Archive - October, 2011

Musing about how we connect with God.

October 28, 2011 in Spirituality with 0 Comments

I’ve been working with young people and families for a long time.  One thing that I think about a lot is how we can create space in our lives to allow us to connect with God.  I’ll be the first to admit that this is sometimes hard for me.  I struggle to sit still and focusing is often difficult.  I like to be in constant movement.  I will say too the smartphone world has not helped this at all for me. Now I feel constantly plugged in and over stimulated.

One friend who is super helpful for me in this area is Mike King.  Mike is the president of YouthFront a pretty amazing organization out of Kansas City. He’s also written a book called “Presence Centered Youth Ministry” that I’ve found really helpful to ground me.  I spoke at a Youthfront camp a couple summers ago and it was an amazing experience. They schedule everything around rhythms of prayer and time with God. So in the morning there is a 1/2 hour of morning prayer before breakfast and the same for lunch. Might sound simple but it’s pretty impressive to walk into a gym full of young people sitting or laying silently connecting with the LORD.

Mike and I happened to be in Seattle last weekend and I mentioned to him that on Sunday night we should go check out a service they do at St. Marks Episcopal Church.  This compline service has been going on since the 50′s and they broadcast it live every week too. Here’s a mental snapshot of what it’s like. There were roughly 500 young people all over the room in this magnificent old cathedral type building. Some people sit in pews others bring blankets and lay on the floor. It’s very quiet and peaceful.  The choir comes out at the beginning of the service and begins to sing, chant and recite scripture.  It’s only a 1/2 hour long. At one point in the service everyone stands up and recites the Apostles Creed. Then everyone lays back down again.

I like a couple things about the service in particular. First,  it seems to be open to everyone. There is no specific group, class, gender, age or race of people who are being targeted. Second,  there is a very simple format and not a lot of show or personalities dominating the time. Third, it is completely about connection with God and for me its a very peaceful and focused experience.

I don’t believe this service replaces a traditional worship service for me. I still find huge value in being with a congregation of people who I know and love worshiping corporately. But, I still think this service has incredible value and a place in many peoples lives. If I lived in Seattle I think I’d like attend my church in the morning but then find some regular time to go to that service in the evening.  It just connects and focuses me.

I will say this too. Seattle is not a city known for it’s faith. Yes there are great churches and the Christian community seems to be growing which is encouraging.  What I see though in services like this is that there is a distinct hunger for spirituality and connection with God and this service seems like a “safe” place to begin figuring out what that looks like for you.

So if you are ever in Seattle on a Sunday night go check it out.

 

Youth Ministry Educators are Good people

October 25, 2011 in Education, NYWC, Teaching with 2 Comments

Spent 3 days up in Seattle this weekend with friends attending the Association of Youth Ministry Educators Conference.   I know that probably doesn’t sound like a big party but it was great.  I’m biased I know because a bunch of my friends were there and I enjoyed being with them. I also like the format of the conference where someone gives a lecture/paper and there is always a response from someone else. Sort of a mini debate which pushes all of us to think.   If you are in the Youth Ministry world at all you will recognize some of these great folks.  Jeff Keuss, Andy Root, Mike King, Kenda Dean, Mark Matlock, Dave Rahn, Les Christie, Bethany Stolle, Tony Jones, Andrew Zirschky, Jason Santos, Chap Clark, Brad Griffin, Duffy Robbins, Amy Jacober and more.  There were 120+ of us representing pretty much every institution that teaches youth ministry.

I am particular excited about the direction that Youth Ministry Education seems to be going. In my opinion we are seeing 2 trends emerging that are shaping what we do.

1. There is a distinct turn towards a deeper theological reflection.  This seems to be stemming from Princeton Seminary and Luther Seminary and the folks involved there. Kenda Dean and Andy Root’s book The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. Is a great place to start engaging in that discussion.

2. There is a greater awareness of the need for different disciplines to be engaged in the world of youth ministry.  Chap Clark is one of my mentors and professors from Fuller Seminary.  He along with Kara Powell and Brad Griffin and the Fuller Youth Institute are really pushing the boundaries of this and engaging different disciplines together to dialogue through how to best teach and reach students.  Just go to Amazon and look up Sticky Faith and you’ll get a couple of great resources that show how they are committed to using their research to help shape this discussion.

Another thing that I am particularly stoked about was the way Youth Specialties is working to reengage the academy and some of these theologians. Part of what is happening this year are some of the theological panels and cafes that YS is putting on at the National Youth Workers Conventions. Many of these educators and theologians and academic institutions will be represented there and that’s a great place to engage with these folks.  Mark Matlock the president of YS announced at the event that YS has a new publishing arrangement with Zondervan and that they are committing 20% of the books they publish within that agreement to be from the category YS Academic. This is a great step and will help the academy get it’s resources into the hands of youth workers.

That’s it. Academics can be fun.

How leading a team shapes me

October 21, 2011 in Church, Leadership, Who I am... with 2 Comments

The last couple of days I’ve been doing annual reviews with my staff. It’s something that I actually really enjoy doing.   Every time I start this process I find myself realizing more and more how much I learn from my team.  Yesterday during one of the reviews I remember thinking that both of us have grown significantly in our leadership in the last 5 years.  The reality too is that I’ve probably learned just as much from being on the team with my staff as they have from working with me.

I’m not a leadership guru and I don’t have all the answers but here are a couple of bullet points that I think are helpful when thinking about leadership within the church community.

