flashback friday (nov. 5): 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

• Spiritual Discipline & Teenagers: Know What You're Up Against
• Free Thanksgiving Lesson from ym360
• "Let's Talk": Utilizing Discussion Groups In Your Youth Group
• Stepping Back: The Importance of Evaluation In Your Youth Ministry

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.

• Adventures in Missions.com—Our friend Mike wants to know: did he do the right thing? What do you think?
• Life In The Middle—Adam writes a short post on building community in middle school small groups. The tips Adam includes would work for older students, as well. A good and short read.
• CurryStew.org—Great post from D.C. entitled "how to handle a wayward teenager." Good read.
• Like A Fire—I love the way Paul thinks about youth ministry. He actually shared this short observation with me over coffee the other morning. Glad he put it up on his blog. It's a great reminder about why NOT to feel discouraged when we aren't sure if we are getting through to our students.
• Marathon Youth Ministry.com—ym360 blog contributor, Chris Wesley, writes a very interesting post on how to prevent feedback from becoming rumors. If you've ever had a parent approach you regarding a rumor about your youth ministry, this is a beneficial article to check out.
• Jesus And Teenagers—Benjer writes a really helpful post on how to evaluate your youth ministry. He gives 5 ways that I think are pretty spot on. Worth the read.
• Reyouthpastor.com—ym360 contributor Jeremy Zach writes a post highlighting the three things he does to make sure he continues to grow as a youth pastor. Good stuff.
• More Than Dodgeball.com—A very simple and short post from Josh that I think everyone should read. Josh is leading HSM at Saddleback to do less youth group events and more youth group activities. I love the heart of what Josh is saying here.
• Rethinking Youth Ministry.com—Jacob at Rethink has written the first in a series about, in Jacob's words, "exploring how to invite Christian youth into an examination of the disturbing trend of teen bullying and its consequences." We talk so much about being "relevant" to our students. If we want to be more culturally relevant while at the same time being true to God's heart, helping our students address bullying is a great way to start.
• Youthworker.com—Doug and Matt wrote a three part series entitledisolation in an age of connection. This is the first part. It's a really fascinating series. They are easy reads and again, made me think.
• Church Leaders.com—Terrace Crawford does a great interview with Kenda Dean, author of Almost Christian. Worth a read, especially if you have not yet picked up this book, a true MUST READ for youth workers.
• Youth Ministry Geek.com—Jeremy writes about a video capturing software that you should probably really look into. It's a great solution for at least one common problem: how to show video when you know you are not going to have an internet connection.
• Youth Specialties.com—A really short post by John Huckins that offers a really cool glimpse into the observations non-churched parents have about their child's involvement in youth ministry.
• Youth Worker.com—Some good and quick youth culture updates from the guys at Youthworker Journal.
• Fuller Youth Institute.com—This is a link to the FYI E-journal. If you don't subscribe, you need to. FYI has always been an invaluable tool to me as a youth worker. If you do not receive their newsletters, I would recommend that you sign up.

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.