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Tag Archives: Core Team

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Parishnormal Activity

By | October 31, 2011

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? -

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Drafting Your Fantasy Core Team

By | September 6, 2011

I love NFL football. I love the drama, the intensity, and the way every single game matters to the outcome of the season. Next to the Packers, my favorite thing about the NFL season is fantasy football. As I sat making my picks for my first draft the other day, I realized that building a quality youth ministry Core Team can be a lot like building the perfect fantasy football team.

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10 Reasons Why Youth Ministry is Going to Thrive at Your Parish

By | July 28, 2011

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

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The Multiple Levels of Face Recognition

By | July 27, 2011

Ok, I’ll admit it, I am a fan of technology and how it can impact youth ministry. Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook have all recently introduced more and more advanced face recognition technologies that have the potential to revolutionize the web once again. The way it works is that through now common digital photos, the computer analyzes facial characteristics and matches them with other photos. The result is pictures of the persons face can be identified in photos other than the one the software

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A Core Member’s Plea

By | July 25, 2011

Ever read something that immediately was a gut check for you? Perusing my email inbox, I came across a message from a core member that I felt not only her youth minister needed to read, but all of us in youth ministry could benefit from. Here is the core members unedited letter. I am a CORE member at a parish in California and this may be a rant but most of all it’s a PLEA! Our parish is huge and the life teen youth ministry is well known and established. The ministry has SO much potential yet.

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5 Things That Make Great Core Teams

By | July 12, 2011

Throughout my life I’ve been on a lot of teams. There have been baseball teams, basketball teams, and now that I’m old – slow-pitch softball teams. Some of these teams I’ve played for and others I’ve coached, but perhaps my favorite team was my youth ministry Core Team. There are few things more rewarding than working together with other dedicated Catholics to lead teenagers closer to Christ. As you take time to evaluate your ministry this summer, consider these 5 things that make great Core Teams.

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7 Things Parents Won’t Tell You

By | May 27, 2011

Unlike most parents of teens who go to work each day in some secular job, I spend my days talking with priests, DRE’s, diocesan directors, youth leaders, teens and our amazing staff at Life Teen sharing the privilege of serving in full time youth ministry. Like the saying goes – “do what you love to do and then get paid to do it”. Of course there are downsides to full time youth ministry as well. One of the most frequently asked questions at our youth ministry training conferences has to do with

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Keys To Being a Great Core Member

By | May 9, 2011

I was training a group of young core members when I commented about what a great looking group of young adults they were. I think I said they looked like they could be in a Gap Ad. All of a sudden one of the girl Core Members asked me “What’s the perfect core member looked like?” I thought for a second and then immediately responded – “that’s simple – the perfect Core Member looks like Jesus”. You see the world tells teens how they should look, as Core Members it’s not about how we look, it’s all

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Dealing with Broken Volunteers

By | April 11, 2011

Several years back, I had to tell a young lady that she couldn’t be on Core Team. It’s never fun to have to let a volunteer go. In my time in ministry, I have had to let go of many volunteers, for everything from being denied in the background check to them wanting to date a teen. This particular instance was the hardest, emotionally. I knew the young lady and she had many great qualities that could have benefited our ministry. She had gone through our Diocesan Background check and was given

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Why Not?

By | February 8, 2011

At times over the past few years, I have found myself serenaded by a chorus of “Why?” Why would we suggest this or that? Why did we start summer camps in the midst of a Church safe environment crisis? Why does Life Teen continue to grow even in the midst of youth ministry cutbacks in the Church? To all the members of the “Why Chorus” – I simply say you may want to change the tune to “Why Not?”