Network Blog

Where has innovation gone?

There once was a time when an entire cottage industry (and in some cases, some big business) had developed around creativity and innovation in youth ministry.  Ok...back then, we just called it youth ministry, but you get the idea.

People were thinking around new and creative ways to communicate the Gospel to young people.  Now, have to be honest here:  It wasn't all good.  Really.  "Chubby Bunnies", while funny to watch, might not have had a lot of spiritual impact...and I'm not at all sure of the ecclesiological meaning behind the game "tapehead."  

Ministry with young people was didactic.  It was straightforward.  We told...they heard...we all went out for pizza.  <Broad, sweeping generalization alert here> There wasn't a lot of theological depth to those things.  These things were the "invitation."  They were the "right to be heard."  It could be (and has been) argued that they were the "bait" in the giant game of  "bait and switch" that we all played.

But just as I don't want to inappropriately romanticize the old days, I don't want to demonize them either.  The heart was in the right place...it was genuine.  Youth ministry wanted real Christ-centered transformation to happen.  And so a lot of time and attention went into being innovative and creative to communicate the truths of the gospel.  

It may not always have been deep, but it was often clever.

Now, we are (rightfully) much more interested in theological reflection than we were.  We aim deeper.  And we know the value of connecting the faith formation in our congregations to the faith formation that is happening in homes.

No one disputes the importance of this.  I've never heard anyone say "gee, I wish our ministry was more shallow."  But having said that, I wonder where the innovation is?  How is this deeper, more theologically aware ministry living itself out?  Lots of new material is being written about why we should be moving in this direction.  What I am not reading is "how" we can creatively think about these things.  What does it look like?  What is the praxis that parallels our theory?

I would like the Network to be the place that this conversation is taking place.  I would love it if we could make this web site a clearinghouse, and a living laboratory for this kind of thinking.  Perhaps it's kind of a free "Criagslist" for resources.  

My theory is this:  Once upon a time youth ministers depended on the resource providers to tell us what we needed to do, and then how to do it.  This was a necessary phase in the development of a ministry practice and discipline.

Now, the practitioners have the history...the education and the expertise to set the agenda and to provide at least a significant portion of the resources.

So let's be the Network.  Let's figure out a way to share this expertise.  And let's give these things to each other.  Let's suppport each other in our work and ministry.

How?

Not sure yet.

Ideas?

I'd love to hear them.  Please post comments below.

More to come, as the conversation continues.

Pax,
Todd.

Sometimes people go to conferences or conventions to see the "talking heads."  We want to see those who we admire...who we sometimes wish we were like.  As in "I'm going to (fill in event name) to see (fill in famous children, youth and family minstry person's name) speak...I'm really excited to see what she/he says!")  I've done this.  Many of us have. 

By putting people on a stage, complete with lighting, smoke machines and video on the screens around them, we contribute to the cult of personality which I think sometimes does us a dis-service. 

This past week, we were reminded that the world in which we live and work is broken.

You might have seen the e-news that spoke of Bishop Stephen Marsh, of the Southeast Michigan Synod.  He was scheduled to be one of our keynote speakers at E2011 in Kansas City.  When we booked him, we were really excited for the opportunity.  We had read his work in The Lutheran magazine, and we had heard of his great speaking and easy-going nature.  We were very excited that he was going to be with us for the event. 

A news release from the ELCA reported that he resigned his position in his synod to tend to personal and emotional issues that are connected to some form of addiction.  He would be entering into an in-patient treatment program.  We were contemplating how to best offer Bishop Marsh a release from his obligation to speak, if he wished, when we received an e-mail from him asking to be excused. 

We were deeply saddened to hear this news.  Not because he won't be with us at the E (which does sadden us), but because of the personal pain he must be experiencing.  

We are reminded that we are all held "captive by sin and cannot free ourselves."  It doesn't matter who we are.  It doesn't matter if God has called us to be a speaker on a large stage (complete with lighting and smoke machines) or if our venue is a small, musty youth room tucked in a corner room in the church basement. 

