How can your ministry be more like Joppa?
gospel
I remember the first time I ever mentioned I wasn’t a fan of the sinner’s prayer. I was a college pastor in Tampa and I was speaking to about 50 students on a Thursday night. I quickly mentioned in my message that the call for the sinner’s prayer isn’t found in the Bible. Nor does the call for salvation require a prayer. You would of thought I said Jesus was a purple woman… read more
This is from an old post I made back when I had a personal blog. It was based from a lesson on identity that I did with my students. — I’m 100% Cuban. Like I am the first generation to not marry someone who comes from Cuba. In fact, I was a first generation Cuban-American whose first language was english and for a long time I didn’t like black beans. I was… read more
I grew up loving the Buttercream Gang, and it’s wildly successful follow up “The Buttercream gang and the Secret of Treasure Mountain.” Trying to google that second title brought back so many memories of all the classic christian movies of the late 80’s and early 90’s that were ever popular in my house as a kid. But although the quality of Christian film making has drastically improved since that era, I feel… read more
This is Part 5 of a series on Gospel and Students. Here’s a rundown of where we’ve been so far! Part 1 – The Hole In My Ministry. This post looks at how our students respond to questions and how this exposes their grasp (or lack thereof) of the Gospel. Part 2 – Why The Gospel? In part 2, we look at two reasons we as humanity need the Gospel. We seem… read more
Here’s a rundown of where we’ve been so far! Part 1 – The Gap In My Ministry. This post looks at how our students respond to questions and how this exposes their grasp (or lack thereof) of the Gospel. Part 2 – Why The Gospel? In part 2, we look at two reasons we as humanity need the Gospel. We seem to be all about the Gospel in today’s church, but why… read more
The #gospel is so much more than we make it out to be in #youthministry
This is part 3 of a Gospel and Students series. If you’re just now reading this series, here is a link to PART ONE and a link to PART TWO. The Gospel is complex, and cannot be taken apart from its other pieces. It is not a hope, though in it, believers find hope. It is not a life, though through it, believers are brought to life. It is not supreme, though… read more
Part 2 of a Gospel and Students Series. This is not necessarily a fun post to write, but before we’re able to talk about the Gospel, we have to understand WHY we (and our students) need it. This post is taken from a position paper on the Gospel, hence some of the more academic language. Though commonly used within the church, there is often ambiguity as to what truly defines… read more
Part 1 of a Gospel and Students series. I by no means claim to be an expert in student ministry. I’ve got 5 years of student ministry under my belt and still feel green. That being said, I’ve started to notice a gap, a lack, in the lives of students. In the past two years, I’ve been able to baptize about 15 or 20 students, some of whom grew up in church,… read more