Stephen Yates

Stephen serves as an Assistant Pastor to Students at Intown Community Church in Atlanta, GA, and is a visiting instructor at his alma mater, Covenant Theological Seminary, and the PCA’s NEXT Institute. He is currently pursuing a PhD in Educational Studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. The best moments of his live involve playing board games with his wife, Krissi, and children Julianna and Judah.

The Gospel and Inconvenient Youth

When people ask me why a focus on Gospel-centeredness is so critical in youth ministry, my response comes to me in faces: Robbie and Kevin, adopted brothers struggling to integrate into their family. Charlie, for whom I stumbled…

Youth Ministry as a Modern English Parish

In my family, we have a joke. Every time my wife makes anything with potatoes, I respond at the dinner table with my best nasally tone, “What excellent boiled potatoes – it has been many years since I…

Using Debate to Teach Teenagers Diversity

It can be hard to get students to consider a topic in depth when, on a surface level, they already support it. How do you keep students engaged, wanting to go deeper? How do you help them differentiate…

Either Way, “Ragnarök” is Coming

Ragnarök. Leave it up to Marvel’s Thor to put an esoteric concept from ancient Norse mythology on the tongue of every 13-year old within 100 miles of me. In actual Norse legend, Ragnarök is an apocalypse the heroes…