In the early 1970s, Southern Baptists saw the number of teenagers baptized in SBC churches soar to an all-time high of nearly 138,000. It was the height of the so-called Jesus Movement. Before long, youth ministry was a booming track in local churches and a booming business for parachurch organizations and Christian publishers.

Thirty-five years later, the number of youth baptisms has slipped to 81,000 while the number of trained youth workers has increased. Half of all SBC churches–more than 20,000?did not baptize even one teenager last year. And among those who are active in youth ministry, most are absent from church only a year after high school graduation.

“The time has come for an audit of our ministries,” declared one of six panelists assembled at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in December to examine the condition of youth ministry. Some of what was shared could be said of church ministry in general–concern for a lack of discipleship, dependence upon God, and even a return to doctrinal soundness.

“It is a crucial time for us to face reality,” said Jim Richards, executive director of the forum sponsor, the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. “I am convinced beyond any doubt that we are in a crisis moment in Southern Baptist life in particular, and evangelicals in general. We are desperate before the Lord and any solution will be spiritual,” he added.

“God works through people and a plan and he will use the sorting out of methods to bring us to a place where we can be what he wants us to be in this spiritual restoration and awakening,” Richards said.

Facing those hard facts was a panel with varied experience as youth pastors, Christian education professors who train youth ministers, and curricula and conference developers who equip them with resources.

SBTC Youth Evangelism Associate Brad Bunting set the stage, citing often-repeated statistics from a 2006 Barna study and a study from LifeWay Christian Resources indicating from 75 to 88 percent of students going through youth ministry now “will check out of church during their freshman year of college.”

Bunting added, “Not only are we not reaching in the way God called us to do, we’re not retaining youth that we do reach. Something is not working.”

“It’s a double-edged sword,” explained Alvin Reid, evangelism professor at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and author of “Raising the Bar” and other books on evangelism. Having watched youth ministry grow out of the Jesus Movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, Reid said many were won to Christ at a time when parents and youths were alienated.

“That helped create a culture that called for youth pastors,” he added.

And yet, at a time when the number of youth ministers is at an all-time high, the amount of youth participation is in decline.

“Because of the large numbers [of new converts], we institutionalized youth ministries,” Reid said, turning a movement into a program to sustain. “It’s really ironic when you think about it.”

“If programs could change the world, we’d have changed the world,” Reid said. “They haven’t and they won’t.”

Instead, said Reid, who has studied occurrences of spiritual awakening throughout history, only a movement of God provides an answer for increased baptisms that represent changed lives in Southern Baptist life.

Of the 24 pastors giving eyewitness accounts of the churches that exploded with growth during the Great Awakening of the 18th century, Reid said 22 talked about the role of youth specifically, most of them crediting the response of that age group with such dramatic change.

Reid questioned today’s paradigm for youth ministry, encouraging transitions from activities to life change, programs to passion, institutions to mission and from protecting children to building an army to engage the culture.

“We are not even preparing them for their first year of college, much less for life,” Reid lamented.

Jeff Pratt, managing editor of student ministry materials at LifeWay Christian Resources and formerly associated with InQuest Ministries, admitted that any business that operated on a 20 percent success rate would be in trouble. “Are we developing student ministries or are we developing students?” he asked the panelists, audience of more than 750 and 311 viewing a webcast of the event.

During his own college years, anywhere from 75 to 200 young people gathered regularly for a Bible study in a field, Pratt said. Today, he isn’t sure where such gatherings may be found, he said.

Johnny Derouen, a professor of youth ministry at Southwestern, shared similar concerns.

“I became a Christian at a time in youth ministry when we knew nothing at all. Youth were getting saved at a higher rate than ever. Now we know more and are losing our youth.”

Looking back on his salvation experience, Derouen recalled a dependence on youth volunteers who lacked the training available today.

“The church didn’t know any better so they did it themselves. But the fruit was those who stayed strong. When they were taught well, it carried through.”

