Time is on your side for discipleship I recently received a phone call from a former student whom I discipled over 15 years ago.  He called me concerning some issues in his life that he needed to get straight, but ultimately he opened up and really responded when we began talking about someone close to him who was in trouble. Not only did this young man who I now call my ‘friend’ (I believe that the process of discipleship is from reckless follower to disciplined follower to fr...

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Crank dat HHH (Holy Hip Hop) I recently returned from one of the best summer camps designed for the urban student in the entire country; it’s called Kids Across America a.k.a KAA (U-KNOW!)The camp is located up in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri where we just finished a great concert with surprise guest LeCrea & Tadashi! Now you know that I was sitting there as proud as a granddaddy could be (granddaddy of Christian Hip Hop that is…) I want you to picture the scene before the g...

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Tough Topic: Hard Times I don’t know about you…(nah let’s keep it real) I bet I do know this about you because it’s the same thing for me: these are HARD TIMES!  18 months ago I remember joking with my ministry peers during a church board meeting that I sit on. It was the time when everyone began to forecast the blistering recession that we are now in. All of the news pundits were predicting an economic meltdown for the next 3-5 years and I simply said, “Well...

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Tough Topic: Sumer Time Sexuality Summa-Time!  We who’ve been in youth ministry over the years know the highs and potential lows of this season.  When summer kicks in, you know that you’ll have teens that have so much more free time on their hands and although an idle mind might be the enemy’s workshop but the body connected (hopefully) to that mind is definitely the playground! One summer survey conducted among teens showed that only half of sexually active teens sa...

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Tough Topic: Homosexuality in Youth Ministry I just returned from one of my favorite ministry locations in the United States.  The place is called The Pittsburgh Project and they are doing Kingdom B-I-(crooked letter)-I-N-E-(crooked letter, crooked letter) for sure!  Please visit the site to get more information about TPP.  However, as I preached a very interesting thing happened.  Well, it didn’t happen until after I made it home.  I received a letter that I...

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