Mike King

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

Leno's Classy Farewell on the Tonight Show

I clearly remember Johnny Carson’s last Tonight Show episode.  It was quite moving when Bette Midler sang him off the air.  I haven’t been a big fan of Jay Leno.  I much prefer David Letterman.  But I did record and watch Jay’s last Tonight Show.  His monologue was funny.   Jay Walking is always a hoot and Conan as a guest was brilliant.  I will be conflicted now with Conan and Letterman going head to head.  James Taylor singing Sweet Baby James is American Classic.  But the testimony of Jay Leno’s classy superiority over Carson emerged in the final minutes of the show as he genuinely thanked his entire team, most who had been with him for 17 years.  He became visibly emotional when he thanked his wife who has faithfully “danced with him” through his 17 years on the show.   Leno then turned his attention to one of his staff that had a baby just days into his Tonight Show run.  He had the 17-year-old girl come on stage.  He proceeded to run down a list of all the Tonight Show staff that met through the show, got married and had children.  Leno opened the curtain to show all 68 children born to Tonight Show staff.  He closed by saying that this is what he wanted his legacy to be.  With an emotion-laden voice he declared, “When people ask these children where their parents met, they will say my parents met on the stage of the Tonight Show.”  Class Act.

Training Week at Youthfront Camps

This week is training week for our summer staff preparing for ministry at Youthfront Camps.  Eighty plus college students arrived at camp last Sunday.  On Monday, Chris Folmsbee and I trained the summer staff on our Youthfront DNA, philosophy of ministry, theology, learning environments and spiritual formation.  On Monday night the rest of our full-time staff joined the camp staff and gathered at the home of Youthfront staff member Topher Philgreen for a cookout and celebration.  The rain held off and it was truly a wonderful evening.
 

Humility

John Pearson recently posted a review of an old classic book Humility written by Andrew Murray who was a South African Dutch Reformed pastor.  Here are some of the powerful quotes from this short but potent book.

“Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue.”
  
“The chief mark of counterfeit holiness is its lack of humility.”
 
“Pride can lift its head in the very temple of God, and make His worship the scene of self exaltation.”
   
“Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure.”
   
“Humility is not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows Him as God to do all.”
   
“The truth is this: Pride may die in you, or nothing of heaven can live in you.”

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.

Our Jessica is engaged to be married to Micah Thomas

Three weeks ago Micah Thomas pulled Vicki and me aside and wanted our blessing to marry Jessica.  YES.  Micah, Vicki and I started planning for the proposal event and it all went down last night flawlessly.

Vicki picked me up at the airport returning from teaching at Olivet University.  We went to Micah's house where he and his band played an intimate concert for close friends, mostly from Jacob's Well.  They unveiled some new music they have written .  Approximately sixty people crammed into Micah's house for the gig.  Afterward, Vicki and I excused ourselves (you know, tired from the week... we are the old people of the group) and went to Jacob's Well to set up the environment. 

A half hour later Micah told Jessica he needed to go by church to pick up his acoustical guitar so he could prepare for leading worship music on Sunday morning.  He also told her he wanted to play a song for her that he had written.  He sat down in the foyer at the very spot he met her on Easter Morning 2006 (Jessica always went to Youthfront Camp West and Micah always went to Youthfront Camp South so they had lived in parallel universes and had not actually met).  Here is the picture we took that Easter Sunday at Jacob's Well with other Youthfront staff who were there that morning, Jessica is on the far left, Micah is 4th from the left and Vicki is 2nd from the right).

