Mike King

National Youth Workers Convention in Pittsburgh

Being here in Pittsburgh, PA for the National Youth Workers Convention has once again brought up good memories of my friend Mike Yaconelli.  Yesterday was the 5th Anniversary of Mike's death.  I remember being in an all staff training meeting at Youthfront and getting a call from Tim Keel that Mike had died in an automobile accident.  I was devastated.  Chris Folmsbee told me his story last night of teaching at a school with another youth worker and getting the call.  I heard several other youth worker's stories yesterday reminiscing old times with Yac.

I can almost imagine what Mike would speak about in the general session here in Pittsburgh if he were still alive.  I miss him.

Please pray for Karla, Mike's widow.  Karla is not here in Pittsburgh but was in Sacramento for the NYWC last month.  Time heals but it is still very hard.  I've talked to Karla a couple times this week, including yesterday.  She is doing OK and engaging in some projects that are bringing life and energy.   

Conversational Evangelism Conference

    

Two churches that Youthfront works with, Hillcrest Covenant and Christ Church, are hosting a Conversational Evangelism Conference November 14 and 15.  Todd Hunter and Dan Kimball are among the list of speakers.  It should be a good forum for focusing on the issue of Evangelism.

Reading Paul

The Reclaiming Paul: The Apostle in the Emerging World Conference is next week.  Still time for a last minute registration.

In preparation for this conference I'm reading Michael Gorman's book Reading Paul.  This has to be the finest, most concise, yet informative book providing an overview on the Apostle Paul.  I'm loving it and really looking forward to two and a half days of dialogue and learning around Paul, the greatest theologian of all time.  Here are two endorsements of this book from a couple people who know a little about theology and Paul.

"This splendid introduction to the Apostle Paul is the best book of its kind: concise, wise, insightful, thoroughly conversant with the best recent scholarship yet thoroughly clear and readable. Against the numerous distorted preconceptions that occlude our reading of Paul, Gorman brilliantly sketches a picture of Paul's gospel as a gracious, world-transforming message of peace and reconciliation. I will assign this as required reading for students in my introductory New Testament course and put it in the hands of as many pastors and laypeople as possible."
—Richard B. Hays, George Washington Ivey Professor of New Testament, The Divinity School, Duke University

"Michael Gorman has given us an extraordinary gift. He has written an eminently readable introduction to Paul's message that neither diminishes the apostle's practical wisdom nor domesticates it. He communicates the profound depth of Paul's thought in ways that are as inviting as they are challenging. Reading Paul is that rare book that deserves the widest possible readership."
—Joel B. Green, Professor of New Testament Interpretation, Fuller Theological Seminary

Seriously Ridiculous

This year's National Youth Workers Convention theme was SERIOUSLY RIDICULOUS.  The way the theme was used along with the graphics supporting the theme made it, I think, the best theme YS has every come up with.

Phyllis Tickle has a crush on Tim Keel

The hotel I stayed at in Sacramento had a concierge floor, which I was so graciously assigned to by some beautiful person in the inner-workings of Youth Specialties.  I’m not sure who makes those decisions but thanks.  This provided a place to have a little bit of casual down time along with drinks and food.  It was also a good place to hangout with youth workers and speakers attending the convention. 

Phyllis Tickle spent quite a bit of time in this hospitality room so I was able to have some good conversations with her.  One time I slipped in without Phyllis seeing me and was able to overhear her go off on a ten-minute rave of Tim Keel.  Tim is my pastor, friend and co-laborer.  I was having a blast hearing her describe his brilliance and declare that some of the writing projects he is working on will be truly seminal, along with how his voice will grow in influence theologically.  I waited until it seemed she was done before I let her know I was in the room behind her.  I told her that I think Tim has a bigger crush on you (count me in on that too) than you do on him.  She assured me, and everyone with whom she was talking to, that even though she is in her mid-eighties, she is not too old to be in love with Tim Keel. 

What a gift this amazing Woman of God is to all of us who are younger.  It makes me feel good to think I’m almost 35 years younger.  Go Phyllis; your best years are ahead of you.

More highlights from NYWC in Sacramento

Because I was so tethered to The Sanctuary I missed some of the general session speakers I was hoping to hear, especially Mark Yaconelli and Tony Compola.  I’ve heard so many good comments about Mark’s message.  We had more youth workers come to The Sanctuary for prayer after Mark’s session than any other session.  Compola spoke about the subject that seem to cast a bit of a pall over the convention environment – the economy and the implications of an historic downturn in the stability of our global economy.  He reminded us that this would be painful but good for the church.  The church has always functioned best operating from the margins, which may be coming. 

I did get to hear Phyllis Tickle’s message, which was the same subject of The Great Emergence that she spoke on in Atlanta last year.  She has definitely developed this message after a year of researching, writing and speaking on this subject.  It was interesting how she broaden the 500-year cycle of paradigmatic shift in Christianity to include a broader religious shift including Judaism and Islam. 

I also listened to Marko’s message on Monday morning.  Marko did a stellar job of speaking on belonging and the huge issue and theme that is, not just for adolescents but for all human beings.  He rightly emphasized that this isn’t an individual task but is firmly rooted in the theological concept of community.  The beautiful nature of belonging and community emerges from our Triune God and the concept of Perichoresis -- An excellent theme to conclude the convention.

