NYMC: Day ONE
The National Youth Ministry Conference this year is being held right here in Columbus, OH.
Yesterday was the Day One. The Convention Center is was filled with people and resources. I love both.
Starting at 12:30, I was part of a four hour initiative with Doug Fields. Our job was answering the question, How do you find, fuel and fire-up volunteers? Walked away with some great feedback, thoughts and tools.
After I left that time with Doug, by now the conference center was PACKED. People were getting registered, meeting old friends (it was great to reconnect with Vince Beresford–an old mentor of mine and Jeremy from sackchairs.com).
General session was pretty amazing. Besides the Segway Olympics and worship by Tim Timmons and a concert by Braddigan, we had the wonderful privilege of meeting and hearing from Alex and Brent Harris, authors of Do Hard Things.
My favorite part came during the late night session when we got in to Affinity Groups (groups designed around an interest of stage of life). I joined the Veteren: 10+ years in youth ministry group. To my surprise, Vince was leading the group. I thought, here is my chance to get the encouragement and tools, from veteran youth workers, to better my focus on ministry. I soon found out I was in the same boat as everyone else. They too, were tired, drained and fed-up with the same-old youth ministry expectations. I left, after much time in prayer with these guys, renewed and renergized, knowing I wasn’t the only one.
I wholeheartedly know that God is going to do great things in me this weekend and I am excited to see what it is.