Derouen called for ministers to examine the purity of their own lives.

“If your walk is impure you lose the ability to hear God’s direction for your ministry. So many ministers are so busy programming, writing talks or designing things that they sacrifice time with the Lord.”

“Their ministries are defined by what they are doing,” added Eric Bancroft, associate pastor for youth at Grace Community church in Sun Valley, Calif., and a professor at The Master’s College. “They started chasing all those activities and didn’t connect with the why of what they’re doing,” he said, speaking of generations of youth ministers who just kept reproducing themselves—following the example of how their youth ministers conducted their work—sometimes getting better and sometimes worse.

“It’s not intentional, but [current youth ministers] don’t have the desire or ability to do theological reflection,” Reid added.

“It’s like a VCR tape that gets recorded over and over and loses its quality,” added Mark Matlock, founder of WisdomWorks and a frequent speaker and author on youth ministry.

Reid said youth ministers tend to seek the proverbial flavor of the month, seeking the coolest speaker, coolest band with the best poster and best stuff.

“It’s so counter to the book of Acts where they never had an event where they invited anyone to anything. They just went to where the people were, showed up because God was there—a very different culture form where we are.”

Bancroft hammered home his concern that youth ministers “have little or no understanding of theology” and must return to the centrality of Scripture for their focus.

“They may be very creative and have a lot of programs, but as we’ve heard, they’re making very little impact,” Bancroft observed.

Derouen sees that as the natural result of substituting activity for a movement of God. While assuming that buildings, money and youth ministers can do the job, Derouen said he believes God is waiting for them to recognize they are bankrupt until they call on God to step in.

Bancroft said the decline in ongoing church participation by formerly involved students reveals a more basic problem—a large number of false professions of faith during childhood and teenage years.

“Have we contributed to this false assurance of salvation? Is it possible we’ve replaced the gospel with morality?” he asked, referring to talks on avoiding sex before marriage and saying no to drugs without spiritual transformation.

“Much of what passes for teaching today is nothing more than lessons on morality that further insulates our need for the gospel, the message of a Savior saving sinners. Without candid talk about sin there will be no need for a Savior.”

Otherwise, Bancroft said, students think they have graduated from church when they graduate from high school.

“Pastors have sounded the alarm that not everyone in the visible church is part of the invisible church—the Body of Christ. That’s true of teenagers as well. By the time of the early teen years to the mid-20s, we see the overwhelming amount of response to the gospel and I say amen to that, but we also see the largest amount of false professions.”

For some teenagers, their baptismal experience is more comparable to earning an AWANA badge, Bancroft said. “I’m concerned that we hold it in such low esteem.”

He cautioned against baptizing teenagers apart from an assembly of the congregation where the church body assumes responsibility for the new believer’s spiritual growth in addition to the parents.

“There is no New Testament pattern at all of being a leader that is not connected by baptism,” Ross said, emphasizing the importance of baptizing into the local church every teenager who comes to faith in Christ.

Bubba Thurman, youth minister at LakePointe Church in Rockwall, said he sees a shift in how the gospel is preached.

“At certain points we’ve bought into this mentality that sharing the gospel is offensive.” If such straight talk causes kids to leave, the youth minister fears his job is in jeopardy, Thurman added.

In 16 years he said he’s seen a move away from the kind of clarity of the gospel to which Bancroft referred.

“The lost art of an invitation has an impact on how we do evangelism. You can’t compromise on that issue when you talk about being biblical.”

Often the most discouraging influence is a parent, said Reid, describing a parental mindset that equates the center of God’s will with physical safety and comfort.

“That’s kinda hard to tell a martyr,” he responded. And yet parents worry that efforts to reach kids with earrings and Goth clothing might corrupt their kids, he said.

Many of the panelists emphasized the need to equip students to share their faith and engage the culture from a Christian worldview.

