conversations from the couch

We’re thrilled to have the new addition of Chuck Bomar (guru of college-age ministry) joining us to lead and mentor an affinity group for those in this ministry niche! Here’s his affinity group description (all affinity groups are loosely organized gatherings that launch on Friday afternoon, and run throughout the conference.) Daily details for all affinity groups will be announce on-site… 
Affinity Group for Leaders of College Age Ministry
You don’t have to be in college ministry for long to understand there isn’t very many resources designed to help in day to day ministry.  We also quickly realize that its difficult to connect with others in college ministry to bounce ideas, get new ones, or just hear about what God’s doing in other ministries around the country.  Join us for a time of Q&A, brainstorming, and simply connecting with others in the college ministry world!

I just received the write-up from Guy Wasko, the affinity group leader who really had it on his heart to create a group to meet throughout NYMC for healing, ideas and support. This group will gather at 1 pm, and again at 4:30 on Friday afternoon–and will continue to meet throughout the conference. Times will be posted every day–and all groups are open to everyone. Come once–or every time!

Affinity Group for Youth Workers Dealing With Difficult Church LeadersFrom “Dream Teams” to leadership teams we never want to dream of, we’ve probably all experienced a variety of leaders, leadership styles and conflict when it comes to church boards, committees or Sr. Pastors. It’s also safe to say that many of us are probably still carrying the scars from past experiences (maybe even current ones). This isn’t a gripe session or your chance to play an overzealous game of “my pastor is worse than your pastor.” This group will be about creating a safe place where others know your pain, recognize your scars and we can journey together toward healing and restoration. Maybe you just want to dip your toe in the water or maybe you’re ready to jump in head first, either way, join us on an adventure toward healing and creating a workable plan in dealing with difficult church leadership.  

The casual, quiet pace of the office during the holidays puts me in the mood to chat–so instead of my usual barrage of email correspondence, I opted to pick up the phone and connect with a few conference speakers I needed to connect with.

I talked with Danette Matty, an energetic, dynamic youth worker from Minneapolis who is leading the Women in Youth Ministry Affinity Group, and teaching a few workshops (one on setting boundaries, one on recovering from the aftermath of a youth ministry scandal/mess, and one just for volunteers) We burned up the phone for nearly 2 hours–talking conference schedule and workshop content–bouncing ideas all over the place. Danette has such a sparkly nature–but with a powerful groundedness, transparency and intelligence that makes her brilliant.

We landed on a great plan to shift some workshops a bit and offer late-night breakouts on some hard hitting subjects. We added a new ”recovering from the aftermath” breakout for Sunday night based on our interesting discussion on setting appropriate boundaries in youth ministry–and what can happen when there aren’t boundaries. Danette shared some painful stories about situations that resulted in tremendous pain for some youth workers–and for the youth workers who followed in the footsteps of the mess.

It’s cool how the conference is “owned” by the hearts and minds of the people who are coming to serve in speaker and ministry mentor roles. (and by youth workers who are willing to share their thoughts!)Everyone has an opinion–backed by years of experience, success and failures that give such authentic dimension to every detail!

I just talked with a youth worker who noticed that a lot of our conference leaders and speakers were from big mega churches, and wondererd if there was anything in the event geared for small ministries. GREAT question to address.

NYMC is absolutely NOT geared towards a bigger-is-better mentality and we’re not interested in playing the “how big is your youth ministry” game. Our goal is simple–meet youth workers’ needs for deeper training that they can genuinely use in their ministries, and feed them with ideas, encouragement and authentic interaction. We’ve asked all of our track & workshop leaders to take some time in each session to specifically discuss applying ideas for various ministry settings. We’ve also launched an affinty group specifically for small churches (called Small but Mighty) that will meet throughout the entire conference for connection, idea sharing and debriefing of what they’re are learning through a small church filter. Stephanie Caro (one of NYMC’s speakers) is excited to be the leader/ministry mentor for the Small but Mighty affinty group, this is her ministry sweet spot.