Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

youth ministry institute : everyone needs a network like this

i spent the last 30 some hours with some fellow youth ministers that have been on a journey as a group this academic year. this was our youth ministry institute 2 for the tennessee conference umc.

a number of years ago i was part of the pilot youth ministry institute, since then they have popped up around the country. our conference has had a group participate just about every year since the first one. this was our first year for up-ing the commitment level in a second year. i totally loved the group experience, these folks span lay volunteer in small church rural areas of tennessee to middle sized sub-urban and me who is probably at the largest church of the bunch. these folks have become my best friends in ministry.

if you get a chance to participate in an intensive such as this i would totally suggest you go for it.

this years tasks were collaborative youth culture readings and research. i'll probably expand more on what i have processed, but this is a little list we created of some trends & ideas.

• single gender opportunities
• drivers license worships
• parent support group
• decision making lessons
• sexual-relationship talk
• self-image issues
• help parents understand their importance as parent
• "replacement" activities for harmful behavior
• root of the solution is God
• listen to God
• think for themselves
• build in times to listen
• be present with kids
• help them be ready for the world
• see them as individuals

pay attention : a psa of another kind

so in getting my work done for a paper i am turning in and presenting. this video showed up in my history of archived articles and reports. one thing is for sure, i'll never text a cute high school girl while crossing the road.

phyllis tickle : the new rose

rachel got me thinking of this video of phyllis tickle sharing insight into the new rose or the great emergence.

mac church : it isn't so threatening

john has a little pontificating happening over an announcement of a conversation at our church in a few weeks. jim had done this "pc mac" thing as part of a change of language. so john has examined.. why mac in a pc world?

street preaching : the pope in a gay marriage

matt threw this at me in an email.. interesting

come converse with us : connecting with the spiritual interest of non-religious people

Connecting with the Spiritual Interest of Non-Religious People

A Conversation among Christian Leaders in Middle Tennessee

 

(Facilitated by author/speaker, Jim Palmer)

~

June 13, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

First United Methodist Church, Hendersonville, TN 

The way many people process life and matters of ultimate reality have changed, and represent an increasing number of people in Middle Tennessee. Here's a sampling of those changes…

God Peace, Doctrine Truth, Christianity Christ, Blue Green,   Church Community,  Worship Centers Coffee Shops, Holiness Compassion, PC Mac,
Teaching Conversation, Membership Friendship, Functionality Beauty, Books Blogs
Knowledge Freedom, Answers Questions, Religion Spirituality, Doing Being
Style Substance, Outreach Missional, Plastic Digital, Heaven Earth
Exclusive Universal, Certainty Wonder, Consumerism Activism, Polished Real
Excellence Authenticity, Programs Doing Life, Homogeny Diversity
Orthodoxy Love,  Accountability Acceptance

The working question for June 13 is: What does this change mean, and how do I and my faith community respond?

~~

About Jim Palmer: After receiving his M.Div. from TEDS, serving on staff at Willow Creek Church, and planting/pastoring a non-denom church for six years, Jim left professional ministry and immersed himself in a world of non-religious people. As an author, he has been chronicling his journey out of organized religion: Divine Nobodies: Shedding Religion to Find God (and the unlikely people who help you) and Wide Open Spaces: Beyond Paint-by-Number Christianity. Jim's new book will be out the end of 2008. Through trial and error, Jim pioneered a form of church for non-religious people, which functions as a social network in the Nashville area.

Two groups have increasing contacted Jim through his writing: people interested in knowing God but turned off by organized religion, and people in ministry who desire to connect with them. The half-day gathering on June 13 is meant to stimulate conversation among pastors, church planters, church staff, and key volunteers around the topic of how churches can better relate to people who want to know God but currently wouldn't consider the idea of "going to church."

Jim and friends will share and guide our conversation and interaction for the gathering. Each participant will receive two free books: Divine Nobodies by Jim Palmer, and Authentic Relationships by Wayne Jacobsen. A light lunch will be offered. The cost is a $50 minimum donation. Because the gathering is designed to be interactive, participation is limited to the first 25 people. Please register by email before June 1 by contacting Jim at: [email protected] Each participant will be given preparatory assignments, and a dedicated Internet forum will be utilized for participants before and after the June 13 gathering. For directions to the gathering, go to www.hfumc.org (contact me for more church info)

tuesday randomness : linkage of a different kind

so some things to look at when you have free time like so many of us. i need to send out tips for some of these.. i just don't know who. so apologies for not giving appropriate props today. i still love and appreciate you for being so wonderful

• beth gives her rundown on general conference
• post general conference poem
• 10 reasons men should not be ordained
• hauerwas, moral superiority of gays
• necessity of christian culture
• the theo-celebrity deathmatch continues
• the future of emergent gathering...
• who didn't see this coming? apparently car dealers
• 21 ways to shoot better photographs
• dan kimball visits the holyland.. in orlando
• latest worship resources from jonny baker
• if i wasn't already at camp i'd imagine going
• ultimate fooseball
• what will you buy to stimulate the economy?
• the ultimate dance off
• 10 ways to work on subject matter in linkedin (big for me, i have no idea what to do with linkedin)
• blogging getting a second wind? you decide
• which comes first the gathering or the crowd?
• make some stop motion video
• can twitter be liberated? i didn't know it was captured
• a new american
• top down vs bottom up polity in the church
• is facebook now part of a murder?
• apparently you are not God's favorite

important day in tennessee conference youth & children ministries

this is a letter i have sent off to a number of fellow youth ministers and interested parties. it's been quiet, but this a continuation of the recent firing changes of two our most functional and successful parts to the tennessee conference ministries of the united methodist church.

