Mark Oestreicher

Mark Oestreicher is a 30-year veteran of youth ministry, and the former President of Youth Specialties. Marko has written or contributed to more than 50 books, including the much-talked-about Youth Ministry 3.0. Marko is a speaker, author, consultant, and leads the Youth Ministry Coaching Program.

Visit Mark Oestreicher at www.whyismarko.com

What Are Your Youth Ministry Language Pet Peeves?
Mark Oestreicher
Everyone has pet peeves, right?
How to Help Parents of Teens Who Are Bored With Church
Mark Oestreicher
Young teens have a passionate need to be valued and noticed.
What Is the Achilles Heel of Youth Ministry?
Mark Oestreicher
How could we see our ministries embrace hope instead of fear?
When God Seems Distant
Mark Oestreicher
Recently I was asked to speak on Psalm 139 for a youth worker’s spiritual retreat. Of course, Psalm 139 is such a familiar psalm (“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me… Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?… For you created my inmost being; you knit […]
A Meditation for Youth Workers: Detox
Mark Oestreicher
Many years ago, I decided the staff of youth specialties were super tired. We were about to head into a busy season, and we were all running on fumes. Sounds a little like coming off a busy youth ministry summer and jumping into a new school year, right? We decided to give everyone a 7-day […]
C'mon, Make Some Mistakes Already!
Mark Oestreicher
The best youth workers will make mistakes. Safe youth workers make very few mistakes (other than the huge mistake of a safe and boring youth ministry!). We are so often afraid of making mistakes. this is really too bad, because the best learning always comes from mistakes, not from successes. If we can reconfigure our […]
The Downside of Being a Well-Resourced Youth Worker
Mark Oestreicher
Resources make ministry easier, right?
The Downside of Being Well-Resourced
Mark Oestreicher
What youth worker, young or old, small church or large church, liberal or conservative, paid or volunteer, wouldn’t like to have a bit of an increase in resources for youth ministry? You might be thinking: Nope. I’m good. I don’t care at all that we have, quite literally, no church budget to spend on youth […]