Overview
The best way to teach young people that they are valuable and meaningful is to offer them uninterrupted attention. By that simple yet powerful act, we are showing young people that it isn't what they can do for us that matters. What matters is their inalienable right to unconditional love.
This is the deepest longing of our young people today, consistent, transparent relationship—not a new program or curriculum to tell them what to do or what they should value, but a caring, compassionate adult who will walk the path to wholeness with them.
In The Deepest Longing of Young People, Jerry Goebel reminds us that the greatest statement we make to young people is to spend time with them—to come to them especially when they have been most inconsistent and, at that time, be least judgmental.
Every parent and everyone who works with youth should read this book.
Product Details
Copyright: Jan. 1, 2006
Format: Paperback
Size: 6 x 9
Length: 136 pages
Item number: 3823
ISBN: 978-0-88489-935-8
ISBN-10: 0-88489-935-7
Customer Reviews
By Peter L. Benson, PhD, president and CEO, The Search Institute
With this book, Jerry Goebel hits the mark. With a profound understanding of young people and their potential, he provides wise and compelling insight about how lives become transformed. I admire his faith in the goodness of young people and his counsel on how adults both in and outside the Church can help this goodness trump hardship and our "entertain me" culture. I highly recommend this important book.
By Dr. Michael Carotta, author of Sometimes We Dance, Sometimes We Wrestle
Here is a deeply evangelical presentation of the spiritual hungers of at-risk youth and lessons learned from years of experience and commitment.
By Fr. Richard Rohr, OFM, Center for Action and Contemplation, Albuquerque, New Mexico
It is seldom that you find a book that is simultaneously profound and practical. Here it is! Jerry Goebel is offering real wisdom and guidance for those of us who care about the next generations.
By Katherine Ketcham, coauthor of Teens Under the Influence
I read this book with something approaching awe. It is so full of compassion for young people, so eminently practical, and written with such heartfelt passion that you cannot help yourself from saying: There is truth here.
Jerry Goebel has been working with young people in gangs, juvenile detention centers, and prisons for more than 30 years, and his philosophy can be summed up in just a few words: Listen thoroughly and speak only when you know the right questions to ask. This same philosophy of life has been stated by spiritual teachers in different ways throughout the ages, and Jerry's book is a potent reminder of the need to listen with an open heart and mind.
Every parent and everyone who works with youth should read this book.
Editorial Reviews
Catholic Library World, March, 2007
Richly infused with passages from the Bible, this book serves as a guide for those who would mentor the young. Its emphasis on God-given joy gives inspiration and encouragement. A very good purchase for those who work with young people.
Youth Ministry: In Touch, Fall, 2006
I can tell you that this book is creating a lot of buzz in the youth ministry community. Jerry is a pioneer—long before there was Steve Angrisano, there was Jerry Goebel. Indeed, the man knows young people and knows youth ministry.
