LIBERTY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF DIVINITY
It's Just a Phase, so Don't Miss It
Submitted to Dr. Steve Vandegriff
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the completion
of
CHMN 301: D01
by
Anthony Gates
The information learned from the book titled, It’ Just A Phase, So Don’t Miss It. is a
wealth of knowledge for any church that has a youth ministry or thinking or starting a youth
ministry. Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will
never enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:3 ESV). Jesus uses a child to highlight the
unique attributes of children, such as humility, simplicity, teachableness. This book capitalizes on
those attributes and breaks them down into phases. Anyone working in the field of youth
ministry can communicate better with the kids once they understand the phase for each age
group. Children are the future, and each phase of their life is essential, youth leaders should
recognize each phase and not miss it.
The book was written by two author Kristen Ivy and Reggie Joiner. Kristen earned her
bachelors of education from Baylor University in 2004 and a Master of Divinity from Mercer
University in 2009. Kristen has played an integral role in the development of the elementary,
middle school, and high school curriculums and has shared her experiences at speaking events
across the country. Reggie Joiner, the founder of the Orange Conference, looks at what would
happen if the church and families combined their efforts to create a revolutionary strategy to
affect the lives of children.
The book is designed to provide youth leaders with instructions and insight about the
different phases of a child's life from preschool through Highschool. The book's concepts are:
Embrace, Engage, Affirm, and Mobilize. The ideas are associated with each Phase in a child's
life. Embrace is associated with preschool children to establish physical trust. Engage is related
to elementary years because it is vital to earning relational credit. Affirm during the middle
school years so the youth leader can prove the relational commitment and mobilize is during the
high school years to leverage their relational influence.
Bibliography
Youth leader needs to communicate and be present during the budget meetings to make
their case why the youth ministry needs things to keep the ministry alive and thriving. Lastly, the
books address parents who need to be “reactivate” every year. Parents know more about their
child then any child development specialist, parents know their child patterns1. Because parents
know their child the best they need to be made aware of the different phases to be prepared every
year to reactivate their parenting style to better communicate through relational influences
because parents are not raising children they are raising adults2
The section on influencing the influencer speaks volumes as to what impact and the role
the youth leader has in the local church. The leader of the youth ministry has a long list of
influencer that needs to be influenced because they come in contact with the teenager, and by
your influencing the influencer they will start caring for the youth3. The section every child
deserves a champion, an adult who will never give up on them.4 A champion is one who keeps
the group on mission and understands that every phase is essential in a child's life.
This book provides the tools a youth ministry needs to have a solid foundation for the
youth and the youth leaders. Children are the future, and each phase of their life is important, the
youth leader needs to recognize these phases to be more successful at communicating with those
being influenced.
1
2 [ CITATION joi15 \l 1033 ]
3 [ CITATION joi15 \l 1033 ]
4 [ CITATION joi15 \l 1033 ]
Ivy, Kristen, and Reggie Joiner. It's Just A Phase So Don't Miss It. Edited by Mike jeffries. (Cumming, GA:
Orange, 2015).
3
Ivy, Kristen, and Reggie Joiner. It's Just A Phase So Don't Miss It. Edited by Mike Jeffries.
Cumming, GA: Orange, 2015.
