Mark Oestreicher

Kami Gilmour

Parents are the biggest influence on the lives of teenagers— a fact that research has proved again and again. Yet interactions with parents can be one of the trickiest areas for a youth worker to navigate well. Great youth ministries are passionate about helping parents— the key influence on teenage faith—succeed in their God-given roles. That’s the foundational message of The Skinny on Parents, which will lead you toward a place where you focus a little bit more of your energy on resourcing, equipping, partnering with, and empowering parents. Parents are not the enemy. Ignoring them will diminish the impact of your ministry. Most parents struggle with fears but also want help. And you can come alongside them to partner in helping teenagers fully step into a life of faith. This book is filled with practical ideas that will energize your ministry to parents and families. And if you as a youth worker provide help in a way that allows parents to feel more equipped and confident, then everyone wins: families, teenagers, and your youth ministry!

A Big Youth Ministry Topic in a Single Little Book

The Skinny on Parents

Todd Temple

This journal features 50 two-page devotionals that introduce junior highers to the many pictures of God in Scripture, helping them discover the character of God and challenging them to practice those traits in their own lives.

Pictures of God

Wild Truth Journal

The Bible is a photo album, brimming with self-portraits of a God who wants to be known. God has put these pictures in the Bible to reveal his character. By examining them, we discover who God is and why he’s worth knowing better. And we discover something else: who he wants us to be. He wants us to copy his picture into our own character. Wild Truth Bible Lessons--Pictures of God 2 is a guide to 12 God-pictures taken straight from the Photo Album. They are active Bible lessons for junior high and middle school Sunday school classes or youth group meetings, each one based on one of the 50 pictures of God and presented energetically, relevantly, and scripturally in the companion student book Wild Truth Journal: Pictures of God. The lessons are loaded with off-the-wall and easy-to-do discussion starters, video ideas, scripts, games with a point. And, of course, Bible passages and studies that springboard junior highers from the abstract into the concrete as (open Bibles in hand) they explore the nature of God in a lively, relevant way, and then begin practicing in their own lives the traits of God.Here’s how the lessons are organized: * Picture Prep grabs your group’s attention to prepare them for what’s ahead.* Action Shot takes your students into the Bible to catch God in the act of revealing his character.* Self-Portrait explores the given aspect of God’s character...how it makes God just that much more awesome...and why it’s a very good trait for us to have, too.* Print It! challenges your students to print God’s picture into their own lives by living out his character in an immediately practical way.12 lessons

12 More Wild Bible Studies on the Character of a Wild God--and What It Means for Your Junior Highers and Middle Schoolers

Wild Truth Bible Lessons--Pictures of God 2

Features 50 two-page journaling devotionals sends students straight into the words of Jesus to discover the truth--then it dares them to live that truth today.

50 Truth and Dare Challenges for Junior Highers

Wild Truth Journal-Dares from Jesus

Here are 12 active Bible lessons for junior high Sunday school classes or youth group meetings, each one based on one of the 50 pictures of God presented in Wild Truth Journal: Pictures of God--energetically, relevantly, and scripturally. The lessons are loaded with off-the-wall and easy-to-do discussion starters, video ideas, scripts, and games with a point. And of course, there are plenty of Bible passages and studies to springboard junior highers from the abstract into the concrete as (open Bibles in hand) they explore the nature of God in a lively, relevant way — then begin practicing the traits of God in their own lives. 12 lessons.

12 MORE wild Bible studies on the character of a wild God and what it means for junior highers and middle schoolers

Wild Truth Bible Lessons--Pictures of God

Ready to introduce your junior highers to wild examples of spiritual maturity? Check out biblical adventures of these people and the character qualities they exemplify -- real people who, in wild Bible stories, did really wild things for God: - Kid King . . . Josiah (influencing others) - Wise Guy, the King of Good Decisions . . . Solomon (wise decisions) - Little Timmy, the Teenage Teacher . . . Timothy (living for God while still a young teen) - Dave's posse . . . David's mighty men (doing outrageous things for God) - Whiney Bro, the Fair-Share Demander . . . the Prodigal Son's brother (demanding your rights) - Moe's Mom, the Cruise Director . . . Moses' mother (trusting God in difficult situations) - Pete, the Second-Chance Wonder . . . Peter (God's forgiveness) - Samantha, the Water Woman . . . the woman at the well (racism). You won't believe all the off-the-wall discussion starters, video ideas, scripts, games with a point -- and, of course, Bible passages you can use to springboard junior highers into topics that don't just mean the world to them, but are the world. Friendship. Embarrassment. Rights. Racism. Each lesson reaches back into history to underline for junior highers the reality of Old and New Testament people and principles -- and then reaches forward, challenging your students to make better decisions, better friends, better lives. Each lesson thoroughly preps you to teach it, including convenient reminders of what materials you need and when you need them. And in each lesson students dig into Wild Pages that bring scriptural principles right into the kids' own experience. 12 lessons

Wild Truth Bible Lessons

Francine Rivers

Doug Fields

SPANISH EDITION. Tamar. Betrayed by the men who controlled her future, she fought for her rights and believed in the love of God.

