Winter 2009 • $8.95

Imagine ExcellenceWhat Are We Doing In These Mountains?Excellence Bible StudyMuch more...

Journal of Youth & Family Ministry

2

PASSPORTCAMPS.ORG 800-769-0210

Youth and Kids Camping with a Mission

2010

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www.passportcamps.org

Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Hawaii, Kenya, Liberia

Publication InformationPublished by: ELCA Youth Ministry Network www.elcaymnet.org

Subscription Information: call 866-ELCANET (352-2638) or visit www.elcaymnet.org connect@elcaymnet.org

Contributing Writers: George Baum, Bill Bixby Heather Hansen Scott Maxwell-Doherty, Andrew Root Michael Sladek

Design and Layout: Michael Sladek Impression Media Group www.impressionmediagroup.com

Contributing Editor: Debbie Sladek

Connect Editorial Board: Rod Boriack, Chris Bruesehoff, Todd Buegler, Anna Mercedes, Andy Root, Debbie Sladek, Michael Sladek

The ELCA Youth Ministry Network exists to strengthen and empower adult youth ministry leaders in service to Christ as a part of God’s mission.

Rev. Larry Wagner: Board Chairperson Rev. Dave Ellingson: Board ChaplainRev. Dr. Nathan Frambach: Board MemberJulie Miller: Board MemberCharlene Rollins: Board Member

Valerie Taylor Samuel: Board MemberLinda Staats: Board MemberYvonne Steindal: Board MemberBill Bixby: ELCA Youth & Family MinistryTodd Buegler: Executive Director

Welcoming (Winter ‘10)Cross-Generational (Spring ‘10)

Congregational (Fall ‘10)

Welcome! 4 Todd Buegler

Imagine Excellence 5 Scott Maxwell-Doherty

What Are We Doing in These Mountains?: 7Outdoor Youth Ministry Trips and the Theology of the Cross Andrew Root

Bible Study: Excellence 12 Heather Hansen

Excellence: A Parent’s Perspective 14 Michael Sladek

A View From Elsewhere 15 George Baum

On The Way 16 Bill Bixby

Calendar of Events 17

Table of Contents

ELCA Youth Ministry Network Board

Future Connect Themes:

RENEW | EDUCATE | CONNECT

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Dear friends, It has been a monumental couple of months in the world of children, youth and family ministry. A quick recap: • The ELCA Churchwide Assembly passed the recommendations of the study on sexuality. The implications of this move for the church are huge. We are now living into those decisions and are experiencing the angst, the pain and the joy that come with significant change. • Our friends at Youth Specialties decided to launch a brand new kind of national youthworker’s convention in the winter of 2011. Then... • In a move of seismic proportions in the youth ministry world, Youth Specialties, the organization, was sold by Zondervan Publishing (who only bought it a few years ago) to our good friends at YouthWorks. This significantly expands the mission and vision of the YouthWorks organization. • The ELCA churchwide offices most recently experienced a massive cut in its budget, largely related to the state of the economy that resulted in the layoffs of 40 staff people, including two who have been a part of the youth ministry team. What does this mean?It means that we are living in uncertain times for ministry. There is uncertainty surrounding the economy and its effects on our congregations. There is uncertainty about the future of our church-wide and synodical structure. There is uncertainty about giving at the congregational level as more and more of our people find themselves searching for work. The “trickle down effect” for our minis-try with young people is obvious, and in conversations I have had recently with children, youth and family ministry professionals and volunteers, there is a growing sense of anxiety. It is with a certain sense of irony then, that the article of Connect that you hold in your hands is themed around one of our “definition” words: Excellence. As in “Effective Youth and Family Ministry is Excellence.” It doesn’t feel like the world we are living in is one that is focusing on excellence right now. Sometimes it feels like we’re just trying to get by. But we need to be honest: “Getting by” isn’t good enough. Our young people...their families...our leadership...they all deserve much, much more, and I believe that it is time for the church to claim this word as its own. The call to be excellent in our ministry is not a call to compete with the values of the world...with other churches...with each other... The call to do excellent ministry is a call to trust in the One whose “grace is sufficient.” The call to do excellent ministry is about responding to Paul’s words: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8 NIV) The call to be excel-lent is the call to give our very best to this ministry, and yet to know when to get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit blow. In times of uncertainty, we can ‘hunker’ down and worry about what we don’t have, or we can turn outward, we can trust God, we can focus on the abundance that God does provide, and we can do the most excellent job possible in this ministry. Networked in Christ,

Rev. Todd BueglerExecutive Director – ELCA Youth Ministry NetworkPastor —Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Maple Grove, MNTodd@elcaymnet.org

Welcome! Network News BitesThe Network welcomes its new-est Board of Directors member: Valerie Taylor Samuel. Valerie is a volunteer youth minister in Philadelphia.

Congratulations to Rev. Larry Wagner! Larry was reappointed to the Network Board for a sec-ond term. He has served as the chairperson of the Board for the last year.

There are 3 Regional Facilitator positions open for election at this year’s Extravaganza in Char-lotte. Regions 2, 6 & 8 are all open. You can make a nomination at www.elcaymnet.org/regionalfa-cilitators.

Yes, there will be a Twitter feed from Extravaganza 2010 in Charlotte! Watch for the hashtag: #EXT10.