Power is less important than influence-  I am in a “power” position in that I am the leader. But, I fully recognize that it isn’t my position that gives me the opportunity to lead as much as it is that people recognize my influence. If I am not perceived as having much influence then my leadership doesn’t really matter.  I think the role of the leader is to often figure out who has the most influence in a group or situation and put them in the leadership role.  Practically speaking this means I don’t think “top down” leadership is the best model. I spend a lot of time encouraging leaders who are in particular contexts of influence to take more ownership and lead.  And “influence” can be held by volunteers, parents and even students.  I’ve learned a ton form my team that cultivating influence is often way more important than creating vision. Because even if you have the greatest plan and vision in the world if you have no influence into your community and culture it won’t matter.

Partnerships are better than Primary-  Sometimes I envision what it would be like to go back to being the only staff person in a ministry. It’s probably at those moments when I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with my leadership responsibilities and I think it would be so much easier if I just did it myself.  But, then I quickly realize how foolish I am to even think about it.  I love to partner with people.  I’m really good at seeing the big picture and coming along side of teams of staff, volunteers, parents and students.  I can remember the days when I was much more alone trying to pull off big events and productions.  It’s so much better working with people and engaging their brains, ideas and strength. I hope that I always make people know how much I value them and their partnership with me.


Leaders must be Learners- A whole bunch of years ago I had a couple that were pretty amazing part-time staff. I was married, with kids in my early 30′s and they were just married, in-seminary, no-kids and fresh out of college. We were having a tough time figuring out how to best work together when I decided to take a whole different approach. I opened the door for them to lead me.  What I mean by that is we created a system where they knew that their opinion mattered and that I was very comfortable with them questioning and even challenging me.  The “My way or the highway” leadership plan was replaced with open and honest dialogue. And I learned so much from them.  It was very freeing to feel like I didn’t have to always have the answer and for them they loved being able to try new things knowing that I would support them.

I’m lucky to have an amazing team of people I get to work with. They have shaped and molded me. I’m grateful for their honesty, gifts and passion.

 

Missions as a Crutch

October 11, 2011 in Teaching, Who I am..., Youth Ministry with 3 Comments

Yesterday I had a good friend Jon Wasson who is the Middle School Director  at my church come in and guest lecture at my DTS class. I’m teaching a course on Youth Ministry this fall every Monday morning and it’s a major highlight of my week.  Jon’s focus was on encouraging the students to think “Theologically” about their youth ministries and specifically the difference between thinking “Ideologically vs. Theologically.”

What I appreciate the most about Jon is that he has really worked through his own theology/philosophy about Youth Ministry. He teaches with some pretty solid conviction about our need to first decide who God is and what we believe about God before developing a ministry model and practices that aim to encourage movement toward these truths.

In the middle of class one of the students shared that he thought God was “missional.” The “practices” that came out of that truth/belief were that we need to engage our students in missions.  As he talked about that I raised the issue of how I sometimes believe that all the missions trips I have led over the years are really just a crutch that allow me to “look” like I’m missional or that I care very much for the world but the reality is in my day to day life I’m not sure I model it very well.

To unpack this further I just mean to say that if I had students shadow me 24 hours a day for a week I’m not sure they would always see a conviction in my actions and life that I believe God is missional.  While that’s hard for me to admit it’s also freeing because it forces me to evaluate how I’m living out this truth in my life.

“Going on a missions trip” is not the same as living a life that believes God has called us to care for our communities and to share about God to other people.  When I “go” I fit a whole bunch of service and prayer into short burst of time and often feel pretty good about myself but then I’m right back in the same life when I return.  This reality is why I so often find it hard to prepare students (and honestly even myself) to go out because I know that for many of us the experience will quickly fade when we return.

So what do we do?  I’ve tried to make sure that I stay in relationship with people who do this better than me.  In my life I’ve got some guys like Phil Cunningham who this fall is traveling all around the United States with his family in an RV sharing about Justice and Worship.  I have a friend Keith Peeler who along with his family are planting a non-traditional Church in East Dallas and caring and loving for the people there.  I’ve got a sister-in-law and her family who live in Papua New Guinea where they are missionaries with an organization called Samaritan Aviation who have the only float plane in the whole country which is having a huge impact.

The truth is I’m really impressed with my friends but I wonder sometimes even if they are my crutch. I can talk a great story about what they are doing and the lives they are touching but again it’s not my story.

So I resolve to change. I am grateful for a class of graduate students who without even knowing it challenged me to think about how my own view of God wasn’t lining up with my actions.  I want to live out my convictions and not just say/teach things that I believe but don’t live.

 

National Youth Workers Convention Recap and thoughts

October 5, 2011 in Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

This last weekend I was in San Diego for the National Youth Workers Convention. I’m not sure how many of these I’ve been to but I’m pretty sure I haven’t missed more than 1 since 1997.  And the last 3 years I’ve been to all of them so I guess that’s at least 20.   These weekends are huge highlights for me because they involve seeing friends, meeting new people and engaging with the tribe of people who I feel most embody the career that God has put me in. I love youth workers and I love being around people who care about the lives of students and families.

There were a couple major highlights for me this last weekend.

First, I was encouraged to see how many new people were there teaching and leading.  I joked with several people how much I was stoked that they moved into their new roles.  I think one thing that YS has done well this year is identifying new voices and great talented people and giving them opportunities to lead.

Second, I loved the way that the teaching times had different learning modes. Last January I was with the NYWC planning team and we all sort of collectively ended up thinking about this one.  This year we had lectures, panels, fishbowls and collaborations. I taught a seminar for people who work with large staff teams and it was definitely a collaborative experience and I learned just as much from them as I hope they did from me.

Third, there were some amazing theological panels that I thought really filled in a necessary area at the conference.  For more info about those just click Mike King’s post because he wrote a great one about it today.

If you vibe with any of those things and haven’t made up your mind yet I want to encourage you to come and join us in Atlanta Nov 17-20.  Click here to get more info and sign up. We’d love to have you and I would personally love to connect and hang out.

 

 

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