Lead Us Not Into Temptation
How often are you avoiding the spiritual heartache & suffering that sin brings into your life? In this video, Gwen wants you to identify areas of temptation in your life, and she challenges you to proactively work against sin’s temporal draw.
Spiritual Advisory
Do you take precautions and protect yourself and your ministry spiritually? Gwen talks about the importance of always looking forward and remembering the battle is already won.
Small Things with Great Love
My primary goal is to lead others closer to Christ through building Christocentric relationships and loving them as Christ loved us. I strive to do this with my family, friends, coworkers, and in my ministry. I’d love to say that this can be seen in the big and small ways of each of my interactions […]
Don’t Clear the Backlog Just Yet
Coming Up For Air I sat down with a friend the other day. And, as we indulged in a hipster lunch in some gourmet coffee shop, he shared his plans to take a month off this summer. He is an excellent youth minister who has not come up for air in years. I was fascinated […]
Panning for God
How A Mud Run Transformed My View of Christianity
Obstacles I recently completed my 6th Tough Mudder in as many years. A Tough Mudder is a 10-12 mile obstacles course with 20-25 obstacles and plenty of mud. They intentionally implement several obstacles that cannot be completed without the help of others. The first year I ran was on the anniversary of the Columbine shooting. […]
Where Is Your Happy Place?
Your Happy Place Are you sitting near a stream? Maybe you are in the stands, watching your child perform on the field or the stage? Are you in front of a blank canvas with a brush in hand? You could be sitting on the porch, on a cool morning drinking a cup of coffee? Instead, you may consider […]
13 Reasons Why: A Youth Ministry Perspective
13 Reasons Why…or Why Not? You’ve seen the various posts on social media. Netflix made a show and teens are watching it. What to Know It’s not a show about suicide, it’s a show about manipulating people through suicide. It’s not a show for teenagers, its rated MA for Mature Adults, I’ve never met […]
Preach the Gospel
This past semester at St. Joseph’s, the middle school group focused on the sacred scripture. We started with basics, how the Church formed the Bible and what books make it up. Then we zeroed in on the gospels, learned what parables were, and looked at a number of Jesus’ teachings and miracles. We also talked […]
When the Youth are “Too” Catechized
How fun would it be that on youth nights we could break out St. Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologica and have a deep theological discussion with anyone and everyone in our youth group, because they’d already have an awesome foundation in what we believe? Okay. So my friends tell me I’m a dreamer, but what a […]