January 2011

An Inside Look

Ethan Smith enrolled in the Youth Ministry Institute in its inaugural year. He has a PCA background and his theology is definitely reformed. In fact, when Ethan talks about theology, he gets very passionate. His perspective, along with the perspectives of others, created some great debates over meals and other times when classroom learning took a back seat to expository learning.

Ethan was one of two people hired by the Youth Ministry Institute in the first year, acting as guinea pigs, in order to get direct feedback on the learning and coaching processes. When he completed the two-year program, he and his wife, Holly, moved to Scotland where he became the youth worker at Smithton-Culloden Free Church. They have since added a daughter to their clan. I have asked him to write for this issue, providing his perspective on life as a youth minister and how the Youth Ministry Institute helped him on his journey.  Here's Ethan:

When Steve called me in the spring of 2006 and recruited me for the Youth Ministry Institute (YMI), I was a bit skeptical at first. After all, the Institute had not even had their first class, so I would essentially be a guinea pig for this experiment. Fortunately, Steve had a vision and a plan for what he wanted the YMI to become.

Though my first year in the YMI was very much exploratory in some ways, I never felt like Steve was just “wingin’ it”. We had the structure of coaching, seminars, and conventions, but we also had freedom to network with other youth workers and talk about what happens on the front lines of youth ministry. It was as if YMI had been established for 10 years.

It seems that the trend in ministry is to use youth work as a stepping stone to something “bigger and better”. It’s no surprise, then, that youth workers do not usually stay in their jobs for very long. But the goal of the YMI is to produce skilled youth workers who are trained and fit to make a career out of ministering to teenagers. It’s a complete mindshift from where youth ministry was just 10 years ago.

On a personal level, after my two years in the YMI, I was well-equipped to dive headfirst into youth ministry. And it’s a good thing I was, because my first job out of the YMI was a youth worker position at a church in the Highlands of Scotland. I was not simply moving to a new state or climate, I was moving to a new country and culture.

Those that know me well would not say I am the most structured person in the world. But the YMI not only gave me opportunities to fine-tune my strengths, it trained me how to work on my weaknesses as well. Especially helpful were YMI seminars where I learned long-term planning and organizational skills. I have even received many compliments from adult leaders and parents about how organized I am.

Another strength of the YMI was the assigned reading and discussion on relevant youth ministry topics, e.g. how to plan and implement small groups, safety guidelines, and how to work well with parents. Critical thinking was encouraged, which gave the YMI participants an opportunity to discuss various scenarios that may occur when working with youth and families. This, along with being coached by a youth ministry veteran, thoroughly prepared me to take on any situation that may come up when working with teens.

I am thankful God led me to the Youth Ministry Institute to train as a youth worker. I have learned skills that are invaluable for ministry and life. My hope is that more youth workers would explore the idea of attending the YMI to get the proper training and education needed to be a successful youth minister.



Most Recently

Perkins School of Youth Ministry

I could write a book called, “Before They Were Bishops.” I have met a few before they ascended to greater responsibility. I haven’t met many after their ascent. I just don’t interface with church hierarchy that often. I am intrigued by Bishops, however. My dad actually named me “the Little Bishop” before I was born. It is a family nickname that has stuck and as I have grown older, it became shortened to “Bish.” So, it should be well within my namesake to cavort with Bishops.

An opportunity arose two weeks ago at Perkins School of Youth Ministry. It all began on our second day when we had gathered in the hallway after one of our classes to discuss some comments that one of the professors made about the rapture. A spirited debate erupted between some of our YMI youth ministers. It is hard to shut anyone out of a debate when it happens in the hallway. So, an 80 year old man entered the fracas. He essentially calmed the waters while providing incredible insight. So, out of appreciation one of our youth ministers invited him to dinner. We all laughed knowing that we had just met and the chances of all of us intersecting at just the right time were slim.

That night the twelve of us were walking across our hotel parking lot to Humperdinks, a restaurant we had enjoyed the night before. As we left the hotel, out walks our elderly friend and his son. Steve and Bishop Dick Wilke joined us for dinner that night. They sat in the middle seats of our four tables that were pushed together to form one and carried the conversation for nearly two hours. They were funny, interesting and engaging. For many in our group, that was the highlight of the week.

