A couple days ago I posted my review of the Unauthorized Dictionary of Youth Ministry, then got the chance to interview the author, Steve Case. Here’s 5 questions about one of my favorite new books:

JG: Tell us where the idea of the book came from?
Steve Case: Mostly from hanging out with other youth workers, especially at conventions. We chat and trade ideas and then its only a matter of time before you start to hear stories of stress and pain in youth ministry. Everyone has a story.  Once the stories come out then the humor starts to flow and you find yourself laughing through the problems.  I really wanted to be a catalyst for that kind of laughter.

JG: Did you try to get others to publish the title, and why do you think the Youth Cartel enthusiastically said yes?
SC: Mostly because I know Marko and Marko knows me.  The guys at the Youth Cartel understand what I meant when I said, “sometimes the Christian faith is like wearing a T-shirt two sizes too small.”  Plus Marko knows a good fart joke when he hears one.

JG: My only criticism of the book is the overuse of #hashtags. Explain.
SC: Hashtags are how people communicate the age of Twitter.  Comedicly speaking it also puts an extra beat on the end of a joke.  Get a bunch of church workers together and they can play off each other’s humor verbally.  I think the hastags copy that idea of “plussing” the joke.

JG: Give me 2 or 3 of the best ones of the cutting room floor?
SC: Honestly, I was surprised the Cartel guys let me get away with as much as they did.  I was kind of disappointed we had to lose part of the G is for Genie entry.  I made a reference to Barbara Eden’s navel that I thought was very funny but then didn’t go over with the editors.  Also the original title of one of the Graduation Books was “Is That a Cross in Your Pocket or Are You Just Happy to See Me?”

JG: Got a next project on the horizon?
SC: Oh yes.  Hopefully at the end of this year or early next year, the Cartel is publishing Dancing In The Dark which is a dramatic re-tooling of the Stations of the Cross.  Also a book called The Audacious Seven which is a book of Bible Studies about seven saints who lived and worked so outside of the box they didn’t even know the box was there.

JG: Thanks for your time!
SC: No problem. Thanks for the opportunity.

JG