There were three blog posts this week in the youth ministry world that really jumped out at me – check ’em out!

• Silence … – This was a great post by Walt Mueller talking about how to respond to the upcoming April 16th day of silence protest that happens throughout the country in schools.  Basically, students commit to being silent throughout the day to protest for a safer environment for gay, lesbian and bisexual students.  Many Christians have made loud protests against the event and even kept their kids home from school on that day – which part of me cringes at the messages that sends.  Anyway, I really liked Walt’s thoughts on the subject.
• 4 Ways to Respond to the Small Group Dip –  Josh Griffin, the youth pastor at Saddleback Church, wrote this great post encouraging his small group leaders on finishing strong during the part of the school year where we typically see a dip in student small group participation.  Definitely some great advice worth reading!
• The Bible is Useful – I LOVED this post by Adam McLane!  He wrote about a survey he recently conducted through YS which found over 75% of youth ministries have their teaching all topical.  Definitely loved his thoughts, reactions and concerns over this.  As a side note, for those wondering … our teaching schedule looks something like this each year; 24 weeks Biblical Literacy (working our way through books of the Bible), 16 weeks age specific topical lessons, 11 weeks core disciplines and beliefs (week #52 is Easter – no Sunday School that week for teens or adults at our church).

So, what do you think?  What jumps out at you?