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What’s Next for Youth Specialties! Tic is back!

I’m completely thrilled to be able to share this news with you. Like 99.99999% of the youth working world, I’ve watched changes happen at Youth Specialties over the past year with interest in where it would all settle. The video below is an instant addition to the YS classic list, and the details are in the text below. Though change can be difficult, I’m grateful this pillar of youth ministry training and resourcing is changing to serve us more effectively. Check it out:

From Youth Specialties:

The past 12 months at Youth Specialties have been crazy, filled with way too many changes. The good news is that—whew—things are finally settling down and exciting developments are on the horizon!

Now—appropriately—you are asking, “What’s next?” We’ve heard you and we’re excited to share the latest news.

Youth Specialties is now a part of YouthWorks! On December 16, YouthWorks finalized the acquisition of Youth Specialties from Zondervan. What does this mean? YouthWorks purchased the Youth Specialties brand—all the events, the websites, the stationery and even the truck that is used to pick up the mail. Zondervan will continue to operate the publishing division of Youth Specialties. In one form or another, Zondervan has been publishing Youth Specialties’ stuff for more than 30 years, so we’re excited to see that relationship continue.

On the same day YouthWorks purchased Youth Specialties, some staffing changes were made. This was by far the most difficult aspect of the transition, but you can be confident that it was managed with great compassion, care and dignity.

Over the holiday period, a lot of the transition work began. After 40 years of operating as a for-profit business, Youth Specialties is now part of a non-profit ministry. This will certainly shape how we operate and how we serve you, but we’re convinced that this will allow us to be even more effective in providing training, resources and encouragement.

Also during this time, we’ve come to know the YouthWorks team and we’ve seen that God’s hand has been shaping this relationship for a long time. YouthWorks’ purpose is “to help the Church be the Church” by providing life-changing, Christ-centered resources for ministry—it’s the Youth Specialties purpose as well.  God has found a great home for our ministry!

What will Youth Specialties do now? The short and simple answer is that Youth Specialties will do what it’s done since it was founded. With our full focus on serving youth workers and the church, we will continue to provide world-class events, training opportunities and resources.

He’s back—Tic Long has returned to Youth Specialties! In the early years of the Youth Specialties ministry, Wayne Rice and Mike Yaconelli hired Tic Long. For more than 30 years Tic helped lead Youth Specialties and helped pioneer much of who and what the ministry is today. Tic’s return as Executive Director of Youth Specialties is effective immediately. Most importantly, Tic has been tasked with leading Youth Specialties forward. His wealth of knowledge and expertise in the arena of youth ministry and his personal passion and love for youth workers will serve as a solid foundation in the growth and success of Youth Specialties.

Finally, thank you for standing beside us during these past months. Your prayers and words of encouragement have been a blessing to both the Youth Specialties and the YouthWorks teams. We look forward to the next 40 years of ministry and the opportunity to grow the Kingdom by serving the world’s youth workers who are impacting the next generation of Christians.

NYWC: Intersection reflections

If I had to describe the main stage speakers (so far) with just two words, I would use these: Interesting intersections.

I could leave it right there, and I’m tempted to do just that. But, that wouldn’t make for very good reading for anyone else, would it? What follows is some preliminary processing around those words, interesting intersections.

Tony Campolo spoke to us about the theology of time, reminding me that we serve a God who is omnipresent, who was and is in our past, present and future simultaneously, eternally.  In every moment that ever has or will be, we intersect with God.

Donald Miller spoke to us about the process of story, and touched on the idea that we are in the middle of the narrative about conflict and God’s redemption of the world. Our stories intersect with others’ stories. Tell a hopeful story.

Three teenagers – Zach Hunter, Jordan Foxworthy, and Jaime Coleman – talked about what happened to them when their lives met other, very different, lives and their response to that encounter. When our stories intersect there is an opportunity to make a difference. Create intersections to allow responses.

Liz Murray appeared on the stage and shared what happened when her tumultuous life met another and was altered incalculably.  Intersections can be course altering. Be there for them.

This blog has always had the subtitle At the Intersection of Life and Grace because I want to observe, and participate in, what happens at these places of interesting intersection between lives and stories.  I’m fascinated by them, I am who I am because of intersections just like them.

