Mike King

Youthfront Silent Auction

Love Youthfront? Join us for our annual fundraiser: dinner and a Silent Auction on Thurs., Nov. 10, at the Ritz Charles in Overland Park, from 6-10pm. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased here: www.youthfront.com/SilentAuction.

We'll auction hundreds in restaurant gift cards, sporting tickets and memorobilia, specials for camp, an iPad2, a World Series autographed ball, and much more! Please join us in celebrating this great ministry!

Atlanta NYWC Deadline

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IT'S NOT TOO LATE

This Thursday, Mark Matlock, the new Executive Director of Youth Specialties, will be hosting a free lunch for youth workers in partnership with Youthfront and Barefoot Ministries to talk about the future of youth ministry.

You are invited to come on Thursday, October 27 from 11:30 to 2:00 for an Oklahoma Joe's lunch and to participate in the shaping of the new Youth Specialties. We will also be sharing information about the big news that YS Palooza will be coming to Kansas City this spring, April 13, 14, 2012. Get in on the scoop and help contribute to the future of youth ministry in North America. This lunch will be at Youthfront, 4715 Rainbow Blvd., Shawnee Mission, KS 66205.

Ian Cron Speaks Up for Youth Workers

The following is a guest post by one of my dearest friends Ian Cron on his appreciation for youth workers.  His latest book Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir…Of Sorts was chosen as a featured title in the prestigious Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers program.

“This is neither a simple memoir of hurt endured, nor a tidy story of reconciliation and resolution. It is – rather like Augustine’s Confessions – a testimony to the unfinished business of grace." 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams

While it has been years since Ian has served directly in the youth ministry world, he has never lost his passion for youth ministry and youth workers.  I for one hope that youth workers and youth ministry organizations find ways to engage with Ian.  A narrative thread revealing the impact youth ministry and youth workers have made on Ian's life with Christ runs throughout Jesus, My Father, the CIA, and Me: A Memoir…Of Sorts.

Here is Ian's Post;

"His name was Eric. He was 28, a part-time carpenter, and a full-time volunteer with Young Life.

Eric was gentle, funny in an understated way, and confident without swaggering. He occasionally let himself be the subject of a sentence, but rarely for long. He was far more interested in knowing what was happening in your life. His syntax was selfless, his grammar self-forgetting. 

My father was an alcoholic, unpredictable and demeaning. Eric was the first adult I trusted enough to talk to about the chaos and fear that made up the soundtrack of my adolescence. After Young Life Club he would drive me home and wait in my driveway until I waved from my bedroom window, our signal that my father was asleep and I was safe. He’d flash his high beams in reply. If I called at any hour he’d rush back to get me.

One night before I got out of his car Eric asked me if I wanted to pray with him to receive Christ. I would have followed Eric off a cliff, so I followed him off that one. How could I have known what the implications of that stammering prayer would be?

I’m not old but I’m of an age when memories visit me unbidden. I thought of Eric last night as I drove home from a Barnes & Noble bookstore where I had just given a reading from my new memoir. Eric’s name is just one of many found in the Acknowledgments on the last page. I thought about placing it in the front but I suspect this would have embarrassed him.

I then thought about all the youth workers who still sit with kids in idling cars and dare to ask the ancient-yet-evergreen question, “What do you think about Jesus?”

This morning I tip my hat to overworked and underpaid youth workers everywhere. The gospel writers tell us Jesus healed ten lepers but only one returned to express his gratitude. Today count me among the few God inspired to come back to say thank you. I apologize it took thirty-five years."        

 

 

Young People and the Occupy Movement

I subscribe to YPulse Reports.  YPulse is a group who "studies the opinions and behavior of tweens, teens, collegians and young adults in order to provide news, commentary, events, research and strategy for marketing, brand and media professionals."  I've found it to be a helpful tool to gain insight on trends in the teen culture.

The following appeared yesterday in Ypulse’s Week In Review VIP newsletter;

"The Occupy Wall Street movement is gaining traction, capturing the attention of both students and mass media. A steady stream of students have made the pilgrimage to lower Manhattan to learn firsthand what the protests are about and to participate. Although the movement is lacking a clear mission, it still resonates with students — so much so that an Occupy Colleges offshoot has sprouted to organize students across the country. Students are taking this opportunity to voice their concerns about the debt they’re racking up while in college, lack of employment opportunities, and other political concerns which will be on their minds during the 2012 elections. Last week during a trip to Zuccotti Square, we learned students appreciate what Occupy Wall Street stands for, but in true Millennial fashion, they have concerns about how protesters are attempting to bring about change. Millennials are collaborative, and unlike Boomers with their sit-ins, today’s students think protesters need to work with government officials to get results."

Thoughts?  Did you click on the link above?  Thoughts?

Policies and Practices of Greed

Micah 3:9-12 (NIV)
[9] Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; [10] who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. [11] Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they lean upon the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.” [12] Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.  

Am I Frustrated at Wall Street Elites and US Politicians?

Free Lunch for Youth Workers and the Future of Youth Ministry

Youthfront has partnered with Youth Specialties for 15 years.  After the tragic and untimely death of Youth Specialties founder, Mike Yaconelli, this premiere youth ministry training organization has gone through a lot of transition. But, great days are ahead.

The new Executive Director of Youth Specialties, Mark Matlock will be hosting a free lunch for youth workers in partnership with Youthfront and Barefoot Ministries to talk about the future of youth ministry.

You are invited to come on Thursday, October 27 from 11:30 to 2:00 for lunch and to participate in the shaping of the new Youth Specialties. We will also be sharing information about the big news that YS Palooza will be coming to Kansas City this spring, April 13, 14, 2012. Get in on the scoop and help contribute to the future of youth ministry in North America. This lunch will be at Youthfront, 4715 Rainbow Blvd., Shawnee Mission, KS 66205.

Jesus and Twitter

Freaking Awesome THEOLOGY PANEL

I didn't mean to not name the panel in my previous post.  A MONSTROUS THANKS to our Theology Panelists.  I also want to commend the panelists for backing up your explicit theological postures with a powerful demonstration of being present and accessible.  Hanging out at the Theology Cafe with us youth workers was really cool and broke down percieved barriers between "expert" and the rest of us.  Very cool.