Hi, I’m Stacy, and I’m the parent of a middle-schooler (or 3)… Have I mentioned that I’m the youth pastor at my church, again? One of the things that I want to do differently this time around is the way we partner with parents. After all, it’s the parents who Read more…
Some of you know that I moved back into the Youth Pastor’s role at Calvary toward the end of the summer. I get to work directly with middle school and high school students, and I lead the team of adults who work with them in various capacities. It’s been quite Read more…
I’m not really a suit guy. It’s a good thing that I go to a church that isn’t a suit church. Shoot, there are lots of Sundays that I’m not even wearing shoes on stage when I lead worship. But over the last few days I’ve gotten my money’s worth Read more…
Our middle school students are out of school tomorrow. That’s cause for celebration. So we extended our middle school ministry tonight, offering a pile of games from 8-10. We called it XStended XStream, and it was a hit. We had active competitive games, quiet games, sports games, mind games, games Read more…
I’m pretty sure it was about 6th grade. We had recently moved to Georgia, fleeing the floodwaters of New Orleans. My friend David sent me off with the following: I hope the devil doesn’t come back to GA, cause you can’t play the fiddle. I was fairly certain that there Read more…
well, no one actually lost an eye tonight at XStream, but we did have our first spillage of blood. I’m a youth pastor with 20+ years of experience. I know how to lead games with students. I know when things are clicking and when they’re a flop. I know how Read more…
No, this is not the usual 80’s music post, although I have been listening to Eric Carmen lately. Did you know that his first 2 hits were based on Rachmaninoff pieces? True story. Ask Caleb Rebarchak. But that’s not my point. I just completed my first week back in the Read more…
A parent sent me an email yesterday. One of the young ladies in our ministry has been in the hospital, and this parent thought it would be a good idea to gather some people to pray. She emailed some of the families in their lifegroup and got some positive responses, Read more…
Destination Unknown is in the books for another year. Sara Pensyl really outdid herself, planning a stellar trip. I don’t think any of the high school students knew where we were headed until they started seeing road signs on the way. We jumped on a bus in Happy Valley and Read more…
Having spent most of my adult life in youth ministry, I’ve learned the value of improvising and adapting. You won’t always have the budget to buy the gear you need, so you might have to figure out a way to make things work. Like these guys Getting it done with Read more…