Tag Archives: youth ministry curriculum

books, the youth cartel, youth ministry, youth work

Why We Published This: The Audacious Seven

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steve case is one of the most prolific youth ministry writers i’ve ever known. for 15 years or so, i’ve been trying to keep up with proposals from steve, and greenlighting as many as i can. you might know his work on books like The Book of Uncommon Prayer (and vol 2), Everything Counts, The Big Book of Case Studies, Road Rules, and many more. for the Cartel, steve wrote our very first book, The Youth Cartel’s (Unauthorized) Dictionary of Youth Ministry, as well as the Stations of the Cross curriculum. we’ve got a fun book coming out from steve in march called Bigger Badder Board Games. and we have a few more things in the hopper, just waiting for the right time.

so, yes, steve is prolific.

but the primary reason i’ve published steve so many times isn’t because of the sheer quantity of ideas he comes up with, or the speed at which he can write (which is mind=blowing, by the way), or how open he is to editorial input and changes. the reason i keep finding myself publishing steve’s ideas, year after year, is because he is one of the most creative people i have ever met.

9781942145066-coverThe Audacious Seven: Life Lessons from Seven Saints Who Didn’t Back Down, shows steve’s creativity. it’s a very outside-the-box curriculum (hard to use the word curriculum, as steve’s stuff rarely fits comfortably into preconceived categories) that looks at seven historic saints. but they are far from an academic lessons focused on information. instead, they use story to help teenagers think about bold living for jesus. you can use them as a series, or as one-offs (like the session on Patrick would be great near St. Patrick’s Day; the session on Nicholas at Christmas; and the session on Valentine at… well… Valentine’s Day).

here’s the official description:

What can we learn from the impudent, impertinent, insolent, presumptuous, cheeky, irreverent, brazen, shameless, defiant, fresh, mouthy, saucy, sassy, nervy, daring, fearless, intrepid, brave, courageous, valiant, heroic, plucky, daredevil, reckless, venturesome, mettlesome, gutsy, spunky, and temerarious servants of God?

The Audacious Seven looks at the lives of seven of God’s servants who went so far above and beyond the call that we refer to them as saints. Seven common everyday individuals who had the opportunity to crawl into a hole and hide, but instead looked adversity in the eye and with the power of the Spirit said, “Bring it on.” Teenagers will examine these saints not for their piety, but because their stories are part of our stories as believers. No matter what our denomination, these stories our part of our faith history and that makes them part of who we are as a church today.

it’s a downloadable resource, and includes this stuff:

A detailed introduction and overview of the curriculum for leaders explaining how to use The Audacious Seven, what we can learn from the saints, and why these stories matter today.

Seven lesson guides on the chosen saints: St. Patrick, St. Catherine, St. Francis, St. Joseph, St. Marina, St. Nicholas, and St. Valentine. Each lesson guide includes an introduction for leaders, dramatized stories and re-imaginings of the writings or lives of each saint, the prayers associated with or written by each saint, discussion questions, relevant Scripture, and ideas for actions that will inspire teenagers to take these life lessons and spiritual insights to heart.

download the FREE sample session (St. Patrick) here. and read this fun interview with steve about the product. then you’ll see why i think this thing is so cool.

books, youth ministry, youth work

Alpha Film Series for youth

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last year at the Simply Youth Ministry Convention, i sat down with a sharp young canadian youth leader named jason ballard. he wanted to talk to me about the series of films he and another guy had created for Youth Alpha. he talked about raising a quarter million dollars (or something like that) to really do it right, flying around the world to film on location. he spoke passionately about what they’d created, and his frustration that the films weren’t getting any meaningful distribution in the states.

a couple months later, i finally got around to watching the films. and i was blown away.

Alpha, in case you’re not familiar with it, is an open-handed and low-coercion approach to evangelism, originating in england. the approach is to host a series of exploratory meetings with people interested in talking about christianity. there’s no bait-and-switch. there are no high pressure tactics. in england and canada, Alpha has a seen great traction. a canadian youth ministry friend of mine recently ran a Youth Alpha course and found he had more teenagers coming than normally attend his youth group. Alpha, it seems to me, works really well in more post-christian contexts. Alpha has seen some traction in the states, but it’s been an uphill climb.

but here’s what i particularly noticed when watching the film series: the ‘basics of christianity’ topics are things that ALL youth workers would want their groups to be talking about! Sticky Faith and the National Study of Youth and Religion have shown us that even regular attenders of most of our youth ministries really don’t know what they believe. and if they can articulate a belief set, we might be surprised that it’s not exactly orthodox christianity (even if they think it is).

so The Youth Cartel decided to become a distributor of the Alpha Youth Film Series. ultimately, we’d love to see youth workers use it as a way to engage unchurched teenagers in dialogue about jesus and christianity. but i really believe it’s a one-of-a-kind resource for basics of the faith also, for any youth group. it’s SUPER high quality (you won’t be embarrassed).

here’s the official description:

The Alpha Youth Film Series is 12 video sessions designed to engage students in conversations about faith, life and Jesus.

