Retaining Volunteers

After the Holy Spirit, volunteers are the most valuable asset to your ministry. It often seems like a battle to recruit volunteers, but once you’ve got them, retaining them can provide lasting, sustainable fruits in ministry. Here’s why: Retained volunteers already know the program, the process, and the people. Retained volunteers are trained, even if […]

Lead Us Not Into Temptation

led 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

advisory, spiritual

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.

How to Succeed in a Youth Ministry Interview

succeed in a youth ministry interview

Summer is almost over. For the field of youth ministry, summer is a hiring season. I know of a number of parishes that are hiring here in my diocese. This process can seem difficult and intimidating. Submitting a resume and preparing for an interview can give you butterflies that remind you of asking someone on […]

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

taking a break, backlog, summer

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 […]

Refilling Your Cup in Busy Times

busy

Busy Summer can be (and most of the time, is) a busy time for youth ministers. Between camps, mission trips and conferences, it’s easy to finish the summer more exhausted than you began.  It is vital to take care of yourself, allow the Lord pour into you, and take some time to rejuvenate. Whether you only have a […]

The Maintenance of Mission

Our parish recently went through a revitalization of our vision. This led to a very successful capital campaign and a unified drive within the ministries of the parish. The tagline that kept our eyes focused on the vision was that we are moving from ‘Maintenance to Mission’. This idea is amazing, but often can be […]

Those Turds

Maybe it’s just our ministries and you don’t have this problem, but we have some unique children in our programs that we lovingly refer to as “turds”. I sincerely mean that. We love them, but their behavior stinks. It’s ok though, they’re keeping us all on our toes, as well as sometimes on our last […]