The Altar is a contemplative Christian retreat designed for middle school, high school, and college aged students.

This year, Youthfront is partnering with Clapham Sect: Phase II, a community of student abolitionists. We anticipate God drawing us closer to Himself and into a lifelong journey of pursuing His justice.

We will join together as one body to seek after God and work towards the restoration of our broken world through learning about modern day slavery and engaging in the fight to end oppression.

For more about The Altar contact Jamie Roach at jroach@youthfront.com.

Be encouraged and challenged. Leave equipped for your journey with students!

Saturday, August 23, 2008
Youthfront Auditorium
4715 Rainbow Blvd., Shawnee Mission, KS 66205
8:30am-2:00pm

Break out sessions to include (but not limited to):

• Counseling Teens
• Re-culturing Evangelism
• Abiding for yourself and your ministry
• Middle School 101
• Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry
• Doing Justice
• Re-culturing Student Leadership

Schedule:
8:30am Registration
9:00-10:00 General Session
10:15-11:00 Break Out Session #1
11:00-11:45 Lunch Provided
12:00-12:45 Break Out Session #2
1:00-2:00 General Session

Registration: $15 per person
Contact Jamie Roach at 913.647.2410 for more information (email Jamie)

Were hosting Merge this week at Youthfront South. So far — it has been a great week. We are three days into it and it has been fantastic to participate with the youth workers and students in the challenge of throwing ourselves into God’s Story. I have enjoyed very much listening to students share what God is teaching them through their interaction with The Story.

I have been moving this week also so it has been a hectic week to say the least. I have, in between unloading moving trucks with some of our staff, had the privilege to lead the morning gatherings as well as one night of the evening response times. I am always blown away by the creativity, candidness and the humility of the students as they articulate how they are merging with God’s mission and way of life.

Today we are deep into Episode 4 — God-With-Us — and it has been powerful to observe the students as they work their way through a “Kingdom” excersice designed to converse about the mystery of the Kingdom through six different interactive and experiential stations such as, The Upside-Down Kingdom, The Kingdom of the Forgotten, The Emerging Kingdom, The Agents of the Kingdom, etc.

Tonight we’ll be exploring Luke 4 as we reflect on the mission and message of Jesus!

Dan Webster is a friend, mentor and coach to me and countless others. There have been numerous occasions where I have found myself picking up the phone to get a word of advice from Dan. Dan’s words aren’t always what I want to hear, but they are always honest and what I have needed to hear.

Dan has been investing in leaders for more than 30 years. He founded a leadership development company called, Authentic Leadership in 1994 and since then has been passionately committed to train and inspire leaders to live authentic lives of great impact.

A few months ago I participated in an experience that Dan has aptly named, Pause. Pause is a a one day experience to gain clarity for your life and work. It was a fantastic experience on many levels. I experienced it with some friends — Mark Matlock, Tic Long, Nathan Vawser and Rick Lawrence. The venue was incredible too (see pic below). And — of course — the content was very helpful as well.

As you await the renewal of the earth for this spring, take a minute and ask yourself if you need to gain clarity on your life and work and renew your personal vision. It is always helpful for me to discover again and reflect upon just what it is I am to be, become and do.

You can get all the information you need at: http://pausenow.net/

I am in the Smokey Mountains (Gatlinburg) of TN this weekend speaking at a retreat called Encounter. There are a bunch of students and youth workers here, mostly from Northern Alabama as the retreat is a gathering of churches from The Northern Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church.

I am speaking about my book, A New Kind of Youth Ministry, and also around some ideas I have been working on for my next book called, Story, Signs and Sacred Rhythms.

It feels nice to be out of the sub-10 degree weather. It is probably around 50 degrees but it feels like a heat wave.

I had lunch with Steve Case. I met Steve a few years ago at one of the YS conventions and so it was good to reconnect and share what has been happening in our lives as of late. Steve is a fellow author with YS. You may have come across some of his writing — The Book of Uncommon Prayer, Everything Counts, and Road Rules are a few I know off the top of my head.

Anyway, looking forward to being home with my family later tonight!

Mike King and I are hosting a small(er) gathering of youth workers at our YouthFront South Camp this coming spring — April 23-25. This gathering is in cooperation with Brian McLaren and his Every Thing Must Change conference.

I am excited about this gathering for a couple of reasons. First, it will be only about 200 youth workers. This will give a us a chance to provide an intimate environment. Second, it is designed to be collaborative, experiential and diological in nature. Third, Brian McLaren will be with us and I love having him stretch my thinking. Fourth, it is being held at our camp which has been designed to assist people into deep levels of union with God with its open and sacred spaces. Finally, we’ll dialog around important issues such as the gospel, worship, spiritual formation and social justice.

