Articles that I have written for varied publications.
We are certainly concerned about millennials. It began about the time this age cohort reached adulthood, with the 1999 publication of Saving the Millennial Generation: New Ways to Reach the Kids You Care About in These Uncertain Times. It accelerated when some polls in the mid-2000s began to suggest millennials’ waning interest in church. Enter “millennials…
For a while, I thought it was like the Loch Ness monster or Sasquatch. People said it existed, but I’d never seen it, and nobody was able to tell me how I could. But finally, I found it, and it was as amazing as I’d imagined. read the rest
The room was packed with excited youth workers numbering in the thousands. The lights dimmed and the spotlight moved to the left side of the stage to flood a man in his late thirties in jeans and button-down shirt. On the multiple screens behind him, in a cool font, his name was displayed, and below…
Relational Ministry, the Pastor, and Inception by Andrew Root I have the hardest time turning the channel when it is on; I always watch even just a few minutes before reminding myself that I’ve seen it dozens of times. I can’t help it—I just find the Christopher Nolan movie Inception, starring Leonardo DiCaprio captivating. I’m sure…
This is an excerpt published in YouthWorker Journal from Unlocking Mission and Eschatology in Youth Ministry Nadia and three other youth workers were surrounded by a hundred young people in bright orange T-shirts that read “Operation Change: Being Jesus’ Hands in Making the World Right.” The shirts had been provided by the organization that had contracted…
The renowned sociologist begged us to stop throwing “student” in front of ministries. He explained that the dropout rate is high, and such a nomenclature eliminates many from finding a place in the church. But almost everyone read his remarks either with the shrugged shoulders of, I don’t get it or the rolling eyes of,…
Warning: I’m going to start crassly and swear in this post… so if you don’t like that kind of thing, do something else on the internet. Jake asked specifically to NOT address his cancer in this post, so I won’t, rather I’ll do what I’ve tried to do with all my own theological work: I’ll…
From Andrew Root in Christianity Today July 2012 Two years ago was the 25th anniversary of one of the most epic movies of all time. Every American not in a coma or an Amish community has seen Steven Spielberg’s Back to the Future, and if they haven’t, they can easily catch it on television, as TBS…
Originally Written for Immerse Journal Download Youth Ministry Doesn’t Exist
Originally written for Immerse Journal Download Young People, Divorce And Youth Ministry
I’m a book nerd. I never thought I would be such a person. As a matter of fact, most of the people that knew me in high school would never guess that I would become such a book person, or ever even finish reading a book for that matter. But I am. As a book…
The mashup is everywhere. This practice of taking two distinct songs and winding them together has become the thing to do on the internet. I personally have no musical ability, so any mashing I would do would inevitable destroy the parts and leave nothing worth hearing. But I have become addicted to the indie folk…