The poet John Donne once wrote that “no man is an island.” Donne was stating a basic truth about life. . . that is that human beings tend to do things not so well when we are isolated from others. We need community to thrive. That’s certainly what the Scriptures teach from Genesis to Revelation. If we’re in youth ministry, community is vital to our flourishing both personally and in ministry. Youth workers who have run the youth ministry race effectively for a long time are always networked and working with other youth workers. While we’ve encountered countless effective youth ministry networks globally, one that stands out is the long-standing youth network in western Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh area. What makes an effective youth ministry network? How can we get ourselves networked? And what can we do together than makes us all more effective? We’ll be talking to longtime networker Travis Deans about these questions and more, on this episode of Youth Culture Matters.