Mike King

Free Book Offer... Love, Loss and Life Beyond

From now until May 4, 2012 you can get a free digital book entitled A Mother's Journey of Love, Loss and Life Beyond, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or Apple.  Let me explain my connection with this book.

Recently, I received an email from Jennifer Scalise, a mother who wanted to share a story with me about her daughter, Brooke.  Just a few weeks after Brooke’s second summer at Youthfront Camp West, while on vacation with her family, she was killed in a negligent accident caused by a tour operator in Costa Rica.  This senseless tragedy became national news.  Ultimately Brooke’s mom wrote a book about her story.  Jennifer has appeared on ABC’s Nightline, Good Morning America, and World News with Diane Sawyer to tell Brooke’s story.

In her book Jennifer describes how their family did not go to church but Brooke had gone to camp (at Youthfront) and had become involved in church.  Brooke had become increasingly vocal about her love for Jesus Christ.  Her mom spoke about how gentle yet consistent Brooke was about her faith in God.  The book chronicles the process of her family’s discovery of Brooke’s deep faith and love for Jesus Christ by reading her Youthfront Camp Journals after her death.  As I read Jennifer’s book A MOTHER’S JOURNEY of Love, Loss and Life Beyond, I found myself moved to tears on more than one occasion. 

The summer that Brooke died was the summer we focused on Jesus’ parables in Luke 15.  It was amazing in the book to see Brooke's own handwritten words in her Youthfront camper manual.  She wrote about her life with Jesus.  She revealed how the parable of the Prodigal Son had impacted her.  In the camper manual we had the picture of Rembrandt's painting of The Return of the Prodigal Son.  Brooke’s mom included this picture in her book and wrote about it, “We found a picture of The Return of the Prodigal Son by Rembrandt, on which Brooke had written “God” with an arrow to the man depicting God and then “me” with an arrow to the son kneeling in front of God. We were shocked Brooke would think this way and would have viewed herself as the child kneeling in front of God.” 

I told Brooke’s mom, “We get to serve thousands of young people and minister to them.  We try to do this with a generous posture that creates space for their humanity.  Too many camps and churches try to force young people into a confining human-created mold when what is really needed is an environment that allows young people to lean into their own God shaped humanity.  Brooke definitely embraced Jesus Christ and allowed her spirit to be set free by God's life-giving spirit.

Brooke’s mom continues, “Much later, a friend looking at the picture discovered something I had missed. Brooke had also drawn and circled a distinctive mark on the back of the head of the son (the person she felt depicted her), a mark in the exact spot and in accurate proportion to what I would later learn was the most severe of Brooke’s injuries, and ultimately, the cause of death. Stunned, I moved in a fog for days after finding this, overwhelmed by the magnitude of what it proved.

This all surprised me. Brooke and I were extremely close. She had always confided in me about everything. Our love was so strong. I have many letters that she wrote to me in which she tells me that I am her best friend and we shared a bond like no other. But, as close as we were, I will admit that I was shocked to find out I was not what mattered most in her life. As we pored through what were now the greatest gifts of my life, I found a sheet that she had filled out at school, titled ‘Explore Your Future.’ Under ‘Who do you look up to?’ Brooke listed God, Jesus, and my parents. Under ‘What is important to you?’ she had written: ‘God, my family, and friends are all important to me.’ Not many 12 year olds would write this on a school worksheet in a public school. Seeing this and the other documents made me realize how her love for God was greater than even her love for me and that she viewed herself as God’s child first. As devastated as I was, it gave me peace knowing Brooke was with who she loved most.”

Brooke’s family is thankful to Youthfront for introducing her into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.  I am also thankful that Brooke’s story also involves an extension of God’s grace into the life of the entire family.  This happens all the time.  This is our mission and Brooke’s story is one of thousands of beautiful stories of young people transformed by Jesus Christ through Youthfront’s ministries.

To Stir a Movement

I am so excited about how well my friend Jeremy Affeldt's book is doing in such a short time.  Jeremy is on the 15 Day Disabled List because of a strained right oblique, which is a bummer. But he has been able to do lots of local and national radio and TV interviews. 

Get this book... it's just a great story.

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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Attention All Youth Workers, You Must See The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Yesterday I saw The Perks of Being A Wallflower.  The movie is based on Stephen Chbosky's novel by the same name.  Charlie (Logan Lerman) is beginning his freshman year carrying the weight of a tragic middle school experience and not expecting high school to be any better, the desire for friends, the hope for a first love, and a dark cloud of emotion over the deaths of a friend and aunt.  Charlie falls into a friendship with a group of seniors who are all dealing with their own issues. 

