Today was a full day with lots to see and do. As is custom with Paul,
Lisa and I, we split up to cover the maximum number of seminars. This
year we have Mary as well. I saw Reading the Bible for All its Worth with
Duffy Robbins, during the morning. A good one that was fun to review inductive
bible study.

The second one (it was a two and a half hour one) was Youth Worker as
Spiritual Guide: Nurturing a presence youth ministry. This was a
really good review of spiritual practices. The main thesis of the
presenter, Mike King, was that with the Protestant Reformation, many
spiritual practices were dropped in favor of just pure head knowledge
with bible study. While Bible study is important, being in Gods
presence is just as important. With that dropping of the spiritual
practices, the protestant church has missed out on some of the ways
to get in the presence and this is why we lose kids who were in the
church when they go off to college. There are a whole host of ways to
do this.

This one runs on a similar theme as yesterday with the guy from Dare
2 Share. In his argument, the kids dont get to practice what they
learn in evangelism or go deep enough with their theology with
discipleship. I think they both go hand in hand. If you can get the
kids into the presence of God, then they will get the strength to
evangelize their friends, and even do the missional things like
helping others not only in their town, but even over seas.

The General Sessions were by Denise VanEck from Mars Hill Bible
Church. She gave a talk about owning your problems instead of burying
them only to have them bubble up to the surface later.

The other was with Steve Fitzhugh, form defensive player for the
Denver Broncos. He spoke powerfully on passion. Passion in ministry
cant be taught, it has to be caught from Youth Pastor to youth. As I
think about that. I see now how all of the seminars and general
sessions tie together for me. Paul, Lisa, Mary, and I have some great
ideas, now for us to pray and see how God wants us to implement them.

Just a short note on my posts…I have been typing them on my
PocketPC and emailing them to my blog. This way, doesnt allow my to
add hypertext links readily. When I get home or if I get a chance
with the churchs laptop, which Paul has, Ill add them in. So if you
are interested in the people and places that I have seen, Ill have
links. I also have pictures, which will be uploaded to Flickr as
well.

Thats enough for tonight…Peace