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Author Archives: Matt Smith

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The Decade’s Best Praise & Worship Songs, Part 1

For most people in Catholic Youth Ministry, summers are packed with youth conferences, summer camps, and mission trips. These are exciting times for your teens because they can get out of town for an summertime adventure with their peers. But in a more profound way, these events give many teens their first opportunity to experience the living God, a God who is real and loves them very much. This big experience is narrated with big music that touches their hearts in a way that their everyday iPod music never has.

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Interview with Life Teen Area Contact John Vasellina

I recently took a trip to visit St. Raphael Parish in beautiful Santa Barbara, California. Before I spoke to the Confirmation Group that night, I sat in the office of veteran Youth Minister John Vasellina to talk about how he’s stayed strong through his many years in Catholic Youth Ministry.

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Catholic Youth Ministry Show, Episode 6

Mark Hart gives the details on Life Teen’s new Catholic Teen Bible.  Eric Porteous talks about how a network of Life Teen staff is here to help parishes start and maintain quality Catholic Youth Ministry. Finally, Kevin Hickey explains the importance of middle school ministry. View on mobile device Subscribe via iTunes

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Photos from Our Life Teen Missionaries in Haiti

Some of you may’ve read in a recent blog that Life Teen Missionary Eric Martin and Life Teen Board Member Stephen Smith traveled to Haiti to help with relief effort following the earthquake. I spent time with both Eric and Stephen (my dad) this past weekend at the Life Teen staff retreat at Covecrest. It was very moving to hear stories from their journey to Haiti. I wanted to share some photos from their trip.

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Cool New Features on CatholicYouthMinistry.com

Before we all travel to Covecrest for our annual Life Teen Staff Retreat, I wanted to give you all a quick update about four new features on CatholicYouthMinistry.com… 1) Better Search 2) New Edge Resources 3) Better Access to Resources 4) Jobs.

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Special Podcast: Interview with Mark Hart about His New Book “Finding Yourself in Scripture”

Earlier this week I sat down with our own Mark Hart to talk about Life Teen’s new book called Finding Yourself in Scripture. This is an exciting new book that will help young people better relate to individuals in the Bible. In the book Mark tells the stories of the Bible’s babysitters and rock stars, kings and queens, daydreamers and warriors, heroes and angels. This is good stuff!

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Catholic Youth Ministry Show, Episode 5

Randy Raus shares Life Teen’s Missionary Heart, Kevin Hickey, our new Edge Coordinator, shares what it’s like to live with missionaries, and Lisa Epperson talks about our new Life Teen and Edge subscription options. Also, Lisa lets all the ladies know about two cool retreats just for them, the Life Teen Women’s Retreat and Life Teen Women’s Day of Reflection.

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Update from Life Teen Missionaries in January

Some of you may have heard that we have a some Life Teen people on the ground in Haiti. But did you know that Life Teen has college-aged missionaries in Arizona, Georgia, and Germany? If you want to see what our missionaries are doing in Germany, download a PDF of their January 2010 newsletter. There are some wonderful glory stories and fantastic pictures! God is doing some pretty incredible things. Please continue to pray for Melanie, Amanda, Danielle and all of those they serve. Life Teen Germany

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Catholic Youth Ministry Show, Episode 4

Are you a new youth minister or veteran needing some help and perspective? Mark Hart shares why you should considering coming to our Spring Training in Georgia. Also, three of our podcasts hosts share why you should considering listening to our network of podcats. Greg Iwinski shares a Catholic perspective on this week’s best movie, Mark Hart lets you know how to grow deeper in scripture, and Allison Oertle helps you share your faith with others in The171. View on mobile device Subscribe via iTunes

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Life Teen Missionaries in Haiti

Tomorrow two of Life Teen’s finest will travel to Port-au-Prince to serve the people of Haiti: Stephen Smith and Eric Martin. Let me introduce you all to these gentlemen and share why they’re going.