Mike King

Two Time World Series Champion Jeremy Affeldt and His New Book

On Baseball's Opening Day, Youthfront supporter, friend and associate Jeremy Affeldt releases his first book taking readers off the field and into his life story.  The story of Jeremy’s relationship with our President Mike King and his involvement in our ministry, as well as details of his active participation with Youthfront’s Something to Eat ™ initiative are featured prominently in the book.  Expected to make multiple best-seller lists, this book offers a compelling, page-turning story for all readers.  Another fan of Youthfront and five time Major League All Star, Mike Sweeney says, “Jeremy Affeldt may be a two-time World Series champion and one of the greatest left-handed relievers in major league baseball but that is just the tip of the iceberg as to the man that he is.  As you will read in this book, Jeremy Affeldt is not defined by baseball. He is defined and validated as a child and follower of the most high God.”

Affeldt, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, tells of the ups and downs of his life and major league career beginning with his childhood spent in a military family, the impact his parents had on his life, and his tumultuous high school years.  Affeldt admits that he was often an uncaring, self-centered athlete who was difficult for his parents and teachers. So much so, that his dad kicked him out of the home on more than one occasion.   Although he attended a Christian school, Jeremy wasn’t buying any of it until a series of events led him to see his need for Christ.

After being kicked out of games and sitting the bench because of his behaviors and his attitude, one of his coaches gave him books on attitude and anger control as well as scriptures that Jeremy read mainly so he wouldn’t have to watch the games from the stands. As the Bible began to come alive for him, he was also influenced by God’s transforming work in the life of another student who had been Jeremy’s archenemy. That was the beginning of Jeremy’s close walk with Christ.

Jeremy Affeldt tells of his opportunities in baseball, his marriage to his high school sweetheart and, of course, his success including two World Series Championships – after many setbacks and injuries – in the major leagues.

The book includes Jeremy Affedlt’s passion for social justice and his humanitarian endeavors as he continues to use his time and finances to do God’s work throughout the world.   Available now, discover the side of Jeremy that thrives off the field; the side that is passionate about freeing the slave, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty and seeking justice for the oppressed.

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The Importance of Theology and Theological Reflection in Youth Ministry

For me Jesus Christ is THE thing and the center of my faith. Youthfront's mission reflects this, to bring youth into a growing relationship with JESUS CHRIST.  Scripture, the Church, Christian History and Thought, have been vital for my faith development.  Additionally theology has been crucial for my faith journey. Theology helps me make sense of the world around me, to actively engage in faith seeking understanding, fueling my faith in the midst of challenging realities that emerge all around me. Reading Theology is one of the most devotional and inspiring things I do.  I love theology and I love youth ministry.

Church leaders and members are perplexed by decades of accumulating and overwhelming data indicating that the Christian church in North America is failing to form disciples among adolescents who stay connected to their churches.  Church leaderships first question about youth ministry is often “How many youth came to youth group this week?” followed by, “Did they have fun?” which is indicative of the reality that we have gotten way off course.  This is more than a youth ministry problem – this is a broader church problem.

I’ve been a proponent along with many associates, for a theological turn in youth ministry.  Theology is the study of the nature of God and religious belief.  A more serious encounter with faith, scripture, and truth is desperately needed.  Entertaining young people is NOT enough to build a sustainable Christian faith.  We cannot expect cheesy religious platitudes to satisfy the curiosity and intelligence of most young people who are examining the validity of Christianity.

Some Christians have downplayed the role of theology. But the reality is we’re all theologians, whether we know it or not.  Theology has to do with what and how we think about God and who God is.  Every human being is thinking about God and who God is.  C.S. Lewis declared, “If you do not actively engage in theology it does not mean you will have no ideas about God, it will mean that you have a lot of wrong ideas about God.”

Theology and theological reflection are a necessity for youth ministry to be true to Christianity and engage in Christian Formation that witnesses the salvation of young people and the development of disciples of Jesus Christ.  Certainly a theological turn in youth ministry is fuel for a much-needed correction of youth ministry practice and the progression of Christian formation.  The bottom line – If you want to do youth ministry that makes a difference you have to do theology.  What does that mean and how does it work?

