NCYM Take-Aways Part 1

I traveled all morning on Thursday, Jan 4th, to attend the conference. My wife had the day off, so the day started slow. I went to sleep on Wednesday with the intention of waking up in time to reach Shane Claiborne's lesson in the morning, but I left late. And, as always, this was a blessing. I value Shane's message of authentic and radical following, but I love my wife. It was good to slow down that morning and take my time to get ready. Then, I began the four hour drive to Atlanta from Nashville. I have been listening to Inspired By Media's audio Bible for the past few days. And, on this trip, I listened to John for the first 2 hours. I had to pull over twice because I was so moved by the words and life of my Savior. After I listened to John, I turned off the radio for the remaining two hours. And, I tried to remember what I had just heard.

I showed up to the Airport Hilton (which is not in the best area of Atlanta - I am an ATL native) for the last 30 minutes of Claiborne's message. His message was a recap of Irresistible Revolution. Luckily, I have read the book. I did, however, find it ironic that we youth ministers were listening to someone talk about doing thing that we could have done two blocks from our hotel. (This is as much an indictment on myself as to everyone else.) Shane's super-session helped put a little flesh on the implications for youth ministry, but I wish it was that easy...

I stopped by Don McLaughlin's class on the purity talk. In essence, he said what all youth ministers know, "what we are doing is not working..." So, he advocated a different approach that involves placing desires in their correct context. As with anything that is sex related, it makes sense, but it is hard to apply for teenagers. However, it is better than the "kiss everything goodbye" or "showing love waits" stuff.

God directed me to Chris Seidman's next class. He talked about the relationship between the Spirit, water, and baptism. In confession, I have struggled for the past few years with teaching baptism to a pluralistic generation, Chris offered the lesson as a picture (which helps.) I would put more flesh to this statement, but I am teaching about it on Sunday and don't want to spoil anything for the students.

The last class I went to was Jeff Walling's missional discussion. I have now read four books that deal with the missional discussion, so I was shocked to see this class at NCYM. I will not comment on this class as much as I desire, but my thoughts will show up later. Overall, it was a great class.

At dinner, I realized that one of the many reasons for these conferences is to let fellow youth ministers be present with one another. One of the great blessings of this conference was the ability to check up with my friends.