Let’s Have a Warm GCYM Welcome for Trent Lewis

It was nearly a year ago now that the three of us that have comprised the GCYM team started this website. We weren’t really sure what would come of it when we decided to give it a shot. We just knew that we loved the gospel-centered movement, we loved youth ministry, we loved each other, and we wanted a place where those three loves could find some kind of mutual expression.

Thus God-Centered Youth Ministry, and thus the thinking, talking, tweeting, writing, and recording that have come with it. And just as we had hoped, we have loved doing it.

We have loved doing it because, more than anything else, GCYM has been a place for the three of us to encourage and challenge one another in our youth ministry roles. We say it a lot, but it’s really true: all the work of a youth ministry website and podcast has been a great excuse for us to take time to develop our own thinking and practice in our ministries. Each of us can point to clear ways that this project has mattered for our real life ministries.

And that’s exactly why we’re excited to introduce you to a new member of the team: Trent Lewis. Trent’s connections to the GCYM crew precede the website, but they’ve only strengthened since its inception. As we’ve all gotten to know each other more and more over the last year, well, it’s just been a total love fest. Or something.

That’s because Trent has a lot going for him. On the one hand, he is a uniquely gifted pastor: we just haven’t met many dudes who can think about church structures and team health much better than him. What’s more, his 16 years of youth ministry experience (in just about every role you can come up with) and current role as a youth pastor’s boss and guy-responsible-for-the-discipleship-of-everyone-who-might-be-considered-young make him the senior member of the team.

As our site continues to take shape, we want to keep producing content that we’re proud of and that we really think will help youth pastors. But the reality is that none of us does this full time. Heck: none of us does this even part time, really, since it’s not like we’re making any money from this thing. So it can be hard to find the time to produce enough quality content to continue to be helpful.

So rather than just throw in the towel and be stuck writing either worse or less material, we figured the smart money was in adding another quality contributor. Our commitment to you is to keep producing content that will equip you to be God-centered, gospel-saturated, theologically-driven youth pastors. We fully expect Trent to do just that.

In just a few minutes, Trent’s first post on the site will be his introduction to you in his own words. As you start getting to know him, we think you’ll feel the same way about him we do.

Welcome, Trent. And thanks for being a part of the team.