There are zillions of activities, games, curricula, resources and methods youth workers can use; but which are really the best? To find out, we asked nine youth ministry veterans to pick their "Best of the Best."

DAN KIMBALL

Favorite commentaries to prepare youth Bible studies: The NIV Application Commentary and Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary. Both are rich with study and applications that you can transfer to the lives of teenagers. Youth who have grown in up in churches have heard a lot of Bible lessons, but most never have heard about the cultural contexts and  reasons for what was going on behind the stories.

Favorite small-group Bible study materials for youth: The Life Application Bible Study Series that goes through various books of the Bible.

Best youth ministry books: Mark Oestreicher's Youth Ministry 3.0 goes into a history of youth ministry and frames the context of why we do what we do today in youth ministry. I also highly recommend Chap Clark's Hurt to understand youth deeper.

The book every youth worker needs to live out: Too Busy Not to Pray by Bill Hybels. Youth ministry can be consuming, so we need to take heed of this book's message.

Favorite youth culture resources: CPYU.org and Entertainment Weekly to track movies, television and what's popular in our culture.

Best youth culture resource: Youth! Ask them questions and learn directly from them about what influences their own cultural understanding.

The leadership book new youth workers need to read: Developing the Leaders Around You by John Maxwell. If youth workers don't see a primary function of their role to be building teams of youth leaders, they can burn out and get overworked.

Favorite book for developing shepherding gifts in people: Henri Nouwen's In the Name of Jesus.

Best worship band to connect with youth: David Crowder—his music always seems to connect lyrically and musically. Knowing his heart as a worship leader makes his music all the more credible.

Best thing to teach youth how to worship: Move from only singing and teaching to more interactive ways of worship. Youth have different temperaments, which reflect different learning and worship styles.

Favorite Internet resources for youth ministry: The Youth Specialties Web site and Jonathan McKee's site TheSource4YM.com.

Favorite youth ministry conference: The Youth Specialties conference is still the one I feel is broadest and hits so many topics. I also encourage youth workers to go to non-youth ministry conferences for their own spiritual development.