It is easy to look at a stage and admire or idolize those who come to speak.  It is easy to wish that we were like them.    But often, when we do so, we find ourselves comparing what we know about our own lives to what we don't know about that other person's life.  We forget that these people also live and work in the real world...the same world in which we all live and work...the same world in which we all trip and fall.

Bishop Marsh:  Please know that you will be in our prayers as you walk this journey.  The same God who walks with us in our brokeness, walks with you today.  The same God who called you in the waters of baptism, continues to call you out of your brokeness.  The same God who heals, brings you healing.  You are not alone in this.

And please know that you have an open invitation to return to the Extravaganza in the future; not because of your tremendous communication abilities, but becuase you are a beloved child of God, and you have a story to tell.  We are anxious to hear it. 

God bless you.

Networked in Christ,
Todd.

What is the future of the ELCA?  Of denominations in general?  What does it mean to be a part of our denominational tribe today?  What will it mean in 5, 10 or 20 years?

We are approaching the 1 year anniversary of the decisions made at the Churchwide Assembly last August in Minneapolis.  It has been a challenging year for our church.  For many of us in congregations, the ripple effects from the assembly hit more like tidal waves.  And the state of the economy led to staff cuts in our denominational offices that significantly diminished the capacity for mission...and cost many of our friends their positions.

There was a period of time when I (and I'm just speaking for myself here) really felt like the wheels were coming off of the wagon.  And I kept waiting for things to get better.  Still waiting. 

Since then, I keep hearing of congregations that are leaving...of friends whose jobs are at risk...of congregational conflict...

I started to wonder about the future.  Is there a place for denominations in the future?  Our denomination in particular?  Certainly there is a need...certainly there is a role...

I had some of my hope restored a month or two ago when I heard of the LiftELCA initiative.  A team has been assembled to look at the future of our denomination.  This is the LIFT (Living Into the Future Together) team.  "Their purpose is to develop and recommend options for the future of the ELCA in light of its identity, changes in its environment and its call to God's mission. "

2 things I am grateful for:
1.  I am grateful that someone in our denominational leadership has thought to ask these questions.  Frequently it is those in leadership that are the least aware of, or the least willing to ask the difficult questions. 
2.  I am grateful that the LIFT team has taken an attitude of transparency in their work.  Look at their web site.  It's all there.  Check out their Twitter feed...visit their Facebook page.  Accessibility has been their hallmark, and I am grateful for this.

There is currently a LIFT questionnaire that they are asking members of the ELCA to fill out. 

I care about our denomination.  I care about the work of the church as manifest within our community.  Like everyone else, I have thoughts...I have opinions. 

I am grateful that our church has a group who wants to listen to my (and everyone else's) thoughts about God's misison within our church. 

Please participate.  Please invest.  Please allow the Spirit of God to blow through you and into the rest of our church.  Speak.  And listen.

Pax,
Todd.

This is about as unscientific as it gets.  I can't stress that enough.  But I've noticed something in the last 2-3 months:

More churches seem to be hiring youth ministry leaders again.

The Network's placement page has become the de facto national clearinghouse for positions in ELCA congregations (and other settings).  Congregations list their position openings there and we keep the positions posted for 90 days, unless the fill us and ask us to remove it, or they ask us to extend it.  

Typically on our web site, there are anywhere from 35-45 positions all over the country that are posted there.  The positions are almost all lay staff positions, because pastors have a call process that they work through (though sometimes there are pastoral positions listed there as well.)  Other rostered leaders have a call process, though the effectiveness of those systems seem to vary from synod to synod or can make use of our placement page.

Occasionally I'll glance at the list and see what's there, just out of curiosity.

I remember being startled last fall, typically a time of high activity in the church-placement world, and found only 9 open positions.  9.  For the whole country.  9.  Interestingly, the highest concentration of those 9 was in region 5.  The other 6 were spread out over the other 8 regions of the country.  

I shouldn't have been surprised.  I knew things were bad.  And I knew of churches cutting positions all over the place.  But 9 still startled me.

I haven't really looked at it with intentionality since then.  But yesterday I received not one but two emails from congregations in different parts of the country asking me to take their listings down early because they had filled the positions.  I looked.  

Yesterday, there were 27 open positions listed.

