Legacy Youth Ministry Resources

• Vision
• Background
• Strategy
• Steve's Education and Writing Cherie's Education and Writing
• Cherie's Education and Writing
• Annette's Education and Writing
• Doctrinal Statement
• Translations

Vision

To assist parents, youth workers and pastors throughout the world in reaching and maturing  students by providing quality resources via the Web.

Background

Steve Miller founded Legacy Ministry Resources to supply quality ministry resources to those who can't obtain them because of their location or lack of funds.

As a sixteen-year-old, Steve attended a retreat because a girl he liked was going. Once there, he met Jesus. His life was revolutionized over time as he read his Bible, learned from stronger Christians, and wrestled with his own recurring doubts and questions. God gave him a reason to live, strength to face life's challenges and an abundance of life he'd never known.

His passion became to reach as many people as possible with Jesus' life-changing message. For the next thirty years he'd work with youth - as a bible study leader, Sunday School teacher, minister to youth, youth ministry trainer, writer and parent of teens.

In 1993 he moved his family to Slovakia with Reach Out Youth Solutions to supply training and resources to youth workers who had been denied such resources under Communism. When his wife was diagnosed with cancer, he moved his family back to the States, but never lost his burden to assist those who have sparse resources.

Steve stayed at home, cared for his wife, Laurene, and wrote resources for Slovakia, which were translated and distributed via resource packets. As other countries began to translate the materials, he began to develop Reach Out's Website as an effective way to distribute resources globally. Four years later, he and his four boys saw Laurene through her last days on earth.

Somewhere along the line I met (via the Web) Tim and Annette Gulick, who live in Mexico and share my vision to provide ministry resources. They have an incredible site in Spanish that ministers to Latin America. They've translated many of our articles and lessons and they've graciously allowed us to use many of Annette's lessons.

One day, Steve requested permission to use an article from another site for the article database. Steve met via e-mail the writer of the article, Cheryl Ewings, a single mother of three boys in the Chicago area. Over time, they found that they had more in common than their writing, fell in love before they ever saw each other, and blended their families (seven boys between the ages of nine and twenty-two!?!) in 2002. As you can imagine, they're more motivated than ever to try to understand and communicate with young people!

In 2003 Steve and Reach Out decided that each ministry could be more effective by launching a separate site, operating as separate entities, yet remaining strategically partnered.

Strategy

We love providing resources free of charge to those who can't afford resources, financed by those who purchase the resources.

Steve's Education and Writing

I'm a wisdom broker. As a stock-broker buys and sells stocks, I collect and disseminate wisdom. God placed inside of me an intense desire to discover and illustrate truth, drawing both from God's Word and wise counsel (books, research, interviews). He prepared me for this task with a combination of formal education and varied ministry experience -- enough successes to know the joy of spiritual impact, enough failures to remind me that I'm totally inadequate without God. I run everything I write through Cherie, who never fails to challenge my thinking and improve my writing.

I'm indebted to many of my teachers at Dalton College, The University of Georgia, Columbia International University, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

My first book was The Contemporary Christian Music Debate, originally published with Tyndale House, reprinted with Operation Mobilization Publishing, now translated into Dutch, German, Spanish, Romanian and Russian. I next wrote the Leader's Guide to Jesus No Equal with Barry St. Clair. I wrote a series of articles for Group Magazine, a Discipleship series for Worldwide Discipleship Association and currently write almost exclusively for the Web, both ministry resources ( www.youth-ministry.info ) and character education resources for public schools ( www.character-education.info ). Keep up with his writing experiences and tips at www.enjoyyourwriting.com  .

Cherie's Education and Writing

Like Steve, I've been educated by the "school of hard knocks" as much as by my formal training. I'm indebted to my teachers at Kennesaw State University, where I achieved a Master of Arts in Professional Writing in May, 2007. I am currently a freelance writer who loves co-writing and co-web-designing with Steve, while publishing my own articles. I've published hundreds of articles in a variety of magazines and newspapers and contributed a chapter to the recent book, Women at the Well, edited by Betty Robison. Cherie is a frequent contributor to YouthWorker Journal and Group magazines.

Annette's Education and Writing

I grew up in Wichita, Kansas and developed a world-Christian perspective early through extensive traveling to such places as China, Mongolia, England, Scotland, Greece and Costa Rica. I hold a BA in Professional Writing and Spanish from Baylor University and an MA in Theological Studies from Reformed Theological Seminary. I live with my husband Tim in Toluca, Mexico where, under the auspices of OCI (www.oci.org), we provide resources and training for youth workers throughout the Spanish-speaking world. For more information, see our animated training course on the personal life of the youth leader (http://www.sepal.org/gulick/January2003.htm), personal Web Page (www.sepal.org/gulick) and resources for Spanish-speaking youth workers (www.ParaLideres.org).

Doctrinal Statement

We partner with and serve people in many denominations who know Jesus as Lord. If you're concerned about our beliefs, here are the basics. Contact me at jstevemiller@gmail.com if you have specific questions.

We trust the Bible - all of it, believing that it's God's Word to us. It's our supreme and final authority.

We believe in One God, who eternally exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

We believe In Jesus Christ, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was born of the Virgin Mary. He never sinned. He took all our sins upon Himself on the cross, died and rose again, sits today at the right hand of the Father, and one day will come again.

We believe that everybody is lost and needs to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, who is "the way, the truth and the life."

We believe that when Jesus changes our hearts, He will also change our lives, motivating us to avoid sin, love our neighbors and serve the needy.

Translations

For bible studies translated into Slovak, click here:

http://www.davkaonline.sk