A Critical Time for Youth

Who hasn’t been impacted by the economy?! Our country, our churches and our families are searching for some idea of what “normal life” is supposed to be in August of 2009. As we are searching, there are people watching what we’re doing and how we’re handling things.

Though your 14 year old may not seem to pay attention to the news or fully understand the economy (does anyone?) ... they are looking to us as parents, pastors and leaders to see if we’ll remain faithful or cower in fear.

In the fall of 2008, our team was beginning to brainstorm about a new youth resource and at the same time our country began its economic slide. We began to realize that the resources we were setting out to create would have a heightened significance. Some churches have been forced to layoff youth workers or cut back on hours. Volunteers have had to step up even more while still trying to balance their own jobs and checkbooks. Students are living through a crisis that will impact their possibilities of college, first jobs, and first houses ... these are unique times.

Our team surveyed hundreds of youth pastors last December to understand the pressing topics and issues facing their students. Using their feedback and our research, we chose three topics that are very fitting for our current times. I am thrilled that this week we are releasing the 2010 Youth Ministry Kit.


On the WHY JESUS? series we took popular youth speaker David Nasser to Israel to address the tough questions about our savior. There’s a limited time we have with students before they are own their own. They have to answer the question “why Jesus?” or nothing else will make sense in their life. I have shown this 2-minute overview video to a handful of people and every time it incites a dramatic response from a roomful of applause to tears from a pastor.



It’s been over 5 years since we last worked with Doug Fields from Saddleback Church. We loved working with him again on the CONFLICT series. We interviewed 12 students to get their honest feelings about the conflict they face with their parents, peers, teachers and even God. This 2-minute video gives you a glimpse of what we address.



After we worked on a project with Sean McDowell last year, our team was so amazed by his teaching and ability to connect to students that we wanted to work with him again. We teamed up on a topic that plagues everyone in this country ... the search for happiness. In the AM I HAPPY? series we explored how things like accomplishments, possessions and relationships always fall short of true happiness. Students from across the country shared candidly about the difficulties in their search.

In addition to these Bible studies, the 2010 Youth Ministry Kit includes three DVDs with funny and moving video illustrations to use as ice-breakers or support elements to your big group teaching time.

Our team listened to youth pastors, scoured the country for stories, partnered up with phenomenal teachers and worked really hard to create a resource that could serve thousands of youth ministries. At this point, it’s a little bit like my daughter who will go to kindergarten in a few weeks ... our team has to “let go” of this resource and hope it will have the kind of impact that we’ve prayed for.

Brian Mosley
EVP Product Development