I try to begin each day by reading from the Scriptures or from another source that I know will direct me to reflect and meditate throughout the day. I try to keep the reading to a verse or a paragraph simply because I find it a bit more productive. Otherwise, I am all over the map trying to think on the reading. This morning I read from New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton. I couldn’t keep it just to one paragraph — I found his words too consuming.

Here is a bit of it…

“We read the Gospels not merely to get a picture or an idea of Christ but to enter in and pass through the words of revelation to establish, by faith, a vital contact with the Christ Who dwells in our souls as God.

The problem of forming Christ in us is not to be solved merely by our own efforts. It is not a matter of studying the Gospels and then working to put our ideas into practice, although we should try and do that too, but always under the guidance of grace, in complete subjection to the Holy Spirit.

For if we depend on our own ideas, our own judgments and our own efforts to reproduce the life of Christ, we will only act out some kind of pious charade which will ultimately scare everybody we meet because it will be so stiff and artificial and so dead.

It is the Spirit of God that must teach us Who is Christ and form Christ in us and transform us into other Christs. After all, transformation into Christ is not just an individual affair: there is only one Christ, not many. He is not divided. And for me to become Christ is to enter into the Life of the Whole Christ, the Mystical Body made up of the Head and the members, Christ and all who are incorporated in Him by His Spirit.”

Merton, Thomas. New Seeds of Contemplation (page 159-160)

I spent the weekend outside of the greater Baltimore/DC area at Summit Lake Camp speaking to a few hundred high school students and youth workers. The camp was in the Catoctin Mountains. Beautiful place… more aptly named Summit Pond Camp though.

A team of youth workers from the NorthStar Church Network put the retreat together. I was thrilled to be a part of the event. The team did a fantastic job leading the retreat and they were great hosts. I very much appreciated the chance to share some thoughts and engage in some conversations on what it means to have been created in the image of God.

I especially enjoyed getting to spend some time with Josh Hayden (pictured below). Josh is a very sharp, good thinking, emerging youth worker who is passionate about helping students and youth workers engage in a new kind of youth ministry. You can read some of Josh’s thoughts on his blog here: http://momentsofrecognition.blogspot.com/

While I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Summit Lake, I am still bummed I missed the Postmodern Youth Ministry Conference (Tony Jones and others) in Kansas City. I had also been invited to present there but had committed to the NorthStar Network first. It is all good. My time at Summit with Josh, Shea, Stephen, Andy, Chris, Darren and others was totally worth it. I was impressed with this teams ability to work together, blending various theological traditions, to inspire students and adult volunteers to go deeper with God.

In spirit of tonights game — go Bears!

Would love for you to pray for/with us as we walk this new path.

Lord God, we believe that you have initiated a new path for us to take—one that fills us with not only expectation and wonder but also uncertainty and questions. Lead us by your sure hand and steadfast love. May all that we do in this endeavor bring glory to our Lord Jesus Christ, who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The previous post was a long time coming. I have been dying to tell the youth ministry world about the merger between Sonlife and YouthFront. I know this merger will mean a lot to some of you. For some, this news won’t even be a blip on their radar. Many others will be somewhere in between those two points. For me, however, this is HUGE news to share.

The merger is a culmination of nearly 3 years of working with a terrific board and staff to reculture Sonlife. From the beginning of the reculturing process, Michael Novelli and I (and a host of others — Matt, Doug, Seth, Mark, Kelly) set out to reinvent Sonlife into a unique ministry that others would be compelled to come alongside of.

I am not sure how we did on the unique bit, but the latter has been accomplished. It hasn’t been without heaps of anxiety, times of fear, moments of doubt and uncertainty and a ton of great times too. Nevertheless, the day has arrived. We are now working harmoniously (well, not quite yet but we’ll get there) with Mike King and YouthFront to help teens grow in thier relationship with Jesus. I couldn’t be more excited.

Mike and I first began dreaming about this possibility nearly two years ago. Our conversations began at one of the National Youth Worker Conventions. As we shared our personal and organizational dreams, hopes, concerns, goals, etc. with one another we were overwhelmed with the missional congruency. At one point along the way Mike said, “We should just do this thing together.” So, here we are…

The last few months I have worked closely with Mike to make this merger a reality. Working alongside of Mike has been a joy. I am looking forward to working and learning daily alongside such a great person, thinker, dreamer, strategist, teacher, writer and friend.

I am so excited to share with you the following news…!

Press Release

Thursday, September 20, 2007—For Immediate Release

Sonlife Ministries Merging with YouthFront

Sonlife Ministries, Inc. has merged with YouthFront, Inc. effective September 1, 2007 in order to “maximize ministry effectiveness” of the two organizations. Formerly a Chicago-based ministry, Sonlife will relocate to Kansas City.

For more than six decades, YouthFront has brought young people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through camps, campus ministries, mission trips, creative programming, and leadership development. For nearly three decades, Sonlife has provided Christ-centered training for students and adult leaders through training seminars, conferences, and creative resources.

YouthFront President Mike King and Sonlife President Chris Folmsbee share a conviction that “the youth ministry community is pregnant with expectation and desire for fresh and innovative approaches to youth ministry that are both creative and also theologically and ecclesiologically sound,” says King. Folmsbee adds, “We see youth ministry paradigms shifting away from an overemphasis on programmatic/event-oriented and information-focused styles toward a more robust and holistic understanding of Christian formation. The need is greater than ever to guide young people in discovering how to live as Christ in all areas of their lives.”

