Now that everyone on Marko’s blogger list from the Sacramento convention has talked about this, I’ll say how much I enjoyed seeing “Youth Worker Speed Dating” on the list of convention options one night. It was unfortunately at the same time as the Comedy Club session downstairs in the main convention room, but I left a couple of new friends to watch it and take notes for me and went upstairs.
And I have to say, it’s amazing how much like middle school it was at first; there was a whole crowd of people standing outside the door giggling nervously when I walked up, and more people standing against the walls and just kind of watching inside the room too. I’ll admit I stuck to the wall for a second, but when the emcees started calling out “Okay, seventh grade chess club; off the wall!” I found a place in a circle and met some truly lovely people.
So in honor of all those nervous single youth ministers, here’s a video that might help:
At NYWC Mark Yaconelli told the story about his son starting a thing called “Slow Club.” The two rules in this club are:
No Running
No Hurrying
I’d been trying to heed this advice in the past couple of days, especially since I hadn’t been able to walk straight, type, hold things or eat during the convention, for some reason. Tired and clumsy, that’s me!
So, in humorous response to Mark’s story, here’s a video!
These are some of the things that really stuck out at me from the convention this year in Sacramento:
Marko’s closing general session talk on “communional living” and its emphasis on slow, small, intimate journeying with our students and volunteers is a very challenging idea. On its face it sounds like a ‘well, duh’ concept, but youth workers aren’t really well suited for it, because of our typical nomadic, hub-and-spoke way of doing things. It’s easier to put on a big program than it is to identify three students to pour deeply into. It’s hard to have that kind of impact when we’re not guaranteed the longevity, for one reason and another, to take the time it requires. It points back to volunteers and parents, toward working ourselves out of a job and out of a professional field, if we’re going to engage with this communional thing on its deepest level.
Shane Claiborne and Tony Campolo both pictured a Christianity without too much stuff, free to rely in practice on God’s providing and God’s power. But I work in a wealthy suburban congregation where the sheer amount of stuff and human power present on a Sunday morning limits our ability to dream God-sized dreams. What will it take to find the direction God has for us?
I’m a little afraid of what a deeper level of faith would look like in my own life, what God might do in and around me if I truly surrendered to Him the way I talk about doing. But I think that being afraid of it means I’m beginning to be ready for it.
Tonight I discovered Lucca, an Italian restaurant a couple blocks away from the convention center. I had one of the most tender steaks I’ve ever eaten, and they do a dessert called “bananas in phyllo” (pretty self-explanatory, with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream) that made me miss the Skit Guys at the beginning of the main session but not mind!
This morning we went to church at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, on the corner next to the convention center, and had worship, homemade pie, and church members who greeted us by name. That place is doing something right.
I’m still processing Tony Campolo (who spoke at the general session about the American lifestyle compared to Jesus’ example, and commented that “We’re the best Babylon in the world, but we’re still Babylon!”) and Sean Dell (who led a seminar on “Rescuing kids who are bored with God” that spoke to me).
Lost and Found (the “Plan 9 from Outer Space” of Christian bands; low-budget, campy, huge cult following) played at late night and I about lost my voice singing along and cheering.
I dearly hope that YS will continue to bring in at least one more academic-type speaker for general sessions in future NYWC events, because Phyllis Tickle this morning was completely brilliant (and I don’t only say that because she’s a fellow Episcopalian.) She broke down the various boundary-breaking movements, including the current emerging church movement, and explained some of the historical events that led to them, and shared some predictions that have been made for what they’ll mean. Long story short (and make sure you bring the CD of her talk home with you) churches generally fall into four groups with different focus points. As people from one group discover they’re interested in another group’s focus, they start working within both of those communities until, the prediction runs, 50-60% of American Christians will be in a “swirl” in the middle of the graph, drawing a vital and dynamic Christianity from practices in all four groups.
It seems that every year at NYWC there’s a band that just doesn’t work, that doesn’t connect with the audience of youth ministers who are there to hear. This year it was Stephanie Smith. I’ve only heard one of her songs before (she admitted she’s new) and neither had anyone else in my row, so we didn’t jump around or run to the mosh pit when she started to play. And no one else did either! Generally, the bands that tend to fall flattest are party-pop kid bands who insist from the stage (as Hawk Nelson did a couple of years ago when they were it) that the kids in our youth groups are much cooler than we are and would love them. So if anyone from YS is reading, that’s my two cents on the band choices.
Today I discovered Ambrosia Cafe, (which has a limited time that they’ll serve actual meals on the weekends, so I was eating cookies and drinking coffee, a nice compromise). Since we all need a break from Starbucks, go to Ambrosia. It’s at the corner of 11th and K Streets!
On my way to Ambrosia, I ran into an interfaith peace march at the state Capitol building. Here’s a photo:
