A New Kind of Youth Ministry

Marko has a fabulous post on organizational thinking HERE.

Doug Jones over at Perigrinatio tagged me for my top 10 films. So here you go. Keep in mind, I am a pretty simple man.

In no particular order…

1. Fast Times at Ridgemont High - I used to watch this a couple of times a week with my friends in the neighborhood growing up. This movie brings back some great memories.

2. Caddyshack - I love golf and any self-respecting, wanna be golfer has to have this in their top 10 list.

3. Stripes - I am a big Bill Murray fan and the one-liners in this movie are priceless.

4. Bull Durham - I love baseball and growing up I wanted nothing more than to play MLB baseball. To bad I couldn’t hit, throw, catch or run very well.

5. The Bourne Movies - Obviously, I am counting this as one movie. Deep in my heart, I am a part of Treadstone.

6. Unforgiven - Three words: Eastwood, Freeman and Hackman. Three of the best.

7. Die Hard - “Yippe ky yeah … ”

8. Hoosiers - “I think you boys will find that these are the same measurements as our gym back in Hickory.” Dennis Hopper was amazing in this movie.

9. Bells of St. Mary’s - Father O’Malley and Sister Benedict… gotta love the generosity of one Horace P. Bogardus!

10. Big - Learning to cope with the world of adults. I still struggle with that.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Calgary hanging out with Matt Wilks and Wayne Smele. Matt works with me at Youthfront and Wayne is the Pastor of Student Ministries at Centre Street Church. Wayne also teaches Youth Ministry at Rocky Mountain College.

I was a guest in one of Wayne’s classes. It was very cool to sit and visit with a great group of emerging leaders. I was deeply inpspired by the questions I was asked and the passion that each of the students has for new kinds of youth ministry. I left the campus of Rocky Mountain College feeling very encouraged…

As I was leaving the building a bulletin board caught my eye. The ad below (crappy pic — I took it with my phone) made me chuckle. It also made me deeply concerned. An intern that can lead, develop and supervise an entire youth ministry — wow — I’d like to meet that person. I am not saying that intern doesn’t exist but I sure haven’t run into someone who can do all that effectively especially as an intern. [I’d love to hear what Mark Riddle would say about those expectations. Mark works as a consultant with churches around the US and he sees first hand these kinds of expectations being unfairly placed on emerging leaders all the time.]

When I wore a younger man’s clothes I couldn’t even lead, develop or supervise myself let alone a number of students and their families. Makes me think that among the many challenges we face in the world of youth ministry today, this might be one of the biggest. I mean, asking an intern to lead, develop and supervise an entire youth ministry? I just hope whoever takes that role, assuming someone does, has a mentor who can help them. I am all for young leaders having positions of influence but with this mindset how can we possibly be setting up emerging leaders for success?

It also pushed me to think about who I am mentoring and who I am investing in. I need to do more than I am… I couldn’t help but be grateful to people like Dave Michener, Dan Webster, Doug Jones, Stan Key, Mark Patrick and a slew of others who took seriously the role of a mentor and invested (and still invest) in me. So fellow veterans of youth ministry … is there someone in your area you ought to be mentoring?

** Words from Piano Man, Billy Joel

I was invited to speak to a small group of youth workers today in the Chicago area. It was very cool — great conversation, great food and great people. The combination of those three things always provides me with a time well spent.

I’ve been attending youth worker luncheons for about 14 years or so now and in the last couple of months I have probably been to half a dozen of them — either as a guest or as the host.

Over the years I have come to realize that at each of the gatherings you can inevitably run into at least 5 types of people (of which I confess I have at one time or another been myself).

1- Ms. or Mr. Resume — this person just has to share their latest accomplishments. It might be a degree, a former place of employment, the number of churches recruiting them, etc.

2- Ms. or Mr. Event — this persons primary objective at the gathering is to get fellow youth workers to bring their students to their upcoming event usually for two reasons. A) They screwed up the budget and need more money to keep the event in the black or b) They think their events are utterly superior.

3- Ms. or Mr. Frustrated — this person is consistently sharing a different (or more of the same) frustration that is most definitely always someone else’s fault.

4- Ms. or Mr. Job Search — this person seems to be looking for a new job. They usually want a new job with better pay, larger amounts of students and paid staff to work for them.

5- Ms. or Mr. Name Dropper — this person can’t resist telling you who they talked to on the phone, who they got an email from or who is coming to speak at their next retreat.

I am sure you can probably think of more… what other types of people do you find at your gatherings? Next time you attend a youth worker luncheon/gathering do your best to avoid being connected to any of the above classifications and see what if anything changes about the gathering.