Reid said one constant of his involvement in leading “Disciple Now” conferences is witnessing on Saturday afternoon. He said he often finds that students like that experience more than any part of the weekend retreat.

Derouen said he worries that most Christian teenagers view sharing their faith as little more than an occasional event staged at a mall or bringing their friends to an evangelistic event. Instead, he said, it should grow naturally from the believer’s life.

Pratt responded, “The best evangelism strategy is found in Scripture. Love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Evangelist and author Voddie Baucham, pastor of Houston-area Grace Family Baptist Church in Spring said he encourages families in his church to practice hospitality.

“Overwhelm your neighbors with biblical hospitality,” he said.

As heads of households are reached, families are transformed, he explained. When unsaved teenagers visit his church, Baucham sees families drawing them into their times of prayer.

“Instead of going off with a bunch of other teenagers, they’re with one of our families. They’re watching me as a father, weeping before my family, making things right before we go before the Lord’s table,” Baucham said.

Lost young people will be attracted to grace-filled churches, add Richard Ross, Christian education professor at Southwestern, founder of the True Love Waits abstinence strategy and an advocate of equipping parents to disciple their children.

“Right now if we see a kid [at church] smoking behind the gym, the upsetting fact is we’ve taken a deacon’s smoking spot and that’s a crisis,” said Ross, prompting laughter from the audience. “The other part of that is the issue of parents who are desperately trying to create a perfectly safe environment for their kids.”

He encouraged pastors to clearly communicate that church is a “safe haven for broken people.”

Several panelists expressed the need to better integrate teenagers into the life of the church, moving away from many age-segregated meetings. Derouen added that a weakness of the emerging church models is that they fail to integrate all ages.

Matlock said the findings of the Barna study are often misapplied, explaining that the reference to losing a high number of teenagers does not mean they have turned their back on Christ.

“They’ve just turned their back on the congregational model as the place to experience transformation,” said Matlock, calling that a paradigm people are questioning around the world.

Agreeing that the study must be reviewed carefully, Ross said: “Are there students who reject congregational church life and stay connected in an intimate walk with him? Yes. But there are large numbers who walk away from anything that looks like faith.”

He directed the audience to further research indicating that the time when young adults start having babies is “the moment that has the most powerful, potential motivation for them to become extablished in church for the sake of their children.”

“I don’t know how your faith grows without fellowship with other believers,” Matlock said.

“One of the ways of keeping them is immersing them in the total life of the church and not just a part of it,” Ross added while citing the research of Southwestern Seminary professor Wes Black, which affirms that Christian young people are sustained through relationships.

“The four-million-dollar building is almost the final nail in the coffin,” Ross added, alluding to large student ministry facilities that often isolate teens from the rest of the church. Ross proposed returning to the kind of accountability present in a country church where the occasionally absent teenager was confronted by several adults inquiring about his welfare the next Sunday.

“If we want to produce teenagers to look like teenagers, then keepthem together,” Baucham said. “If we want them to be men, then model for them what we expect them to become.”

Derouen and other noted that ministry tailored to teens is not explicit in Scripture.

“You will not find teenagers in the Bible. When they were 12 they were treated as adults,” Derouen said.

He encouraged church leaders to train teenaers to be a part of committees in order to learn the process of decision-making and leadership.

“Have them on committees, being memtored, involved in how the church is run so they don’t quit [the church] when things don’t go their way,” he advised.

If the gathered church is to display God’s glory, segregating teenagers from that larger body gives a mixed message, Bancroft added.

“Attendance at church is optional at best,” in such cases, he said. “If it is only the youth group that a teenager connects with, then he is sure to disappear when he’s gone. Any ministry that isolates youth is a ministry that is swimming upstream when it comes to the Bible.”

But efforts intended to bring parents and teenagers together often do not work, Matlock argued, recalling joint events planned at his church recently. “It’s a hard sell.”