Today’s youth are a savvy, diverse, and fast-paced generation, who are seeking for relevant truth and personal acceptance in a world that seems to offer both in things like money, fame, sex, drugs, sports, media, education, and careers. For many young people, Christianity is so ten years ago-a boring religion that my parents believed, but is no longer relevant in this 21st century culture. How can we make the timeless message of the Gospel applicable and interesting to our postmodern youth?

we have 3 things for sale in the Cartel store: a DVD set with one participant discussion guide, a flash drive with digital versions of everything, and individual (inexpensive) participant discussion guides (with bulk discounts).

YFS Sleeve drop shadow (1)the DVD set and flash drive include:
• Twelve 20 minute episodes
• Built-in discussion breaks
• Supporting discussion questions
• 3 training videos (for you and your team)

here are the topics this series covers:
Life: Is This It?
Jesus: Who is He?
Cross: Why Did Jesus Die?
Faith: How Can We have Faith?
Prayer: Why and How Do I Pray?
Bible: Why and How Do I Read the Bible?
Follow: How Does God Guide Us Into Full Life?
Spirit: Who Is the Holy Spirit and What Does He Do?
Fill: How Can I Be Filled With the Holy Spirit?
Evil: How Can I Resist Evil?
Healing: Does God Heal Today?
Church: What About the Church and Telling Others?

in short, i strongly encourage you to check this out. considering how robust this thing is, the price is really fantastic ($59.99 for the DVD set or flash drive).

here’s the video trailer to wet your appetite:

Official Trailer Youth Alpha Film Series from Alpha USA on Vimeo.

books, the youth cartel, youth ministry, youth work

Why We Published This: THINK Volume 1 (Culture)

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and finally, this is #5 in a little series explaining why The Youth Cartel chose to publish the five products we’re releasing this week. first up was gina abbas’s amazing new book, A Woman in Youth Ministry. then i wrote about jake kircher’s pot-stirring but pragmatic book, Teaching Teenagers in a Post-Christian World. yesterday i wrote about Sam Halverson’s new book One Body: Integrating Teenagers into the Life of Your Church, a book that is 100% timely and 100% helpful. yesterday, i wrote about the most creative youth ministry resource i’ve seen in a very long time; jake bouma and erik ullestad’s Hypotherables. and today we circle back to jake kircher…

THINK Volume 1: Culture

v4on a long car ride from Open Boston to jake’s church in connecticut, he shared with me how his new england students–unique in how post-christian they are–had completely stopped responding to any sort of traditional curriculum. over time, he’d developed a different approach to teaching times–one that respects teenagers’ ability to consider and process and seek. using something closer to a socratic method held up to scripture, jake had developed lessons that were (as i saw when he sent me samples) very unique–really unlike other curriculum. they aren’t traditional “say this and have students do this” lessons. instead, they are guided discussions, fair in presenting differing opinions and thoughts (and even theologies), while seeking truth in scripture.

i could tell it was an approach that plenty of other youth workers would want to try.

as i wrote a few days ago when i introduced jake’s book Teaching Teenagers in a Post-Christian World, i told him, on that car ride, that i thought the curriculum sounded like it had potential; but that i also felt he should write a short ‘manifesto’ type book that unpacked the theory and approach. so that’s what we did. Teaching Teenagers in a Post-Christian World is both a complementary book to Brock Morgan’s excellent Youth Ministry in a Post-Christian World (which is why we chose a similar title), and also an expanded framework and justification for what has become the THINK line of curriculum.

we’re planning on releasing four volumes of THINK, each with an umbrella theme to group the lessons. first up is THINK, volume 1: Culture.

here’s the official product description:

Today’s teenagers won’t accept merely being told information or the party line. They want to wrestle and explore—they want to be contributors and help develop their own set of beliefs. So rather than leave this process of exploration until their young adult years, a time when many of them will have left the Church, what if we purposefully came alongside our teens and helped them explore and own their beliefs while they’re still teenagers? That’s what THINK is all about.

THINK, Volume 1: Culture explores six divisive cultural topics from a biblical perspective: science versus creation, tattoos, alcohol and drugs, media, abortion, and tolerance/absolute truth. THINK is different from other curriculums because the goal is not to teach teens the correct answers. Instead, the intention is to invite your youth into a discussion with Christ, the Bible, and other people (including their peers, leaders, and parents) that will result in the best sort of spiritual wrestling match.

