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Who Cares For You?
Summers can be lonnnnnng and exhausting. But so much fun, right? You find yourself caring for your youth group and for their parents. There are more hours when kids aren't in school, more hours for them to be with you. You've been to camp, you're still on the cusp of...
How To Love Every Season
I remember this photo like it was yesterday. The beauty that was 2002 and my second year in youth ministry. I had gone to the thrift store to buy some nerd pants. (Not realizing that I had plenty in my closet already, I spent $1.85 on another pair.) Our youth group...
Prepping Your Heart For New 6th Graders (And A Book You Absolutely Must Read)
This week I had the pleasure of spending some time in Banff. Two youth leaders serving at the event where I was speaking surprised me with a day I'll never forget. Thank you Jenn and Rebecca. I will make a playlist that describes how that day made me...
Taking Care of the Introverts In Your Ministry
Yesterday a new book by Susan Cain was released! Quiet Power: The Secret Strengths of Introverts (A guide for KIDS and TEENS) It landed on my doorstep and I made the clumsy assumption that I could crack it open and read a few pages without wanting to stay up until 3...
Giving Grace To Teenagers on Monday…Or Friday
There's been something I've been wanting to write about but haven't been able to write about because, well, I couldn't. Some things are ready for sharing as they happen. Some things will never be ready for sharing after they happen. Some things need time to process...
Unleashing A Love For Serving In Middle School Ministry
Today I get to spend time with friends at Orange Conference talking about how to unleash a love for serving in middle school ministry. I'm super passionate about what it looks like to lead students to meaningful relationships (with God and others) and what it looks...
March 2016: One Word Book Reviews
I love the months when there’s more space to read. In March, I dipped my eyes into more books than a first semester freshman. I read three books yesterday while traveling. Book in hand vs. phone in hand? Book wins. The book wins because: Time we spend...
Between The Mess And The Miracle
Easter Saturday. The place between Friday and Sunday that holds the waiting, the wrestling, the overcoming, the almost there but not yet there possibility. God seemed to introduce a sacred waiting, a wrestling, a place in the middle where the mess segues the miracle....
7 Ways To Celebrate World Water Day
WORLD WATER DAY is Tuesday March 22nd! I want to know what your youth group will do to celebrate the BIOLOGICAL WONDER that keeps all of creation living! If you're a little low on ideas. It's okay. I know you've got the "and other duties as assigned" part of your...
Why Being At The Bottom Is A Good Thing
My friend Amber emailed me to let me know about a post that revealed the top Youth Ministry Blogs of 2015. I geek out giving lists like this a look because I love youth ministry and people who write about youth ministry. The blogs were ranked by three kinds of stats:...
BIG NEWS AND 10 AWESOME BOOK GIFTS
Voltaire had good hair and also good advice. "Let us read and let us dance - two amusements that will never do any harm to the world.” Let us read and dance because…. March 3rd is WORLD BOOK DAY! Glory. My friend Elle and I want to celebrate it now and...
Let’s Start A Book Club
I love books. At the end of the year I shared a post called Brooklyn's Best Books 2015. It was a way to return to the books that I loved reading all year. I also tossed in the idea of a non book club that my friend Elle and I had been talking about. ...
Read more“Let us develop a dangerous unselfishness.”
Developing Dangerous
What would you, could you, want to do if nothing selfish fueled you? What if unselfishness became the prayer in your heart, in your church, in your youth ministry? What if God could transform all of us? What if it's true, that God can change you? And me? Change we?...
Light, Dark, & Ice Cream
‘This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” It’s a good song and lesson. But somehow in learning that good lesson I assumed another lesson, that it’s equally important to hide the dark. Keep the light visible. Minimize the dark. But why? What if our...
Brooklyn’s 5 For 2016
Youth ministry looks different than in did in 2001. In 2001, if you were to misplace a small middle school person at Disney world, there would have been no way to connect. In 2016, you'd find yourself on Snapchat looking for their last time stamp or simply sending a...
JUST WATER = JUST GRATEFUL
Most of the world believes that in order to have a conversation, wake up, or do anything, you need coffee. I had no idea that coffee held the world together, until I stopped drinking it. The coffee Bible (Pinterest) says: Running is made possible...
Brooklyn’s Best Books 2015
Books were my best friends in the 5th grade. I felt at home in piles of them. I felt alone without piles of them. My favorite books that year were two biographies, one about Mozart, the other about Beethoven. And, all of the Nancy Drew books that were ever written. I...
The Proclaimers Made Me Do It (2015 Resolutions)
Have you ever chosen a quote to guide your thoughts for a year? I highly recommend NOT doing that, unless of course you want it to guide your thoughts for a year. Because the quote inevitably will guide your thoughts for a year and sometimes we're not ready for what...
Diversity is magic.
It is time for parents to teach young people early on that in diversity there is beauty and there is strength. – Maya Angelou Maya calls us all to action. If it seems like a boring action. Think again because teaching the beauty and strength of diversity is not only...
Blindfolded Between Two Trees
I spent most of my time in Indonesia inside a hotel, attending meetings and having conversations with youth and youth ministry leaders from dozens of countries in South Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It's hard to describe what it's like being in a global...
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