When I was a youth minister, I learned the power of encouragement from an idea I got out of a book of youth ministry ideas. It was called the “car wash.” To hold a car wash, line students up in two parallel lines facing each other, then choose someone to walk through the car wash. … More Everyone needs a car wash!
There are many different ways to encourage people. Think how encouraged a single mom or a struggling young couple who have children would be by an offer of free babysitting. There are people around us every day who feel marginalized because they lack resources or relationships; we just have to see them. In every group … More People need encouragement!
I received a shocking phone call from an old friend one Christmas Eve several years ago (to protect his identity I’ll call him Doug). I had not talked to Doug since junior high school, and he was drunk, depressed, and suicidal. He lived far away from me in Arizona and had found my contact information … More Speak life!
