I love Youth Ministry, and I believe it is important (hence me being a Youth Pastor).  If I am honest though, Youth Ministry can also do a lot of damage to students as well. Rather than build the church, we can often do harm and kill the church instead.  Here are five ways Youth Ministry…

What do your students think about when they think about God? The longer I am in ministry, the more convinced I become that students in our Youth Ministries simply do not correctly understand the character and the nature of God.  This has major ramifications. In fact, almost every situation I seem to find myself counseling students…

This post marks my 100th post on The Longer Haul.  In honor of 100 posts, here are 100 things I lOVE about Youth Ministry: 1. I love seeing faith become real and owned 2. I love that fun often accompanies ministry

So you are discouraged, how do you overcome it? In the previous post I gave you several observations about discouragement and ministry.  In this post I am giving you five ways to fight and overcome discouragement. Whether you find yourself discouraged now or not, you will face discouragement often in Youth Ministry.  If you are not…

Find yourself discouraged? You are not alone, and it will not be the last time. So, now that I’ve brightened your day with those words of encouragement… If you have been serving in ministry leadership for more than a day or two, you have likely experienced discouragement.  It is a reality of life, but I have especially…

I am often asked for advice from Youth Pastors who are fairly new to the ministry.  If you and I were to have coffee (I love coffee) and you were to ask me what ONE piece of advice I would give you what would I say?