Now let me say again, this is not scientific.  It may mean nothing.  But it also may.

Are we in recovery?  I don't know.  But we hear words from the rest of the world that the economy is in rebound mode.  And we know that rebound tends to come to the world of the church last.  We are usually at the tail end of the economic train.  

But maybe this means that things in congregations are starting to turn around.  Just maybe it means that congregations are saying "ok, we're able to bring staff back...or to add.  And tending the faith journey of the young is important."  

I'm going to keep watching the number of congregations searching.  And I am going to continue to hope.

Networked in Christ,
Todd.

Who Are Our Leaders?  Meet Monty Lynse!

Welcome back to our occasional series of articles on "Who Are Our Leaders?"  This time, we introduce:  Monty Lynse (he's the one on the left)

The Vital Stats:
Name:  Monty Lynse
Works at: Faith Inkubators
Job: National Director of Youth and Family Ministry

The part of youth ministry I like best is: sharing stories and tips with other youth workers and pastors. I also love church camp and mission trips.

 

The part of youth ministry I struggle with most is: getting parents to realize that even though they didn’t pay attention in confirmation, they can still be a strong, regular faith mentor in the life of their kid. They just need encouragement, a plan, and the right tools.

 

My favorite ministry resources are: (Homer Alert) Faith Inkubators Head to the Heart confirmation materials. I’ve worked for over a decade on this stuff and wouldn’t have spent the time if I didn’t think it helped churches, kids and parents.

 

 

If I could have a super power it would be: the super-strength to break through many parents’ “drop them off at church” syndrome, because, as overwhelming as it may be, kids need regular faith talk at home. You don’t become fluent in a language by going to class once a week. You become fluent when you are regularly immersed in the language. It’s the same with the language of faith.

 

I take care of myself in ministry by: continually trying to get good ideas from others. I’m smart enough to know that I don’t know it all.

 

I would tell someone just starting in ministry: that it is a fantastic way to live out your faith in a way that impacts kids and parents on a regular basis. It can be frustrating, but extremely fulfilling. It may even be the one job that is so fun, you say to yourself, “They actually PAY me to do this?” every time you get a paycheck.

I appreciate the Network for: community. I appreciate the camaraderie and wisdom that the network provides through its events, communication, and members in general.

The Extravaganza planning crew has been busily going through the evaluation forms.  Over 120 of you (a 33% return rate!) turned in evaluations.  Thanks!  It's giving us lots of great data.

We take evaluations seriously.  As we read them we try and discover what we can learn and then we integrate that information into our future planning process. Sometimes we see or hear strong themes that we want to pay attention, be proactive about, and even to respond to publically if that is helpful.

Several themes popped up in this year’s evaluations that we thought would be helpful to discuss publically. 

Several of the evals asked questions or comments like these:

• The expense of the hotel
• Local food options
• The venue selection process

We want folks to know that we take these concerns very seriously.  We know that the Extravaganza is not inexpensive.  We know that congregations and individuals invest a lot in being at the event, and the E-Team works extremely hard to keep costs low and to make sure that being at the "E" has as much value as possible. 

The cost of food:

Yes, we know that the Westin had very expensive hotel food.  My jaw dropped a bit too when I ate in the restaurant for the first time.  There actually were a lot of other local food options available:  The food court at the Epicenter 3 blocks away with a bunch of restaurants, the pizza place kitty-corner from the hotel... a map we got from the hotel indicated that there were over 40 restaurants ranging from a deli ($6) to a Rock Bottom Brewery ($12-15) within a 6 block walk.  So there were local food options available.  We erred by not having this information readily available for our constituents.  Participants needed to rely on their own research methods to discover the local optionsIn hindsight (always 20/20) we should have put a list and a map in the program book.    We will make that change for future events.

The Westin Hotel:

Yes, the Westin was a very "nice" hotel. Just to be clear, it is not a 5-star hotel.  It is a 4-star hotel.  We know, that isn't the point, and it is still very nice...but I think it's probably important that we at least are accurate in our language. 

