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Welcome to the new YouthSpecialties.com

If you only read the blog via an RSS reader or on Facebook, you may want to visit YouthSpecialties.com to check out a brand new website. 

From the Ground Up We didn't just reskin the old site. The fact is that I never liked the site we launched in 2008. While it represented a huge step forward for YS, it just wasn't my vision for what I thought YS's web presence could be. (or had been)

YS has always been on the cutting edge of online ministry, we were a charter member of the Gospelcom community in the early 90s. (Which later developed Biblegateway.com) We were pretty early to establishing a company web site that sold stuff online. We were among the first publishers to see the value in selling directly to our readers online. And we were very early in establishing online community.

The simple fact is that I thought the last YS site was a sidestep instead of a step forward. 

So several months ago we sat down as a team and agreed to move forward on a brand new site. We wanted to apply much of what we learned from Youth Ministry Exchange to the YS site. The working questions was, "What would happen if we mixed the professionalism of the Youth Specialties site with the people who used our stuff on a daily basis?" And we wanted the new site to begin a new era where we could put up content quickly, integrate some technical systems better, and manage our resources a lot more efficiently. From a big picture perspective we wanted to make the site more about serving youth workers and less about Youth Specialties. 

Fair warning What you see as of this moment is Phase One. These things are never really done, are they? We worked for months to get to this point. But we aren't done adding stuff. One example of that is that we are working on modernizing the job bank… code which is nearly ten years old. (Pre-dating Monster.com and nearly every other job site on the internet.) The job bank is a free resource that has helped thousands of people find jobs and fill jobs. We know we can keep it free and make it work better. But we didn't want to hold up the launch of the new site because it wasn't ready. So if you see something that isn't quite right yet, just know we are actively working on it.

Technical specs The biggest change for us is that all YS sites are now on one platform, Expression Engine. When we decided to redo the YS site we knew we wanted to build on a Content Management System. (CMS) And it made sense that if we were going to rebuild every site for the company that we would move all of them to the same CMS. That way, if we train one employee to use Expression Engine they can now make changes on NYWC.com, Planetwisdom.com, CYWC.com, or any of the other sites we are building. 

Behind the scenes we are working hard to find solutions that are right-sized and right-priced for us. In short, the new site is much cheaper for us to maintain, develop, and operate. This represents a core value of our team. We want to work hard to make our services excellent and within the price range of a youth worker. Ultimately, we think that finding value in how we manage our website helps YS do more Kingdom work.

Community elements are back! You can now leave comments on just about everything. We want this new site to come alive in ways the previous one couldn't handle. We're continuing to import hundreds of articles from the old YS site and Youth Ministry Exchange. We'll continue to make all of that stuff easier to find as we learn how users utilize the new site. We will also make it easier to get involved with and share our content. We're also committing to generating and publishing lots of new content. (Both from our authors and event speakers and from youth workers around the world.) We've got more up our sleeves… but we'll just wait for that to roll out in Phase two and beyond.

Some thanks The launch of Phase One came to fruition because of the tireless efforts of many talented people. Besides the YS staff, we'd like to acknowledge a few key folks.

• Steve Stadwiser from Sessionwise (design work)
• Jonathan Matlock from Rocketpark (implementation, development)
• Patti Gibbons from Verbitude (content development)
• Jen Howver from VOD Communications (content development) 
• And many, many more

Feedback We'd love to hear what you think about the new site. And we'd also love to hear what isn't working for you or ideas for how to make it better.

• Leave a comment on this post with general feedback
• Submit a bug report if you see something that doesn't work

February 07 2010 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 3 Comments

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Relationships Unfiltered

On this Andrew Root liveBlog, youth ministry blogger Dan Haugh (www.emergingyouth.wordpress.com) and I discuss confrontation in youth ministry—-when is it right to tell a kid to stay away from youth group? And how do we allow young people to confront us? We touched on some other issues connected to chapter eight of Relationships Unfiltered. Listen below or on Itunes. Listen to back episodes at www.blogtalkradio.com/andrew-root.

Meet Dan and myself at FirstThird March 1-3—-it promises to be a rich conversation on the theological nature of youth ministry (limited spots available)

February 03 2010 - Posted By: Andy Root | 0 Comments

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What’s Next for Marko?

Many people have wondered, “What’s next for Marko?“

When Mark Oestreichers’s ministry here at Youth Specialties came to an end back in October I was flooded with questions from youth workers.

• Is Marko OK?
• Are you guys (personally and as a company) still going to be friends?
• Does YS hate Marko now?
• Does Marko hate YS now?
• Will we ever see him again?
• Are you still going to sell his books?

