My new church does lots of things right. One of them is their emphasis on reaching out into their community. Today was one of 3 ...
Continue Reading →I know I haven’t been writing lately, but two weeks at my me job and I am still trying to figure out where all of ...
Continue Reading →Is there anything more wonderful and excruciatingly painful as working with teenagers. They are so full of life, so ready for new experiences that you ...
Continue Reading →After my disappointing lesson last week, during which no one seemed to want to answer even the simplest of questions I am still wrestling with how best ...
Continue Reading →I want to have a huge lego building event at my church where teams of students work together to transform our youth room into a ...
Continue Reading →I don't have all of the answers and some weeks it feels like I don't have any of the answers. I forget students names sometimes and say stupid things that hurt their feelings. I often find a good word picture or object lesson and build the lesson off of that instead of the other way around. I have put the finishing touches on a Wednesday night Bible study on Wednesday more times than I can count. I don't always pray as much as I should and I never study as much as I should. I try every new youth ministry model that comes from the "experts" and I have had at least 3 mission statements over the past 5 years.
But I love students ministry. I love watching teenagers as they serve God. I love to see them worship and forget about themselves for a while. I love seeing someone wake up to the love of God if only for a little while. I love to see them out serving their community and sharing the love of Christ with others. I love to be a part of their lives and I love seeing the world through their eyes. Like I said, I'm an average youth pastor.
For almost 20 years now I have been trying to add creative ideas for use in the local church. In the early days Nailscars.com was just a place to publish some scripts, but it has become a collection of creative ministry resources for youth ministry and worship.
I began writing a blog more to process my own thoughts more than anything else. As I started writing the comments that I got back from people amazed me. As I was honest with my struggles most of them would write and say “Thank you.” “It is just nice to know someone else struggles with these same things,” was a common response.
So this has become a place where I share the struggles and successes of being in youth ministry. I hope that you find something that God can use in your life and ministry.
Thank you for coming to check out Nailscars.com. Everything here is free to use in any non-commercial way. Feel free to use the resources without giving me credit. If you are want to republish an idea let me know and I will probably give you permission.