by Meghan Hatcher At the United Methodist church where I grew up, the season of Advent can’t happen without the annual live nativity. Every year the same wooden frame, with last year’s hay still clinging to it, is set up ...
Dear CYMT Family, I am honored and humbled to join the Center for Youth Ministry Training (CYMT) and lead the organization in community-based ministries. As the new Community Ministry Director, I believe that we are all responsible for creating beloved ...
This week we have asked 3 on the ground youth ministry practitioners for their advice and wisdom on how they engage parents in their student ministries and churches. "This can be tricky because I have parents who are active in ...
Dr. Andrew Zirschky Andrew has more than 20 years of congregational youth ministry experience and holds an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the author of Beyond the Screen: Youth Ministry for the Connected but Alone Generation ...
Jeremy Demarest nearly enrolled in the MAYM program four years ago when beginning his work as the director of children, youth, and family ministries at Round Rock (Texas) Presbyterian Church. Flash forward three years when he and his wife found ...
Kristia Oney has felt called to serve with young people for as long as she can remember. She got her first church job as a part-time youth pastor at age 21 and started working at her church full-time as soon ...
What is it that defines a youth ministry? Does it need to be on Wednesday nights? Sunday mornings? Does it need to meet in a church building? Does it have to include a game, a bible study, or a small ...
by Meghan Hatcher I’m currently a member of the healthiest church I’ve ever attended or served as a staff member, and we haven’t had a senior pastor since January 2023. So naturally, as a former pastor myself, I’ve been racking ...
Stephen Ingram Stephen is a 25+ year youth ministry veteran. His books include Hollow Faith: How Andy Griffith, Facebook, and the American Dream Neutered the Gospel, ExtraOrdinary Time: 365 Ordinary Moments with an Anything But Ordinary God; and Organic Student ...
Rev. Robert Sturdivant Robert is the Minister of Students at Trinity United Methodist Church in Birmingham, AL. Robert has been working with middle school and high school students for over 14 years, 13 of which at Trinity UMC. Robert grew ...
Kat Bair Kat Bair is a coach with Ministry Incubators and newsletter editor as well as a full-time youth pastor. She is a graduate of Austin Seminary through the Center for Youth Ministry Training and began her innovation work as ...
Dr. Andrew Zirschky Andrew has more than 20 years of congregational youth ministry experience and holds an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is the author of Beyond the Screen: Youth Ministry for the Connected but Alone Generation and Teaching Outside ...
by Stephen Ingram Stephen is a 25+ year youth ministry veteran. His books include Hollow Faith: How Andy Griffith, Facebook, and the American Dream Neutered the Gospel, ExtraOrdinary Time: 365 Ordinary Moments with an Anything But Ordinary God; and Organic ...
by Meghan Hatcher Meghan is the director of the Innovation Laboratory at CYMT. She holds degrees in journalism; sustainable development and applied sociology; and a Master of Divinity. Meghan has served diverse faith communities through pastoral leadership, youth ministry, new ...
by Matt Vaughan Matt is the founding director of Ministry Leadership Initiative (MLI), a non-profit training organization in Kansas City. MLI has served churches and developed leaders in the Midwest. Through this strategic partnership, MLI and CYMT will offer multiple tiers ...
by Dwight Johnson Dwight is the Executive Director of Preston Taylor Ministries located throughout downtown Nashville. Preston Taylor Ministries help children and youth to discover and live their God-inspired dreams, develop a love for learning, and build joy-filled friendships that ...
by Stephen Ingram Stephen is a 25+ year youth ministry veteran and the Sr. Director of Resource Development for CYMT. The Blessing of Small I work in a big church. I mean a really big church. My church has more ...
by Andrew Mochrie Andrew is the leader of the Theology Together Program at CYMT as well as a veteran youth worker. Don't Forget, You Matter Too It's here! Summer. You're confident it'll be another blockbuster, another couple months filled with ...
by: Lindsey Johnson In kindergarten, you learn about trees. My six-year-old son just wrapped up his first year of school and, on the last day, his backpack came home full of school projects that accumulated in his cubby over the ...
by Bryant Fisher Bryant is the Director of Student Ministry at Brentwood United Methodist Church in Brentwood, TN. You’re doing it! All the hours you spend wondering what your faithful few need from you. The time you spend making sure ...
