“Let’s play church,” said my two-year old daughter, Hope. She then proceeded to seat my husband and I, hand out songbooks, and push two ottomans in our living room together to form a makeshift altar.

“I’ll be Pastor Wende,” she said,...

For years, my husband has said that if he were ever to write a book, it’d be about being called to create. He - and I - strongly believe that because we are made in the image of God, we are called to create.

Because of that, when I saw the title...

“I’m thinking about killing myself.” 

It’s a phrase no youth worker ever wants to hear. But stay in ministry long enough and you will. 

I remember the first time I heard it. I felt panicked and in many ways, frozen. I was unsure what to...

In high school, one of my favorite history teachers, Mr. Mazzullla, was a Vietnam Vet. As a result, for the first time in my academic history, we actually spent time talking about the Vietnam War. Hearing Mr. Mazzulla's first-hand accounts of the...

I love my youth ministry’s adult leaders. They’re the backbone of my youth ministry. They’re people I’ve recruited, equipped, and mentored. Some have served with me for almost a decade. I take caring for them seriously.

In my context, adult...

Most youth workers I know are familiar with the 30 Hour Famine. Many have even done it… at least once.

Maybe that’s you. Maybe you did the Famine years ago but then, for whatever reason, stopped.

That’s what I did.

For over a decade, the 30 Hour...

I was first introduced to Skye Jethani when my small group read The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity nearly a decade ago. The Divine Commodity was a thought-provoking read that made for excellent discussion fodder...

I'm a big believer in the power of experiential learning. To this end, instead of giving a talk about prayer, I'd much rather create a series of prayer stations designed to give students the opportunity to pray in a variety of ways.

Over the next...

When choosing a curriculum (especially when intentionally choosing a curriculum using these questions), the hope is that you’ll be able to use the curriculum as is. Unfortunately, that very rarely happens. Instead, you’ll likely have to tweak the...

I was first introduced to Henri Nouwen in grad school, when I was assigned In the Name of Jesus, still one of the most influential books on leadership I’ve ever read. Since then, I’ve enjoyed reading other works by Nouwen, including The Return of...