i am...

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Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada
i'm the Director of Camp Wapiti and i have the best job in the universe. yes, the whole universe.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Contemplating contemplation

as the summer is getting closer here, i've started looking ahead to next year. one of the struggles i've had in my first year here is that i'm not sure how to be the youth pastor of a church with 60+ kids in the youth group. and on top of that i also run a ministry to the young adults. i think its something that most youth ministers deal with, but i'm just not content with how deep our youth ministry is. deep down in my heart i want to see kids on fire for God - not just at the big events where its easy - but at home and at school when their daily masks don't cover up who they really are inside.

the last few weeks i've been doing some reading on a model of youth ministry called contemplative youth ministry. yes even while jenn was in the hospital i was looking at this stuff. after spending hours with her i would come home and dream about ministry possibilities, my mind just doesn't stop this stuff. anywho, its a new/old way of doing things. the idea is to put more focus on God's presence and work in the students' lives and teaching them to notice God's presence and work, put into words what their experience is like, and then to help them explore ways to deepen what's going on with God.

I'm still not sure what this whole deal will look like in our church, but i'm praying that putting more focus on these kinds of things will help our students to fulfill their role as the hope of the church, while they become the hope of the world. if you're looking for more info on what contemplative youth ministry looks like, check out Mark Yaconelli's website for more details.


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