Blog

When our girls were young teens I came across a study about parenting styles. The study indicated that parenting styles are determined by a balance of control and support. A very simplistic explanation of control and support is that control is about the direction,...

Camp Qwanoes had 404 Jr. High campers at the week I spoke this summer. They always have a large variety of students at their camp and there are always kids who desperately need the hope and healing Jesus offers. As the week went on I could see God softening student’s...

Believe it or not your adolescent students care about what you think and want to have a relationship with you! I can’t count the number of times in my 30+ years of youth ministry I have heard students say “my parents would kill me!”In George Barna’s book Real Teens he...

There are some places on this planet that should be safe. A mother’s womb should be a safe place. A child’s bed should be a safe place. Families should be safe and so should churches. Unfortunately many are not. So many of the tragic stories I hear at women’s retreats...

I remember the day I started as a Youth Pastor. Let’s just say it was a number of years ago. I thought it was all pretty simple. All I had to do was love students and help them be like Jesus, right? I may have been naive but it didn’t take me long to discover the road...

A few years ago I started a consulting contract at Westside Kings Church in Calgary. I was tasked with building a healthy, well balanced and sustainable youth ministry and building a team to make that happen. At that time I could identify about 30 - 35 students and...

Summer camps are unique places where God does amazing work in students’ lives. It is always interesting to watch how the week unfolds and how God works in students’ hearts. Most urban Canadian students tend to be pressurized and distracted. They are pressurized by...