Hi all,

hate to leave a short notice alert for a meeting. but tomorrow has possibility to be a big day in the world of youth ministries.

In the afternoon the camping committee is meeting (at the conference office) to discuss the future of camping ministries in the aftermath of the dissolving of the program positions as they were. As it looks, there will be a rubber stamp to have Dickie Hinton, who is program director at Beersheba, function as director over all camping. The second point of business is summer camp at Cedar Crest. There is a real lack of summer staff and if canceling camp becomes the option then there are many of us that fear it would never come back. This might be the desire as some as there is a resolution going to Annual Conference to develop a task force for exploring other options for Cedar Crest. Though my participation in Cedar Crest has been minimal over the years I appreciate and know the important of camp. My own experience in childhood being spent at the methodist camp in southern New Jersey. We hired James to try and bring Cedar Crest up to speed as a camp that gives a high adventure retreat space for summer camps as well as smaller church groupings. My personal opinion, we have nickeled and dimed our way through camping ministries to get our current results. I ask for your prayers and maybe suggestions that we could bring to the table as solutions to not let summer camp die for the hundreds of youth that call it home for a summer.

at 6:30pm we will be convening the first gathering of the youth ministry for the conference since the 'listening' session a few weeks ago. This meeting, as i know, is open to interested parties to attend. As I know, I will be there and some of the CCYM as well as Loyd. The order or content of the meeting, I do not know. I hope it is a continuation of the 'listening' session where we can do some discerning and visioning of how to actually move forward. If you car not, or cannot, make the meeting pray for discernment and listening on all parts. Like I have said in the past, I am all for churches growing and reaching those who are lost/unchurched/etc. however, it is undeniable that the methods for which our trusted leadership took upon themselves to bring change have caused hurt and unrest.

thanks for all ya'lls time
shalom
-gav

music monday : shut your eyes

we forgot about AIDS : general conference oh snap moment!

buddy bill has posted to the methoblog one of those, oh snap! observations. in all the celebration about nothing but nets and selling basketballs signed by.. i forget who, i think the bishops. we apparently have forgotten our commitment to global AIDS crisis from four years ago.

i know what you are saying.. AIDS is so 2004

my night : general conference 2008

you are looking at some of our quorum that collected for the virtual reality viewing of a very real general conference. in the house through the night

• revmom
• revragamuffin
• jim morrow
• carol mckay
• john stephens
• jonathon norman
• locust and honey
• john meunier (sorry, forgot john, too many johns it seems)
• some second life locals

good question : general conference reflection

so i've been all into the blogosphere and being the onlooker for general conference this year. so much more than in '04.. before that there really wasn't a way to keep up like today. i find this from craig to be a very good question

The General Conference is meeting under the theme of: "A Future with Hope." But, does the world or the Church (in general) really need the UMC?  Is there a place in the plan and purpose of God for the UMC?

general conference 2008 : second life chat

today after doing the oh crap errands for wifey (i forgot to do something so i had to handle it in the morning which took more effort than if i remembered yesterday). i jumped over to the retreat house to watch the general conference stream. was joined by a good couple of folks throughout the day.

i wasn't the best at paying attention today, there was some work of the church i had to attend too, but the theme today was central and regional conferences. more later. if you want to join us, come on this evening. i will also be holding open the chat room in the methoblog.

from rev mom:

Watching General Conference 2008 in community within the medium of Second LIfe has been such a blessing.  We have had jokes and laughter as well as excellent and thoughtful reflections on the actions of General Conference.

Tonight is the final working evening for GC2008; the closing worship service will start tomorrow, May 2 at 3:15 Central time.  Please join us in community tonight at 10:00 pm Eastern Time (9:00 Central, 7:00 Second Life time) to watch the final working hours of GC2008.

Tomorrow, we will gather together at 3:30 Eastern Time tomorrow for a short prayer session before the final Worship Service of GC2008 starts at 4:15 Eastern, 3:15 Central or 1:15 Second Life time.

To enter Second Life, you will need to register at www.Secondlife.com and download the client.  The orientation for Second Life will take anywhere between 15 minutes to 30 minutes -- when you are finished, IM myself (ReverendMommy Rabeni) or Gavin Richardson (Gavin Tellig) for a Teleport invitation to the build.  If you want to find it for yourself, the build is on Xenia Island and is just North of Koinonia Church.