I feel strongly that we need to always be working to be a better … Right off the top we know that we should grow in Christ so we can be a better Christian. I’ve written about this a bit. I also think that if you are married you should work on being a better spouse. If you are a teacher you should always be looking for things that will make you a better teacher.
As a youth pastor I need to work on things to be a better youth pastor. There are a ton of resources online. If you are in student ministry and don’t already subscribe to the newsletters from Youth Specialties and Simply Youth then get over there right now and sign up. These places do sell material which are very good but they also make a ton of stuff available for free online. Resources that will help you with planning, organizations, sermons, relationship building … pretty much everything. I also get regular updates from my district and national youth offices. The national one is full of helpful info and you can get it too even if you aren’t an Assemblies of God youth minister. You’ll have to find the registration on your own. They just updated the site. I actually think it was today because I listened to a podcast this morning and then went back and it is different since then. Here is the site though http://youth.ag.org/
Anyways, I think this is a great start, but we need something more. That is why this year I feel that I need to get to a conference. The thing is, there are at least a dozen good ones that I’d like to attend and a good 5 that are really pushing to the top spot.
Are you a Youth Pastor? Do you attend any conferences? Which ones? Are you anyone other than a YP that has attended a conference? Which ones?
In short, if I’m going to attend a conference to be better and be more able to help my volunteers be better what should be at the top of my list and why?
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I am a former youth pastor now serving in a conference job in the United Method Church. I used to attend the Willow Creek Conference every year. Fantastic! Also have done the Simply Youth Conference, but Doug Fields puts so much of his info out there already, it was a bit of a rehash. But anything he does is good too. Highly recommend attending a conference each year. Great reminder of what you can be!
Yeah that is exactly why I really want to get to a conference this year. I really want to make it to a couple because I haven’t been, but I also need to be smart about it. SYC is one I’m looking at for next year.
I would also suggest the Simply Youth Conference. Doug Fields, Kurt Johnston, Josh Griffin, Chuck Bomar, Katie Edwards, and Jake Rutenbar are great speakers. While I am biased because these people have truly shaped me through Junior High and High School, their passion, talent, and knowledge about youth ministry blows me away.
I would totally be down with SYC, but it is in just a couple weeks and I am busy that weekend. It is very high on my “want to do” list for next year though