Presence-Centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation
"Wow. Talk about stirring the pot! Mike King gets way out on some beautiful and truthful thin ice, naming many of the closely held wrong assumptions and faulty practices of modern youth ministry. Then he crosses to the other side of this thin ice, and suggests a path forward. Congrats to Mike, and to anyone willing to thoughtfully consider the ideas in this book!" (Mark Oestreicher, president, Youth Specialties)"Mike King has started a conversation that's long overdue and frequently ignored in youth ministry circles. In this thoughtful book he tells his own story with humble vulnerability, exposes the sacred cows we've let graze for far too long on the youth ministry landscape, and helps us see that ministry isn't about facilitating and teaching outward behavorial conformity. I'm sure this book will make many uncomfortable because of its subject and recommendations. Pick it up. Don't put it down. Prayerfully wrestle with Mike and his message. Keep reading. This book just might take you out of your comfort zone, but that's right where many of us need to be led in order to be able to carefully and faithfully lead young people into the life-changing presence of God." (Walt Mueller, Center for Parent/Youth Understanding and author of Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture)"Make no mistake:Presence-Centered Youth Ministryis about God's presence, not ours--which right away puts Mike King's approach to youth ministry in a class of its own. King transcends 'liberal/conservative' stereotypes by putting ancient spiritual practices at the heart of our ministry with young people--practices that center us in the presence of God. If you're not won by the teenagers you meet in these pages, you'll be won by the glimpses of how King's own ministry helps youth 'practice the presence of God.' If Brother Lawrence had been a youth pastor, this book would have been his favorite resource." (Kenda Creasy Dean, parent, pastor, associate professor of youth, church and culture, Princeton Theological Seminary, and author of Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church)"WithPresence-Centered Youth Ministry,Mike King has given us a road map to the tectonic shift underway in student ministry. At turns personal, challenging, testimonial and prophetic, this book will surely capture the hearts of many youth workers. Mike speaks from experience, yet with humility, and he is truly setting the course for a new day in youth ministry." (Tony Jones, National Coordinator of Emergent-U.S. (www.emergentvillage.com), and editor of You Converted Me: The Confessions of St. Augustine)