As you can imagine— first and foremost in my mind was protecting Marko’s privacy. I felt comfortable answering those questions in a generic , private way but then often just forwarded those people straight to Marko. Publicly, I just forwarded any/all questions right to Marko. Even as I write this I am super careful… not because anyone has told me to or is looking over my shoulder, but because that just feels like the right thing to do. Ultimately, it’s how I would want to be treated.

Unfortunately, a byproduct of my desire to protect Marko’s privacy has been that there’s developed some awkwardness in talking about Marko publicly at all. Making it even more silly is the fact that he and I only live a few miles from one another. We still hang out sometimes. We exchange email, Facebook, text messages regularly. We are on the same team of folks headed to Haiti next week. And our network of friends is just as intertwined as its always been. There is no awkwardness between Marko and I privately.

And so, this sentence allows the last awkward water to pass under the bridge of silence. And now we talk about the future. :)

So what’s next?

As he is figuring out the fullness of that question, big pieces are starting to come together. Today on his blog, whyismarko.com, he announces a Youth Ministry Coaching Program. Here’s a little description:

A yearlong 360 coaching cohort, focusing on whole-life development and youth ministry issues.

Expected Outcomes
After completion of the yearlong process in the Youth Ministry Coaching Program, participants will have had the following experiences and opportunities:
• Participants will grow in understanding their strengths and weakness, how these impact their leadership, ministry, and personal life, and how to capitalize on their strengths and minister within their weaknesses.
• They will experience new spiritual growth and insight as they safely process their own journey and the integration of their spiritual selves with their ministry selves.
• Cohort members will receive training on a wide variety of youth ministry issues, with an opportunity for dialogue and contextual application.
• They will have the opportunity to experience thoughtful dialogue on subjects of their own choosing, as the group will help shape the content agenda.
• Participants will develop life-long youth ministry peer relationships of trust and accountability.
• They will read 6 books, discuss them, and reflect on the implications for their own lives and ministries.
• Each will make presentations to the group in areas of their own choosing, with feedback and suggestions from the group.
• They will work through a series of self-selected homework assignments, with input from the group, and accountability from a “homework partner”.
• Participants will have 12 private coaching sessions with Mark Oestreicher (6 in person, 6 via phone).
• And each will have the option of 6 spiritual direction sessions with a trained spiritual director.

I love this concept! And while I know that this type of coaching isn’t for everyone, there is a huge void in youth ministry training that coaching can fill. If you want to learn more about Marko’s coaching network, head over to his blog and read the full description.

February 02 2010 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 0 Comments

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The Butterfly Circus

If you haven’t seen it yet, I’d highly recommend checking out “The Butterfly Circus”.  It’s a short film written, produced, and directed by Joshua Weigel, the youth pastor/actor in the movie, “To Save a Life”.

“The Butterfly Circus” is a powerful tale of grace in the midst of struggle, following the story of a limbless sideshow act whom “even God has turned His back on” to… well… something much better.  (I don’t want to ruin it for you.)  ;)

I showed it to one of our small groups last night and simply asked them to answer the following question: “What’s one thing that stuck out to you from this film?”

There were about ten in the group and I was pleasantly surprised by their response.  We ended up talking about self-worth, pride, turning the other cheek, personal struggles/hardships, taking a stand, encouraging others, abuse, and more… all from the student’s different viewpoints — their collective take on the film.

Check it out for yourself here: http://www.thedoorpost.com/hope/The Butterfly Circus.  As you will see, it was the 1st place recipient of The Doorpost Film Project.  Let us know what you think.

February 01 2010 - Posted By: Shawn Michael Shoup | 0 Comments

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YS in Haiti

Like millions of others I sat in front of my television as news rolled in of the devastation in Haiti. The horror before my eyes as Anderson Cooper described the scene was almost too difficult to bear. Buildings toppled. Lives lost. Government collapsed. And people were left on the streets, literally calling out Jesus’ name.

In those first few hours there was little more that I could do but join in their chorus of tears as I cried out to God, pleading for Him to have mercy on these people who have suffered so much already.

On my blog I wrote:

In moments like this I feel like there is little I can do. While I would love to hop on a plane and “go help” the truth is I don’t have any skills that are actually useful. (I doubt they need a blogger) I will do the next best thing. I will give what I can and commit to joining the people of Haiti who stretch out their arms and call out Jesus’ name.

Little did I know that I really do have some skills that are needed in Haiti right now.

In mid-February I am joining a team of youth ministry folks down to Haiti. I will literally be the hands, feet, eyes, and ears of Youth Specialties on the ground as this team collectively acts as the hands and feet of Jesus— serving the people of Haiti.

