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Maybe you’re a young youth worker just getting started. Maybe you’re a veteran youth worker who, for whatever reason, hasn’t had children. Maybe you’re somewhere in between. Whatever the case, there is a youth ministry truth that few people address: It can be hard talking to parents about their children when you don't have children yourself.

I think the most effective youth workers (and this goes for youth workers who are parents as well) come alongside parents and say, “I am not here to tell you how to parent your child. But I am here to help you disciple your child.”

Graduation is always an exciting time in your youth ministries. There are so many mixed emotions. You're excited for your students; you're happy because they're happy. There are, however, another set of emotions we may feel at graduation, ones we don’t often stop and talk about. So let's talk about the "What If's" of youth ministry.

No matter what your title is - youth pastor, student minister, etc. - you are a disciple-maker. That is your calling, your task. And one of the primary things we do as disciple-makers is to facilitate encounters with God.

We create environments and interactions where students are brought into proximity with God, with the intent that He transforms them.

Roger Davis, YM360 President, has always had a heart for missions. He takes his family on mission trips, he gives leadership to YM360, but also, he provides leadership to one of our partner organizations, Servant Life. As a long time participant in missions, Roger understands the power of mission trips. In our discussion, Roger and I mentioned a few reasons why short term missions are so vital in the spiritual formation of your students.

As you begin transitioning into the graduation season, what are you to do with your students who graduate? Your ministry with your graduating students does not have to stop just because they have transitioned out of your ministry. The relationship that you’ve built with these students, shouldn’t just disappear as soon as they walk across the stage. 

Jody recently sat down with YM360’s Jake Rasmussen at Southeast Conclave to talk a little about the book and the heart behind it. With incidents covering headlines for sexual misconduct and unreported issues in churches, Dr. Dean and Dr. Jackson had 16 different topics that kept rising to the surface in regards to risk management. Including things like Volunteers, Mandatory Reporting, and even things like Bullying and Making Money Matter.

Bubba Crowder, a long time friend of Roger Davis and YM360, is the founder and Director of Fund the Nations - 52 Threads, a company founded based on the Great Commission and with the intent of helping students and adopting parents to fundraise. Oh my does Bubba have a lot of experience with fundraising in youth ministry!

Andy Blanks, Co-Founder and Publisher for YM360, recently sat down with Angela and asked her how, in the midst of so much commitment, she and her husband managed to avoid burnout.

We wanted to suggest a few gift ideas to empower you to not only celebrate your graduating seniors as they transition out of your ministry but to create some meaning as you do so.

There's a lot we miss out on when we don't make Scripture memory a part of our ministries. This post challenges you to make this vital spiritual discipline a part of your youth ministry.

We’ve all been there: you're leading Bible study but you find yourself staring into a room full of mostly disengaged students. Here are three tips to help NOT find yourself here again.

Discouragement is something pretty much everyone in youth ministry experiences at one time or another. Here are three tips for dealing with discouragement.