Doug and Rick are passionate about a lot of things in youth ministry. They also have a lot of friends who are passionate about a lot of things in youth ministry.  I can always tell when Doug or Rick has bumped into one of their youth ministry buddies and been inspired by the conversation, because it always results in an email to me that goes something like:

“Hey Kami–just ran into [insert name here] and WOW–they’re doing such a great thing in their ministry. I think a they could do a phenomenal workshop at NYMC on [insert topic here]”

Doug and Rick obviously have a lot of conversations with inspiring people, because I get a lot of these emails. I’m finally at the point in spreadsheet-land where the workshops are getting finalized, along with a schedule, room assignments and all. What started out as 13 workshops has turned into 30. Because of the amount, we added an extra workshop time slot (late-night) and another classroom, which actually made room for 3 more. On Friday I sent the final list to Doug and Rick for their final input–and pointed out the 3 open spots.

Rick’s email back cracked me up–he had 6 “really strong” suggestions for the final 3 workshops. I can’t wait to see what Doug has in mind too.