This seems to be a week in need of some good news, as we grieve another fallen Christian leader and watch the incursion of negative campaign ads even into the usually civil political climate of Minnesota.<\/p>\n
On Saturday night in Anaheim, after a couple splendid days with my son at Disneyland, I hosted a late night theology discussion at the National Youth Workers Convention. Shockingly, there were well over 100 in attendance. The conversation was civil (which it hasn\u2019t always been) but robust. People talked theologically, they challenged each other, and I imagine that most everyone left thinking about something they hadn\u2019t thought about before.<\/p>\n
Talking to Marv Penner (another speaker) in the Santa Ana Airport, he said something with which I resonated. He, too, had a wonderful convention with many stimulating conversations. He said, \u201cI think we can quit saying, \u2018Youth ministry isn\u2019t just about fun and games,\u2019 because everyone now knows that it\u2019s not.\u201d <\/p>\n
I don\u2019t speak explictly about youth ministry at the conventions anymore, since I\u2019m not currently a youth pastor \u2014 I think it would be disingenuous. Instead, I talk about more general things, like theology and the emergent church (which, of course, I hope have resonance with youth workers). In the six or seven years I\u2019ve been at this, I can say that I\u2019ve seen the conversation about youth ministry change qualitatively. Youth workers are more serious, more theological, more educated. It makes for great connections and friendships, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This seems to be a week in need of some good news, as we grieve another fallen Christian leader and watch the incursion of negative campaign ads even into the usually civil political climate of Minnesota. On Saturday night in Anaheim, after a couple splendid days with my son at Disneyland, I hosted a late […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n