Did you hear that Zondervan publishing sold Youth Specialties to YouthWorks? Nope. We’re not kidding.

The Network has a new national calendar function on its web site. Go to www.elcaymnet.org/master-calendar to see what’s happening in your area!

The “Standards and Guidelines” for professionals has been ap-proved and released! Look for more info at www.elcaymnet.org.

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Imagine Excellenceby Scott Maxwell-Doherty

Imagine if Jesus were a Youth and Family Minister who worked down the street from you at the local “God Loves Us” non-denominational worship center.

Outreach – feeding 5000 a week.

Staff – started with 12 and has grown exponentially.

Preaching Ministry – can’t get enough of it, often takes on church systems in need of overhaul.

Healing Ministry – seems as if all you need to do is get near him and transformation occurs.

Caring Ministry - listens to people all day long and looks into their hearts providing “next step” possibilities.

Bible Studies - doesn’t even need to open the book, as if he wrote the book.

Activities include – walk on water games, reattach severed body parts without superglue, practical living aids using parable like stories.

Recently written up in the “religious living” section of the newspa-per. Here is what others say about him; “feeds the homeless like they were part of his own family.” Sisters of the Immaculate Kitchen, Mary and Martha. “called me by name and I never met the guy before.” A son of Zebedee. “has turned the neighborhood around, like raising the dead.” L.A. Zarus “most un-traditional preacher I have ever seen.” Mr. Fair A. See

I don’t know about you, but I am certain I would not want to work down the street from this character. How would you ever stand a chance of accomplishing anything in YOUR youth ministry? Talk about staring your inadequacies in the face…OH MY GOSH!”

Against this kind of excellence I would not stand a chance!

The truth of the matter is that this kind of Jesus doesn’t work down the street from you; in direct competition; he works in the church you serve; in the midst of your daily ministry; he works in and through you!

The truth of the matter is that Jesus’ presence in your ministry draws you into excellence (Arête, Homeric Greek for virtue, excel-lence, goodness) not perfection, but excellence. Perfection is highly over-rated, excellence is often underserved.

Story…it was Youth Sunday. The Youth Program was in charge of ev-ery aspect of the worship, all the way down to printing the bulletin and organizing the donut order in the narthex. Safe to say not one thing was going to happen unless the Youth Committee orchestrated it. Weeks went into the plan. It came time to edit the bulletin. One of the indentations from the margin was off. So it was edited. An-other found a student’s name misspelled. Another edit. The chorus to one of the songs was out of place needing another edit. At that point one of the senior students declared in a tone learned from her parents “Jeez, it’s good enough for church work.”

No doubt you have heard the phrase “good enough for church work.” It usually comes when we have run out of time or energy in preparing for the Lent Soup Supper or the Easter Sunrise Worship and Breakfast. We hear this phrase as a sort of “settling” phrase. We settle for what we can pull off rather than settling for excellence.

If you were to stop right now…I mean STOP, SIT DOWN, AND THINK… AND THEN…determine from this moment on that you would only do excellent work, what would have to change? How would your schedule be altered? Where would you be spending more of your valuable time? What skill sets would you need to polish in order for you to do a better job in those areas? Are there things you want to do better at but because of your current overloads, you cannot get to them?

Perfection is highly over-rated,

excellence is often underserved.“ “

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Excellence is a mind set. I believe it is a servant mind set with its roots deep in the Gospel words “do unto others as…” from Luke 6:27 ”But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Granted, humanity is NOT an enemy, the critical focus of the text rests in the “HOW” I treat others as a reflection of how I wish to be treated.

For me excellence has its roots in hospitality. In a phrase; how can I serve that person (insert ministry / event / project / occasion) so that others are honored, supported, valued, and thus cared for?

There are traps to be sure;

Excellence can wander quickly into the realm of excess.

Excellence is one bus stop removed from perfection, and perfec-tion is always suffocating.

Excellence can become that which prevents us from being creative…especially when we say “we can’t do that, it is too expensive” OR we say, “we can’t do that, we don’t have time.”

Finally, imagine if Jesus settled for “just good enough.” Of course you would have to say, well his good enough exceeds my best day, OK…but he didn’t settle for good enough.

If at the last supper he said, “You know I like eating with you and you and you, but you…not so much… so this meal is only for a few and not all.”

If in the garden he would have prayed, “take this cup and this plate from me, and give it to someone who has Dominos on speed dial.”If at the raising of Lazarus he would have said, “O man, you stink, go back into the tomb.”

If when the soldiers ear was cut off he would have said, “it’s just a flesh wound, you’ll be ok.”

Jesus didn’t act like this, “good enough for church work,” so neither will we.

Take a look at your calendar and reorient your life toward the hos-pitable act of excellence. It won’t be easy. Excellence is hard work. Worthy work. It is the work of serving the other. Excellence takes practice.Some time ago I began to assemble a set of “non-negotiables” when organizing any and every event (insert bible study, worship re-treat, fun day at the water park, sledding with friends). I taped the list to the side of my monitor, I placed the sheet as a strip note on the side of my walking calendar. I memorized the list so in all of my planning these elements were front and center. The list is simple:

1. How will the stranger be received?2. How many ways can I get across the “single most important point?”3. What does plan B and C look like?4. Who else? (That is, who have I invited to share in this effort?)