However, Derouen recalled a recent conversation he overheard between an 80-year-old church member who told a teenager, “I don’t love your songs, but I’ll sing yours if you’ll sing mine. Let’s do it together.”

In one respect, kids in manyt youth ministries are demonstrating better character and more lasting commitment than in the past, said Thurman.

“I’ve got kids leading worship, music, going on mission,” Thurman said. “That’s their focus and absolutely their passion.”

The difference between today and yesteryear is the huge distance between those committed to being on mission as a way of life, and those lacking any spiritual interest, he added.

“The bad kids are worse than they’ve ever been, but the good kids are greater than they’ve ever been,” Thurman said.

In his work in a parachurch ministry, Matlock said he is careful not to go around youth pastors and parents to get to students.

“We think the local church has to be the way of God accomplishing his kingdom on earth. Events are not primary to a student’s experience,” he said.
Baucham’s views, reported in the Southern Baptist TEXAN previously, are radically opposed to recent youth ministry trends.

He even questions the need for a specialized youth ministry in the local church. At the Houston church he planted, the congregation has no intention of having a youth ministry or hiring a youth minister he said, because “no exegetical source exists that would even allude to the concept.”

While stopping short of calling youth ministry “heretical,” Baucham said it is by no means essential to a biblically structured church.

“Instead, we have limited, strategic, biblical leadership,” he explained. “We expect our families to have family worship—Bible reading in their homes.”

He said he finds biblical support for church leaders holding families “accountable for what the Bible has called them to do and not do it in their stead.”

“If we really want a lot of this to shift like we say, then a lot of people are not going to be making money like they are today when parents and local churches assume their roles,” Pratt said.

Away-from-church experiences ought to be an extension of the ministry of the local church, Pratt said, rather than “usurping” what the local church ought to be doing.” And yet, the desire for resources and experiences that lead to spiritual growth has funded what one panelist estimated to be a billion-dollar industry.

Bancroft has readjusted his focus, he said, to training young people to study the Bible for themselves.

“I felt their quiet time was based on the latest devotional book you handed out, and that’s not equipping the saints. So I went back and I’m actually training them to study the Bible—through observation, interpretation, and application—trusting the work of the Spirit of God.”

Reid said he finds plenty of biblical evidence of positive outcomes in the lives of young teenagers.

“It’s amazing how many people in the Bible God used while they were young,” he said, adding that the problem occurred largely when teenagers are not challenged.

“They need to be challenged to share their faith, pray, do deep, to worship. Teens are learning trigonometry and winning Olympic gold medals. Give them theology,” Reid pleaded.

Noting that America is ripe for revival, Ross said he expects the younger generation to be the most likely leaders of such awakening.

“Pastors and parents falling on their knees, praying to God—until then it’s not going to happen,” Derouen added.

“For us to think somehow by programming we can replicate [fervent prayer] is foolishness,” Ross said. Instead, student ministry should be shaped by those things God requires for him to move. “God can accomplish more in your student ministry in 15 minutes than three years of hard work, so why don’t you get on your knees?”

FORT WORTH–Should increased theological training and even biblical languages be a priority in training future youth pastors to minister to students and their families?

Weighing in on a discussion initiated at the Youth Ministry Forum held at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in December, Christian educators and youth leaders contacted by the Southern Baptist TEXAN offered opinions on specialized youth ministry training offered by seminaries.

During the forum, state and national leaders in student work called on churches to insist potential candidates for any ministry position in the church be adequately trained to handle and communicate God’s Word.

“Where churches have approached youth ministry in a fun-and-games capacity, where they have minored on biblical teaching and doctrinal issues, the paradigm needs to be changed,” said David Allen, dean of theology at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, in an interview with the TEXAN.

“And I think we’re seeing the fruit of that. When students are brought in and catered to from an entertainment standpoint, they graduate from high school and have no foundation. When they go off to college they aren’t strongly committed to the church and to the Lord, and we lose them,” Allen said.

