Jonathan McKee – The Short Version

Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile DevicesIf I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller – The Guy’s Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He has over 20 years youth ministry experience and speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers and parents on TheSource4Parents.com. Jonathan and his wife Lori live in Northern California.

Jonathan Speaking

See a recent video snippet of Jonathan speaking at a Summit Ministries simulcast, “Helping Teens with Their Screens"

Or see Jonathan’s recent Focus on the Family broadcast, “Cultivating Wise Tech Habits in Your Teen"

   

Some of Jonathan’s “Parenting Help" Articles

Jonathan McKee – The Long Version

A lot of people ask how Jonathan’s ministry equipping parents came into existence. The answer is…by accident.

In 1999, a youth worker named Jonathan McKee, father of three, started a Web site called JonathansResources.com. This site was a free resource for youth workers providing curriculum, activities, and ideas, as well as articles about youth culture, teenage attitudes, and trends.

Jonathan started this site because, at the time, he found very few free youth ministry resources on the Internet. Sure, a lot of sites offered a couple of freebies and an abundance of items for sale, but no sites were dedicated to providing truly free resources with no strings attached. So Jonathan dumped the contents of his youth ministry file cabinet-all the messages, activities, and resources he’d developed over the years-into JonathansResources.com. The front page had a simple message: “Everyone in youth ministry can use some free resources-here’s a bunch!"

And then something happened.

Youth workers and parents from all over the world began reading Jonathan’s articles and using his free resources. Before long Jonathan had tens of thousands of readers every time he released a new resource.

In the fall of 2001 Jonathan and his wife Lori faced a decision. Continue working with the hundreds of kids in their ministry in Sacramento, all while posting resources after hours…or go full-time helping youth workers across the globe. After praying about the decision and talking with several friends who were supporters of his existing local ministry, they decided to go full-time equipping youth workers and parents. In July of 2002, Jonathan gathered a board of directors and started the nonprofit organization, The Source for Youth Ministry (www.TheSource4YM.com on the Web). Before long they were averaging more than 100,000 unique visitors each month.

In the years to follow, Jonathan became devoted full time to speaking, training, and providing free resources for youth workers, using his speaking and training income to help fund the ministry. In those years Jonathan also had his first ten books published, which you can find on his Amazon Author Page.

As The Source for Youth Ministry grew and developed, another interesting development occurred-the site was attracting more and more parents. Since www.TheSource4YM.com offered free discussion guides based on movies and music, free movie reviews, free weekly articles about youth culture, media, and research about teenage attitudes and trends, youth workers began sharing the site’s contents-especially Youth Culture Window articles -with parents. Then parents began subscribing to Jonathan’s Blog . Before long, Jonathan found himself doing as many parent seminars as youth ministry training workshops and began writing parenting books as well.

That’s when Jonathan decided to expand. The Source for Youth Ministry purchased www.TheSource4Parents.com and began developing a free resource web site specifically for parents. The new parenting site offers extremely relevant PARENTING HELP articles, YOUTH CULTURE WINDOW articles, and even MUSIC DISCUSSIONS, which each include scripture and three questions you can ask your kids in the car about current music.

At the same time some of Jonathan’s books to teenagers began gaining popularity on Amazon. In Christmas of both 2017 and 2018 Jonathan’s book The Guy’s Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket was not only No. 1 in its three categories, it also ranked in the top 500 Amazon books. In 2019 Jonathan wrote a follow up book to teen guys, The Guy’s Guide to Four Battles Every Young Man Must Face. You can find all of these books on Amazon.

Jonathan’s Wife and Kids
Jonathan writes about his family:

My wife Lori and I were married in February of 1991. Each year since has grown better and better. We met in the college group of the church we were attending at the time. After our first date we spent 2 solid days together. On the third day I told her that I was going to marry her

She broke up with me!

Thank God she eventually took me back. We spent every moment together, running together, doing ministry together; we quickly grew to become best friends. That’s one of the things I like best about Lori …she’s not just the beautiful woman I married, she’s my buddy!

Our marriage is a bond between three of us: me, Lori and God. We depend on Him daily. We share our struggles with each other and bring them to God. We both depend on Him to help us through the rough times. As much as we love each other, I don’t know how we could do it without Him.

God gave us three wonderful kids: Alec, Alyssa and Ashley, who are all three in college/out on their own. You can hear plenty more about us in my blog and in my book, If I Had a Parenting Do Over.

OUR BELIEFS

THE BIBLE
We accept literally the Holy Bible, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men, and the divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.

GOD
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

JESUS CHRIST
We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and He died as a sacrifice for our sins. He was buried, arose bodily and ascended into Heaven where He is now our Priest and Advocate.

HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Christ, and during this age to convict men, regenerate the believing sinner, indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.

HUMANITY
We believe that man was created in the image of God but sinned and is therefore lost, and only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.

SALVATION
We believe that the blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God.

THE CHURCH
We believe that the true Church is composed of all such persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the Body of Christ of which He is the Head. We believe that only those who are thus members of the true and invisible Church shall be eligible for membership in the local church.

LAST THINGS
We believe in the personal and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that this “Blessed Hope” has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer.

Jonathan McKee – The Short Version

Jonathan McKee is the author of over twenty books including The Teen’s Guide to Social Media & Mobile DevicesIf I Had a Parenting Do Over; and the Amazon Best Seller – The Guy’s Guide to God, Girls and the Phone in Your Pocket. He has over 20 years youth ministry experience and speaks to parents and leaders worldwide, all while providing free resources for youth workers and parents on TheSource4Parents.com. Jonathan and his wife Lori live in Northern California.
Jonathan McKee – The Long Version

A lot of people ask how Jonathan’s ministry equipping parents came into existence. The answer is…by accident.

