Josh Griffin is the high school pastor at Saddleback Church and blogs at www.morethandodgeball.com.  I was fortunate enough to get a look at his excellent new book 99 Thoughts for Youth Workers.

Josh’s 99 “random insightful tips for anyone in youth ministry” include everything from instincts needed to start in youth ministry to how to finish strong with summer camps, interns, vacations, dealing with the pastor, and loads of stuff in between… So much it becomes actually 119 thoughts! (Overachiever!)

Josh provides concise and clear recommendations as to how to make this whole youth ministry thing work youth ministry wise.  There is a lot of “make sure to see the bigger picture” sensibility amidst the details of the daily ministry here.

Matthew McNutt has referred to this book as the Youth Workers Book of Proverbs.  And I would encourage you not to read this book in any sense of order.  Pick it up, thumb through it and find the title heading that speaks to you for the moment, read it, and put it down again. Here’s the piece that spoke to me most recently: The Five Dangers of Always “Being On.”

Josh’s tips #28, #39, #65 and page 57 all call attention to being grateful and acknowledging what others bring to the ministry. Josh indicates that “The most important thing to remember is that event if no one thanks you for doing what you are doing, you are (like Jesus did with the ten lepers in Luke 17) healing people and setting them free.”

Hey, Josh, thanks!