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4. Sometimes It Doesn’t Make Sense
We are all shaped by our experiences and perspectives. Many times in my life I have used my experiences to evaluate whether I think something will work in ministry. Sometimes that is wise, and sometimes that is me being narrow minded. I remember starting my time as a youth director at a church in Michigan…
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3. Hurt People, Hurt People
One day, a parent emailed asking if they could come in with their spouse to talk about concerns that they had with their student. We set up a meeting and as they came walking into my office I quickly realized this conversation would have very little to do with their student. Before they even sat…
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2. Relationships Matter
One night about 11:00 PM, I got a call that no one wants to get. My senior pastor was on the phone, and he told me that a 16 year old in our church had hit some black ice, had spun out of control, and was hit by an oncoming truck and was killed instantly.…
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1. It’s Not About Me
The first youth group that I led was on a Sunday night. I hadn’t slept for a couple of days because I was so excited. I got to the church 3 hours early to make sure everything was set perfectly. This was going to be amazing. At 10 minutes after group was supposed to start…
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25 Things That I Learned the First 25 Years of Ministry
June 1, 1995. I walked into my first official office. It had a 6ft white table as a desk, a metal filing cabinet in the corner, a small bookshelf that, if you didn’t lean it up in the corner, it would collapse on itself, and a well used computer that took 10 minutes to turn…
