About Justin

Justin loves Jesus and his wife, Karena in that order. He also enjoys cycling, board games, chimichangas with cheese sauce, and his 3 daughters all have him wrapped around their little fingers.

10 Marks of a Successful Youth Ministry

April 27, 2012 by Justin Leave a Comment

I recently spent the weekend at Impact Student Ministries of First Baptist Church of Vandalia, OH. I had the honor of being their guest speaker for a DiscipleNOW weekend they call “Morphis.” Dale and Christa Puckett have led the youth there for 3 years and what I saw in my time with them was nothing short of fascinating. Psalm 115:1 “Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to Your Name be the glory, for Your mercy (love) and Your truth (faithfulness).” Success in youth ministry is not quantified by numbers, but rather by fruit. A youth ministry will not bear fruit unless it is Jesus centered. This is not an exhaustive list. However, here are 10 marks of a successful youth ministry, as evidenced by what I saw at FBCV: A team mindset – the small group leaders at Impact serve joyfully. They know they are part of the team. Dale & Christa do not micromanage them, they trust that they will minister well to …
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Filed Under: General, Gospel, YM Advice Tagged With: adolescence, church, conferences, gospel, grace, leadership development, making disciples, missional, parents, preaching, relationships, service, team, worship, youth group, youth ministry

The conference by youth workers for youth workers

March 30, 2012 by Justin Leave a Comment

I spent March 2 - 5, 2012 at the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Louisville, KY. This was my first time attending SYMC, and I wasn't sure what to expect. The brochure offered "Time to BREATHE. REFUEL YOUR MIND. REFRESH YOUR HEART. REJUVENATE YOUR SOUL." What I experienced was nothing short of what was advertised. My purpose for attending the conference was to see how YouthHOPE can be involved - to learn and see what other organizations are doing in the area of global youth. I was extremely blessed by the presence of an organization called HeartWork. Their exhibit looped a video that I could not stop watching - see for yourself here - it's a beautiful example of God's heart for the nations and how He can use youth to make a difference in the world. Two things really impressed me about SYMC: 1) It was Jesus-centered. So much of what was brought forth from the platform in the general sessions pointed …
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Filed Under: Conferences, General Tagged With: Christ, conferences, global youth worker, partners, youth ministry

24/7 Global Youth Ministry

March 19, 2012 by Justin Leave a Comment

We've all heard that youth ministry requires a 24 hour a day, 7 day a week commitment, but imagine this: You plan a youth event in your home. You invite teens, make food, pick out games/activities and everything is set. The youth arrive and have an amazing time. Ministry happens, fun happens and relationships are built. 4 hours later, the party ends and none of the high school boys leave. They don't leave because they live with you. All. The. Time. In 1997, Matt and Jan King left their home in the US to go and serve at the Rift Valley Academy in Kenya, Africa. The current student body of nearly 500 includes more than 20 different nationalities. The families these students represent serve with 80 mission organizations in over 20 African countries. The King family committed to a 4 year term, and are still serving there 14 years later. In addition to teaching, and raising 4 kids of their own, they are dorm parents to 22 …
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Filed Under: Global Youth Worker Stories, YM Advice Tagged With: Bible College, holistic needs, Kenya, mission work, missionary kids, relationships, youth group, youth ministry

Rap, tats and slang

February 27, 2012 by Justin Leave a Comment

I came across an Associated Press article written a few months ago, entitled "US military legacy rubs off on Iraqi youth." The article highlights how 8,000,000 "Iraqis - a quarter of the population - have been born since the US led invasion of 2003 and nearly half the country is under the age of 19." In 2010, the population of Iraq was 32 million people. That means that there are 16 million under the age of 19. It would stand to reason that half of these are likely teenagers. Roughly 8 million youth in a country that is predominantly Muslim. 96.85% according to the most recent Operation World text. While the US military spent the past 8 years fighting for apparent freedom, the negative influence on youth was "hip-hop styles, tough-guy mannerisms, and slangy English patter." That means that they have heard of Eminem and 50 Cent, seen the Twilight movies, but have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This reminds me of …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Gospel Tagged With: adolescence, Christ, church, education, global needs, gospel, iraq, relationships, youth

The secularization of America continues…

January 30, 2012 by Justin Leave a Comment

I love meeting new people and spending time with the elderly. They are never short on stories of "the way things once were." My former pastor, Gary Buchman, used to tell me stories about reciting the 23rd Psalm in public school every morning. Prayer in schools in America was common for decades and wasn't just something that the religious right endorsed. It's been 12 years since I surrendered my life to Jesus as a teenager. I was 17 when God gave me "eyes to see and ears to hear." Over time I began to develop a Christian worldview and have seen the secularization of America increase ever since. From businesses requiring their employees to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas," to the countless debates and attempts by the ACLU to remove the 10 commandments from courthouses, surely "because lawlessness abounds, the love of many [has] grown cold." (Matthew 24:12) Recently I came across this article on msnbc …
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Filed Under: General, Gospel Tagged With: Christ, current events, gospel, prayer, youth, youth ministry

