Mike King

Nativity Dance

I just got off the phone with Lars Rood, a youth worker friend.  This last year we have worked together on a Lilly Funded Youth Ministry Project with CYMT and we have done three NYWC's together.  We were talking about some collaborative things we are planning for the year ahead.  Lars shared with me a little about their youth service last Sunday which they taped and posted on YouTube.  After I hung up from our call I watched the video.  9,000 hits and growing.  It is a takeoff of one of the most popular YouTube videos of the year - the dancing wedding party.  This video is called The Dancing Nativity and I like the celebratory feel of it.  Check it out.

YouthSpecialties/Zondervan

I have a lot to say about the YouthSpecialties/Zondervan issue but it is such a dynamic complexity that involves so many people, years, narratives and relationships that I am choosing to keep mostly silent. I will declare that I really like the team from Youthworks who will be acquiring YouthSpecialties.

Youth Worker Training Day

We had around 100 youth workers for a day of training with Andy Root.  It was such a great day, a lot of energy and the feel of a learning  environment.  The Oklahoma Joe's BBQ provided by Barefoot Publishing added an exclamation point to the day.  We had a good mix of academics and practitioners in the room.  The breakout sessions were open source with a facilitator introducing the following discussions in light of Andy's presentation on Relational Youth Ministry rooted in a theology of the Incarnation.  I particularly liked the afternoon session when Andy responded to some of the issues that surfaced in the group dialogues. 

Relational Youth Worker as Environmentalist

            In many contexts the youth worker is expected to develop, lead, and sustain a robust youth program. For some, such an emphasis detracts from the calling to journey through life with students. How do we move from being programmers, who create events and programs that tend to create mere connections with adolescents, to those who craft environments where young people are able to inhabit transforming space with adults in true relationship? This break-out session looks at how relational youth ministry depends upon the acquisition and development of skills in reflecting upon and shaping an environment of place-sharing in your ministry.

 

Place-sharing for Place-sharers: Relational ministry among youth workers

            “Truly relational relational youth ministry,” as Root puts it, demands that we enter into the same place as young people without agendas and easy quick-fix solutions. Rather, we are there to bear witness to Christ by entering into their hurts, joys, sorrows, and suffering. Such a calling and task is often daunting, and at times, brings to light our own suffering, both on behalf of and because of the young people whose place we share. As youth workers, we find that as we share the place of young people, we too need someone to share our place. This break-out session looks at ways to develop a youth staff that serves not only as place-sharers for adolescents in your community, but also for one another.

 

Christological Youth Ministry: More than a model

            Jesus is often appealed to as a model for relational or incarnational ministry in youth ministry. Our Christology often stops at this point, content with Jesus as our example for ministry. Most though probably want to say more about who Jesus is, the role Christ’s presence plays in our ministry, and how Christ’s presence is still at work. We need more sustained reflection on Christology and how that informs our ministry. This break-out session examines why such theological questions matter for our ministry with young people.

 

Missional Youth Ministry: Its Place-sharing Center

            Missional youth ministry is rooted in the church’s calling to bear witness in all of its life to Jesus Christ. This means that how we develop programs, run events, and engage with adolescents ought to be shaped by this calling. Root’s category of place-sharing relational youth ministry can aid us in becoming missional in our ministry with young people. This break-out session explores the implications of making place-sharing the center of a truly missional approach to youth ministry.

Confessions of an Aging Youth Worker

…When I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God…

Fifty-two years of age seems old for a youth worker.  When I started in youth ministry at Youthfront at the age of 18-years-old I was still a teenager myself.  I had the stamina of an Eveready Energizer Bunny.  I lived for all night lock-ins, long road trips and non-stop sports competition.  My energy source was a steady diet of McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell.  Middle school kids were my favorite (probably because I was too close in age to high schoolers).  Middle school kids didn’t wear me out. They energized me.  I loved the fact that they weren’t jaded.  They weren’t too cool to admit that they didn’t know something and they were curious about everything.