Of course all of these elements have a set of other key questions. Let’s take on #1. How will the stranger be received? I ask: is there code language? Is it (bible study) welcoming? Is it (a retreat) easy to follow? Do we have name tags so people will know who is who? Is a schedule produced so all will know what is next? Are there key people appointed to act as hosts who keep their eyes on the strang-er and spend more time with them than with their friends? Is there room, are there enough seats, snacks, and a place at the table?

Excellence takes prayerIn case we forget, pray then like this, “Lord make us instruments of your peace, grace and mercy.”

Pray often, pray without ceasing.

Remember, excellence won’t get you any closer to Jesus at the table in the kingdom. Excellence may just help another find their way to a deeper relationship, a greater understanding, a new way of seeing the ever present love of God.

Scott Maxwell-Doherty and his wife Melissa are

the University Pastors of California Lutheran Univer-

sity, Thousand Oaks CA. Scott likes making sawdust

from too many woodworking tools, cooking with

garlic, and takes great delight in the art work of his

family; Melissa as a card maker, Kyle in percussion,

and Nate in drawing.

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What Are We Doing In These Mountains?:Outdoor Youth Ministry Trips and the Theology of the Crossby Andrew Root, PhD

As we entered the Baff national park I could feel my breathing quicken and my eyes widen. For a boy from the flat Midwest, the sight of majestic mountains reaching to the sky, covered in snow in late July was breathtaking. The beauty was almost more than I could take. I spent the first few days just staring at them, refusing to take my eyes from them. Little, other than TV, had captured my attention as much as those mountains. As we did our last prepara-tion for our youth ministry backpacking trip into the Canadian Rockies, my high school anticipation was as high as the mountains themselves. We loaded our packs, parked our vans in some dirt lot and started on the trail, trudging our way into the beauty of creation.

Three hours in, the beauty began to fade, not objectively, I suppose; the mountains, trees, and rocks continued to possess some kind of beauty. But it was the kind of beauty that came with harshness. Three hours in, a tenth-grader had blisters, a junior was dehydrated, and a senior was exhausted from carrying the food pack. We camped the first night next to a glacier-fed pond; it too was beautiful, but unsympathetic. When the sun went down the temperature fell quickly, leaving us shivering in our sleeping bags. We were told we must filter the water from the stream, and when getting the water we needed to go in teams, in case we met a bear. The first thing I learned was the nature was beautiful but harsh.

We spent each morning with our journals, encouraged to depart into creation by ourselves to pray, read scripture, and commune with God. Our morning silence started with the warning not to go too far and ended with together reading scripture, discussing God’s pres-ence in nature, and a final prayer. I began to wonder what it was we were doing out here. It clearly was about being in God’s creation, but for what purpose? I suppose we needed the exercise of hiking, and the time spent outdoors was a good correction to our hours of playing video games and watching TBS re-runs. And the time on the trail did allow us to get to know our leaders better. But this God stuff seemed weird; we were told that by soaking in God’s creation we would meet God, but we were given as many warnings as encour-agements: watch out for this, make sure you drink enough water, don’t leave any food in your tent, don’t slide down the snow on the side of the mountains. We were supposed to meet God in nature, but nature was rugged, dangerous, and unforgiving even in its beauty. So what are we doing in youth ministry when we take young people on outdoor trips? Do young people encounter God in creation? Is God knowable in the creation? What are we hoping young people will experience on these trips?

It seems that most often outdoor trips in youth ministry are about a mix of personal improvement and seeing God in nature. We hope that backpacking, canoeing, and rock climbing will challenge young people, helping them see what they are capable of doing, so we put them in (controlled) situations that push them beyond what they thought they were capable of. It is no doubt that these experiences can be transforming and significant for a young person’s personal development. Overcoming your fear by ziplining, or pushing what you though you were capable of by walking six miles can be very empowering. I don’t think we should shy away from admitting that these trips do such things.

But there is a not-so-fine line between a community of friends that encourage a fellow friend to stretch him or herself, and contending that God will use these trips and their challenges to make young people into what they need to be. I once heard about a youth worker that would tell his young people in the midst of the exhaustion of building a house or carrying their packs that God had them on the anvil, insinuating that God was using the experi-ences to pound young people into what God wanted them to be, using the heat and pressure of their exertion to form them into something. While these trips provide opportunities for young people to grow into their humanity by challenging themselves physically and departing from their normal distractions in the quiet of nature, it seems we may have a problem when we insinuate that such experiences are the activity of God and therefore reveal who God is. Like the youth pastor above, on these trips, we give young people pictures of a God who is like a personal trainer or pilates instruc-tor, who is concerned for you being all you can be, for you making yourself into something. When we blend the personal challenge with the direct presence of God in these trips we not only make self-improvement the goal of God’s activity, but ironically, at the same time diminish God’s action, giving young people the idea that it is up to them, up to their effort to make themselves into something, something God would be pleased with.

Yet what we most often assume about these outdoor trips is that these trips will open young people’s eyes to see God. We imag-ine that the beauty of nature can persuade young people of God’s presence in the world and therefore God’s presence in their lives. We hope that getting away from distraction and looking deeply at nature will reveal God to them. Therefore, we anticipate that through these trips young people will know and experience God. We say things like, seeing the beauty of the forest, ocean, or mountains how can you deny that God exists and God is good?

