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Stuff Youth Ministers Like #5: Red Vines
You’ve only got a couple hours until youth group starts and you realize you forgot to buy food. With only $20 left in your budget and the need to feed 200 teens, as a youth minister, you know there’s only one item that can save you now: Red Vines.
What is it about Red Vines that we as youth ministers love so much?
Happy Mother’s Day, Mary
With Mothers Day approaching this Sunday, I can’t think of a better time to reflect on what our Mother means to us. I mean Mary, of course, the Blessed Mother. Very recently I became relentlessly re-quoted by two friends because I kept repeating “but Mary is the new Eve” during a discussion about Mary. It [...]
One Thing I Hated About Ministry
Honestly, I hated that thing. And seriously why did it have to blink? It was as if it was taunting me:
“You know all those things you wanted to get done today? Not gonna happen.”
“I’m blinking, so you know you have messages, but you don’t know how many. Could be 1, or could be 10, but you’ll have to dial in to find out.”
“Hmmm . . . I wonder who left you a message. Maybe it’s a teen thanking you for a great Life Night. Or maybe it’s an irate parent.”
Stuff Youth Ministers Like #4: Gross Icebreakers
Maybe it’s because these games immediately evoke a reaction – be it laughter or gagging – from a sometimes apathetic and lethargic group of teenagers. Maybe it’s because we are able to relate the caramel onion to the reality of sin; it may look good but it’s actually disgusting. Or maybe it’s just because after a week of parent phone calls, late permission slips, and teens texting through an entire teaching . . . a disgusting icebreaker is our way of saying, “I win.”
Newest Jobs
- Coordinator of Music and Campus Ministry at Kateri Catholic Schools and St. Jerome Parish in Oregon, OH and Walbridge, OH
- Product Sales Coordinator at Life Teen in Atlanta, Georgia
- High School Youth Minister at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Danville, KY
- Director of Youth Ministry at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Victoria, TX
- Service-Learning Coordinator/Religion Teacher at Hales Franciscan High School in Chicago, IL
Comprehensive
Youth Ministry
Renewing the Vision: A Framework for Catholic Youth Ministry sets forth three goals and eight components for comprehensive youth ministry. Life Teen, as a parish-based youth ministry model, fulfills all eight components through a sacramental sprituality, resources, training, and direct parish support. Our mission is very simple: to lead teens closer to Christ.
Systematic
Catechesis
Life Teen has created a systematic and engaging curriculum that follows the USCCB's framework for high school catechesis.
Cultivating Hearts
We may only have a small part in helping that fruit to grow – we only are guaranteed four years with them. We are only a small tool in the Hand of the Gardener. We may never see the fruit. It takes lots of work and lots of people to grow a successful community garden. But everyone and every tool plays a vital role.