conversations from the couch » New Happenings

Crashed & Burned now Back & Blogging

Kami — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:03:15 +0000

OK–for those of you who are new to the SYMC blog–this is the behind-the-scenes report on all conference happenings as they move from brainstorm to execution, plus breaking news, cool stuff, and the good, bad and ugly parts we’re probably not supposed to share. The year-long journey of planning a conference is a huge part of our team’s real-life ministry to youth workers, and we thought we’d share the the glimpses of holy grace that compensate for the gritty frustrations along the way. You’ll get inside the heads and hearts of the folks on the conference team who are thinking/planning/praying for youth workers needs. And, your comments and input on the blog give us the feedback that makes the conference great!

FYI for returning readers: the blog took a hibernation when I took a sabbatical of sanity. (the event team continued on with some exciting staff/company changes, but I (Kami, the self-appointed SYMC blogger among a variety of other conference roles, took a time out.) Since this blog is about the real truth behind our conference ministry–here’s the scoop: I returned from SYMC 2008/Cincinnati in February full from the experience, but ultimately broken by the long journey that took us there. Part of it was the sheer strain of the amount of work on a tiny staff, but it went beyond that. I had felt God’s call on my heart to serve youth workers so loudly that it drowned out the balance in my life for anything else. I totally neglected my role as a wife, mother and friend, and rationalized my workaholic ways all in the name of God. It became clear that my own prideful addiction to performance/achievement/affirmation overtook what began as authentic calling to ministry. Exhausted, disallusioned, broken and bitter I wrapped up some final projects, left my position at Group and limped home to heal my life.

It’s now been 5 months and I’ll share bits and pieces of that healing time in future posts. I’ve learned that committing to ministry of any kind means committing to continual personal and spiritual recovery and renewal along the way. My friend Megan Hutchinson from Saddleback and SYMC 2009 Track Leader for Helping Hurting Kids has said it best: just breathe.

So, with a great big breath I’m throwing a healthy leg back on this conference pony. I’m totally inspired when I watch the SYMC promo video, and reminded about healthy spiritual balance in the words of the accompanying song, Sweetly Broken, by Jeremy Riddle. I’ve been there. I’m grateful for the amazing team that continued planning SYMC 2009–I’ll re-introduce the whole crew (and new faces) soon. Thanks to Doug Fields for refusing to believe I could really walk away, and a huge thanks to Rick Lawrence for carrying this torch high and keeping it burning so brightly along with everything else on your plate: you are a true champion!

Just got into Cincinnati!

Kami — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 01:34:02 +0000

The first crew is here, and the rest of the staff arrives tomorrow. Tons to do, but so fun! Three important observations to pass along:

1. Parking is best in the 6th street parking garage, on the top covered floor. It attaches directly to the Duke Energy Center, totally convenient and is $8 per day vs. $20 per day in the hotel parking lots.

2. Not all of the rooms in the Millennium Hotel have free wireless that’s strong enough to actually count, in my opinion. Bring your own Ethernet cord, and hook straight in. It’s free and works great.

3. Skyline Chili rocks, and we’re now heading over to the Montgomery Inn for the world’s best ribs…

community, community and more community

Kami — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 04:22:00 +0000

There are a TON of new happenings springing up at the conference–lots of organizations and denominations are looking forward to meeting with their members for connection. Check out the info board at the conference for exact locations and daily updates, but here’s a running list:

2/22 Friday afternoon: Affinity Groups will be hanging out all afternoon in various locations for conversation

2/22 Friday Late night: around 9:30 or so…Group Magazine Reader & Author Reception with Rick Lawrence and Group Magazine Authors; the National Network of Youth Ministries Gathering with NNYM president Paul Fleishmann; Group Workcamp Foundation 1st ever volunteer reunion

2/23 Saturday 5-6:00 pm Various denominational gatherings: Catholic Church; United Methodist; Lutheran (Missouri Synod); Salvation Army, Christian & Missionary Alliance (dinner)

2/23 Saturday Late Night 10-11:00 pm PDYM (Purpose Driven Youth Ministry) Community Gathering

blogging at the conference

Kami — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 05:58:18 +0000

Thanks to Josh and his blog, More then Dodgeball, there is growing list of bloggers that are going to be at the conference.

Check out the list building in the comments of that post. Are you blogging? Hit that post (or the link below) and let Josh know.

Check out some of the cool things they are doing for the bloggers at the event and for bloggers’ respective sites. A lot of it involves food and prizes…can’t beat that!

The red couch is leaving the building!

Kami — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 16:05:51 +0000

The red couch is going on a road trip soon…Josh and Jake are taking it to Cincinnati. Hope it makes it. Just in case they run into problems, I decided to order a few more red couches to be shipped ahead straight to the convention center. On Friday I stopped by the local furniture store where we’d originally found the red couch, and saw the owners had posted the conference brochure on the wall in honor of the couch. They said they are starting a contest about stories inspired by their furniture. It’s a little weird, but it could be cool. We could do that at the conference. Hmmmmmmm….

SYM Podcast 66

Kami — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:11:00 +0000

Check out the latest podcast from the gang from Simply Youth Ministry-Doug, Jana, Josh and Matt. They’ll all be at the conference and recording a live podcast on Friday night, Feb 22 at 10 pm.

Josh will love Skyline Chili

Kami — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 05:00:07 +0000

I was just reading Josh Griffin’s blog about Skyline Chili in Cinncinnati. He’s never had it, and a bunch of Cincy folks are trying to explain it. Having gone to college at Miami of Ohio outside of Cincinnati, I lived on the stuff for 4 years! In the fall I went to visit the Duke Energy Center, and saw a Skyline Chili cart in the conference center lobby. I think the highlight of the trip was discovering that we could hijack that cart for the conference and take it down to our end of the convention center right outside the general session area! It’s all ours for 4 days! I’m hoping they’re open for breakfast!

Friday afternoon pre-conference events

Kami — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:00:41 +0000

Hey gang! The registration booth opens on Friday, Feb. 22 at noon, and will be open through the evening. Here’s the scoop of the Friday events. Click here to check out the complete conference schedule.

Friday, Feb 22

Registration, bookstore and ministry partner booths open at noon

1-2 pm Affinity Groups will connect for fellowship and conversation

2 pm worship with Steve Jones in the commons area

2:30-4 Heart-to-Heart discussions with various speakers. Spend time picking Doug Fields’ brain–and many others!

3 & 4 pm worship with Steve Jones in Commons area

4:30-5:30 Affinity Groups meet again to connect and dialogue with later arrivals

6:30 General session preshow begins (lots of free prizes and laughs)

7-9 pm General session–hosted by Doug Fields with keynote from Coach Tony Dungy, worship concert with Sara Groves

10 pm-midnight Various events–check schedule online

More new updates on the website

Kami — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:18:15 +0000

Tons of new info…check out the detailson each of the 4 sessions of all Deeper Learning Tracks, complete workshop descriptions, affinity group descriptions plus the bios of dozens of speakers that weren’t up before! We’ve added the most updated schedule too–late night breakouts and other new happenings on Friday afternoon!

Kutless–in concert at NYMC, and up close for post show conversation

Kami — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 07:44:02 +0000

Love these guys! They’re awesome to work with–and they were psyched about the personal/authentic themes of the conference. When we asked about them doing a talk-back session with fans after the concert–they’re game. They’d actually heard that we did that last year at the conference with Toby Mac, and thought it was a great way for sharing their heart and ministry behind their music.

More details to come–but plan on Sunday night as a late-night happening sometime after 10 pm–Kutless Unplugged: the Ministry Behind the Music.