October 2011

An Inside Look

With success comes a great deal of work.  I’m fantastic at stating the obvious!!!

The Youth Ministry Institute has been in business for nearly six years.  20 youth ministers have completed our two-year program.  This year alone, YMI has ten new churches under contract!  Their youth ministers and those that are completing their second year are pictured to the left.  This is very good!  It meets a goal I have had over the past year.  It is also ties the record for the greatest number of churches that we have ever signed up in one calendar year.  It is exciting to know that two of those churches will allow YMI to stretch into new territories.

At First UMC Winter Park we will be delaying all of the instructional training for their youth minister until next year.  That means we will have a three year relationship with this church instead of two.  The coaching started this past week.  We are in the midst of scheduling the Youth Ministry Architect three-day on-site assessment.  We will also interview their youth minister and assess him on the basis of our ten core competencies.  All of this was designed to be done in tandem.  Therefore we will have the opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of focusing on the coaching and support systems first before diving into the practical and theological training.  In addition, I’m looking forward to the extended relationship we will enjoy with this church.

The other exception is even more interesting to me.  Next week I will spend three days with First UMC St. Petersburg.  Jeff Dunn-Rankin of the Youth Ministry Architects and I will consult and assess a church that hasn’t hired a youth minister, yet.  Jeff is on the job because he just published a book called How to Hire a Youth Pastor.  Pretty good timing, huh?  It is the desire of YMI to connect appropriate resources with churches.  This match, in theory, should work out very well.

The church plans to complete the hiring process before Thanksgiving if they find the right match.  If the church decides to continue its relationship with YMI after that, then the coaching will begin immediately.  Again, the instructional training will be delayed.  Our beginning point each year is August where we host our foundational retreat for those that are beginning YMI.

For the third year in a row we have accepted youth ministers after the foundational retreat and before the next instructional training retreat in September.  Two youth ministers were hired in this window.  They will both pick up the foundational retreat next August.

So, the hard work has begun.  Within two months we have scheduled orientation meetings with ten congregations.  We interviewed all of our youth ministers using our core competency assessment tool.  These interviews were reviewed by two other assessors to assure their accuracy.  We are scheduling the on-site assessments with the Youth Ministry Architects at each church.  There will be a flurry of these prior to Thanksgiving with the rest of them picking up after the new year.  Every youth minister has a coach and has begun meeting with them, some have already met twice.  The coaches have been trained and are ready to serve.

AND, in the midst of all of this we hosted our own conference, The Academy, which was given rave reviews by all who attended.  My church, the host venue, just completed a $20 million building.  We were given our temporary certificate of occupancy 10 days before the conference began, which made the task of pulling off a rookie conference all the more challenging.

Hard work?  Hard work!  And, it has all been very gratifying!  I am already feeling good about how we are customizing our services to the needs of the local churches we are serving as well as paying attention to the individual needs of the people each church hired to be their youth minister. 

Again, I am stating the obvious.  That is what the Youth Ministry Institute is designed to do!

Most Recently

The Academy

I came home from the first full day of The Academy, our first attempt at a three-day conference.  I sat down to give my wife the brief recap.  I am normally a highly self critical person.  In fact, I often times have difficulty enjoying the moment because I’m always thinking about how I’ll change things the next time to make it better.  I looked at her and said, “There isn’t one thing I would change about today!” 

That’s a big deal for me.  I went into the week pretty sure I would never do another one.  This was a one shot deal because we couldn’t find another quality conference to go to in the fall.  I planned it 7 months ago thinking that we would be in our new church building, the host venue, for several months so that we would be able to work all the bugs out of the operational side of the building.  Instead we had ten days.  Our registered attendees were greeted by workmen, generators and the sound of hammering.  We were hanging video screens in the classrooms the morning the workshops began.  The air conditioning had not been properly balanced leaving some rooms hot and some cold.

And, still it turned out perfectly. 

Our YMI students made sure that all the details were cared for.  Our instructors were off-the-charts excellent. The Skit Guys and Mark DeVries motivated and challenged youth ministers and volunteers in youth ministry to get unstuck, to begin thinking about their youth ministries in a way that is sustainable.  Our band, Civil Parish, rocked.  Above all, all of our registered attendees had a great experience.  They were encouraged, inspired and challenged.

Over 100 participated in The Academy.  Another 75 came to our afternoon show for teenagers.  So, let’s do it, again!  It sounds like fun!!!

The Indispensable Youth Pastor

This is the title of a new book by Mark DeVries and Jeff Dunn-Rankin.  It was released in the spring.  In it there is a quote on page 57.  It reads,

“During the recent Great Recession, we asked our friend Steve Schneeberger, the executive director of Florida's Youth Ministry Institute, this question: 'How can youth pastors make sure that they're not the first ones laid off when the church is forced to make tough staffing decisions?'

His answer was unqualified and quick: 'Become indispensable.' “

There it is.  My moment of fame.  Most who have read this book and noticed that my name is in there have done so because I have shoved the book in their face and said, “Read page 57!”  With or without my quote, it is a great book.  I kind of like the title, too.