We work extremely hard with the hotel to provide the best possible value for the participants.  The price our participants pay to stay at the hotels we choose is probably 25%-33% of the hotel's normal "rack rate."  Sometimes they run discounts and you can go cheaper, but for us to book rooms 12-36 months out, we get the cheapest deal we possibly can at the time.  We know that your resources are scarce and we hope that you trust that we do our best to make the event affordable.

Why we do hotels at all?  Why not a retreat center?

This is a great question.  The Extravaganza is a unique event, because of the goals (Renew, Educate and Connect) and the size.  There are only a half-dozen retreat centers around the country that could host an Extravaganza.  (None of them are Lutheran, but that's not one of the factors.) 

Many factors come into play when talking about cost:

• Housing
• Food
• Transportation into airports...being near major airport hubs for the cheapest possible flights
• Transportation to and from the airport
• The sleeping accommodations
• The factor of having our constituency feel cared for and as much as possible "pampered."
• Lots of "hang out" space (couches, lounges, etc...) for people to network and talk.

Here's what we know:

We contacted a few of these half-dozen retreat centers so we would have a point of comparison.  When we calculated things out we found that the real costs would be:

• Housing and food for 4 days and 3 nights:  $210.  The housing would be quad occupancy in bunks.  Bathrooms down the hallway.
• Our program costs (these don't go away, though they might be slightly reduced): $200
• Transportation to and from the airport.  The nearest one of these to an airport is an hour away.  Some of the six were 2-3 hours away.  At least 2 of them were in the snow belt, making transportation a little iffy depending on the weather.  So you'd have to rent cars (but the retreat center doesn't have enough parking for that many cars) or we'd have to run shuttle buses.  Because people come and go at different times, we'd have to have shuttles run over multiple days, multiple times.  We'd have to cover all of these costs.  This means that the airport to retreat center transportation could be between $100 and $150 per person (or more) depending on which retreat center we're talking about. 
• Airfare (only one of these retreat centers is near a major hub. So you can expect to pay around 30% more to fly into one of the smaller, regional airports...i.e. Greensboro, Little Rock, etc...)
• The event program would have higher costs because we'd also need to transport the speakers/resource people/musicians/equipment/sound/lights to this spot.  This is a hard number to calculate. 

So conservatively, we're talking about a $510 event plus air travel (at a higher rate because you'd be flying into a smaller, regional airport) plus whatever we need to add in to cover the program costs of being in a more remote location. 

When we start piecing these things together, we realize that the cost of being in a retreat center is not that much cheaper than being in a hotel.  Plus, one of the things we have heard on evals and in the regional caucuses when we asked the question was that a significant number of people like to be in a hotel...to sleep on a nice bed...to feel well-taken care of.  One person said “we sleep at camps and on the floors all the time…once a year, I get to do this.”

Why then not a cheaper hotel?  We explore all options available, and if we could find a Hampton Inn with 15,000 square feet of ballroom space, 7,000 square feet of exhibit space, the capacity to do meals and up to 12 breakout rooms for workshops, prayer chapels, etc, we'd book it.  Less expensive hotels that meet our needs don’t exist.  Our mission, values, goals and care of the constituents steer us to look for particular locations.  These are typically convention style hotels.

Why not smaller, regional events?  We're exploring this option.  Keep in mind that there are still costs in terms of doing this too. It might be cheaper, but it would not necessarily be the same level of program as we can do in a single national event.  Evaluations indicate that people like the level of the program. 

We are also looking at some new ways of keeping the costs affordable for you. 

• By signing a multi-year deal with a single chain/brand, we can get lower costs/rates. 
• By booking in smaller hub cities, we can get lower room rates.

We value your feedback and we are grateful for your asking these questions.  Please know that we take them very, very seriously.  We will continue to work hard to be good stewards of your membership and registration dollars and to ensure an affordable event.  If you have questions or comments, please either post them in the "comment" section below, or e-mail them to me at todd@elcaymnet.org.

Blessings,

Todd.

Someone e-mailed the Network this past week.  They were trying to go through the online "joining" process, but after filling out the info page, it took them to a payment page.  They said "payment?  You have to pay to join this thing?"  And so they e-mailed us to see what that was all about, and about what the costs "got them."

