Youth Specialties Blog
You’re Invited to YSpalooza!
By Chris Davis on January 25 2012 | 3 Comments
You're invited to YSpalooza this spring. Watch Mark Matlock and Kara Powell let you know what it's all about.
YSpalooza will be in:
Chicago Jan 27 – 28
Philadelphia March 2-3
Dallas/Ft. Worth March 30-31
Kansas City April 13-14
Orlando April 20-21
Visit YSpalooza.com for more information.
By Chris Davis on January 25 2012 | 3 Comments
the theological turn in youth ministry, post 15
By Andy Root on January 27 2012 | 0 Comments
In this Andrew Root liveBlog we talk about chapter 13 of The Theological Turn in Youth Ministry. Derek Tronsgard and I explore mission trips, wondering how they lead to theological reflection and avoid tourist sensationalism.
Listen below.
By Andy Root on January 27 2012 | 0 Comments
Check Out Some Reactions to YSpalooza Charlotte
By Youth Specialties on January 27 2012 | 0 Comments
What are the top two reason you choose to attend YSpalooza?
What were your highlights?
Why would you recommend YSpalooza?
By Youth Specialties on January 27 2012 | 0 Comments
YSupdate Links Correction
By Youth Specialties on January 26 2012 | 0 Comments
We owe you an apology. We had a little issue in our links section today, and they all went to one place. If you are interested in reading the other links, here's the corrected list.
Apple's “Genius Bar” — The Church Equivalent?
Make Me Over … Please
Should We Read Our Kids Texts?
What Do You Do When You Feel Distant From God?
Happiness Is The New Success: Why Millenials Are Reprioritizing
By Youth Specialties on January 26 2012 | 0 Comments
Introducing Real Resources
By Mark Matlock on January 26 2012 | 0 Comments
We have big news today—no, we haven’t been sold again.
The Big News
As of January 9, 2012, Youth Specialties is its own 501©(3) organization that is part of a family of ministries called Real Resources. Real Resources was created to provide support to a family of ministries allowing us to take advantage of shared resources and services. Other organizations in our family include YouthWorks and Table Project. This change allows us the freedom to continue pursuing the culture and values that reflect the youth ministry community and better steward our resources through shared services.
The Backstory
When YouthWorks took over the stewardship of Youth Specialties at the end of 2009, they started the process of creating a new organization called Real Resources that would provide support services to Youth Specialties, YouthWorks, and Table Project.
That means Real Resources is now our parent organization and YouthWorks is now our sister organization. The people haven’t changed just the names of the organizations they serve. Visit Real Resources for additional information.
What does this mean for you?
Though we may look a little different here and there, how you interact with us will change very little, which is great news! We are the same people, just in a different organizational structure. You can continue to use the email addresses, phone numbers and website you’ve always used to connect with us.
If you have any questions, email Louise Ward.
To read the updated Privacy Policy click here.
Thanks for being a part of the YS family and helping students follow in the way of Jesus!
Mark Matlock
Executive Director, Youth Specialties
By Mark Matlock on January 26 2012 | 0 Comments
Be Like Flatulence
By Youth Specialties on January 25 2012 | 0 Comments
I trained my junior- high staff how to avoid the “horseshoe” by telling them, “Be like flatulence.”
I beg your pardon?
Let me explain. Remember in elementary school when everyone sat at their desks quietly working on their math, and the student in the corner of the classroom let out one of those silent-but-deadly ones? One 
by one, the stench reached each student in the classroom, starting in the corner, working its way to the uttermost parts of the room. If you could watch students respond from above, you would notice students react one by one, the closest first, then finally the farthest away.
This process is called dynamic equilibrium. I can still remember my science teacher Mr. Jenson explaining it to us. He opened a jar of some stinky chemical in one corner of the room and told us to raise our hands when we smelled it. One by one I saw dynamic equilibrium taking place. The molecules spread throughout the entire room until they could spread no more.
Hmmmm. Wouldn’t that be nice? Wouldn’t we all love to see our volunteers spread evenly throughout the room and mixed in with the crowd of students?
At the beginning of each school year I always take the time to train my volunteers. At this training, I let them know clearly that I don’t need uninvolved chaperones; I need relational adult leaders! I always explain dynamic equilibrium and instruct them to be like molecules seeking dynamic equilibrium. In other words, I should look across the room at any time and see a sea of students with adult leaders spread throughout—not in bunches, -but mixed throughout the students.
My leaders never forgot the flatulence analogy—crude but effective. Simply dissipate through the room evenly. Whenever I saw leaders bunched up in clumps, I’d simply tell them, “Break wind,” and they knew exactly what I was talking about.
I have used that analogy for years now in articles and various training seminars. At a recent National Youth Workers Conference, a group saw me and pulled me aside. With a smirk on his face, the leader pulled out a small card they gave to all volunteers which simply read F.A.R.T. —the acronym was even surrounded by artwork of a stench cloud: Float Around the Room and Talk. My friend Danette has adopted this acronym and actually puts the word F.A.R.T. on her youth group schedule each night at 6:30 p.m. as a reminder of what her volunteers should be doing.
