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Best Books for Youth Pastors: Must-Read Books for Youth Ministry (2026 Edition) · Ministry Coach: Youth Ministry Tips & Resources

0:00
SPEAKER_01: In this episode, we're not only giving you a list of nine must-y books for the new year, but the reasons why you're gonna love them as you leave your youth ministry.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Ministry Coach Podcast, where we bring you weekly tips and tactics to help you fast-track the growth and health of your youth ministry.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: My name is Jeff Lascola, and this is Kristen Lascola.
0:32
SPEAKER_00: And today's episode topic is brought to you by Lydia Long, who suggested that we do an update on a previous video we did, which was titled Nine Books Youth Pastors Need to Read, something along those lines.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: And so now we're doing an updated 2026 version for you.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: Yes, because that was in 2020.
0:53
SPEAKER_01: So I hope I've read some new books in the last six years.
0:57
SPEAKER_01: And funny enough, there's nine more that I recommend.
1:01
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't make it to 10.
1:02
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've read other books, but like if I'm gonna do an episode 10.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: Top nine.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Top nine.
1:11
SPEAKER_01: Did you not just hear me, Jeffrey?
1:14
SPEAKER_00: Just rolled off the tongue.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: So if you wanted to see those other books, obviously they are still relevant.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: They're very good.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: They're great books for youth pastors to read.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: So make sure you check out that episode in those books.
1:23
SPEAKER_00: But let's go ahead with the list starting with number one.
1:26
SPEAKER_01: Number one.
1:27
SPEAKER_01: And Jeff, I will get to number one, but I wanted to say this is a great time of year to do this because a lot of people think in the new year, I'm gonna read.
1:36
SPEAKER_00: And I think that I never think that.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: Well, leaders and smart people do, Jeff.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: And I remember one year I'm like, I'm gonna read one book a month.
1:47
SPEAKER_01: So I want to have 12 books done by the end of the year.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: And I did it and I journaled like which books I read and all of that.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: I love to read.
1:55
SPEAKER_01: I'm usually reading multiple books at once because I like to read a nonfiction, I like to read a fiction, I like to read a Devo.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: I like to read something a little more heady, like factual.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: So I like to have like a big variety going on.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: And when I was looking back at the things I've read in the last six years, this is the top of the top that I mean I would recommend like in my sleep to people.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: And so number one is actually one I'm still reading.
2:25
SPEAKER_01: And so I wanted to put at the top of the list because it's very fresh in my mind.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: Number one is Lead Like It Matters by Craig Grochel.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh my goodness.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: I read this book almost every single day, a little bit of it.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: And Craig Rochelle, A, is a great author.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: He's very funny, he always adds humor in there.
2:47
SPEAKER_01: He's like very relatable.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: You when you read it, you feel like you're just hanging out with him.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: Like, just it's so casual, but the concepts, and this is mostly like it's leadership, pastoral leadership principles.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: So this isn't just for youth pastors.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to get our entire Falbrook staff, um, our campus to read it, everyone on staff.
3:13
SPEAKER_01: And we started, we didn't finish, but I finished.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, I'm almost finished.
3:17
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, we went to all the trouble to order this book.
3:20
SPEAKER_01: I want to finish this thing, and I'm so glad I did because I think as soon as I'm done, I'm gonna reread it again and like digest it twice because there's so many things for people in pastoral leadership roles, it's like game-changing.
3:36
SPEAKER_01: The whole concept is some churches have it and some don't.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: And have you ever like wondered like, why is that church successful?
3:45
SPEAKER_01: Like, why do people go there?
3:47
SPEAKER_01: Why are they growing?
3:48
SPEAKER_01: We both love Jesus, we're both doing good things, and you've kind of secretly been confused or jealous or like not getting it, and you feel like you're just hitting your head against the wall.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: And he kind of defines like what gives a church that it factor that makes it a place that people flock to, that grow, that want to come back, that want to invite their friends, that make this like their home church.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: And the way that he writes it, it's so easy to understand, but the concepts are so big and so profound.
