A year and a half ago when I transitioned Life In Student Ministry from timschmoyer.com to studentministry.org I mentioned that part of the reason was to move the branding away from myself. I wanted to focus more on the site’s subtitle, “Conversations among youth workers,” not, “Tim’s platform for writing about youth ministry.” Currently those conversations take place in post comments, LIVE YM Talk, through social media, video, and more. The problem is that the conversations usually start with me. It’s been my vision for a couple years now to add multiple authors to Life In Student Ministry who share my values of mutual learning, transparency, willingness to think out lout and ask tough questions about youth ministry. Similarly to my book, I want to promote voices who may not always agree with everything I’m thinking, but will humbly offer differing perspectives that help us all become more spiritually influential youth workers.

Adam Worrman has already been doing that as the guy who organizes the “Time Out: Weekly Quiet Times for the Youth Worker’s Soul” series, and now I’m excited to announce that Jonathan McKee and Mark Riddle will both be joining our Life In Student Ministry team, as well. I know both of these guys personally and appreciate the challenges and questions they’ve asked of me personally in the past. They’ve demonstrated to me through their involvement in my own life that they care about youth workers, that they are a lot smarter than me (which isn’t saying much), and that they value dialog more than a stage.

Adam Wormann is Pastor of Next Generation Ministries at Sayre Woods Bible Church in Old Bridge, NJ where he’s been serving for the past 8 years. He is also one of the mentors at Life in Student Ministry and the editor of the “Time Out” series.

Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry, is the author of numerous books including the brand new, “Ministry By Teenagers, Connect: Real Relationships in a World of Isolation, and the award winning book, Do They Run When They See You Coming? He speaks and trains at camps, conferences, and events across North America, and provides free resources for youth workers internationally on his website, TheSource4YM.com.

Mark Riddle: My life is an attempt to live in the way of Jesus by hosting transformational conversations that honor people, being present with the people in front of me, and living a faithful story. I do this as a husband, father, friend, consultant, and writer. [ Follow Mark on Twitter and check out Mark’s blog. ]

QUESTION FOR YOU: I’m very curious to know your reaction to me adding new authors to Life In Student Ministry. So far you’ve all subscribed because of my voice and while I’ll still be actively writing here, how do you feel about me adding other voices to our conversations? I truly do not take for granted the privilege you’ve given me to access to your email Inboxes, RSS readers and social media streams, so is it okay for me to extend that privilege to others whom I trust and respect?

Posted on May 11, 2011