We can’t continue to spoon-feed our youth the answers they “need” to survive college or be a good person. Instead, we have to make the shift toward helping them own biblically informed views and opinions. THINK will deepen and personalize teens’ faith and give them the tools and resources they need to engage issues from a biblical perspective.

THINK, Volume 1: Culture includes:
• A detailed overview of how to use THINK, as well a short leader video to frame your thinking
• 6 lessons that each contain—
• A leader’s guide with a list of resources and Scripture passages you can use to prepare
• Sample emails to parents
• Social media blurbs to promote the topics with your teenagers
• Multiple options to start and end each lesson
• Thorough discussion guides with multiple questions and resources for each Scripture and subtopic
• A handout (which you can revise so it better fits your group) that will help teens continue exploring the topic on their own
• A short video that provides insights and tips for how to facilitate the discussion of each lesson

and here’s what people are saying about it:

I hate it when I read a book that I absolutely love and wish I’d written it myself. This was my experience when I read THINK, Volume 1: Culture. Not only is it full of real-world issues, but at the heart of the teaching is a thoughtfulness that meets a felt need in the lives of today’s students. I highly recommend this book and the whole THINK series. In fact, I’m ordering copies for my team, and we’re going to be using this material with our youth group!
Brock Morgan, Author of Youth Ministry in a Post-Christian World

Jake Kircher has done a masterful job of exposing the weakness of a teaching model that relies solely (or primarily) on the presentation of a series of beliefs that are to be taken at face value, rather than discussed, chewed on, and argued about. Jake offers us a better alternative in the THINK curriculum. Granted, the facilitator model of teaching is often more uncomfortable and definitely not as “neat and tidy” as a more traditional style. But, as those of us who’ve been in youth ministry for many decades can attest, teenagers who haven’t been challenged to think deeply about their personal beliefs and struggle with them on some rational level probably won’t hold on to them very tightly—or for very long. THINK will help them do both!
Mark Orr, Founder and Executive Director, REACH Youth New England

THINK is a much-needed resource for working with today’s teens. It gives youth leaders direction in discussing some of the hard questions our students ask, and how to do it in a way that gets them thinking about their faith and why they believe what they believe. Teenagers are grappling to know how to live for Christ when some issues seem hard to discuss. THINK provides ideas for how to show teens what God says in His Word about these tough topics, while providing the space they need to hear Him for themselves.
Leneita Fix, Co-Founder, FrontLine Urban Resources; Coauthor of Urban LIVE Curriculum (Simply Youth Ministry)

i really encourage you to check it out. download a free sample, or buy the whole downloadable volume 1 here. this isn’t your mama’s curriculum!

books, church, the youth cartel, youth ministry, youth work

We We Published This: Hypotherables

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this, my friends, is #4 in a little series explaining why The Youth Cartel chose to publish the five products we’re releasing this week. first up was gina abbas’s amazing new book, A Woman in Youth Ministry. then i wrote about jake kircher’s pot-stirring but pragmatic book, Teaching Teenagers in a Post-Christian World. yesterday i wrote about Sam Halverson’s new book One Body: Integrating Teenagers into the Life of Your Church, a book that is 100% timely and 100% helpful. today, it’s on to jake bouma and erik ullestad’s…

Hypotherables
The questions are hypothetical. The conversations are real.

hypotherablesjake and erik approached me a long time ago about a different product, one that we ended up shelving for reasons that had nothing to do with jake and erik. but i’d seen enough to know: these guys have the ability to offer some truly unique, creative and helpful tools for youth workers. so in a move that’s fairly rare for us, i told them: we want you to write for the Cartel. get back to me with ideas and we’ll pick one.

when they got back to me sometime later, Hypotherables was on the list.

and let me say this: as a old curriculum writer who knows that there’s very little that’s truly unique and inventive in youth ministry curriculum (or any sort of church ministry curriculum for that matter), Hypotherables is like nothing you have ever seen. it’s that creativity, along with their depth, that caused dr. andrew root (author of some of the most insightful and important youth ministry books in the last decade) to say, about Hypotherables: I’m happy to say, of this curriculum, I’m a BIG FAN.

Hypotherable is a made-up mash-up word, combining ‘hypothetical’ and ‘parable.’ this resource is a collection of inventive stories (with multiple means of sharing them) that are specifically designed to get teenagers talking about moral and ethical issues.

here’s the official description:

What if there were a resource that not only made expressing an opinion less intimidating, but actually made it fun for people to explore and expand theological concepts in community?

Hypotherables is a radical new spin on youth ministry curriculum that uses original, compelling stories to stimulate spirited group discussions about a range of spiritual topics. Everyday faith issues like evangelism, honesty, temptation, and grace are reframed in the form of captivating stories culminating in a HYPOTHEtical question for the group to discuss—free from the fear of “wrong” answers. And because each story is an imaginative modern paRABLE—full of twists, turns, drama, and comedy—leaders can easily take the conversation even deeper. The informative sidebar commentary and convenient discussion guides make it nearly effortless to draw out rich biblical truths from the layers of metaphor embedded within each story.