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And it is no doubt true that nature is beautiful; it does possess within it something we might call transcendent, we confess that it is God’s good creation. But nature, as my own experience showed in the story above, is just as harsh as it is beautiful. We can experience the beauty of mountains, but if you get lost in those mountains you will die. Many of us have experiences dwelling in nature, but what are these experiences? And can we assume de facto that they are experiences that usher in communion with God? Nature in itself cannot communicate knowledge of God and nature in itself gives us both experiences of transcendent mystery and grueling hell.

Here too we diminish the activity of God, because these trips become about knowledge and experience outside of encounter, outside of God’s own action. Nature, in itself, is inert; it cannot encounter us. It can give us moving experiences, experiences that are good and wonderful, but it does not put a direct demand on us, it does not encounter us as a person might. We take young people into nature, hoping it will reveal to them that God exists. But in so doing we tend to imagine that nature itself will mediate knowledge of God. We assume that if young people look deeply at the beauty of nature they will see the fingerprints of God. But even in a bush that burns but is not consumed (a reality that is other than nature—in nature all burning bushes are consumed) God calls out, God acts, God speaks with God’s Word, that while spoken within nature is also other than it. It is not the beauty of the bush that Moses witnesses to, but that God spoke to Moses, acting by revealing to Moses God’s very name. God is agent, not a passive reality to experience, which God too often becomes in our nature trips. We don’t assume God’s own action (that God acts to reveal Godself). We assume that by dwelling in nature we can see God. God (though we may not mean it) remains passive, something we experience, but God does not encounter us. For God to truly encounter us, God would have to be other enough from nature to act for and with us.

In both perspectives we have conceptions of God that are disconnected from love itself, for love can only be in action, love is never passive, but always an active reality. In both perspectives we provide pictures of a God that cares about personal betterment, about me stretching myself towards excellence, not a God who acts to be near to me in impossibility. It is fine line between encourag-ing kids to do things that push them and insinuating that God desires that they work to improve themselves. We give pictures of a God who is known through nature, but though nature is beautiful and good, it is inert and is just as harsh as beautiful. Nothing in nature itself engages us out of grace and love. Nature hides God as much as reveals God. There is no grace if you fall off the mountain, no forgiveness through the teeth of a bear if you leave an open bag of beef jerky in your tent. When we put these outdoor trips on our calendars we justify them as providing young people with op-portunities to challenge themselves and to experience God through nature, but is this even in line with our theological commitments?

In 1518 Luther presented his Heidelberg Disputation to defend his theological breakthrough that would be the impetus of the Reformation. This document not only raises the problem that Luther saw (that all action of the human agent that seeks to justify and make him or herself good is futile and perilous), but also presented his constructive reimagination of theology beyond the dead end of seeking for God in our own activity and that which can be easily seen and discerned (like through nature itself).

Therefore, Luther presents his theology of the cross, a theology that asserts that it is God who acts; but this God who acts does so in backward ways, making life out of death, bringing hope from despair, by entering death and being found in despair. Therefore, for Luther all theology begins and ends with the crucified Christ. This does not eliminate for him the importance of the Old Testament or the outpouring of the Spirit; these too are realities that demand deep theological reflection. But, in the end, the crucified Christ is the hinge of history, the hinge of existence itself. The cross of Christ becomes the hidden and backward way that God seeks to act for us, revealing that God’s action is never determined by the po-tency of human action, but only by human suffering and impossibil-ity. It is in the crucified Christ, for Luther, that we see the fullness and depth of God’s own action for us; it is in sharing our suffering in the cross that God reveals Godself. As Paul says, “the message of the cross is foolishness for those who are perishing, but to us who are saved it is the power of God.” (I Cor 1:18).

The cross for Luther is the way God reveals Godself most fully, for it is in the cross that we see how fully God seeks to be with and for us, making the road to encountering God not in our own action or experience in nature, but God’s act of taking on the cross. While nature is good, and God is the creator, nature in itself cannot be with and for us. God chooses to enter the natural world as a God of a people (Israel) and in the fullness of humanity in the incarnation,

... for it is in the cross that we

see how fully God seeks to be with

and for us, making the road to God

not our own action or experience in

nature, but God’s act of taking on

the cross. While nature is good, and

God is the creator, nature in itself

cannot be with and for us.

“

“

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but in itself nature cannot possess direct knowledge of God, for na-ture alone meets us not in the structure of persons – person encoun-tering persons – but as a non-personal reality. By becoming the God of a people, by revealing Godself in Jesus Christ, God unveils Godself in the reality of personal encounter, through agency. Nature can captivate us, can touch some transcendent impulse within us, it can mediate true beauty, but it has no agency. It can unfold through natural processes, it can even adapt to stimulus and threat in the environment, but it cannot encounter our person as person. Nature cannot be with us, it cannot be near to us in our brokenness, as a matter of fact it can, and indiscriminately will, destroy us. The water that quenches our thirst as a gift can push our air from our lungs, taking our life. God unveils Godself most directly not in nature, but in the crucified Christ, Luther believes. To know who and where God is found we don’t look to nature (or reason for Luther) but to the peasant man dying on a cross outside the city. The crucified Christ reveals that God is found not in nature, but next to the suffering and longing of persons, next to places of broken searching.