With recent statistics indicating teens and college students are disconnecting from the local church, many forum speakers agreed a paradigm shift is needed in youth ministry strategies.

“What we’re doing is not working,” said Alvin Reid, author and professor of evangelism at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C. Speaking at the forum, Reid suggested that despite the unprecedented variety of resources available to youth pastors, the methodology of most churches is failing to transform youth culture. “[I] question whether we’re preparing youth to make it through their first year of college, let alone life.”

While there are multiple root issues behind the declining youth involvement after high school, some forum participants blamed the lack of theological training required of youth ministers. Instead of focusing on Scripture application, Reid said a typical youth minister learns ministry strategies from another youth pastor, who in turn learned his strategy from another youth minister.

“It’s not intentional but they don’t have the desire or ability to do theological reflection,” he said.

Richard Ross, Southwestern Seminary’s assistant dean of the division of human growth and development and a professor of student ministry, likened the importance of proper training for youth pastors to the career-specific training required for medical personnel.

“Too few student ministers receive formal training for student ministry. That is as weighty a statement as saying too few surgeons receive formal training,” Ross told the TEXAN, adding that degrees with courses specific for student ministry are necessary to adequately prepare youth pastors for service in the local church.

“If my senior high son has a car crash, I want that young EMT in the back of the ambulance to have plenty of training to draw from,” he said, drawing a parallel to the training of youth pastors. “Why would I want less when I place my son under the leadership of a student minister?”

Johnny Derouen, associate professor of student ministry at Southwestern, believes a successful youth ministry is one that “challenges students theologically, so they can … stand up in this culture, understand their faith and speak it clearly.”

But one Southwestern professor is concerned that the popularly cited surveys–some say youth are leaving churches at a rate of 75-88 percent after high school–might lead some to reject strategies for training that are already producing students committed to the cause of Christ.

Wesley Black, associate dean for Ph.D. studies and professor of student ministry at Southwestern, has trained youth pastors there since 1983. Black told the TEXAN he worries the various studies dominating the headlines in youth pastor education do not provide a sincere vehicle for discussing youth ministry strategy.

“We start out with one figure in mind that we are losing almost 100 percent of our kids and therefore [believe] something is wrong with our youth ministry,” Black said. “That is the thing that troubles me the most. A lot of our kids are dropping out, but we don’t need to throw everything out of the window because of [those studies]. There are a lot of good things that we are doing.”

Recently, Black surveyed 1,300 students between the ages of 18-30 to determine why students who are active in church during their teen years either remain faithful following high school graduation or drop out altogether. As a result of his findings, Black said he believes youth strategies should focus on several things:

>helping students know how to choose friends and become influencers in their community of friends;

>helping students obtain spiritual depth through discipleship;

>deepening a student’s relationship with his or her family; and

>giving students opportunities to form intergenerational relationships in the local church.

Black presented his findings in the article “Creating a Student Ministry that Lasts,” published in LifeWay’s “Leading Student Ministry” winter 2007 edition and the “Journal of Youth Ministry” in spring 2006.

Opinions vary concerning the role seminaries should play in training youth ministry workers. Black said seminary training and youth strategies should be re-focused rather than re-invented.

“I really think student ministry should extend one year past high school graduation,” he said, noting this would hold high school seniors accountable to find a church home in college. “We know them, we know their families well. We as student ministers are in the best position to continue nurturing those kids as they step into the world of young adulthood.”

Others believe that youth strategies that fail to incorporate increased biblical exposition will miss the mark.

Eric Bancroft, associate pastor of high school ministry at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, Calif., presented a paper at the forum connecting the lack of theological training for youth ministers to the failure of a youth ministry.

“A youth pastor in his mid-20s might have all the zeal and love, and in some cases, personality that will reach audiences. While they can be helpful vehicles, it has to come from the Word of God. Any ministry, whether it be youth, single, or senior citizen ministries, that is not based upon the Word of God is going to be limited at best,” Bancroft told the TEXAN.