This product is a digital download containing 10 one-of-a-kind hypotherables. Each session comes with:

• A high-definition narrated video of the hypotherable
• A slide presentation (in both Keynote and PowerPoint formats) for leaders who wish to narrate the story in their own voice and style
• A Script + Commentary with the story, slide change cues, and informational remarks
• A Conversation Catalyst with follow–up questions, thematic talking points, relevant Scripture references, and a closing prayer

It’s draining to be constantly creating or seeking out fresh new ways to spark meaningful faith conversations with your group. But it doesn’t have to be. With Hypotherables, the questions are hypothetical, but the conversations are real.

and here’s what a few pretty freaking sharp people are saying about it:

Every teenager is different, and many learn better when they experience something on their own. Hypotherables gives students a chance to interact with hypothetical situations in the real world—with peers and leaders they trust. I love the idea of creating a safe space where there are no wrong answers…of building a space where teens can find the right answers for their unique situations on their own. I can’t wait to use this resource with our students.

The videos, scripts, questions, helps, and fun facts put the students in a unique learning experience where they get to “what if” about “what could be.” They get to use their imaginations and ideas to activate their own faith in the future. With Hypotherables, Jake and Erik are bringing something incredible to the youth ministry world.
Brooklyn Lindsey, Justice Advocate, Nazarene Youth International

With very little exception, I’ve never been a big fan of curricula. As a youth worker I found them restrictive, as a theologian I encountered them as theologically thin. This was true until Hypotherables. I’m happy to say, of this curriculum, I’m a BIG FAN. In this curriculum you’ll discover freedom and depth that promises to leave a lasting impact on your young people. Jake Bouma and Erik Ullestad are two of the most creative young leaders I know, and in Hypotherables you’ll see both their passion and talent in technicolor.
Andrew Root, PhD, Olson Baalson Professor of Youth and Family Ministry, Luther Seminary; Author of Bonhoeffer as Youth Worker (Baker Academic, 2014)

In my fifteen years of working with youth, more and more I’ve realized that youth don’t want, or need, to hear any more lectures or youth group talks. Rather, they need opportunities to be engaged in meaningful and creative conversations and discussions that allow them to practice and experiment with their developing faith. With the release of Hypotherables, Jake Bouma and Erik Ullestad have provided youth workers with a tool that will help create space for just those kinds of transformational discussions.
Rev. Adam Walker Cleaveland, PC(USA) Minister and Blogger

Hypotherables is a download-only resource. check out a free sample session here, or get the whole shootin’ match.

books, the youth cartel, youth ministry, youth work

stations of the cross

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stations-cover-v2i’m really excited about this new resource coming out from The Youth Cartel just in time for Lent and Easter: Stations of the Cross: 13 Dramatic Stories of Jesus’ Last Hours. written by the creatively-minded steve case (who wrote books like The Book of Uncommon Prayer, and The Youth Cartel’s Unauthorized Dictionary of Youth Ministry), Stations of the Cross is a 13 session curriculum taking participants, in a way, on a walk to the cross (and beyond).

it’s accurate to call this resource a curriculum; but it’s not “standard” stuff in any way (nothing from steve case ever is). it’s a combination of creative narratives, scripture readings, reflective questions and other elements — almost more like worship sessions with discussion questions. it could be used for youth group or sunday school, or easily for a small group, or even as an individual reflective tool.

the download (or, if you prefer something physical, the CD) comes with pdfs and word docs of all the sessions, as well as images to use for powerpoint or keynote (or other media tools).

personally, i think it would totally rock to use Stations of the Cross for my main youth group meeting times, and the Lent devotional for teenagers to do on their own time. (not that the two resources are intentionally linked in any way.)

here’s the back cover copy:

You can’t dance at the after-funeral party unless you have been to the funeral.

You can’t truly appreciate the glory and color and music of the resurrection unless you have felt the hard cold stone in front of the tomb.

Stations of the Cross is a book of thirteen creative and dramatic lessons that will take participants into the last moments of Jesus’ life. Those who venture into these words will smell the sweat. They will feel the blood roll down his back. They will be taken to the dark place within their own souls and be invited to leave all that baggage behind in the tomb.

Utilizing scripture, dramatic readings, and thought provoking questions, Steve Case provides a unique approach to curriculum that can easily be customized for individual or group use.

Product includes PDF and editable word files of sessions, plus PowerPoint backgrounds and other graphic files for use in group settings or teaching contexts.

this product will be releasing this friday for download (the physical copies will come out soon, but not immediately). order yours here!