Writing & Resources

YOUTHSTORY

Writing & Resources

Exploring teenagers, culture, faith, leadership, and the church. New writing alongside selected resources and stories from the YouthStory archive.

CURRENT SERIES
Artificial Generation
ARTIFICIAL GENERATION · PART ONE

A New Kind of Fake Friend?

What happens when teenagers begin practicing relationship with something that can offer attention, advice, affirmation, and companionship without needing a relationship from them in return?

READ PART ONE →
FEATURED WRITING

Ideas, stories, and ministry reflections.

CALLING & LEADERSHIP · 2014

A Calling Lived Out

An early reflection on ministry, visibility, leadership, and learning that calling is bigger than being the person on the stage.

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TEENAGERS & RELATIONSHIPS · 2013

Middle School Problems: Friendship

Friendship, sacrifice, forgiveness, boundaries, and helping teenagers understand what healthy relationships actually require.

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FAITH IN ACTION · 2020

The Spirit of Nashville

A firsthand journal from five days of serving after the 2020 Middle Tennessee tornadoes.

READ ARTICLE →
FROM THE ARCHIVE

Fifteen years of YouthStory.

YouthStory began as a place to think publicly about student ministry. These selected pieces preserve some of that journey as it was happening.

2011

To The Garden

Turning a youth room into a garden to help students experience the message, not simply hear it.

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2011

Music To Their Eyes

An early reflection on influence, witness, and the idea that teenagers are watching the lives of the adults teaching them.

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2012

Can You Spot the Kingdom?

A ski-trip message about finding the Kingdom and then discovering our place within it.

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2013

Life with God

A ministry journal from the middle of a major transition in church, work, education, family life, and calling.

READ →
2013

SOCI@L

A three-message series built around the difference between simply “liking” Jesus and actually following Him.

READ →
2013

Message of the Day

More than programming. More than events. A short reflection on relational ministry and why every student matters.

READ →
MINISTRY RESOURCES

Built to be used.

NYC23 · FAMILY DEVOTIONAL

NYC23 Student / Parent Devotional · Week 1

A family devotional exploring Eden, spiritual dryness, purpose, and what it means for God's life to overflow through us.

OPEN RESOURCE →
NYC23 · FAMILY DEVOTIONAL

NYC23 Student / Parent Devotional · Week 2

A family devotional connecting Jacob's well, Jesus and the Samaritan woman, living water, and calling.

OPEN RESOURCE →
YOUTH MINISTRY RESOURCE · 2012

How to Build a Carpetball Table

The long-running YouthStory build guide for one of youth ministry's most unnecessarily large games.

VIEW INSTRUCTIONS →
NAZARENE YOUTH CONFERENCE

NYC through the years.

YouthStory includes stories, devotionals, resources, and reflections connected to Nazarene Youth Conference across multiple generations of the event. I'm continuing to organize that collection into one place.

KEEP EXPLORING

More is coming.

YouthStory has been online for more than fifteen years. I'm continuing to bring the strongest writing and ministry resources forward while preserving the story behind them.