What is Success?
“Eric, I sense some frustration coming from you? What’s the matter?” he asked me.
“Well, I mean . . . things are going great. There’s no doubt about that, and I know we’ve improved a lot over the years, but I just don’t get why we don’t have more teens coming,” I responded.
Then he paused, looked at me and said something I’ll never forget...

The 48 Hour Self-Retreat

For most youth ministries things really kick off in 30 days. That means in the next 30 days you need a publishable Fall calendar, you need to check in with all of your volunteers to make sure they are coming back, and you need to host a volunteer training meeting as well as schedule a parents meeting.
Plus, you have all your normal day-to-day work. And you still have summer ministry stuff going...

Chasing Cool in Ministry
What constitutes a cool youth pastor? Most youth pastors want to be cool.  Some want to wear cool clothes, buy apple computers, date and marry hot women, know all the cool sayings and handshakes, get tattoos, have edgy haircuts and glasses, learn Hebrew and Greek and own all the new technological gadgets.  I don’t necessary think this is a bad thing.  In fact I do most of the things I listed myself.  However being cool requires more than just buying all the newest and coolest stuff...

The Digital Divide: How the Online Behavior of Teens is Getting Past Parents
Despite the obvious disconnect between teens’ online behaviors and parents’ knowledge of them, parents continue to exude a sense of confidence and control. Most parents insist they’re in control when it comes to mentoring their teen’s online behaviors. Yet, many teens believe their parents are in the dark. 

Jesus is Sneaky
I didn’t expect the hand rung bell. I was at a Saturday Evening Mass at a parish in Miacatlan, Mexico.  The Priest had just finished the consecration. We prayed through the Our Father and shared a sign of peace. The Church was mostly a large roof over an open air seating area. Out of the back and around the corner of the far wall came the clanking sound of two hand rung bells. I didn’t know what it was at first. Then I realized...

Introducing New One Eight Confirmation Curriculum

Infographic: Millennial Teenager

How Often Do You Catch Teens Doing Something Right?
If you’ve been in Youth Ministry long enough, chances are someone in the parish has complained about the teens. In fact, it probably goes something like this...

Help Families Win–give them dates…early!
When I talk to other parents, most agree that school and sports organizations do a better job of communicating dates than the church...

Whatever
Here is a video to use with your young people.

5 Catechetical Tips for Reaching the Most Important Audience
What is the most important catechetical audience and how should we reach them? “Confirmation-as-bait approach” to keeping young people in PSR wouldn’t be necessary if American young people were being raised in a faith-filled environment. “But our parish has a very active PSR program and a great youth group!” Yes, that may be, but what about after that...

Pope Benedict celebrates his namesake
Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the March 19 Solemnity of St. Joseph, his namesake, by delivering a sermon on the saint's virtues...

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Why Youth Ministers Should Attend Student’s Events
One of the parts of any youth minister’s job is attending games, concerts and other events that your students are participating in. There have been times in my ministry when I’ve been better about doing this than others.

What to Give Up for Lent: 20 Weird Ideas
Ready to move beyond just giving up chocolate? Last year we gave you 25 Creative Ideas for Lent. This year, we wanted to expand upon that list. Except, if you know us, you know we like to make things a bit . . . well . . . more interesting. So here’s a list of weird things to do for lent. The best part is that even though they’re a bit odd, they will actually help you to be holy...

Ash Wednesday, Fasting, Abstaining, and You.
According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law for the Latin Church, Latin Church Catholics are bound to observe fasting and abstinence on Ash Wednesday. Here are some details. I am sure you know them already, but they are good to review...

These 40 Days of Lenten Music
Forty days of fasting, prayer, almsgiving, and a call in this “Year of Faith” proclaimed by the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, to strengthen our faith and to help strengthen the faith of others. So what will change? In our own lives, will we just give up the same thing we gave up last year again or will we really take the time to reflect upon those things that lead us away from Christ...

Lenten Reads for 40 Days
Lent is a time for prayer, fasting and almsgiving — and spiritual reflection. We present four new books that could help in that task...

Youth Ministers Meme

Hitler Reacts to the New Roman Missal

Pro-Life Motion Picture Opens Nationwide in March
When filmmakers Jon and Andrew Erwin tackled October Baby, they knew that their movie was imitating life. The film is loosely based on the life of abortion survivor Gianna Jessen. What they didn’t know is that their art was imitating life in more ways than one, through the story of one of the film’s actresses...

Teenagers and Their Smartphones in 2011
The newest mobile phone numbers are in from Nielsen in their new State of the Media Mobile Media Report for the third quarter of 2011. The results probably won’t be surprising to anyone who hangs out with teenagers. In short, more teens are getting smartphones, they’re downloading more data, texting a lot, and talking less...

