Impacting Generations of Youth Workers

On Friday night I invited my dad (who lives just 2 miles from our conference location here in Chicago) to come by and enjoy a bit of the conference. I knew Dad, having been a youth pastor in the 1980's, would enjoy meeting several of the youth ministry icons present, many of whom I have come to know as friends. It was so fun introducing him to some of the new faces in youth ministry like Josh Griffin, Matt McGill, Jake Rutenbar, Andy Brazelton - people he's come to know through their YouTube videos, as well as people like Kami Gilmour and the Skit Guys. My favorite was introducing him to people like Doug & Cathy Fields, Duffy Robbins, Rich Van Pelt, Tic Long, and Walt Mueller - people who were pouring into my him when he was a youth pastor in the 1980's.

I just want to extend a huge thank you to those people in particular who have been faithful to God's call for all of these years, and who have reached multiple generations of youth leaders. It was a tremendous privilege to stand there looking at these guys with my own father and to realize that they influenced my dad who influenced me in terms of understanding the value of, importance of, and call to youth ministry. Thank you for decades of faithfulness to the calling!