National Youth Ministry Conference - Day Two

What a day! Lots of great workshops, speakers, skits, and music... it was definitely a busy and meaningful day!

The "Deeper Learning Track" that I am attending is being led by Mark DeVries. To put it simply...WOW! I am anxiously looking forward to continuing to learn on Sunday. I realized that I had definitely picked the right workshop when Mark quoted Rabbi Ed Friedman -- a hero to those of us who subscribe to systems thinking. If you are not familiar with Ed Friedman... check him out! I especially loved the analogy that Mark used: If a dancer, while dancing, falls through the floor because the floor boards are rotted and broken, the answer to the problem is not to replace the dancer... you need to replace the floor!

At the evening session, we were treated to one of the best performances of You Give Love A Bad Name. The vocalists were serious rock stars!

Doug Fields was awesome! We made our own "cloud of witnesses" by writing our names, our faith blockers, and the simple prayer of "by faith" on paper, crumpling them up and then tossing them into the air at the same time. Drew... wherever you are... I'm praying for you! Praise the God who amazes us by working with, in, and through us - even in our weaknesses.

And now... The Top 5 for Day Two:

1. The folks in Deeper Learning Track #11 learned that Mark DeVries had this advice for a youth leader wondering how to get more students to events: "Naked Jello wrestling is always a good idea." (Josh...I know that this isn't a picture, but...!)


2. The Overnighter video by Leonard T.... FANTASTIC! You can check it out at Josh's blog, MoreThanDodgeball.com. I think Leonard has been to a few of my Lock-Ins...


3. Hooray for the Skit Guys! They thanked us for what we do to serve youth. We thank them for sharing their gifts with all of us.


4. We learned from Doug Fields that "God invented Red Bull." Scripture tells us that God never sleeps or slumbers... now we know how God does it!


5. My friend Ruth and I met Jason, who I would officially like to name as the King of the Gift With Purchase! Jason... you know who you are... You Rock!

As a bonus... we discovered that there are actually a pretty good number of Presbyterians at the conference! Yay Presbys!!! Those Presbys who are attending Mark's class stopped for a picture on Saturday afternoon, and that night there was a group that met at the Elm Street Bistro for more fun and frivolity. Remember the words of 1 Timothy 5:23. Our stomachs and our souls felt better after our evening out... although I'm pretty sure it was the company and not what we may have had to drink!

A big thanks to Ruth, Jeff, Kurt, Al (the Prophet), Theresa, Marilyn, Shannon, and Jonathan for making my evening unforgettable! (Thanks for taking the bistro photo, Marilyn!)

I'm probably not going to get my Day Three and Day Four posts up until Wednesday, since I'll be up late on Sunday (learning more about blogging from Josh), driving back to Illinois all day on Monday, and chillin' at a Presbytery meeting all day on Tuesday. So... keep checking back for updates!

Oh -- and there will be a contest coming your way soon (with a groovy prize and everything)! Details will be out this week...