Quotes from Duffy Robbins

Ministry with volunteer youth workers is not primarily about volunteers bringing refreshment to students, nor about youth pastors bringing refreshment to volunteers. It is about creating a space wherein people can find refreshment from Christ. It's about creating an upper room—holy ground where disciples can encounter Christ and be washed and refreshed by him.

Youth ministry is not merely a nuts and bolts operation. The difference between efficiency and Ephesiancy is God's gracious work in our lives.

Patterns of interaction are transmitted, more or less faithfully, from one generation to another. Thus the inheritance of mental health and of mental ill health through the medium of family microculture is certainly no less important, than is their inheritance through the medium of genes.6

the larger the staff, the more important it becomes to make sure responsibility is owned by individuals and not by the group.

Just as "good fences make good neighbors," clear delineations of responsibility can prevent the kind of turf battles that break down staff relationships.

We build loyalty not by giving out job descriptions and offices, but by giving ourselves.

Pushing a volunteer into a position for which he or she is not spiritually, emotionally, or temperamentally equipped is like trying to build a tree house in a small tree. It's bad for the tree house, yes, but it also crushes the tree—a tree that in time, with proper nurture and care, might have provided a sturdy and capable support.

What feels like a family to those on the inside can feel like a clique to those on the outside.

Our opportunities with students are too few, and the time we can devote to ministry is too precious, to waste them with muddled plans, poor communication, and unproductive activity.