Training Opportunities

Exploration

If you're into trying new things and thinking outside the box, you'll find that the seminars here will encourage you to go to the edge of youth ministry thinking and practices.

Schedule

Exploring a Missional Approach to Nurturing Adolescents

Chris Folmsbee

Seminar Series #6

Nashville - Nov 24 9:00 AM-10:30 AM

None of us would say we aren’t interested in the spiritual formation of students. However, we often struggle to find the words to identify a strategic approach to accomplish our goal of helping students become more like Jesus. This seminar will provide you with an intentional process and plan, a common language in which to train and equip others, and a means for the evaluation of the spiritual growth and development of your students.

The Role of Imagination in the Spiritual Formation of Adolescents

Sarah Arthur

Seminar Series #5

Nashville - Nov 23 3:30 PM-5:00 PM

While defenders of Christianity attempt to barge through the front door of reason by arguing the case for Christ, the Holy Spirit has been slipping through the back door of the imagination and effecting spiritual change from the inside out. Such seems to be happening without our permission or even notice, and it’s time we started paying attention. So, what is the imagination? What role does it play in spiritual formation? How do we nurture the imaginations of youth?

Responsive Shifts: New Approaches for Impacting Your City, Your Church, and Your Students

Brock Morgan

Seminar Series #4

Nashville - Nov 23 1:30 PM-3:00 PM

Have you felt the frustration of current youth ministry models and structures? Have you sensed that they’re keeping you from having a true and lasting impact? This seminar will challenge the current models and provide a new way to think about youth programs, discipleship, evangelism, and service. The goal of this seminar is to spark and inspire an outward-faced movement and empower youth workers to incarnational ministry that will change our students, our churches, and our cities. How do we move students from attending church to actually being the church? How can we disciple our students and impact our city at the same time? If students are dying for a life worth living, what are we offering them? In this seminar we’ll examine innovative ways for reaching our cities and empowering our students to join us. Bring your pen and notepad and get ready to hear some exciting new ideas for your youth ministry.

Shaped by the Story: Helping Students Encounter God in a New Way

Michael Novelli

Seminar Series #3 - Super Seminars

Nashville - Nov 22 2:00 PM-4:30 PM

This interactive training is designed to inspire and equip you to teach the Bible through story and dialogue. We’ll explore the art of “Storying,” a dialogical approach founded in the Hebrew tradition and used extensively in missions all over the world. This new (and ancient) way of engaging God’s Story has proven effective to help people discover God’s unique identity and calling for their lives—to see themselves as part of a bigger story. During this breakout you’ll discover new things about God and the Bible through a “Storying” experience and learn new methods to communicate and interact with God’s Story. You’ll also receive a workbook packed with ideas and resources to help you lead in your context.

Building Bridges with Gay and Lesbian Youth

Andrew Marin

Seminar Series #2

Nashville - Nov 22 8:00 AM-9:30 AM

This workshop will cover the broader mindset of teenagers who have same-sex attraction by entering into their unique filtration system and thought processes toward God and Christianity, all with a focus on sexuality. We’ll then work our way through The Marin Foundation’s practical applications on how to productively build a bridge from an evangelical perspective. The purpose is to be able to immediately turn around and implement these constructs and applications into your ministry, so as to make a significant impact in these gay and lesbian students’ lives.

Questioning Youth Ministry? Helping Students Build Faith Counter-intuitively

Eric Venable

Seminar Series #1

Nashville - Nov 21 4:00 PM-5:30 PM

We all know the statistics are grim—many students walk away from their faith after they leave us. Is it culture? Parents? What if it’s…us? Could it be that our very approach to student ministry is part of the problem? Join us as we have bold conversations around the counterintuitive ideas of questioning, doubt, crisis, and faith. We know this current student generation processes information in dramatically different ways. Are we asking the questions that only we have the answers for? How wide does that frame a student’s faith? Would students stay engaged in their faith if we embraced doubt rather than avoiding it or skipping over it? What if your ministry to students instigated great questions that weren’t easily answered? How did Jesus interact with his followers compared to our methods of making disciples? These are just a few of the questions we’ll discuss in our time together. This is a seminar for those who are interested in re-imagining their ministry approach so every student can continue to experience a transforming faith in Jesus—long after they leave us.