Over the past 20 years I have led countless lessons, hosted more than 100 weekend and weeklong retreats (literally), convened many parent seminars/workshops, mentored other youth pastors, and consulted churches about how to do a thriving youth ministry.

And here is one thing for certain.

There are assumptions that people make about youth ministry. Often they make sense from one side of the conversation, but not so much from the other side. And so that is what this is, a peak behind the curtain to hear about youth ministry from the other side, and what advice or input a former youth pastor might have for you.

In order for youth ministry to have the best chance of success, it actually begins with you, the parent/guardian, and not the youth pastor. Youth pastors are simply supposed to be added support to the ministry that parents/guardians do at home.

In some ways, this list of 30 principles is 30 ways to put your youth pastor out of a job, which is a little funny, coming from a former youth pastor.

This whole gift to you, is actually about you and your youth. I sincerely hope that it gives you some tools to help out, some ideas to consider and more.