A Note to the Readers

Just so y'all know, we will keep updating this blog for at least another week. I know I still have at least 5 more breakout sessions and keynote speakers to cover, plus reflections on the conference as a whole. Please keep on checking the blog for update if you feel so moved. It's getting close to finals so time is getting crunched but we will keep writing. Thank you for all your support and feedback too! Let's keep this conversation going!

Authenticity and Integrity - Al Weiss

Our evening speaker was someone you may not have heard before in the church circle at least. It was Al Weiss, the president of worldwide operations for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts. Now, some people may wonder what a secular leader has to say to a group of ministry leaders in the church. It turns out, a lot! And I am a firm believer that we as a church can learn a lot from the secular world and the business world (see the books Good to Great or Leadership on the Line). This talk focused more on leadership in general than young adult ministry and leadership but he made some important points that can be applied to ministry of all kinds.

Al talked a great deal about the importance of authenticity and integrity as a leader. The first point was don't pretend! In other words, be yourself! Don't attempt to play a part and try to be a cookie cutter leader. There is a great temptation out there to model our life after successful people but then we lose God's unique plan for our lives. Instead we just need to "be." Be the leader you were meant to be, not the leader that your friend and/or colleague was meant to be. And by being yourself, you are truly opening yourself up to lead with your strengths.

Another great piece of advice that I got from Al was to not change who you are because of the position you hold. Make sure you keep your priorities in tact whether you are entry level or president, associate pastor at a first call or senior pastor at your final call. I think it's easy to let success get to you head when you get promoted and you suddenly think that your career is more important than your family, friends, and health which just isn't the case. The great thing is Al has modeled this lifestyle in his rise to presidency in Disney. He's turned down promotions to remain close to his family, pushed back important meetings to be at his children's sporting events, etc. And yet he was still able to make it the top level while keeping his family, health, and integrity in tact. It's great having that example in front of you and it is something I know I will remember as the achiever in me attempts to advance to whatever it is that I'm called to down the line.

The final piece of advice I'll share from the talk is this: true success is measured at the end of your career, not at its peak. In other words, were you able to keep your integrity? I think this is something that leaders can easily struggle with. It's easy to get a big head after some success and start thinking you're invincible. But this isn't the case. Instead, we are called to see ourselves as God sees us. We are called to admit that we are sinners and saints. We are human and even as big and powerful leaders, we are still susceptible to sin, maybe even more so. Leadership can be dangerous and it is important to keep this in mind as we ourselves venture out there and take the risk. Perspective is key to help us maintain our integrity on the way. And God will always be there to remind us who we are, both sinners and saved nonetheless.

Marcus Goodloe - Leading in Faith

Marcus Goodloe is a leader at Mosaic in Los Angeles. Marcus, or 'Goodie' as he likes to be called, is on staff with Erwin McManus. Goodie had breakout session aimed at what it takes to lead with faith for this new generation of people. As with all the breakout sessions, it would be impossible to convey the complete message that he brought to the table. However, here are some points (very brief) the Goodie shared with us. All of these points are about leading in faith.
*Leading in faith is trusting in the character of God.
-God is good and we need to take God at God's word
*Leading in faith is about transforming our character
-in moments of crisis, our true character comes out
-when we know that God is good, we can put our trust in God in difficult times
*Leading in faith is acknowledging that what was required at one point might not me accurate now
-in the transformations of our lives there are different things that God calls us to do
-what is god currently calling you in your community?
*Leading in faith IS about doubt
-you need to be able to lead people where you have been and be OK with that.
-people need to know that you have struggled and made it through so they can be secure in
the midst of their struggles
*Leading in faith is about activism
- Jesus' first word to the disciples was 'come' and the last was 'go'
*Leading in faith is about vision and insight
-It is only in the possibility where work the hardest

To lead in faith is about leading people to a new experience. It is about going out to ALL people and leading them in faith. When we lead in faith, even despite our own weaknesses, God will use us to use people.

