On Thursday night I head to Denver for our second annual Open Denver event. Open is a movement of one-day training events built from the ground up to support & advance youth ministry locally. It’s unlike anything else out there.
- Most of the presenters work right in the region, so they live the local context every day.
- While we provide national level support, the local leadership team is in control.
- We keep Open cheap— really cheap— at $25/$35 depending on when you register to make it accessible to anyone.
- It’s cheap because none of our speakers get paid. They are doing it because they want to give back to their local community and they want to see youth ministry advanced in their area.
- Speaking of money, we give most of it away. This year Purple Door Coffee will receive 34% of the profits at Open Denver. The local organizing team will also get 33%… so we’re not just tapping the local youth ministry network for favors. To keep things transparent we actually publish our budget on the website.
Four Reasons I’m Excited about Open Denver
- Hospitality – If you’ve never been on campus at Flatirons Church, you are in for a treat. I’m a small church guy and I pull into the parking lot of a megachurch with certain expectations. Well, when you come to Flatirons prepare to have those turned on their head. Their staff is amazing and we’re super privileged to have them host Open Denver.
- Continuity – Last year we had the pleasure to hear Jenny Popp’s story. In the past year she’s taken some big steps and we’ve invited her back to celebrate all that God is doing.
- Practical Training – I tend to gravitate towards new ideas in youth ministry. But that doesn’t mean that Open Denver isn’t full of practical stuff. Lots of the breakouts are going to be really, really practical. Perfect for a wide variety of youth workers.
- Ideas birth ideas – One of the truly fascinating things about Open is that youth workers hearing a new idea for the first time at an Open event… seeing that it works locally… has a net effect of birthing brand new ideas. This is the net Kingdom effect of what happens when you “Open Source” ministry ideas as opposed to getting caught up on “who owns what.” Give credit where credit is due and advance the Kingdom of God.
See you there?
On Friday, I’ll be leading a 90 minute version of my talk, Teenagers + The Small Screen. I’d love to see you there on Friday and/or Saturday for the second Open Denver!
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