A Little Primer on “Proverbial Fools”. . . .
“Don’t be foolish!” I heard that spoken in my direction more than a few times when I was a kid. My dad was never one to hold back in those times when my adolescent self believed that I was on…
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Be Careful How You “Play” On Social Media. . .
Regrets. . . I’ve had a few. . . well, more than few. The older I get, the more I realize that my default setting is to be and do in ways that lead to a hindsight oftentimes filled with regret. There are far…
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This Week In Youth Culture History. . .
Are you kidding me?!? Nope. Thirty-eight years have passed since “The Breakfast Club” was released into theaters on February 15, 1985. A little search revealed that three of the main actors in the film are in their sixties. . .…
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