Then this is what nature trips are about, not experiening God in nature, but experiencing our own longings and brokenness. Why take kids into the mountains or canoeing? What is the point? The point, at least from the place of the early Reformations theology of the cross, is not because nature mediates who God is or that in overcoming our limitations we become better (better people, better Christians). No, the reason we take kids on these outdoor trips is so that they might experience their smallness (like Psalmist in Psalm 8), so that they might experience what is most true for us, that we are caught in discontinuity. Outdoor trips may be one of the most helpful ways to encourage young people to think, to think about the crisis of their very existence. Looking at these mountains that have been here for a million years and maybe a million more, the point is not to see God in these mountains, but to recognize the thin-ness of your being in the shadow of them. Outdoor trips are about helping kids ask, what is a lifetime and why do we live it? Who is this God that creates a whole universe of such depth, size, beauty, and tragedy and yet cares for me, seeks me? And seeks me not in the majesty and power of the created order, but in the nearness, smallness, and closeness of human suffering and love, the cross. We could say that nature is the Law, it is good and gift, for it reveals to us the impossibility that is before us, but the gospel is the assertion that God has acted by taking our impossibility.

These trips have the power of reminding the ego that it is small, that the self is but a minuscule blip on the screen of time and space. These trips should call adolescents and their disproportion-ately large egos to consider their own smallness. Where is God present in these trips? If you follow the theology of the cross, God’s presence is not in the experience of nature in itself, but rather through experiencing nature we recognize our own yearnings, long-ings, and brokenness, and next to these yearnings, longings, and

brokenness, God is found. God is made known as acting, through the cross (and now through the Spirit) for us.

Outdoor trips are not, then, about improvement (whether spiritual or personal) but death, and if they are about death then they are about the cross. Spending time away from our technological day to day, in the harshness and beauty of nature we witness how near death is to life, how life and death are inevitability connected. The Psalmist looks at mountains and realizes that he is small, that he finite. Beauty and hell are so close together, that which is so beautiful can be so harsh, that which is so appealing to the eye can destroy me. Sitting here as the sun comes up over these evergreens, lighting the lake in gold that is spread before my feet I becomes aware that my life is so thin, and in its thinness is beauty. God is there, for God has acted through the thinness of death and broken-ness to make my realities of thinness the place of God’s very action.

This means that nature is our great gift, a gift we must steward and care for. Not because it possess knowledge of God, but because it is God’s. We care for nature because in experiencing both its beau-ty and its harshness (which cannot be untangled from each other) we are reminded that we are dying; but it is our gift because in our death God acts to be near to us. We care for nature because it is our friend; we are bound to it, for we, like it, are caught in the cycles of moving from life to death. We seeks for its good, not because it pos-sesses knowledge of God, but because, like us, it seeks for new life beyond death through God’s own action.

We take young people on outdoor trips not to challenge them to be better or experience God through creation, but to face the crisis of reality itself. To recognize that they are small and near death, that they are in need of a God, who acts to cross the abyss to meet them. Outdoor trips have real potential to lead not to personal betterment, but to deep reflection, to dwelling on the “why” there is something instead of nothing, on my need, on my questions that have no answers. And when we are willing to face these realities, when we are willing to face the thinness of what is, to reveal our suffering and admit that we are near to death, then the God of the cross stands before us, for the God of the cross has acted for us to be with us by entering our beautiful but harsh world for the sake of love.

Andrew Root is assistant professor of youth and

family ministry at Luther Seminary in St. Paul,

Minnesota.

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Books:

Bible Study Excellenceby Heather Hansen

Give each participant a magazine. Ask them to flip through the pages and cut out examples of “excellence.” Have them try not to

get stuck reading, but cut out based on first impressions.

Note: Don’t feel the need to define excellence! The point of the activity is to get people thinking initially about what excellence

means to them. After 5-10 minutes of flipping through and cutting out, have the participants share their pictures and explain why

they felt their pictures represented excellence. After participants have had a moment to share, discuss the following questions:

• Whatisexcellence?

• Howdoesthecultureinwhichwelivedefineexcellence?

• Isasocietaldefinitionofexcellencedifferentfromachurchdefinition?How,orwhynot?

Ask someone to read Philippians 4:8-9.“Summingitallup,friends,I’dsayyou’lldobestbyfillingyourmindsandmeditatingonthingstrue,noble,reputable,authentic,compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.” (The Message)

• Whatareexamplesofthingsyouhaveseenthataretrue,noble,right,pure,lovely,and/oradmirable?

• Whatdoyouthinkthewritermeanswhenhewrites“anythingexcellent”inthispassage?

• Whyarewetothinkaboutthingsthatareexcellent?IsthatallPaulmeansforustodo?

• Whatispraiseworthyinoureyes?WhatispraiseworthyinGod’seyes?

• Whatisthedifferencebetweenexcellenceandperfection?

Introduction

Read & Reflect

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The current tagline for the ELCA is “God’s Work, Our Hands.” As we consider the opportunity we have to participate in the work of

God here on earth, why is excellence important?

Spend a few minutes making a list of some of the activities you do and the people you spend time with on a daily basis.

• How might your faith change the way you do these activities or interact with these people?