“Much of what passes for teaching today is nothing more than lessons on morality that further insulates our need for the gospel,” he said. “We have replaced the gospel with morality, and theology with experience.”

Because many youth ministers lack theological training, Bancroft said local churches often expect them to fulfill a role they are not trained to fulfill.

“Where does the problem lie? With the youth pastor? Or is the problem with asking him to do a job that is pastoral in its major emphasis?” Bancroft said, adding that a pastor leading any specific ministry area must be trained in the Word.

Along with a change in the education and training of youth ministers, Bancroft also advocated a change in the overall role of the youth pastor in the life of the church—a shift from programming to a more pastoral function.

“Unfortunately, youth pastors are hired today more for creative ability, communication skills, personality, and to connect with teenagers,” Bancroft said, explaining that most youth pastors “give entertaining talks instead of preaching God’s Word faithfully.”

In his forum presentation, Bancroft challenged participants to find explicit evidence of the role of the youth pastor in the Bible. In preparing for youth ministry, the biblical guidelines for the pastor should be followed.

“[We] do find the description of a pastor, though. He is to teach, preach, protect, pray, love, counsel, care, correct, lead and overall model for the flock according to Scripture.”

But the failure of youth pastors to teach expositionally is not entirely their own fault, Bancroft said.

“So often parents, pastors and students alike judge [youth] pastors more on attendance and how many decisions were made at the last gathering.”

“Hiring a man to be pastor to youth and their families, but judging his success against others standards, produces immature pastors,” Bancroft said, adding that these pressures leave little time to do important things like “train godly staff, counsel families, and preparing expository sermons.”

“I think what you need to see in a man’s training is more than a knowledge of educational systems and more than a study of sociology and the related sciences. There needs to be a great deal of time spent on handling the Word of God, I think a youth pastor should study languages just like a guy who wants to be a senior pastor, because both will have a teaching outlet.”

In Texas, youth pastors have two degree options at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

The master of arts in Christian education (MACE) is the traditional degree offered to youth pastors. Southwestern’s MACE is a 64-hour degree comprised of 26 hours of core curricula, 21 hours of administrative courses, and 12 hours in the student’s concentration area. Among the core classes, students are required to take evangelism, hermeneutics, systematic theology, and surveys of both the Old Testament and New Testament.

In contrast to the MACE, Southwestern Seminary also offers a master of divinity with a concentration in student ministry (M.Div.). Weightier in its core requirements, the 91-hour M.Div. allots 36 hours to biblical studies, of which 21 are slated for biblical languages. The degree also includes 15 hours of theological studies, nine hours of philosophical studies, and courses in the areas of evangelism, preaching and applied ministry/teaching. An additional 14 hours are designated for a concentration in student ministry.”

“In the educational ministries school the curriculum has been revised over the last six or seven years to include more theological training,” Allen said while noting that biblical languages are not required. “In the school of theology, regardless of concentration, all students have to take Greek and Hebrew.”

For students who desire to persevere through the extra hours of the M.Div. degree, Allen said they would still benefit from the instruction of educational ministries professors such as Richard Ross, Johnny Derouen, and Wes Black.

Despite offering two degrees, Allen said potential students are encouraged to pursue a full course of study with M.Div.

“It prepares them at a more in-depth level,” he said. “The M.Div. degree [provides] a solid foundation theologically and in the area of biblical languages.”

Allen said students are also encouraged to pursue degrees that will sustain their ministry through the course of their lives.

“I would tell an incoming student that in all likelihood you are not going to be in youth ministry all of your life. You may be a youth minister until you are 40. I would ask them, ‘What are you going to do for the last 35 years of you ministry? What if God called you to be a pastor? You don’t have all the theological training that would be helpful and needful especially to someone in the pastorate,’” Allen explained.

