• 5 reasons I’m stoked about The Summit

    Later this morning we’re officially announcing a brand new youth ministry event called, The Summit. Obviously, it’s a pretty big deal for our little start-up. So I’m excited about it for all sorts of business-y reasons.

    But I’m stoked about The Summit for far more important reasons than business stuff.

    1. We need to dream again. We’re a tribe of dreamers. Since the beginning of youth ministry we have been a body of folks bound by our eternal optimism. But the past few years have taken the wind out of us. We’ve gone into survival mode and it’s time  to shake out of it. Oh, I’m longing to be in a room of people exploring what could be instead of what is impossible.
    2. It’s unlike anything else in youth ministry. It’s true that there are a good number of youth ministry events out there. Creating this one wasn’t a thumbing of the nose at any of them. Instead, we really think that this format/style/vibe is something missing from within our tribe.  We’re taking a big risk on this because we think that’s true. Now we’re asking you to take this risk and join us in figuring out if we’re right.
    3. Electric things happen when you mix these folks with a pile of youth workers. This thing has a crazy awesome line-up of thinkers. Just like the Extended Adolescence Symposium, we wanted to create a day we’d really like to attend. As the line-up has taken shape I just kept going back to look at it. Wow, it’s a group of crazy people who are changing things. (Crazy in my language is good!)
    4. This thing could birth some stuff. Looking at the theme and topics, I’m really hoping that people don’t just consume this thing but that they really are stirred by it to advance Kingdom stuff.
    5. It’s a work in progress. I’ve never announced an event that was intentionally incomplete. But that’s what we’re doing. We’re talking to a pool of people but we aren’t quite sure who we want to add in what session. Don’t touch the walls, we’re still painting!

    Question: What feels new about The Summit? What doesn’t feel new?

  • It’s Here! Good News in the Neighborhood Curriculum

    Big news!

    Jon Huckins and I have been working on this curriculum for youth groups and young adults for several months. I’m excited to tell you that it’ll be out on April 2nd, 2012. Woohoo!

    If you buy it before it comes out… you’ll get it on April 2nd AND you’ll save $15. Here’s the link to buy it now.

    Here’s the description:

    This 6-week series will deep dive your students into the practical realities of a radical life with Jesus. Built around six core postures of community life, students will examine Scripture, gain an understanding of their role in their community, and be challenged by a series of simple experiments they can try. More than a series which teaches your students about being Good News in their community– Good News in the Neighborhood offers practical application based on the life of Jesus and the 1st century Church. Our hope is that your students begin to see how God has called them to become good news in their homes, schools, and neighborhoods.

    Curriculum Outline

    Week 1: Listening (Experiment: Ethnography/Observation)

    Week 2: Submerge (Experiment: Participating)

    Week 3: Inviting (Experiment: Two-fold inviting)

    Week 4: Contending (Experiment: Standing up for our neighbors)

    Week 5: Imagine (Experiment: New eyes)

    Week 6: Entrusting (Experiment: Commissioning)

    What do  you think? Like it? Hate it? Gonna try it? 

  • Giant slayer

    I can’t speak for you. But for me– there are some giants on my radar to slay. 

    I could be introspective and talk about the giants I overcome in the inches between my ears. But if I’m honest, there are some very real giants out there for me to slay. Big, ugly, hairy, scary ones who have an addiction to anabolic steroids.

    It’s not for everyone

    I’ve been on this giant slaying journey for a long time. And I’ve won some pretty good battles. And I’ve met some other slayers along the way.

    One thing that’s been a lesson for me is that there are some folks out there that wear giant slayer t-shirts but are just locker room giant slayers. They talk a big game until the giant looks at them.

    Those people have romanticized giant slaying. They don’t have the skills for fighting nor the stomach for killing. Worse yet, they are paralyzed by a fear of losing.

    They are fans of giant slaying.

    To the victor goes the spoils

    It’s championship time in college basketball. And during this time a fascinating phenomenon is observed. In a close game the final shot goes up. If it goes in there is pandemonium on one side of the bench. If it doesn’t, the other side goes bizerk.