The cast is wonderful, filled with notable actresses/actors featuring Emma Watson, Ezra Miller, Logan Lerman, Dylan McDermott, Kate Walsh, Mae Whitman, Joan Cusack and Paul Rudd.  Logan Lerman as Charlie makes anyone watching the movie surely remember the awkwardness of coming to age during the adolescent experience. 

So here's the thing, the movie is 102 minutes long and based on the first 90 minutes of the movie I would have recommended the film for youth workers to see because we take our vocation seriously and we want to study culture and the adolescent experience (see trailer below).  However, it is the final approximately 12 minutes that totally rocked me and led me to write this post to encourage all youth workers that this is a must see film.  I don't know if the film touched things deeply personal or if I was just watching this at the right (or wrong) time but the movie reminded me that hope can spring forth even in the midst of our tragic lives.  The Perks of Being a Wallflower also reminded me why I haven't been able to walk away from the vocation of ministry, especially to youth and their families.  I think our youth ministries are filled with the kinds of young people portrayed in this movie.  The movie also demonstrates the importance of caring adults (Paul Rudd as English teacher) in the lives of young people.

I don't believe I've spoiled anything with this post.  I just want you to see it.  Maybe you won't be caught as off guard as I was but if you see it you will thank me.

"We accept the love we think we deserve."

 

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."

The State of Young Readers in America

This content was offered for me to post by BrainTrack, a authoritative resource on education.  I think this has some important content for all who are involved in the spiritual, emotional, social and intellectual development of young people.  I summarized the content but the links are active if you want to explore deeper in the issues raised in this article.

The State of Young Readers in America

Oh, those punk kids today! With their iPhones and hippity-hop music and My Little G.I. Joe the Explorers! In our day, we read books all the time, every time! But they don’t, and they’re stupid! Stupid, I tells ya!

Except not really.

Look, if this country is headed downhill at the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, it isn’t entirely the result of children failing to engage with literature. Could parents and schools do a better job of encouraging them to read? Absolutely. And we’ll get to that. But that doesn’t necessarily chime the death knell for America, either. Especially considering how the literacy rate continues hovering around 99%. That last 1% needs closing, of course. All United States residents deserve opportunities to learn how to read. However, to tout it as indicative that the country suffers from an incoming collapse of stability and morality epitomizes the concept of hyperbole. Truth be told, the reality involves some negative trends that need some addressing, but plenty of driven organizations and individuals devote themselves to overturning them. We can’t dismiss concerns. We also can’t declare them signifiers of an incoming societal apocalypse, either.

What Needs Fixing

Reading for fun is dropping: According to the National Endowment for the Arts, 13% of 13-year-olds and 19% of 17-year-olds rarely (or never) read for fun

Limited access: Youngsters from middle- and upper-class neighborhoods so often take their libraries and well-funded schools for granted, as they enjoy far more access to literature than their counterparts in lower-income areas. In fact, the ratio currently stands at roughly 13 books for every child in a resource-rich region, but one book for every 300 children in the resource-deprived equivalents. Even in an era where educational trends have begun veering toward the democratic in the form of open courseware, students still must watch their grades — not to mention opportunities — unjustly suffer as a result of their socioeconomic bracket.

Parental Involvement: Children whose parents involve themselves (but not to helicopter extremes) in their educations enjoy higher grades, improved reading comprehension, the ability to read at an earlier age, and a greater chance of getting into and finishing college. It’s science. Science we’ve linked right up there for you. In fact, reading acumen drops by up to 74% in students receiving poor support at home. The most engaged parents hail from middle- and upper-class backgrounds and are college graduates of biological children, because they’re the demographic with enough resources to do so, not because the lower socioeconomic brackets just don’t care about their kids.

A Couple of Fixes

Embrace digital media: OK, stubborn traditionalists. This is the part that might just rankle you up a little, and you’re just going to have to deal with it. Starting with the television and moseying on into the digital age, Americans have started shifting toward a visual cultural paradigm.This is not a bad thing.No, seriously. Literature as an art form will never die, but it will liquidly alter its shape to adapt to its surroundings, like all other enduring conduits of human expression. On a more low-fi level, savvy educators have seized upon this trend and started incorporating comic books with literary merit (Yes, naysayers, those exist. Maus won a Pulitzer, after all.) into the syllabi; blending art with words engages a more diverse selection of learning styles and may even enhance knowledge retention in some students. Comics don’t “dumb down” reading.

