Charles E. Zech is a professor of economics at Villanova University in Pennsylvania. He wrote the article “The Value of Volunteers as Resources for Congregations” for the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (1998).

The Muslim Alliance in North America is a national network of masjids, Muslim organizations and individuals committed to work together to address certain urgent needs within the Muslim community.  They are especially concerned with issues affecting indigenous Muslims. Contact: Siraj Wahhaj.

Andrew Careaga is the author of eMinistry: Connecting With the Net Generation (Kregel, 2001). He is executive director of marketing and communications for Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T) in Rolla, Missouri and has been a volunteer youth pastor at Salem Faith Assembly Church in Salem, Mo. Contact on Twitter @andrewcareaga.

Pastor Phil Jackson conducts hip-hop worship services at Lawndale Community Church in Chicago with the Firehouse Community Arts Center, which seeks to “uncover and develop the gifts and strengths of North Lawndale’s youth and young adult residents.”

Patricia Howery Davis is author of Beyond Nice: The Spiritual Wisdom of Adolescent Girls (Fortress Press, 2000).  

Mark Regnerus is an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin. He has done research on the influence of religion on adolescent behavior, including the influence of teens’ religiosity on delinquency, whether they stay in school and what they think about sex, for example. Regnerus is co-author, with Jeremy Uecker, of Premarital Sex in […]

Wesley O. Black, professor of student ministries at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, has written about diverse approaches to youth ministry and can talk about what works – and doesn’t work – in ministering to teenagers in churches.

Tex Sample is Professor Emeritus of Church and Society Saint Paul School of Theology. He lives in Kansas City, Mo. and is the author of Powerful Persuasion: Multimedia Witness in Christian Worship (Abingdon Press, June 2005).

Carol Lytch is President of Lancaster Theological Seminary, a graduate school located in Lancaster, Pa. affiliated with the United Church of Christ. She is author of Choosing Church: What Makes a Difference for Teens (Westminster John Knox Press, 2004).