Youth Ministry Conversations

Supercharge your volunteer training
Volunteers don’t just show up on your doorstep fully prepared to handle all that student ministry will throw at them. Most of the time, their hearts are right but they need to be trained. It is your job to take their passion and form them into great volunteers.
What the church communicates as important
If you’ve worked with teens in church for any length of time, perhaps you’ve heard someone say they following to you… “Those teens keep talking during church!” “They were passing notes during the sermon!” “Can’t you get those teens to come in from the foyer and sit in the pews?” “Did you see how those
Book Review: Sifted
Have you ever contemplated the following words of Jesus in Luke 22:31-32, where Jesus says to Peter – Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” “Sifted: God’s
Best iOS apps for Youth Ministry (Fall 2011)
The iPhone 5 is rumored to be out in less than a month. IOS 5 will likely be released alongside it. Even the iPad 3 will probably be here early in 2012. So that means another installment of the best iOS apps for youth ministry. You can check out the previous articles by going back
What Teens want in a church
I got asked this question the other day – “What do teenagers want in a church?” It’s a tough question to answer, because its like asking “What kind of music do people like?” or “What food do kids eat?” What people look for in choosing a church is often personal taste – location, denomination, people
Happy Holidays, Merry X-Mas, and other such junk
“Happy Holidays!” You hear that from the lips of a cashier at the local store. Clearly, she’s a spawn of Satan who wants to demote Christmas into a day no bigger than Memorial Day, New Years, or Thanksgiving. “Merry X-mas!” That was written on the inside of a Christmas card from a relative who you

Sep 19

Bill Nance

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Help for hurting youth ministers

I spent a few days last week in Colorado, working with the Simply Youth Ministry team on next year’s conference. One of the things that struck me was how many youth ministers came to the conference hurting, and left feeling rejuvenated and healed. Simply Youth Ministry has taken that concept and brought the opportunity for

Sep 01

Bill Nance

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“Bare Facts” Contest Winners

The winners of our two “Bare Facts” book are… (Drumroll please) BJ Bethune and Scott Egan! Please email me your addresses so I can mail the books out to you. You can email me at bill at billnance dot org. Congratulations, and everyone keep your eyes out for the next contest coming up soon!

Aug 29

Bill Nance

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Teaching to Transform

One of the things that has been drilled into me from early into my ministry career is the importance of two teaching truisms – teach Bible knowledge, and apply it to real life. In other words, the crux of the Christian life is understanding the Bible and then put it to work in our lives.

Aug 25

Bill Nance

1 Comment

Vision vs Execution

Yesterday, Steve Jobs resigned as CEO of Apple. For those not in the know, Steve Jobs has been the champion of such technological revolutions like the Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad. As I was reading some of the articles about the resignation (and some of the over the top beautifications of Steve Jobs) I came

Aug 25

Bill Nance

No comments

The back to school special

It’s that time of year again! The buses were running again in our neighborhood, and many of our students were off to school for another 180 days of homeroom, homework, detention (not your students of course), pep rallies, the rectangle school pizzas, and of course recess! (Wait, middle school and high school students don’t have

Aug 24

Bill Nance

5 Comments

Book Review–“The Bare Facts”

“The Bare Facts – 39 Question your parents hope you never ask about sex” is a book about (shhhh) S.E.X. from Josh McDowell and Erin Davis. It is geared towards teens, and deals with sex from a biblical perspective. This book goes through a list of 39 questions about sex. Some of them I can

Aug 23

Bill Nance

1 Comment

Big Points

This is a nonsense post. I’ll be upfront with you on this. Sometimes I write serious, thoughtful material that will help you minister better. This is not one of those posts. But this will revolutionize how you run games. You’ve probably played games where you need to collect points to win. Maybe it’s a faculty

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