Growing in Wisdom

One of the great things about this conference was we were able to participate in various breakout sessions throughout the days we were there. Some examples of sessions included "Helping Young Adults Grow in Wisdom," "Jesus and World Religions," "Church Planting and the Story of Gideon," "The Hope of the Gospel," etc. In other words, with so many great opportunities it was hard to choose where to go and who to hear. But choices were made and we were able to go to variety of talks.

The first session I went to was "Helping Young Adults Grow in Wisdom" by Mark Matlock. I thought this would give me some more universal principles that could be applied not only to working with young adults but also to working with youth in a congregation.

This talk really focused on mentoring as a main way for helping young adults grow in wisdom. Now first, I suppose I should define wisdom as Mark defined wisdom. Of course there is earthly wisdom, that which the world tell us is valuable. However, the world's storyline of wisdom has a beginning and an end. And then there is wisdom from above, Godly wisdom. Proverbs 9:10 says that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." And it is this wisdom, the wisdom that God offers that opens us up to a completely different storyline. Mark then said that there are generally two ways that people acquire wisdom: direct exposure to an environment or through a mediator or mentor.

He used the illustration of "The Mythic Journey of the Hero," the journey from inefficient to master. We start out with an ordinary life and then suddenly we find a call to action. This call to action is when all of a sudden our ordinary life is upset and we are left asking the question what is going on. Then most people will meet their mentor who will train and challenge us. Then, we will face more trials and with the help of the training and mentor, we will reach maturity.

As I heard him talk about this I wondered how many of young adults are facing the call to action and the trials without a mentor. What happens when we go through those times that rock our world without a mentor or someone to help us navigate this tumultuous times? Because I'm guessing that most young adults are in that stage of "call to action" right now. There are so many young adults out there looking to make a difference and change the world. And at the same time we are just getting our feet wet and starting jobs, careers, families, relationships, etc. So, how do we work our way through this and figure out the proper response to this call to action that we're all feeling?

Mark was a huge proponent of a mentoring program to help young adults grow in wisdom and I find myself agreeing with much of what he shared. Whether this is through pairing people one-on-one with a mentor, forming a small group with someone older as a leader, or having older married couples mentor those in the beginning of their marital journey mentoring can be a useful tool for helping young adults grow and mature.

We are not meant to be on this mythic journey alone or without the help of those who have come before us. Through these relationships we can help a new generation of "heroes" grow in wisdom and find their way and be strengthened for the trials to come.

That which is untrue

Isaac Hunter is the lead pastor of Summit Church in Orlando Florida. Summit has been in existence for 6 years and is now worshipping around 1900 people weekly. Isaac Hunter based his presentation on whether or not to start a church on the story of Gideon. It was a phenomenal session but there was one thing that stood out to me more than anything else. God calls Gideon to deliver his people. Gideon can't believe it; he doesn't think that there was anyway this was possible. Gideon responds to God in Judges 6:15 " 'But Lord,' Gideon asked, 'how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manaseh, and I am the least in my family.'" Gideon not only thinks that his people are weak, but thinks he is the weakest among them! Hunter's response to this verse was spot - on. That which isn't only untrue, but even incomprehensible is not only true but is unavoidable when spoken by God or Jesus. When God or Jesus speaks the untrue becomes true, the impossible is possible. Peter felt so inadequate and such a failure, however, once Jesus called him out he stepped into the role. Mary, a virgin, had a child. Noah built an ark for a flood in a land which hadn't had rain. As leaders of new communities, what and where we feel inadequate will become possible through the power of Jesus Christ.

Donald Miller

Alright, so our apologies for not writing that much while we were at the actual conference. We had a full schedule and also made a point to spend time together so by the time we got back to our rooms at night, we were all too tired to type. But no fear, now we'll be back at it with some thoughts now that we've had time to process and recover from the busyness.