I am certainly not trying to be mean. I have been and could probably be categorized as one of the above too. I just find it incredibly predictable, progressively funny and moderately troubling that right now you are putting a face or name to each of the above.

My posts have been crappy lately, I know. Sorry about that. Basically, all I have been doing is posting my travel schedule. I am tired and not feeling very creative these days.

I am going to take a couple of days off next week and head to one of my favorite spots in Canada. There is a little town called Radium that I love to get away to. Usually I go up there and play a little golf with my friend Matt. This time, I am just taking some books and going to rest in the natural hot springs… They’re going to have to drag me out of the pool at closing time each night.

So, hopefully I will come back from my trip next week feeling refreshed and get back to post some ideas I have around topics like missio dei, youth ministry and the gospel, the role of the imagination in the spiritual formation of adolescents and hospitality as evangelism.

Peace.

I’ve been spending the bulk of today with some new friends from the Diocese of South Carolina. We are staying at a really cool retreat center outside of the Charleston, SC area called St. Christopher Camp and Conference Center.

I was invited down to share some of our training in hopes that we might be able to establish a partnership for years to come. I look forward to investing into the youth workers as I have found them to be particularly engaging and unbelievably open to new ideas and practices.

Dave Wright is the Youth Ministry Coordinator for the Diocese. He is from the Chicago area so we have that going for us. He formerly worked in the UK and over time there has been a few of his friends that have crossed the pond from London and the surrounding areas to contribute to the movement here. Some fascinating stuff. Over the past few years I have spoken to or trained a lot of youth worker networks. I confess, this one might just be the most closely knitted one I have bumped into yet. They seem to have the partnering/collaborative thing down. Of course I am in town only for a day and obviously don’t get much more than a snapshot. I have, however, been moved by their hospitality and generosity toward me and toward one another. Dave has built something very special here.

Today I spent the day training the youth workers out of our Enroute content and also some bits and pieces from some other stuff I have developed out of our Shaping a Missional Community and Shepherding in a Culture of Change modules.

It has been a great day. The weather has been great. The conversation in the training has been very enriching and the highlight of the day was sitting under some of Bishop Lawrence’s teaching and storytelling. I was also blessed as the group prayed over me requesting safety and deeper levels of holiness in my travels and training. They also prayed for my son Luke who is soon to get his hearing aids. It was very encouraging.

Bishop Lawrence has just begun here in South Carolina as the new Bishop. I am not sure all of what it means to be a Bishop as I am not tremendously familiar with the Episcopal Church. The Bishop is a fantastic storyteller and a very well read and insightful communicator. I am looking forward to sitting under him again tonight in our final session.

Yesterday I spent the day in Denver, CO facilitating our Enroute Training. There were about 25 youth workers there representing about 8 different churches spread across 3 states. Several of the youth workers drove all the way from Custer, SD to be with us.

I always enjoy facilitating our Enroute Training but yesterday’s experience was especially cool because I got to hang with Dan Luebcke who is the pastor of student ministries as Southern Gables. I met Dan a few years ago at some training we hosted in Chicago. Since then we have been developing our friendship and it was a pleasure to continue that through partnering to host our training.

Dan has been at Southern Gables for 12 years. He actually grew up in that church as a kid and now is privileged to lead the youth ministry. Dan serves on the Student Ministries Council for the Evangelical Free Church denomination and has really helped (along with the entire SMC) shape a beautiful training partnership between Youthfront/Sonlife and the Ev. Free. We are excited to see the partnership unfold.

If you are from Denver and you missed the training yesterday, no worries… Dan is hosting us again this Fall.  Dan and a team of youth workers from the Denver area will also be hosting our new weekend event for students called Reveal.

I also had the chance to reconnect with Rich Van Pelt who has been a great friend to me since I first met him a couple of years ago at the Youth Ministry Executive Council meetings in Washington DC that the National Network of Youth Ministry hosts. Rich has been a breathe of fresh air for me as a long-time youth ministry veteran and expert who is longing for fresh, innovative approaches to youth work. He isn’t stuck. I love that about him. I also love what he does with Compassion International. Rich has given many years of his life to connecting people with resources and children in need around the world. Who doesn’t love that?

I am headed back to KC today for our Youth Worker Appreciation Dinner. The YWAD is an informal time for Youthfront to say thanks to the KC Metro youth workers for all they do to help shape the lives of teens. I am excited to experience this gathering for the first time.

