Somewhere along the line, an expectation has crept into church youth groups that once you begin to follow Jesus, you just magically turn into a completely mature Christian. Well, that's just not true!

In Live Large. Be Different. Shine Bright., Doug Fields and Joshua Griffin share about some important character qualities that will help teenagers live large, be different, and shine bright. A lot of what Doug and Joshua write about doesn't seem to get much sermon time, but these topics are definitely worthy of consideration and experimentationÑtopics like competition, laughter, cliques, encouragement and several others will help teenagers in the process of being a more vibrant follower of Jesus.

These two youth ministry veterans definitely have a deep love for teenagers and a passion to help them become more attractive as they discover what it means to follow Jesus.


Doug Fields has been a pastor to teenagers and a ministry leader for over 30 years. He's the author of more than 50 books, including the award-winning Purpose-Driven Youth Ministry. Beyond youth ministry, Doug's life is filled with great times with his wife Cathy and his own three amazing teenagers, Torie, Cody, and Cassie.

Joshua Griffin is the high school pastor at Saddleback Church. He blogs more than anyone in the world (shameless plug: morethandodgeball.com) and is a member of the Simply Youth Ministry podcast quartet (along with Doug). As odd as it sounds, he also owns theforce.net (a Star Wars site) and also occasionally dresses up like Chewbacca. Joshua loves to bake Star Wars-themed treats with his wife Angela and their four children.