Are you devoting time to F.A.R.T. with teenagers in your ministry?
This article from Jonathan McKee is an excerpt from his creative book on relational ministry, Connect: Real Relationships in a World of Isolation.
Jonathan McKee, president of The Source for Youth Ministry, is the author of numerous books including Ministry By Teenagers, Connect: Real Relationships in a World of Isolation, and the award winning book Do They Run When They See You Coming? He speaks and trains at camps, conferences, and events across North America, and provides free resources for youth workers internationally on his website, TheSource4YM.com.
By Youth Specialties on January 25 2012 | 0 Comments
Video of the Week: John 3:16
By Chris Davis on January 18 2012 | 2 Comments
This weekend during the January 14, 2012 Denver Broncos vs. New England Patriots NFL Playoff game this ad was run right before halftime.
I was a little surprised by it and didn't expect it, I posted it to Facebook to see what some of you thought. Wow, there was quite a response.
Here are a few of them:
“I loved it! There are so many people rooting against Tebow and have tuned in to see him “fail”… that was a perfect time for the commercial. They are really reaching people… I love it!” - Trevis C. Bailey
“Cool commercial, but why play it only when Tebow is playing and every Christian is watching? Christian Market……..>:/” - Josh Tex Cardwell
“I thought it was fantastic until the last few seconds. I'm concerned that FoF 's logo on the end really reads as an ad for right-wing politics. Unfortunately, the nationwide perception of the organization is much more about pro-life, anti-gay marriage politics than it is about the message of Jesus. I think the non-Christian response to the ad would have been stronger if a less politically connected organization had run it.” - Paul Reams
“I think it was overly simplistic. If Focus on the Family's goal was to reach non-believers and non-church-goers, they ought to have gone with something less “cutesy” and more provocative (ie, thought provoking). In my experience of having worked with teens for 10+ years and now serving as a senior pastor for the last three, my attempts to reach out to the unchurched have taught me that they don't want “spoon-fed Christianity.” Instead, they (particularly the 18-35 y/o demographic) want something that challenges them and their understanding of the world around them, something that they can wrestle with, something that will offer them a sense of having encountered God in deep, meaningful, life-altering ways. As unfortunate as it is, John 3:16 is has become the cliche trademark of what is perceived to be an old and stale religion. Can't we show them the respect and value they deserve as people created in God's image by coming up with a new and fresh method of sharing the Good News?” - Matt MacDougall
What did you think?
By Chris Davis on January 18 2012 | 2 Comments
An International Youth Ministry book to check out
By Andy Root on January 12 2012 | 0 Comments
I’ve just read a book that I think those youth workers that love reading and thinking about the theory and conceptions of youth ministry should know about. It is called Youth Ministry: A Multi-Faceted Approach and comes out of the UK. The very sharp-minded Sally Nash is the editor, and most of the authors either work for, or are connected to, the Center for Youth Ministry (centreforyouthministry.ac.uk).
In twelve short chapters the book explores multiple needed metaphors of a youth worker. It argues for visions of the youth worker as “politician of integrity,” “flawed hero,” “community builder,” “boundary marker,” and many more. Each chapter seeks to be formative to youth workers, explaining how this metaphor can shape the identity and practice of one's ministry. Each chapter richly weaves together theology, bible, and a number of social scientific perspectives. This is not a fluffy youth ministry book (not that those are bad), nor is it a heavy monograph. It is a book that will help you think deeply about yourself and your ministry. Or better, it will help you think about how your very self, your very person is the gift of ministry and is pulled into ministry.
Most American readers will need to do a little jostling as they read, applying perspectives to our own context, parsing a few words, and recognizing the difference in the state of the church in the UK, and the reality that the youth worker is also known in the UK as a non-religious affiliated professional, something more like our YMCA director or city parks summer program leader. But this should be seen as an asset. So often in American youth ministry we read only stuff from our large youth ministry infrastructure (complex really)—it may help us all to stretch our minds as we read and think with others doing youth ministry in differing contexts. This would be a great place to start!
By Andy Root on January 12 2012 | 0 Comments
Video of the Week: Youth Ministry BootCamp
By Chris Davis on January 11 2012 | 0 Comments
This is a great example of how NOT to do youth ministry training.
Where do you go for youth ministry training?
By Chris Davis on January 11 2012 | 0 Comments
the theological turn in youth ministry, post 14
By Andy Root on January 11 2012 | 0 Comments
In this liveBlog Jon Wasson and I discuss chapter 9 of The Theological Turn In Youth Ministry. It's all about sin: we explore how to talk about it with young people and some of the traps that youth ministry too easily falls into when discussing it.
Listen below. Subscribe on iTunes.
By Andy Root on January 11 2012 | 0 Comments
Sticky Faith Teen Curriculum with DVD
10 Lessons to Nurture Faith Beyond High School
