Intense Youth Staff Meeting-All Problems Resolved!

j/k - i think we found more problems than answers...
Today, we had an incredibly intense staff meeting (in a really good way!). A few weeks ago, we had the opportunity to take our annual trip to the National Youth Workers Convention in Nashville, TN. This weekend was filled with thought-provoking speakers and workshops all designed to challenge and equip people working in youth ministry.

Well, today we finally got the chance to discuss what we learned...

Here are a few questions we wrestled with this morning:
1. Where is the Church headed? Is the megachurch movement over? Will smaller ministries that focus on connecting people (and may even meet in public or rented facilities) flourish in the future. Is the American Dream dead? How do we lead parents/students through this transition?
(thanks to Tom Sine's seminar: "Where is the Church Headed and What's our Response?")

2. As a youth ministry, what is our response to the gay/lesbian community? Andrew Marin's approach: quoting Billy Graham: "it’s the Holy Spirit’s job to convict, God’s job to judge, and my job to love." How can we effectively and intentionally balance love/acceptance and presenting biblical truth?
(Andrew Marin - General Session with Tony Camp0lo and Shane Claiborne)

3. If we only have a limited amount of time, energy, resources, etc. is it most effective to invest heavily in the "few" that want to go deeper or the "many" who need to hear? Jesus did both but obviously invested heavily in the 12 disciples and even more intensely in just 3 of the disciples. Are we doing ministry to students or with students?
(Mike Pilavachi - General Session)

4. Is a big ministry a good thing? Jesus' teaching was upsetting to people and many left when they found out what He was really calling people to. Are we setting the bar for commitment to Christ much lower than where Jesus would have?
(Francis Chan - General Session)

So, we asked a lot more questions than we answered this morning. I'm glad we're thinking - I'm even more excited that we are doing this together.

I'd love to hear others thoughts - comment away!

Well, today was the preview service for epicenter - the new service our church will be starting in January targeted at 18-30 somethings. This is a demographic that is currently a very small minority in our church. We have a tremendous kids ministry, a vibrant youth ministry, and a solid core of middle-age adults. Unfortunately, we are missing those college, post-college and young families in our community. We hope to change all that with the addition of epicenter to our weekly schedule of events. There are three main components of this new service:

• experiential worship

Hannah and I will be primarily in charge of designing engaging worship experiences each week. We'll have the help of a worship band comprised of musicians from the existing adult worship teams (many thanks to Larry, Harrison and Kendra for working all the details out on this!) and hopefully some new musicians that will be attracted to this service.

• biblical teaching

Aaron Young will be the teacher each week and will focus on biblical messages that concentrate on biblical books or themes as opposed to topical teaching. Nothing against topical teaching but we are specifically focusing on a target audience that wants to grow deeper in their understanding and experience of God. We believe in-depth biblical teaching is the best way to achieve this goal.

• intentional community

Each meeting will end with the entire group being broken down into smaller life-stage groups - college/career, post-college singles, young married (w/o kids), young married (w/kids) and adults. There will be a facilitator for each life-stage group and several assistant facilitators in case the groups are still large, they can still be broken down into groups of 8-10. In these small groups, the focus will be on getting to know others at epicenter and form meaningful relationships. Initially this will be accomplished by times of discussion but our goal is for community to develop. Our hope is that members of the life-stage groups will continue building relationships outside the service by going to dinner together and experiencing community outside the context of the epicenter service. Right now we are currently praying and searching for the right people to facilitate these life-stage groups.

Although we are targeting the 18-30 demographic, we're putting some wide boundaries on this age bracket. We recognize that this alternative service will appeal to a variety of people who don't necessarily fit neatly into a predefined age bracket. If this approach to worship, teaching and community resonates with someone outside the target group, we want them to feel like they have a place to connect with our church.

I'm excited about this new service. January 4th is the official launch date. It will be from 5:30-7:00 pm in the Student Life building. Check back for more updates and click below to join our facebook group. We hope to see you there!