The conference opened up strong with Donald Miller, author of the book Blue Like Jazz as the first speaker. He talked about how leadership, community, and relationships all fit together. As leaders, we have this big dream and vision for the way things could be whether it's in the church, business world, or any other place. One of the essential things we need to do as leaders to to create a "with" type of leadership. "We can obtain this vision together" as opposed to "I'm simply going to tell you what to do." One of the things about leadership is it gets easy to simply look to fill holes. We don't take them time to get to know people and enter into relationships with them and simply try to plug people into holes that don't necessarily fit their gifts and passions. Instead, if we take the time to get to know them, to listen and be in a relationship with them, then we can truly invite them to work with us, to be a part of that vision, and get them involved in a deeper level. It is ultimately through this type of leadership that community can happen. You can't have community with out relationships, it's that simple.

I remember hearing a guest lecturer for one of my classes telling us to "love the people." That phrase kept on coming back to me throughout the speech. Love the people enough to get to know them. Love the people enough to enter into relationships. Love the people enough to get them involved in the vision. Love the people enough to invite them to share this big dream of yours. Love the people because God first loved us.

the third space

Erwin McManus, lead pastor of a dynamic church community in LA, gave a very interesting, many of us would claim to say common sense, talk Friday about reaching people. However, one thing to think about, and something we need to dialogue about is this:
There are three spaces in which we can go and communicate with people when thinking about church. The first, is the easy space. It is the church; the place where we are safe and secure where we will tell everyone about God because we know they will agree with us. The church does this well
The second is the public space. However, this is the less threatening of the public spaces. This is where people will have some buy in. This is the place where we all pat each other on the back because we are 'reaching' people. These still are pretty easy places and many churches are going here to bring new people in.
The third place is the place where everyone in the church would be offended if you went. It is the place where we say we really need to communicate the love of Jesus Christ, but really we know we never will. This is where Paul finds himself at times in Acts. Where Paul is pushing every envelope to reach people. He goes to people who are named after the Greek Gods of drunkenness.
As a church we need to live in this third space. It is horribly hard and very threatening. We say that it is common sense but, yet, none of us do it. We say we do but we are too scared to actually go and reach these people.
Where do you need to be going? Are you trying to recruit more church people to your church? Are you spreading the gospel to people who already know it and are going to agree with you?
Just think, some one's knowledge of grace may be just one conversation away.

Great Start

So, it's 1 a.m. here and we've been going straight this morning. And it's been an amazing start to what I'm sure will be a great conference. Thoughts and reactions to the speakers and break out sessions will come later.

Go Big...

And you know the rest and I know that I'm not planning on going home anytime soon (or at least till Saturday when my flight officially takes off). This first night was a "free" night. The conference officially starts tomorrow and we took tonight to go out and talk and get to know each other a bit more. And it was a great night. A night where we got to share our thoughts and dreams with each other. A night where we got to contemplate where it is that God might be calling us in life.

And when it comes to God and God's plans for our life, they're usually much larger than we can imagine and I got a taste of that today. In the grand scheme of things, I do know that God is calling me to the Lutheran church and to be a pastor. But what God is calling me to beyond that, I have no clue. As I've said before, I have no expertise when it comes to ministry, just a gut feeling that I was made to do this. And tonight as we shared our hopes and dreams with each other for the church, for our lives, and for our ministries that somehow became intertwined I can't help but think that we are all called to go big, to do our best, to give it our all when it comes to all of this.

Dreaming big is often scary because we don't know if we will be able to accomplish these dreams. Putting them out in the open makes us vulnerable because we have no idea if these dreams are realistic or plausible or if we're even qualified to dream such dreams. But I think we are called to dream nonetheless. We are called to use our God given imagination and creativity in order to dream big dreams and in order to accomplish that larger than life task that God has given us all. What that task may be for you specifically, I don't know. But, I think part of my dream is to be able to walk with you while you dream, to be able to encourage you as you dream, and to help you remember and engage that creativity and imagination that sparks those dreams. So, it's not only go big or go home, it's also dream big or go home.

