conversations from the couch

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!

There’s a large concentration of ministry organizations in Colorado, and a lot of visiting that goes on between each other. Visiting usually involves the seeking of “partnership opportunities” which is code for “business venture.” It’s OK—we’re all looking for ways to grow and expand our ministries, but I love the occasions when we all meet without any agenda but mutual respect of ministry efforts.

This was the case with our friends from Dare 2 Share. Greg Stier, Debbie Bresina and Carol Ann hung out with our crew on Thursday to share the latest ministry happenings. Although Greg has spent time with other folks at Group, I personally didn’t really know him other than having heard him speak at various events, and I wondered if this would be another typical “partnership” business meeting.

It wasn’t. The time was authentically refreshing. The folks at D2S are committed to one thing—Jesus.  Greg isn’t about politics, condemnation, feel-good motivation, or an ego-driven sense of himself as the holy deliverer of the salvation message. He’s got a passionate, loving heart for sharing the message of Jesus, and he and D2S are dedicated to equipping others to share this message too.

Greg Stier is speaking at the Sunday evening general session at NYMC, as well as teaching a track on evangelism. I’m sure he’ll impart his message with the colorful intensity and personal illustrations that illuminate his passion, but it’s the one-on-one conversation with Greg that will blow you away. Look for him on the couch hanging out with other youth workers when he’s not speaking–it’s worth the time to get to know him.