Partner Highlight

Coaching Coordinator

YMI has a great family of supporters.  They are donors, alumni, pastors, youth ministers, instructors, coaches, assessors, and consultants.  All believe we are making a difference.  You are one of those people.  We are making that difference together!

Do you know how many full time employees YMI currently has?  I thought you knew.  One.  I am it.  I am not complaining, however.  But, I am realizing some systems and functions we could do better if we had more people on the job.

So, for the last year I have been asking particular donors and foundations to fund the salary of a coaching coordinator.  This person would support our network of coaches to ensure the quality of their work in the field with our youth ministers.  Streamlining reporting functions, developing practical curriculum and enacting measurable evaluative systems would also be part of the major tasks the coaching coordinator would perform, all of which I can see and articulate the process and result, but have no time to do it myself without sacrificing something that is already running well.

To date I have collected $26,000 for this project.  A generous family and two foundations have made contributions.  I have a long term funding plan based on income projections tied to an increasing donor base at a rate we have increased the last two years.  Therefore, I am looking for additional funding commitments of $90,000 over three years.  I am 30% of the way there.

I have calculated that if I were to fund this position at a part time salary, rather than full time, I would need $40,000 in the bank, based on the foundation commitments I have received.  This would be a solid interim step.

I am not asking you for money, believe it or not. 

I am asking for prayer.  I am asking for any known funding leads that you might provide.  I tend to do this work more privately since it is outside the operating budget that my board and I have developed and funded, with your help.  So, I am going public now because I feel that I am very close to making this a reality.  And, frankly, this would be a great time to add someone.  Capitalizing on our increased enrollment, consultation requests and exposure on the national scene seems especially prudent right now.

I realize that this is all in God’s timing not mine.  Be assured that I have been patient thus far and will continue to be.  I just felt moved to share this with you so that you can join me in praying for wisdom and direction.

Coming SoonAnnual

Dessert Fund Raiser

Reserve February 6, 2012, on your calendar!  The fifth Annual Dessert Fund Raiser will be in a brand new building this year!  Come and check out the new space.  The Dessert will still be pretty yummy and the program will be informative and motivational.  If you know of someone who hasn’t heard the impact we are making in youth ministries across Florida, then, invite them to be your guest!!!

Final Word
From the YMI Guy's Blog

Learning to Live With Pain

I woke up one day in June of 2010 with some back pain.  I’m not sure what I did.  We had bought the mattress I slept on two years prior.  So, it couldn’t be that.  10 months earlier in a basketball collision I developed some neck pain with some bulging disks and some resulting nerve damage in my right hand effecting movement in my thumb, index and middle finger.  But, I had completed the physical therapy six months earlier and seemed to be on the road to recovery (at least somewhat).  It felt like all the tendons on the left side of my back were pulling like taunt strings inside of me.

So, I did what any red blooded American male would do.  Nothing.  I self diagnosed.  I determined (and I’m going to use the medical term here) I pulled all the little strings holding the insides of me together.  So, I stretched.  I did sit ups, leg ups, leg overs, bend overs, anything to feel like I was solving the problem.  I was determined to solve this pain myself.

I have felt pain at other times in my life, too.  I like to be liked.  And, I am hurt deeply when somebody doesn’t like me.  I used to determine that people don’t know me very well if they don’t like me.  If only they knew me better, they would like me.  Well, then there were some people in college who knew me pretty well and didn’t like me.  Hmmm.  I had trouble justifying that one.

In fact, one night my senior year, my own fraternity brothers (they knew me well) lit fire crackers in front of my door while I was asleep.  The noise woke me up and my adrenaline wouldn’t let me go back to sleep.  I never asked who did it.  I had a few guesses.  But, I really didn’t want to know who might dislike me to that degree.  The burn mark on the carpet reminded me of their dislike.  Honestly, it is still painful.

The pain of loss has been rather large in my life.  My dad died when I was ten.  That was a big loss, one I’ll never fully quantify.  I have had lost relationships – friends and girlfriends.  I could list names and still feel the pain of some of those losses, although it all dissipates with time and new found friendships and love.  In other words, I’m thankful I’m married to the woman I am married to. 

But it was really the death of my cousin, Dan, where I felt the most pain.  I realized shared memories that go unwritten do die once both who share it are gone.  I miss the ability to share those memories that are only special to me and Dan.  Frankly, no one else would understand.  They wouldn’t see the humor in the things we laughed about.

So, my back still hurts - 16 months later.  The strings have localized to a spot.  But, I’m convinced this pain will never go away.  I still play basketball and run.  I get up slower.  I’m not as quick.  But the pain remains.

I have learned to live with it.

And, even more importantly, I have learned not to focus on it.  My life isn’t all about pain.  It is really about the joy in the midst of pain.  I look fondly back on college as an incredible learning and growing experience.  I am better for all of the relationships I have had.  And, even the pain in my back reminds me how fragile life is and how I might want to live each day to the fullest.

I’m convinced it is not whether we have pain or not.  It is what we do with the pain we have that matters.