Favorite book to teach leadership classes: In the Name of Jesus: Reflections on Christian Leadership by Henri J. Nouwen. He explores the shadow side of leadership and guides the reader toward redemption.

Favorite mission trip organization: Center for Student Missions (CSM) because of its long-term commitments to the neighborhoods they serve. Long after groups have gone home, CSM is building relationships with the local ministries.

Ginny is Co-Director of North Park University's Center for Youth Ministry Studies. She's the author of Teenage Girls: Exploring Issues Adolescent Girls Face and Strategies to Help Them. Ginny is a contributor to YouthWorker Journal.

MARK DEVRIES

Best youth curriculum: Dare to Share's Gospel Journey Maui. It creates incredible discussions and is brilliantly produced. It gets kids engaged and thinking, regardless of theological assumptions.

Best game resource: Great Group Games: 175 Boredom-Busting, Zero-Prep Team Builders for All Ages by Susan Ragsdale and Ann Saylor. It's really helpful—no-prep games with processing questions that launch back to community.

Best practical youth ministry book: Doug Fields' First Two Years in Youth Ministry. It's solid and a great introduction to stuff that every youth worker ought to know.

Most thought-provoking youth ministry books: Kenda Creasy Dean's Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church and The Godbearing Life. If you like to stretch your mind and think about youth ministry, there's no one who does that like Kenda.

Best books about ministry leadership: Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting out of the Box by the Arbinger Institute. Though it's directed at businesses, those principles carry over. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable by Patrick Lencioni is a business book written as a story with leadership principles embedded within.

Favorite mission trip organization: Amor Ministries. Its builds a "house in a box" in Mexico; 15 kids can build a house in a week and feel like they're doing something important.

Favorite conference for youth: The Great Escape by Youth Conference Ministries. It's a junior high conference that becomes the entry point for our kids into the youth ministry.

Mark is the founder of Youth Ministry Architects, a consulting team that helps build sustainable youth ministries and increase the longevity of professional youth workers. He's also author of Sustainable Youth Ministry (IVP) and contributor to YouthWorker Journal.

CHRIS FOLMSBEE

Most effective youth curriculum: Echo the Story. The curriculum is designed to take the participants through an overview of the entire redemptive arc of the Bible through storying, a process based on an applied learning model. It's learner-centered and allows for the imagination of students to be deeply engaged through guided questions, reflection and journaling.