To encourage students considering youth work to enroll in the M.Div. program, Allen said he would speak from personal experience.

“My first five years in service, while still in college and seminary, I was a youth minister. And then after that, I became a pastor. So I am grateful I did the master of divinity program to train me. And most youth ministers will not be [youth ministers] in 10 years.”

In directing students into the appropriate degree program, Ross said it is important to listen to the student.

“If the student plans to approach student ministry primarily as an equipper of the saints, we encourage them to study the MACE degree. The same is true if they plan to build ministries centered around discipleship and mentoring,” he said. “Also, students who love teaching the Word of God and want to teach it wll seem to prosper in the MACE program.”

For students who view youth ministry as a “short-term calling to be followed by going into the pastorate,” Ross said he recommends the M.Div. program.
“Someone who will lead the church as senior pastor certainly needs the fuller complement of preaching and theology courses,” he said, while insisting that both of Southwestern’s degree programs for youth ministry give students “the ability to think reflectively.”

Black, who has committed his life ministry to youth, said student ministry education should adequately prepare youth pastors for engaging the entire church.

“No matter what kind of degree you have, you need to have an understanding of all the age groups in a church. You need to understand what is going on in the lives of those middle-age adult parents, because middle-age adults have a lot of issues, problems and stress,” he said. Black said he believes skills in counseling, teaching and administration should be emphasized in every degree program.

“Sometimes we tend to think youth ministry is nothing more than calendar planning and project-event planning. But that is so shallow,” Black said. “We need to have a thorough understanding of biblical knowledge and think theologically about what we are doing in youth ministry. But whether that involves going as far as biblical languages—they are great to know, but I wouldn’t put that in the top priority.” Explaining that biblical languages are necessary for those preaching every Sunday, Black said “there are a lot of hermeneutical tools you can use that can serve you very well.”

“I’m not saying biblical languages are not necessary; I’m just not saying they are necessary. There are some other areas of student ministry that are more burning issues right now. For example, how to relate to parents of teens, knowing how to equip and energize leaders, and knowing what goes on in the lives of teenagers, those are very important areas. And in order to minister to those, you have to have a good, strong biblical basis for all you are doing. Bible courses like systematic theology are very important.”

When faced with his own degree choice, Bancroft chose to pursue a master of divinity from The Master’s Seminary, despite the additional course work required.

Although Bancroft doesn’t advocate everyone jumping from an M.A. to an M.Div., he soes believe a minister’s primary responsibility is to the Word of God, regardless of ministry area.

“A young man should be making sure he is taking classes that help him know the Word and proclaim the Word accurately,” he said.

For Bancroft, the extra courses equipped him for his own ministry at Grace Community Church, where students are offered expositional Bible studies on Sunday mornings in both fellowship groups and corporate worship services under the senior pastor, John MacArthur.

During the school year, students attend a regional Bible study spread out around the Los Angeles area on Wednesday nights.

Also, students are given a study guide to read during the week that connects lessons from Sunday School to Wednesday evening studies. The weekly guide includes daily reading assignments and homework. Students recently worked through the Christian classic “Pilgrim’s Progress” by John Bunyan.
“This accomplishes two things. It is a daily devotional and helps them come into Wednesday night being primed and asking, ‘How do I apply this to my living?’”
During the summer, the classes merge for a special study. This summer, Bancroft led students through a series on the major figures of church history.
Acknowledging biblical exposition as part of the missing link in youth ministry, Allen said Southwestern will continue to lead the way in educating tomorrow’s youth ministers.
“What we need are youth pastors who are committed to the exposition of Scripture. There is nothing more exciting than the Scripture when it is taught in an expositional way that is both creative and life changing. That is a vital ingredient to a successful youth ministry,” he said. “We will continue to strengthen [our programs] and move toward teaching how to be a good communicator and expositor of Scripture in a creative fashion so they can do biblical teaching.”