A core distinctive of the Simply Youth Ministry Conference grew from youth workers’ desire to get away from the fire-hose blast of information in the typical workshop model, and dig deeper into topics for more understanding of how to apply what they’ve learned in their unique ministry situation.
How is it set up?
Deeper Learning Tracks offer a “training umbrella” of four progressive 2-hour sessions for a toal of 8 hours focused on that topic in learning, discussion and application. Sessions are held on Sat & Sun 10:30 am-12:30 pm and 2:30-4:30 pm. Seating is arranged in round tables for small-group discussion format, and relationships are built between attendees as well as the speaker for a powerful, personal learning experience. You won’t leave overwhelmed—you’ll be equipped and empowered ready to implement ideas and stragies in your ministry.
Do I have to go to all 4 sessions?
Of course not, it’s youth ministry, we’re not sticklers for rules or attendance! However—tracks are best absorbed by attending all 4 sessions, and building relationships with the speaker and classmates. You can read the titles of the different track sessions and opt to jump around to sample different ones, or attend the shorter Half-Track options or 2-hour workshops instead.
2010 SYMC Deeper Learning Tracks:
- Jesus Centered Youth Ministry—Rick Lawrence
- Secrets to a Healthy Youth Ministry—Mark Devries
- Small Groups that Really Work (and Developing Student Leaders to Run Them)—Jeanne Mayo
- Helping Hurting Kids:Life Hurts, God Heals --Megan Hutchinson & Marv Penner
- The "Be With" Factor: How to Build a Mentoring Environment—Bo Boshers
- Thinking Theologically in Youth Ministry—Chap Clark
- Speaking to Teenagers—Duffy Robbins
- Recruiting & Developing Effective, Committed Volunteers—Kent Julian
- Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth—Walt Mueller
Jesus Centered Youth Ministry—Rick Lawrence
Session 1: The Jesus-less Gospel
Session 2: Answering the Best Question of All Time
Session 3: Helping Teenagers Find Their True Name
Session 4: A Beeline for Everything In Ministry
Have we taken Jesus for granted in our lives and ministries that we’ve essentially stopped relating to Him as He really is? Even more, have we so “understood” Jesus that the pursuit of Him is far less interesting to us than the pursuit of relational ministry or postmodern worship or Christian disciplines or culturally relevant approaches to Bible study? If we made youth ministry a brilliant tips and techniques subservient to a youth ministry that is radically, creatively, passionately, uncomfortably centered around Jesus, how would it change the way we see our calling? More important, how would it change what we do in youth ministry? Together we’ll explore what youth ministry looks like when it follows C.H. Spurgeon’s guiding vision: “In everything you do, make a beeline to Jesus.” This track is both personally transforming and packed with ministry ideas.
Secrets to a Healthy Youth Ministry—Mark Devries
Session 1: The Anatomy of Stuck-ness
Session 2: The 411 On Sustainable Youth Ministry
Session 3: Working Together—Building Teams that Win
Session 4: You Are Here—Assessing Your Own Ministry & Designing Your Own Blueprint
Every youth worker wants to build a thriving ministry to teenagers, but very few know how to find the train tracks that lead to the “thriving” Promised Land. A life-transforming sustainable youth ministry can never be built on a disjointed collection of ideas from popular books, models or workshops—that actually most often produces frustration and a nagging sense of unrealized potential. It’s crucial to first determine an established structure that will propel it forward. Learn how to build your ministry with intentionality—with advice, ideas and strategies from the gold standard of youth ministry consultants.
Small Groups that Really Work (and Developing Student Leaders to Run Them)—Jeanne Mayo
Session 1: Ground-Zero for Spiritual and Numeric Growth
Session 2: Small Group Implmentation Made Easy
Session 3: A Hands-On Model of a Small Group
Session 4: Finding and Training Leaders When You Don’t Have Any
Discipleship through small groups is the one pragmatic element that is consistently the starting point for healthy youth ministry. If you desire clear direction on How to run a thriving small group ministry, this track is for you. You’ll learn: keys to a strong volunteer base; non-negotiable ingredients for a thriving small-group program; how to sell small groups to students, parents and potential leaders; moment-by-moment small group schedule; a hand-on visualization of small group leaders led by some of Jeanne’s real students; easy ways to raise up and motivate leaders; how to avoid pitfalls that unravel small group.
Helping Hurting Kids: Life Hurts, God Heals--Marv Penner
Session 1: HURT: Inside the World of Today’s Teenagers
Session 2: When it REALLY Hurts
Session 3: Life Hurts, God Heals
Session 4: Ministering to a Hurting Generation
The “everyday issues” kids are facing seem to be getting more and more complex. With addictions, abuse, eating disorders, family brokenness, self-injury and violence on the increase, we find ourselves more often left facing the wounds of students whose trust has been deeply betrayed. Whatever the circumstances, this deep hurt makes it more difficult for kids to accept our love and ultimately much more difficult for them to experience intimacy with God. Whether you do youth ministry vocationally or as a volunteer, this practical track will help you explore the complex, everyday hurts of kids and will outline a path back to healing and wholeness—a path which you have the privilege of walking with your hurting young friends.