A Rhinoceros can run 30 miles per hour. However, a rhino has very poor vision and can only see about 30 feet in front of it. A herd of rhinos is called a crash! Think about that... We would never drive a car that fast with our field of vision that limited. To do so would be suicide... So what does this have to do with our trip to the Lead Now Conference? Often times, leaders in the church are so scared to try new things. We don't want to take risks, we want to play it safe. To take a risk and do something different means we just might crash. However, that is the call of God. We are called to run and run hard. Like the rhino, we won't always know what is ahead of us. THAT IS OK! Heading to Orlando, I am so excited to be in the midst of church leaders who are venturing into this unknown field. Who knows, we all may be one big crash. However, it will be a conference of people who speak the same language and are daring to dream and to dream big.
Emergent and Young Adult Worship is a passion of mine and has been for quite some time. I have been able to be a part of starting two worshipping communities that are exploring this area. Fuel in Fargo, ND (www.hopefuels.com) and The Source in Stillwater, MN (www.sourcestillwater.com). We have had many failures but also many wonderful successes. We are excited to share our trip with all of you and are interested in being in dialogue with you.

The Outset - Questions Seeking Understanding

It's always a bit awkward posting your first blog entry on a new blog. There's the pressure to make that first entry pop and draw others in and get people interested. In this case, because we will be blogging for a designated amount of time, there's also the pressure to make each entry count. However, I think there is something to be said ignoring all the rules and telling it like it is.

Here's the story or at least, my side of the story. I'm a 26 year old future pastor who is finishing up her last semester of grad school before she becomes the pastor of a church. When I started at Luther Seminary, I was fairly convinced that I would get out of here and work mainly with high school youth. It's what I loved doing and I was fairly good at it. Plus, there's generally a need for that kind of work in churches.

However, as I've put in my time at seminary, spent the past year as an intern at Christ Lutheran Church in Charlotte, NC, gotten involved with The Source in Stillwater (an alternative worship service), and reflected on church life in general something has become painfully clear: there not a whole lot out there for young adults especially those who haven't grown up in the church or are disenfranchised with the church in general.

Worship is often the entrance point for most new people. Worship is something corporate, it's something usually non-threatening to new people, and it's easy to invite people to. It's a great door to invite others in and to come in yourself if you're looking for a new church. For those of us who grew up in the church and are used to the usual Sunday morning worship routine of old school organ hymns, reciting the Apostle's Creed, and preaching from the lectionary the church is still doing a fairly good job at this (granted there is always room for improvement there but that's for a different blog). If none of those things in the last sentence made any sense to you or is something you don't particularly enjoy, well then, going to church feels like either a totally alien experience or being hit in the face with all the reasons you left the church in the first place.

Who as a young adult listens to organ music on a regular basis? The way we set up worship can often be hard to follow. Even this long time Lutheran often has trouble when she goes to a new congregation that is very traditional and by-the-book. And I think the big question that this all leads to is how can you feel connected in a place where you have no idea what's going on?

Because that's what I really think this generation is thirsting for: connection. Sure we're all more connected now than ever with our 300 facebook friends, our myspace pages, our blogs, and our cell phones that allow us to be accessible at all points in time. But it's not enough. There is still that longing for a true connectedness not only to other people but also to something bigger than us; there is that longing to be connected with God.

These are all things I've been kicking around in my head and heart this past year. What can we do as a church to minister to young adults? How do we minister to them? How do design a worship service that speaks to where they are? How do we preach in a way that sparks their imagination and is relevant? How can we help empower them to go out into the world and make a difference? How do we start to rethink church, religion, and God in the face of what we as young adults are experiencing in our lives?

I know the conference is not going to give the me all the answers or necessarily any answers. I think it's going to give me ideas, different perspectives, new ways of questioning, and other things to start kicking around. And it might also give me some help in the all important discernment process as I really think and pray long and hard about whether or not young adult ministry and alternative worship is something that I am truly called to in the church. So please join me, Jeremy, and Jason (my fellow travelers and bloggers) on this journey as we head out to Orlando to learn, question, live it up, converse, minister, be ministered to, worship, pray and play.