I believe today’s young adults are eager to engage in deep theological reflection that allows them to wrestle with the issues that are really important and can ultimately bring deep meaning to their lives.  I believe that young people are at a unique place in their social, physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual development, which gives them amazing potential to offer significant theological voices for the whole church. James and Evelyn Whitehead describe theological reflection as ‘the process of bringing to bear in the practical decisions of ministry the resources of the Christian faith’.

The role of a theologically minded youth worker is to help young people make meaning, Christian meaning for their lives.  The work of a Theologian involves – experience, reflection, and action. Helping young people process issues facing them and their friends are fundamental to theological reflection. Youth ministry is a wonderful opportunity to engage in theologically robust ministry.  Christian practice and ministry will consistently raise questions related to faith, ethics and action. Theology is engaged in most productively as a reflection of ministry.  By asking, “What was that experience all about?”  Where is God in this situation?  What is our human responsibility?  Who is Jesus for me in my everyday existence and life?  This is the kind of thinking necessary if we are going to truly build disciples of Jesus Christ that stay actively involved in the church and serve the mission of God.

At Youthfront we strive to curate the kind of environments that allow young people to engage in honest theological reflection and dialogue because it fuels faith.  Often churches don’t do this because they are fearful that questioning and critical thinking leads away from faith to unbelief.  The questions our youth wrestle with are often profound and are the same questions that have perplexed theologians over two millenniums.

Theologian David Tracy, believes that “two primary sources of theology are the Christian texts and common human experiences, and the task of theology is to investigate and correlate the two, in order to ‘show the adequacy of the major Christian theological categories for all human existence.”  At Youthfront we try to employ all of the sources of theological reflection – scripture, tradition, reason, religious experience, personal experience, community experience, culture, and Christian practices.  In all this process we uphold the Lord Jesus Christ as the object of our faith, because salvation is the work of Christ alone.

Youthworker Learning Cohort

NOW IS THE TIME TO SIGN UP FOR 2013

The Youthfront Youth Worker Learning Cohort is designed to feed the soul and continued formation of youth workers. Through ten, 60-90 minute video conference sessions with Mike King and Erik Leafblad, this year’s cohort will help us think deeply about the formation of our lives as pastors, whether we bear that official designation or not. Bringing the wisdom of those who have gone before us into conversation with our own contexts of ministry, in a dialogical setting, we hope to assess, rethink and affirm one another in the high calling of ministry with young people.

This year participants will also have a chance to dialogue with some leading thinkers in both pastoral ministry and youth ministry, including:

    - Andrew Root
    - Sarah Arthur
    - Ian Cron
    - Kenda Creasy Dean

Limited spots available.

MORE INFORMATION

Tragedy and Telling the Truth

One of the things I think Christians should be known for but aren't within our culture is telling the truth.  We live a tragic world where death gets death's way.  Of all people we should put disneyland platitudes aside and tell the truth about brokenness and brokenness' destination - DEATH, because we are told "the last enemy to be destroyed is death" (I Corinthians 15:26).  The reason we must tell the truth about tragedy and death is because we are people who have been promised resurrection.  Resurrection is our hope through Jesus Christ who bodily arose from and conquered death.

For several years I've been intrigued by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams.  Benjamin Myers new book Christ the Stranger: The Theology of Rowan WIlliams is out and I'm wondering when I will be able to read it.  This quote of Myers from the book posted in Books & Culture fuels my desire to read this sooner rather than later.

"Where moral reasoning tries to evade the tragic dimension, where it posits an unambiguous good, it becomes an exercise in fantasy and a failure to accept that God's grace is at work in the real, damaged world of human experience."

What the Heck is LaCygne?

 

If you are attending the National Youth Workers Convention in Dallas you will notice the lanyards with "LaCygne" on them.  You will probably overhear youthworkers talking about LaCygne.  So, what is LaCygne?  Great question, in fact below are links to frequently asked questions about LaCygne.

Please click any question below to see a detailed explanation.  

1) Who or what is LaCygne?

2) What is Youthfront?

3) What does a typical day look like at LaCygne?

4) What are the three daily prayer times?

5) Why are some of the summer sessions for such a wide age range?

6) Is this a good fit for someone as young as 14?

7) My child isn’t part of a group, can she/he still attend a session?

8) Can I bring a group to LaCygne and have our own meetings?

9) How long is a summer session?

10) How do I decide whether to stay in a cabin or camp outside?