The "Be With" Factor: How to Build a Mentoring Environment—Bo Boshers and Keith Cote
Session 1: The Be-With Factor: Rethinking Ministry Effectiveness
Session 2: How to Discover the Right Student Mentor
Session 3: Be-With Moments: Understanding What to do When Mentoring a Student
Session 4: Repositioning Your Influence: Recognizing the Blueprint of Spiritual Transformation
What’s the best way to form Jesus in the life of a student? Simply put, it’s to do what Jesus did. Select a few young guys or girls so that deep transformation happens for a lifetime. This track will give you and your team practical steps to ensure that spiritual transformation is happening in supernatural ways using ordinary people like you and me. If you’re ready to do something about your junior & senior high students leaving their faith after graduation, then this track is for you.
Thinking Theologically in Youth Ministry—Chap Clark
Session 1: Theologically? But I’m a Youth Pastor, Who Needs Theology?
Session 2: Practical Theology: The Task of Every Youth Worker
Session 3: Taming the Practical Theology Method (as only a youth worker could)
Session 4: Thinking, Programming, Leading and Loving Theologically
With all that we do, all that we give, and all we’re responsible for, it’s easy to feel like the gas tank is on empty. And if you add to those general ministry stressors another layer of stress-shellac—the messages, philosophies, ideas, models, and strategies that you’re supposed to be implementing-you can sink in confusion. This track will help you, whether you’re brand new or have been at it for years, to lead and guide a ministry that’s theologically grounded and shaped. You’ll learn how to profoundly and proactively incarnate the Gospel into a rapidly changing youth culture.
Speaking to Teenagers: Communicating the Bible’s Message in a Text Message Culture—Duffy Robbins
Session 1: Listening to Your Audience and Getting Them to Listen to You
Session 2: Inductive Communication: Structuring Your Message for Maximum Impact
Session 3: Finding and Maximizing Great Illustrations: From Power-Wash to a Cup of Refreshment
Session 4: Let Them Hear Your Body Talk: Advanced Speaking Technique
God wants to speak to our teenagers from His Word (the Bible) through His Word (Jesus. We all know that. And we understand that good communication moves kids from mere information to transformation. But the questions posed by the Apostle Paul two millennia ago challenge us in youth ministry even today: How will they hear if we do not preach, and how should we preach so that they might hear? To put it bluntly: How do communicate the Bible’s message in a text message culture?
Whether you teach a Sunday School class, offer a weekly message to your youth group, lead a small group, or share a devotional talk at a midweek outreach, this track is designed to help you think about several key facets of the communication process. This is not for “Expert no-need-to-improve-Andy-Stanly–listens-To-my podcasts” communicators, but if you’re somewhere on the speaking scale between “when I stand up in front of the kids I get lockjaw” and “I’ve been doing this a good while but I always want to get better,” you’re going to find some new ideas to think about, some new strategies to pursue, and some new ways to sharpen dull techniques.
Shepherds Not Chaperones: How to Recuit & Develop Adult Volunteer Leaders for Relational Ministry to Teenagers—Kent Julian
Session 1: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Thinkin (Head)
Session 2: Looking for Leaders in All the Wrong Places (Heart)
Session 3: A New Kind of Volunteer Description (Hands 101)
Session 4: New Insight WIthout Implementation Creates Wasted Space (Hands 201)
Our problems with volunteer leaders don't start with recruitment and development; they start with flawed thinking about youth ministry. It's a fact...80% of your results in ministry wil come from 20% of your effortds. It makes sense to have volunteers investing the most time in the most important parts. Shockingly, most youth ministries do the exact opposite. This track will help you understand the essentials of successful volunteer leadership, and create an action plan for finding engaging volunteers who support your ministry vision and are committed to making a difference in the lives of teenagers.
Engaging the Soul of Youth Culture: Bridging Teen Worldviews and Christian Truth—Walt Mueller
Session 1: Out of the Bunker and Into the World: The Youth Worker and Culture
Session 2: Trend Watching1: A brief Look at the Youth Culture Landscape
Session 3: Trend Watching 2: A brief Look at the Youth Culture Landscape
Session 4: Ministering In 21st Century Athens: Suggestions, Strategies and Responses
Cultural change is speeding up—whether you’re 81, 41 or 21, the teenagers you know and loe are growing up in a world very different from the one you grew up in. As cross-cultural missionaries called to point teenagers to the cross, it’s not only necessary to know the Word we communicate, but also we must know the cultural context and nuances of the world we’re called to reach. In this track, we’ll unpack some of the major cultural trends shaping young people today, and lead you into an understanding of how those trends should inform and shape our ministry response.