In 1943, YouthFront began its ministry as Kansas City Youth for Christ, and it has been written about extensively in youth ministry church history books as a catalyst for the development of youth ministry in North America. By the late 1980s, most churches had committed to having an active and intentional youth ministry. So in a revolutionary move for parachurch youth ministry organizations, YouthFront ceased all programming that conflicted with local church youth ministry and began to re-imagine a role that fully cooperated with churches in the development of Christian disciples.

YouthFront shall continue its tradition of developing innovative youth ministry around the world through its commitment to the development of youth ministry philosophy, theology, and practice. Mike King states, “Our mission to bring young people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ is best accomplished by modeling a passionate life and journey with Jesus; engaging in missional evangelism and discipleship. We believe that in order to facilitate transformational spiritual formation of adolescents, we must teach Christian practices and creatively develop environments where students encounter the presence of God. We are devoted to working strategically with those who are passionately committed to the Christian formation of young people—especially youth pastors, volunteer youth leaders, parents, churches, and denominations. These strategic partnerships are developed through deep relationships, training, content development, providing resources, youth ministry research, and quality programming.”

Sonlife will continue to move forward as a church-assisting organization serving youth workers by facilitating networks; developing and providing training; offering coaching, consultation, and spiritual direction; and creating resources and programs for youth workers and students. Chris Folmsbee believes Sonlife’s mission will be enhanced by merging with YouthFront, resulting in “a passionate and catalytic cooperation with God’s Kingdom.” As a ministry of YouthFront, Sonlife will gain access to more than 5,000 students who are deeply connected to discipleship and leadership development programs facilitated by YouthFront, along with direct youth ministry involvement with an additional 25,000 young people through camp and school-based ministries. Out of this environment, Sonlife’s strategy and effectiveness will be enhanced and strengthened.

Through the new YouthFront organization, all present Sonlife training and development programs for youth workers will continue, including Enroute, Shaping a Missional Community, Shepherding in a Culture of Change, Refresh, and Leadership of the Heart. All training experiences for students will continue, as well, including Merge, Awake and Reveal. “With YouthFront’s hands-on youth ministry environment, coupled with Sonlife’s expertise and training tools, we sit on the precipice of amazing opportunities to train an emerging generation of youth workers,” declares YouthFront COO Topher Philgreen.

“This merger seems natural because of the alignment we have, not just between Chris Folmsbee and me, but also between the organizations that we have led,” says Mike King. YouthFront sees Sonlife’s innovation of a new wave of youth worker participation in training and formational experiences. Sonlife sees YouthFront as innovating new ways to do youth ministry and spiritual formation of adolescents. Consequently, merging together will allow each organization to realize greater ministry impact. Folmsbee confidently states, “I am expectant that God is going to do amazing things through our coming together. I believe we will look back a few years from now to identify many things God has done to strengthen the church through the development of youth workers and students.”

Objectives for this merger:

• To be more effective as a national youth ministry training organization, serving a wide variety of youth workers, churches, denominations, and organizations.
• To provide quality youth ministry resources to thousands of youth workers and churches throughout North America.
• To create and facilitate transformational Christian formation experiences for students and youth workers.
• To create an environment where youth ministry ideas, philosophy, concepts, theology, and practices emerge.
• Initiate youth ministry that will benefit hundreds of thousands of young people directly and indirectly; initiating deep Christian formation that leads to a life-long journey with Jesus Christ.
• Provide leadership development for the next generation of youth ministers and ministry practices.
• To act as a collective agency that empowers others toward deep and widespread regional youth ministry impact.

Management Infrastructure:

Mike King will continue as President/CEO of YouthFront. Chris Folmsbee will serve as CMO (Chief Ministry Officer) of YouthFront and President of the Sonlife division. Folmsbee will serve on the Executive Leadership Team of YouthFront, which makes all major decisions regarding mission, personnel, finances, and ministry priorities. Topher Philgreen will continue as COO of YouthFront. Matt Wilks, Director of Youth Worker Initiatives for Sonlife, will serve as Youthfront’s Director of Youth Worker Training and Initiatives. He will continue to build strategic relationships throughout North America and will lead a team of people to deliver quality and effective training to youth workers. Mike Novelli will serve as Director of Merge and will also focus on developing content and resources. Other support staff (i.e., administrative help, marketing, etc.) will be added to the staff of YouthFront.

YouthFront board member Dr. Dean Blevins states, “I believe that the next significant expression of youth ministry will be born out of a committed community of Christ’s followers who engage deeply in spiritual practices and formation, and model a new way of life and missional living.”

More than anything, we ask for prayer that this new venture will honor God, bring youth into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, and fulfill our calling to cooperate with God’s Kingdom agenda. For questions regarding this merger or to seek more information about the ministry of YouthFront and Sonlife, please contact Andy Garlich at 800-770-4769 or AGarlich@YouthFront.com.

Some of you know that Sonlife and YouthFront have been working collaboratively on some new projects (content, events, youth worker training, etc.) Anyway, I have been spending a lot of time in the YouthFront offices lately. One of the things I enjoy most about working amidst the YouthFront community is the daily rhythm of midday prayer.

Here is one of the prayers we have been praying together…