Training Opportunities

Professional & Ministry Development

Focusing on skills, perspectives, approaches, and models that will expand or deepen your youth ministry or your skills as a youth worker, these seminars take you beyond the basics.

Schedule

JUSTImagine: The World for God

Danielle Strickland

Seminar Series #6

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

The great social reformers let justice fire their imaginations and spirits into dreaming and working for a better world. And these reformers of imagination inspired this seminar. We want to reignite your imagination of a better world and challenge the notion that changing the world is impossible, because to simply imagine it won’t be enough. Our imagination compels us to work toward achieving the vision. Just imagine the world for God and join us in making that dream a reality. Warning: global, local, and personal impact possible.

Serving Your Leader: Partnering with Your Senior Pastor in Ministry

Stan Lester

Seminar Series #6

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

This session will deal with the importance of serving the vision of the lead pastor. As student leaders, we’re challenged not only to have a personal vision for our students, schools, and communities, but also to make sure that our vision exists within the context of the overall vision of the church and senior pastor. We’ll discuss the keys to effectively make this happen.

Re-Imagining Confirmation: A New Approach to Passing on the Faith

Sarah Arthur

Seminar Series #6

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

If you work in a mainline church, confirmation may seem like conundrum. It’s so bogged down in tradition that it could sink. But if it stays afloat, then kids who otherwise don’t follow Jesus just might be saved. What to do? Sarah explores the idea that confirmation can be a transforming immersion in the unique “culture” of a church’s spiritual heritage, until the grammar, narratives, and practices of that heritage embody a living faith in Jesus.

Social Networking 101: How to Use Facebook and MySpace to Enhance Your Ministry

Brian Schulenburg

Seminar Series #5

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

Do you feel like the social networking train has left the track and it’s too late for you to get on it? This interactive seminar is designed for youth workers who’ve NEVER used Facebook or MySpace and want to find out what the fuss is all about. We’ll focus on the value of using social networking sites in ministry and teach you how to get started. You’re not too old to enter this exciting online world!

How to Productively Answer the Tough Questions About Sexual Identity

Andrew Marin

Seminar Series #5

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

When a teenager tells you he or she is dealing with same-sex attraction and then asks you questions like: “Do you think my thoughts and feelings are a sin? What if I don’t act on them? What if I do because I feel like I’m gay? Was I born this way? I believe I was born different, and I don’t want to change. The Bible says I’m an abomination and I should be put to death. Why?” These are serious questions, and they can definitively affect how a student lives the rest of his or her life. This workshop will go through each of those questions and how to productively answer them so as to build a bridge for eternity.

Hooking Up, Breaking Up, Making Up: The Perils of Teen Sex and Dating

Crystal Kirgiss

Seminar Series #5

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

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

Get Dramatic: Taking Drama and Skits to the Next Level in Your Ministry

Eddie James, Tommy Woodard

Seminar Series #4

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

You’ve got a drama group together and going…but you just can’t figure out what to do next. The Skit Guys will give you practical tools to jump-start your drama team and principles to help you create great moments through skits, comedy, and drama.

Ministry in a Digital Age: How Technology is Changing Our Students and the Implications for Ministry to Youth

Brian Schulenburg

Seminar Series #4

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

The world is changing at a rapid speed. What our students are doing with technology today is what science-fiction writers could only dream about a few years ago. What are the implications of ministry in a digital age? How does technology change the way we minister to students? What can we learn from the way our students relate? How can we help them thrive spiritually in a world that looks so radically different?

Mentoring Toward Maturity: Fostering Wisdom in Young Heroes

Mark Matlock

Seminar Series #3 - Super Seminars

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

Every student is a hero on a journey to maturity in Christ. Along the way we act as mentors, Yodas, Gandalfs, and Mr. Miyagis, if you will, to these young heroes who are beginning their epic quests. This interactive seminar will help you develop your mentoring skills, and it will also provide tools for developing wisdom in the students you’re bringing to maturity in Christ.

Graphic Secrets for Youth Ministry: Photoshop and Beyond

John Falke

Seminar Series #3 - Super Seminars

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

Don’t ruin a great youth ministry with poor design. Learn a bag full of tricks for improving your designs with edgy and popular effects. Uncover many timesaving tips for generating buzz that’s truly cost-effective. Utilize the secrets (and tools) that innovative churches employ to draw in the crowds.

Creative Juices: Tapping Into the Creativity in You and Your Team

Les Christie

Seminar Series #3 - Super Seminars

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

You’ll discover how very creative you are in this fast-paced, media-driven seminar. You’ll also find out what hinders you from releasing not only your creativity, but also the creativity of your team. You’ll learn how to remove the five stumbling blocks to being the creative person God designed you to be. You’ll become skilled at the nine tricks of the trade that imaginative people use. You’ll discover the eight catalysts that trigger inventiveness. And you’ll leave this seminar feeling confident and enthused about how original, clever, and resourceful you are in God’s creation.

