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Don?t gamble on finding the right youth pastor for your church. Invest the time and energy in a deliberate, intentional plan for conducting the best search possible! If you?re looking for a shortcut to hiring your next youth pastor, this isn?t the right resource. But if you?re looking for a resource filled with proven tools and resources to guide you toward the best candidates, you?ve found it! This CD-ROM is stuffed with documents, forms, letters, checklists, and spreadsheets that will help you conduct an effective, fruitful search for your congregation?s next youth worker. They?ve been compiled by veteran youth workers and consultants Mark DeVries and Jeff Dunn-Rankin, who wrote the companion book Before You Hire a Youth Pastor . Avoid a ?normal? search that produces predictable, normal results?a youth worker who isn?t aligned to the church?s vision, a youth pastor who doesn?t stay around long, or any number of other outcomes that limit the vitality of your youth ministry. Instead, use these tools to conduct an ?abnormal? search that leads you to the right person for your congregation. Here?s a sampling of the items we?ve included on this CD-ROM: Job description for your search team Sample job descriptions for full-time and part-time youth workers Recommended sites to post your job opening Survey for examining your staff structure On-site and videoconference interview questions Reference phone calling guide Template for search timeline Candidate tracking spreadsheet First month on the job checklist Sample e-mails to candidates (Our tech team also may have slipped in a map to buried treasure, but no guarantees!) Before You Hire a Youth Pastor offers a field-tested, step-by-step alternative to rolling the dice. You don?t have to settle. Mark DeVries is the founder of Youth Ministry Architects (ymarchitects.com), a consulting team specializing in working with youth ministries in transition. Mark is the author of Sustainable Youth Ministry and Family-Based Youth Ministry , and, since 1986, he has served as the Associate Pastor for Youth and Their Families at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Jeff Dunn-Rankin is Vice President of Consulting for Youth Ministry Architects. Since the late 90s, he has also been the Director of Youth at Christ United Methodist Church in Venice, Florida. Other writing projects include his GROUPMagazine column and co-writing The Indispensable Youth Pastor with Mark DeVries.

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Nobody can prepare you for all the issues you?ll encounter when it comes to teenagers. Whether you work with teens or are trying to parent them, chances are that you?ve already run into a few things that you felt completely unprepared or ill equipped to deal with. You?re not alone! In this hard-hitting series of books, you?ll find answers to the difficult questions you face when challenges arise. Each book presents four sections to help you process the issue and get help for your teens. You?ll be given insight to understand the issue, you?ll explore how theology intersects with the issue, you?ll get practical tips and actions you can take to help teens and their families, and you?ll find additional resources to take the help further. In this book, Dr. Steven Gerali will help you: Understand sexual orientations, including the culture of gay teenagers Grasp the struggles of gay teens, including coming out, bullying and harassment, and at-risk behaviors and consequences Explore how theology informs how we respond to teenagers who struggle with their sexuality Delve into questions that demand theological consideration, like ?Why doesn?t God take this away?? and ?Will I go to hell because I?m gay?? Get tips for creating a safe environment and loving community for all teens Find ways to help parents who are struggling with a teen questioning his or her sexuality Minister to a student diagnosed with HIV/AIDS With What Do I Do When Teenagers Question Their Sexuality? , you?ll have what you need to offer help and hope to hurting teens and their families, and you?ll find plenty of resources for help beyond what you?re able to give. Dr. Steven Gerali is a speaker, professor, and counselor who is recognized around the world as an expert in the field of adolescence and youth ministry. He?s the author of Teenage Guys and two books for students. Before becoming a professor of youth ministry Steve served for more than 25 years as pastor of student ministries in churches in Arizona and Illinois. The father of two grown daughters, Steve currently lives in southern California with his wife, Jan.

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99 Thoughts for Small Group Leaders Good small groups requires leaders ?and that’s where you come in. If you’re a small group leader, you may have lots of questions: Am I making a difference? Am I wisely investing my time, energy, and resources? Can I really do this? If so, how can I maximize my impact in teenagers’ lives? Find the answers you’re looking for in 99 Thoughts for Small Group Leaders . This book delivers insights, tips, and veteran advice for anyone leading a small group (from young to old). When these bite-size, consumable pieces of wisdom are put into play, leaders will be better equipped and more confident. This book is all about setting them up to win. 99 Thoughts for Parents of Teenagers Walt Mueller delivers the goods in 99 Thoughts for Parents of Teenagers , a no-holds-barred look at the good, bad, and ugly aspects of parenting teenagers. Drawing on his experience as a parent of four children who have passed through their teenage years, Walt shares wisdom, thoughts, insights, and suggestions for making the teenage years count. If you’re a parent, you’ll want to read, devour, and absorb the dynamic truths in this book. And if you’re a youth worker, you’ll want to get this book into the hands of parents in your ministry to guide them, encourage them, and give them insights on fulfilling God’s great call to raise children who pursue a Jesus-centered life. 99 Thoughts for College-Age People The transition from high school to college is usually the most dramatic in young people’s lives. In this humorous and thought-provoking resource, Chuck Bomar offers up pearls of wisdom gained over years of personal and professional experience. It’s great as a graduation gift, as a college freshman small group discussion starter, or as any number of other uses. However you put it to work, you’ll be sure to save some young adults some pain, money, and from foot fungus. 99 Things Every Girl Should Know In her book 99 Things Every Girl Should Know , veteran youth worker Neely McQueen shares a wealth of wisdom on becoming and being a girl who knows that she is valuable, meaningful, and loved. That isn’t the message many girls receive from our culture. We live in a world that says we’re only valuable, meaningful, and loved if we look a certain way, dress a certain way, and behave a certain way. God has a different opinion. With a little help from her friends, Neely shares thoughts that would have helped her better survive the teenage years. These pages are filled with encouragement, inspiration, and insights that will help the girls in your youth ministry?or other girls in your life?explore their beauty, their worth, and their world. 99 Thoughts for Smaller Church Youth Workers Serving as a youth worker in a smaller church can be one of the most difficult assignments?but the rewards are undeniably satisfying. You don’t have as many resources?but you know every student’s name. Your attendance drops every time that one family takes a vacation?but your

