Ministering With New Maturity
'Good With Kids' Isn't Enough in Youth Posts
By Michelle Boorstein
Washington Post Staff Write
Sunday, August 6, 2006

The philosophy of the youth ministry business these days is summed up by a recent cover story in Group magazine, the industry's must-read glossy: "Busting the 'Cool Leader' Myth."

The sarcastic cover photo -- a young, cute guy wearing a goatee and jeans, with a guitar slung across his back and tossing a Frisbee -- conjures up memories many adult Americans carry of the people who were assigned by their church, temple or mosque to be with them when they were young. Youth ministers or youth directors were likely barely out of their teens -- someone who organized softball and maybe led a simple Bible study.

That guy is passe. the rest