The Seven Checkpoints for Student Leaders

While I am not directly in student ministry anymore, I found this book to be a good read for those who are and also for those who parent teens or those who, like myself, will soon have teenagers (that sentence gives me pause!).  Some of my takeaways:

• The main reason students don’t spend time alone with God is that it isn’t urgent
• Purity now paves the way to intimacy later
• Acceptance by a friend is more important than the friend.  What this means is that our student environments and homes must be the most accepting places our students experience.  We must “out accept” the competition.  That is the only way we will develop sustained influence with our students.  They won’t embrace our message until they are assured of our love and acceptance.
• The question we must strive to keep in the forefront of their thinking is: are the temporary pleasures derived from sex worth the long term complications that it causes?
• When faced with an opportunity, invitation, or desire, the most appropriate question a student can ask is, “is this the wise thing to do?”