Over the next several weeks I'm walking students through some introductory studies on various world religions.  Up first this weekend is a study on Islam.  I'd love to share the Powerpoint presentation I'm using with you - feel free to make adjustments to fit your context or comment this post or e-mail me with questions!

Click here to download the Powerpoint file.  (Note - you WILL have to play with the fonts if you don't have the same ones I used installed on your computer.  They are called "Apple Chancery" and "STEAK".)

Click right here to listen to/download the message from this week's IMPACT youth service.  Great kick-off to our series!

You can listen to the message from this week's IMPACT youth service by clicking right here!  Comments/feedback welcome!

This weekend I'm teaching students on the question "Can we know that God exists?"  Tough topic, to be sure!  In my preparation I sat down today and watched the pilot for the Discovery Channel's new show "Curiosity" featuring Stephen Hawking answering a similar question.

Of course, Hawking's final thesis was that no, God does not exist.  Though I think the guy is INSANELY brilliant, I could go on and on about why I think his logic on this is flawed (check out my Facebook statuses from earlier today!).  But more importantly than that, I was reminded how important it is for us in YM to help our students navigate through some of the conflicting ideas that are out there regarding the existence of God and our ability to know Him.

I know it can be intimidating for the average youth minister to teach or lead discussions on this topic.  But take heart!  There are lots of great resources out there for you.  One of my new favorites that I led a group of middle school, high school, and college students through early this year is called True U: Does God Exist.

This is a fantastic video-based study that our students absolutely loved!  WARNING - some of the information can go a little over a middle schooler's (or a youth pastor's!) head, but I told my students to not worry about the information as much as the ideas.  Go for the big picture stuff, so to speak.  Check out the trailer below for True U and click right here to check out the website.

This is really important stuff - ask your students what conflicting worldviews they face when it comes to the existence of God, and then help them strengthen their faith by talking about and teaching on those issues!

You can listen to last night's IMPACT youth message by clicking right here.  Enjoy!

"I don't want to talk about You, like You're not in the room; want to look right at You, sing right to You."

So good!

A few years ago I sat down and did some math.  If a student in our youth ministry comes to every program/service we offer during a week (including "big church") from the time they start 6th grade to the time they graduate high school - that's roughly 4 hours a week for 6 years - we get about 1% of their time in middle and high school.

Whoa.

What are we doing with that 1%?

That's my kid!  :)

This blog isn't that great.  Seriously.  I love writing it, and I love connecting with others in youth ministry through it, but there ARE some really good YM blogs out there!

One of them is DougFields.com.  Do I even need to tell you who DF is?  If you're here, chances are you know already.  Of course, his blog is full of great stuff, and you should stop hanging around this janky site and head over to his - RIGHT NOW!