You can download the brochure here:

prelude.pdf

You can register here:

http://www.youthfrontzone.com/index.cfm?
PAGE_ID=3582&EXPAND=

As I expected, the NYWC in Atlanta was a great experience. I am guessing I am probably the last to post about it considering we are already two days beyond it.

Aside from the three seminars I facilitated, I had the opportunity to do a bit of consulting in Atlanta. My schedule was tighter as compared to the other cities, which made connecting with friends more difficult, but I love consulting with people so I willingly welcomed it.

Most of the consulting appointments I had were with youth workers grappling with issues like leading change, reculturing, paradigm shifts, learning methods and equipping volunteers. The points of discussion within each conversation provided a fair amount of diversity made for some demanding thinking on my part. It was good to be stretched a bit and to learn more about each of the youth workers’ ministry context. It is always a good reminder to learn how distinctive church-based youth work looks throughout North America.

Although each of my consulting appointments provided diversity in one way or another, there was one rather unsettling common matter that nearly every one of the dozen or so youth workers mentioned. Most (at least 10) of the youth workers I spoke with told me that their relationship with their supervisor (most often their senior or lead pastor) was in some way fractured and in need of healing. I recall that almost all of the youth workers who shared their world with me also went to a seminar that Marko and Mark Riddle facilitated called, Expectations that Killed the Youth Worker. If nothing else, I think that particular commonality may suggest the weight the youth workers (and probably senior/lead pastors) are burdening might be real, mounting and consuming.

BTW – I heard from a number of people that Marko’s and Riddle’s seminar was really good. I am hoping they work it up into a post or an article that we can use as a resource to at least inform people and get or keep them in dialogue with one another.

Although the spoken about splintered relationships had unique nuances it seemed that they were all based around a growing misunderstanding between the supervisor and the youth worker. The misunderstanding centered on the characterizations and perceptions of what “Emergent” and “emerging” is and means and the similarities and differences between the two streams of thinking.

I have been thinking about this … If 10 out of a dozen or so youth workers are considering the need to restore the relationship with their supervisor important enough to raise it as in issue inside the boundaries of a one-hour consulting appt., then how many other youth workers are in the same or similar boat? I think I’ll take the next couple of months of traveling, training and speaking to make some more observations about this. I knew there were some conversations going on between youth worker and supervisor as I have fielded a lot of questions from both over the last 6 months or so. I didn’t have any idea, however, that it could be as widespread as I am thinking it might be… I am not a reactionary or an alarmist but I am concerned about what that state of affairs might mean for the church both in the short term and the long term. Anyway, more on that subject in the days ahead.

Leaving the airport in Atlanta on Monday I was super excited to see my family — having not seen them for 10 days — but I was also feeling a little bummed that the season of conventions was over. It has been great to meet so many like-minded youth workers from all over North America over the last couple of months. I am inspired, challenged, affirmed and blessed to be a small part of the ever-developing movement we call youth ministry.

I left Chicago on Friday morning not really knowing where I was headed. I mean, I knew my itinerary was taking me to Jacksonville, FL, but from there I really had no idea where I would be staying for a couple of nights as I spoke to a gathering of Methodist church youth groups from northern FL and southern GA.

I was greeted at the JAX airport by beautiful weather — 65 degrees and very sunny. A far cry from the weather I left that morning in Chicago — 30 something and dark (4am)!

I was overjoyed when we arrived at Epworth By The Sea, a large Methodist retreat center on Saint Simons Island in GA. Epworth has a great deal of history as it claims to be the place where John Wesley began his ministry here back in the day. It is aptly named Epworth as Epworth, England is the “home of the Wesley’s.” Epworth By The Sea is located on the banks of the beautiful Frederica River.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time. The retreat was very creative and had what felt like the right mix of schedule and space. The students were very engaged and I had some really deep, meaningful conversations about God’s story, the mission of God and our role as agents of restoration.

The retreat obviously had been lead well… it was clearly organized with the students in mind and a commitment to their spiritual formation. Below is a pic of myself the youth workers (Bryan, Shannon and George — L to R) who led the event. Great job guys! I am looking forward to seeing you in ATL later on this week at the NYWC.

It is getting harder and harder to be away from my family but I must say that these speaking “gigs” at retreats with students and youth workers over the year or so has been very fruitful and it truly a blessing and privilege.