4:25
SPEAKER_01: So highly, highly, highly recommend it.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: One of my favorite um Craig Rochelle quotes is a humble leader can learn from anyone, yet they must lead with furious resolve.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: So I want, I'm gonna probably do a quote for most of the books just so you get like an idea of what it's about.
4:45
SPEAKER_01: This was a great chapter on failure.
4:47
SPEAKER_01: He says, failure is not an option, it is essential.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: And he talks about how we are so afraid to fail as leaders.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: So that get makes us very timid sometimes, and and what we're willing to try and do and experiment with.
5:04
SPEAKER_01: And he's like going through all these examples of failed experiments, but all you need is one success and it's a game changer.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: I've heard a quote one time and I'm probably gonna mess it up, but it's something along the lines of successful people have failed more than non-successful people have even tried.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: I think he says something exactly like that in the book, and that is so true.
5:26
SPEAKER_00: Dready quote me, misquoting it.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: Time will tell.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: You just did it right now.
5:31
SPEAKER_01: Give them time.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like the the whole chapter on failure is like, oh my gosh.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: And you don't you only see people's successes, and so you look for an overnight success.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you look at it and you're like, oh man, I could never do that.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: And they couldn't either, like until they did, but it was just trial and trial and trial, never giving up kind of thing.
5:53
SPEAKER_01: So it is so good.
5:54
SPEAKER_01: I can't recommend that book enough.
5:56
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: Um also, if you were looking for any of these books, obviously we have the links to all of them down in the description below, whether you're listening on a podcast or on YouTube.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: Thank you, Jeff.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: Number two.
6:08
SPEAKER_01: Okay, number two, I'm not gonna talk about too long because I talk about it pretty much on every other episode of this podcast, Stop Asking Jesus into your heart by JD Greer.
6:19
SPEAKER_01: The story of how I found this book is so weird.
6:21
SPEAKER_00: Very fluky.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like I was in a thrift store in Santa Barbara, and there was this bright yellow book that caught my eye, and it was little, and it said, Stop asking Jesus into your heart naturally.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, what the heck?
6:36
SPEAKER_00: Right.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: And so I pick it up.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: It was two bucks.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: So um, I was going to San Simeon with my friends.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: So I read it that weekend.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, most of it, and I'm like, what?
6:47
SPEAKER_01: Um totally will change the way you preach altar calls, the decision nights, your salvation messages.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: It was so good that our entire student ministries team at North Coast Church has read it and discussed it because it really is a game changer when you start to teach students about the theology of salvation, sinners' prayer, all that kind of stuff.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: It really just leaves no question mark about what it truly, truly means to be saved.
7:16
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's confusing for even Christians.
7:19
SPEAKER_01: You know, I remember as a Christian teenager saying to my friends, like, I don't know, I prayed the prayer.
7:26
SPEAKER_01: Is that like proof you're a Christian?
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Like, it's gotta be more complex than that.
7:31
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, I know, maybe we should talk to our pastor about it.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, yeah, I'm too embarrassed.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: No thanks.
7:37
SPEAKER_01: And I wish I had, you know, I would have been very curious what he would have said, but I was kind of plagued by the same question that has plagued him his whole life.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: He's like, I accepted Jesus into my heart like 200 times or something crazy because I'm just like, this time, this time, this time.
7:53
SPEAKER_01: Like, am I saved?
7:54
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
7:56
SPEAKER_01: So really good for every Christian, especially if you are a youth pastor who does altar calls, decision nights, all of that kind of stuff.
8:04
SPEAKER_01: Love, love, love it.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: Number three is Heaven by Randy Alcorn.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: Oh, this is a dense book.
8:12
SPEAKER_01: It took me about a year to finish it.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: It's a really long, fascinating.
8:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, if you are curious about the afterlife, if you teach, you know, at all and you want some more information about heaven and what we I mean, like this is not the Bible, it's but he excavates the Bible a lot and points us in some directions that are very likely about what heaven will be like.
8:46
SPEAKER_01: And my quote that I chose for him for this to give us a picture of it is if we come to see the purpose of the universe as God's long-term glory rather than our short-term happiness, then we will undergo a critical paradigm shift in tackling the problem of evil and suffering.
9:05
SPEAKER_01: So the book is far more than just what is heaven gonna be like?
