SEMINAR DESCRIPTIONS

What would happen in our world if we, who have chosen to follow Jesus would actually . . . start following Him? What would happen if we who have chosen to live in a certain unique (special) way called “Christian” would actually . . . start living that way? What would happen if our “religion” became real?

In Heroic Faith, geared for both youth workers and their students, participants will be challenged to take a closer look at:
   - How a heroic faith in a heroic God can make a heroic difference in the world.
   - What it takes to live out this type of faith in all areas of one's life.
   - The perils of this world and the incredible needs that surround us.
   - Connecting with the life of Christ in order to join him in his rescue operation.
   - Participating in spiritual practices to discern what God is doing and how to join in.

Everyday, you have the chance to change. To transform your life and the lives of others through the faith that allows you to heroically follow after God. Today could be a phone booth moment for you. The hero in you was always there, maybe it just needed a cause. Maybe it just needed to be awakened. Maybe it’s been tucked away, underneath your “normal” clothes and you just need to run to the booth and . . . well . . . change!

So, how will you respond to the needs around you? What will you offer a broken, oppressed, and needy world of people? Join us for a few hours and learn how this could be your moment to emerge with heroic faith.

Who Should Attend: Both volunteer and professional youth workers, students, Sunday School teachers, youth groups.
Length: One day seminar - 4-5 hours
_______________________________________________________

We all have an inner child that is trying to get out and show the world just how much of an artist we can be. That's the beauty of fingerpainting, it's a messy process that allows anyone to be an artist. In many ways, the ministries that we get involved in are a lot like fingerpainting. We stick our hands, our feet, our whole selves into the messiness of the world and allow God to make something beautiful both in and through us.

Big Picture's Fingerpainting, explores the role of teacher within youth ministry.  When we take a look at Scripture through the lens of narrative theology, it changes the way we approach it, interpret it, and especially, teach it. 

In this one day seminar, participants will:
   - Learn how some of the rules we thought we had to follow were made to be broken.
   - Re-examine the power of images in one's teaching and ministry.
   - Walk away with a better understanding of Narrative Theology.
   - Discover your inner artist and inner teacher aren't all that different.
   - Leave with practical tools that will help you write lessons that connect.
   - Feel encouraged about the powerful influence you have in the lives of students.

This is a day where you'll be given new lenses through which to view the incredible Story of God, this drama. You'll be invited to dip your hands into the mess of life and begin to point your students toward what it means to be people of the Story. You will leave commissioned as fingerpainters. Your role is to teach, point, and create. 

Discover your inner artist. 

Who Should Attend: Both volunteer and professional youth workers, Sunday School teachers, leadership students
Length: One day seminar - 4-5 hours
_______________________________________________________


Chances are, no matter what your hope is for your youth ministry, words like “friendship” and “unity” matter to you. You work hard to create unity within your group. But you quickly discover that there are a lot of factors that work against this type of ideal. You may face cliques, relational difficulties, conflict, transitions, and selfishness. And the hope for our students, for our Church, may seem unreachable. 

This seminar walks each participant through the kind of unity that God dreams for us and our youth ministries. We will spend our time together re-discovering and re-connecting to Godly love. We'll explore different ways to reflect that love to the world through our teens. We'll walk you through what love in a Christian community has looked like, should look like, will look like in the days ahead!

This action-packed, interactive seminar will teach participants through:
   - Real life examples of how students are craving and crying out for love.
   - The barriers we face in our society for people to authentically connect with one another.
   - A new understanding of God that could change EVERYTHING.
   - Discovering a connection to each other that goes deeper than blood.
   - Understanding the incredible love of God through the sacraments of communion and baptism.
   - Finding opportunities to put this Godly love into action in the world around us.

But you must be forewarned. This seminar, if taken seriously, can cause things in your youth ministries to get a little messy. We will show you ways that you can reach out to those in your community who haven't experienced love, who don't know about Godly love, and who will stretch your faith in new ways. You have to decide if you want to lead the way in reclaiming what the Body of Christ is supposed be to our world. We know it’s a little scary, but consider this:  Most teens will choose a community to which they will belong. Don’t we want them to choose ours?

Who Should Attend: Both volunteer and professional youth workers, Sunday School teachers, leadership students
Length: One day seminar - 4-5 hours
_______________________________________________________


Our natural tendency as humans is to get busy and lose sight of what's most important. Sometimes it feels like our lives and ministries are doing nothing but making noise. This event hopes to re-introduce you to some rhythms that will make your youth ministry noise turn into beautiful music.

Created as an overnight retreat for youth workers and their leadership students, this seminar offers a balanced approach to youth ministry. Informed and shaped by the ancient Christian practices, we teach and learn how to incorporate these practices through video, games and small group interaction. The challenge is to begin to take the timeless tools of the faith, the things that you’ve always known about and walk out to the edge with them to see what happens.

As a result of this attending this event participants will:
   - Understand the current social and economic structures that influence how we spend our time and money.
   - Wrestle with the authentic questions that our students are asking but no one is answering.
   - Discover how one's own story finds its greatest meaning within the story of God.
   - Identify the six ancient rhythms that have guided the Church for centuries.
   - Evaluate their current ministry practices in light of these six rhythms.
   - Create practical steps and plans to implement these rhythms in a year-long calendar.
   - Walk away with the passion and resources to re-tell the Story of God to those around them through the work that God has called the people of God to do.

This event will invite you to become a more a worship-centered youth ministry. But it's more than simply changing the youth calendar. People’s hearts and lives must be changed. Incorporating the rhythms is a spiritual process—a journey for which we are solely dependent upon God. Ultimately, this seminar seeks to change you first. If that happens, the your youth ministries will be changed. When that happens, then our  churches will be changed to become a more worship-centered church.

Who Should Attend: Both volunteer and professional youth workers, students, pastoral staff
Length: Two day seminar - 7-8 hours
_______________________________________________________

Sometimes the most difficult part of youth ministry is knowing what to do next. We find ourselves directionally challenged because we've lost sight of the big picture. We keep looking to the next program, curriculum, or what the "successful" youth ministries are doing to help point us in the right direction.