CYFM recently hosted a conference on intergenerational ministry for teams from 20 Southern California churches—a one-day interactive training event in which we collaborated with youth workers, senior pastors, parents, and students themselves on what it might mean to re-envision youth ministry as a pathway to assimilate students into the life of the church. This month our Ministry Conversations site features THREE FREE AUDIO DOWNLOADS from Kara Powell and other leading Fuller faculty and ministry leaders who were part of the Connect For training.

NOTE: Please try our new "iTunes U" site to download CYFM audio and video! You'll find directions on the site for downloading files, and if you don't have iTunes, there's a link to download iTunes software for FREE.

When you go to the Fuller "iTunes U" site, note the CYFM logo under "resources" on the welcome page that opens in your iTunes store browser. We hope this new format will make our files more accessible. For those who prefer to directly download the files without using iTunes, we will still post them at http://www.cyfm.net/audio/index.php.

FREE RESOURCES accompanying the book Deep Ministry in a Shallow World

Information about and application materials for the Urban Youth Ministry Certificate program

Developing resources for youth workers who minister in urban areas

Responding to the AIDS pandemic in Africa on multiple levels

Discovering what's missing in youth ministry to prepare students for the college leap

Stress in the City:
A New Study of Youth Workers

by Kara Powell, Cynthia Eriksson, and Jude Tiersma Watson

Do you ever wonder about the personal impact of ministry stress? Do you ever suspect that the risks of your ministry might outweigh the ability you have to survive or be resilient in the midst of them? This report looks at the findings from a recent CYFM study of urban youth workers from around the country, with implications for youth workers in every environment.

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Turning the Corner on Youth Violence:
Emerging Perspectives and Encouraging Examples

by Brad Griffin

Are kids getting more or less violent? Given the amount of media attention attracted by episodes of youth violence, it’s hard to get a handle on what research might be saying or what ministry interventions might be working to lower violence. With the help of the Fuller Youth Initiative research team, this article takes an in-depth look at the key questions youth workers and parents have about youth violence, and a few encouraging responses from youth workers who are making a difference.

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Is There A Heaven for Tupac?
Insights into an Urban Prophet

by Dan Hodge

Hero or villain? Saint or thug? Though he died more than ten years ago, the legendary Tupac Shakur continues to have a surprisingly pervasive influence on youth culture. Tupac expert Dan Hodge offers a look at the influences that shaped Tupac and his music, and the legacy he left to the Hip Hop community and beyond.

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Bring ‘Em Out:
Evangelizing and Pastoring the Hip Hop Generation

by Ralph Watkins

This article is an excerpt from a chapter in the new book The Gospel Remix: Reaching the Hip Hop Generation, by Fuller Seminary’s Ralph Watkins. Pastor-Professor-DJ Watkins explores ministry implications for reaching out to hip hoppers by facing hard questions church leaders are asking about hip hop culture, and applies these insights to cross-cultural outreach to kids in general.

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May 2007 CYFM E-Journal Update from Kara Powell

At CYFM, we get asked pretty regularly about what it is we do, and how our work impacts youth and family ministry. My favorite way to describe what we do is to point people to our mission: we translate research into resources that transform youth and family ministry.

What type of impact do our research-based resources make in youth ministry? There are a number of ways that we assess that (being part of an academic institution, we like to assess everything). Sometimes it’s through surveys, other times it’s through focus groups, and sometimes it’s by simply asking around. We’ve included a smattering of comments from folks—probably even some folks that you might recognize—on our new CYFM endorsement page.

One of the common themes we’ve heard from youth workers is that they love forwarding our articles to parents of the kids in their youth ministry. In honor of that, and in honor of Mother’s Day (I’m a mom so I’m biased here), and of course, Father’s Day, we’re including a new feature in every CYFM E-Journal. Check out the “Recommended for Parents” icon above on the Youth Violence article and consider forwarding this article, or maybe the entire E-Journal, to the parents of your kids. The more we can communicate and train parents, the better. We consider it an honor to be your partners in equipping parents and other adults to raise up kids in communities of faith!

Kara Powell

Kara E. Powell, PhD, is the Executive Director of the Center for Youth and Family Ministry and an Assistant Professor of Youth and Family Ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary.  She has been in youth ministry for 20 years and is the author of many articles and books including Deep Ministry in a Shallow World (co-authored with Chap Clark, Zondervan, 2006) Help!  I'm a Woman in Youth Ministry (Zondervan, 2004) Mirror! Mirror! (Zondervan, 2003), and the Good Sex Curriculum Guide (co-authored with Jim Hancock, Zondervan, 2001).

Please  PASS ON this E-Journal to your ministry team and youth worker friends!



Our Mission:

Working alongside frontline leaders, Fuller Theological Seminary's Center for Youth and Family Ministry (CYFM) exists to turn research into resources that transform youth and family ministry.

To read more about how we work and the leadership of the Center, visit www.cyfm.net.