9:08
SPEAKER_01: You know, it has to be because it's very, very long.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: Our pastor used it when he taught our revelation series, and that's how I got interested.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: And my dad texted, he's like, You gotta read Heaven by Randy Alcorn.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: That's the book, you know, that some of the sermon notes have come from.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, all right.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, whoa, what am I getting into?
9:27
SPEAKER_01: This thing is long, but it was so fascinating to have this picture of the new heaven, the new earth.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: And I think it really puts it in perspective as a pastor and teacher, because I used to always picture like you die, you go to heaven.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: If you know Jesus, you go the other way.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know Jesus, bada bing, bada boom.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: But there's a lot more to it of well, yes, but also there's still more to come because there's the final judgment and the new heaven and the new earth.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: So there is a heaven right now where the saints go, but there also will be a new heaven.
10:02
SPEAKER_01: And what does that look like?
10:04
SPEAKER_01: And you know how it's described as a city and coming down from heaven, and you know, it's just kind of gives you a little bit more of a frame of reference and less simplistic than just die heaven with Jesus, non-Christian hell.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: Like it's just like, oh okay, the timeline is starting to make sense a little more.
10:25
SPEAKER_01: These verses, he places them very well for you so that you can start to understand the Bible or the afterlife in a little bit more multi-dimensional terms rather than just so like boom, boom, the end.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's more to it, you know, as you start to read Revelation and stuff like that.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: So it's very, very, very good.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: He's a great writer, and I probably will never read it again, but I loved it.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: It was just so long, but I'm glad I did, and I stuck in there to the very, very, very end.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you're selling that one, but well, why don't you accept the challenge?
11:01
SPEAKER_01: Read it, guys.
11:02
SPEAKER_00: Although, to be honest, there's I there's very few books I would ever consider reading twice anyway, so there's that.
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Good.
11:09
SPEAKER_00: And I think thanks for talking yourself into it.
11:11
SPEAKER_00: I would say most people would probably say the same.
11:13
SPEAKER_00: There's there's probably a few, maybe, that they do multiple times, and most people probably read a book once.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm gonna talk about the one I've read twice on here in a minute.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: Um, it's number six, so stay tuned.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: Number four.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: Number four um was actually recommended to me by my friend Austin Payne.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, Austin, if you listen to this podcast, but thank you.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: It is called Renovated by Jim Wilder.
11:36
SPEAKER_01: He had brought it up in a meeting once, and he was just talking about it, and it started to fascinate me.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: So I went ahead and read it.
11:44
SPEAKER_01: And here's a quote from that book to kind of give you an idea of what it's about.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: I believe he wrote it with Dallas Willard.
11:50
SPEAKER_01: Maybe he didn't write it with him, but it was based on his conversations with Dallas Willard.
11:55
SPEAKER_01: So he says, the only kind of love that helps the brain learn better character is attachment love.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: The brain functions that determine our character are most profoundly shaped by who we love.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: Changing character, as far as the brain's concerned, means attaching in new and better ways.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: That out of context, maybe is like, what the heck are you talking about?
12:18
SPEAKER_01: But the whole idea of the book is like this idea of whatever we are attached to.
12:25
SPEAKER_01: And this as a parent made me think very deeply.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: Whatever we are attached to, that is what affects our behavior.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: So it really doesn't matter what we believe, human behavior is predicted most by this sense of attachment love.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: So whatever you attach your heart to, that will determine your behavior.
12:50
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, like obviously the point is hoping to get to the point where we're in this attachment love with God.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: And so that we are not necessarily, we go from thinking about God to thinking with God.
13:06
SPEAKER_01: And he talks a lot about sharing the mind of God, not like we're God by any means, but we are so interconnected with him that our thoughts and his thoughts are simultaneous and it affects the way we act and live.
13:23
SPEAKER_01: It's like this act of the Holy Spirit that overrides our thoughts, which then override our behaviors, which overrides, you know, our life, you know, and obviously it's biblical, but he puts it in the context of neuroscience and how we can, it's like becomes this automatic response instead of like an act of the will.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: When you're attached, it becomes an override of the individual.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: And it was really fascinating.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: And I think this is one of the quotes from the book, and I love this so much.
