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  • Are Your Students Prepared for School?

    By Chris Maxwell Do you hear the noise? Buses and bells. Feet walking and voices talking. Laughter and instructions and assignments and lunch. The sounds of another school year are growing louder and louder. Are your students ready—not just to attend classes, but to be fully present in the classroom, to listen carefully, to learn…  Read More

  • Sports Programming versus Youth Ministry

    By Chris Maxwell The night is almost here. You’ve spent weeks scheduling, funding, and organizing a youth ministry event for your students. Then the phone calls start coming in—from your volunteers who have to take their kids to ballgames and from key students who are playing in those same games. The lead singer of your…  Read More

  • When I Think Back to Youth Group . . .

    By Chris Maxwell Youth ministry is full of tensions: sin and redemption, conversion and rejection, addiction and transformation, community and isolation. There’s tension between the drive for approval and the drive to introduce students to Christ and his church. Often, when pushed by inner need for success or local church plans for numbers, we focus on…  Read More

  • When They Confess

    By Chris Maxwell Interview with counselor Sean Williamson What should we do when a teen meets with us to confess, “I look at porn,” “I’m having sex,” “I’m addicted to alcohol,” “I’ve been smoking,” “I’ve been cutting myself,” or “I can’t take life any longer; I’m ready to give up”? Do we tell their parents? Do we take them…  Read More

  • Youth Ministry in One Word

    By Chris Maxwell Portions of this article are from Chris’s new book, Pause for Pastors: Finding Still Waters in the Storm of Ministry. Let’s face it: youth ministry is complicated. From interactions with volunteers, students, and parents to the different hats you have to wear—speaker, business administrator, counselor, visionary—it’s easy to get lost in the minutia,…  Read More

  • Youth Worker or Dancing Bear?

    By: Chris Maxwell  Portions of this article are from Chris’s new book, Pause for Pastors: Finding Still Waters in the Storm of Ministry. I travel to and speak in many different settings. I’ve led large youth groups and small youth groups. I’ve taught in ancient sanctuaries and modern conference centers. I’ve praised through contemporary worship songs…  Read More