The Attitude of Christ Jesus
Service is meant to change your view of others more than your view of yourself. Here is video to use with young people that might encourage them beyond doing service just to feel better about themselves.

Ah, the Interruptions!
We've all been there before: you're at a movie, or play, or Mass, and a cell phone goes off. I've had wake services where a young man's phone rang during the reading, then during the Gospel, then again during the homily! You'd think people would learn - or at least get the hint...

Wordle

10 lame excuses for not praying

Using long car rides to connect
A bus full of middle school students, a 7 hour trip and about 10 adult volunteers. If you’ve been in youth ministry for even a year or two, you may have experienced this situation. Kids pile in as far toward the back of the bus as possible, take their seats and plug headphones into their ears. Then your adult leader load the bus, sit together near the front and start talking with each other. Two problems...

Are You A Last Minute Youth Minister?
In ministry, when we throw things together at the last minute we’re basically telling those we serve, “My time is more important than yours.” And I don’t think any of us want to communicate that to teens. So, if you’re a youth minister who’s struggling with leaving things to the last minute, here are some tips to help you get things done (before the last minute)...

Today I was a New Volunteer
So I’ve been getting the emails from my son’s 7th grade football league, begging for parents to come help set up the fields on game days. I decided to go help out – partially to remember what it feels like to be the 1st-time volunteer … who has no idea what he’s getting himself into. It was SUCH a reminder of what people might be feeling when they show up to serve in our ministries. Here are a few observations from this morning...

Miracles Happen: The Untold Story of the Chilean Miners’ Rescue
When I heard this miracle story it blew my mind! It’s about Pope Benedict’s role in the rescue of the Chilean miners, whose one-year anniversary we observed last Thursday. Check it out...

10 Signs you might be married to your job

Fruity Technology

Should Parishes Communicate With Facebook?
In my experience, Facebook is typically avoided by parishes. I understand. Facebook, and other social media platforms, carries with it huge moral implications. This being said, Facebook currently has over 750 million users. Right now it is the second most visited website….IN THE WORLD...

The Stakes are High

[Homily given at the opening of Baltimore's High School Leadership Institute (High-LI) - 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time] Dear Mr. Potter...

48 Hours: A Crucial Time for Youth Ministry
I know most summer youth ministry schedules are filled with mission trips, leadership training and youth conferences. Just as important as your preparation and work during the event are, what happens after the retreat is even more critical – especially in the 48 hour period. Teens come back fired up, excited about their faith and they need to share it...

“I love Jesus more than bacon.”
Yeah, I know, that should be a T-shirt or a bumper sticker or something. But it was just a simple sentence that came out of my six year old daughter’s mouth last night after I said good night to her at bedtime. Before I turned off the light she turned on the charm and blurted,“Daddy, I love Jesus more than bacon.” I laughed out loud and said, “I do too. Good night sweetie...

Work Hard, Be Kind, and Amazing Things Will Happen
Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger… but it does almost kill you. Conan O’Brien delivered this year’s commencement speech at Dartmouth College...

Top 10 Words/Phrases You Don’t Want to Use Anymore

10 Ways to Improve Your Relational Ministry

5 Things That Make Great Core Teams
Throughout my life I’ve been on a lot of teams. There have been baseball teams, basketball teams and now that I’m old – slow-pitch softball teams. Some of these teams I’ve played for and others I’ve coached, but perhaps my favorite team was my youth ministry Core Team. There are few things more rewarding than working together with other dedicated Catholics to lead teenagers closer to Christ. As you take time to evaluate your ministry this summer, consider these five things that make great Core Teams...

The Narrow Path
God loves us more than we can possibly imagine. But I’ve noticed in my recent Scripture readings that when the Bible tells us about how much He loves us, it usually follows by saying how important it is to obey Him. For example, in the Gospel of John, Jesus says the famous words: “As the Father has loved me, so I love you.” (John 15:9)
But then He immediately follows it with...

What I Saw At Home Depot. . . And A Good Ending. . .
So last night I'm standing at the paint counter at our local Home Depot while the clerk's got my two cans shaking violently in the machine under the counter. I'm guessing that most Home Depot stores are set up in the same way. The paint counter sits on the open aisle spanning the width of the store way up front, just across from all the check-out registers. If you want to see all the action at a Home Depot - and who wouldn't!?!? - then the paint counter offers a pretty good 360 degree vantage point...

Top 20 Youth Ministry Blogs of 2011

10 great benefits of confession