What habits are you developing when it comes to your relationships? In so many ways, that's really what it boils down to isn't it...relational commitments and habits? That is what it's going to require to take our youth ministries to the next level. And, as odd as it sounds, that is what it's going to require to sustain us through the desert times.

We believe this Alliance topic, "Surviving Desert Times In Youth Ministry," will be timely for so many of us as we franticly rush out of the non-stop action of summer into the feverish pace of fall. If we were honest, some of us would admit to not having stopped long enough to even breathe, let alone have a quiet time. As a result, I believe some of us and our youth pastor friends are heading hard and fast into a "Desert Time" as a result of it. Before we feel deflated, defeated and want to throw in the towel, let's put on the brakes, determine the warning signs and kick Satan in the knees by implementing some preventative measures and developing some new relational commitments and habits.