Most youth pastors find it a constant struggle to get enough money allotted to their ministry’s budget, and with the latest recession, they’re feeling the crunch now more than ever as churches are cutting costs anywhere they can. But a youth pastor doesn’t have to feel stuck. In this book, youth workers will find innovative ideas to help them discover useful resources in places they hadn’t looked before. In his 15 years of youth ministry, Lars Rood has had his share of tight budgets, and h...

Merlin R. Carothers is well-known throughout the Christian community. His books have sold over 19 million copies. His unique concept of "praise in all things" brings results that can only be termed miraculous. Merlin may be the only author to have served as a combat paratrooper in World War II, as a guard of General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and later as a Lt. Colonel in the U.S. Army Chaplaincy in Korea, the Dominican Republic conflict, and in Vietnam. During these conflicts Merlin Carothers ...

Girls are more than just sugar and spice. We’ve all figured that out. What we haven’t figured out completely is how they’re wired, why they do the things they do, how the world around them affects their choices and opinions, and what that means for youth ministry—until now.In Teenage Girls, you’ll find advice from counselors and veteran youth workers, along with helpful suggestions on how to minister to teenage girls. Each chapter includes discussion questions to help you and other youth w...

18-25-year-olds are trying to find their place in society while living through an array of experiences that force them to reevaluate beliefs and assumptions they were raised with, which leads many students to disconnect from the church after high school. College Ministry 101 will help church leaders understand the college-age-stage in order to better minister to their needs. This book will provide leaders with practical ministry philosophies about how to effectively minister to college stu...

Think about sin and the cross—the way that salvation changes who we are and how God sees us. It’s a central part of our faith, and yet it’s one of the most confusing and difficult things to teach. Especially to a room full of teenagers.In Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Andrew Root invites you along on a journey with Nadia—a fictional youth worker who is wrestling with how to present the cross to her own students in a meaningful way. Using Nadia’s narrative, along with...

"What would happen if we gave teenagers opportunities to serve and use their gifts in ministry prior to high school graduation? What if we poured into these young leaders, discipling them and doing ministry alongside of them, helping them grow spiritually, seeing and experiencing God working through them? What if we eased back on our ministry to students, supplementing it with ministry by students?"These compelling questions are at the heart of Ministry by Teenagers, and once authors McKee...

Here are 12 active Bible lessons for junior high Sunday school classes or youth group meetings, each one based on one of the 50 pictures of God presented in Wild Truth Journal: Pictures of God--energetically, relevantly, and scripturally. The lessons are loaded with off-the-wall and easy-to-do discussion starters, video ideas, scripts, and games with a point. And of course, there are plenty of Bible passages and studies to springboard junior highers from the abstract into the concrete as (...

As a youth worker you have certainly spent much of your time addressing the current issues facing teens, but have you stopped to think about what may be behind students’ behavior? Many of the not-so-wise choices students make are the result of a confused worldview that comes from uncertainty about who God is. It’s easy for students to dismiss the truth when they learn from the world that all truth is relative. Creative Bible Lessons: Essential Theology uses a conversational approach to giv...

35 CHEESE-FREE SKITS If you're looking for fun and creative ways to involve your students in learning, you can stop looking. Skits That Teach provides you and your students everything you need to act out funny and compelling skits with total confidence. Search by topic or by group size to find the perfect comedic or dramatic sketch to help illustrate a point or just start a dialogue. The Skit Guys, Eddie James and Tommy Woodard, have tested these skits on teenagers around the country, and ...

"When you stop to think about your future, you might be excited. Or confused. Or just totally scared. But when you know where you’re going (or at least who’s leading you towards your future), you can take that giant leap with confidence.With all the influences in your life pushing you one way or another, it’s good to know that you can count on God to guide you once you catch on to his plans. Nobody expects you to have it all figured out by the time you finish this book. But you’ll be on yo...

With lessons created, written, and tested by active, experienced youth leaders who work with young people every week … never before has there been a resource this comprehensive, this practical, and this relevant for teaching the New Testament to your students. Walking students through the New Testament used to feel like a daunting task—especially if you’ve tried to create studies that are relevant and engaging to your students. Now, you have a diverse team of nearly thirty youth ministry p...

"You know the reality: teens don’t have much downtime in their lives. Between school, extra-curricular activities, jobs, friends (and youth group!), students these days barely have enough time to do all the things they need to do in a day. It’s no wonder that quiet, reflective time in prayer with God is not high on their priority list.With years of experience helping teens encounter God in quiet, contemplative ways, Mark Yaconelli will give you the tools and insights needed to help teens u...