11) Why is the price so low compared to other summer opportunities?

12) How does the community at LaCygne ensure the safety of the young people attending?

13) Is there some kind of service component?

14) Do I need spending money at LaCygne?

15) Who is invited to the family session?

If you cannot find what you are looking for, feel free to email us at lacygne@youthfront.com.

 

Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly

“How do we as youth workers seek justice - and teach our students to do the same? How do we help the world’s most vulnerable people  in our own neighborhood -without enabling dependency?”

If you find yourself asking how to teach students what it means to seek justice and love mercy, this event is for you.

We’ll meet at the South Branch Library in the Argentine neighborhood in Kansas City, KS for a short presentation and discussion on how to do “missions” with dignity, followed by a tour of the community and a Something to Eat™ meal packaging event at the Franklin Center. As we wrap up, we’ll enjoy delicious
homemade Mexican food from one of our neighborhood friends.

When: Thursday, Nov. 29th, 9:00 AM - noon

Where: South Branch Library in the Argentine neighborhood of KC, KS

Cost: $10 - includes lunch and Something to Eat™  packaging experience

Register online at www.youthfront.com/justicetraining

Come Join Me at the National Youth Worker Convention Theology Track.

A delegation of 14 youth workers (mostly Youthfront staff members) from Kansas City will head to Dallas later this week for the National Youth Workers Convention. 

Laura Larsen is one of those 14 and below she tells you where you will find her during the convention.

 

On some level, I go to the National Youth Workers Convention because it gives me what I want.  I want to connect with old friends and meet new ones.  I want to hear great music, to flip through piles of great resources, to spend time praying in the Sanctuary and meeting with a spiritual director.  I attend each year because I want to remember that even though I am the only youth worker at my church, I am not alone in youth ministry.

There are so many things I get from attending the NYWC, but there are also things I really need - and like in so much of life, the things that I want and the things I need aren’t always exactly the same.  While I may want some easy answers, I don’t really need someone teaching me the hottest game.  I could probably just ask my students to teach me their favorites when I get home. And I don’t really need someone else to tell me what worked at his church.  You have 48 adults leading small groups and I am ministering to 9 young people – please, I struggle with comparison enough as it is.

What I do need, though, is to be asked hard questions. I need someone to force me out of the pragmatic grind of programs and plans and into wrestling with significant issues that I rarely confront.  I need someone to peel back the layers of my ministry and poke at the assumptions that undergird it.

I need someone to ask me if I understand what it means to be human.  Because my understanding of that humanity – the way it causes me to interact with the students in my group while we play Mafia and Toilet Tag – is what makes my job as youth pastor distinct from PE teacher.

I need someone to carve out 90 minutes in my schedule, sit my butt in a chair and ask me to think deeply about how I understand sin.  Because while alliterated points are nice and knowing that a kids attention span generally correlates to their chronological age gives me a head start, the talk itself is worthless if I don’t have a robust hamartiology to begin with.

I need a panel of minds much sharper than my own to muse about the implications of Christian sexuality and identity, because if my students want to talk about anything, you better believe they want to talk about sex.

In a few days I’ll gladly travel down to Dallas.  I’ll wander the exhibition hall and hopefully drink coffee with friends, old and new (You?! Holla at me – I’ll even buy! @thelauralarsen)  I’ll pray and laugh and wonder.  Mostly, though, I’ll be at the theology panels and theology cafe.  They don’t always give me what I want - last year I left most of the theological panels with more questions than answers – but they offer me what I need.  

I sure hope you’ll join me.

What a Great Thing to Attend Between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

AND as a SPECIAL BONUS, HANG OUT WITH AYME's DISTINGUISHED CHRISTIAN EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR, KENDA CREASY DEAN.

 

What is the future of Christian proclamation in a society increasingly driven by networked technologies and 140-character communications? What place does preaching to young people have in such a society, and what form might it take? How might we move from mere sermons and “youth talks” into affecting the lives of young hearers?

I'm excited to participate in this important Conference.  COME JOIN US.

You can receive a 20% discount by entering this code - preach

MORE INFORMATION HERE

Only Ten More Spots

There are only ten spots left for this so act now!

Act Justly, Love Mercy, Walk Humbly... Youth Worker Training Day

REGISTER HERE