When I was presented with this opportunity I had a lot of fears to work through. “Would I somehow be in the way?“ “What if I get hurt?“ “What if I see stuff that is emotionally traumatic?“ “How can I serve people when I don’t speak their language or understand their culture?“ On and on, I listed my fears.

And then it hit me. God had presented me with this challenge. I’m not going to call it a test, but more like God was calling me on the carpet about many things I say I believe. I’ve talked all this game about social justice, mercy ministry, and living in a way that Christ lived… but was I willing to literally put that talk into action?

I swallowed hard and came to this conclusion.

The fear of doing nothing far outweighs the fear of something going wrong.

Three ways you can get involved.

1. Pray for the team. I’ll talk more about the team next week. But it involves several youth ministry bloggers from various ministries and denominational backgrounds, and a well-respected missions organization who has a strong history in rapid responses to natural disasters.
2. Follow the story. Tune in right here on the blog. I’ll be sharing daily video/pictures/stories from my experience in Haiti.
3. Start preparing. I’m not going to be shy… my hope is that as I share my experience you will be compelled to follow me to Haiti. I know many people have felt as helpless in the response to this crisis as I did/do. But soon you will have the opportunity to get involved, bring a team, and help join as God’s people rally to meet the need.

Much more on this in the days to come…

January 26 2010 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 4 Comments

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Valapalooza!

Valentine’s day is just around the corner. This is a holiday that presents a fun opportunity for student ministries to dually host a great event for your congregations and raise some extra monies for those of us struggling in the budget department. Enter “Valapalooza”…

We’ve done this event for almost a decade now and have never had a bad experience.  Here’s how we’re promoting it this year (click here).

For us, the event consists of:

• a nice, full-course dinner: cooked and prepared by students and adult volunteers; we have groups of students dress up and serve food to tables that they are assigned to for the evening and wait throughout the dinner portion of the event
• ticket sales: this year our tickets are selling for $15 a piece; we give discounts to students that are serving at the event
• door prizes: put ticket numbers on the back of all your tickets when you sell them and have attendees bring them to the event; when they arrive, place the tickets in a basket for door prizes later
• table setting and decoration: we have people sign up to bring the place settings (dishes, glasses, utensils, napkins, candles, salt and pepper shakers, etc.) and have a voting contest at the event for the most creative / crazy / decorated tables; it saves us a lot of trouble setting the tables and also provides another opportunity to award prizes!
• a photo opp: we don’t have a dress code for our event, but lots of people that attend dress up a la prom or formal events; thus, they want to have a nice picture to take home with them as a reminder.  Find a photographer in your church / community that is willing to donate their skill and camera to the cause and have them set up a scenic corner for pictures.  There has always been a line for this at our event.  Have a sign-up form ready and a few different size and price options available to make it affordable for everyone.
• dj and a dance floor: this is a big part of the event for us; (if your tradition / denomination allows for it) clear off the dance floor, get some crazy lights and strobes set up, and roll up your shirt sleeves!  Finding a dj with a great personality and high energy adds so much to the event.
• group games: our favorite annual up-front challenge is to ask a few couples in advance to participate in the Newlywed Game; our dj/host asks the guys questions as their wives / girlfriends leave the room and vice-versa.  It’s always proven to be good for lots of laughs.  Of course, if you are brave enough, it’s always fun to ask the church staff couples to compete.

In addition, there are other elements that we’ve added to the event in the past: providing child-care, an option for couples to pay for a time to share a poem or song for their “honey” at the event, a gift table, etc.  Decorate the place up and provide a great place for teens and adults alike to have fun on Valentine’s weekend!

If you want some more ideas or inspiration, feel free to browse through the pages of our student ministry’s posts on “Valapalooza” over the past few years.

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And for your viewing pleasure, here are the opening moments from our 2008 event.

First a bit of an explanation.  The video you see below is basically an elaborate and humorous set-up.  It was for a dance that our children’s pastor’s husband performed for her the previous year. She was so disappointed when she found out that his dance wasn’t caught on film the first time, so we wanted to give him a chance to do it again and catch it on film (as a surprise to her). My idea was to spoof his dance as an introduction to his.  I came up with the following crazy-cheesy choreography… (brace yourself)

January 21 2010 - Posted By: Shawn Michael Shoup | 0 Comments

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Relationships Unfiltered

In this Andrew Root liveBlog Lars Rood and I discuss training young youth workers, the temptation to make adolescents into something, and the importance of confrontation (even judgement) in youth ministry. Listen below, subscribe on itunes and read more in Relationships Unfiltered.

