OUR DEAR YOUNG MEN AND YOUNG WOMEN, we have great confidence in you. You are beloved sons and daughters of God and He is mindful of you. You have come to earth at a time of great opportunities and also of great challenges. The standards in this booklet will help you with the important choices you are making now and will yet make in the future. We promise that as you keep the covenants you have made and these standards, you will be blessed with the companionship of the Holy Ghost, your faith and testimony will grow stronger, and you will enjoy increasing happiness.

Think about sin and the cross—the way that salvation changes who we are and how God sees us. It’s a central part of our faith, and yet it’s one of the most confusing and difficult things to teach. Especially to a room full of teenagers. In Taking the Cross to Youth Ministry, Andrew Root invites you along on a journey with Nadia—a fictional youth worker who is wrestling with how to present the cross to her own students in a meaningful way. Using Nadia’s narrative, along with his own insights, Root helps you reimagine how the cross, sin, and salvation can be taught to students in a way that leads them to embrace a lifestyle that chases after Jesus, rather than creating teenagers who just try to “be good.”

Its not whether you get knocked down, its whether you get up. Vince Lombardi Long ago, we recognized that one way to establish a human pecking order would be to compete in trials of strength and skill without weapons. That way we could get a second opportunity to compete with our opponents, ...a rematch! As we evolved, we began to train athletes, often choosing younger and more agile competitors for contests. Humankind has never lost the desire to compete for supremacy, and athletics remains a relatively safe activity in which we compete for bragging rights. While winning is always gratifying, it is not the only satisfactory outcome. Past great athletes and sages have remarked on many precious life lessons gleaned from losses: Failure happens all the time. It happens every day in practice. What makes you better is how you react to it. Mia Hamm The Celebrity Experts(r) in this book explore the subject of Fitness through conditioning the body for optimal results in young athletes. They look at the factors of mindset, nutrition and exercise - all of which play a part - from all angles and for all ages. They discuss the benefits of training, techniques, and the indelible influence of coaches on young minds. Such influence often stays with individuals for a lifetime. Whether you have a toddler or a teen, these Celebrity Experts (r) have found success in teaching and coaching all age groups life-lessons, skills and mindset. Whether their students grow into professional athletes or responsible citizens, appropriate coaching and teaching methods are key to helping them mature into healthy, competitive individuals on and off the field. Here is an opportunity for coaches and parents to read and adopt successful, tested and proven ideas in their daily roles................ You are never really playing an opponent. You are playing yourself, your own highest standards, and when you reach your limits, that is real joy Arthur