Hit the Back Button to Move Fwd by Gavin Richardson

me speaking & talking : here & there for your amusement

next week i'll be doing some of that speaking thing that i do.

wednesday thru friday i'll be in and around the dallas area for the united methodist reporters communicators conference. i'll be leading a churchy discussion based off the keynote speakers thoughts on new media strategy. the possibilities of that conversation could be amazing, so i'm excited to get to lead that. the next day i'll sit on a panel with a bunch of social media geek / church nerd friends on, what else, social media. that will be easily enjoyable. hope we can bring some stuff to the table that challenges everyone in the room. that's the task i'm giving myself.

flying back on friday and then on saturday is up early to volunteer with podcamp nashville and put on my session of 'sex, lies, and social media.' that's going to be interesting & a whole lot of fun. vegas is betting my awkward statement and subsequent blushing will be an over/under at 4 (its just 20 mins of talking otherwise it'd be much higher).

unfortunately, if you are not already signed up for the communicators conference then you'll have to miss me this go round, but you can still sign up for podcamp & check out me and some of the other fabulous minds of technology and what they are thinking about.

mark yaconelli : youthworker movement podcast

episode five of the youthworker movement podcast is up and going. subscribe via itunes

mark is the director of the youth ministry spirituality project and the author of "contemplative youth ministry" and "growing souls." i met up with mark to talk contemplative youth ministry approach & growing souls. how does a youth leader care for the soul of themselves and the youth in their charge. we also bring back some 80's music. interviewed at the national youth workers convention in atlanta, november of 2007.

contact me to get plugged in or ask questions on the podcast. i could use hearing from some friends.
email at: gavoweb(at)gmail.com or call: 615-357-3275

new podcast : youth worker movement episode 4

after a long hiatus of wondering. i've released episode four of the youthworker movement podcast. this was one that we cut back in november while mike and i were at nywc. this one covers some budget talk and other ideas.

i will be releasing some of the interview podcasts from that convention in the coming days. i will also be hanging out with some musicians for gma week next week. apparently the idea is to have some podcasts come from those hang-outs, so you want to check back into these things.

click here to subscribe via itunes or join into the youthworkermovement.org network.

christian educators fellowship : look for me

so it is pretty much official. i will be teaching two workshops (social networking & another tbd) and doing a few other ongoing cool things at the christian educators fellowship conference at albuquerque new mexico in october.

cool, thing, current plans are that erin will be coming with me. i never make it out west, so this is a treat and i look forward to seeing some new folks and new scenes. so make your plans to look for me. &:~D

jonathon & a bunch of other local friends will be there doing stuff.

they have a running blog as part of their site.

teens & the internet

i have been sorting through slideshare tonight looking for some new stuff to add to this workshop i'll be doing at warmth in winter in two weeks. this one was based on pew research, it isn't downloadable like other slide presentations, but i will most likely be linking it at some level.

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looking forward to 2008

i stopped doing resolution stuff years ago. i realized i sucked at them. so why devote energy that direction. i am however looking forward to a number of things in 2008. in no particular order. i look forward to...

• the first vacation of the year. erin & i are leaving on a cruise on saturday. just us on this trip, no family. this part of a larger group, so we will have some friends that we know, but they are not so close that one feels like they have to spend a significant amount of time with.
• finally training my dogs how to clean up after themselves & shutting the back door.
• "the great adventure" it is a 12 week exploration that our full church is going through. the curriculum written by our own community of believers and it is excellent. i am stoked to see & hear all that happens in the next 12 weeks.
• less quantity & more quality blogging. i am not sure what i mean by that, it is just a feeling i am having
  