January 20 2010 - Posted By: Andy Root | 0 Comments

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Remembering Dr. King, the Preacher

Martin Luther King, Jr. on America's Response to Poverty (audio)

Additionally, here is a link to an excellent documentary on the last year of Dr. King’s life.

January 18 2010 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 0 Comments

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Crisis in Haiti: How to talk to teens

[caption id=“attachment_2995” align=“alignnone” width=“500” caption=“Image by Damon Winter/The New York Times”][/caption]

This weekend many yoth workers will stand in front of a room full of teenagers and need to talk about the crisis taking place in Haiti. You are not alone in struggling for the right thing, heck ANYTHING, to say.

We have two free resources to help.

1. It’s Not Supposed to Be Like This by Jim Hancock and Rich Van Pelt (click here to download)
2. In the Aftermath by Kara Powell and Brad Griffin (click here to download)

We know that crisis such as this bring about so many emotions from teenagers. Thank you for standing on the front lines and ministering to them as they wrestle through the tough stuff.

January 15 2010 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 0 Comments

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Holistic Youth Ministry is Possible

I’m a volunteer youth worker at Harbor Mid-City, a church plant in San Diego. And as I’ve written about here on the blog before (and here) our desire is to figure out how to not just teach good news, but be good news among. We labeled our ministry as holistic without having a firm definition of what we meant by that.

Here’s an update of where we are at.

Context is everything. When I talk about being good news more than teaching good news it tends to elicit an eye roll. “Oh, just another liberal church idea.” or “You must be in some emergent church thing.“ Actually, our church doesn’t fit the definition of either one of those things. We’re just a congregation who loves Jesus enough to try to address the hard problems facing our community. We believe the promises of Jesus are literally true! We live and work among the urban working-class poor of Mid-city San Diego. Our community has about 60 language groups and is a mix of long-time residents, immigrants, and an exploding refugee population. In our community, our students are raised amidst poverty, a broken foster-care system, abuse/neglect of all varieties, underfunded schools, and a whole lot more— while at the same time dealing with the common issues of adolescence. (Dating drama, keeping grades up, etching out an identity, thinking about college, etc.)

Our students fight the gravitational pull towards cyclical poverty that their parents feel entrapped by.

Over the past months, as we’ve created this new ministry, we’ve adopted the name I.O.B. This stands for Inward, [We want to be a safe place to explore a life with Jesus] Outward, [We want to express the Gospel in our lives] and Beyond. [We want a life in Christ to begin here and extend beyond the walls of our ministry.] As we meet weekly, a common theme among the leaders and the students is that we desperately need Jesus’ promises to be true!

Here’s what is working for us right now. Since we’re new and everything is an experiment, this will likely change. But right now our ministry looks like this:

• Regular weekly meeting- Stability and structure to our Tuesday night is really important.
• Trust- The first 6 months has been all about earning the trust of our students. You can imagine that they are weary of becoming someone’s project. But as we’ve demonstrated over and over again that we love them, they are beginning to share more of their lives with us.
• Safety- Each week we remind them that I.O.B. is a safe place to explore Jesus. That means that we respect their doubts and questions.
• Content- For our leadership team, we wrestled with teaching content. Our inclination is to teach but our students are a little resistant to learn from us. We have faith that as we establish safety and trust, that our students will hunger for the Word of God more.
• Practical- Each week we provide dinner because we know students aren’t getting to go home from school before coming. We offer rides from school to I.O.B., and we provide an hour before dinner of silent study time.
• In-home- Recently, we did a retreat with our students. This was 3 intense days where we got away, grew as a group, and bounded as a bunch of people trying to figure out what a walk with Jesus looks like. As awesome as the trip was for the students, I think the thing our leaders took away the most was that we needed to figure out how to share our lives and families with the students in our ministry.
• Small- We decided from the beginning that it’d be better to have 8-10 teenagers whose lives truly get changed than try for 150 and just run a fun program. The smallness of the thing is keeping relationships intimate and we are seeing that in order to grow it we’re going to need to replicate it rather than get bigger. We recently had 19 kids show up, that might be more than we can handle right now!
• Leadership- I’m not going to lie. I was completely resistant to hiring a full time youth worker! But now that Kathy has established herself as a constant presence in our teens lives, I can’t imagine we’d get as far as fast as we have with this baby ministry.

The further I get into volunteering with this ministry the more convinced I become that we are onto something. This isn’t just a ministry-style that would work in an urban contexts. This is a ministry-style of meeting tangible needs that would work.

January 15 2010 - Posted By: Adam McLane | 0 Comments

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