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 […]
Life in the Eucharist
Sacraments as a Family Welcome to Beyond the Pew. In this new series, we’re going to be diving into the ways we can journey through the sacraments together as a family. We are so blessed to have these seven sacraments. The sacraments are the ways in which the power of the Cross is made present in our lives. Jesus died so that we […]
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 […]
Receiving Sacraments
Hello. Welcome to Beyond the Pew. As Easter gets closer and so many of our kids will be receiving Sacraments for the first time, whether it be Confirmation or Baptism or their First Communion, we’re going to talk about how to talk to your kids when they receive the Sacrament.
After the Youth Conference
Howdy and welcome back to Beyond the Pew! Today I’m going to talk to you about one of my favorite topics: conferences! I love conferences, I’m a conference junkie, I’ve attended dozens as a teen, I love taking kids to conferences, and I direct conferences for Ablaze. Today’s Beyond the Pew is about how you […]
Talking to Your Kids about Youth Group
Matt Rice here with Beyond the Pew and I wanted to talk to parents today about how they can help their kids bring what happens at youth nights or youth group home. As a dad of a thirteen year old, I actually get pretty frustrated when I ask my son, “Hey, what did you learn […]
After the Youth Retreat
Welcome back to Beyond the Pew. As we continue this series on how to help your youth come home from different church events, we’re going to be talking today about retreats. So when your youth goes away for a weekend or for a day retreat, and they’ve encountered Christ there, how do you help them […]
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 Everything is Awful
No matter how many good days you have, how many wonderful friends are in your life, how great your relationship with God is going, how perfect your job is, there will be days when it feels as if everything is crashing in around you and you just don’t want this particular life. There will be […]
Blessing Your Family
Welcome back to Beyond the Pew! We hope your new year is going well and that your New Year’s resolutions are still in existence, and that you are able to grow in prayer as a family during this month of January! This is our prayer for you here at Ablaze Ministries.