• weddings weddings & more weddings. i love weddings, they are a lot of fun and erin does the stress work on getting the present. a few of the weddings for the year are part of erin's crew from south carolina whom are some of the finest people i've known.
• my future weight loss. currently i'm at my heaviest ever. we, erin & myself, did the join the gym thing a few months ago and are working together to walk or work out at least each day. i can still bang out impressive skills but i can no longer safely fit into my climbing harness. which, is upsetting.. not to mention expensive if i have to get a new one.
• hitting the woods more, camping/caving/climbing, did none if it (church trip doesn't count) this year, that is an all time low. climbing dependent on weight loss as i refuse to buy a new harness.
• our youth missions experiences this summer. this year i get to go to both our jr. high experience at camp lookout & then to asp with our senior high. i like the week trip with our youth and they are always such wonderful missionaries.
• i look forward to finishing some of these darned books that i started in 2007. my "multiple book disorder" took on a whole new level in 2007. i look forward to reclaiming my reading in 2008.
• family beach vacation over july 4th. it will either be wonderful or insanely stressful.
• those unexpected ministry things that seem to come up. maybe some more speaking gigs, maybe some more writing.. i know i'll be going to a few more training and retreat events this year. look forward to new friends with those efforts.
• podcasting more.. i like doing them, but i have yet to figure out a good schedule for making it happen. plus have one other podcast project in the works.
• some extending of my relationship with God.. i've been a bad friend these last few months.
• doing the kids thing. we said we wanted to wait at least a year before entertaining kids. this makes mother-in-law very happy
• the possibility of a 15 year high school reunion? reunion is unlikely, since have yet to have one, but there will probably be some trip to hang out with my hs friends who continue to be the best friends i have & will ever have. three new kids this year, so babies are a great excuse to travel & play.
• not buying the next, latest and greatest, big time technology gadget.. again. i have a solid record of this. heck, i finally got an ipod this summer. refurbed of course.
• the development of some new initiatives within the youth ministry structure. small group stuff, arts & theology stuff, and some more local missions and awareness things.
• picking back up the guitar again.. not sure why i stopped playing. with that, maybe i will start back with the piano some. this means less computer time. erin wouldn't mind that. haha!
• spending some days alone wandering & acting like i am some photographer
• a new season of university of alabama college football
• my second attempt at being a boat captain..
• family reunion in november

seems like 2008 will be a pretty good year. shalom, -gav

nywc atlanta : fellow morning pilgrims

my third day of pilgrimage started off with hanging out with fellow pilgrims.

while the rest of the convention folks were sleeping or attending seminars. i had a fab breakfast with natalie. many blogger folks might remember her from a post she threw out there last year about why she gave up on youth group. we were part of some of the same networks and struck up a fun friendship before that blogger celebrity and after. we actually got to meet for the first time this summer and finding out that her university was just down the road from my hotel (atlanta driving speak for 15 minute drive) we had to catch up. met up at a cool little spot for breakfast. i had carmalized banana pancakes.. yummie! talked college, church, life, stories, mutual friends and theology. sorely missed was revmom, who on this saturday was busyrevmom. there will be a next time, i have gleaned some understandings of atlanta traffic and will be more apt to make a 2nd pilgrimage.

upon arriving to the convention center i pushed through a haze of shiny sequins, bright colors, belly buttons, and funny eyes to get to a quiet room. there i met up with mike king. we were supposed to catch up yesterday for an interview, but today worked out and i am glad it did. we both think we have met before, but no clear picture of that emerged. we spent time together talking youth ministry, wesleyan practice, youth front, our own spiritual practices, and some blog stuff. as we sat together i felt i was hanging with a friend. we have some similar paths in our past & some veeery different paths, but i see us finding our way on very much the same pilgrimage now. i love what mike represents for himself, humility, honesty, and deep thought. i love how he has challenged his ministry world and brought about change. that is gutsy. shows an incredible amount of confidence in God's movements in one's life and ministry. look for our conversation to end up in a future episode of the youthworker movement podcast.

i now proclaim myself a member of the mike king fan club. i look forward to catching up again and maybe taking a little pilgrimage to his little monastery called a youth front.

nywc : here i come

for the remainder of the day i will be doing my job.. and preparing to head to atlanta for the national youth workers convention by youth specialties. i am going as guest of youth worker movement, an organization to help youth leaders in the wesleyan traditions connect and resource for best practice youth ministry. i will be putting together some interviews with folks for the podcast that my buddy and jonathon have started doing. jonathon won't be with us, so i will probably be podcasting with my travel partners jason & mike.

things i am looking forward too..

• chilling out with new youth ministry friends, love front line practitioners
• catching back up with mark yaconelli
• sitting down with mike king
• talking prayer & spiritual formation with jeannie oestreicher
• interviewing mark riddle
• doing some hang out with natalie
• hopefully catching up with some atlanta based personal friends
• maybe seeing one or two general sessions
• stalking anna, our joke, talking tennessee youth ministry collaboration
• reading different blogger takes on the conference

things not looking forward too..

