Training Opportunities

Advanced Youth Ministry

For the youth ministry veteran, here you'll find seminars to stretch and challenge your thinking.

Schedule

Virtual Worlds and Online Communities: What We Can Learn About Students from Their Internet Interests

Sean Dunn

Seminar Series #6

Sacramento - Oct 13 9:00 AM-10:30 AM

Young people are gathering on the Internet en masse. They spend hours interacting with people on forums, chat rooms, virtual worlds, and gaming sites. Why? What needs are being met in these cyberworlds that are being ignored in a tangible one? As youth ministers we can learn a great deal about teenagers’ interests, perspectives, and needs by critically examining their Internet activities and diets.

Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry

Andy Root

Seminar Series #5

Sacramento - Oct 12 3:30 PM-5:00 PM

This workshop will examine a relational approach to youth ministry in order to uncover some of the blind spots in our contemporary understanding of relationships with young people. Relational ministry will be re-imagined NOT as a way to influence kids toward some end (to accept Jesus or to avoid immoral behavior), but rather we’ll see it theologically, as place-sharing.

What if Dietrich Bonhoeffer Was a Youth Worker Today

Andy Root

Seminar Series #4

Sacramento - Oct 12 1:30 PM-3:00 PM

Dietrich Bonhoeffer is one of the most admired Christians of the twentieth century. His books Life Together and The Cost of Discipleship are greatly loved for their focus on community and the cross of Christ. But what relevance do they (and the rest of Bonhoeffer’s thought) have for us today? For those of us working with young people? How could a martyr killed in Nazi Germany help me with my ministry? In this workshop we’ll explore a few key points of Bonhoeffer’s understanding of Jesus Christ and discover the difference they make in how we do ministry. We’ll see that Bonhoeffer gives us not only some ways to do ministry with kids, but more importantly, some ways to be with them.

Healing and Hope for Kids Who Cut

Marv Penner

Seminar Series #3 - Super Seminars

Sacramento - Oct 11 2:00 PM-4:30 PM

Self-injury is no longer a rare psychological oddity touching a few fringe kids in somebody else’s youth group. It’s an all-too-common expression of the intense emotions some kids are feeling these days. And sadly, most of us don’t understand it, much less have a clue about what to do when we come across it. This seminar takes a frank, honest look at a problem that’s increasingly evident in the lives of some of the teenagers we work with. Unfortunately, this won’t be a “feel-good” session with a neat and tidy solution. The topic is graphic, the images are messy, and the details are unsettling; but we can no longer pretend it’s not an issue. We’ll hear the stories of real kids who use cutting, carving, burning, and other self-injurious behaviors to cope with what’s going on inside. We’ll learn to understand what drives their unusual behaviors, and we’ll explore some of the practical dos and don’ts for us to keep in mind when kids choose to share their struggles with us.

Going to the Next Level: Reframing Your Youth Ministry

Chap Clark

Seminar Series #2

Sacramento - Oct 11 8:00 AM-9:30 AM

Ask any veteran youth worker: Youth ministry is a moving target. Just when we have one class or group figured out, something happens that can change everything. Or from one year to the next, we can’t seem to keep the same momentum going. How do we create a core understanding of youth ministry and frame our ministry to handle the changes that constantly bombard us? This session will help us to determine who and what we are called to be as God’s representatives to our students.

Missional Youth Ministry

Randy Brothers

Seminar Series #1

Sacramento - Oct 10 4:00 PM-5:30 PM

Help students begin to live a lifelong mission trip by going beyond the usual targets for “evangelism” and “discipleship” and creating a ministry that engages kids in the entirety of God’s mission in their own lives, their communities, and out into the world.

Praxis: Ministry to Kids in a Postmodern World

Randy Brothers

Early-Bird Seminars

Sacramento - Oct 10 10:00 AM-11:30 AM

Belief–Action–Reflection. The cycle of “praxis” engages and grows postmodern students into Christ followers. Contextualize the beliefs of being a Christ follower in a postmodern world, engage students in action/experiences, and create opportunities for them to spend time in reflection. This, in turn, will lead them to newly defined beliefs, more action/experiences, further reflection, and so on. It becomes a practical way to help kids embrace the never-changing gospel in an ever-changing world.

Equipping Your Volunteer Leaders to Shepherd Students in a Changing Culture

Chris Folmsbee, Kelly Lashly

Critical Concerns Courses

Sacramento - Oct 9 6:00 PM-9:00 PM

There is only one of you. Regardless of how efficient and effective you might be, you can't possibly do it all yourself. At times, for the sake of the students and their families, you wish you could do it all but the truth is that each of us needs a team of people surrounding us and supporting us. We need volunteers that understand their role as shepherds and seek ways in which to minister out of their role. This course will guide you in thinking strategically about equipping your volunteers as advocates, advisors, and guides—three critical roles of any volunteer. This course will also provide you with tools and resources to help you effectively train your volunteers as they seek to nurture students in this culture of inevitable change.