by Jason Sansbury When you’ve been in ministry long enough (and sometimes when you’re just starting out), there are certain “moments” that you’ll experience. One of those moments is when the “haters” come for you. I wish I could tell you that being in the church world and in ministry meant that you wouldn’t have […]
Editor’s Note: This letter is an excerpt from CYMT’s book Letters to a Youth Worker, edited by Mark DeVries. Dear Theologian, Yes. You are a theologian. Anytime you open the Bible and read the scriptures, anytime you talk about God or your Christian faith, you do theology. It may not be intentional, but it’s inescapable: […]
by Samantha Tidball Recently, I had a conversation with someone about his understanding of the function of church. He told me that he once heard a preacher say that the church is about saving souls. This preacher believes that if there are any activities in the church that are not about saving souls and doing […]
Jill Carr is the youth minister at White Oak Pond Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Lebanon, Mo. This is her story of how she came to be a CYMT graduate resident. Growing up on a farm and the youngest of three, our family lifestyle consisted of school, work, farm work, and church. The only social life […]
Meet Travis and Amanda Garner Travis is the Pastor of Discipleship (he just recently transitioned from being the Pastor of Student Ministries for eight+ years) at Brentwood United Methodist Church in Brentwood, Tenn. and Amanda is a Speech/Language Pathologist. The have two kids—Paxon (age 5), Asher (age 2.5)—baby number three on the way, and Snoop Dawg, […]
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth in our short series “Married/Single in Youth Ministry.” Meet Jason Sansbury Jason (far right in picture) is the Director of Youth Ministries at Bethlehem United Methodist Church in Franklin, Tenn. His mom lives in Georgia, dad lives in Texas, and he thinks his nephew and nieces are the most […]
Friends, Thank you for your investment in the Center for Youth Ministry Training. God continues to do amazing things in and through our ministry. We just returned from our first spring retreat, during which our graduate residents shared some of the ways God has been moving in their lives and through their ministries. Here are […]
You’ve planned an amazing white water rafting trip for your students. You’ve written every devotional, laid out every game, ice breaker, and small group activity. You found a rafting company that will take care of all the logistics. You put down a deposit, a non-refundable deposit. You’re so excited about what this trip is going […]
Friends, Your investment in the Center for Youth Ministry Training continues to pay huge dividends and we are grateful for your support. Recently, I was presenting the CYMT partner church program to a church in West Tennessee. As folks were arriving, one gentleman sat down and read our tagline on the screen: “Because good youth […]
As youth ministers, we often serve as change agents. We begin ministry young, idealistic, eager, and often arrogant. We work in churches that have become disconnected with the culture in which they live and we know that they need to change to survive, much less fulfill their missions. We are on the front line of […]
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