One of my favorite youth ministry blogs is “Rethinking Youth Ministry” by Brian Kirk. Kirk’s blog provides a number of resources and articles that help me think outside my sometimes very familiar practices of youth ministry. To “rethink” our ideas and practices is not simply to change what we do and how we do it but to give thoughtful consideration to the question “Why do we do the things we do?”

While I find blogs and articles about youth ministry helpful to the rethinking process, they’re also somewhat limited in their ability to help me contextualize the ideas and practices they promote. That’s why I find opportunities for professional development and peer interaction to be of tremendous benefit to rethinking and thereby improving my ministry with teens.

I want to invite you to join me and other youth ministry peers at the upcoming ChurchWorks conference in Norfolk, VA. You’ll hear from Ken Medema and Brian McLaren in addition to some focused time with the CBF Youth Ministry Network.

Cory Goode is an associate pastor with student emphasis at University Heights Baptist Church in Springfield, Missouri.