All posts in Book Reviews

There are 99 ideas in this book that are 100 percent helpful. “The best ideas almost always come from experience,” and Youthwork shows just how much you can learn in a few decades of youth ministry. Pearson & Santhouse present an encyclopedia of issues and experiences that youth workers are likely to face, along with solid advice gleened from years in the trenches.

One of the greatest strengths is how simple it is to read up on specific issues. Everything from discipleship to event transportation gets face time, with insights helpful to those starting in youth ministry and those looking for encouragement in their continuing journey. It’s a personal, pocket-sized mentor for those involved in loving teenagers in the name of Jesus, and a necessary addition to any youth worker’s bookshelf.

YOUthwork | Moody Publishers, July 2009, $12.99, 192 pp.

The Deep Justice Journeys Leader Guide is a perfect companion to stressed out short-term mission trip leader. With helpful insight into the process of preparing a team for a mission trip and countless group activities to help make the most of a trip, it steps in to help with the part of mission trip prep that is often buried under the paperwork and permission slips.

Rather than a step-by-step guide, the Leader Guide explains the context of trip preparation and then offers a buffet of activities from which leaders can choose. The activities are very well structured and easy to understand, while still lending themselves to customization by any group.

There is a Student Journal that can optionally be used as a companion to many of the activities in the Leader Guide. It is well organized and  Where the smorgasbord of options is the greatest strength to the Leader Guide it is perhaps the downfall of the Student Journal, which seemed a bit burdensome in its size for the typical task-juggling teenager.

The Deep Justice Journeys resources can easily tie into an extended look at service as a youth ministry, and should certainly be on the top of the reading list for those planning a short-term mission trip.

Leader Guide - Zondervan, May 2009, 208 pp., $14.99
Student Journal - Zondervan, May 2009, 160 pp., $9.99

Volunteer Like a Pro

Jim Hancock

Zondervan/Youth Specialties, January 2009, 144 pp., $12.99, www.youthspecialties.com

Volunteer Like a Pro is Jim Hancock’s attempt to squeeze 20 years of youth ministry experience into a crash course on volunteer youth leading. Each two-to-three page chapter touches on an important aspect of lay ministry with teens. Youth workers should read it cover to cover and then keep it around as a reference. It will quickly become the second-most-useful handbook for working with teenagers* in the church (if you can’t guess the first you should probably be fired).

This book will be an indispensable tool for training youth workers It provides excellent advice for those less frequent tasks like hospital visits, while touching on many of the finer points of student ministry.

I gave a copy to each of my leader’s this year, two days later I got this email.

LOVE the book by Jim Hancock! I’ve read it thru once, and I’m going thru it again. Love the parts about the different phases of ministry as your own children get older…good advice for me. Also the parts about getting worse at some things, but better at others. Good stuff.

It really is a wonderful book, grab a copy (or 10) for your team today.

Luke Trouten reviews youth ministry resources for YouthWorker Journal. You can find this review, and other helpful Tools Reviews here.

It seems only fair to kick things off with a nod to the inspiration for this blog, a book (yeah, one of those old things). The Blogging Church by Brian Bailey with Terry Smith is the best tech-meets ministry book I’ve read to date. Something that’s clear in my original review for YouthWorker Journal. It masterfully explains why a blog can vitalize your ministry while giving simple instructions on how to work make it happen. It’s fun if you’re an uber-geek or a techno-phobe, and a great resource as you journey into the great blogosphere. So encouraged largely by this book, and an interest I haven’t been able to shake for months, I’m launching my own blog. YouthMinistryBlog is my effort to produce a spot for technology, resources, and insights that may help in the trenches of youth ministry. Or the bunkers of youth ministry. Or possibly even the aircraft carriers of youth ministry. The hope is that you’ll find new tools to help un-complicate some of the craziness that goes with the turf. If you’re a volunteer, part time, or full time life changer, I hope this will help make your life at least a little bit easier so you can focus on the important things (like developing that Mountain Dew flavored sedative for overnights).