• not having my conference buddy will there, we always seem to just hang out at youth conference though we both live around nashville
• atlanta traffic
• not doing the creative stuff with lilly again.
• the abyss that is the expo or vendors floor.. that place is crazy!

youth worker movement podcast : episode three

you can now check out the latest episode of the youth worker movement podcast. subscribe via itunes or what other feed reader you are using.

youth worker movement podcast : reunion tour

i am now the guy in charge of uploading and getting the youth worker movement podcast episodes online and out there... i have uploaded episode two, which can be downloaded directly from the youth worker movement site (which you need to be a member of, free), or (hopefully) will show up through itunes subscription.

this episode, since there was so much time between our last episode, we are calling our reunion tour. we will be cutting a new episode tomorrow and should be online after the weekend.

update: the podcast feed is working, so you can subscribe through itunes. go do it now!

skype me!

hey friends, are you on skype? i'm now able to rock the internet system. basically set up an account to be able to do some podcast conversations with people. though i might actually try it out as a phone system. the idea of an international call is pretty cool to me. so skype me if you can!

podcasting with stphransus

jonathon & i finished cutting our anniversary track for our initial pilot episode for the youth worker movement podcast. it's been fun, look for the reunion tour episode (as we are calling it) online sometime soon. you can subscribe via itunes by looking for "youthworker" in the music store search.

update: if you want to get in on the podcast action, ask a question, share a story, berate us, or tell us how good looking we are. call 615-357-3275

listen up!

for those of you in the nashville area, check out the fish 94 fm this evening. why? maybe something, maybe nothing. from what i know they are planning on coming to our youth podcast tonight. that's all i know. we have been their "church of the week" profiled some last week and i guess this week. so you might find myself and our merry band of crazies on the radio. we meet up from 6:30 to 7:30, so you might hear something from us on the radio then, maybe not.. i wonder what they do plan on doing coming to our podcast?

update: if you listened in for us specifically, sorry.. all the fish people did was drop by and give us some freebies. nothing major, but nice.

experiences of a youth podcast

a few weeks ago we started doing our wednesday night bible studies and conversations as a podcast. i have not checked to see how many subscriptions or total downloads we have had (though it has maxed my typepad bandwidth when a new episode goes up) but i have gleaned some observations that i think are priceless. some i expected, some not so much

• youth are super intense. this intensity does not mean they do not goof off. what i mean by this, is that they are so very intense in listening in order to contribute that for 20 minutes they listen and contemplate and respond appropriately. from the perspective of a youth minister.. i'll take 20 minutes of a week of intense listening anytime over what is the usual amount
• there is order. this is partly due to johnathan. we turn off mics when people are not talking, so everyone has to raise their hand to show they want to say something and then wait for their cue. this way we don't pick up their side conversations or heavy breathing, so it is easily justified.
• they are incredibly honest. it may be just us, i doubt it though, but the youth are very honest in their confusions, successes and shortcomings as they see them. to be this way over the net, is pretty remarkable.
• even in the "controlled" environment of a recording studio (which i'd hardly say we have) youth are still unpredictable. from our last episode where one kid changed wardrobe. dropping something. kicking mic stands. complete and total silence. asking for "re-do's" it's amazing to me.
• the gimmick works. it might not be a gimmick, but i do think that the idea that youth are creating their own content is something they want to be a part of. from our first episode with four youth to our fourth with nine. i would say that is some pretty good percentage growth.

the future hopes

• i hope that numerous youth who do not come to our recording session listen in and grow from it.
• i would like to know that our church finds growth through our conversations. it might be gaining understanding of the youth or spiritual growth as we strive for.
• i hope that some of the participants listen again to the conversations to remember thoughts, epiphanies, and questions.
• i hope to find out someday that others around the world listen to our podcast. then we will take over the world!!!

theCornerCast

our new venture in youth ministry is now starting out. check out www.thecornercast.net it is our wednesday night bible study & conversation on podcast. as far as i know, this is the first time to put youth on a podcast in this type of format, so it's a little scary to think all that won't be perfect (ie. a long silence from a question). the small group we have on wednesday seemed to enjoy it and some of the youth that don't come are looking forward to downloading it, so that is cool. i know that johnathan enjoyed recording & mixing up the podcast. it isn't listed on itunes yet. i will put that in the works later today sometime. i had to wait to get the feed corrected.

to know why we are doing this, we have a large population of youth who don't come to church on wednesday nights. from what i can tell, wednesday evenings have never been "successful" in terms of numbers. last year we had 15 or so coming and that was a lot apparently. those numbers wained and we continue to have low numbers. so the thought is, do a short podcast of our conversation time and put it out there for others to hear. for those that visit other churches wednesday night stuff, they can get an understanding of the methodist expression that their parents want them to know.

who knows what or where it will go after that. with the turning on of the corner cast and the corner venue we can see that God might shape some folks we don't even know with these ventures.

youthworkermovement project

pleased to announce that jonathon and myself are going to be developing and putting on a new youth ministry podcast through the YouthWorkerMovement. we're hoping to put together a series of podcasts to help ym's gain a greater understanding of solid theological & spiritual ministries as well as practical nuts and bolts in implementing.

youthworkermovement is a networking and resourcing initiative of the united methodist church & the foundation for evangelism.