13:57
SPEAKER_01: He says, learn how to interact about, learn how to interact with God about everything.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: So he really dispels the idea of any compartmentalization of your relationship with God and then your life.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: It's like all interwoven, and that is like the most ideal place a Christian can be is that everything is so interconnected that you don't have to wait to hear God's voice.
14:26
SPEAKER_01: You hear him all day, all the time.
14:28
SPEAKER_01: You're thinking with him, conversing with him, talking with him, living with him.
14:32
SPEAKER_01: It's like a full submersion experience.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: It was deep, it was really good.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: It's interesting you say that because I know a lot of people actually just recently had a friend talk about how church was a place where he goes to like meditate and rejuvenate kind of thing, which is great, but it's also like that's a very small portion of your week, you know, or or um, you know, life really is just if you're talking about that maybe two hours, hour and a half on a Sunday or a Saturday night or whatever, as opposed to like having God be an active part of your everyday, every second.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: All day, yeah.
15:09
SPEAKER_00: And I've heard a lot of people talk about that, specifically when they're saying like choosing a church or you know, which one is right for them.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: They kind of act like it's all in that day, that moment.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Which, yeah, I mean, which church you go to and how you're connected, you know, does matter for sure, but it's just an interesting mind shift of this is my God time, or maybe I get all dressed up and I, you know, like we Sunday's best, and then my rest of my life, which is the other six and point nine days out of the week.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: It's just weird to kind of think it's like a separate moment that's like this is for God and my time with God, and then the rest of my life.
15:51
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's what the Bible means by like your life hidden with Christ.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: Like that was my devo.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: I think yesterday it was like, you know, the connection of having your life hidden in Christ.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: It's like you're right, there is no separation.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: I think this book just kind of doubles down on that on like a neuroscience level and like a brain level to where it's like this isn't just an act of the will anymore.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: Like your brain can literally be overridden and it's like, whoa, like the studies and all of that.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: So it's it's cool.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: It's where like science and theology come together and all of that.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: So, anyways, very good.
16:33
SPEAKER_01: You know, the list cannot be complete unless Tim Keller's on there, right?
16:37
SPEAKER_01: So uh number five is The Reason for God by Tim Keller.
16:42
SPEAKER_01: Here's what he says if your God never disagrees with you, you might just be worshiping an idealized version of yourself.
16:51
SPEAKER_01: That one was so good.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: And then this is classic Tim Keller.
16:56
SPEAKER_01: I feel like every one of his sermons can boil down to this idea.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: He says, Worship your own body and you will always feel ugly.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: Worship power and you will end up feeling weak and afraid.
17:08
SPEAKER_01: Worship your intellect, you will end up feeling stupid, a fraud.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of his um sermons, if you're a Tim Keller fan like myself, you know that he always talks about the false gods, the replacement gods, the substitute gods in our life, and that everyone has, if you're not worshiping the one true God, you always will have a god substitute.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: So I love that.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: Like if you worship your body, you're always gonna feel ugly.
17:33
SPEAKER_01: Like these gods will never love you back.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: These gods will never fulfill you.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: They he calls them.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: Oh, in one of his sermons, what did he call them?
17:43
SPEAKER_01: It was from one of, I think it was from the book of Isaiah, it was like a something lover, like a kind of like you can't ever satisfy this lover.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: Like if that is like this passion of your life, yeah, they will always leave you like no, you weren't good enough.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: No, just a little more, or your hair wasn't quite right, or oh, you need to lose a pound, or like if your body is your God, right?
18:08
SPEAKER_01: Or oh, you looked so stupid in front of everybody.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, you'll never be successful, you'll never climb up, you'll never, you know, and he's like, and when we feed that God and like lay an offering down, the God never says, Oh, yes, it's like your arm is still flabby.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's like there's never gonna be, you will never quiet that fire.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: And so the book is so good again for teachers and preachers because it gives this he talks a lot to the skeptics, and I think that's was a lot of his ministry.
