A few years ago, I had an encounter that reshaped both my walk with Jesus and my approach to youth ministry. At the time, I was leading a national youth ministry with about 15 years of ministry experience behind me. Things were going well. Our team was strong, the ministry was growing, and my relationship with God felt steady.

One evening, after a camp session, I was walking across a quiet field when I sensed a whisper deep within: “There’s more.” I tried to make sense of it. More what? More events? More leaders? More programs? But then I heard it again, this time more clearly: “There’s more of Me.”

That simple phrase stirred something in me. It wasn’t a summons to increase my output or add to my to-do list. It was an invitation to slow down, to lean in, and to know God more deeply and intimately.

That night sparked a season of soul-searching. I began to reflect on how I prayed, read Scripture, and worshiped. I realized these practices had become more about fuelling ministry than forming me. They were tools for productivity rather than channels of personal transformation.

Recognizing this, I began exploring new rhythms. That search led me to the contemplative tradition and writings on spiritual formation. I discovered voices like Richard Foster, Dallas Willard, Robert Mulholland and more recently, John Mark Comer. These teachers opened up new pathways of encountering God.

Through them, I found practices that create space for God to shape us. Not just as leaders, but as beloved children.

And what began as a personal journey eventually grew into something more. I now call it The Forgotten Movement.

Rediscovering Formation for Leaders

The Forgotten Movement is a six-week reflective journey designed for youth leaders. It’s not about more training on how to run a youth group or plan events, although there’s a place for that. It’s about pausing long enough to ask, How am I doing with Jesus?

Too often we spend all our energy figuring out how to do youth ministry well, but we neglect the deeper question: How is my own walk with Christ? The Forgotten Movement invites us to reflect on that. It helps us examine our ministry practices through the lens of biblical, Spirit-led formation. This journey helps us right-order our being and our doing. It reminds us that all the things we do—preaching, leading, discipling—should flow from a deep friendship with Jesus.

If that friendship isn’t central, we risk becoming functional leaders rather than formed ones.

Why This Matters

I genuinely believe the future of youth ministry depends on leaders being spiritually formed themselves. When I work with youth leaders now, my quiet conviction is this. Before we can meaningfully disciple young people, we must first be discipled ourselves.

That transformation isn’t about trying harder. It’s about being rooted in rhythms and practices that open us to God’s work in our lives. It’s about learning how to spend time with Jesus, not just that we should. It’s about becoming people who, as John Wesley put it, “desire nothing but God.”

Whether you’re full-time or volunteering in your church, if you’re a youth leader who desires God above all, you’ll become a witness that no sermon series can compete with.

This is Where it Begins

So many of the questions we ask—How do we reach young people today? How do we respond to the culture? How do we build sustainable youth ministries?—I believe the answers begin with transformed lives. Not better programs. But with leaders who walk closely with Jesus.

And so, I extend the same invitation I once received: There’s more.

More of His presence. More of His character. More of His voice.

Let’s pursue it, not just for the sake of our ministries, but for the sake of our own hearts.

Out of that overflow, God will do beautiful, unique things in our contexts. And maybe, just maybe, revival in youth ministry starts not with them, but with you.