People often ask me what I think about the future of youth ministry. My response usually surprises them. I am VERY excited about the future of youth ministry. As a matter of fact 2013 could be youth ministry's break out year.

I spoke at the memorial service for Lenya Avery Lusko, who at age 5, went to Heaven on December 20th. She once said to her mom, Jennie "Mom, when I get to Heaven I'm going to buy a box of cheese and a whole box of peanut butter from the store. There are stores in Heaven, right Mom? I love this because it shows that this little girl understood heaven is a real place.

Most reporters, many Senators and, even the President himself, are talking about the issue of gun control like it is the answer to the problem of violence in America. It is not. It may be an answer but it is not the answer.

I recently interviewed more than twenty pastors who had been in ministry for at least 25 years. Below are the top seven regrets noted in order of frequency. The first, lack of practical training for local church ministry. The second, overly concerned about critics.

I overheard a man explain why he hated Christmas music. "Christmas is boring because there's no narrative tension," he said. "It's like reading a book with no conflict." Some of the blame is on our sentimentalized Christmas of the American civil religion.

If Jesus was never born, there would be a sorrowful lack of charity and the protection of life, and the United States of America would have just been an unrealized historical dream.

There's something especially sad about elementary school children being senselessly slaughtered. As a father to two elementary school aged children I can't imagine the pain that the parents of these precious little souls must be going through right now.

I think the answer is that you should be a church member. But that's not even a clear word—what does "member" mean? The local church—not just the global church, but the local church—is a body. There's global membership in the body universal, and there's local membership in the body where I'm a finger or an eye or an ear or a foot.

All this conversation about an economic cliff has got me thinking: Is there a moral cliff? And have we already reached it – or are we walking dangerously close to the edge?

An established church develops certain patterns or traditions while simultaneously forgetting its original purpose and passion. By almost any metric, the majority of North American congregations are established churches. They often include discouraged leaders and frustrated members. So how does a church move from an inward drift to an outward focus?