The 14 Leaders

The following 14 student ministry leaders are authors, conference speakers, founders of ministries, and youth pastors/student pastors of large groups around the country.

Some of the churches represented here by these youth pastors are: NewSpring Church (one of 100 fastest growing), Phoenix First Assembly, Southeast Christian Church (largest congregation in Kentucky), Crystal Cathedral and Saddleback.

*Three of them were nominated as "one of the top 20 Youth Pastors" by The Church Report Magazine. Here they are...

Jonathan McKee - You can get a sneak peek of his interview by signing-up --->

Jonathan McKee is president of The Source for Youth Ministry and author of numerous youth ministry books like "Do They Run When They See You Coming?", "What’s a Fo’ Sheezy?" with Fred Lynch, and the forthcoming YS book, "Getting Students to Show Up". Jonathan speaks and trains at camps, conferences, and events across the U.S., and provides free resources for youth workers around the world on his website, TheSource4ym.com.

Mark Oestreicher

Mark is the president of Youth Specialties (www.youthspecialties.com), the leader in resourcing, training and encouraging youth workers. Mark has worked with middle school kids for about 25 years, and has written dozens of books for youth workers and middle school students. He also blogs actively on technorati's top-rated youth ministry blog:
www.ysmarko.com.

Jason Gerdes

Jason Gerdes is the student pastor at Bay Area Fellowship (Corpus Christi, TX) and the creator of element student church. He has a unique passion to capture and utilize the hearts of today’s teens. By implementing creative strategies, there has been a spiritual awakening among the teenage landscape of South Texas. With student churches at multiple locations, Jason believes in the power of being “others focused” which has led to a student movement that has grown beyond himself and his city. Currently there are student sermon series available at http://www.elementstudentchurch.com.

Jonathan Herron

Jonathan merges improv-comedy from The Second City Training Center in Chicago with theology from Ashland Seminary and leadership skills from serving on the Executive Team at NewSpring Church - one of the 100 fastest growing churches in North America. Jonathan currently serves as Lead Pastor and church planter of Catalyst
(http://www.catalystchurch.cc), a new authentic, creative, & relevant church for 20 & 30-somethings in Kent, Ohio. His blog (http://www.jonathanherron.com) chronicles his caffeinated journey. Besides being a member of the Acts 29 Network (www.a29.org), Jonathan is also an unparalleled retreat and conference speaker through The Source Speakers Network.

Wes Black

Dr. Wes Black is the founder and director of Student Leadership Training Network and Professor of Student Ministry at Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. This has been a matter of prayer and research for him for years. Research with hundreds of active leaders has produced the basic information leading to the topics of these lessons. He has been engaged in youth ministry for over 35 years, serving as youth minister, trainer of youth leaders, published author for youth related materials, and seminary professor teaching youth ministry. Click here to visit his website: http://www.SLTN.com. He is co-writing a new book called The Spirit and Culture of Youth Ministry that is the result of a large nation-wide, 3-year study of exemplary youth ministry. It should be published sometime next year (2006). He is also involved in a personal research project called The Faith Journey of Young Adults. It is a look at the role of faith in the lives of young adults, ages 18-30. The heart of that study is to determine the factors behind why so many teenagers who were active and involved in their youth groups drop out after they graduate. A number of teenagers go on to remain active and faithful in church and religious activities. He wants to find out what is the difference between these two groups.

Brenda Seefeldt

Brenda has been working in youth ministry since 1981 and still serves in her local church. She has had the opportunity to know many youth who have grown into God-loving adults. Brenda's experiences, influences and deft insight birthed the youth ministry resource, Wild Frontier (http://www.wildfrontier.org), in 1990. Wild Frontier is a place for "out there" youth ministry ideas and resources. One of those ideas has been family-based youth ministry so Wild Frontier spun off all of those ideas and resources to Family-Based Youth Ministry (http://www.familybasedyouthministry.org). Brenda is the author of the popular resources of Stuffnet and Pair of Cleats, as well as Moms & Pops Stuff, which is designed to be a resource for youth workers to give to the parents of the youth.

Dave Keehn

Dave Keehn is the Pastor of Core Fellowship (http://www.corefellowship.com) a unique community for High School, College, Young Adults and Young Marrieds located in Dana Point, CA. 