I have been a baseball fan my entire life. My dad was a minor league pitcher (lefty) and I played Little League, Babe Ruth, High School and even college baseball. I loved every second of it. I can’t get enough baseball.

Of course living in Chicago I have the privilege of seeing two good teams (Cubs and White Sox) every night of the week on TV. Yesterday, however, I enjoyed the KC Royals home opener in front of a big screen at a local pup here in Kansas City watching the game with some friends I work with at Youthfront. I don’t care who is playing… I’ll watch it.

I was a Mets fan growing up. When you grow up in NY you pick the Yankees or the Mets. I chose the Mets and can vividly remember the 1986 World Series in which the Mets beat the Red Sox continuing the curse of the Bambino.

The Mets were great that year. They won 108 games during the regular season and won their division by 21.5 games. They beat the Astros 4 games to 2 in the NLCS and then went on to “trickle” past the Sox in 7 games in the World Series.

Of course, probably more note worthy than the Mets winning the series was the error by Red Sox first baseman named Bill Buckner. The error ultimately led to the Mets extending the series to seven games and then going on to beat the Sox.

At the time of the error I was thrilled that the ball had trickled past Buckner. Some years later, however, I hated that about the Series. As I got older I realized I would rather see my team loose (after all it is only a game for grown-ups) than see any human being endure what Bill Buckner had to endure.

For years Buckner has been shunned from the City of Boston (and not the Dwight Schrute shun on Andy kind off shun either) and has been the target of mean-spirited jokes, literally had people try to take his life and some report he even tried to take his own life –all because of an error that some say lost the series for the Sox. True baseball fans know however, that there was an error before the error. But as it is in life, you remember the last one not the one before the one that really matters…

Ahhhhh. But the beauty of baseball and the grace and reverence on which the very game stands prevailed on Tuesday at Fenway Park in Boston as Bill Bucker, the very one that made the error, was redeemed by the city of Boston. For 20 years people have shown hatred, disgust and absolute distain for the man. However, 2 championships later, yesterday Boston redeemed Bill Buckner and welcomed him back. Here is the clip…

I am sure that most of you are already familiar with www.youthnoise.com, a website designed as a “…social networking site for people under the age of 27 who like to connect based on deeper interests than Paris Hilton’s wardrobe and want to get engaged within a cause.”

If you aren’t familiar with it or haven’t been by there in a while, check out how adolescents are engaging in various causes around the world. You can check out the causes here: http://www.youthnoise.com/MyCauseIs/ It is very cool stuff…

Thursday night I was in Kansas City speaking at a church for my new friend Casey Kapple. Casey is the youth minister at Emmanuel Baptist Church in Overland Park, KS. Before his current position at Emmanuel, Casey was on staff at Youthfront for almost 4 years. It was great to get some input and feedback on some of Youthfront’s initiatives from someone who knows the organization well and is also a local youth worker.

I spoke to some of the parents of the teens in Casey’s ministry. I was encouraged by the parents’ strong commitment to helping their teens develop an authentic faith. I did some of the training from our Shepherding in a Culture of Change learning module. It was great fun and I was blessed to be a small part of Casey’s ministry, if even only for a night of training.

From Kansas City I flew to Ocean City, Md. What a beautiful place! I have never been to Ocean City but have had many friends who vacation there in the summer. The view (as seen below - not my pic) from my room was stunning - especially in the morning as the sun came up. Very cool…

I was speaking at a YFC event called Impact. There were about 4000ppl there from all over the east coast. I facilitated the youth worker training and had a few consulting appointments as well.

It was great to see Dave Rahn, as it always is. Dave was leading a seminar for students who want to explore God as well as reperesenting the national YFC office.

It was a pleasure to finally get the chance to meet Ruth Barton who I have wanted to meet for a long time. Ruth is the author of a couple of books (one called Sacred Rhythms in which my wife and her close friend Michelle are using these days as a “guide” of sorts for conversation, etc.). Ruth used to be at Willow a few years ago but now she is a spiritual director and retreat leader through the ministry she founded based in the Chicago area called, The Transforming Center.

I am thrilled to spend some time tonight with my good friend Dave Michener. Dave was the first one to hire me for a youth ministry job and continues to be a great friend and mentor to me and my family (Dave performed the wedding ceremony for Gina and me!).

Dave is the executive pastor at Bridgeway Community Church, a multi-cultural church outside of Baltimore in Columbia, MD. I always love talking with Dave about stuff going on at Bridgeway. Bridgeway is an innovative church that is in many ways leading the way forward for churches desiring to be intentionally multi-cultural.

Leave Baltimore early tomorrow morning and head home — can’t wait to see my family!