• What does this Bible study have to do with these activities and people?

Give each participant a notecard and have them list one thing they will do differently in their life based on today’s discussion.

Have them place the notecard in their wallet or purse so they can be reminded often of their commitment to excellence.

Prayer: Holy God, you call us to be faithful, not perfect. Help us to do everything we do in the best possible way. Allow us to be

your hands here on earth and to understand the joy, not weight, of this responsibility. You are excellent, God, and we strive to be

more like you in our actions and words daily. Amen.

Application

Wrap Up

Heather Hansen is Youth Ministry Coordinator for the Southwestern Texas Synod of the ELCA and adjunct instructor

for the youth ministry concentration at Texas Lutheran University. She has the privilege of sharing her faith daily with

husband, Mark, and children Alex and Hannah in San Antonio, Texas. They also enjoy swimming, camping, reading and

playing Wii together!

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Excellence: A Parent’s Perspectiveby Michael Sladek

Debbie is taking this issue off from Parent’s Perspective, as her “other duties as assigned” at work have gotten to be more and more time consuming.

A long time ago (1991-1997), in a city not too far away (Belle-vue, WA), I was a full-time youth ministry professional.

I’ve been blessed to be in both the driver’s seat and passenger’s seat in the church van, and as my son prepares to enter college in 2010, I’ve been thinking a bit about what excellence in youth ministry means. I know that there is no one size fits all recipe for excellence in youth ministry. What was excellent five years ago, even one year ago, may not be excellent today. What is excellent in your church may be less than excellent down the block or across the state.

Having said that, I’ve observed common characteristics that make for excellence in ministry. In the spirit of Spinal Tap, this list goes to eleven:

1. Wiggle room. From the minute he was born, David was in mo-tion. On Sunday mornings there was so much to see, so much to explore. He needed lots of wiggle room, and we appreciated the space for him to do that and lack of “shooshing stares.” Excellence in youth ministry starts with a congregation that welcomes the wiggles and wackyness of youth.

2. Restlessness. Excellence comes from a desire to always improve on what’s been done before. Take time to examine your ministry with others. Stay tuned into currrent cultural realities and how they impact ministry in your place. What still works, what doesn’t? Be willing to jettison the old favorites, in favor of something better.

3. Parental partnership. Youth ministry will always happen in the context of the family, so for a richer perspective on the lives of the youth you serve, engage their parents in conversation. What are their joys, sorrows, struggles, and needs? What do they think about youth ministry at your church? Excellence in youth ministry cannot happen without a healthy relaionship with your youth’s parents.

4. Pastoral partnership. Youth ministry will always happen in the context of your congregation, so for a richer perspective on the life of your congregation, engage your pastor(s) in conversation. What are her joys, sorrows, struggles, and needs? What does he think about youth ministry at your church? Excellence in youth ministry cannot happen without a healthy relaionship with your pastor(s).

5. Peer connection and Networking. No one gets youth ministry as well as others in youth ministry. Connect with them regularly for time to laugh, cry, and pray. If you’re not already a member, join the ELCA Youth Ministry Network. Connecting with a broader group of peers will give you invaluable insight, perspective, and support.

6. Passion. Wanting to go to work, and not believing you get paid to do this, is an amazing feeling. Sometimes that feeling is much stronger than others, and sometimes it is absent completely. Pay attention to how you feel about your ministry. Seek support in the low times and share your enthusiasm with peers when riding the crest of the wave.

7. Youth involvement in congregational leadership. Youth should be seen and heard. Every Sunday should see young people involved in the church service. The church council should have youth repre-sentatives. The older youth can assist with younger groups. Where are opportunities for youth to lead in your congregation?

8. Life outside of ministry. Take care of yourself spiritually, emotionally, and physically. Find a hobby, spend quantity time with your family, and foster relationships outside of the congregation you serve.

9. Communication. Leverage technology such as mass text mes-saging, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc... to go beyond postcards in sharing with youth news about ministry at your church. Acknowl-edge that youth are busier than ever and plan and communicate months/weeks, not days, ahead of events.

10. Inter-generational opportunities. One of David’s favorite parts of confirmation was being connected with Don, his prayer partner. Don is a quiet, retired Boeing engineer, and I never would have guessed that he and David would form such a strong relation-ship. Such is the mystery of inter-gnerational opportunities— they’re easy to forget to foster, but impossible to deny their effect on the lives of the young and young-at-heart.

11. Time. Be patient, with yourself and your place of ministry - it takes time to nurture relationships and develop trust. It takes time to learn what works and what doesn’t. It takes time to learn, grow, and reflect.

Michael Sladek stays connected to youth ministry

through his graphic design work with The Network,

ELCA Youth Gathering, and congregations. He blogs

about creativity at http://michaelsladek.typepad.com

and can be found on Twitter via @mwsladek.

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So, I recently started a part-time position as the Clergy in Charge of an Episcopal Church near Cleveland. We’re a small parish, only 9 years old. As with any church, we are striving for excellence in wor-ship, and we have our particular Episcopal understanding of what that means.

For instance, I am hoping to have a choir some day, but we cur-rently don’t even have a musician, so that’s a ways off. Though I would like to see us use incense regularly, and to add torch bearers for the Gospel procession, we have just one teenager among us. In short, we lack the personnel to add sound, fire, and smoke to the worship experience of the congregation.

