Will it be done next week?

One of the items included for the churches participating in the Youthmark Mission Ventures is a Youth Leader Notebook.  Basically, it is a full-guide to how to lead your mission team and it contains all of the administrative tasks to be completed between now and the end of the trip (recruitment letters, fundraising ideas, how to use move, parent meeting outline, two-week talk series, etc.).

It is kicking my behind.

I have to get it done in the next couple days and I’d give it a solid 45% complete so far… argh!  

Pray for wisdom and creativity in getting my ideas out, quick fingers in the actual writing, eyes to see the typo’s and mistakes and the great technology which will get them printed to work well!

Grace,

Brian

P.S. I work well under pressure, so there is part of me that loves this!  Yes, I’m strange.

Though I didn’t get nearly as much done this week as I had hoped, I still look back at this week and am quite pleased with how much took place.  My main productivity goal for the week was to make a lot of progress on my Leaders Notebook for the Youthmark Mission Ventures.  Well, not a lot got done there, however, a bunch of unexpected blessings came my way.

I am sure that some of my “readership” comes by from time to time to see what’s happening, or to be part of one of my silly contests, don’t stop, I love having you here.  However, I know some others are part of our prayer team too. I am thankful for the prayer support we have and we’d invite you to praise God with us for the blessing that came my way this week:

• I had two or three new project ideas that I was able to outline and think through.  This is a total blessing because, as I have said before, so much of my September, October and even early November has been taken  up with meetings to talk about Youthmark Mission Ventures.  I LOVE these meetings, but I have felt a desire to be more creative too.  These new project ideas invited some creativity!
• On the same day I was invited to speak at two different Winter Camps.  I look forward to these opportunities coming in December and January.
• I was invited to speak at three different churches (unfortunately two were for the same Sunday).  However, I will be doing one of them (a Sunday School class) this Sunday (on teen parenting) and hope to reschedule the other one for a Sunday soon. The third will be a parent night on December 3 (whew, not a Sunday!).
• I finalized the details for the Youthmark Transitional Consulting and set up the travel arrangements for that trip.
• I assisted another church in finding a speaker for a New Year’s overnighter… this is exciting because the speaker I arranged for them and I may be able to collaborate on some future projects!
• I received word from one church that they are planning to sign-up for a Youthmark Mission Venture (they would have not been able to join until we added a second Montana trip for August).
• I received another actual registration from from another church joining us for the NorCal trip (keep praying, we’re hoping for another 8-10 church registrations between now and early February).
• AND, it was Elisabeth’s birthday this week; as always, I’m praising God for my wonderful wife (and I get to take her out to dinner tonight to celebrate)!

So, though I didn’t really get much done on the The Leaders Notebook, I can look back on this week and praise God for His creative blessings.  Now, back to the notebook!

Grace,
Brian

Some of you may have seen on the youthmark.com website that we are offering a package entitled, “transitional consulting.”  Unfortunately there is much turnover in vocational youth ministry.  This happens because of various reasons (wrong fit, immature pastors, finances, ineffectiveness, etc.).  It is often the teens who end up suffering the most when transition takes place.  Having transitioned a few times myself, I can speak with some experience in saying there were times where I handled the transition (coming and/or going) well and other times not as well.  There are things I know I did well and many thing I wish I could repeat and NOT DO!

One of my passions is to see lay-leadership excel.  The transitional consulting package was created to help churches who are between youth pastors.  It is my hope to come in and to consult with the Pastors, staff, parents and lay leadership to create a plan for the interim time.  Me end goal is effective youth ministry taking place without a youth pastor while they wait on the person God is calling to ultimately lead the charge.  This will not be an upfront role, for me, I simply want to enable and empower the lay team (or appointed leader) to do the work of the ministry.

I have done this in the past in an unofficial capacity, but am about to begin this officially (as Youthmark)  with a specific church in the next few weeks.  I look forward to building the relationship with this church and hope I can be of service to them!  I am somewhat familiar with the church, I have done some speaking for them and done programming for a few of their camps as well.  The initial stage is the assessment and report (I’ll take a thorough look at the state of the Youth Ministry) and use tools to report back to them the different places I feel I could speak in to.  Appreciate your prayers as I launch this specific venture!

Grace,
Brian

You may want to read the previous three posts if this is your first trip back to the blog in some time!

Sunday and Monday were such a blessing to me as we did the full-scale launch of Youthmark Mission Ventures.  Sunday to Monday the Lead Retreat was a real “iron-sharpens-iron” time.  Monday night gave me goose-bumps as I saw our team expand (about 18 teams represented by the 14 Youth Pastors and additional leaders).

Well, Tuesday became the exclamation point!  

One thing I really wanted to accomplish at this retreat was to have the participants feel like it was truly a “retreat.”  Therefore, we didn’t have any formal event until 9:30 AM on Tuesday (giving many the opportunity to sleep in!).  With that being said, I did offer an extra session for those desiring to go a little more in-depth with a specific topic.  We met at Starbucks for a 7:30 AM “The Art of Family Time” discussion/training.  I was quite surprised to see about 10 of us greet our Veterans Day together.  We examined the “Student Ministry” Psalm (Ps. 78) and then I shared for about 15 minutes before we opened it up for discussion.  I was blessed to have two of my Lead team members there helping guide the discussion and ask great questions.

