ANNOUNCING MY NEW BOOK! The Art of Forming Young Disciples
I had a “successful” youth ministry, I had everything that I believed I needed in my parish ministry to build a huge and successful ministry. And I looked at the long term results of what the youth ministry had produced over several years – discovering that only a...
St. Andrew Missionaries – 2017 in Review
Thank you! Because of your support, many teenagers are entering into the process of discipleship . Our first mission territory has been Dowling Catholic High School, in Des Moines, IA. The high school took a leap of faith and hired staff to focus on building...
October Newsletter
I was invited by Fr. John Guzaldo and St. Louis Catholic Parish to participate as one of their speakers in their lecture series on evangelization. I spoke in Waco, TX on Thursday, October 19 on the topic of “Evangelizing Teenagers. If you would like to watch the...
Five Youth Ministry Practices that are Outdated
I’m an eleven year veteran of youth ministry and there are a handful of practices that I commonly see that regularly make me cringe. Jesus taught us that a tree that bears no fruit should be cutdown. Here are 5 youth ministry practices that I believe need to be put...
September Newsletter – New Strategic Partnership!
St. Andrew Missionaries Partners with Ablaze Ministries Ablaze Ministries is a youth ministry organization that provides a team of youth ministry missionaries for Catholic parishes and schools. They enable schools and parishes of all sizes to sustain professional,...
Losing Sight of Christ Will Break a Ministry
I attended my first and only NFCYM (National Federation of Catholic Youth Ministry) Membership meeting in 2015. This annual meeting is a gathering of all diocesan leaders and youth ministry organizations in the United States. Every morning, we started with Mass and...
3 Practical Tips to Engage Parents in Youth Ministry
Many of the youth ministry leaders that I know often lament the lack of parental involvement in their ministry programs. They openly question why parents don’t bring their kids to Mass and they are quick to blame parents for the struggling state of ministry in the...
July Newsletter
St. Andrew Missionaries receives a grant! Our Sunday Visitor Institute has awarded St. Andrew Missionaries with an operational grant for 2017-18. This grant will help us move one step closer to launching a missionary formation program. We hope to be able to put...
Catholic Answers Live Interview with Everett Fritz
I was recently interviewed on Catholic Answers Live. We discussed the topic: Why Young People are Leaving the Church. It was a great discussion! You can watch the entire interview here. To read more about my philosophy of Youth Ministry, check out The Theory of...
7 Best Practices for Building Youth Discipleship Groups
Over the past several years, I have worked in a variety of settings where I helped youth ministries make the shift to small group discipleship. I have helped parishes transition from a youth group structure to a small group structure. I have helped a small parish...