I help teenagers, parents, and mentors live into their
calling and navigate the teen years with joy and purpose.
Are you a parent of young children who is dreading the teen years?
Are you a parent of a teenager who needs help navigating these crazy, stressful teen years?
Are you someone who works with teenagers who desires to have the greatest impact possible as you point them to Jesus?
Are you a teen who wants to follow Jesus but you need help knowing what that means and how to do it?
The teen years are packed with important decisions, a variety of temptations, and an abundance of voices trying fervently to lead students astray. In the midst of our rapidly declining moral culture, teens and young adults are discarding their parents’ faith and values in record numbers. Teenagers are looking for something (or Someone) to anchor them in the storm, and Christian parents are desperate to help their kids grow solid roots before they enter adulthood.
I’m here to help!
Meet Kelly
After working with teens for over thirty years and raising 4 teenagers with my husband, Jeff, I am passionate about helping teens flesh out what it means to follow Jesus and encouraging parents and mentors to make the most of the teen years. I write and speak about biblical faith, spiritual growth, and navigating the challenges that inevitably occur while trying to grow up/parent in a faith-hostile culture. I also love to guide and encourage people who work with teens to live into their calling with clarity, purpose, and joy. I’m glad you’re here!
Resources for Parents & Teens
Kelly loves talking to teens and parents about Jesus and how they can grow in their faith and strengthen their relationships. Check out the Resources section for helpful articles geared towards parents, teens, and young adults.
Workshops & Speaking
Do you need a speaker for your next event? Kelly has over 30 years experience as a Bible teacher and public speaker. She speaks to teens, parents, women, and student ministry leaders. Contact her for your next event or to host a “Cultivating a Circle of Influence” workshop.
Circle of Influence Book
Circle of Influence: Cultivating the Power of Mentorship in Your Teen’s Life helps parents purposefully surround their teens with adult mentors who will shape their teen’s faith and guide their decisions so they don’t have to navigate these crucial years alone.
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Available on Amazon!
Circle of Influence: Cultivating the power of mentorship in your teen’s life
As our children approach the teen years, there is a natural separation that occurs in their attempt to become more independent. Unfortunately, the teen years are also packed with important decisions, temptations, and an abundance of voices trying fervently to lead them astray. In the midst of our rapidly declining moral culture, teens and young adults are discarding their parents’ faith and values in record numbers.
What if parents could more easily encourage their teen’s independence without fearing how it will affect their future? How do we help our teens get the support they need?
Circle of Influence: Cultivating the Power of Mentorship in Your Teen’s Life helps parents purposefully surround their teens with adult mentors who will shape their teen’s faith and guide their decisions so they don’t have to navigate these crucial years alone.
Recent Blog Posts:
When You Find Yourself on Empty
When we are coming to the end of a challenging season, it is easy to grow weary and despondent. We might know the finish line is coming, but we are limping and shuffling towards the blurry end with a pained expression. We feel dry and spent. We’ve run out of energy and motivation. We can feel like that dwindling ink pen, with nothing left to give. We don’t have the strength or supply to finish what we started, let alone finish it well.
In response, we either settle for less, strive for more, or give up entirely. Some of us decide that we will just survive it, shrink back, and quietly, dutifully finish. Some of us see our fast-fading output and fight back by adding more pressure and movement, trying to force any remaining fuel to the surface. Others of us abandon efforts altogether.
In frustration, we can force and we can press and shake. In weariness, we can settle for running out and barely there—or even nothing at all. But thankfully those aren’t our only options…
Finding Joy in the Simple Things
Somewhere along the way, my desire to be intentional about every moment sucked the life right out of Christmas and left my spirit starving. So, while we still incorporate many of the same traditions and experiences from those early years, the pressure to make sure every. single. thing. is accomplished no longer drives our days.
Instead, I have learned to find joy in the simple things. 2020 has reinforced that habit, and I find myself treasuring the little things even more this season.
Here are a few simple things that are breathing joy into my soul this December…
Christmas Eve at Granny’s
The worn box appeared like it always did on Christmas Eve. Sitting on the floor in its usual spot, just waiting to be opened and its treasures displayed. Just like the box, every Christmas Eve, my sister, cousins, and I would arrive at my Granny’s house to decorate for Christmas….