I had our last Lead Team prayer meeting at 9:00 AM in my room before our brunch and session, entitled, “The Training.”  We were very blessed to have Tom Horton as a guest at our brunch.  I had asked Tom to come and share about “The Culture of the Rural.”  Tom and I have partnered for over 10 years in doing this style of mission trips.  There is a misperception among some that Tom and I are competing in what we are doing.  The reality, Tom and I are partnering in what we are doing.  Tom often puts me in contact with the rural communities that need trained students to come in and serve. In many ways Tom concentrates more on the “where” and I facilitate the “how.”  Tom and I consider it a privilege to be in ministry together and I can’t wait to see how Tom continues to expand Tom’s sphere of influence!

During the Brunch each of the Lead Team members were able to share about a section of move: Mission Prep Workbook that really excites them.  I feel the group understands the nature of the training much better.  We were also able to encourage the group to “maximize their effort.”  We’d like to see as many students from each group equipped to serve on the mission trip so that their is as much unity and experience coming back to their campuses, clubs and families in their own Jerusalem.

We commissioned each other in prayer and called it a very successful first run!  I praise the Lord for the group gathered and the time we had together!  May He increase the number of teams and the number of students as we ask the Lord of the Harvest field to provide the workers (Matt. 9)! 

Grace,

Brian

As I stated yesterday, if you haven’t done so yet, I’d love for you to do the latest “Aab-Lib” before you read anything more about the Youthmark Mission Ventures Retreat.  Scroll down and do that first if you want a good laugh.

My view at the Crowne Plaza

In my previous post I wrote about the Lead Team pre-retreat which took place for 24 hours prior to the actual retreat. The rest of the group started arriving in the late afternoon on Monday.  Upon check-in they were given a little “welcome basket” with some treats (my wonderful wife assembled these baskets), a welcome letter, lanyards, and a couple other items.

The Welcome Baskets

Some arrived early enough to enjoy the beautiful afternoon downtown.  Others met us at The Old Spaghetti Factory for our opening meal.  The group was very festive and it was very exciting to see new and old friends sitting together and reminiscing and/or creating new memories and friendships.

After a great dinner and the drive back to the Crowne Plaza we did our first session, entitled, “The Mission.” Our goal was to give the participants a good idea of what the actual mission trip would look like.  Because my main goal with Youthmark Mission Ventures is to train the students for the “51 weeks of life back home” it was important to start with the conduit (the mission) and end with the main purpose (I’ll share about that in my next post)..

We finished right on time (10:00 PM) and called it an evening (though many stuck around until nearly 11:00 talking).  I already have ideas as to how I’d like to change this first evening next year, but that is a later post as well!  I went to bed feeling very good, but very tired after a great beginning!

Grace,

Brian

For those who have not done the most recent “Aab-Libs” (previous post) you may want to stop reading this right now and participate in that first…

We are now three days removed from the Youth Leader/Spouse Retreat and Training for the Youthmark Mission Ventures.  I look back at this as my second “major” event of Youthmark (360ºParenting last year was the first).  I am very pleased with the event.  

Over the last few months I developed a Lead Team who will help me serve through the entire process, beginning with the retreat and ending with the last debriefing of the mission trip, these men will be a huge support and resource.  I have developed friendships with these guys over the last few years and felt the blend of giftedness and diversity of age/experience as well as excellent character would meld well as I prayed God’s wisdom in my pursuit.  I believe He got it Right On!

We arrived one day early (on Sunday) and spent 24 hours together.  This time together was very valuable.  I believe this team is of one heart!  It was so nice to have that “team” feel again.

Acts 2:42-47 is a passage I come back to often.  In this passage we see four key elements the early believers were committed to in the formation of the early church.  The Apostle’s Teaching (the Word), Prayer, Fellowship and the Breaking of Bread (common meal and communion).  

Our 24 hour pre-retreat was filled with these four elements.  It was so fun to share dedicated times in the Word, challenging one another.  I loved our times of prayer (and we spent a good time in prayer!).  The fellowship times walking in Seattle, hanging out in my room (I was upgraded to a suite!  Very cool!).  We enjoyed a lot of good food together with our families (Gordon Beirsch, The Edgewater and Johnny Rocket’s). So, though we aren’t the church, we are an extension of the church, I felt this group really bonded and united our hearts for the common purpose of seeing the church encouraged!

The Youthmark Mission Venture Lead Team 2009:

Nathan (with his fiancee Megan)

Jess

Mike

Aaron (sketch artist rendering)

and Me!

I’m thankful for this group!  I was thankful to get to know them more, see them serve other youth leaders and share great memories. 

Stay tuned, report #2 coming…

Grace,
Brian