In 1999, a youth worker named Jonathan McKee, father of three, started a Web site called JonathansResources.com. This site was a free resource for youth workers providing curriculum, activities, and ideas, as well as articles about youth culture, teenage attitudes, and trends.

Jonathan started this site because, at the time, he found very few free youth ministry resources on the Internet. Sure, a lot of sites offered a couple of freebies and an abundance of items for sale, but no sites were dedicated to providing truly free resources with no strings attached. So Jonathan dumped the contents of his youth ministry file cabinet-all the messages, activities, and resources he’d developed over the years-into JonathansResources.com. The front page had a simple message: “Everyone in youth ministry can use some free resources-here’s a bunch!"

And then something happened.

Youth workers and parents from all over the world began reading Jonathan’s articles and using his free resources. Before long Jonathan had tens of thousands of readers every time he released a new resource.

In the fall of 2001 Jonathan and his wife Lori faced a decision. Continue working with the hundreds of kids in their ministry in Sacramento, all while posting resources after hours…or go full-time helping youth workers across the globe. After praying about the decision and talking with several friends who were supporters of his existing local ministry, they decided to go full-time equipping youth workers and parents. In July of 2002, Jonathan gathered a board of directors and started the nonprofit organization, The Source for Youth Ministry (www.TheSource4YM.com on the Web). Before long they were averaging more than 100,000 unique visitors each month.

In the years to follow, Jonathan became devoted full time to speaking, training, and providing free resources for youth workers, using his speaking and training income to help fund the ministry. In those years Jonathan also had ten books published, including his parenting book, Candid Confessions of an Imperfect Parent, the very popular book about mentoring teenagers, Connect: Real Relationships in a World of Isolation, and two award-winning titles, Do They Run When They See You Coming? and Getting Students to Show Up.

As The Source for Youth Ministry grew and developed, another interesting development occurred-the site was attracting more and more parents. Since www.TheSource4YM.com offered free discussion guides based on movies and music, free movie reviews, free weekly articles about youth culture, media, and research about teenage attitudes and trends, youth workers began sharing the site’s contents-especially Youth Culture Window articles -with parents. Then parents began subscribing to Jonathan’s Blog . Before long, Jonathan found himself doing as many parent seminars as youth ministry training workshops

That’s when Jonathan decided to expand. The Source for Youth Ministry purchasedwww.TheSource4Parents.com and began developing a free resource web site specifically for parents. This site would mirror www.TheSource4YM.com in some areas (movie reviews, Youth Culture Window articles, Jonathan’s Blog) but also provide some resources unique to parents. Jonathan enlisted the help of Christian authors such as Jim Burns , Al Menconi and Wayne Rice to bring articles with one focus-“Parenting Help." In addition, Jonathan’s team of writers began revamping some of the popular MOVIE CLIP DISCUSSIONS and MUSIC DISCUSSIONS from www.TheSource4YM.com, customizing them for parents to use with their teens and tweens. The new parenting site also offers a question-and-answer page called ASK THE SOURCE where real parents provide real answers to real questions.

www.TheSource4Parents.com is now building momentum, helping one parent at a time with a regular dose of helpful parenting videos on their YouTube page, and a Facebook page where parents can interact.

We can’t wait to see what God has for this ministry next!

Jonathan’s Wife and Kids
My wife Lori and I were married in February of 1991. Each year since has grown better and better. We met in the college group of the church we were attending at the time. After our first date we spent 2 solid days together. On the third day I told her that I was going to marry her

She broke up with me!

Thank God she eventually took me back. We spent every moment together, running together, doing ministry together; we quickly grew to become best friends. That’s one of the things I like best about Lori …she’s not just the beautiful woman I married, she’s my buddy!

Our marriage is a bond between three of us: me, Lori and God. We depend on Him daily. We share our struggles with each other and bring them to God. We both depend on Him to help us through the rough times. As much as we love each other, I don’t know how we could do it without Him.

God gave us three wonderful kids: Alec, Alyssa and Ashley, who are all three in college/out on their own. You can hear plenty more about us in my blog and in my book, If I Had a Parenting Do Over.

OUR BELIEFS

THE BIBLE
We accept literally the Holy Bible, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men, and the divine and final authority for all Christian faith and life.

GOD
We believe in one God, Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

JESUS CHRIST
We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary and He died as a sacrifice for our sins. He was buried, arose bodily and ascended into Heaven where He is now our Priest and Advocate.

HOLY SPIRIT
We believe that the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Christ, and during this age to convict men, regenerate the believing sinner, indwell, guide, instruct, and empower the believer for godly living and service.

HUMANITY
We believe that man was created in the image of God but sinned and is therefore lost, and only through regeneration by the Holy Spirit can salvation and spiritual life be obtained.

SALVATION
We believe that the blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only ground for justification and salvation for all who believe, and only such as receive Jesus Christ are born of the Holy Spirit, and thus become children of God.

THE CHURCH
We believe that the true Church is composed of all such persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the Body of Christ of which He is the Head. We believe that only those who are thus members of the true and invisible Church shall be eligible for membership in the local church.

LAST THINGS
We believe in the personal and imminent coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that this “Blessed Hope” has a vital bearing on the personal life and service of the believer.