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Tag Archives: Mission

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Life Teen @ World Youth Day 2011 – Madrid, Spain

By | July 29, 2011

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

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The Mission Beyond the Trip

By | May 30, 2011

I never wanted to go on a mission trip. I still wonder if I’m crazy to be excited about spending a week at an orphanage for handicapped and disabled children in the heart of a third world country – in a building with no screens, not nearly enough fans, no TV or internet, and water that we can’t drink. I know my mom still thinks I’m nuts… Well Mom, you can thank Justin. Life Teen was running a mission trip for youth ministers, and Justin, who lives in New Mexico talked me into going –

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The Case for Unassuming Youth Ministry

By | May 19, 2011

The most effective parish youth ministries maintain what I call an “unassuming youth ministry” stance. This means that they know they need to re-earn attention, re-earn loyalty, and reconnect with teens and parents as if every day is the first day they started the ministry at the parish. Signs that We Have an Assuming Youth Ministry: – We start feeling successful or assume we are the only choice for teens. – We start comparing and assuming youth ministry at our parish as better than what

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Vibrant Youth Ministry Equals A Vibrant Parish

By | May 10, 2011

I’ve heard of recent surveys of “non practicing” Catholics tell an alarming statistic regarding the future involvement in the Catholic faith for current teens who are not involved in their parish during high school. Surveys are saying that only 3 to 10 percent of high school aged Catholic teens who are not active in some way with their parishes will become active Catholics in later years. In other words, for parishes that are waiting for people to get involved when they are older, the chances of

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3 Tips for Better Viral Youth Ministry Fundraising

By | April 27, 2011

We’ve all been a part of the viral video phenomenon in recent years. Justin Bieber started his career because millions of people got excited about his videos and started sharing them with their friends. It can be easy for us to get excited about online videos…but maybe not as easy to get pumped up about raising money for a good cause. In January of 2011, the Life Teen youth group at Incarnate Word parish in Chesterfield, MO set out to raise $5,000 to support an organization whose mission is

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No Static At All?

By | April 19, 2011

In the days before satellite radio and streaming music over your smart phone, there was good old AM radio. One of the features of AM radio was that the further you were away from the signal, the more static or fuzzy sounds you would hear. In the days before cable or satellite TV there was only broadcast TV with rabbit ears antennas that at times could give you a visual picture of static if you were too far from television broadcast towers. In terms of static in my spiritual journey, I have found

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Advice to Any New Youth Leader

By | April 15, 2011

After starting out by hitting my head against several brick walls in the first few months on the job as a part time parish youth leader, I wish someone had sat me down and given me advice to get off to the right start at the parish. So now 23 years in youth ministry, I have decided to write some advice for any one who’s new as a youth leader. Advice for new youth leaders: 1.) It’s Not About You, It’s About the Teens – The world and our Church has seen enough self centered leaders. We don’t

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4 Catholic Youth Ministry Trends Worth Watching!

By | February 11, 2011

A few trends I am observing in Catholic Youth Ministry – let me know in the comments section if there are any more you think should be included.

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5 Creative Ways to Avoid Your Ministry Becoming Irrelevant to Teens

By | January 31, 2011

Ever wonder if you are losing your touch or if the teens you are reaching out to are finding the ministry irrelevant for the world they live in? Here are 5 creative ways to avoid your ministry becoming irrelevant to teens -

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Move That Bus! 3 Elements of a Catholic Youth Ministry Makeover

By | December 28, 2010

What if you could take a week long break with your family and go to Disneyworld while a team of youth ministry “guru’s” came in and did an extreme makeover of youth ministry at your parish? When you returned and yelled – “Move that bus!”, and the bus rolled away – what would be different?