J. Warner Wallace's youth ministry lesson: teaching content vs. training for engagement — and the failure of candles-and-experience ministry

When Wallace first became a youth pastor, he used candles, experiences, creative elements. By Thanksgiving of his first year, every single one of his students had walked away from their faith in college. The solution was not to eliminate all experience but to shift the model from teaching (delivering content) to training (preparing for an experience or challenge ahead). An athlete trains for a specific match; the training is purpose-driven. Wallace started taking students to Berkeley to engage skeptics and atheists, and to Salt Lake City to knock on doors and talk with Mormons at BYU.