Friday Review (9/12/25)
Each week we compile a list of helpful articles from other sites, in a variety of categories, for youth workers to read, reflect on, and/or discuss with parents and volunteers. If you have any articles you’d like to suggest, we’d love for you to share those in the Youth Pastor Theologian Facebook group. That’s a great way to bring them to our attention and to discuss them with like-minded youth workers! (Inclusion in this list does not imply complete agreement with the publishing source, but we have found these articles to be beneficial.)
Youth Ministry
How I Respond When Teenagers Act Out at Youth Group by Steve Eatmon (Rooted)
Understanding this dynamic is the first and most formidable step you can make in responding to a student who is disruptive at youth group. As you accept that you have students from various backgrounds with a diverse set of spiritual beliefs, you can adjust your expectations and respond more appropriately. Here are four categories for responding when teenagers push the limits.
GenZ is More Than Just Anxious, by Jeremy Writebol (Christianity Today)
If we want resilient, empowered, active members of the church and community, then we must offer formation. Teach them the Bible. Rehearse Scripture’s story. Give them doctrinal categories. Challenge their character. Stretch their imagination with a God-sized vision. My experience has been that Gen Z will rise to the challenge, enjoy it, and grow if we feed them the deep things of God.
Biblical & Theological Studies
Why You Can't Dodge Theological Questions, by Jake Meador (Mere Orthodoxy)
Theology is existential. To remove specific theological questions from Christian ministry and church life or to dismiss them as trivia is to render yourself ill-equipped for facing the problems that those theological questions are meant to answer.
Are We the Idols?, by Andrew Noble (The Gospel Coalition Canada)
It is strange to become an idol, isn’t it? It’s hard to wrap your mind around. Yet every day, people are morphing into something like mud. Instead of functioning as images of God, they worship idols and turn into lifeless dust.
6 Things That Christian Hedonism Is and Is Not, by John Piper (Crossway)
Many objections rise in people’s minds when they hear me talk about Christian Hedonism. Perhaps I can defuse some of the resistance in advance by making a few brief, clarifying comments.
Cultural Reflection & Contextualization
Why Curated Content is Better Than Clickbait, by Daniel Darling (One Little Word)
But digital curation can also be tribal and singular. We might read an article we like without looking up and noticing the publication. Or we might dismiss good content because it’s published by a place that is coded against our preferred political tribe. Thus, we miss good content. We miss ideas that might challenge us.
Jordan Peterson’s Achilles Heel, by Joel Pelsue (Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics)
This is the paradox many are asking. He seems fascinated with Jesus and biblical history, but if we were to assess Peterson using the same powerful symbols of the Greek myths he loves to contemplate, then it is most fitting to point out Achilles’ heel.
Pastoral Ministry
Using AI For Sermon Preparation, by Mark Barnes (Evangelical Magazine)
In every generation, preachers have faced the temptation to bypass the hard path – to borrow words, to lean on others’ labour, and to reach for shortcuts instead of submitting to the slow shaping of the soul. In our generation, new tools have made the temptation even stronger. I’m talking, of course, about AI.
6 Things the Pastor’s Wife Wants Him to Know, by Amy Peterson (Lifeway Research)
From those experiences, here are six commonly mentioned things a pastor’s wife may wish her husband knew. Not all of them will be relevant to you, but by paying attention to them and having healthy conversations about them, you’ll discover new ways to love your spouse well.
Family & Parents
Don't Do Everything For Your Kids, by O. Alan Noble (You Are Not Your Own)
That’s a lot of pressure. Inevitably, every parent must fail to meet these expectations. In fact, every parent should fail to meet these expectations because many of them are disordered and bad for their children and for them!
Parents, We're Doing Too Much Again, by Melissa Edgington (Your Mom Has a Blog)
I’m writing this post gently because clearly I am a mom who tends to do too much. So if you feel like I’m getting preachy, I am, but I’m talking to people I fully understand, because I am one of you. We’re doing too much.
From YPT this week
Teaching Students the Truth with Conviction, Clarity, and Compassion by Andrew Slay
Believing that the gospel is the truth should shape and affect how we teach it to our teenagers each week, specifically, in three ways…
Three Biblical Principles for Christians After Charlie Kirk’s Death, by Mike McGarry
The way parents and youth workers talk about this will matter just as much as the content of what we say. For that reason, I want to offer a few biblical principles that may help us collectively grieve and seek unity as a nation.