If you are anything like me, I bet a ton of questions filled your heart and mind when you woke up on Monday, February 11, 2013 to the shocking news that Pope Benedict XVI was resigning as Bishop of Rome. My mind was racing . . . Is Pope Benedict seriously ill? Can a Pope resign? What? Why? How?
I know I was not alone in these questions but when I took the time to read Pope Benedict’s resignation statement I was comforted by his humility, vulnerability, and fearlessness.
I never wanted to take my teens to summer camp, especially at Tepeyac. But after seeing the many ways God moved in my teens’ souls, I would do it again in a heartbeat. I request to host a week every year at Tepeyac and am excited to do so again this year. I’d love to have you and your teens join us for one of our four weeks at Tepeyac. Would you consider joining us? It could be one of the most transformational decisions you ever make for your youth ministry.
Every four months I get to do something amazing along with the rest of our Life Teen staff: We put together and ship Life Support boxes to over 1300 parishes worldwide. It is an incredible experience watching the blessings and fruits of prayer, hard work, and a great team come together in these boxes. I also have a lot of fun thinking about how parishes are going to implement the resources we send, and waiting to hear some glory stories back in the months that follow. Of course, some of the
11 years ago the Life Teen Board of Directors voted to purchase a camp in the North Georgia mountains called “Covecrest”. At the time we were excited about owning a camp, but the reality was that we had just put a lot on the line as the camp was only about 25% funded at the time. To top that off the camp had run in a deficit situation for the previous 15 years. At the time many diocese were looking to get out of camps and retreat centers. Carelessness or Divine Providence? Turns out the decision
As corny as the jokes may be, I learned several years ago that they can be an effective way of breaking the ice in an otherwise awkward group of middle school and high school teenagers. After all, nothing says, “I’m way more goofy than you are,” than a really bad joke with a cheesy punch line.
So this one is for all of you comedians turned youth ministers, keep up with the bad jokes. Trust me, one day you are going to overhear that teen who stared at you blankly telling one of his friends, “Okay, so two fish were in a tank . . . ”
And if they can remember a cheesy joke like that, just think about what they’ll remember about Jesus.
Hi Everyone! This Friday, February 1 at 10:00am Eastern, the following events open for registration: Catholic Youth Ministry Training Convention Life Teen Leadership Conference (Feb 1 Update, 12:38 PM – If this page doesn’t look right in your web browser, you can skip directly to Begin Online Registration) Steubenville West Steubenville East Steubenville Atlanta Select Empower Regional Trainings In addition, all paperwork will be available, including summer camp paperwork.
Our first Life Night is about modern idolatry. When teenagers hear about an “idol” they probably are thinking about Phillip Phillips or Jordin Sparks, not about a golden statue of a foreign god. Teenagers have plenty of idols that they do worship, though they are not made of gold or stone. Popularity, money, and relationships all can become an “idol” to a teenager when they put those things above God.
This Life Night challenges teenagers to honestly examine their lives and discern how they have put created things above the creator, and how to reprioritize their lives to put God before all else.
Law of Audio / Visual – After you spend hours editing your latest video the bulb on the video projector decides it’s time to die or the audio feed decides it’s time not to work resulting in a silent film portrayal. Law of Gravity – Any banner, sign, decoration or prop we attempt to attach with duct tape, scotch tape or string will inevitably fall at the most inopportune moment of our retreat or session. Law of Probability – The probability of our pastor walking in is directly proportional
I think we’ve all seen them. You know . . . the holy people. And we always want to be more like them – we want to be the prayer warriors, the people that are in church, praying our rosaries, hanging out with Jesus in the Adoration chapel, learning scripture and reading spiritually inspiring books.
Well, here we are. Every youth minister’s favorite time of year: Spring – when Proms seem to happen every weekend, Spring Breaks feel like they last for the entire semester, and youth group numbers tend to plummet faster than stock in Facebook.
I always dreaded the Spring Semester, and the same questions seemed to always arise:
How come so many teens stopped showing up?
Have we taken a step back since Fall?
Is this really worth it?
The teens and parents don’t seem to appreciate all my work. Is it time to quit?