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.