The NYWC: Friday

This weekend I’m at the Youth Specialties National Youth Workers Convention in Cincinnati. I’m serving on the event team doing social media work, which is a fancy way of saying that my volunteer job is to update twitter and facebook and take notes in the Big Room sessions and post them on the YS blog.

I’ve posted at youthspecialties.com/blog twice today, one for Reggie Joiner’s talk on change and systems (which was far more fascinating than it sounds by that description!), and again for Tony Campolo’s talk on the omnipresence of God and abundant life. You can read those by clicking on the links.

I’ll post some photos at the end of the event, internet connection is scarce, which makes this social media gig a challenge.

A personal highlight of the day was meeting up, or rather tweeting up, with about 20 youth workers I’ve been connected with via twitter, plus a few new friends and connections. We enjoyed dinner together, and some non-cyber conversation.

Thoughts on disclosure, or the new FTC rules for blogging and me

Following months of deliberation by the Federal Trade Commission and rumors throughout the social media marketing world, the FTC this week released it’s “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising” to much buzz.  And, a little panic, I think, for bloggers, twitterers and facebookers who like to talk about their favorite goods and services, wondering what this all might mean for them.

It’s an 81-page document, in rather complex legal-governmental language.  You can read it by clicking here if you like [opens PDF document in a new window].

First, because I’ve fielded a few questions about this from the reviewers I work with on content for clients, I want to define what the new regulations say about bloggers – as I understand it. Disclaimer:  I’m not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice, and if I learn something new about it, I’ll update this post.

Disclosure

If a company gives you product or money or any other kind of award or compensation in return for your posting about them or their product on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking site, you (the blogger) need to say so clearly.  The consequence for not doing so includes potentially hefty fines, but the report does not delineate what to expect for certain infractions, nor how specifically it will be enforced.

Now, if you review books, resources or music for another outlet, such as YMX, and repost your work on your blog with link attribution (as that site has permitted), you need only be clear that you were given the resource to review for that outlet.  It is pretty clear that product is given to media outlets to review, and you’re (in the case of YMX) reprinting with permission with link attribution.  If you link to your work on another commercial site from your  personal Twitter/Facebook, etc, it seems clear to me that you got something in return for the work (product or  some other consideration).

If you are an affiliate marketer – say for amazon, or referral link prizes, and the like – you need to say so under these new rules.  If you make money on it, you need to say so more clearly than ever.  Here is a good overview of the new guidelines from the corporate marketing point of view.

About this blog

Most reviews on this blog are reprints of my work for hire, primarily at YS/YMX. Those include links back to the original publication page.

A few times publishers or companies have given me books to review, or something to give away. While it was clear enough at the time, I will be more specific about that going forward.  I have never been paid cash for any post on this blog, or anything I’ve posted on my personal social networking accounts.  I intend to add a disclosure page to this blog to acknowledge affiliate relationships so there is no confusion.

All very formal, but I have no problem disclosing this if it prevents confusion on the part of others. Clarity is good, and assuring readers that my thoughts and opinions are my own even if I got a free book is something I’m happy to do.  It’s necessary to help people who research purchases on the internet tell the difference between advertising and customer opinion, because the line had become blurry. Ethics are important.

Now, if we could just get the same kind of clear public disclosure from politicians and lobbyists, I’d be thrilled.

Review: Find Your Strongest Life by Marcus Buckingham

As a woman with all the challenges of family and working life, I selected this book from the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers program out of curiosity. I also brought a healthy dose of skepticism to a book about increasing success in women’s lives written by a man.

Being somewhat familiar with Buckingham’s work via other books and a recent experience hearing him speak at Shift prepared me for his upbeat, research-based approach and conversational style. “Find Your Strongest Life” begins with an analysis of extensive research about both men’s and women’s happiness which explains that women’s sense of happiness has declined steadily even as more and more choices became open to us. The opening dispels the popular quote of the feminist movement which says “You can have it all” and continues to provide the means for introspection by which an imbalanced, but full, life takes the place of striving for the impossible.

