Author | - Rooted Ministry

John Gardner

John Gardner has served as the Youth Director for Chapel Presbyterian Church in Brighton Township, Pennsylvania for 11 years. He and his wife Jackie both serve high school and middle school students as a full time calling, with Jackie teaching math at Beaver County Christian School. John graduated with a Masters of Divinity from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 2009 and a Doctor of Ministry from SBTS in 2019. He spends most of his spare time reading, writing, and explaining the actual meanings of song lyrics to youth group students.

Stop Trusting the Tide: The Cleverly Disguised Idol of Momentum in Ministry

John Gardner | August 24, 2020

Momentum cannot be assessed simply. Ministry rising and falling numerically or (seemingly) spiritually lends itself to trusting the tide rather than the sovereign hand of God.

Empathy on Repeat: The Difficulty of Hearing the Same Problems from Different Students

John Gardner | June 28, 2018

Youth ministry is uncomfortable. It was jarring to be asked about the problem of evil for the first time as a student minister. Or the time I sat stunned and silent as I tried to cobble together an…

Making Games Work in Gospel-Centered Youth Ministry

John Gardner | April 6, 2017

The title of this article may have sent a theological shiver down your spine…games. As a surface-level reaction, that’s completely understandable. The shallow caricature of youth group usually involves about one hour and 15 minutes of dodgeball, 15…

Out of Context: Women are Saved through Childbearing

John Gardner | August 30, 2016

One of the reasons I love youth ministry is the never-ending supply of unusual questions that most teens are seemingly unafraid to ask. You have the old standbys like the problem of evil, the process of canonization, or…

The Living Authority of Scripture: Five Apologetics Every Student Needs

John Gardner | March 17, 2016

Apologetics in a student ministry context tends to locate itself between two ineffective ends of a spectrum. The first approach emphasizes a relational model, which rarely speaks authoritatively and hardly claims any truth. This tends to produce meandering…

The Scripture I Use When I Teach on Weakness: Consider the Ostrich

John Gardner | August 21, 2015

This is the fifth piece in our series, “The Scriptures I Use When I Teach On _____.” Our hope is to offer our readers some of the go-to Scriptures we use for teaching on certain topics that aren’t…

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