Then, last week, I distractedly listened to a phone message from someone about youth ministry, who I thought was offering to “fire the choir.” Huh? That’s the last thing I need! I’m hoping to hire a choir, not get rid of them. I listened to the message a second time, and realized I had it wrong.

Turns out, the guy’s message was that he wanted to see how things were going in my youth group, and offered to help me “acquire the fire.” I couldn’t believe my good luck! Here, out of the blue, was somebody who would assist me in getting my youth group of one to swing the thurible and light the gospel book. It seemed like a program tailor-made for my situation, and they were coming to Cleveland the very next month!

I excitedly called the guy back, and after we talked about the struggles of trying to get good conversation going among the youth when there’s only one of him, I asked about the costs of their Acquire the Fire program. He explained that the costs were minimal, and that the youth would have a life-changing experience. “I’ll bet,” I said. He said there really wasn’t any training that needed to be done in advance, and that it would change the dynamic in my congregation. “I’ll bet,” I said. He told me that there would be lots of sound, smoke, and pyro. “I’ll bet,” I said. (Though I’d never heard anyone use the word “pyro” when referring to worship accouter-ments, I found that to be an interesting way to think of incense and candles.)

I explained that I had just purchased some fantastic Benedictine incense, and asked if I should bring that along to the training.

There was a long pause . . .

Finally, the guy said that maybe I misunderstood. Confused, I asked, “Aren’t you offering a training program for acolytes and thurifers?” He asked me what a thurifer was. When I explained that it’s person who carries the incense, he asked what an acolyte was. I began to see that Acquire the Fire was something outside my experience, and thurifers and acolytes were outside his. He said he thought maybe we wouldn’t be interested in his program after all, and I realized he was probably right. I wished him success, and we hung up.

It was clear to both of us, I think, that we just have different no-tions of excellence in worship. That was okay by me, and I reflected on this collect from the Book of Common Prayer . . .

O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; and grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

George Baum plays in the band Lost And Found

(www.speedwood.com) and also serves as Deacon of St.

Patrick Episcopal Church, Brunswick, OH.

A View From Elsewhere Excellenceby George Baum

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On The Wayby Bill Bixby

It is SO EXCELLENT that the dreamcasters who brought forth the original Network vision, now over four years ago, named excellence as a core dimension of youth ministry!

In the Network Vision document (still a work in progress), excellence is reclaimed, affirmed and insisted on, in several different senses. The Vision document plants our commitment to, our pursuit of, excellence in the ancient and life-giving command to love God with all of our hearts, souls, might (Deuteronomy 6:5, riffed on regularly by Jesus). In terms of youth ministry, the church is called to go all out so that young people, and our congregations, would flourish in unconditional responding to God who goes all out for us in Christ Jesus.

Excellence, then, is the way we describe the fullness and faithful-ness, the intentionality and high quality which comprise what it means for us to go all out in ministries with youth and their house-holds and their communities.

Talk about convergence: the current issue of Connect focused on excellence is being published at the same time that a new set of Standards and Guidelines has been approved by the Network Board. Most excellent! The youth ministry movement will be both strength-ened and challenged by this detailed, comprehensive statement of critical understandings and competencies that can shape us for excellence.

I invite you to check out these Standards and Guidelines, and to prayerfully consider the ways that they might pull you forward toward greater fullness, faithfulness, intentionality and quality in youth ministry. That is, toward gospel-centered, gospel-amplifying excellence.

On that Way, and in the waters, with you,

Bill Bixby, who has been an ELCA pastor for

twenty-two years and a blessed-by-youth minister for

even longer, lives and serves in Chicago, IL as Director

for Youth Ministry. From 2000 to 2007, Bill served

(and sometimes taught at) two ELCA seminaries in a

lively project of theological and vocational discovery

with teens.

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Calendar of EventsStart Date End Date Name Location Contact Person Web Site Targeted to:

Jan 25, 2010 Jan 27, 2010 ESTABLISH Youth Ministry Intensive

Saint Paul, MN Jeanne Osgood www.youthleadership.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Jan 28, 2010 Jan 30, 2010 UNDERSTAND Youth Ministry Intensive

Saint Paul, MN Jeanne Osgood www.youthleadership.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Feb 4, 2010 Feb 5, 2010 Intensive Care Courses Westin Hotel - Charlotte, NC Dawn Trautman www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Feb 5, 2010 Feb 8, 2010 Extravaganza 2010 Westin Hotel - Charlotte, NC Todd Buegler www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Mar 1, 2010 Mar 3, 2010 First Third Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN Dr. Andrew Root www.firstthird.org Adult Professionals

Mar 12, 2010 Mar 17, 2010 Vibrant Faith YF Ministry Certification School

Flathead Lutheran Bible Camp Brooke Ells www.vibrantfaith.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Mar 12, 2010 Mar 13, 2010 SW MN Synod Senior High Youth Gathering

Country Inn and Suites, Mankato, MN

Sarah Hausken www.swmnelca.org Sr High Youth

Mar 15, 2010 Mar 16, 2010 COUNSEL Part 2 Youth Leadership, St. Paul, MN Jeanne Osgood www.youthleadership.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Apr 12, 2010 Apr 14, 2010 Conference for Youth Ministry Workers, Youth Faith Formation in an Interfaith World

