Navigating Stress in College and Beyond

Shelby Abbott helps students navigate

early adulthood with gospel solutions

uniquely applied to everyday struggles

Our modern age—saturated with technology, constant cynicism, streamlined digital communication, heavy negativity, relationship status posts, and instant information access—has shaped the way many young people deal with the pressure points of life. With the unique set of pressures students experience in their transition to college, more young adults are struggling with purpose, relationships, failure, community, and isolation than ever before. Author and college ministry leader Shelby Abbott believes that while technology isn’t itself to blame, it forces real issues to surface in the lives of young men and women.

Abbott’s new release, Pressure Points: A Guide to Navigating Student Stress (New Growth Press, April 22, 2019) aims to confront many of these struggles, big or small, in light of the gospel. With twenty years of experience in college ministry, including performing stand-up comedy for college audiences, Abbott meets readers where they are in a memorable, poignant, and humorous (when appropriate) way—all while unpacking biblical solutions to life’s pressures.

“The topics I’m tackling resonate with today’s college students. There hasn’t been much of a voice shepherding them with the modern variables added to their struggles,” Abbott explains. In doing so, he helps students understand the practical applications of the gospel in the big and small of everyday struggles. “When you begin to unpack the gospel, you discover very quickly that it is a bottomless pit of grace. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the answer to all of our struggles, but it can be difficult to see that when you are in the midst of feeling life’s pressures.”

Abbott doesn’t shy away from difficult topics that are increasingly relevant to college and some high school students such as navigating failure, God’s will, drinking, sex, pornography, finding authentic community, and the fear of missing out (FOMO). Pressure Points divides the conversations into three sections:

• The Pressure of Finding Purpose: including chapters examining the questions “Does God Even Like Me?”, “How Do I Decide my Life’s Direction?” and others.
• The Pressure of Relationships: covering relationships with friends, family, dating, community and even enemies.
• The Pressure of Difficulty: addressing the stressors of spiritual warfare and finding Jesus in the Hard Times.

Abbott’s hope for Pressure Points is to gently guide young men and women toward the good news they read about in the pages of Scripture. “The gospel helps us to understand and know our place in life and hopefully see how relevant it is to any and every one, regardless of what the culture may look like today. What I want young people to see is that the false gods they run to will ultimately fail them because the void can only be filled by the true God in a relationship with Christ.”

Shelby Abbott is an author, campus minister, and conference speaker on staff with the ministry of Cru. His passion for university students has led him to speak at college campuses all over the United States.

Abbott is the author of Jacked and I Am a Tool (To Help with Your Dating Life). His latest release is Pressure Points: A Guide to Navigating Student Stress. He and his wife, Rachael, have two daughters and live in Downingtown, Pennsylvania.

Readers can find Abbott online at www.shelbyabbott.com, on Facebook (shelby.abbott.98), Twitter (@shelbyabbott) and Instagram (@shelbyabbott).

New Growth Press publishes gospel-centered Christian books, small group, and kids’ Bible resources for discipleship, biblical counseling, and missional ministry. For more information about Pressure Points: A Guide to Navigating Student Stress and other resources from New Growth Press, visit www.newgrowthpress.com.

To request a review copy of Pressure Points, schedule an interview with Shelby Abbott, or for more information, please contact Audra Jennings, audra@newgrowthpress.com.

Pressure Points: A Guide to Navigating Student Stress

by Shelby Abbott

April 22, 2019 / Retail Price: $15.99

Print ISBN 978-1-948130-34-9

Religion / Christian Life / Family