Dan Carson

Last year was a difficult one for those of us at Calvary Baptist Church of Fayetteville. We had two deacons, their wives, and our sound man all pass away. More than the roles they played at our church, we will miss the joy and life they brought to our congregation. I’m sure that you have had similar times at your church. If you are leading in ministry, it can be difficult to say goodbye to some of the most faithful people in your church. However, we know that is part of what we sign up for...

One of the things that most of us in student ministry aren’t ready for is having our own children make the transition to the youth group. We don’t think about it, and BOOM, there it is. Suddenly, your son or daughter is staring back at you when you are speaking to the students in your ministry about sexual holiness and other issues we need to address as youth pastors. There wasn’t a class in Bible college that covered that type of awkwardness, and avoiding eye contact with your child isn’t...

Recently, I had the privilege of attending the wedding of one of my former students. When I came to my current church as their new Family Pastor, she was an eighth grader who was full of life and faith; her name was Georgia. She was the type of girl you could build a youth group around. She could and would talk your ears off if you let her. It was easy to be her youth pastor. She faithfully dug into God’s Word and truly wanted to know what it had to say about life. Time passed, and four years...