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Youth ministry veteran and bestselling author, Duffy Robbins, offers an updated and revised edition of his book about the important, behind-the-scenes mechaincs of youth ministry. The tasks of budgeting, decision-making, time management, team ministry, staff relationships, conflict resolution, working with parents, and a range of other issues, are the things that keep a ministry together and functioning well. Nobody gets into youth ministry because they want to think about these things; but a lot of people get out of youth ministry because they didn?t think about them. All youth workers?whether paid or volunteer, full-time or part-time?will find Youth Ministry Nuts and Bolts to be a thoughtful, fun, practical guide to youth ministry administration.

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Nobody can prepare you for all the issues you?ll encounter when it comes to teenagers. Whether you work with teens or are trying to parent them, chances are that you?ve already run into a few things that you felt completely unprepared or ill equipped to deal with. You?re not alone! In this hard-hitting series of books, you?ll find answers to the difficult questions you face when challenges arise. In What Do I Do When Teenagers are Victims of Abuse? , Dr. Steven Gerali will help you: Grasp the realities and myths associated with abuse Explore how theology informs the issue Understand the different forms of abuse teens encounter, such as physical, emotional, sexual, and self-abuse Identify the profile of abusers Learn your role in mandated reporting Equip teens to identify and avoid abusive situations or relationships With this practical book, you?ll have what you need to identify and help victims of abuse, and you?ll find plenty of resources for help beyond what you?re able to give. Dr. Steven Gerali is a speaker, professor, and counselor who is recognized around the world as an expert in the field of adolescence and youth ministry. He?s the author of Teenage Guys and two books for students. Before becoming a professor of youth ministry Steve served for more than 25 years as pastor of student ministries in churches in Arizona and Illinois. The father of two grown daughters, Steve currently lives in southern California with his wife, Jan.

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No matter how hard we try, there will always be some kids that just don?t quite get what they need out of a ?normal? youth program. Even a healthy, growing one! Sometimes, students who fade into the woodwork in a large group, would thrive with a one-on-one approach. On the other hand, active students?even those already connected in a small group?may be looking for a way to deepen their walk. Enter the mentor. A mentoring program is another tool a youth worker can use to help students connect with God. It can be added to any youth program, large or small, traditional or contemporary. And with Mentoring from Start To Finish, it?s never been easier to start one. This resource is divided into two parts. Part 1: The Strategy Why have a mentoring program? What does it look like? Who will the mentors be? This section takes you from ?big picture? thinking all the way to putting the rubber to the road. Part 2: The Goods This is all the forms, applications, letters and other stuff that will save you tons of time. Use them as-is or customize them for your ministry. They?re all yours. Take a look at adding a mentoring program to your ministry. It?s a great way to catch those kids who might fall through the cracks and to provide more mature students a chance to really dig in more deeply to God?s plan for their lives. And nothing will help you get one started quicker than Mentoring from Start To Finish.

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“Discouraged by life’s difficulties – both life-shifting catastrophes and the drip-drip-drip of daily trouble? Dissatisfied with the same old pat answers about God’s role in our hard times? Rick Lawrence offers fresh biblical perspective based on a single Scripture snapshot – Luke 22:31-32. Jesus tells Peter he’s about to be “”sifted like wheat”" – shaken hard, beaten, and agitated until he practically falls apart. Satan’s going to do it. And Jesus is going to allow it, in the interest of showing Peter who he really is. Lawrence uses the simple agrarian metaphor of sifting as a jumping-off point for a rigorously honest, deeply challenging, yet powerfully comforting exploration of the trials that beat us down, the good God who allows our troubles, and the incredible beauty the process of sifting can reveal in us. Rick Lawrence is the long-time editor of GROUP magazine and co-leader of the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. He also speaks frequently for conferences and workshops, consults for national research organizations, and publishes prolifically – with 31 books (authored, coauthored or edited), hundreds of articles, and a small-group curriculum to his credit.