“Find Your Strongest Life” examines the elements and feelings Buckingham’s research has shown to be the key feelings, or SIGNS of a strong life. Each chapter explores means by which women may discern their strengths in different areas of life and put them into play by overcoming myths and misconceptions that may be standing in the way. It does not make promises of wealth or fame or quick-fixes, but it does offer information and questions to guide you toward self-revelation.

I found the self-examination useful, and can see why Buckingham has gained popularity from his books and workshops. If you are in a place of dissatisfaction with life, this book would be a useful method for discovering why and what life changes may put you on track to being more satisfied, and more happy with the life you choose.

Review: Forgotten God by Francis Chan

It is no simple task to write simply about the Holy Spirit. There is, perhaps, no other theological subject that creates more difficulty, disagreement and discomfort among the followers of Jesus Christ.  In Forgotten God: Reversing Our Tragic Neglect of the Holy Spirit, Francis Chan challenges readers to set aside those trappings and look carefully at what the scriptures say (not what we’ve been assuming they say) about the person of God, the Holy Spirit.

Chan writes:

Reading this book probably won’t be easy. No matter what tradition you come from, you likely carry baggage and harbor stereotypes when it comes to the Holy Spirit.  It’s going to require laying aside your baggage and stereotypes so you can be open to what God is trying to teach you.  Are you willing to do that?

If you have read Chan’s first book, Crazy Love, it will be no surprise to you what happens within the covers of Forgotten God. The theological framework of the Holy Spirit, once laid bare in Chan’s honest, truthful wondering, turns to what more God in the gift of the Holy Spirit could intend for his followers and for his church. Once the outward assumptions have been challenged, Chan firmly puts his arm about the shoulder of the reader, guiding us to look inward to discern what obstacles we ourselves are putting in the way of the Holy Spirit’s work, leading, will – his transforming power leading those who believe.

What Crazy Love does to challenge Christians to rise out of comfortable and lukewarm faith, Forgotten God does to upend Christians’ agenda for keeping the Holy Spirit tame and in-check.  Throughout the book’s 7 chapters, I found myself making frequent stops to, literally, do a double-take, re-reading a paragraph or point, diving for my bible or journal to dig deeper. (You can read a sample chapter here.)

Ultimately, I left Forgotten God with more desire, and more places exposed (and more excavation to do).  This is not a spiritual self-help book, it is a ‘discover more about God’ book that, if approached honestly and openly, will result in a deeper understanding, a deeper relationship with God the Holy Spirit.  Are you ready for that?

Review: Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors by Mark Riddle

Here’s a bit of my review of Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors, published at Youth Ministry Exchange:

The central question of long-time youth minister and youth ministry consultant Mark Riddle’s book Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors – A Church Leader’s Guide to Staffing and Leading Youth Pastors asks “Why does your church want to hire a youth pastor?”  Touching on issues of community, leadership, communication, mentoring, and the value of youth in the church, Inside the Mind is foremost a tool for the local church to use in discerning how to build sustainable ministry to youth.

Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors is divided into two sections, the first of which, “Staffing for Youth Ministry”, directly addresses the questions surrounding the choice and reasons to hire a youth pastor.  This includes asking who should be involved in the process, what about the church culture needs to be taken into consideration (and potentially changed), and is addressed to both church leadership and congregations when discussing hiring a staff youth minister.  

Read the rest by clicking here.

Shift: Engaging Culture for Effective Ministry

General Session 3 features David Kinnaman and Mark Matlock on the theme of engaging culture for effective ministry.

Mark Matlock is the VP of Events and Content at Youth Specialties, author of a number of YS titles, and the heart behind Real World Parents. David Kinnaman of Barna Research and is the author of UnChristian. They are presenting together.

Mark is talking about the various books and movies that have been recently published regarding post-Christian America, including the most recent Newsweek cover article.  They are representing Christian America, self-reported, about 81%.  They are describing the different defining questions Barna uses to drill down into the results that go to what is meant by the “decline of Christian America”.  This shift about a post-Christian America is happening among about 75% of the self-reported Christian group.

