Spirituality Youth

This book is an overview of popular culture for youth workers, parents and educators. Explores the dynamics of why kids are drawn into the culture and how it shapes their development.

Michael McGarry explores the foundation of youth ministry in the Old and New Testaments and brings that together with Church history in a compelling way. This contemplative and well-researched book provides a careful critique of youth ministry along with practical guidance for those serving in ministry.

A practical book for youth ministers, pastors, parents, and teachers who want to teach prayer to teenagers. The book includes short, meditative chapters that provide listeners with the appropriate history, theology, pedagogy, and examples for introducing teens to the life of prayer.

Genuine, lasting life-change is the heartbeat of youth ministry but too few students experience it. Through a simple but revolutionary process of “mentoring a few,” dramatic transformation can happen in the lives of students—with benefits that spread throughout the ministry.

This audiobook provides pastors, worship leaders, programming directors, and arts ministry leaders with the vision and core values necessary for building arts teams that can create the potential for transformational moments in church.

An expert on youth and youth culture, McKee shares his own heart-rending story and offers a sobering glimpse into the rapidly changing world of bullies, bystanders, and the bullied while providing helpful ways to connect with these kids, open doors of dialogue, and give them the encouragement they need and the validation they're searching for...too often in all the wrong places.

God intends each of us to live amazing lives and touch the hearts of others in extraordinary ways. But too many of us settle for much less. For those who long for more, You're Amazing introduces five ways to live with meaning and passion: Be real; be courageous; be prayerful; be humble; be encouraging. With his signature, hard-hitting style, Justin Fatica issues a wake-up call to embrace new possibilities, break out of mediocrity, and live a life of authentic joy. Get ready - God wants to do something amazing in your life!

Change: If I Can You Can is the story of a man destined for as much turmoil as life can provide. Travis Angry created his identity through childhood rebellion, dropping out of school, being in the military, fighting cancer, marrying, divorcing, raising children as a single father, obtaining a college degree, writing a memoir, and working as a professional speaker. Angry’s gift is showing others how to resolve fear.

You are in the family of God....It can get messy. When you look at your church today, what do you see? A social organization that does good things for the community? A religious corporation with a CEO at the helm? A spiritual and self-help counseling center? Pastor Ross Parsley believes that none of these ideas captures God’s design. Instead, God sees us more like a family - a multigenerational group of real people who love each other and care for one another’s needs, no matter how messy. We are not consumers asking what the church can do for us. We are family members learning how to love deeply, fight fairly, and share selflessly.

Christians are called to bear a cross. These crosses sometimes involve the general burdens that affect everyone. At other times, Christians bear specific burdens. The Lord promises us that our crosses and burdens can be transformed into small splinters if we focus on what really matters. How can this happen? You will find the answer in Splinters of the Cross...the same answer that was found by Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Peter, Paul, and many more: God's grace is sufficient for you.

Told with equal parts raw honesty and unbridled compassion, All Day recounts a year in Liza Jessie Peterson's classroom at Island Academy, the high school for inmates detained at New York City's Rikers Island. A poet and an actress who had done occasional workshops at the correctional facility, Peterson was ill prepared for a full-time stint teaching in the GED program for the incarcerated youths.

A New Generation Church is a church with attendees whose average age is at least as young as the average age of the community in which the church exists. Any church can become a New Generation Church that reaches and continues to reach the next generation. Written for both church leaders and members, For a New Generation presents practical strategies that lay a foundation for a church to thrive for generations to come. It is based on the assumption that accepting the status quo is the greatest threat to your church’s core mission and, perhaps, to the survival of your church.

With the help of God, her family, and many other people along the way, Diane's Kids off the Block morphed from a personal crusade to do what she could into a nationally known program that has helped more than 3,000 at-risk Chicago teens. In this powerful, energizing book, she tells her incredible story to men and women who are sick of sitting behind their keyboards watching the world crumble and are ready to do something to make a difference.

Eating Disorders, depression, gender confusion - these sound like problems for other people, but the reality is your students are dealing with them every day. The issues that girls face are growing in complexity and number. Written with the end user in mind, this resource will be one that won't leave a youth worker's hands.

Parenting teenagers is one of the biggest challenges parents face. New realities make becoming independent more difficult. Teens are traveling a different road and are moving at a different pace than those of previous generations. Today's cultural environment is more complicated and confusing than ever. But fear not! Family expert Jim Burns provides a handy guide for parenting teens.

Do you want your children to be actively serving in the local church when they turn 30 and beyond? Why They Stay can help! Much has been written about younger adults and their departure from church involvement. Concerned parents and church leaders want to know what has caused them to depart. Instead of asking why young adults are leaving the church, Parr and Crites conducted a national research project of those who grew up in church and are still serving faithfully.

Chuck Reinhold, a minister and long-time Young Life staff member, offers a grand view of his life and the principles he’s learned through his 50 plus years of ministry. Chuck’s influence on the Kingdom in the lives of adults and leaders cannot be overstated. He started ministries that have helped countless men and women meet Christ and grow in their faith. Life Worth Living speaks to the power that scripture memory and time spent in God’s Word can bring to those obstacles. Chuck’s stories speak to the real struggles of those dealing with memory loss.

School. Eat. Sleep. Repeat. Sound familiar? In high school, our lives fall into the same nerve-wracking pattern, but what if it didn't have to be that way? What if stress and fear didn't dictate our decisions? What if we dared to do great things for God, not someday, but right now?

Every person inherits a system of beliefs. Maybe yours came from community, or church, or society, or your parents. But one day you reach a breaking point. You look at the rituals and traditions and worship and theology and it all seems foggy. Foreign. Strange. You wonder why you believe what you believe. If you even believe anymore... Brothers Ryan and Josh Shook reached that breaking point. Their book, Firsthand, is a smart, honest and deeply felt journey that invites you to leave behind handed-down beliefs and find authentic faith.

It's ok for you to have questions about your faith. You aren't the only one that has those questions, and you shouldn't be embarrassed by them. In Discover: Questioning Your Way to Faith, Mike McGarry explores the twenty most common questions teenagers ask.