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Introductions!

Hello!! Glad to have you here. Let me tell you a bit about myself.

I am currently volunteering as the interim youth director at my local congregation. Their previous director had to leave unexpectedly due to family illness. I had been working with the youth group as a student previously, and began leading them at the beginning of March, 2016. I was youth director at my previous congregation for 3 years. We'll see where all of that takes me in the coming weeks.

I am part of the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America). I received my seminary degree in 2012 in diaconal ministry from LTSS (Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary). I have 5 units of CPE (clinical pastoral education), and therefore I am considered a clinically certified chaplain. I am currently working on obtaining a certificate in Youth and Theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.


Enough about me - what about the blog? That's the main reason you're here!

My vision for this blog is to share my ideas & thoughts, share my successes, and also share those moments of "well that didn't work well!" I'm not promising a predictable blog - ministry isn't predictable (and neither am I!) I'm very interested in intergenerational ministry. The main focus in this blog is youth, but you'll also find things about/for children, young adults, middle-aged adults, senior citizens, and whoever doesn't happen to fit into those categories.

I hope this blog aids you in your own ministry - whatever that ministry looks like. We're all in this together.


Learn and grow in God with me!

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Hidden Crosses

One thing that's been catching my eye in worship lately has been just how many hidden crosses there are in just the sanctuary. I want to know how many crosses the youth see in the worship space. I want them to look beyond the purposeful and obvious crosses. After we tally the crosses we've spotted, we would head to the youth room. Once we are settled in the room, the first question I have for the youth is "What does it mean that there we found more crosses when we started to look for them?" I plan to focus on how Jesus can be found in the unexpected places. My second question for the youth is "Who is Jesus?" Have them write their answers, so no one is influenced by others' answers. Each youth will then open their Bible to Matthew 25:34-40 . I will have two volunteers read all the way through - one after the other. More questions for the youth: Who is hungry near you? How can you feed them? Is it possible someone is spiritually hungry

Thoughts and looking forward

It's been a bit since I've posted. Last week, I was away from the youth group for Princeton Seminary's Institute of Youth Ministry's annual forum. I got to hear from some amazing, brilliant people who really have a heart and understanding for youth ministry. I'm still processing it all! That will be another post, though. The week before, the youth had a jam-packed Wonderful Wednesday. It was our turn for clean-up after the meal. I didn't realize it would take quite as long as it did. That's one of my shortcomings - judging the amount of time it will take to do anything. I'd be chronically late to new places if it weren't for GPS telling me exactly how long it will take me to drive! I digress. We cleaned every pot, pan, knife, and spoon in the kitchen, as well as the tables and anything else we could get our hands on! I say we ... Really, the youth did most of the work.  Photo source: Cliparts After all of that cleaning, we played with the

Easter Egg Dyeing Party - Reflections

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