Mark to David: did your research really say that 2/3rds of young people are leaving the faith when they graduate from high school.  David: Let me set the record straight, our data has been abused on that subject.  Some students do leave. But what those 2/3rd are largely saying is that the faith doesn’t make a difference, it doesn’t make sense for therm.  They are rejecting Christianity because it doesn’t make them a better doctor or teach them to better engage the world’s issues.  They aren’t necessarily rejecting Jesus, they are rejecting organized religion.

Mark asks, what do we need to be teaching to help them better engage culture (or abstain from it), and be like Joseph, Esther and see tangible results of faith in their lives.  David: we’re studying this generation, we call them Globals, and seeing them wanting to engage in different places, different cultures. We see the Gospel “busting out of the usual containers” and America is no longer, if it ever was, the center of spiritual change.  This means that people who are non-Christians, and non-American Christians, are refining us, and sensing something much bigger in a move of God.  At the heart of this is the next generation.

Mark asks, could we as Americans, miss out on this new thing that God is doing because we can’t see it? (like the Pharisees missed who Jesus was when he was right there among them)  David responds that if kids are missing it, whose responsibility is that considering we are their leaders, pastors, parents? 

What are some ways we can shift the mentality of the mission trip – could we, Mark proposes, shift the “we’re bringing something” to another country on a mission trip, to “we’re here to see what God is doing here” – an entirely different posture.

David is talking about fatherlessness – it is 4x as likely today than in 1960 – in terms of how we minister to this generation.  Our goal is for them to see God as Father, and that God is in the business, still, of restoring people.  What is different is the path to understanding that realization, and becoming part of the solution and participating in restoring what’s broken.

Note – because this conversation is pretty rapid fire, these really are just notes, and not necessarily direct quotes.

David is back to the idea of helping students understand how their faith affects who they are supposed to be – he calls this vocational discipleship.  (my thought, is this like what Bob Briner’s book Roaring Lambs proposed, a whole life faith that lets your faith infiltrate every part of life, in a non-compartmentalized way.)

Mark is talking about moving away from youth ministry as a commodity, and getting back to the roots of pioneers who went to the dark places to be about transforming culture.  Recapture the essence of what God has called us to, it’s not about a box of curriculum, but being truly missional and sharing the transformational power of Jesus Christ.”

Shift: Connecting the Church and Home

I’ll be posting live notes here from Shift session 2, featuring Mark Holmen and  Bubba Thurman on the theme of Connecting the Church and Home.  Make sure you refresh to see the most current additions.

Mark Holmen is the author of Faith Begins at Home.

Satan has been attacking families by making it easy to outsource everything we want our kids to be taught. We live in a land of plenty, of more, and we’ve forgotten God.  It’s a treadmill.

Hypocrisy is driving young people away from the church.  Specifically, they’re at church, in programs, but they’re not getting the same message at home.  Speaking from Deut. 6 – impress these things on your children… (not drop them off at church).

This seemed like a win-win situation – kids get dropped off, we had great success. Participated in a national survey, Significant Religious Influences, designed to reveal why the kids in the youth program have the faith they do.  The number one reason why teenagers have faith was mom. Two was, dad.  Three, pastor. Grandparents, Sunday School, Youth Group, Church Camp, Retreats… Parents are 2-3 times more influential than any church program.

As a youth pastor, he was spending all his time and energy on the bottom of the influence list.

Two approaches to the problem.

Typical churches program for nursery, children’s ministry, youth ministry, move onto men’s/women’s and senior adults ministry.  Then, when they decide to “do something for families” we make a new box. This approach, at best, gets about 40% of parents to turn out.

By being a “faith at home focused church” – weaving ministry to families through everything the church does – equips families to minister to their children and reaches all of your families. Ministering to families becomes about how you do church. It runs across how you “do” (or make choices about) each area of ministry.

In youth ministry, he calls it “both-and-and” ministry. Youth pastors need to do everything they can to reach students for Christ, know him and follow him.  And, they need to be faith at home focused students – by equipping them to live out their faith 24/7 at home (and wherever else they go). And, youth pastors need to find ways to engage parents.

Describes a retreat where there was a session for the parents.  Everything the students were taught was shared with the parents, there was a joint session for parents and students following the students’ retreat, and discussion questions went home with them for further discussion apart from the youth ministry.