    Have you ever noticed how fast the losing team exits the floor? The winner sticks around and enjoys the moment. But the losing team? They dash for the locker room.

    That’s they way it is in real life, too. Winners survive to play another day. And losers go to the locker room and talk about shoulda, coulda, woulda, and next time.

  • The 6th graders

    One week all 8 of my boys arrived in a mob. That never happened. Typically, they came in groups of one or two as their parents made their way to camp after church. That was my first indicator that this week would be different. Soon I learned their story. This group of 8 boys had come to camp because they had a good time at the camp on their class trip. They had such a great time that they wanted to go back, together, to have a week of camp. Their parents knew it was a Christian camp, were totally fine with that, and wanted their boys to share the experience of the camp together.

    I soon learned that most of them had zero church background. They were great kids. Very polite, well behaved, and stoked for everything that happened at camp. At the same time, most of them had only ever attended church with a grandparent once or twice or gone to a wedding at some point.

    The first couple of days at camp were very normal. This enthusiastic group of boys did all of the ropes course stuff, went fishing on the lake, shot arrows horribly, and played with the animals at the nature center. But I could also see that the fun, skits, music, and Bible teaching were making their way into these boys hearts. As we walked from place to place they talked about what they heard. They asked me lots and lots of questions. And they thumbed through their brand-new Bibles at meals.

    Early in the week the speaker always presented the Gospel. Instead of asking for a response in a public setting, the camp set it up that we asked each camper individually in our cabin time if they’d like to begin a relationship with Jesus. With this group of guys I didn’t know what to expect. They were definitely interested in what was going on, but I didn’t know what that meant.

    On the way back to our cabin to debrief that nights talk the boys were a little quiet. But I had run them to the ground so I figured they were just ready for bed. (This was my strategy… make the first 2 days really physical so I could tire them out and they’d sleep at night.) We got back to our cabin and they all sat on their bunks.

    “So, what did you think about what the speaker said tonight?”

    One of the boys chimed in, “We’re all ready to give our hearts to Jesus. How do we do that?”

    That’d never happened to me. Typically, 1-2 of the boys started their walk with Jesus at camp. (For the first, third, or 23rd time.) But 8 boys from the same small town? Never ever ever did I see that coming.

    That was a week full of fun. But it was also a week that changed the lives of 8 boys, their families, and their community forever.

    This is Christian Camping

    I spent the summer of 1996 at Camp Timber-lee in East Troy, Wisconsin. I made $125 per week. I was at work all but 30 hours per week which basically meant I made less than $1/hour. Each Sunday afternoon a pile of parents placed 8 boys under my care. And then I spent the next 6 days pouring my life into them, in full knowledge I’d never to see them again.

    And it was totally worth it. 

    Serving on summer staff was intense in every capacity. You’re with people all the time. As an introvert the constant time with my cabin group exhausted me. The repetitive food, constant activity, and humidity helped me shed a lot of pounds. And each week I had to spend time around horses, not my favorite barnyard animal.

    More to the point is was intense spiritually. Each week was full of stories. Full of sharing. Full of prayer. And full of lives changed. Each week, unashamedly, the Gospel was shared with the kids. And each week, without fail, kids in my cabin gave their hearts to Jesus.

    Camp Week is Over

    I dedicated my blog to camp week for a single purpose. It’s been my experience that Christian camping is special. I’ve shared stories of my own experiences and the experiences of my friends. The impact of Christian camping is obvious. Lives are changed, fun is had, and a special bond is formed.

    It kills me to know that there are kids who simply can’t afford to go to camp. Will you consider joining me in giving $125 to scholarship a kid to go to camp this summer? Here’s the link.

