But I'd better have my cognitive areas in line as well. That's the difference between the D.Min. It's a huge weakness right now in youth ministry. With all the new brain research out there, we almost have to be medical in our orientation. We have to know how today's kids' thinking patterns differ from when we were kids.
Advanced education offers a chance for specialization, which is very valuable.
Youth workers know a little bit about counseling, family ministry, children's ministry, and college ministry just because they have their hands in those areas. Some of that's a bad testament to our workloads, but advanced education can let youth workers specialize in the areas where they're gifted. I can give you a reason why advanced education doesn't fit with hands-on youth ministry. Research shows that two years of college training may be okay when it comes to enhancing your creativity, but anything after two years actually diminishes your creativity because it can perpetuate a pattern or lock step. If we're going to have educated and creative youth workers, we've got to find a way to make formal training a lot more genuinely creative.