You can’t go anywhere these days without catching some Christmas music. Radio stations, stores and even airplanes are playing Christmas music. So keeping in the spirit of Christmas, I have compiled the ultimate top 10 list of music that Catholic youth leaders are reflecting on this year. 1.) Little Drummer Boy – For that teen that you have playing excellent liturgical drums at Mass each week. 2.) Silent Night – for those times when you simply bring the teens in front of the Blessed Sacrament
Other than illegal hits to the head and questionable calls by referees, the most controversial part of the NFL season is a phenomenon called “Tebowing”. Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow openly proclaims his faith in interviews, post game press conferences, in coffee shops or wherever he is. After touchdowns and during particularly tense moments of games he drops to one knee, putting his fist to his forehead in what looks like a power prayer stance that people have given the nick name – “Tebowing”.
1. A teen shows up at your youth meeting one night and no one talks to them. Big Deal? or No Big Deal? 2. The internet goes down and you can’t show the youtube video you planned to show at the Life Night. Big Deal? or No Big Deal? 3. After Mass a teen introduces you to their parent who had been away from the Church for the past 10 years. Big Deal? or No Big Deal? 4. You get called out by the Church’s janitor in a staff meeting for not putting the chairs back in the right closet after Bible
Virtually every superhero has some weakness that makes them weak or unable to perform. For Superman it is Kryptonite: a rock-like green substance from his homeland that causes him to lose all super powers. A couple of weeks ago, on a flight traveling home from NCYC, I sat next to what the world would say is a highly successful businessman. We began talking about a lot of topics, including God and many other parts of life. I asked him what was the key to his success — without hesitation, he turned
Is there Parishnormal Activity happening surrounding youth ministry at your parish? – do the Knights of Columbus accuse the teens of taking all their left over ketchup packets from last year’s Parish picnic? – is the key to the closet in the Parish Hall now attached to a Hockey stick because you as youth leader forgot to put it back at 11 o’clock one Sunday night after a 14 hour day? – do the volunteers no longer invite the teens to help stuff parish bulletins ever since “the incident” of 2009? -
Ever feel like you don’t know where to start? Youth ministry at your parish needs a boost, or maybe you are getting ready to kick off youth ministry and you don’t know the first step? Well – Have you talked to Gladys? You know her – the lady who organizes the rosary prayer group at your parish. She appears mild, meek and quite harmless. Only thing is, she and her comrades of the before “Daily Mass Rosary Crew” are prayer warriors and in reality are a big part the glue that holds many parishes together
I was talking to a youth leader the other day and she lamented the fact that her parish staff didn’t respect her, in her own words, “They don’t think that youth ministry is a legitimate parish ministry.” The comment resonated with conversations with other youth leaders I have spoken with and it started me thinking. Are we as youth leaders doing anything to become better at what we are doing? Are we giving the people around us reason to believe that we are serious about being excellent at youth ministry? By
The past few months people keep sending me planking photos. Planking is an activity or game consisting of lying face down in an unusual or incongruous location. The hands must touch the sides of the body and having a photograph of the participant taken and posted on the internet is an integral part of the game. Players compete to find the most unusual and original location in which to play. The term planking refers to mimicking a wooden plank. Many participants in planking have photographed the
Are you heading to World Youth Day in Madrid this year? Do you wish you were heading to World Youth Day? Either way, you are going to get a chance to experience Life Teen at World Youth Day this year. Life Teen has a big event planned as a part of World Youth Day. Over the past few months we’ve been working with the WYD organizing committee in Madrid to coordinate what will arguably be the biggest XLT of the year at World Youth Day! Our event is the evening of August 18th, immediately following
1.) You and your team are praying everyday for the teens you serve 2.) Hospitality toward teens and their families is overflowing 3.) Continually improving the teen Liturgy is a main focus 4.) There is a core team of adults who laugh, pray together, evangelize and spend relational ministry time with teens 5.) Each meeting you have with teens is treated like it’s another major event 6.) Teens are listened to 7.) Ministry is heading deeper rather than wider (your focused on taking what you are