Desenmascarada

When you think about the state of youth ministry today, are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you cheer or fear? Is the glass half full or half empty? In this honest, frank, blunt examination, veteran youth worker Mark Oestreicher offers a fresh perspective on what’s working in youth ministry today—and discovers that perhaps things aren’t as broken as some of us might have thought. Theologically and anecdotally, we can uncover plenty of encouraging signs in the realm of youth ministry, according to Oestreicher, whose youth ministry experience includes time as an in-the-trenches youth worker and as a publisher of youth ministry books and resources. A Beautiful Mess features insights on the issues and opportunities facing youth workers, including the trend toward longevity in ministry, the power of smaller churches, the work of the Holy Spirit, the rewards of authentic relational ministry, the need for integration instead of isolation, and the centrality of faith and humility. This book will help you experience the freedom of your calling, rather than the stress of expectations. You’ll discover an abundance of reasons to remain optimistic, intentional, and faithful as you engage in the lives of today’s teenagers.

What's Right With Youth Ministry

A Beautiful Mess

To Be a Junior High Youth Worker . . . takes a distinct kind of adult, just as junior highers are a distinct kind of people. Betwixt and between though they may be, early adolescents are as capable of a genuine spiritual understanding and growth as high schoolers.It’s just that junior highers absorb Bible teaching and demonstrate their spirituality—well, differently. Help! I’m a Junior High Youth Worker! is your primer for understanding young teenagers, then teaching them with a mind-set and with methods that fit them.First Things First. Three axioms that define your territory as a junior high youth worker.So Just What Is a Junior Higher, Anyway? The essence of early adolescence: the need for appropriate rules . . . the dilemma of throwing sixth graders and eighth graders together in the same program . . . small is good.Developmentally Speaking. Changes junior highers enjoy and endure cognitively, emotionally, socially, spiritually . . . their changing relationships with parents . . . individuation and hair under their arms.Time to Teach! Your required dose of pedagogy: the case for fun learning . . . ten top teaching topics for middle school ministry . . . how simulations, role plays, and storytelling can be your best teaching methods for early adolescents.Faith Outside the Youth Room. Spiritual discipleship for middle schoolers: they don’t have to be high schoolers to begin forming habits of prayers, service, and outreach.Help! I’m a Junior High Youth Worker! is help at hand surviving and thriving in ministry to early adolescents.

50 Ways to Survive and Thrive in Ministry to Early Adolescents

Help! I'm a Junior High Youth Worker!

Mark Oestreicher shares the story of his trip into the desert—literally and figuratively—after a disruptive life event. From there he helps us understand the elusive nature of hope: where it comes from, how we come upon it, how we lose sight of it, how we come back to it and how we hang on to it against all hope.

Finding, Keeping and Sharing the Things Unseen

Hopecasting

Meet 50 of the Bible's most outrageous and amazing people. You'll find out what happened when God went major rad with His Wild Truth--and you'll discover how God can do the same thing right now in your life. Check out some of the people you'll get to know: - Skipper (pulls off major animal style Rescue 911) - Hammerhead (gives a bad dude a permanent headache) - LAZ (a dead guy. . Until You-Know-Who comes along) - Moe's Mom (sends her son on THE river-rafting trip of all time) - Bad Luck Boils (overcomes major zit problem) . . .and dozens of other folks you've just gotta meet! Open up Wild Truth Journal - and dare to discover the power of God's love.

Wild Truth Journal for Junior Highers

Joel Mayward

Helping your child make wise choices about sex and dating requires more than just one chat. It's about building bridges of ongoing dialogue throughout the teenage years. But youth workers Mark Oestreicher and Joel Mayward realize many parents don't feel comfortable or prepared to have these kinds of conversations. That's why they wrote A Parent's Guide to Understanding Sex and Dating-- to equip you to initiate healthy, honest discussions with your teenager. This book will also help you understand some of the relevant trends and issues in today's youth culture. Your role as a parent is to do more than provide your teenager with information about sex and dating. You have the opportunity and the calling to help your child live wisely and honor God in this sometimes tricky, occasionally awkward, and always vital area of life.

Mark Oestreicher

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