Faith & Fear
The opposite of faith isn’t doubt – it’s fear. We fear the outcome of something when we do not have faith it will work out the way we want it […]
Preparation
NTS Camp and Protect Young Eyes Team Up!
This blog post is written specifically for parents of kids who will be attending NTS Camp in summer 2018. If you want to learn more about the impact the digital […]
Thought Factory Podcast #304 || Help Young People Love The Church: Kara Powell Interview
Churches are losing both members and vitality as increasing numbers of young people disengage. In this episode, we interview Kara Powell, who is the executive director of the Fuller Youth […]
Thought Factory Podcast #303 || Students Vacating Church & Losing Faith
Are students leaving the church? Fifty percent of students drift from their faith after graduating high school. Of those who drift, 80% did not plan to drift from their faith […]
Thought Factory Podcast #205 || The Crisis Moment for Students
Hosts Jeff Eckart and Jayson Brewer interview Charlie Alcock, a youth ministry professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. Charlie has been a youth leader/youth pastor for 28 years and now raises […]
Thought Factory Podcast #204 || The Future is Further Than it Appears
It seems more and more that students are growing up too fast in our society. But something else has been trending, these kids aren’t growing up. And no matter who […]
Thought Factory Podcast #103 || Theology of Pizza & Hummus
In episode #103, we discuss the lack of discussion on the topic of physical health in the circles of youth ministry and the church in general. Is food a key […]
Set Up Your Year up to Win
I have spent a lot of time in ministry spinning my wheels. I don’t know if you can relate, but there have been seasons where it felt like I couldn’t […]
The Student Leaders of Today
Students need to be involved in your youth group. Young or old. Experienced or inexperienced. Boys and girls. Seniors and freshmen. Middle school and high school. As their leaders, we […]
Three Reasons for NTS Camp’s 2016 THREADS Theme
When we came together as a team to decide what the theme would be for NTS Camp 2016, we had already known we wanted to teach on the life of […]