Look to libraries: No institutions are doing more to nurture literacy in the young ‘uns than public libraries. When it comes to accessibility, even some of the more resource-deprived have found room in their budgets to start offering ebook readers, tablets, and downloadable books for locals to check out. But even beyond that, they bring in patrons through programming like sensory storytime for children on the autism spectrum, completely free services for the homeless and the underprivileged (drives, job and computer training, resume reviews, etc.), and even multimedia lounges and other spaces and events targeting teens.

Better interaction with parents and teachers: First of all … English teachers, you are fabulous and all, but you seriously need to stop peddling only one interpretation of a text to your students. The beauty of literature lays largely in its open nature, with each reader’s unique experiences and observations creating a different approach and perspective. Imagine how disillusioning it must be to coagulate this viable insight, only to be automatically dismissed as “EEEEEHHHHNNNNKKKK!!!!! WRONG!!!!!” when it pops up in class discussions. Uniformity kills. Prevent burnout in students by valuing what they bring to the talks and, more importantly, selecting a diverse range of books, poems, essays, and short stories for consideration.

 

Three New Resources for Thoughtful Youth Workers

Here are some new resources produced by my friends at the Center For Youth Ministry Training.

It Happens: True Tales from the Trenches of Youth Ministry

by Will Penner

Retail Price: $16.99  Save 20% Use Discount Code B4L4BBBB

CYMT Price: $13.60

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Hollow Faith: How Andy Griffith, Facebook, and the American Dream Neutered the Gospel

by Stephen Ingram

Retail Price: $16.99Save $2.99 Use Discount Code 4NWY78PC

CYMT Price: $14.00

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Raising Teens in an Almost Christian World

by Dietrich Kirk

Retail Price: $8.99  Save $2.00 use Discount Code 27MBQ4GW

CYMT Price: $6.99

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Run Home and Take a Bow

Right now is the second best time of the year, if you are a true baseball fan (unless your team is actually playing in the World Series, in which case it's the best time of the year, GO GIANTS).  For most, the best time of the year is Spring Training when all have hope for a future that involves your team winning a World Series pennant. 

My friend, Ethan Bryan, has written a book that captures the hope of Spring Training but deepens this hope for all.  A hope in life and faith that goes way beyond the joy of your team winning the World Series. 

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From the Back Cover, "What can baseball teach us about living in the way of Jesus?  Can going to a baseball game be an exercise in spiritual formation?  Run Home & Take a Bow shares twenty insightful stories of the intersection of baseball and faith.  Grab a Dr Pepper and your glove and enjoy the journey."

Here's what people, including me, are saying about Run Home and Take a Bow:

Every baseball fan knows the ballpark invites solitude, contrition, human solidarity, joy, and enlightenment. Sit with baseball contemplative Ethan Bryan as he opens up the simple truth of human living through one season with the Kansas City Royals. Bryan’s heartfelt stories will call you back to the touchstones that give life meaning—faith, family, gratitude, persistence, and play.

Mark Yaconelli
Director of the Center for Engaged Compassion 
Author of Wonder, Fear, and Longing: A Book of Prayers. 

Ethan’s book is as life giving as Opening Day and it’s as sensory as pounding your glove and smelling the leather.  If you are passionate about baseball you will love this book.  If you are not a baseball fan, just a lover of great stories then read this book and you will be inspired, but beware, you might just become a baseball fan.   

Mike King
President of Youthfront
Author and Editor of Immerse Journal 

I'm not a big sports fan, and care little about the K.C. Royals, and I loved this book!  You will too, I'm sure.  Just a few pages in, you just know that Ethan Bryan is a truly good man, a caring dad, a fine writer, and a great storyteller.  His childlike joy in his beloved game is a delight to behold and along the way you will meet some true athletic heros, from Hall of Fame stars to historic sports writers and some memorably diehard fans.  And there is a caste of characters unrelated to the game, from Mike the Theologian and Chick-fil-A Jake to Bryan's sweet baseball-loving daughters, not to mention bunches of Bible guys, drawn vividly from the pages of  Holy Scripture as they are set alongside the boys of summer.  This is light reading that pitches some serious life lessons, is as entertaining as peanuts during the 7th inning stretch and, like a last-ditch homer in the bottom of the 9th, has you on your feet, leaving truly inspired.  Take a bow, Ethan, author and writer.