18:44
SPEAKER_01: You know, he was pastor of redeemer in New York, and New Yorkers, he always would point to, you know, they're intellects, they're art artistic people, they're business people, they're very skeptical of spiritual things, and so he really does speak a lot to the skeptics and the reason for God, as in the title.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: So very, very good.
19:07
SPEAKER_01: And number six, this is the book I've read twice, it's another Tim Keller, and it's simply called Prayer.
19:13
SPEAKER_01: Um, and he says this prayer is both conversation and encounter with God.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: Prayer is simply the key to everything we need to do and be in life.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like because uh this one was so deep and I wanted to absorb it a lot more, as soon as I was done, I kind of restarted it because I just feel like it was like prayer to me is sometimes very easy and then sometimes very elusive and mysterious.
19:49
SPEAKER_01: And so I felt like when I read it, I it was like these eye openers, and like as pastors, we need to be praying a lot, like we are in a Spiritual battle.
20:01
SPEAKER_01: And you know, I always tell my students, spiritual battles require spiritual weapons.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: So we better get good at praying and knowing how to pray and why we pray and staying motivated for the prayer because it is a difficult discipline.
20:16
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Tim alludes to in the book of like, this is hard and it shouldn't be, but it why is it?
20:24
SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's part of the spiritual battle.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: Maybe who knows?
20:27
SPEAKER_01: It's just it is difficult.
20:29
SPEAKER_01: So highly recommend that one.
20:32
SPEAKER_01: He says also prayer is the way to experience a powerful confidence that God is handling our lives well, that bad things will turn out for good.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: Our good things cannot be taken from us, and the best is yet to come.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: And that was just so hopeful of like, no matter what life throws at us, the good things I think that he's referring to, because good things get taken from me all the time, is the ultimate good, you know, like what we have stored away for us, like this life can't touch.
21:03
SPEAKER_01: So experiencing that confidence and getting our mind above the clouds, you know, a little bit.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: Okay, number seven.
21:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh, this one is so fun.
21:15
SPEAKER_01: I loved it.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, some of it's really funny.
21:18
SPEAKER_01: It's called How Not to Read the Bible by Dan Kimball.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: And this one is all about misinterpreted verses and passages in the Bible that keep people thinking the Bible is just maybe Aesop's fables or maybe like so outdated things like, well, the Bible supports slavery, did you know that?
21:43
SPEAKER_01: Or the Bible talks about unicorns, did you know that?
21:46
SPEAKER_01: Which it does, but read the book and you'll see.
21:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, or the Bible says you can't eat shrimp.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: Like, oh, so so we can't eat shrimp.
21:55
SPEAKER_01: And so it's like all these things where it's like, well, see, and so this is like the most quoted part of his book.
22:02
SPEAKER_01: Never read a Bible verse.
22:04
SPEAKER_01: That's like his thing, like throughout the whole book.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Never read a Bible verse.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: Why?
22:09
SPEAKER_01: He says, Because you will misinterpret certain texts if you read it in isolation.
22:17
SPEAKER_01: And like you have to look at the context and the story and who is he talking to?
22:21
SPEAKER_01: Because the next most popular thing that's come out of this book is the Bible is written for us, not to us.
22:28
SPEAKER_01: And so he's saying, yes, it's intended for everybody, the Bible, but it was originally written to specific audiences in specific contexts and specific time in history, and you need to consider all those things when you read it.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: And to not do so is really to use scripture very irresponsibly.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: And so you're like this, you know, very flippant throw the baby out with the bathwater kind of thing.
22:58
SPEAKER_01: It just helps you, like I feel like as a Bible teacher, like if students were to ask these questions, like, well, what does the Bible say about women?
23:09
SPEAKER_01: You know, what are they supposed to, you know, because people have all kinds of weird ideas about that, or what is the Bible's?
23:14
SPEAKER_01: I heard that, this, I heard that, that.
23:17
SPEAKER_01: And it feels very sensational.
23:18
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, there's even he like shows pictures of memes about this kind of stuff that are floating around the internet.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: That's like, be if you want to be a Christian, no problem, just you can't have shrimp anymore or something weird, you know, like so it kind of gives you instead of being caught off guard, I guess.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: Like if a student were to bring this up, or someone you're in conversation with instead of being caught off guard, like, wait, what the Bible talks about?