Greg Stier

Greg Stier is President and Founder of Dare 2 Share Ministries International, a youth group assisting organization that equips teenagers to know, live, share and own their faith. Dare 2 Share conducts training conferences nationwide to equip and unleash teenagers to reach their world for Jesus. Greg has authored several books. Ministry Mutiny is a catalytic look at the youth ministry culture that challenges and equips readers to develop a revolutionary student ministry. Dare 2 Share: A Field Guide to Sharing Your Faith equips teens with the information, support and confidence they need to share their faith with anyone, anytime, anywhere. Outbreak…Creating a Contagious Youth Ministry is a hands-on guide for implementing a viral approach to evangelism through the weekly youth group meeting. Greg has also developed a variety of youth group curriculum. The GOSPEL Journey Adventure Kit, is a DVD-based reality evangelism training and outreach series that follows seven students on an unscripted Rocky Mountain adventure through the gospel. The Go Wide Kit, a DVD training series, gives youth group’s an action plan for reaching their friends for Jesus and also motivates the passionate evangelists in the group to form an “e-team” (evangelism team) and drive the group’s ongoing outreach effectiveness. For more information on Dare 2 Share Ministries or how to launch an e-team, check out http://www.dare2share.org.

Nigel James

Nigel’s recent publication is “Seven Myths of Youth Ministry- How to reignite your passion” and his core book about Ignite is “Ignite- God’s purpose for this generation”. Information about Nigel James, the Ignite ministry, and a variety of published and downloadable resources can be found at http://www.igniteme.org. (Especially the IGNITE DECLARATION which over 4,000 young people have signed and over 1,500 youth leaders have discovered.)

Ben Hardman

Ben is the student ministries / Vine director at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville Ky. He is the founder of Studio 33 a ministry dedicated to raising the bar in student ministry. Check out Studio 33’s first project launching soon, http://www.iteachstudents.com the first online community for student teachers. Ben is available for speaking at your event or providing training for leaders, or ministry consultation. He was nominated one of the top 20 Youth Pastors by The Church Report Magazine.

Brad Baker

Youth ministry/pastor for over 28 years, 17 years with Tommy Barnett at Phoenix First Assembly. His youth group "Student Impact" reaches hundreds of teens through multiple activities including weekly youth services, camps, retreats, fellowships and outreaches. He's authored these tools: The Manual (complete youth ministry handbook), Breaking Through Stopping Points (CD), Startin' New (CD), Much more! See more info at http://www.studentimpactphoenix.com. He was nominated one of the top 20 Youth Pastors by The Church Report Magazine.

Chuckk Gerwig

Chuckk Gerwig: Pastor to Students and their Families at Santa Cruz Bible Church in Santa Cruz, California. Chuckk has been ministering to teenagers and their families for the last 22 years and still thinks he’s made the right career choice because working at Jiffy Lube is highly overrated. Chuckk is a shepherd, leadership developer, blogger, next gen / high tech ministry explorer, speaker, guitarist, husband for 25 years (and counting) father of 2 and Harley rider.Sacred Digital is the online home for Chuckk Gerwig’s strange projects. http://www.sacreddigital.com contains video podcasts, youth message audio, scripture soundscapes, youth ministry related articles, and contact info for public speaking.

Jeff Slack

Jeff currently serves as the Pastor of Student Ministries at the Crystal Cathedral (Garden Grove, CA). Jeff has worked with students close to 20 years; both as a volunteer and paid youth worker. Jeff is a graduate of Biola University and Talbot Seminary and is currently completing a DMin. at Fuller Seminary in Youth and Family Culture. Jeff has been a regular contributor to Interl'inc music-based youth curriculum and was recently nominated as one of the top 20 Youth Pastors by The Church Report Magazine. More info can be found at his church website www.crystalcathedral.org/ccsm.

Katie Edwards

Katie has been involved in middle school ministry for more than 13 years, and is currently serving at Saddleback Church in southern California. She is the co-author of "Go Team! 101 Ways to Energize Youth Ministry Volunteers."

Scott Aughtmon After being in Youth Ministry for approx. 14 years, He currently is church planting in Silicon Valley, CA

FREE Stuff

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->Articles

->Lasting Student Ministry Blog

About The Ebook

->Top Student Leaders Reveal What They'd Do If They Had To Start All Over

->The 14 Leaders Who Participated

->Testimonials About The Ebook

->How I Want To Share The Profits From This Ebook With You

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->Benefits Of An Ebook

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About Me

->My Accidental Call Into Student Ministry

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"Reading Scott Aughtmon's new Ebook, "...Lasting Student Ministry" is akin to sitting 'round a table with a band of well-weathered youth ministry veterans as they share their various views on assembling a student ministry with real eternal impact." You'll find great insights through the streams of convergence and divergence in their thinking and praxis. The combined years of youth ministry experience of the ministers Scott pulled together is in the hundreds of years." "These folks have more to share than just a really good crowd-breaker involving balloons, chocolate sauce, and a live gecko!" Chuckk Gerwig Pastor to Students and their Families at Santa Cruz Bible Church in Santa Cruz, California http://www.sacreddigital.com