Ronald Long's Blog, page 3
June 28, 2014
The Elves of Talgel: A New Fantasy Book
I published Wayward, my first fantasy novel, in February of this year. It’s been a really fun ride going from some guy who wanted to write a book, to some guy who wrote a book. Well, I’ve got another for any who like elves and goblins and stuff. It’s called “The Elves of Talgel” andis […]
The Elves of Talgel: A New Fantasy Book I Wrote
I published Wayward, my first fantasy novel, in February of this year. It’s been a really fun ride going from some guy who wanted to write a book, to some guy who wrote a book. Well, I’ve got another for any who like elves and goblins and stuff. It’s called “The Elves of Talgel” andis […]
June 27, 2014
Student Ministry #fail: Trying to be the Pastor
“I love it when you preach!” “I wish our pastor had as much passion as you do.” “When are you going to be a senior pastor?” “You’ve got such great ideas! Our church could use them!” Maybe you’ve been on the receiving end on some of those statements. Some I’ve heard. Some I’ve heard other […]
June 26, 2014
Student Ministry and Divorce: When the numbers don’t matter
Numbers don’t mean much when you’re looking into the face of someone who just told you that their parents are getting a divorce. What was once a statistic is now a student you care deeply for. Who cares if the divorce rate is low? It’s affected this student personally and so now, the ball is […]
June 25, 2014
Student Ministry #fail: Begging from the Pulpit
You know you’ve done this before. The mission trip is in one week and your adult to student ratio is dangerously high. So, you do what any youth minister who forgot to hustle months before does: you make the general announcement. Now general announcements aren’t bad really. In fact, I know some churches that if […]
Divorce: It’s An Issue
Divorce is an issue. But it’s one that’s not as trendy as others. It’s not the newest crisis teenagers are facing today. It has very little to do with being online, drug use, social media, life threatening eating habits, binge drinking, or sexuality. I’m not minimizing those by any stretch. But those issues seem to […]
June 24, 2014
Student Ministry #fail
I don’t know many student pastors who would say that they are perfect. But I know of at least one who thought he was. At first. Seven years in student ministry has certainly taught me a lot. I wish I could say that I learned by listening every time advice was given to me. The […]
June 23, 2014
Student Ministry and Divorce
“Everyone is ministering to students of divorce. No one is doing it well.” Doug Fields – Veteran Student Minister I heard the quote above awhile back and it hit me that I may not be doing everything I can be to minister to students whose family has gone through, or is going through, a divorce. […]
June 17, 2014
Self-Publishing Your Own Book for Free
I am no expert in this field. I’ve only been doing this since 2013 with varied results. But I’ve learned a lot along the way and am happy to share with others what I know so that you can get to publishing great books for others to read (and do it all for free!). I’ve […]
April 16, 2014
When Your Talk Bombs
You know what’s funny (and a bit sad)? That throughout my entire middle school and high school student ministry career, I can hardly remember any talk or sermon given by my youth pastors. And if you, for some reason, actually end up reading this Josh or Mary Jo, please know that I don’t blame you. […]
