Susan (not her real name) is an eighth grader, full of life, energetic, outgoing and joyful. She can light up an entire room with her presence.Yet underneath this joyous facade lies a teenager battling a crippl...

After decades of work with incarcerated youth around the world, I tend to classify religious outreaches into three different genres: conversion-based, worship-focused, and faith-education programs. Some of thes...

This past summer, I watched a young man with muscular dystrophy fly down a zip-line into a lake. A group of guys had carried him up four stories of narrow, winding stairs to get him to the top. Once he reached ...

Danny Carroll had just returned from several weeks in Israel, Jordan, England, Bolivia and Guatemala when we sat down together in his office at Denver Seminary. He claims America and Guatemala as home, having g...

“What? IMPOSSIBLE!” The puzzlement was real.Here is a bright, 16-year-old, deaf since his early years and totally baffled by my comment that God is fluent in American Sign Language.Signing emphatica...

A decade ago youth pastors in Anchorage began talking about a coffee shop where teens could hang out and experience the love of Jesus—a place like the TV show “Cheers,” where a teen could go ...

“We must face the fact the church is still the most segregated major institution in America. At 11:00 on Sunday morning when we stand and sing, and Christ has no east or west, we stand at the most segrega...

The old chorus was right:Jesus loves the little children,All the children of the world,Red and Yellow, Black and White,They're all precious in His sight,Jesus loves the little children of the world.But somehow ...

We’re at a crossroad in youth work; and in order to be effective, we need to change—to turn at this crossroad instead of passing on through, assuming the way we’ve always done things will continue...

Frank Shelton has an intense passion for God and incredible passion for people. He is an author, international speaker, former VP of National Christian Youth Speakers Network, host of "Frankly Speaking" on A...