Devos & Books

In True Feelings: God's Gracious and Glorious Purpose for Our Emotions, a mother-daughter team clears away common misconceptions and mixed messages about our feelings to offer us a biblical perspective on emotions— helping us understand how they work, why we feel what we feel, and how to develop good emotional habits.

Unashamed: Healing Our Brokenness and Finding Freedom From Shame invites us to not only be healed of our own shame but also be a part of healing for others. Through the gospel, we discover the only real and lasting antidote to shame: exchanging our shame for the righteousness of Christ alongside others on this same journey.

4 Views on Talking to Teenagers About Sex reflects the thoughts, experiences, and practical advice of four in-the-trenches youth workers, who have spent years having these conversations with the teenagers in their ministries. Representing an array of viewpoints, these writers don’t agree on everything—but they all know that our conversations with teens about sex must speak to God’s design, avoid shame, and go far beyond any one instance of “the talk.

5 Views on Youth Ministry Short-Term Missions reflects the thoughts, personal stories, and real-life tips of five in-the-trenches youth workers who regularly lead short-term mission trips (STMs). Here you’ll find thoughtful but practical dialogue on the multiple views and approaches to STMs, from work camps to urban missions to long-term partnerships with Indigenous church leaders across the globe. Didn’t realize there were different views and approaches to STMs that thoughtful youth workers could disagree on? That’s part of the point of this book; to help youth workers have more insight into the issues and be more intentional in their responses. The five views of STMs found within this book are based on the contributors’ core commitments and worldviews (really, their missiology). Each of the contributors also offers a short response to one of the other views of STMs presented. Appendices tackle the important topics of junior high short-term missions and the incredible value of multigenerational trips.

Youth Ministry in a Post-Christian World: A Hopeful Wake-Up Call is the collection of humble, story-driven, pragmatic, and Jesus-focused reflections of a fellow youth worker forced to reconsider everything he knew about youth ministry: everything except the gospel, that is.

Lissy Rienow shares the teenage point of view about the toughest issues families face today. Her heart for families shines through as she encourages and equips parents to fight for a stronger connection with their teen. 

Three years into Kendall’s job as the youth pastor of Grace church, many things are going really well: Kids are connecting and growing. She’s built a solid team of adult leaders. She and her husband love their home, city, and friends. But when Kendall is blindsided by her unsupportive senior pastor, who once again takes the side of a wealthy parent over Kendall’s, it’s the impetus she needs to start reconsidering her future. Is it time for Kendall to move on? And if she does look for a role at a new church, how can she be sure it will be a better fit than this one? 

With this fiction debut, veteran youth worker Jen Bradbury’s novel explores the process of living in to your calling, listening to the voice of God, and continually asking the question, What does the right fit look like, and how do you know when you’ve found it?

Wake Up: Rediscovering A Passion for God and the Bible is a 31-day devotional experience designed to unlock the Bible for Christ-followers. Every day in Wake Up teaches you a different way of meeting with God in the Bible. Some feed your head. Some feed your heart. Some lead you to reflect. Some lead you to act. But every moment is designed to help you rediscover your joy for God and for meeting Him in His Word.

Youth Ministry on a Shoestring: How to Do More With Less offers encouragement and inspiration to begin a "new" way of looking for resources. Lack of funding doesn't have to mean a lack of fun. From the people and things in your church and community, you'll uncover a whole new world of possibilities that can help you do ministry—and do it well.

BAGS helps parents become aware of the specific bags kids tend to pack as they grow up, how these bags tend to get packed, and the long-lasting negative impacts they can have.

Purpose Driven Youth Ministry: 9 Essential Foundations for Healthy Growth will provide principles to help create and maintain healthy youth ministries for the long run, centered around the principles of evangelism, discipleship, fellowship, ministry, and worship.

Teaching for Change guides teachers to unravel the mystery of how students absorb and process information. This insight leads to better prepared lessons that will engage the hearts and minds of students. 

Protecting Your Children from Internet Pornography exposes the many ways that pornography is menacing people, relationships, society, and—especially—our children. You will be disturbed, shocked, motivated, and empowered to make a difference after reading this book.

Everybody's Urban: Understanding the Survival Mindset of the Next Generation helps youth workers in every setting—in the middle of a large city or rural small town—move beyond identifying the students in their ministry by where they live or their skin color into real-world strategies to minister to today's teenagers.

Hierarchical, coercive leadership should have no place in the church. But if we move away from those unbiblical (and ineffective) forms of power-based leadership, we still need to lead. In Leading Without Power, Mark Oestreicher explores—in very pragmatic ways—what it might look like for us to replace power-based leadership modalities with other approaches.

Beautiful Rebellion, a book that cuts past unhelpful stereotypes and shows today’s teens that they are uniquely primed to use their whole selves—faith, skepticism, intellectualism, humor, big questions, and all—to bring about a world-changing movement empowered and driven by God’s love.

Teenagers today are different from teenagers even 10 or 20 years ago. The issues they are facing are complex and wide-ranging.How can youth workers understand them better? What are the best ways to meet anxious teens where they are and help them feel seen, loved, and known—both by our youth ministries and by the God who cares for them so deeply?

In this edition of our “multi-views” series, the chapters are authored by a group of youth ministry thought leaders. We asked them two key questions: What are the problems youth ministry currently faces? And what is the pathway forward? Each chapter represents a thoughtful, practical, and challenging viewpoint. At the end of each chapter, there is a sidebar from an in-the-trenches youth worker whose ministry is currently living out the future the chapter’s writer foresees.

Discover a practical approach to parenting with great insight into overcoming the distractions life throws at every family. Brian Housman gives broad principles that incorporate spiritual truths vital to maintaining spiritual engagement even through the difficult teen years. Readers are encouraged to let go of the mistakes of the past and keep moving forward towards building a lasting relationship and launching your child into adulthood with a love for God Brian Housman reminds parents of the vital role they play in loving and leading children with the ultimate goal of leaving a spiritual legacy. Housman gives hopeful and inspiring advice to parents laced with personal stories that will inspire readers to evaluate what matters most in life. He also provides tools for parents to stay connected to their kids and emphasizes the need for parents to remind kids of their deep love for them. More importantly he reminds parents that no matter where they are in the parenting journey, it is never too late to start being the parents God desires them to be.

Slaying Biblical Illiteracy

Understanding Your Young Teen: Practical Wisdom for Parents offers insights on early adolescent development, new research and cultural changes, and practical applications for parenting and living with young teens. Parents of young teens are presented with new challenges in understanding, communicating with and parenting their kids during this time in their lives.

How To Be A Man: Pursuing Christ-centered Masculinity is a 40-day devotional experience that will spur men on to a more passionate pursuit of Christ-centered manhood.

Dealing with boundaries, finances, and changing values are all part of parenting your grown child. In Doing Life with Your Adult Children, Jim Burns offers practical advice and hopeful encouragement for one of the richest and most challenging seasons of parenting.

Make sure the parents in your ministry feel equipped in every season!