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Youth Minister's Manual

Have you ever been part of a panel? I'll bet you have. I imagine you've done something impressive enough in your lifetime that someone has asked for your opinion to be shared with others. Maybe it was a panel on grocery store couponing, or the best practices of educating your children on the finer points of dressing themselves, or even a panel on solar panels.

I'm not sure what that last one would be like.

This may come as a surprise, but I have never been part of a panel. Until now. I received an opportunity to be part of the YouthWorker Journal panel review. I know, it sounds glamorous. You know what it means? I read a book.

The book is called Nelson's Youth Minister's Manual. It is part of their series of ministry books. This one was written by Theresa Plemmons Reiter, a 30-year youth ministry veteran. She's seen and done a lot of stuff and decided to go back and write about it.

It's a short book, just over 200 pages, making this a handy resource for youth pastors. As I read through this book, my first thought was that none of this was rocket science. But then I remembered that I'd been doing youth ministry for 14 years and I had learned many of these lessons the hard way. I also realized that a whole new world of youth ministry was being realized as my years have passed along.

For new youth pastors just starting out, there is no excuse for not learning from others. There never has been a good excuse for not learning from those who go before us, but now we have so much that is readily available. This book is a great example of that.

Theresa offers chapters on handling interviews, arriving at and leaving a church, and keeping current with trends. She handles somewhat philosophical topics, such as understanding the different theologies in various denominations. But she also offers practical insight by providing good basic information on handling emergencies.

No one book covers every scenario for every youth pastor and every church, but this youth pastor's manual would be a good idea for any leader to have on their shelf for reference.
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