Mike Haynes is a youth ministry veteran and the creator of G Shades. A vibrant contributor to the youth ministry landscape, Mike’s passion is to help students and youth pastors alike see life through the lens of the gospel. He and his wife Anna have five kids spanning elementary, middle, and high school, and he serves as the high school pastor at Christian Fellowship Church in Ashburn, Virginia.
If there’s one thing teenagers understand deeply, it’s uncertainty. Will I get into the right school?Will my friendships last?Why does life feel so unstable all the time? They live in a world where change is constant, pressure is high, and the future feels impossible to predict. That’s why trusting God in uncertainty is a necessary […]
Let’s be real—students don’t check out because preaching is bad. They check out because bad preaching is bad. Somewhere along the way, youth pastors started believing that preaching doesn’t work for teenagers. That they don’t have the attention span. That they need object lessons, endless interaction, and games built into the message to stay engaged. […]
I know you’re juggling a lot as a youth pastor, because I’ve been there too. You’re not alone, and I hope what you find here encourages you. Teenagers don’t drift toward generosity on their own. They live in a world that constantly tells them to look out for themselves, spend on what makes them happy, […]
I know you’re juggling a lot as a youth pastor, because I’ve been there too. You’re not alone, and I hope what you find here encourages you. Not all youth ministry curriculums are created equal. If you’ve ever sat down with a resource and thought: “this feels shallow. My students aren’t connecting. I’m rewriting half of this […]
I know you’re juggling a lot as a youth pastor, because I’ve been there too. You’re not alone, and I hope what you find here encourages you. Every generation engages with teaching differently, and I know you’ve probably felt that tension as a youth pastor. Baby Boomers grew up on traditional sermons and Sunday School; […]
It’s easy to look back at the story after it’s already hit the news, already hurt the people, already left its mark. Another influential Christian leader. One more misuse of power. Yet again, we discover abuse in Christian organizations. And, inevitably, we see again an organization scrambling to protect the institution instead of the individuals […]
Teenagers are constantly navigating friendships, cliques, drama and social pressure. They crave belonging, but so often they settle for shallow relationships instead of real biblical community. In a world where you can have thousands of “friends” on social media and still feel alone, it’s easy to sacrifice authenticity to fit in. I’ve heard students say […]
Youth pastors know the weight of choosing the right curriculum. Pick something biblically weak and your students miss out on depth. Choose something too heady and they check out entirely. Find something too generic and they never connect. With so many options and so much at stake, it can feel like walking a tightrope. I […]
or many students, Easter feels like a spring holiday—spring break, chocolate bunnies and an excuse to wear something nice to church. Your church may even ost a community event around Easter time. The cross, however, stands as the turning point of history, a reality that transforms everything. If we’re honest, the idea that Jesus died […]
The beautiful thing about youth ministry is that there are hundreds of topics you can choose to walk through with your students. You want to spend three years in Romans? Done. Feel like talking about friendship for 5 weeks? Great. Fancy a skip through the classic Old Testament stories? Love it. The world is your […]
