Our newsletter has a new look. We have upgraded our software and our abilities to offer practical helps and resources for youth workers and others interested in teenagers. We call our new ministry “RBP Student Ministries Notebook.” Beginning with the next issue, our e-letter subscribers will receive regular e-mail notices from RBP stating that the new article has been posted on the “notebook” Web site. That e-mail notice will contain a link that will direct you to the site of the new e-letter. This new capability also gives us greater opportunities to post communication (questions, responses, and discussion) in a Web log (blog) format. I will keep readers posted concerning the new features of our system. Let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you. You can reach me at mwalker@garbc.org.

I recently received a phone call from a concerned, but frustrated church leader in response to this series of articles on the subject of youth ministry in small churches. “How can we have a youth group if we don’t have very many teenagers?” he asked.
This church deacon explained that only three teenagers attended services there on a regular basis: the pastor’s two daughters and this deacon’s son. I found out that the older girl was seventeen, while the other two kids were in junior high. This caller also told me that one other family in the church had a couple of teenage kids, but they did not attend regularly. In fact, this church did not offer the teenagers a Sunday School class of their own, but instead invited the students to attend the adult class or allowed them to sit in as helpers in the children’s department.

His frustration is a somewhat common reaction from various church leaders ministering in and through smaller churches. Here is a brief outline of my advice to this discouraged caller.
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Two topics in RBP’s new FaithBuilders: Bible Studies for Youth are now available, with other topics soon to follow. We have just released the first two titles in our new youth group materials: God’s Will, and Prayer. The following topics will be available very soon: The Church, Worship, Spiritual Maturity, Apologetics, and Temptation. FaithBuilders includes four lessons per book, inductive Bible studies, multiple faith-building activities in each lesson, a quick study section for the teacher that explains the Bible passage’s context, and reproducible Bible study handouts that can be copied or downloaded. To order call us at 1-800-727-4440 or look on our Web site.

Welcome to the RBP Student Ministries web site. It is our goal to provide practical resources for youth workers. We invite you to look around. I know that you will find our materials and products to be helpful for your ministry with today’s students. The mission of Regular Baptist Press is to glorify God by providing church educational resources that are true to God’s Word and encourage maturity in Christ. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance to you in your ministry with youth. May God bless you as you seek to impact lives for eternity!

Mel Walker
Director of Student Ministries
Regular Baptist Press
mwalker@garbc.org

Youth workers, have you taken the time to develop a mission statement for your youth ministry? If so, please take just a couple of moments to e-mail me a copy of it. I would really appreciate your help with this project. Thanks to all the youth workers who have already sent me their mission statements. I appreciate your help.