If you’ve ever met Greg Stier, you know how hard it is not to like the guy. It’s also immediately clear what his core passion is: spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, especially to teens. He breathes, lives, and radiates that gospel—and this book is the manifestation of that.Aimed primarily at youth pastors and youth leaders (though his approach is without a doubt applicable to entire churches), Gospelize Your Youth Ministry lays out a solid method to put the gospel at the very core of your youth ministry. The result is what Greg calls a Gospel Advancing Ministry and through many examples from the book of Acts and from youth ministries nowadays, Greg shows the incredible impact a ministry like that can have.

Gospelize coverWhat I liked most about the strategies Greg lays forth in this book is that they’re evidence based for the most part. Dare 2 Share (the organization Greg Stier founded aimed at spreading the gospel amongst teens) has done a nationwide research to determine what effective youth ministries (those with a conversion rate of 25% or higher) had in common. The analysis resulted in seven values, which are also found in Scripture:

  1. Intercessory prayer
  2. Relational evangelism
  3. Leaders who fully embrace and model the gospel and evangelism
  4. A disciple multiplication strategy
  5. A bold vision
  6. Biblical outcomes to measure
  7. Ongoing programs reflect the importance of the gospel and evangelism

None of these are new, unknown, or even shocking. Some may even say these values are pretty much standard—except they’re consistently present in only a minority of youth ministries.

The rest of the book is devoted to explaining each of these values in more detail. Greg consistently bases his statements on Scripture, then affirms it with stories from his own experience. The book is sprinkled with humor by the way, which is one of the reasons why the book is so easy to read.

Youth leaders (and pastors alike) will find the book encouraging and challenging at the same time. Greg unfailingly raises the bar with the passion he’s so well-known for. It’s contagious and inspiring and he makes you want to go all in for Jesus with your youth ministry—which is exactly where you should be. Seriously, your hands will start to itch when you read this to start putting it into practice. This book offers you practical tools to help transform your ministry into a gospel-centered, Jesus-centered youth ministry that consistently and lovingly draws teens to Jesus. Read and apply.