This faith at home focus is a long-term vision for a church, an intentional part of every ministry at all age levels.

Bubba Thurman – homepointemodel.com

He’s talking about the church-home connection from the youth minister’s perspective. Their church’s home-family ministry is called Home Point.

Faith at home, or family ministry, doesn’t mean the elimination of youth ministry or youth pastors. It does mean the inclusion of church-supported, intentional equipping for parents so that the most effective people (parents) are best able to disciple their children.

Three hurdles for the youth pastor to overcome – between youth ministry and the home ministry.

1. Pride – the inability to admit that there’s something wrong with what we’re doing.

2. Assumptions – what comes to mind when you hear family ministry? “I hear a van pulling up in the church parking lot, 9 kids pile out all wearing uniforms, ready to play bible trivia.”

3. Fear – can keep us from doing something we know is right. What are we afraid of about family ministry (inspiring and equipping parents to disciple their kids)? Inadequacy and measures are the most common answers.

Suggestions for getting started on considering parents when planning youth ministry. Tell parents, by website or print out, what you’re teaching ahead of time. Share the lessons, share the talks from events or retreats. Invite parents to your team trainings, teach them to lead bible studies, be relational, anything you would train a volunteer leader to do. Most parents want the opportunity to lead their kids, they just don’t know how.

Shift: Francis Chan

I’ll be adding my notes from Francis Chan’s talk here at the Shift Conference this morning.  You can see a number of the sessions at the linked website.

Starting video asks “How are you? Your soul?” Francis is talking about how about 75% of the time his feels amazing, and the other 25% of the time he thinks “this sucks” and he’s ready to walk away.

The church needs a radical shift. “Every time I read the book of Acts, I put it down and think ‘wow, we’re just like that.”  I look at it and think, ‘we’re so different from that.’”  The sense is that commitment like Stephen and Paul is what  Jesus meant when he said he was going to build his church on this.  Not like us. “We’re so stoppable.”

We resolve ourselves to the idea that is so different now. Acts 4:13 – boldness was what made people astonished and recognize that ordinary men represented God.  We’re almost the exact opposite, we’re more educated, and less bold.  We (in ministry) have set the bar so low.  We’ve set the bar the so low that people believe that it’s impossible to reach their neighbors.  But we believe that it’s the same Holy Spirit!

“We’ve forgotten our first love.  We got educated. We put our confidence in this new knowledge and new programs.”  Quoted Oswald Chambers about programs and methods.

The Holy Spirit speaks to US, and gives us a direction, just for us.  And we know it, and we don’t go that direction.  We get scared.  We don’t do it, and we know it.

We get stopped when we compare ourselves to other people. I’ll never be {fill in the name of the person you admire in ministry}.  We forget that we have that Holy Spirit in US.  We’re scared to listen. We’re scared to act on what the Holy Spirit  says to us.  We’re scared to be bold.

One problem is, you can be a successful pastor or youth pastor here in America without the power of the Holy Spirit. You can be invited to speak, but not in love with Jesus.  Can you be in love with Jesus, empowered by the Holy Spirit and bored at the same time?! Where is the supernatural in your life?

Do people walk away from your group, your church saying “The Lord is God” stunned like the unbelieving prophets of Baal when God answered Elijah.  The prophets of Baal had a great worship service, but no fire really came down from heaven.  Elijah was a man just like us – do you believe that?  Is your God the real one?  The Lord is God.

I can talk people down the aisle and into praying a prayer without the Holy Spirit.  It’s the life change I can’t talk people into. ” I can’t make her love you, God.” (his jr high age daughter)  So what do we do? Create a bigger event? Unless the Holy Spirit get ahold of her, we can’t do anything.  ”The Spirit gives life, the flesh is of no help at all.”

As a dad, what do I want from my youth pastor, from her counselors? I want a man or woman of prayer, a man or woman of God who is so full of the Holy Spirit that they are filled with boldness and the confidence of God. It is the Spirit that gives life and the flesh is of no help at all. Elijah was a man just like us.”

Here is the shift that needs to take place. People need to be attracted to God. Not the band. Not the program. People need to be attracted to God. [closes in prayer]