God can use a piece of wood to save people

November 12, 2011 by Justin 2 Comments

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to attend the 2011 Skate and Action Sports Conference at Calvary Chapel, in Ft. Lauderdale, FL. The conference, founded by Toni & Uli Frallicciardi (Ramp48 skatepark), brought together over 100 leaders from skate ministries across the country. The speakers for the conference were Pastor Alistair Begg, sk8 evangelist Brian Sumner, freestyle pro skater and preacher Tim Byrne, pro surfer Bryan Jennings, Calvary Chapel pastors: Raul Ries, Chet Lowe and more! The worship was led by the incredible Oceans Edge Band. Three months prior to going, I didn't even know about the conference. I was overjoyed, however, when Habacuc & Liz Diaz-Ramos (global youth workers, founders of UrbanAction) asked me to attend and set up a booth on their behalf. As I was planning for the conference, I wondered who would be a good person to have work the booth with me? The first person that God brought …
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Filed Under: Conferences Tagged With: Brian Sumner, Chile, skateboarding, Tim Byrne, Urban Action

Doers of the Word, not hearers only

October 28, 2011 by Justin Leave a Comment

Dr. David Livermore and Dr. Terry Linhart's latest book, What Can We Do? released last month. This text aims to provide youth ministers with practical ways they can get their teens putting their faith into action. Fostering a global conscience has come to permeate the ethos of evangelical youth ministry in the past few years. A timely release, What Can We Do? follows the authors' Global Youth Ministry (YS Academic) book, which contains stories of youth workers reaching youth around the world. In What Can We Do?, the authors advocate for churches to be at the forefront of offering solution-oriented responses to how youth can make a difference today. Packed with case studies, you read real-life scenarios from youth around the world as the authors weave the stories into their teaching contained in each chapter. See, Learn, and Serve are the 3 sections of this text as the authors remind us how "twenty years ago, most North American …
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Filed Under: Media Reviews Tagged With: culture, resources, youth ministry

Machine Gun Preacher – Movie review

October 15, 2011 by Justin 5 Comments

Saturday, my friend, Jimmy Akers & I went to see the movie: Machine Gun Preacher (releasing nationwide November 2nd). Being a Christian, Global Youth Worker, and someone who has a heart for orphaned youth in Africa, I have to be honest...the movie was extremely tough to watch. It starts out with the Lord's Resistance Army slaughtering children brutally in a scene that is way too graphic and sadly, accurate. They force a young boy to beat his mother to death with a club in order to see what he is made of. The movie tells the real life story of Sam Childers, who has dedicated the past decade of his life to rescue children from Joseph Kony’s LRA of Southern Sudan. After the gory opening scene, the next scene you see is Sam (played by 300’s Gerard Butler) being released from prison while telling the guards to “go-f-themselves” and then he has sex with his wife in their car. After returning home, you watch him …
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Filed Under: Global Needs, Newsworthy Tagged With: media, Uganda, youth ministry

Idolatry sells

September 13, 2011 by Justin 1 Comment

Idolatry comes in many forms. The worship of nature is idolatry. There's hero worship. Then, there's the worship of created things. The New Testament includes coveting in idolatry also (Matt. 6:24). Recently, a South Carolina teen brought my attention to a new TV commercial put out by Scion - a car brand backed by Toyota. He posted on facebook, " After seeing the new Scion commercial, I know now never to buy one." Of course this sparked my attention. The ad in question features a caricature of the false god, Zeus. He opens with, "They call me Zeus because I'm the God of the gods. You know what else I'm the god of? Awesome." The Scion vehicle is a low-end automobile - marketed specifically toward youth. Scions are known for bright colors, loud stereos and tricked out features. Scion bills Zeus as the "creator of the High Voltage Scion tC." Some will view this commercial and shrug it off. Some will …
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Filed Under: Gospel, Newsworthy Tagged With: gospel, youth ministry

A Youth Resistance Against Injustice

September 8, 2011 by Justin Leave a Comment

What would it look like for your youth group in the U.S. to have a global focus? To see youth in America impacting youth on the other side of the world? For your youth to develop relationships with kids their own age in Cambodia? …
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Filed Under: Global Needs Tagged With: awareness, global needs, Southeast Asia, youth ministry

