“Youth Ministers: Working With Your Pastor”, April 2011

In youth ministry, there is no more important relationship than the one between the Pastor and the Youth Minister. Here are some ideas to help that relationship grow stronger.

“Sharing the Gospel Message with Adolescents”, October 2010 and January 2011

What is the heart of the Gospel Message? This two-part article takes a look at how using the four reasons for the Incarnation can be a great way to explain the Gospel Message to Teenagers.

“An Organic and Comprehensive Ministry to Youth”, July 2010

The eight components of youth ministry shouldn’t be understood (or implemented) as if they are free-standing or have equal weight. To be effective, we have to understand the organic unity that comprehensive youth ministry strives for.

“Ministering to Youth in a Media-Saturated Culture”, April 2010

New surveys say that teens spend more time with media than adults do at work, and they don’t take weekends off. Kids are not consuming media, media is consuming them.

“From Education to Transformation”, January 2010

St. John Bosco new the difference between teaching youth and leading youth into holiness. Do we?

“Unfair Advantage”, July 2009

Sometimes we get so concerned with being “fair” that we spread ourselves out too thin and nothing gets done. We should do what Jesus did.

“Soul Searching for Youth Ministers”, April 2009

What is the “creed” of the typical American teenager? You might be surprised.

“Communicating Our Love for Adolescents”, January 2009

Applying “The Five Love Languages” in our ministry for youth.

“Ministering to Millenials”, October 2008

We can’t do ministry to the way we were, or recreate our own ministry experience. We have to speak to the way youth are today.

“Helping Youth Encounter Christ in the Gospels”, July 2009

The best way to bring teens into deeper intimacy with Jesus is to encounter Him in the Gospels. Here are some ways to do that.

“Christ’s Invitation to Young People”, April 2008

As catechists, we must resist the temptation to water down Christ’s radical call of holiness and sainthood.

“The Missionary Nature of Youth Catechesis”, January 2008

When we deal with young people, we are missionaries to a foreign culture.

“Developmental Issues in Youth Catechesis”, October 2007

We are not speaking to small versions of adults. We need to understand basic adolescent development so we can better communicate with teens.

“A New Pentecost for Catechesis”, October 2007\

We must call upon the Holy Spirit to bring a new “catechetical dynamism” in ministry today.

“The Sower” is a quarterly catechetical journal that serves today’s catechetical leaders. The Sower breaks open the sources of the Faith, namely, Scripture, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the General Directory for Catechesis, and other relevant church documents in the area of evangelization and catechesis. I’ve had the privilege of writing about “Youth and Young Adult Catechesis” as a regular feature of the magazine.

Formed Magazine serves all those who work with teens, helping to equip them to be stronger, healthier, and more knowledgeable ministers; to be reminded regularly of the power and the aim behind the work we do.

Formed Magazine is a bi-monthly publication specifically for Catholic Youth Ministers. This magazine is for diocesan directors, full-time and part-time youth ministers, campus ministers, volunteer youth ministers, teachers, pastors, or anyone who works with youth.

“The Importance of Studying Youth Culture”, January 2010

The culture changes to constantly to ever feel we know it all. Here are some ways to stay on top of it.

“Avoiding Burnout In Youth Ministry”, June 2010

We are all called to be on fire with the Holy Spirit. But if we’re not careful, we can burn with a worldly fire that only causes us to burn out. Here’s some clues on how to know the difference.

When Christ was on the cross...

where was Simon Peter?

Between the Savior and the Sea tells the Gospel story through Simon Peter’s eyes. It not only brings to life the famous moments of the Gospels, it also goes where they are silent: What miracles occurred when Simon Peter and the other disciples were sent off two by two? How did he know that Jesus was the Christ? And what was he thinking when he denied him? Led to experience things beyond his wildest imagination, Simon Peter felt torn between being a fisherman and a “fisher of men,” caught between the Savior and the sea.