    Photo credit: Chillon Castle by Jaeseok Lee via Flickr (Creative Commons) 

  • I wish I was still a camper

    This week I’m celebrating the huge impact of Christian camping by asking a few of my friends to share stories and reflections of their life at camp. The following story is from Becky Daye. Becky and her husband Dave have been a part of our life forever. Kristen met Becky on the first day of freshmen orientation at Moody Bible Institute, I worked alongside Becky & Dave at Camp Timber-lee in the summer of 1996, Becky was a bridesmaid at our wedding in 1997, on and on. They now live in Rochester, New York where they pastor a local church. I highly recommend Becky’s blog, Daye by Daye.

     

    We are the Reubens
    And we are really groovin’
    Our feet begin a movin’
    So check out what we’re doin’
    We’re the rootin’, tootin’ Reubens!!!

     

    Nearly thirty years later and I still remember my team’s cheer from my first week of summer camp!

    The memories are palpable- climbing a rocky slope to get to a campfire, scraping my legs on the side of the swimming pool, catching my first fish, laughing with friends, singing at the top of our lungs.

    Camp was a magical place for me. My friends and I could barely sit still through the Sunday morning worship service. We would eat a quick lunch, load the cars and drive through the mountains. The signs for “our” camp were so tiny, but each one was an indicator of the fun that we were about to have.

    This anticipation is still the same for me as an adult and one of my greatest joys in parenting has been the opportunity to see this same camp love growing in my children.

    Because camp can and should be a life changing place. It is an opportunity to get away from the normal pressures of life. To take time to reflect. To be surrounded by people who love God. Who are passionate about Him. Who know the truth of God’s Word and find teachable moments.

    My lifelong love of camp culminated in five summers of being a counselor. As I reflect on that time in my life when I was able to pour into the lives of hundreds of girls, I realize the privilege that this is.

    Camp is the antithesis of apathy! There is an excitement and a joy of life at camp that cannot be fabricated. You can feel it in the air. You can hear it in the conversations. You can catch it in the teaching times, in the songs, through the prayers.

    When you are surrounded by others who are falling more and more in love with Jesus, you want that for yourself. I wanted to know Jesus more as a result of my time at camp. I have watched as countless numbers of campers discovered this same desire in their own lives.

    My daughter came home from her first week at camp and taught me “three blind jellyfish, sitting on a rock”. And then she told me all about Jesus! And how she wants to love Him more!

    From the perspective of a camper, a counselor and a parent, I would say that camp is one of the best investments in the lives of children. And secretly? I wish I could be a camper again…

    Full-disclosure: I’m not getting paid a red cent for this series. I’m doing this because I believe camp is an important element of ministering to children and teenagers in our country. I invite you to join me in donating $125 to CCCA’s Corners of the Fieldcampaign. It’s pretty simple. For every $125 given a kid can go to camp this summer.

    Photo Credit: Liechtenstein Castle – Tony Bowden via Flickr (Creative Commons)

  • Speaking of camp!

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    Speaking of camp week, I’ve been speaking at a camp for a group of Lutheran youth workers near Edmonton this week.

    I’ve never been this far north! So that is cool.

    And it’s always great to hang with passionate people who want to wrestle through issues of extended adolescence, social media, and their implications on becoming Good News to the teenagers in their lives.

  • Katie’s Story

    This week I’m sharing stories of friends whose lives were impacted by Christian camping. Join me in celebrating the Power of Camp. This story comes from a local friend, Katie Dupuis.

    After my dad left we were super poor. We were also super miserable.

    My mom was depressed and working 3 jobs, she would lock herself in her room and cry when she was home, my older brother disappeared into his high school activities and friendships. I was left alone almost all the time.

    I hated everyone; my parents, my brother, God.

    Our church family took really good care of us, bringing us food and clothes. I resented it at the time, I was too proud to want their charity. That is until anonymous donors paid my way to Christian camps more than once. I’d take any opportunity to get away from home– even for just two weeks.

    Those acts of love and sacrifice allowed God to speak to me in a place where I could hear Him, away from my pain filled home life. At camp I could feel God in the passionate worship of other teens, I could see Him in the love of the counselors and other campers, I could hear Him in the messages that were preached.

