I’ve spent the last few days, once again, in SoCal.  Last week I explained in this blog-post that I had spent some time with the National Network of Youth Ministries… the day after I had met with them they called and asked if they could fly me back down for another couple days of collaborating on a pretty special project.

Here’s the brief report on the few days down south…

Wednesday: Grabbed some time catching up with a friend, Mindi, who was also participating in the Wednesday NNYM meeting.  We were able to catch up before heading into the meeting.  Our 3.5 hour collaboration on Wednesday afternoon/evening wasn’t the most exciting, but laid the framework for the next day.  On Wednesday evening I had a blast hanging out with Jeramy once again.  We went out to an awesome Indoor/Outdoor Restaurant (Stone Brewery) before heading to the movie The Book of Eli.  Very interesting film.

Thursday: Jeramy and I went out for an early morning brisk walk (traveling really messes with the ol’ exercise schedule).  After a great breakfast (thanks Jerusha) I was off to the all-day meeting with NNYM.  Fantastic work/progress was done on this project.  Fun to hang out with Kevin, Alon, Daryl and Joel.

I left at 3:15 and started the long-trek up to Simi Valley.  Without any traffic the drive would take probably an hour and 45 minutes.  I arrived in Simi three and a half hours after my departure.  So strange that I could have flown home faster than I drove just 90 or so miles.  Gotta love LA traffic!  Anyway, I had a meeting with my friend Mike and my brother-in-law Scott.  We’re talking about a couple opportunities as well.  It’s fun to partner with my brother-in-law on something and it has been a blessing as well to help Mike on the ministry side of things (he’s a former NBA player who is now doing quite-a-bit of speaking).

On Thursday night I spent a little bit of time with my in-laws before crashing for the night at their place.

Friday: The morning provided a much-needed slower pace; breakfast with my Father-in-law, then off to the Spire offices (and catching up on some admin stuff for Youthmark).  For lunch I was over in Valencia and started my series of meetings:

Lisa: a friend from Alaska/The Master’s College… She’ll be an asset in setting up some of our AK towns this summer.

Joe: another friend from college and currently the Dean of students at TMC.  Great to catch-up and talk thru some future possibilities.

Matt: a meeting my friend Mike had set up.  He is in the film-industry and I wanted to pick his brain about video-production for future possibilities as Youthmark does prom0-pieces and such.

Tim, a Youth Pastor in Valencia who is considering/leaning toward doing a Youthmark Mission Venture.

A very full afternoon in Santa Clarita, but an exciting time with these four.

My evening was very exciting back over in Camarillo as I got to go out to dinner with my in-laws and then head over to Anthony and Stephanie’s and catch up with them!

As this post goes live, I will be on my way home to my family that I miss so much!  Excited to hug, kiss and love on them!

Praising God for a few busy/productive/inspiring days in LA-LA land!

Grace,
Brian

Coming home from a quick three day trip to TX.  This was a fantastic trip, and what they say  about everything being bigger in Texas is not true.  Case in point, look at this picture:

My Venti Iced Coffee is the exact same size as my Venti in Seattle.   Another example; the number of people in Houston who came to my preview meal was 8 (for a city with about 6 million people), whereas in Glenwood Springs, CO, a town of 10,000, we had  9 people!  So, not all is bigger.

However, I will tell you that the ministry was AWESOME in TX.  I really enjoyed our preview meals (18 today in Dallas).  I felt like the sharing times were very rich and that all of the participants came away encouraged in their own ministry to each of our “Jerusalems.”

One story specifically I’ll tell you about is in Dallas today with Michelle, our server at Buca Di Beppo.  She overheard much of the presentation (as she faithfully took care of drink refills and plate clearing).  Afterwards, one of the YP’s and I were talking and she interrupted to compliment us on the day and something she overheard.  Long-story-short, we were able to really engage her, pray for her and hear her struggles (very tough family stuff).  It was such a blessing to tag-team with a brother I didn’t know two hours before and witness to/pray with Michelle!  Please pray for her and her family.

Great times, but so thankful to be home with the family and praying that the connections made in TX will be BIGGER than we ever could expect!

Grace,

Brian

 

 

I was down in Southern California Tuesday morning thru Thursday evening doing two preview meals for Youthmark Mission Ventures.  As the title states, SoCal was really great!  I was pleased to have 30ish at the San Marcos Old Spaghetti Factory on Wednesday for lunch.  These Youth Leaders came to hear about YMV’s.  On Thursday I welcomed 10 folk to the table at Marie Calendars in Valencia (North LA, near Magic Mountain).

Both meals were interactive and encouraging.  It’s fun to see Youth Leaders interact and glean from one another!

I’m sure I’ll post more about the meals, but please do pray that connections were made in such a way that these Youth Leaders will be serious in praying about the opportunity we set before them!  Praying for the right connections for the 2010 YMV’s and beyond!

Grace,
Brian

For those of you stopping by for something deep and spiritual, I am sorry, the title may be deceiving.

Just a picture today.

Last week I got to experience my first snow of the fall/winter.  I went from the picture below (29 and snowing) to sunny and 70 within about 90 minutes.  Gotta love Colorado.

Grace,
Brian

I have not had the opportunity to post the last couple days, but for good reason. A couple months ago I was honored to be invited to a mini-conference in Rome, Georgia. It would probably be better to say that I was invited to a conversation.

About 30 years ago a group of Youth Ministry leaders (a relatively new field of ministry at the time) gathered in Colorado Springs to discuss how Youth Ministry organizations could partner together to reach all students with the Gospel. Ministries such as Young Life, Youth For Christ and other Church/Parachurch organizations were represented. Out of this meeting an umbrella movement and later an organization was formed. The National Network of Youth Ministries.

Fast forward 28 years after the official beginning of the NNYM and many of these same original leaders are still apart of the conversation. Only their conversation lately has been asking the question, “what does the future of the NNYM look like and who will carry the torch?”

As I mentioned, I was honored to have been about one of 15 Youth Ministry leaders under the age of 40 invited to a roundtable discussion with the older leaders. All told, about eight or nine of the younger guys made it and another eight or nine currently on staff with NNYM made it with a third grouping of about six to eight who are associated with NNYM and currently leading major ministries.

The conversations were rich. I believe the current leadership is doing the right thing in asking the younger generation the important questions about their role as they look for the person who will eventually take the lead (founding President, Paul Fleischman is stepping down in the near future).

I’ll post more about this in the next day or two because I came back from this meeting so enthused about some of my conversations (at the table and away). I’ll also post about the retreat facility as well and about the blessing of being with the man I asked to mentor me through this process of moving from Youth Pastor to Youthmark.

Good stuff, now it is good to be home!

Grace,

Brian