Loving and Leading Girls Through Adolescent Chaos

Jeanne Stevens

Seminar Series #2

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

Walking girls through their adolescent years can sometimes feel like you’re lost in a jungle without a map. Navigating through the terrain of body image issues, morphing identities, difficult friendships, shifting spiritual perspectives, the exploration of sexuality, family tensions, and so much more can be overwhelming. This seminar is designed to encourage, equip, and empower those of us who work with adolescent girls to know how to better love them and lead them through their adolescent years. • Professional & Ministry Development Seminar—Sacramento, Pittsburgh, and Nashville, Saturday, October 11, November 1, and November 22, 8:00am

Expanding Your Creativity for Kingdom Purposes

Mark Matlock

Seminar Series #2

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

How can we accurately assess the spiritual development of students? This has been a perennial challenge for youth leaders. In this seminar Mark will lift the hood on a new assessment tool—“The Wisdom Index”—used for assisting in the discipleship of teens, and allow you to be a part of developing the measure and applying it in your youth ministry. Be a part of developing a tool that can help youth workers disciple teens across the nation.

Smash-Mouth Youth Ministry: Building a Youth Ministry That Appeals to Teen Boys

Mark Helsel

Seminar Series #2

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

Is your ministry GIRLY? Do boys give up on it? Maybe it needs a shot of testosterone! Come learn how to jack up your ministry to teenage boys! We’ll look at programs, methods, and teaching styles that appeal to the roughness of guys. Strap on your helmet and join us. Both guys and girls are welcome—but no wimps allowed!

Deep Justice in a Broken World: Helping Students Serve Others and Right the Wrongs Around Them

Chap Clark

Seminar Series #2

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

It doesn’t take a long list of statistics to convince us that our world is broken. Mission trips, service projects, and the financial support of children around the world through various relief organizations are just a few of the ways we engage students in serving the least, the last, and the lost. While these things are all helpful, the world’s problems run far deeper than what an occasional paint job or fundraising project can solve. But it isn’t hopeless—deep social justice is possible in your youth ministry. In this seminar, based on the book of the same title, Chap will guide you in how to help your students grasp more deeply the call of the gospel to “go into all the world” as chosen representatives. He’ll also give you specific and practical tools and tips you can use to help teenagers become active servants in the kingdom of God.

Envisioning the Future: Scenario Planning for Youth Ministry

Marcus Thorne

Seminar Series #1

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

So you have a dream for your kids, but do you have a plan to get there? What happens when life throws you the inevitable curve ball? Learn how thinking through “possible futures” can help you prepare for the best.

Transformational Leadership

Dan Webster

Seminar Series #1

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

We all long to see real life changes in the students we serve. Why doesn’t it happen more? Often it’s because our lives aren’t a living catalyst that inspires change in our students. Every effective student ministry leader I know lives in the caldron of being personally transformed by God. This reality grants them a powerful authority as they lead students. Staying in the change process personally unleashes a movement that ripples throughout their ministries. In this session we’ll address how to become this type of transformational leader.

Speaking Technique: An Advanced Workshop in Speaking to Teenagers

Duffy Robbins

Seminar Series #1

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

Seminar description coming soon.

Parent Fuel: For You and Your Ministry

Barry St. Clair

Early-Bird Seminars

Nashville - Nov 21 10:00 AM-11:30 AM

Parents have the greatest influence on their kids. So how do we max out that influence? Parents seem to run on empty when they try to relate to their kids on a deeper level and help them to grow spiritually. Youth leaders tend to coast on fumes as they struggle to connect with the parents and give them the necessary tools to disciple their kids. This Parent Fuel seminar fills up the influence tank for both parents and youth leaders. Parents will find ways to connect with their kids heart-to-heart and to disciple them. Youth leaders will gain practical solutions to bridge the gap between themselves, the parents, and the kids. Parents and youth leaders will both discover how to equip parents to love God with all of their hearts and to lead their kids to do the same!

Secret Survivors: Helping Teens Reveal and Heal Their Hidden Struggles

Megan Hutchinson, Jen Howver

Early-Bird Seminars

Nashville - Nov 21 10:00 AM-11:30 AM

In this seminar youth workers will get a better understanding of some of the major struggles that today’s teens are dealing with (and hiding) and how to help. We’ll explore ways to help students open up about their secrets and begin the healing process. We’ll also walk through ways that youth workers can come alongside and be a trusted friend through the healing process. This seminar includes real-life stories that will show youth workers what helps students move toward healing and what hinders them from opening up about their secrets in the first place. Struggles addressed will include: Cutting, porn addiction, physical abuse, rape, drug and alcohol abuse, and more.