So Micah played Jessica the beautiful song he had written for her.  She made him sing it again.  When he stooped down to put his guitar back in its case he pulled out the ring and proposed on bended knee to Jessica's shrieks of joy and a resounding response of YES.  Then Micah took her into the small chapel which we had decorated.  Vicki and I were a mile away at Youthfront sitting on top of our building talking, enjoying the weather, talking and waiting for the call.  Jessica finally called and announced to us through tears of joy that she was getting married.  We went back to the church where Jessica requested Micah's song again and we celebrated, called friends and family and reminisced into the evening.  Micah and Jessica then went back to Micah's to Skype his parents who are in China right now.  A couple of hours later they headed south of KC to go on an early morning Hot Air Balloon ride with 18 other Balloons.  At 8:00 AM this morning my close friend Topher, who is my closest ministry associate and COO at Youthfront called me.  He was reading his paper on his deck in Louisburgh, KS and heard the sound of Hot Air Balloon's overhead landing in the field next to his home.  He walked over to where they were landing with his daughters Chelsea and Chloe and was surprised to see Micah and Jessica climbing out of a balloon.  Topher and the girls heard the whole story of the previous 12 hours.  Too cool. 

My daughter is getting married, my baby girl has grown up and I will be a Father of the Bride.  Below are a few pictures or you can check out this photo album.

Olivet University

This last week I was in the role of Professor at Olivet University, located south of Chicago.  I taught a Graduate Module on Missional Leadership which met requirements for youth ministry students and church leadership students.  Teaching 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM each day was exhausting but fulfilling.  The class was made up of twenty-two graduate students enthusiastic about the course content.  It was a wonderful week hanging with these bright students. 

Our course outcomes were:
1)    Articulate a working theology of missional leadership
2)    Assess a local setting for missional ministry potential
3)    Utilize specific practices for the sake of missional ministry
4)    Conceive of a specific structures to guide a missionally shaped ministry

It was also great to be with Mark Holcomb, Assistant Professor of Christian Education, who teaches youth ministry at Olivet.  The weather was awesome and the Olivet Campus is quite impressive.  Olivet is the home of the Chicago Bears Training Camp so they are bracing themselves for the media circus coming to campus during the Bear's new quarterback Jay Cutler.

Cabin 16

The economy has been especially harsh on non-profit organizations.  Youthfront has not been exempted from the reality of a difficult economy and yet God has continued to provide in extraordinary ways that make it impossible for anyone of us on staff to take credit.  We recently were blessed with one of the largest gifts we have received in 66 years of ministry.  To God be the Glory.

We have also been blessed with faithful supporters who believe in the mission of Youthfront to bring youth into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

We have several unique projects that we believe God has initiated and we are trusting in the Holy Spirit to lead us and for God's provision.  More on this soon...

In addition, we are making progress in building another cabin at Youthfront Camp West.  We are packed out this summer and have turned away many kids over the last several years.  Below are some pictures of the progress.

Summer Ministry

Right before we begin our busiest season of summer ministry we have our entire Youthfront staff gather for an All Staff Meeting.  We fire up the grills, cookout, and share some good food.  Our meeting time was filled with stories, updates and plans for the summer.  Several of our staff in Croc, Mexico were in town so it was really excellent to hear from them.  We gathered around the individual staff members of Youthfront Camp South, Youthfront Camp West, Croc, Mexico and finally the office staff and prayed for them and commissioned them for the special ministries they will engage in this summer.  We will have close to 5,000 young people who will spend anywhere from one to ten weeks with us this summer.  Most of them will be challenged to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ, many of them will be thrust into intense leadership development, and hundreds of them will find new life and begin a salvation journey through Jesus Christ.  Please pray for us throughout this summer and for the young people God entrusts us to minister to.

A Prayer for Youth

We offer to you, loving God, the gifts and needs of youth.

Bless them with your guiding grace as they face the challenges and opportunities in their lives.

Touch their hearts with the gentleness of your love, that they may know they are valued and valuable beings.

Send your spirit of hope to their lives, that they may believe in themselves and know they are needed in this world.

Grace them with the gift of joy that they may celebrate life through laughter and tears alike.

Guide us, as we continue to grow in our appreciation of the many gifts of young people, in the ministry opportunities we offer to them, in the journey of faith we walk with them, in our shared mission as a community called to discipleship in the world.

We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Jessica Graduates

This weekend we attended Jessica's Graduation from Rockhurst University.  She graduated with honors and made the Dean's List.  She starts working at Research Hospital this week in Cardiac Care, prepares to take the State Boards and starts Graduate Work in September.  We are pretty stinkin' proud of her.  Here are some pictures...