Lutheran School of Theology Chicago

Youth In Mission Director

yim.lstc.edu Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Apr 16, 2010 Apr 18, 2010 Gathering in the East Holiday Inn - Harrisburg, PA Rev. Ed Kay www.gatheringintheeast.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Apr 26, 2010 Apr 27, 2010 Intro to the Bible for Youth Workers

Youth Leadership, St. Paul, MN Jeanne Osgood www.youthleadership.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

May 2, 2010 May 4, 2010 Network Board of Director’s Meeting

The Lutheran Center, Chicago, IL

Todd Buegler www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

May 6, 2010 May 8, 2010 Network RF’s Meeting The Lutheran Center, Chicago, IL

Todd Buegler www.elcaymnet.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

May 8, 2010 May 8, 2010 Passing On Vibrant Faith SW MN Synod Rev. Linda Pedersen

www.swmnelca.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals, Parents

May 13, 2010 May 13, 2010 Ascension Day Breakfast - MAS & SPAS Networking Event

Augburg College Jo Mueller www.mpls-synod.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

May 13, 2010 May 15, 2010 LEAD: Youth Ministry Intensive Youth Leadership, St. Paul, MN Jeanne Osgood www.youthleadership.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

May 13, 2010 May 15, 2010 MANAGE: Youth Ministry Intensive

Youth Leadership, St. Paul, MN Jeanne Osgood www.youthleadership.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Jun 13, 2010 Jul 3, 2010 Serving Christ in the World Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

Kristin Johnson yim.lstc.edu Sr High Youth

Jun 27, 2010 Jul 1, 2010 The Disciple Project Texas Lutheran University, Seguin, TX

Peggy Hahn Sr High Youth, Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals, Parents

Jul 10, 2010 Jul 24, 2010 TEY Summer Theological Academy

Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA

Chandler Carriker www.theologicaleducation-withyouth.com

Sr High Youth

Jul 31, 2010 Aug 7, 2010 TEY Crossroads Event Gettysburg Seminary, Gettysburg, PA

Chandler Carriker www.theologicaleducation-withyouth.com

Sr High Youth

Oct 21, 2010 Oct 23, 2010 Western North Dakota Synod LYO Gathering

Grand International Inn, Minot, ND

Beth Anderson wndsynod.org Sr High Youth

Nov 19, 2010 Nov 21, 2010 SW MN Synod Junior High Youth Gathering

Holiday Inn, Willmar, MN Sarah Hausken www.swmnelca.org Jr High Youth

Dec 1, 2010 Dec 4, 2010 Ecumenical Youthworker’s Summit

Disneyworld Resort, Orlando, FL

Rev. Bill Bixby www.youthworkersummit.org Adult Volunteers, Adult Professionals

Submit your event information and find the latest event info at www.elcaymnet.org/mastercalendar.

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New major! Theology and Christian LeadershipThe major in Theology and Christian Leadership is designed to train students in specific areas of lay ministry and includes four areas of specialization: Christian Education, Church Administration, Church Music, and Youth and Family Ministry.

www.CalLutheran.edu/ChristianLeadership

Serving the needs of the Church to develop leaders forC A L I F O R N I A L U T H E R A N U N I V E R S I T Y

SACRED STORIES

Youth Faith Formation

in an Interfaith World

April 12–14, 2010A Conference for Youth Ministry Workers

Keynote will be from the Interfaith Youth CoreThere are millions of young people with different religious and philosophical per-spectives interacting with increasing frequency around the world. This interaction tends toward either conflict or cooperation.Come for amazing dialog on strength-ening faith, creating partnerships that equip young people for action and nurturing leadership in a multifaith world.

We look forward to seeing you at next year’s conference!

1100 East 55th Street, Chicago, IL 60615

For more information and registration, go to http://yim.lstc.edu/conference/

yimad09.indd 1 7/29/09 2:22:45 PM

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L E A R N D I S C E R N . C O MP r o g r a m s f o r H i g h S c h o o l S t u d e n t s a t t h e E L C A S e m i n a r i e s

Discounts from resource & service providers:* • CenterforYouthMinistriesatWartburgSeminary • ImpressionMediaGroup • LutheranLifeCoaching • TXTSignal • TrinityLutheranCollege’sChildren,YouthandFamily Ministry Center • TheYouthandFamilyInstitute • YouthLeadershipCenterforYouthandFamilyMinistries • YouthSpecialties

Network Members also receive: • AregistrationdiscountfortheNetwork’sannual Extravaganza! • DiscountedtuitionfortheNetwork’sOnlineTraining Initiative (beginning in the fall of 2009) • OnlineaccesstoaNationalYouthMinistryNetwork Directory • Asubscriptionto“Connect”,ourquarterlyjournalfor youth and family ministry • TheAnnualSalarySurveyresults • AfreeHertz#1GoldClubMembership • Accesstovideoofkeynotespeakersfrompast Extravaganzas

We value your membership in the Network. And so do lots of other folks. As a Network member you have access to some tremendous discounts from the following organizations who want to support you and your ministry:

DID YOU KNOW?

* For more information on discounts, visit www.elcaymnet.org/discounts

ELCA Youth Ministry Network11821 98th Pl. N.,Maple Grove, Mn 55369

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