 

A lot has changed since those early days of youth ministry.  I quit doing all night lock-ins ten years ago, a long road trip now is a drive to Youthfront Camp South and right now (with my aching lower back) sports competition is something I watch. 

 

For the last seven years my personal passion has been youth ministry with late adolescents.  Pre-adolescent ministry happens with young people ages 10 and 11 (approximately); Early Adolescence stages cover ages 12 to 14; Mid-adolescence stages are 15 and 16 year olds; and Late Adolescence covers from 17 to as late as 24 to 25 years of age.

 

I wonder if I focus on Late Adolescents because they are more focused, more thoughtful and require less physical energy to keep up with?  I am intrigued by the reality that Late Adolescence is the time when a majority of young people leave church.  I’m challenged to engage Late Adolescents in evangelism, discipleship and Christian formation that nurtures them in a consistent walk with Jesus Christ and engagement in their church community.

 

However, I am the President of an organization that works with thousands of pre-adolescents and middle school kids.  Youthfront is also partnering with Stuck in the Middle Ministry.  Stuck in the Middle has twelve weekend conferences around the country involving several thousand middle school kids.  We are doing Youthfront’s Feed the Hunger initiative at all the conferences.  We worked really hard getting the curriculum and program together for a transformational encounter with the serious issues of spiritual hunger and physical hunger.  At the first conference it became apparent that the middle school kids weren’t too interested in the information part.  They didn’t want to really linger over the scripture.  They wanted to do the tasks – package the meals and write messages on the shipping boxes to the children who would receive the food. 

 

Yes, this is how they learn.  Some of the verses will sink in, maybe as they are falling asleep or when they sit still long enough to think back on all the reasons they participated in Feed the Hunger.  But I was reminded how old I feel trying to keep up with middle school kids.  For now, I will let our younger staff wrestle with the joys and energies of this age and I will stick with the high school and college students. 

 

However, I have a sweet little granddaughter named Lexi that is only seven years away from pre-adolescence so I’m saving up my strength for one more round of middle school ministry.  I can’t wait.

  

 

Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.  Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. Psalm 71:17, 18

 

Press Release: Youthfront and Barefoot Partnership

 

Press Release:
Youthfront, Inc. of 4715 Rainbow Boulevard, Shawnee Mission, KS 66205 and Barefoot Ministries (Nazarene Publishing House) of 2923 Troost Avenue, Kansas City, MO 64109announce a collaborative training and publishing initiative.  This partnership is designed to expand their collective youth ministry efforts throughout North America.

This collaborative training initiative and publishing partnership comes after several years of working together to more effectively assist local churches throughout North America.  It is the desire of both Youthfront and Barefoot to inspire, challenge, train, equip and resource youth workers with a theologically robust, philosophically sound and culturally relevant ministry approach that brings youth into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.  The training initiative will feature an expansion of Enroute youth worker training, the release of Reveal, along with other training modules already developed and being developed.  Barefoot and Youthfront have worked together on publishing projects in the past, such as Sacred Life: Spiritual Practices for Everyday Life.  They will be developing new resources in the future through this partnership. 

Youthfront, Inc. has engaged in revolutionary youth ministry for 66 years and believes that a collaborative initiative with Barefoot Ministries will expand their passion to train, equip and resource youth workers as they remain committed to their mission to bring youth into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through camps and retreats, student and youth worker events, missionary endeavors and leadership development in Kansas City and throughout North America and Mexico. President and CEO of Youthfront Mike King says, “For several years we have enjoyed an alliance with Barefoot.  This decision to become more intentional in how we work together will enable both organizations to further our Kingdom objectives.  We will be better working together on our mutual initiatives than we would be working independently of each other”.