23:45
SPEAKER_01: Unicorns?
23:47
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, oh, absolutely, I've heard that.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so here's what that word is, and here's blah, blah, blah.
23:54
SPEAKER_01: So it's very interesting.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: Um, and the other part I love is that he says the Bible is a unified story that points to Jesus.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: Like he's saying the whole entire thing is the narrative of Jesus and his redemptive work.
24:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, very, very good.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's number seven.
24:13
SPEAKER_01: Hey, friend, I just wanted to interrupt this episode for a second to let you know about an awesome opportunity for you and your youth ministry.
24:21
SPEAKER_01: So last year we launched our course and coaching program called Youth Ministry Growth Accelerator, and the response has been amazing.
24:30
SPEAKER_01: So, we've helped tons of youth pastors grow the size and health of their youth ministry, and we want to invite you to be a part of that as well because maybe you're just sort of feeling stuck in a rut, maybe you don't know what to do next.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Maybe you just have a vague plan in your mind of what you're doing, and you want some real help to get you from where you are to where you want to go.
24:51
SPEAKER_01: So, if that sounds like something you've been looking for, go to growyouryoutministry.com and check it out for more details.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: All right, let's get back to the episode.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: Number eight, man, this book, okay.
25:02
SPEAKER_01: I guess I have read other books more than once on this list.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: This is more uh for you personally.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: I feel like it's the only Devo I've ever needed, My Utmost for Is Highest by Oswald Chambers.
25:15
SPEAKER_01: I bought it my first copy, I think when I was in upper high school, probably, or maybe early college, 18, 19 years old, and literally never look back.
25:26
SPEAKER_00: Um this is a 365-day devotional.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so I someone compiled some of his, it might have been his wife, compiled his sermons into one for every single day.
25:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't think he intended it that way, but I think she took his notes and did it.
25:42
SPEAKER_01: So you can read one every single day, and it is so good.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I've marked it up, and I please write it in the comments if you have one that you love as well that's on par.
25:54
SPEAKER_01: I've bought a lot of devotionals, I've read a lot of devotionals.
25:58
SPEAKER_01: To me, personally, nothing comes close.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: I will read this one probably till the day I die every single year.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: And I love it because then I go back and I see what I've highlighted or underlined or whatever.
26:11
SPEAKER_01: And I miss a day, of course, here and there, but it is so rich and so deep.
26:18
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna quote it because it's not like a streamlined, you know, they don't all connect.
26:24
SPEAKER_01: Every day is a little bit different.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: But I've gotten really good like like sermonettes or devos out of it too, just been challenged personally.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: They only take about five minutes to read, and they're so most of the time I have to read it and then read it again just to like digest again of like, wait, what?
26:46
SPEAKER_01: Because some of it's really deep, but love, love, love it.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then number nine, this one.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Oh man, this is like student ministry gold right here.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: It is So the Next Generation Will Know by Sean McDowell and Jay Warner Wallace.
27:03
SPEAKER_00: Did you was this not on the original list?
27:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't know.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: It just sounds familiar.
27:08
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think we've talked about it before on the podcast.
27:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's why.
27:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I went back and looked at the nine, the nine from 2020.
27:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't, I didn't see this one.
27:16
SPEAKER_01: I mean, but I make mistakes, Jeff.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: I know.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: No, I do never ideal.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: So he says this if we want the next generation to come to know the faith, we have to teach, model, and incarnate the truth in our relationships with them.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: It is not truth or relationship, it is truth and relationship.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: And so this one is so specific to adolescents.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: He really boils down, like, and it really is funny because the the ideas in this book are very highly connected to the Jim Wilder book, renovated about your life is not based off what you believe.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: It's based off of what you love.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: And so Sean McDowell and Jay Werner Wallace keep asking the question for teenagers, what do they love?
28:03
SPEAKER_01: What do they love?
28:04
SPEAKER_01: Because that is the predictor of behavior, that is the predictor of the trajectory of your life.
28:10
SPEAKER_01: Your life outcome is based solely around what you love.