Another highlight of this convention was getting to connect on a deeper level with Andrew Root.  This was Andy’s first NYWC.  Andy is a great guy, an excellent teacher, and an amazing theologian who loves youth ministry – a brilliant combination.  Andy is working on a couple more book projects which I enjoyed talking to him about.  I loved Revisiting Relational Youth Ministry, so I am looking forward to anything he writes in the future.

The Latest Research That Should Impact Your Youth Ministry

The Advanced Youth Worker Seminar I did with Chap Clark went well.  Here is the description of
The Latest Research That Should Impact Your Youth Ministry
This seminar will be a time of dialogue concerning new research, data, and issues that are and will have an impact on youth ministry practice, philosophy, and theology. Come, dream, wrestle, and add to an agenda that might include everything from new theories on brain development, learning theory, and the three stages of adolescence/emerging adulthood, to books and debates regarding incarnational/relational youth ministry, sociological research, practical theology, and some kind-of-out-there-but-still-pretty-cool approaches to the ministry call and task, such as narrative theology and creation theology. We might even get into how and why new ways of thinking need to be front and center in our ministry thinking and practice.

It was good to work with Chap.  We see a lot of things eye to eye.  We also had just enough differing opinions to make it interesting but civil.  Our room was packed and hot.  We had to bring in more chairs and the time flew by.

Chap presented on the research he did which was published in Hurt: Inside the World of Today's Teenagers.

I presented on the latest research being published on Adolescent Brain Development.  Here are a couple links to some articles on this subject.

A Work in Progress: The Teen Brain, Harvard Magazine

Adolescent Brain Development and Drug Abuse

 

The Sanctuary

The unveiling of The Sanctuary went really well.  More than 300 youth workers found their way to The Sanctuary space to participate in one of the many offerings. 

My day started with Lauds at dawn and finished with Compline at 10:45 PM.  I had very little down time to accomplish other things I usually do at the National Conventions, such as meeting with ministry partners, potential partners, seeing friends and associates, taking in some learning opportunities, etc.   But is was really worth the hard and time intensive work in order to create an environment where youth workers could come to nurture their souls, be spiritually revived, pray and be prayed for, learn ways to live more fully attuned to the work of the Holy Spirit all around them, and be reminded to breathe deeply and enjoy life with God. 

The response from youth workers fueled my passion for creating environments of learning and transformation.  One female youth worker commented, “I’ve been coming to the National Youth Worker Conference for more than a decade and this is the first time I’ve made it to this part of the convention (Prayer Room, Sanctuary, Labrinth) and from now on this will be where I spend the majority of my time in future conferences.  We have to let more youth workers know what is going on here.” 

I spent a lot of time with Beth Slevcove organizing The Sanctuary and I feel like it was a great investment of time and energy.  If you are coming to Pittsburgh or Nashville come see us.

NYWC in Sacramento

I got here on Wednesday to help with the inauguration of The Sanctuary. The Sanctuary is something that our Soul Shaper Board cooked up with some direction from Marko and Tic. Lilly Lewin helped us create a great space... she is a guru. Every hour we have some kind of prayer practice or spiritual exercise. We spend a few moments teaching and/or introducing the practice and then we actually practice it together. We also do fixed hour prayer (Lauds, Midday and Compline) in this space. I'm leading all the offices of prayer. I'm also teaching four other segments and helping with several others.

I've also had some great times to connect with friends, my Soul Shaper buds, youth workers I know, and others I'm meeting. I had an awesome meeting with Mark and Andi from International Justice Mission. We are talking about working on some projects and resource together. I love IJM. I'm looking forward to connecting with Andrew Root tonight.

It was good to see former Youthfront staff member Eric Venable, who is now a youth pastor in Portland. I had a cool encounter with a youth worker a couple of hours ago who told me how my book, Presence Centered Youth Ministry, Chris Folmsbee's book A New Kind of Youth Ministry and Tim Keel's book Intuitive Leadership has changed his ministry and life. It was an encouragement and wonderful blessing to hear his story.

Charles Barkley and Phyllis Tickle

So Wednesday I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger, the next day I saw Charles Barkley. Barkley is in Sacramento to appear in a fundraiser for Kevin Johnson, an NBA friend who is running for Mayor here in Sac Town.

On Friday, I decided I was braced to run into another celebrity. I was hanging out in the Concierge lounge with some homeboys from Hillcrest Covenant Church in KC, Nate and Tim, along with Phyllis Tickle. I told Phyllis that she would have to be my celebrity for the day unless I ran into Brad and Angelina.

We had a great discussion with Phyllis. I asked her how the current economic crises would reshape religion in North America and globally and how it would impact the great emergence. Phyllis' new book The Great Emergence should be read by YOU. She raised some fascinating issues. She also talked about the financial climate actually being a part of the great emergence and how some Economicists are using the term Emergenomics.

Phyllis spoke today in the General Session at the NYWC. She has refined and developed the thoughts she introduced last year in Atlanta. I'm looking forward to reading her book.