Every conference that we attend, I arrange for somebody (a theologian, a renowned youth minister or an author) to meet with our group privately so that we might pick their brain and they ours. I would like to think I had something to do with this meeting, too. After all I am a Bishop, too!

Partner Highlight
Youth Ministry Architects

This is not all about the youth minister. Sure, our mission is to “empower youth ministers to become skilled and effective leaders.” But, one way to empower the youth minister is to look at the church system in which the youth minister works thereby allowing the church to fully participate in youth ministry with the youth minister leading the charge.  This is sustainable.

The Youth Ministry Architects, a partner with YMI, moves churches to sustainablility. Mark DeVries, their founder and a long time Presbyterian youth minister in Nashville, created a process for client churches by listening to a dozen focus groups over three days.  They share their hopes and dreams, their concerns and struggles.  The outcome is fabulous.  Churches begin to take ownership of the youth ministry. This process is critical to the success of the youth ministry.

The Architects send a lead consultant to our partner churches who joins forces with the coach, assigned by YMI to the youth minister for the duration of the two-year program. After listening to dozens of people (youth, parents, staff, volunteers), they both spend nearly 24 hours composing a report listing strengths, challenges and making recommendations for the youth ministry based on what they have heard and observed. The final result is a time line that creates the “to do” list for the youth minister over the next two years. The coach, having created the time line, is able to help the youth minister accomplish the tasks, many of which revolve around involving others in the process of doing youth ministry.

Churches experience success as they build a sustainable youth ministry by checking one item at a time off the "to do" list.  It isn't rocket science.  It is persistence, continuing to stick to a plan that reaps rewards further down the line.

Again, I am thankful for our partnership with the Youth Ministry Architects. They represent a permeating value of YMI. We don’t know it all. But we are connected to people who, collectively, do!
Coming Very Soon


Final Word
From the YMI Guy's Blog

Today is my dad’s birthday. He would be 89. He died just short of his 52nd birthday. I think about him every year on this day and the day that he died. So, needless to say the Christmas holidays take on a different meaning for me than they do most.

I have a number of images of my dad. Some were given to me by the impressions of others. Some are my own observations, a perspective of a child. My dad commanded a room. He was loud, liked to tell jokes and laugh at them. He also liked to tease. He teased my mom, his mom, my brother and sister and me. Sometimes he went too far. But, most of the time, it was understood that if you couldn’t laugh at yourself, then you would be in for more teasing.

In fact, I have a recording of his voice on an old cassette tape calling me a “nincompoop”. I’m not sure what a “nincompoop” is. But, I knew it was a funny word. So, at age 7 or 8, I called him a “nincompoop” back. The recording of his voice (the only one I know of) goes back and forth between he and I for several minutes calling each other “nincompoops” using different inflections in our voice attempting to have the last word, another one of my dad’s traits.

So, I often wonder what it would be like to have him around today. What would he think of me now? I’m sure he would call me a “nincompoop” in jest. But, what other words of wisdom would he give to me? You see he left our lives too early. My brother and sister, while older, were still just beginning to experience adulthood at 21 and 25 when he died.  Life hadn’t fully crystallized for them either.

I wonder if my teenage years would have distanced us in a way that seems to happen in many families. People tell me that our personalities are a lot alike. That is usually the recipe for conflict for parents and children.

I often wonder if I would have been drawn to become a youth minister. My dad was a pastor and even started his doctoral thesis on youth ministry, which I didn’t find out until much later in life. The irony of my calling and choice to follow that calling spooks me at times.

My understanding of God is fully connected to my feelings surrounding my own father. I feel lost without him sometimes. And, then, a wave of assurance washes over me that, somehow, I have become the person he would want me to be. I search for a love that is tangible and end up finding love, grace and forgiveness in the most unlikely places, such as my own shortcomings and failures. I’m positive that in those times that I have a heavenly father and an earthly father that are standing side by side smiling, knowing that I will pick myself up again, searching for a better way to live life.

That is the message of the Bible, isn’t it? It isn’t just about whether I believe in God. It is that God believes in me, too, that makes the difference in my life. Another wave of assurance sure to be followed by doubt and, then, another wave.

Well, it is yesterday now, my dad’s birthday that is. I waited too long to post this. Ha. I feel just like a nincompoop, whatever that is!