A new adventure

Today I finished my tenure at Decatur Middle School, where I taught general music for nine years. I love my job! I love the relationships that have been developed with the staff. Over this period of time I have also come to realize that I love middle school students too.
What [...]

What if nothing works (part ii)?

Why is this happening?
That’s where we left it with part 1 of the post. On to part 2…
Our culture has changed and many of our methods have not. We have to take responsibility as educators and youth workers for what we need to do differently and what we need to do better. [...]

What if nothing works (part i)?

There has been a lot of talk in different places lately about the idea that youth ministry isn’t working as well as it should anymore. For the most part, this idea has been promoted because so many youth are leaving the church when they leave high school.
Some people suggest that people are leaving [...]

Pet Peeves #2: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I’ve been teaching and working with youth for almost 10 years now and there is a comment that almost never fails to take me by surprise.
What is the comment? It goes something like this…
“I’ll show them respect when they show me respect!”
I’m always taken a little off guard by that comment [...]

A few of the things I have been learning…

1. Tennis, youth ministry, and teaching school should not be done at the same time. I absolutely love doing what I do but it is so draining! It also takes its toll on me and my family.
2. Certain kinds of plastics leach harmful chemicals. I guess I knew that but I haven’t [...]