Alan J. Kobs has served in the youth ministry field for more than forty-seven years and brings a wealth of experience to enhance any youth ministry program in the local church setting. Mr. Kobs has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toledo; a Master of Arts degree from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He has attended numerous workshops and conferences on youth leadership. He also has developed several youth leadership conferences during his career. He currently lives in Dayton, Ohio.
Testimonial
Anyone who knows me knows how much credit I give to my high school youth group at First Presbyterian Church Greeneville, TN for helping me to develop into the kind of person who cares about others, is willing to put in the work, accepts accountability for my mistakes without accepting the devil’s lies about my heart, and most importantly, someone who seeks Christ’s friendship in my life daily.
At the helm of that program was Mr. Alan Kobs. His leadership along with the support of so many other people who are FAR too numerous to name here, helped to mold a group of grungy high school kids in the late 90’s and early 2000’s into people who I am incredibly proud to still know to this day.
Mr. Kobs taught us about ourselves, the world around us, and the role I still believe the Lord wants us to have while we are here on Earth. He led with grace, an ever-listening ear, and the uncompromised love and unwavering acceptance of each one of us kids, “warts and all!”
He poured the teachings of the Gospel into our hearts and our everyday lives and showed us all how to spread it in the most practical ways. He reminded us back then, and continues to remind us still weekly through his online ministry, how truly loved we all are by the Lord who made us, and how we are capable of doing big things for Christ if we are only willing to follow the teachings found in the Bible and step out on faith when we feel unqualified.
God can use all of us, if we are only willing to answer His call to action.
In a world where it is increasingly harder and harder to find Christians who represent the Jesus who fed the hungry, welcomed the stranger, healed the sick, and who was willing to befriend even those in the darkest corners of society, I can say that the foundation of faith that Mr. Kobs laid and the teaching he did continues to serve as a beacon of Christ’s bright and ever-present light that still shines in this world.
If you are part of a church that would like to see those kinds of results, this book is a great place to start. Reading it, I was blown away by how much of that program didn’t just “fall into place,” as I always thought, but were actually well-planned and thoroughly prayed-over steps that Mr. Kobs and others took to provide us with experiences and lessons that we still lean on today. His insight, ideas, and honesty about how to raise teens with hearts for Christ can now be studied using his new book. I will be praying that this new branch of his life’s ministry will spark fires in the hearts of young people for years to come!
The book can be purchased using his website linked below, and can also be found on Amazon.
I pray you are as blessed by this chapter of Mr. Kob’s ministry as I have been blessed by him year after year.
Anna’s mother responded:
Alan’s wisdom, insight, and unique perspective not only enriched the youth in that ministry, it offered us parents subtle reassurance that our teenagers were good kids who were growing into compassionate adults. Each child brought an individual gift to the ministry, and Alan not only directed all those different energies into the collective work, but he also celebrated every one of you.