I think Steve’s book covers some topics we should all be more interested in discussing.

http://pastordefalco.wordpress.com/

Larry – One line of argument in reTHINK had to do with all the turnover of Student Pastors. I think you’re situation is common, guys who want to serve the Lord and do biblical discipleship but are stuck in a model that works against their calling. Thanks for commenting.

Mike – Thanks again for making this book available at Band of Bloggers. I hope I’m not the only one who takes the time to read/recommend it.

I have not read this book, but from these reviews, I do sincerely hope that resources such as these begin a wave of youth ministries that partner directly with parents and even equip them to be in an active discipleship relationship with their own children. Without fail, the children who did not “graduate from God” in our youth ministry were the children whose parents were directly involved in their spiritual formation and had an active and ongoing dialog with them. The children whose parents were uninvolved or unengaged were far more likely to leave the Church and never return. Parents need help in this and many of them are desperate for it.

Like I said – I haven’t yet read the book and I am no longer in youth ministry (called out to be involved in a church plant in Austin, TX), but I applaud all efforts to change the failing course youth ministry has taken in past years to a more biblical approach with parents as the primary disciplers.

Larry Gross’s last blog post..Learning from the experienced

“A few more paragraphs aimed toward the church with only fifteen students would have been helpful. ” bro Tony has pointed this out and I thought the same thing. I have less than that in my youth group, so I am doubtful many of the ideas would work well with my youth and parents.

Another complaint I have is that there is no talk on childhood/teenage conversion experiences. This is HUGE and needs to be discussed more. Many students graduate from God after high school simply because they are not saved. Some of those stats come from churches that do not teach the gospel or if they do, confuse it with psychologically manipulative techniques.

Plus, unintentionally what it says (by not addressing conversion) is that all you have to do is implement this method and the faith of teens will stick around when they’re adults. Sounds too Presbyterian to me.

An entire chapter needs to be devoted to the issue of conversion and how that plays into the “rethink” model.

Other than that, the book was a Godsend. I just started my job as Student Pastor and my pastor is requiring deacons, youth leaders, and eventually parents to read this book. That kind of support is going to make my job so much better!

Your review is an answer to prayer. I never thought that we would be able to have the opportunity to get reThink into the hands of guys like yourself, but the Lord has truly amazed me. I’m sorry that we didn’t meet personally at BOB. If I can serve you in any way, please don’t hesitate to let me know. By the way the registration website for the conference is :http://www.rethinkconference08.com

Mike Hall’s last blog post..Getting Them Engaged!

You may want to link to Steve’s website, http://www.lastingdivergence.com — he is offering a free one day reThink conference in May. Good stuff – great site. Keep up the good work.
DNS