28:14
SPEAKER_01: He says, our sacrifices reveal our priorities, meaning whatever you're willing to sacrifice for, that's what you truly love.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: And that is your priority, and your life will stem from all of that.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: And so he talks about, you know, this generation and the things they're afraid of, the things that they're hopeful for, the things that they struggle with, the things that they build unhealthy attachments to, and what we can do as youth workers for for them.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: So this one is like youth, like I feel like a lot of them any Christian could read, and it would be like could filter into a lot of fields, right?
28:53
SPEAKER_01: This one is like if you're in youth ministry, you have to read this.
28:57
SPEAKER_01: Uh, our friend Deborah Dickey gave me this one.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: No way.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she is a grandmother to a bunch of teenagers, and she read it and she's like, oh my gosh, you have to read this.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: And so I know you probably don't listen, Deborah, but thank you.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: It was very, very, very, very good.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: It was like I it's one of those books that I'm like, darn it.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: I wish I had read that 15 years ago.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: You know, it was that good.
29:21
SPEAKER_01: So kind of want to go back and reread it now.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: Reread them all.
29:25
SPEAKER_00: Well, there's nine for you.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: I think that breaks down not perfectly to about one book every six weeks.
29:30
SPEAKER_00: If you wanted to do all of them throughout 2026, that's about roughly six weeks.
29:36
SPEAKER_01: And we always say, obviously, read your Bible.
29:39
SPEAKER_00: Like, please don't Why was that not number one through nine?
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Please don't say it to comments.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: You didn't even mention the Bible.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: It's obvious.
29:47
SPEAKER_00: What if they didn't make it this far?
29:48
SPEAKER_00: They may have already spoken.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: If you if you had to say, like, we're, yes, that's the number one book we should be reading.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: We should always be hearing from God's book.
29:57
SPEAKER_00: Not to sound not to sound pious, but that is the only book I read.
30:01
SPEAKER_00: Good for you, Jeff.
30:02
SPEAKER_00: I don't like reading.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: What are you reading in the Bible right now?
30:05
SPEAKER_00: You know what's really funny is that the uh I'm in Luke right now, and Christmas lined up perfectly with the birth of Jesus.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: Oh isn't that wild?
30:16
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, I bet you it's God.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: I bet you it is God.
30:21
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
30:22
SPEAKER_00: So there you go.
30:24
SPEAKER_01: Wow, that's awesome.
30:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:26
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's do a community comment of the day to change the subject.
30:30
SPEAKER_00: And also, like I said before, all those books are in the comments or not the comment section of the description below.
30:35
SPEAKER_00: So make sure you check them out.
30:36
SPEAKER_00: If you wanted to get one of them or all of them, go right ahead.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: All right, this is this comes from Amy Nelson, who I also would say if there was an all-star list of comments that we've read, she would probably be number one.
30:49
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: She says, Thank you guys again.
30:51
SPEAKER_00: There's rarely an episode I don't walk away with some new ideas.
30:54
SPEAKER_00: I literally changed my lesson plan to accommodate an SOS promo.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: And then she puts, we stole SOS from you.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Take it.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: I don't I didn't even come up with it.
31:05
SPEAKER_00: SOS is uh students of service.
31:07
SPEAKER_00: It's your student leadership program.
31:09
SPEAKER_00: For those of you who may not know.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who named it.
31:12
SPEAKER_00: I there were Julie Dunks.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: It's probably Julie Dunks.
31:15
SPEAKER_01: Thanks, Julie Dunks.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: She was a volunteer who led it the year before I got to our campus, and she was just leading it in her home and doing all the things.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: It was awesome.
31:25
SPEAKER_00: So Julie actually does not shoot three-pointers.
31:28
SPEAKER_00: Do you know why?
31:29
SPEAKER_00: Because Julie Dunks.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: I'm leaving that in.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: Thank you guys so much for watching and listening.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Amy, for another great comment.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: And we will see you next time.
31:40
SPEAKER_01: In this episode, we are giving you nine must-read books for your youth ministry and all the reasons why you're gonna love them.
31:47
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
31:48
SPEAKER_01: Today, I'm not only giving you nine must in this episode, we're not only giving you a list of nine must read books in 2026, but all the reasons how they're going to help your youth.