I've been a youth worker for 30 years, and one of the most rewarding parts of the call has been working with hurting teenagers. It's also been one of the hardest parts. In the past, I've felt at a loss about what to say to help teenagers through some of their more serious problems. I know it's easier and less messy to believe that YOUR students have it all together and aren't dealing with hurts and pains (because they smile every time you see them), but the reality is that many of them are hurting…really hurting.

Take a look at any youth group, regardless of size, and I'd bet there are teenagers struggling with drugs, alcohol, depression, suicidal thoughts, parental divorce, cutting, pornography, eating disorders, and other issues... and those are just the pastors' kids. Seriously, kids are hurting, and if you've got some who have escaped pain, their hurt is right around the corner. As much as you love them and passionately teach them from the Bible, if you don't talk about these significant, real-life issues, your students probably won't talk about them to you. At the same time, if you take a risk and create an environment where it's safe to talk about pain, depression, hurts, and anxieties, etc., it won't take long for your students to honestly pour out their hearts.

One of the many things I love about the film To Save A Life and its Youth Curriculum is that they portray in a very real (and non-cheesy) way the different pressures teenagers face. This opens the door for students to engage with trusted leaders on where they see themselves in the film. I also love that To Save A Life doesn't try to provide easy answers to the "why" of pain. There simply aren't easy answers. Students need something more than a trite, cliché "Jesus is the answer"; they already know or even believe that big-picture truth. What they need is someone who will listen to them and comfort them in the midst of pain—no matter what.

Another exciting aspect of the curriculum series is that it takes the next step beyond identifying hurts in students' lives and actually inspires them to be like Jesus to the hurting and lonely in their world... It continues to amaze me that God uses our past hurts and pains to help reach out to meet the needs of people with similar struggles. I think that's one of the most attractive things about Jesus. He is able to help us through our hurts because He experienced hurt himself. My prayer is that this powerful movie and curriculum will inspire your students to start seeing their school, friends, and home through Jesus' eyes, and I pray that transforming their view of others will change lives forever.

—Doug Fields, founder of Simply Youth Ministry and author of Purpose Driven Youth Ministry

Adapted from the Foreword to To Save A Life Leader's Guide. Copyright © 2009 by Outreach Publishing. Used by permission of Outreach Publishing.