Posts with the tag “mark-tremaine”

Growing up, my parents had a library of stock phrases that they gently quoted to us when we acted up. These were a sort “parenting shorthand” for the important ideas and values they wished to instill ...  Read More

I’m a huge fan of superheroes. Some of that is occupational hazard--any junior high ministry director should probably be conversant in Marvel movies—but I’m also a total nerd and love to geek out over...  Read More

Dallas, Spring Break, 2022. My long-distance girlfriend, Lauren, was flying out to meet my family for the first time. At first, everything was going great: my family loved Lauren, and everybody was ge...  Read More

Many of us could look back on our lives and identify moments that altered the course of our lives forever. I can think of many such moments: the birth of my daughter, the Bible study where I met my wi...  Read More

Many of the questions and issues that come up in working with teenagers are rooted in questions of identity and purpose: “who am I” and “why am I here?”  For teenagers, finding an answer to these ques...  Read More

When I read the Gospels, I am always struck by how often—and how easily—Jesus is interrupted. So many of Jesus’ miracles happen after what we’d probably consider a disruption to His schedule. In Matth...  Read More

Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman in John 4 is fascinating. I am often struck by how Jesus refuses to write off the Samaritan woman as unworthy of his time and attention. Not only is she a S...  Read More

It’s official – we have a toddler. My daughter Lottie is fifteen months old, and she is walking/talking up a storm. Every day is a new word or a new discovery. It’s a joy to see her personality start ...  Read More

Had everything gone according to plan, I never would have come to Fresno.It was the spring of my sophomore year of college, which meant it was time to make plans for the summer. Internships were a big...  Read More

The first time I flew by myself was almost disastrous.I was just shy of 15 years old, flying from my home in Dallas to Erie, PA, where I’d catch a ride to a Christian boys’ leadership training camp in...  Read More

The question often arises this time of year: “What has magic to do with Scripture?” The answer is... complicated. On the one hand, I have no objection to the Disney-esque “pixie-dust” magic common in ...  Read More

When I tell people that I work with junior highers, I usually get a quizzical look. Even for people who like spending time around children, that wonderfully awkward age of 12–14 is rarely their first ...  Read More

I had the privilege of helping lead a team of around thirty high school students this past July as we served in Baja California, Mexico. One of the most impactful parts of the trip was working with an...  Read More

There are many great promises in the Bible that can comfort us in times of difficulty. God promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). And we are promised that “for those who lo...  Read More

When my wife and I first started dating, we banned a phrase that we (mostly me) were using too often. That phrase was “you can do it,†including variations like “you got this.†Why in the world ...  Read More

I enjoy taking personality tests. Not the BuzzFeed “what type of cupcake would you be?” articles, but the ones that deepen my understanding of myself and those around me, like the Myers-Briggs “16 Per...  Read More

While studying at Hillsdale College in southern Michigan, I spent three years in an all-guys dorm, two of them as a resident assistant (RA). My dorm, Galloway, housed around 80 guys, giving it a simil...  Read More

Theology is important. The essential quality of eternal life, according to John 17:3, is the knowledge of God. But too often, theology is boring. As someone who works with junior highers, I find that ...  Read More

Have you ever had an idea that seems like a good idea inside your head, but goes horribly wrong when you actually try it? Let me tell you about one of those times in my life.I was 10, maybe 11 years o...  Read More

I love working with kids. I’ve worked with kids or youth in some form since I was eleven years old. I’ve been told that something in my persona “switches on” whenever I interact with kids. I do feel m...  Read More

What do people expect of teenagers? Not much, according to Google. Typing in “teenagers and” in the search engine results in suggestions like “teenagers and social media,” “teenagers and depression,” ...  Read More

Do you remember your first car? It likely wasn’t the fanciest or the fastest, but you might remember it fondly anyway. My first car was, well…different.Our family car when I was growing up was a dull ...  Read More

During my preteen years, I participated in a competition called the National Bible Bee. Imagine a spelling bee with kids and teens reciting Bible verses instead of unheard-of words, and you’ll get the...  Read More

Our baby girl, Lottie, turned six months old last week. People told me the time would fly by, and now I realize how right they were. It feels like yesterday that I was holding her for the first time.T...  Read More

I played a lot of board games growing up. It’s still one of my favorite pastimes. For some games, we developed “house rules,” rules we added to the game to make it more engaging, or to create obstacle...  Read More

If you ever have the misfortune to receive an email from me, you’ll notice a few strange words below my email signature. They read Soli Deo Gloria, a phrase in Latin. What is the significance of this ...  Read More

The Apostle Paul was not above using the occasional sports analogy (see 1 Corinthians 9:24–27, 2 Timothy 2:5), and I don’t think we have to be, either. On Sunday, millions in America will tune into th...  Read More

Thanksgiving is unique among holidays in that it is food-centric. Other holidays typically include a meal (Christmas dinner, Easter brunch, 4th of July barbeque), but at Thanksgiving, the celebration ...  Read More

My parents had a set of stock phrases they used on myself and my siblings growing up. (My guess is that your parents probably did, too.) I still remember many of them: “Obey all the way, right away, w...  Read More

It was spring break of my junior year, March 2022. My long-distance girlfriend, Lauren, was flying to my hometown in Dallas to meet my family for the first time. We were midway through the week, and e...  Read More

My college roommate once challenged me to write a research paper on superheroes, which regrettably never materialized. Its basis, however, would have been a few things I’ve observed about superheroes ...  Read More

Jesus’ interaction with the Samaritan woman in John 4 is fascinating. I am often struck by how Jesus refuses to write off the Samaritan woman as unworthy of his time and attention. Not only is she a S...  Read More

June 2, 2013—ten years ago this month—marks a significant date in my own spiritual history. At the seasoned age of twelve years old, I was given the opportunity to teach my middle school group on Sund...  Read More