Note:  Be sure to click on the "Comments" link below.  More ideas on how to save money at the "E" have been posted there!

Yes, we know that the Extravaganza is an expensive proposition, once you add the registration, the Network membership, hotel, transportation and oh yeah...you probably want to eat, too, right?

Yes, it adds up.  And we know that things are tight this year.  (Which is, of course, one of the reasons we need to get together this year...how do we do ministry...how do we support each other...in a world with an economy that's struggling?  We've got to talk about this stuff.

But that's a different topic.

We know that the event comes at a financial cost.  But please believe us when we tell you that we do everything we possibly can to keep the cost affordable.  Really.

So we've been collecting ideas for how you can save some money to help keep the cost affordable.  These are just a few ideas.  If you have more, please e-mail them to info@elcaymnet.org and we'll be glad to publish them.  Here we go:

1.  If you are flying to Charlotte, be sure to check out our travel discount page.  We've negotiated a discount from Northwest/Delta airlines.  If you book using our code, and the cost of the ticket is over $300, you will receive a discount between 5% and 15%, depending on the city you're flying from and the dates of your trip.  More info is available at our travel discounts page. 

2.  Check an alternative airport.  Prices at your closest airport might look high.  But sometimes being willing to drive a bit to another airport can save you SIGNIFICANT dollars.  We just heard about folks in the Omaha area that were finding $400 tickets.  But they discovered that if they drive a couple of hours to Kansas City, the tickets prices are $200 cheaper.  Not bad!

3.  Check airlines prices often.  2 weeks ago, flights from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Charlotte were something like $220.  Last week they were up to $330.  This week the prices were bac down to $240.  We don't begin to understand ticket prices...they go up and down, seemingly at random.  (We're sure there is a rhyme and a reason...but who knows what it is!)  So check back and check often!

4.  You might want to think about sharing a ride.  Driving will save you money!  Connect with some local colleagues and split the costs of the drive.  You could save significant dollars!  There is a group from the Des Moines area who are all driving together and are stopping on the way to visit and observe some congregation's youth ministries, and to do some service.  How cool is that?  Looking to connect with someone for a ride?  Post your info and find a ride-mate!

5.  Get a roommate!  We can't connect people with roommates, but we have created a roommate board to post requests if you need a roommate.  Go to the board and post your info, or search for a roommate.

6.  Check with your local Thrivent chapter.  Sometimes they can apply some funding towards helping you get to the event.

We're sure there are more ideas out there!  Send them to info@elcaymnet.org and we'll post them!  Or, post a comment below.

See you in Charlotte!

Networked in Christ,
tb

We got word today of significant budget cuts in the ELCA.  This is not new.  We have seen our denomination experience this before.  And in the economy that we live in, we hear of cuts every day.  Business...education...government...non-profits... hearing of job losses is nothing new.

But today is new.  For the first time I can recall, youth ministry positions in an already small department have been cut.  What does this mean?

• What does it mean when before the 1988 merger there were something like 17 youth ministry staff in the 3 predecessor bodies deployed around the country.  Now we're down to a director, a Gathering Director, a Gathering Assistant Director and a support staff?
• What does it mean when the church is being asked to do more with less?
• What does it mean when churches withhold beneveolent support to make a statement?
• What does it mean when some claim that we are moving into a post-denominational era?

There are many more questions than answers.  And there will be time and space to talk about these things.

But today we need to focus on a different "what does this mean?" question:

What does it mean when our friends have lost their jobs?  What does it mean for them?  For their families?  For their colleagues and friends?

This is the most difficult and yet the most important of the questions we can ask today.  The other questions can wait.

So for today, what does this mean?  :It means that we have friends who are hurting.  There are people who have done good work over the years on behalf of the church...on behalf of congregations...on behalf of young people...on behalf of the Network.  And now they are hurting.  Dianha and Rod, please know that you have friends who know you are hurting.  You have friends who are praying for you.  And remember the God of grace who surrounds with love and grace.  In our prayers, we hope you feel that grace today.

This Network was formed because people doing ministry needed support.  It's time to be the Network for each other.

Peace in troubled times,

tb