Contributors | Slant33

.slant33 is designed to help challenge, inspire and equip youth workers through thoughtful dialogue and varied expression from youth ministry’s leading thinkers and doers.

Steve Argue	Steve is the life development director at Mars Hill in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He has been involved in youth ministry for the past sixteen years as a youth pastor, instructor, speaker, and writer. In addition to his role at Mars Hill, he teaches adjunct seminary courses on youth ministry and is a doctoral student at Michigan State University, studying emerging adulthood, teaching/learning, and spirituality.
Sarah Arthur	Sarah is a fun-loving speaker and the author of numerous youth resources, including the bestselling Walking with Frodo: A Devotional Journey through The Lord of the Rings (Tyndale, 2003) and The God-Hungry Imagination: The Art of Storytelling for Postmodern Youth Ministry (Upper Room Books, 2007). She served for seven years as a full-time youth director before launching her writing and speaking career and now enjoys serving as a youth ministry volunteer. A recent graduate of Duke University Divinity School, she lives in southern Michigan with her pastor-husband, Tom. You can visit her website at www.saraharthur.com.
Chris Folmsbee	Chris leads Barefoot Ministries, a nonprofit training and publishing company designed to assist youth workers in guiding students into Christian formation for the mission of God. Chris is the author of A New Kind of Youth Ministry and Story, Signs and Sacred Rhythms: A Narrative Approach to Youth Ministry. Chris also works closely with Youthfront, and frequently speaks to and trains thousands of youth workers and students throughout North America. Chris is married, has three children, and resides in Overland Park, Kansas.
Jim Hampton	Jim serves as professor of youth ministry at Asbury Theological Seminary. A veteran of over twenty-two years in youth ministry, Jim has been involved both at the local-church and denominational levels. He was the co-founder of Barefoot Ministries, a nonprofit training and publishing company for youth workers. Jim has written or served as general editor for several books, including Worship-Centered Youth Ministry, Everyday Saint, and Sacred Time. He currently serves as chair of the Association of Youth Ministry Educators, a professional organization for those who teach youth ministry at the graduate or undergraduate level.
Mike King	Mike is in his thirty-fifth year in youth ministry and serves as president and CEO of Youthfront. Youthfront is a community committed to creating holistic, missional environments for Christian formation. Mike also serves as the executive editor of Immerse: A Journal of Faith, Life and Youth Ministry, is an elder in his church, serves on several boards, and is an adjunct professor at Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. His current book is Presence-Centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation (InterVarsity Press). Mike and his wife live in Blue Springs, Missouri.
Danny Kwon	Danny has been serving eighteen years in youth ministry, fifteen of those leading the youth ministry at Yuong Sang Church outside Philadelphia, which places a strong emphasis on family ministry. He also teaches Christian Education at Covenant Seminary, was part of the Youth Specialties One Day (Core) Training Team, and is presently pursuing his PhD in Organizational Leadership. He is married to Monica, a family and marriage counselor, and has three boys.
Lilly Lewin	Lilly is the co-founder and curator of Thinplace, a community seeking to live in the way of Jesus, via monthly and weekly gatherings featuring Lectio Divina, artistic response, journaling, and hospitality. She also co-founded Maproom, an experiential open house for college and post-college adults in and around the University of Cincinnati. Lilly co-authored Sacred Space, a hands-on guide to multi-sensory worship experiences for youth ministry. She and her husband live in Cincinnati, Ohio, with their two sons and wonder spaniel!
Brooklyn Lindsey	Brooklyn has authored books including Confessions of a Not-So-Supermodel and Opposite Day, and has contributed to numerous other projects like Sacred Life, Devo2Go, and The Kingdom Experiment: Youth Edition. She is a pastor and speaker who loves hanging with teens, teaching from the Bible, and leading people to live in response to God’s love. Brooklyn, while named after a city in New York, lives in the sunshine state with her husband, Coy, and their super sweet girls, Kirra and Mya.
Scot McKnight	Scot is a widely recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. He is the Karl A. Olsson professor in religious studies at North Park University in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. McKnight obtained his PhD at the University of Nottingham in 1986. Scot is the author of thirty books and regularly contributes chapter-length studies to dictionaries, encyclopedias, books, and articles for magazines and online webzines. McKnight's books have been translated into Chinese, Korean, Russian, and Portuguese. Scot's blog, Jesus Creed can be found here.
Dave Rahn	Dave is the vice president and chief ministry officer for Youth for Christ/USA and continues to direct the MA in Youth Ministry Leadership, www.youthministryleadership.com, for Huntington University. A youth ministry researcher, author, and leadership strategist, Dave now guides a team whose focus is to coach, train, resource, and serve Youth for Christ men and women from all over the country as they lead nearly 2,100 community-based relational outreach ministries among teenagers. His latest book project is Evangelism Remixed: Empowering Students for Courageous and Contagious Faith, co-authored with Terry Linhart (2009, Zondervan/Youth Specialties).
Andy Root	Andy (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary) is assistant professor of youth and family ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. A former Young Life staff worker, he has served in churches and social service agencies as a youth outreach associate and gang-prevention counselor. Andy is the author of Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry: From a Strategy of Influence to a Theology of Incarnation and Relationships Unfiltered: Help for Youth Workers, Volunteers, and Parents on Creating Authentic Relationships.
Claire Smith	Claire Smith holds a PhD from Union-PSCE in Richmond, Virginia, in Christian Education. She served for ten years as the youth coordinator for the Guyana Congregational Union. Claire has served as acting minister at several churches on more than one occasion and has published devotional material, articles, and presented scholarly papers at professional meetings. She is currently the director of youTheology and is a youth ministry specialist-in-residence at Saint Paul School of Theology in Kansas City, Missouri. She enjoys connecting with friends and writing inspirational poetry. Her passion is creating space so that people may know God more.