Barefoot Ministries has been publishing books and resources for 8 years through its parent company, Nazarene Publishing House a 100-year-old non-profit company.  Barefoot seeks to expand its ministry impact in the local church throughout North America with the addition of a training division that will seek to carry on the commitment to train and resource churches with even more tools and ministry helps in order to reach middle school and high school students with the gospel. 

Chris Folmsbee, current chief ministry officer of Youthfront, Inc and former president of Sonlife Ministries, will become Senior Manager of Barefoot Ministries giving attention to the accomplishment of the desired outcomes of this collaborative training initiative as well as the ongoing mission and vision of Barefoot’s publishing efforts.  Folmsbee will also continue to help shape and provide leadership to Youthfront and its ministry objectives.

Podcast on Adolescent Development and Spiritual Formation

Last Friday I was a guest on the Life in Student Ministry Podcast hosted by Tim Schmoyer.  Youth workers around the country joined in on the conference call to participate in the discussion.  I was honored to be asked by Tim to do this.  Tim does a great job of serving youth workers.  I love his passion for youth ministry.  We discussed developmental theory, brain development research, multiple intelligence, spiritual formation, learning environments, challenges we face in the church and spiritual formation.  The podcast is posted here for those who would like to listen.

Lilly Funded Think Tank on Youth Ministry Training and Education

Last week I had the privilege of being invited to participate with twenty-two other youth ministry veterans in a Lilly Funded Think Tank on Youth Ministry Training and Education.  Most of those invited are teaching youth ministry in the Academy at places like Duke Divinity, Princeton Theological Seminary, Mars Hill, Memphis Theological Seminary, Fuller Theological Seminary, Luther Seminary, etc.  Several of us were there as "Pracademics (combination of Practioner and Academic)," working in or with the Seminary along with being engaged in youth ministry praxis.  It was three long but very interesting days.  I was seated in the "very smart and legendary female youth worker" section with Dr. Kenda Creasy Dean, Associate Professor of Youth, Church and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary; Dr. Kara Powell, Executive Director of the Fuller Youth Institute; and Katherine Smith, Assistant Director, Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation

I addressed the question, "What are the most effective and innovative ways of training youth workers who do not come in contact with the academy?"  Here is my answer - Download Center for Youth Ministry Training Article Final-1

Do not despise your youth!

Are our churches holding a proper posture toward our young adults?  Pastor David Wood deals with this question in a provocative and well written article found on Duke Divinity's Faith and Leadership web site.  Katherine Smith, Assistant Director of the Duke Youth Academy for Christian Formation, who I'm sitting next to in a Lilly Laboratory Think Tank in Nashville, told me about this site. 

Wood sites I Timothy 4:12, "Let the Church hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches: 'Let no one despise your youth.'"  He wonders what the church is missing by not taking young people more seriously.

"Dietrich Bonhoeffer was 27 when he delivered his radio address, “The Younger Generation’s Altered View of Führer,” which placed him among the first to publicly call Adolph Hitler’s authority into question. John Calvin was 27 when he published his first edition of the Institutes. Martin Luther was an aged 34 when he nailed his 95 theses to the door in Wittenburg. Dorothy Day was in her mid 30’s when she birthed the Catholic Worker Movement. Karl Barth was all of 33 when he published his first edition of The Epistle to the Romans. William Wilberforce was 32 when he introduced his first bill into parliament calling for the abolition of slavery. Martin Luther King, Jr., was 26 when he stepped up to lead the Montgomery bus boycott. Thomas Merton was 33 when he published The Seven Story Mountain. St. Francis of Assisi was in his late 20’s when he founded the movement that now bears his name."

Read the full article here.

Engage, the Inauguaral Event of the Kansas City Parents' Network

Tonight, approximately 128 parents gathered at Youthfront for Engage, the Inaugural event of the Kansas City Parents' Network.  Right before I went up to start the evening I chatted with a mom who talked about coming to Saturday Night Rallies at Youthfront in the early '90's.  I had been on staff for fifteen years in 1990.  Now her kids are coming to Youthfront Camp.  The generational continuity of doing youth ministry in one place is awesome but it also reminds me of my age, ugghh.