Advertising Aside

August 28, 2011 by Justin 2 Comments

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Jesus walked into a synagogue and there was a man there "who had a withered hand." Religious people watched Jesus to see how He would respond. It was the Sabbath and they saw Jesus' healing the man as work. Jesus said to the man, "step forward." After some dialogue with the religious people, Jesus looked at the man, and said, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other. (This story comes from Mark 3:1-5) Fast forward 2,000 or so years, to the story of a British youth, Matthew James. Recently, Matthew wrote a letter to a professional Mercedes race car team. Now, the 14-year-old is now the proud wearer of "the most advanced prosthetic limb in the world" valued at around $57,000. Today, advertising is everywhere. Would Mercedes have helped the boy without putting their logo on the bionic hand? Only God knows. It is admirable what Mercedes did for the boy: partially …
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Filed Under: Gospel, Newsworthy Tagged With: Jesus, News

Ramadan

August 14, 2011 by Justin Leave a Comment

An intentional 30 days of prayer for over 1 billion Muslims around the world has begun. How should the Christian respond? Last night, I took my 3 daughters to our local library and my eyes were captivated by an Islamic children’s book, proudly displayed, most likely with the onset of Ramadan. The author describes a young girl going to her grandmother’s house and hearing the nearby mosque announcing “It’s time to pray, come and pray,” 5x a day. The story tracks the girl’s time with her grandma, her interest in praying, and culminates with her receiving her own special prayer clothes, prayer rug and miniature mosque figure because there is not one nearby her house. The figure is a clock that goes off and reminds her to pray and the modern Muslim prayer rugs have a compass which points the Muslim toward Mecca. This might seem like a nice story but the truth is: This. Is. Bondage. The word “islam” means, …
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Filed Under: Featured, Gospel Tagged With: Christ, gospel, prayer, unreached

Rethinking Missions While Support Raising

July 18, 2011 by Justin 2 Comments

The other night, my wife Karena and I went to the home of a dear friend of ours, Ms. Elisabeth. She grew up in Germany and has been widowed for several years now. As we spent several hours sharing about our story and vision, and asking for support, we learned a valuable lesson. During the time that we resigned from being local-church youth ministers, and just before God led us to work with YouthHOPE, we applied at several mission organizations. One was: Samaritan’s Purse. They are an International Christian relief and evangelism organization which provides spiritual and physical aid to victims of war, poverty, natural disaster, and disease. Most people, who have heard of SP, are familiar with their successful shoebox ministry: “Operation Christmas Child.” Not only was Ms. Elizabeth familiar with it, she was actually 5 years old when she received a shoebox at Christmas time. Her brother got a box as well. For …
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Filed Under: Gospel Tagged With: gospel, missiology, support raising

The Gospel Manages Our Anger

April 25, 2011 by Justin Leave a Comment

One of the most recognized names in Christian hip-hop is an artist named, Lecrae (www.reachrecords.com). If you listen to his music, you will hear theology-laced rhymes over top of some of the best beats around (DJ Official). In his song, “Anger Management,” the rapper proclaims: "The Gospel manages our anger, ya feel me? The solution is to gain a heart that's thankful for grace in Jesus Christ!” This song and lyric are so timely in my life. The phrase stood out to me immediately. I thought of Jesus, who while on the cross prayed for His accusers: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Stephen, a later disciple of Jesus prayed a similar prayer as He was persecuted through stoning. In Acts 7, we read his words to God, “Do not charge them with this sin!” Wow. I found myself asking introspectively: Do I let the Gospel manage my anger? What does that even look like? Recently, 3 …
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Filed Under: Featured, Gospel Tagged With: gospel

About Justin

10 Marks of a Successful Youth Ministry

The conference by youth workers for youth workers

24/7 Global Youth Ministry

Rap, tats and slang

The secularization of America continues…

God can use a piece of wood to save people

Doers of the Word, not hearers only

Machine Gun Preacher – Movie review

Idolatry sells

A Youth Resistance Against Injustice

Advertising Aside

Ramadan

Rethinking Missions While Support Raising

The Gospel Manages Our Anger

Blog Archives

YouthHOPE's flickr stream

Partner With Us – Fill out a Ministry Application!

Receive YouthHOPEs E-News

Newsletter Signup

Noteworthy Reads

Machine Gun Preacher – Movie review

Cambodia – Here we Come!!

Will Work for Money

Cambo Checks In Again…

Blog Posts

Recommended Blogs

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About Justin

Blog Archives

YouthHOPE's flickr stream

Partner With Us – Fill out a Ministry Application!

Receive YouthHOPEs E-News

Newsletter Signup

Noteworthy Reads

Topics of Interest

Blog Posts

Recommended Blogs