flashback friday (feb. 18): this week's links from the youth ministry blogosphere

One of the things we are committed to at ym360 is Networking. Our vision for networking is connecting you to people and organizations doing awesome youth ministry. Flashback Friday is a feature where we give you the run down of all the interesting posts from the past week in the youth ministry blogosphere. Consider it our way of keeping you connected with what is going on.

This week's posts from the ym360 Blog

• Are Short-Term Missions Relevant For Youth Ministry?
• ym360 Trends and Culture Update (Feb. 16)
• Youth Ministry And The Millennial Generation
• When Doing Nothing Is A Good Thing

Posts From Other Awesome People

We search the Internet to bring you relevant information to help you be a better youth worker. Here are some links from posts we thought were pretty great.

• Nikomas.com--Virtually everyone uses Facebook in their student ministries. Yet, I think Nikomas' take on how he uses Facebook is refreshing and instructive. Too many people use it as a bulletin board. Nikomas brings a ton of intentionality, and passes along his philosophy in some great tips.
• UthGuyTech.com--Want an awesome, easy solution for online registration for your events and trips? UthGuyTech provides a killer solution.
• The Overflow.com--Brian C. Berry articulates some very, very valuable thoughts on teaching students about sexuality and dating. Having just released Live Different: What the Bible Says About Sex and Holiness, this is a topic near and dear to our hearts. I think Brian's points here are extremely solid and worth passing along.
• More Than Dodgeball.com--Josh Griffin just returned from a mission trip with students to Kenya (one of my favorite places on earth). I loved Josh's take on the effects mission trips have on students. Short read.
• Learning My Lines.com--I admire Walt Mueller for his commitment to being a discerner of culture, and using his discernment to help educate youth workers and parents alike. I value Walt's take on Lady Gaga and what she represents for this generation of students. Give this a read, and consider passing this along to your parents.
• Marathon Youth Ministry.com--This is one of those super practical posts that Chris Wesley pounds out all the time. This post deals with how to handle disruptive students. Glad to have Chris as a ym360 Contributor.
• Life In Student Ministry.com--Tim Schmoyer has a great interview with Mark Riddle about conflict with your senior pastor. Mark will be leading a seminar at this year's SYMC on this very subject. This is a great interview, especially if you are dealing with friction with your senior leadership.
• Matt Cleaver.com--On the heels of a really nice post (10 Things Youth Ministry Needs Less), Matt writes "10 Things Youth Ministry Needs More." A good list.
• Greg Stier.org--This is a fun little post by Greg entitled "10 Reasons Churches Should Prioritize Youth Ministry."
• The Disciple Project.net--I loved this post by ym360 Contributor Paul Turner. It's all about how to get teens to buy in to pushing them to the next level.
• Being Ministry.com--This is the kind of thought-provoking post I expect from Paul Martin. Paul is a great youth ministry thinker. This post entitled, "Youth Ministry's Illegitimate Children," is sure to generate lots of conversation. 

That will do it, folks. As always, have a great weekend . . . And THANK YOU for the chance to serve you as part of the ym360 community.

Share your thoughts with the youthministry360 community:

• As usual, we want to hear your thoughts. Any particular post catch your eyes? Make you think? Did you disagree with anything? Let us know! Your voice makes the ym360 community stronger.