I am off to Jacksonville, FL this morning. I will be speaking at a youth event somewhere near there — it may actually be in GA I am not sure. I Just know I am supposed to be flying into JAX.

I lived in Jacksonville as a kid for a short while. I don’t remember much about it. My father was in the NAVY at the time. It was one of our many places of residence on the East Coast. I can recall the color of our house (yellow) and I remember going to some of my older brother’s little league baseball games. That is about it…

I am looking forward to being with several hundred HS students from a number of United Methodist Churches.  Here are the main points of discussion…

> How does God reveal himself to us?
> How do we cultivate a life of godly character?
> What does it mean, as the people of God, to embrace God’s call to be a blessing to others?
> How do we begin to see others with new eyes and pursue restorative acts in our community?
> How do we share God’s truth through our personal and community’s story?

Should be great fun!

As always, I had a blast at the NYWC in San Diego. It was great to be with friends and to interact with youth workers from all over North America. A couple of really cool experiences…

> I felt like my seminars went well. I have a few revisions to make to the content of both the “Living, Loving and Leading in the Way of Jesus” and the “Story, Signs and Sacred Rhythm’s” before the St. Louis Convention. All in all though, between the vibe in the rooms, the positive/critical feedback and the great conversations since the seminars I feel like they were helpful and good.

> I greatly appreciated Mark Matlock’s challenge on Sat. night in the general session. His ability to communicate makes him easy to listen too and he always has something to say. I was especially challenged by his comparison between culture and kingdom and how the church (and youth ministry organizations) go about their ministry endaveors being guided by either the ways of culture or the kingdom way . His 5 minutes or so on leaders who try to hold on to and build their own identity while “serving the kingdom” was particularly helpful for me to hear.

> Jim Hancock… Over the last couple of months I have had the privilege to bump into Jim. He is a brilliant, creative and gracious person who I just love being around. I especially love how Jim takes the movements in other disciplines (architecture, design, education, sociology, etc.) and finds ways to learn how they impact youth ministry. You can get to know Jim a bit by checking out his site at: http://www.westofthe101.com/

> One of the nights I had the chance to meet with Kara Powell, Ginny Olson, Steve Argue, Mike King, Damien O’Ferrell, Mark Riddle and Jim Hancock. We spent a few hours together talking about the future of youth ministry and how we can best go about aligning ourselves with what God may or may not be doing to capture this generation.

> Had a great dinner with two friends who were over from the UK — Martin and Chris. I am especially intrigued by youth ministry in Europe and how different it is there than here in North America. I think by studying the efforts and movements of youth work in the UK, we can learn a lot about how and what to do or not to do as it relates to our ministry strategies, etc. Martin and Chris are connected to a wonderful magazine you should check out called YouthWork. You can explore the mag here: http://www.youthwork.co.uk/magazine/. YouthWork does a fantastic job helping you explore youth minsitry around the globe.

> I connected with a few friends from my youth ministry days at a church near Minneapolis named, Jeff and Georgia. It was great to be with you guys if even only for a short time!

This weekend I am in San Diego for the NYWC. I am really looking forward to being there as it is always a great time to hook up with friends, interact with people; making new friends. It is also a privilege to have the opportunity to speak into the development of youth workers as well as experiment with some of my thoughts and ideas in the seminars. The weather is almost always perfect in SD, so I got that going for me which is nice…

I am doing two seminars the time around. The first is called, “Living, Loving and Leading in the way of Jesus.” It is roughly a one hour seminar and is a simple but helpful look at the life and ministry of Jesus. Not so much his strategy for ministry but his approach to modeling what it means to live in the intended ways of God. Hopefully, it results in some transferable principles that any youth worker can take back and immediately apply to their life and ministry. I also hope that it is something that youth workers can use to train their volunteers. If you have been to Sonlife’s Enroute experience, there will be some overlap in regards to the virtues of Jesus’ life that we teach.

The second seminar is called, “Story, Signs and Sacred Rhythms: A Narrative Approach to Nurturing Students.” I am really excited to share some thoughts/ideas I have been having that hopefully lead some of us toward a new paradigm for shepherding students. I believe that we (the youth ministry world) are ready for a creative and fresh approach to the principles that have been guiding us for decades. I will attempt to help youth workers “see” a design for ministry that starts with helping students engage with God’s story and results in the formation of behaviors and practices that are in line with God’s mission. I will let you know how it goes…

If you are one of my occasional or regular blog readers and will be in San Diego at the convention, I would love to meet you. Look me up. You can find me at the end of my seminars which will be shown in the convention handbook.