National Youth Leaders’ Summit 2013

May 20, 2013 in Global Youth Ministry, Leadership, YMI with 0 Comments


This past weekend was PULSO, the National Youth Leaders’ Summit hosted by “Especialidades Juveniles”, the Spanish branch of Youth Specialties, an organization dedicated to training youth workers (similar to Youth Ministry International).

Since we have the same vision, I participate in the team that organizes the event. This year, like last year, my job was to organize the break out sessions. There were 28 “workshops” during the two days. My job was to think up titles and take care of the logistics of that part of the event. It went well.

I also taught a 2 hour course at the event about my new book “Corre para Ganar.” The book is about Running to win in youth ministry and talks about 5 disciplines that each youth leader can develop in order to reach the goal of youth ministry. It went well, and I had a great time teaching it.

One of my favorite parts of the Summit was seeing Kareny and Karyna, 2 of our graduates leading their own workshops. Kareny, who graduated last year, was teaching about leading your group to serve your community. As I listened to her share, I had to step out of the room because God was allowing me to see the realization of a dream.

We are in Mexico to train others so they can train others. I was almost moved to tears when I realized that seeing our graduates teach is exactly what He has planned from the beginning. I am so impressed with their ability to lead a youth ministry and communicate timeless truths to the next generation. Not only that, but God has placed within them the desire to see other youth pastors and leaders raised up to lead the next generation.

I am very proud of all of our graduates, and I am excited to see how God uses them in the future.

Global Day of Prayer for the World’s Youth

April 29, 2013 in Prayer, YMI with 0 Comments


We recently received this letter from Randy Smith, the president of Youth Ministry International, and we’d like to share it with you. It’s about a special day of prayer this Sunday, May 5, for the youth of the world. Will you join us?

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Happy Easter 2013!

March 31, 2013 in Family with 2 Comments


Happy Easter! We had a great day at church this morning. Then we had lunch with some friends, watched some basketball (sorry Duke and Florida lost), and had some other friends and their kids over to hunt Easter eggs.

We hope you had a great day, too.

National Youth Leaders’ Summit

March 14, 2013 in Center for YM, Global Youth Ministry, Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

For the third straight year I will be participating in the National Youth Leaders’ Summit in Mexico City from May 17-18. It’s an honor to be able to help plan and then teach at one of the largest gatherings of youth leaders in the country.

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Jumping Around

March 5, 2013 in Family with 0 Comments

We’ve wanted to get the kids a playground or swingset or something, but our backyard is so small that there’s not enough room for something like that. So when we saw a miniature trampoline at Sam’s Club, we knew we should get it for them.

We first saw it about a year ago, and we’ve been putting it off and putting it off.

Today we finally broke down and got it for them. They’re so cute on it. It will probably keep them busy for a long time.

Here’s a tweet I sent out with a quick video of them…


Testimony from our Book of Lessons “Reaction”

March 4, 2013 in Center for YM, Global Youth Ministry, YMI with 1 Comment

ReAcción, the book we published with four Bible study lessons for youth groups, has been downloaded more than 1000 times since July 2012. The other day, I received the following testimony from Kelly a youth leader in Guatemala:

“I am very happy to have found your youth ministry site, which I consider a special tool that allows us to continue in the ministry with young people. Thank you for the site.

I want to share a story from last Sunday in my church. I downloaded the book Reaccion, and I taught the first lesson last Sunday. When I finished teaching my class, I asked all the young people who was sure who Jesus was. Most of them responded that they were sure they knew Him, but there were some who responded, “no.” Right then I talked with them and invited them to receive Jesus, and one of the girls gave her heart to Christ. It was something very special, and I was so happy because of the decision she made. I will continue with the others so that they can all have an encounter with Jesus in their lives.

God is using the lesson series, and it brings us joy to be able to empower youth leaders to guide young people towards Jesus. Who knows how many other stories there are like this. Thank you for your support of our ministry.

We are working on publishing several other projects that will help youth leaders all over the world.

How to Organize Youth Camps

March 3, 2013 in Center for YM, YMI with 0 Comments

I started teaching a new Certificate class yesterday. It is called “How to Organize Youth Camps.” It’s a fun class that has a final project where the students have to organize a retreat for the class. It’s a fun way to spend time together and learn some skills. Some of our students have never been to a camp!

This week we started off by talking about the Biblical reasons for camps. We started by talking about how connected our young people are. They have notifications flying at them all day, and they never really get a chance to be still.

In contrast, there is a clear Biblical mandate to “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Our purpose for using camps and retreats is to allow people to be still and know that He is God. Unfortunately, even much of what we do in church is a stark contrast to being able to be still. We keep ourselves busy with activities thinking that they will bring us closer to God (and many of them will) at the expense of taking time to be still. I hope to convey this to the class during the camps course. I think they got it today.

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