Leslie Snyder has done a great job of establishing the Parents' Network.  We are excited about the potential growth, development and contribution this Network will make for the parents of adolescents.  Dr Jim Burns spoke.  I believe that churches need to think about how we can train the parents of adolescents as youth workers.  Does anyone think this would be possible or important?

The Demonization of Teenagers

Unfortunately, one of the most successful strategies for funding youth ministry involves demonizing young people.  This process involves painting a picture using statistics, stories and alarmist scare tactics in order to convince adults to give money to help reach the youth culture because “it’s never been worse.”

This strategy works for fund-raising but I don’t think this posture of viewing teenagers as the most evil demographic group, creates an environment that results in genuine salvation and the biblical Christian formation of young people as disciples of Jesus Christ.   These fear-based tactics create a fear-based environment. 

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”  I John 4:18

I am not saying that today’s young people don’t have problems.  Teenagers are facing significant developmental and cultural issues today that weren’t as complex as those faced by previous generations.  “Lost and sinful” is a correct description of today’s generation of teenagers.  Let me give you a current example.
 
"Sex-ting" is the act of sharing nude or partially nude photos via cell phone text message.

According to MSNBC, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy reported in December 2008 that a survey of 1,280 teens and young adults found that 20 percent of the teens said they had sent or posted nude or semi nude photos or videos of themselves. That number was slightly higher for teenage girls — 22 percent — vs. boys — 18 percent.

High profile cases in Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin, Alabama, New York, Washington, and Michigan have resulted in teenagers being charged with felony for child pornography in these “sex-ting” incidents.  This is a very serious problem.   I have counseled parents of teenagers in the last several weeks that are scared to death about this issue and are desperately seeking help.   “Sex-ting,” along with a host of other issues, is the kinds of things our staff at Youthfront deal with all of the time in youth ministry.  We have seen about everything.  It would not be difficult to engage in telling some very scary stories and use “teen bashing” to convince you to write a big check to help us save these kids.

Here is my problem with this.  Today’s teenagers are no more sinful than today’s adults.  We are all broken.  We all need a Saviour.  Jesus Christ is the only answer for the restoration of all sinful and broken people, regardless of their age.

American sociologist, Mike A. Males is senior researcher for the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice.  Several years ago, Males wrote a book entitled Framing Youth: The Media War Against Kids.  Males debunked the myths that today’s teenagers are more violent, commit more crime and abuse more drugs and alcohol than their parents’ generation.  Nor are teenagers test scores lower than their parents’ scores were.  The author presents convincing data to show how the media manipulates statistics to portray a distorted view of adolescent culture.

Unfortunately, the stories of today’s youth who are doing amazing things don't get a lot of press.  They are proportionately much more engaged in community development, volunteerism, and global issues than their parents’ generation.  I am thrilled to see increasing numbers of young people embracing a compelling vision to co-operate with our Triune God’s mission in the world.

It is actually the Baby Boom generation which is experiencing death rates related to drug abuse that is nearly triple that of today’s youth.  I am a Baby Boomer.  In so many ways, the adult population has failed to pass on a healthy environment to our young people to grow up in.  This is true also for the church.  If our Christian young people are apathetic about their faith and do not embrace the importance of living Holy and Godly lives, shouldn’t adults accept a lot of the blame?  I think we must accept responsibility for living the kind of Christian lives that fuel the kinds of problems we see in our kids.

So, how should we respond?  I suggest that we cease any form of “teen bashing” and do a better job of celebrating Christian young people who are attempting to live out their faith.  I suggest that we take seriously our role in the salvation of young people AND their Christian formation. 

We are all broken, youth and adults alike.  We can only be made whole by the work of God in our lives.  We all desperately need each other in order to truly be the faithful people of God.