    What I heard was that my parents divorce grieved God, my pain grieved God, this was not his plan or his doing, but neither was it too much for Him to handle. I was able to start to forgive and heal.

    I am forever grateful to those in our church who gave their money so that I could go experience God in an intimate, impactful setting. I cannot underestimate the effect that their generosity has had on my life.

    Full-disclosure: I’m not getting paid a red cent for this series. I’m doing this because I believe camp is an important element of ministering to children and teenagers in our country. I invite you to join me in donating $125 to CCCA’s Corners of the Field campaign. It’s pretty simple. For every $125 given a kid can go to camp this summer.

    Photo credit: Heidelberg Castle by Zoagli via Flickr (Creative Commons)

  • The Power of Camp [infographic]

    source: http://thepowerofcamp.com/?page_id=10

    Click here to download a full-sized version of this graphic. This would look hot on Pinterest.

    Full-disclosure: I’m not getting paid a red cent for this series. I’m doing this because I believe camp is an important element of ministering to children and teenagers in our country. I invite you to join me in donating $125 to CCCA’s Corners of the Field campaign. It’s pretty simple. For every $125 given a kid can go to camp this summer.

  • Camp saved me

    Welcome to Camelot

    Taking my bag out of the car and heading into the main building was like coming home. Sure, I didn’t live here. But the week I spent at camp each summer was my home base.

    Inevitably, the hour-long drive south of South Bend to a small, PCUSA camp called Geneva Center was full of anxiety. Whoever was driving was taking their sweet time. We couldn’t have left early enough nor driven fast enough for me to get there. A stop for gas was tortuous. No, please don’t stop to buy anything! Let’s go. I just had to get there. Once I was there everything was OK but nothing could be OK on the day camp started until I got there.

    This was camp week. My Camelot.

    I looked forward to camp for then unexplainable reasons. If asked I would just say it was fun and I loved the people. It’d take me a few more years to develop a vocabulary for what was going on.

    Deep stuff happened to my heart at camp. Each time I was there the grounds became more and more sacred to me. Even now, a couple decades later, when I look at the pictures on the website my mind is flooded with memories of my connection to God on those grounds.

    Like the real Camelot my imagination had built up a fantasy about this place. Camp had a disorienting effect because you had a hard time knowing if the camp world was real and home was fake or visa versa.

    Cabin Life

    Each week our little cabin group became a family. These 3 room cabins had a central room for “cabin time,” a boys room and girls room. We had a two counselors and about 15 fellow campers in each cabin. Of course, I had a favorite cabin. Cabin 4. For some reason I always ended up in that cabin group. And each week spent in Cabin 4 meant that I’d develop fun friendships with other kids from other Presbyterian churches around northern Indiana.

    I Needed Camelot

    As I’ve shared many times, my parents loved me deeply but I got dragged through the mud of all that was going on in their lives. Home often felt un-Camelot-like full of conflict, turmoil, change, and other drama. But camp was always the same. It was a predictable. It was safe. It was age-appropriate. It was “for me.”

    My earliest profound encounters with God happened at camp. Going for hikes, sitting around a campfire singing silly songs, swimming in the pool, or making dinner outdoors with my cabin group. I suppose I learned some stuff about God while at camp. But what I remember the most is that Geneva Center was a place where I encountered God.

    Camelot Needs Help

    As you can imagine, the Great Recession has hit Christian camps hard. For many families sending their kids to camp is discretionary spending that they just can’t take the risk on. And for many other families (especially from lower income households) when a kid needs camp the most, when life comes unravelled at home by the stresses of a recession, mom and dad can least afford to send their child.

    My life is better because of camp. I don’t know what would have happened without my weeks in Camelot. Will you join me in donating $125 to sponsor a kid to go to camp this summer?

    Photo credit: Castle Hohenschwangau via DragonWoman (Flickr, Creative Commons)

  • The Fight

    For Rocky & the Karate Kid, they knew who their enemy was. They knew who to train to beat. And they were desperate to win.

    But what about you… Who is your enemy? What are you fighting for? When is your battle scheduled?