Byron Borger
Owner, Hearts & Minds Books
Dallastown, PA 

We've been taught not to talk about politics and religion in polite company, two of the three most interesting things in life worth talking about. So thank God for baseball. And thank God for Ethan Bryan's reflections on life, faith, friendship, and the greatest game ever invented.

Phil Snider
Senior Pastor of Brentwood Christian Church in Springfield, MO 
Author of Preaching After God 

No Easy Answers: The Shared Role of Parents and the Church in the Spiritual Formation of Teens

I served as Editor for the Youthfront Book Shorts Series published by Barefoot Publications. The title I'm featuring today is Leslie Snyder's No Easy Answers: The Shared Role of Parents and the Church in the Spiritual Formation of Teens.

I first met Leslie Snyder in Seminary.  I quickly labeled her as the fanatical advocate for parents who have kids in youth ministry.  This turned out to be an accurate label.  Leslie is passionate and deeply committed to help parents in our churches be more involved in the Christian Formation of their children.

Leslie eats, drinks, sleeps and dreams about ways to serve parents of young people.  She insists that youth workers must be more aware of the family context of the young people they minister to.  Leslie’s voice joins the growing chorus of voices articulating the importance of Christian Formation of young people needing the involvement of the entire church community.  She describes ways that youth workers can become guides, facilitators, pastors and leaders for the movement toward creating a broader faith community engaged in passing the faith onto our emerging generations.  For Leslie, investing in parents of teenagers is an essential aspect of nurturing a more holistic faith community for our youth to be spiritually developed.

Leslie gives youth workers practical ideas for helping parents of the youth you minister to and how this will broaden you ability to disciple them.  One of the biggest challenges we face in the church today is to help our churches really live for and love Jesus, and for our congregations to be deeply committed to Christian formation.  It’s no wonder our young people don’t take their faith serious when they haven’t seen this modeled by the adults in our churches.  Leslie makes the case that we have to look at his issue holistically and in doing so we can make a difference.

*The cool thing about this book short series is the fact that they are downloadable and can be reproduced by youth workers to engage in conversation with their volunteer staff for the purpose of training and shaping the ethos of the youth ministry of a church.

ORDER HERE

Erik Leafblad, "God Loses!" and other news...

My good friend, fellow staff member, collaborator and thought partner, Erik Leafblad will begin working on a PhD at Luther Seminary beginning this fall.  Erik will continue some of his key roles at Youthfront but his Youthfront job descriptions shifts to a primary focus of earning a PhD in Theology.  Erik is perfectly designed for this task and I am thrilled for him, along with the rest of our staff.  If you want a glimpse into Erik's thinking then you should consider these two resources.

The first is especially relevant in the midst of Holy Week.  The current edition of the Immerse Journal features an article by Erik entitled "God Loses."  I'm telling you that the price of an Immerse subscription is so worth it when you get the quality of articles such as Erik's in edition after edition.  While you must be a subscriber to read Erik's article (SUBSCRIBE NOW :-), you can see Daniel Shroyer's response to "God Loses" online here.

The second resource from Erik comes from the Youthfront Book Shorts Series published by Barefoot Publications. His book short entitled, Youth Workers as Spiritual Guides: Spiritual Theology as Living Knowledge, should be consumed and contemplated by thousands of youth workers.  I hope Erik’s ideas shape the way youth workers construct their ministry theology and praxis.

Erik Leafblad has a brilliant theological mind and youth workers should be thankful that he is focusing his theological work on youth ministry.  Erik helps us examine Friedrich Schweitzer’s work on the social dynamics of Pluralization, Individualization and Privatization and how these impact religious ideals of the young people we minister to.  Erik gives us insight in how we might navigate through the current cultural landscape in guiding youth into meaningful and sustaining Christian formation.

Erik makes the case for leading youth deeply into the Story of God and why and how youth must see their own personal stories intersect with God’s overarching story.  Erik believes that youth workers should not underestimate young peoples ability to think deeply and sophisticatedly about theology, meaning and life.  The wise youth worker, who serves as a spiritual guide for young people, must help them make the critical connection to participation with God’s Mission.  When someone gets clarity of what it means to actively participate with Jesus Christ’s ministry it is life altering and unshakable.

Envisioning small groups of youth workers sitting around discussing the concepts in this book short make my heart beat with excitement about the impact potential this would have on the youth worker’s churches, communities, congregants, young people and even their own lives with God.

*The cool thing about this book short series is the fact that they are downloadable and can be reproduced by youth workers to engage in conversation with their volunteer staff for the purpose of training and shaping the ethos of the youth ministry of a church.

ORDER HERE