Dave Miers likes being in the thick of it. It’s why he chose youth ministry as his life work.

“Youth ministry is where the action is,” says the 31 year old (though he jokes he’s 23). “So many people become Christians before they turn 20. Most haven’t yet gone down irreversible paths in their lives; they’re just coming out from underneath their parents. It’s an age where people can consider life and the big questions of eternity.”

Prior to Bible College, Dave worked as a youth minister on the New South Wales Central Coast. He was also a primary school teacher.

“I was really excited by the opportunity for discipleship, to invest in young lives in a profound way and to spend my time encouraging young people to trust Jesus. There’s so many opportunities in that.”

Youth ministers are notorious for ‘crazy stunts’. But Dave says his crazy younger youth ministry days are over. “I’m Captain Risk Management now – I don’t do crazy things anymore. In fact, I’ve blotted out of mind all the crazy activities we used to do!”

But he says he’s still in the business of creating those ‘remember when’ moments that all who’ve been to a youth group in their younger days can recall, often with shaking heads and a cheeky smile.

“We’ve recreated a bootcamp scenario on a youth camp – woke everyone up at 4am and made them run laps, then sent them back to bed.

“Or a survivor-style camp where for the first couple of days we got into teams and the winning team in an activity got a really good meal while the rest of us ate rice. We did that for three main meals. No one died, we had fun. People still talk about those things.”

But for Dave, his ‘remember when’ moments always come down to seeing a young person saved for Christ.

“In Luke 15, it talks about how when one sinner repents, there’s rejoicing in the presence of the angels in heaven. We encourage Christian young people to throw a party and celebrate when lost people become found. Because there’s a party going down in heaven whenever someone becomes a Christian.”

Dave has produced a series of video talks in partnership with Bible Society for the ‘Live light in 25 words’ 2012 Bible reading campaign. It’s a natural fit for a guy who spends most of his working days trying to convince young people to spend time with God every day.

“I’m desperate to help young people see that even more important breakfast, lunch or dinner is daily time with God,” says Dave. “I’ve meet lots of young guys who know more Simpson’s quotes than Bible ones. But it’s Jesus’ words we should be underlining, chewing and meditating on.”

Dave is conscious that it’s easy to fall into a guilt culture when advocating the importance of Bible reading. “You don’t become acceptable to God because you read your Bible.” But, he says helping build a Bible reading habit and cultivating a delight in reading the Scriptures and sitting under God’s word and tempering that message with grace, is not only possible, but part of a spiritual battle.

“We create habits in other areas of our lives no problem – like brushing our teeth. But there’s something spiritual about reading the Word and the evil one will do anything to distract us from reading it.”

Dave’s own Bible reading habit benefitted from structure as a younger Christian – reading the Bible at the same time every day. Now as a preacher, Dave says that while he spends a lot of time in the Bible, he’s had to re-jig his mindset to make sure that he’s not just reading to prepare a talk, but spending time in the Bible to be with God

“I don’t stress too much now about when or where I read my Bible, or doing it at the same time everyday. But that flexibility has only come through years and years of being strict with myself to read the Bible at a particular time, so I get the habit right.”

Dave says the most important thing for teenagers to grasp is just how good the good news is about Jesus, the Christ, the King.

“In order to do that, they need to understand how bad the bad news is. We don’t often talk about sin and judgement, but the Bible does and they need to have an accurate view of who they are – fallen short of God’s glory. Then, they’ll see how amazing God’s love is, that he would send Jesus for us.

“Young people need to understand the bad news before they can truly comprehend how good the good news is. I want to be honest in the Bible’s assessment and bold in sharing how good Jesus is.”

You can watch Dave in the Jesus’ Epic Story videos on 25words.biblesociety.org.au/me.