Network Blog

Next in our series of "getting to know folks"...we're really excited to introduce: Rozella Poston! 

Name: Rozella Poston Congregation: Mediator Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, PA Email: rozella.poston@gmail.com Network Leadership Role: "Connect Journal" Leadership Team 1.  The part of youth ministry I like best is: The privilege of walking among young theologians and inviting unsuspecting adults into a world of child-like faith. 2.  The part of youth ministry I struggle with most is: The seemingly limited nature of time and energy that is needed to minister to each youth and family 3.  My favorite ministry resources are: The Bible, pop culture, pastoral care resources 4.  If I could have a super power it would be: The ability to restore lives affected by abuse of any time so that all would experience abundant life in their hearts, minds, bodies and souls 5.  I take care of myself in ministry by: I don't, if I am honest. 6.  I would tell someone just starting in ministry:  Have faith, expand your knowledge, be patient and gracious 7.  I appreciate the Network for: connecting the workers in the vineyard and the visionary role they have in the continued exploration of youth & family ministry.

We're unveiling a new, "occasional" feature.  In an attempt to help folks get to know more about our Network leadership, we're going to introduce people!  It should be kind of fun! 

Today, we're introducing Jamie Travers!

Name:  Jamie Travers Congregation/Organization:  St. Olaf Lutheran Church,          Devils Lake ND and Network Regional Facilitaor E-Mail: jamie@elcaymnet.org 1.  The part of youth ministry I like best is:           Sharing the Gospel with youth and families.  2.  The part of youth ministry I struggle with most is:          Finding enough time for everything 3.  My favorite ministry resources are:          Books and resources about Family ministry. 4.  If I could have a super power it would be: To have perfect aim, because I am not really good at sports, but I think it would be fun to always be able to make a basket or kick a goal or throw a ball or anything for any bit of distance and be able to always connect or hit the target perfectly every time. 5.  I take care of myself in ministry by:          Making sure to spend time in prayer. 6.  I would tell someone just starting in ministry:          to continue growing in faith, to continue to learn about ministry,Bible, theology, etc. and get connected with others \ 7.  I appreciate the Network for: it’s support and resources, especially staying connected with others in ministry.

The dust has settled, literally and figuratively on the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans last month.  This was the 8th ELCA Youth Gathering that I have been blessed to be a part of.  I had two angles of vision on the Gathering.

1.  Working with the Network on the Adult Academy.
2.  My congregational group who participated in the event.

There are people I know who refuse to participate in the Gathering.  15 years ago, I understood their arguments.  Now, I've found that most of the reasons why they don't participate have faded away as the event has continued to get better and better.

Don't get me wrong...it's not perfect...it's not the ultimate event.  However, it's good.  Really really good.  One of our vendor friends who comes from a different denominational tradition than us was present at this year's event.  His response?  Speechless.  He could come up with no words to define how good he thought the event was.  He said that when his denomination does a churchwide youth gathering, they get maybe 5000 people present.  He couldn't begin to fathom an event where over 39k people were "in the house."

Sometimes, when you live with it...when you grow up with it...you take it for granted and forget how good it is.

The highlight this year was the day of service.  No question.  That was the piece that everyond has been sweating over for the last 18 months and the pressure was on.  In all honesty, if that day didn't work, the young people's experiences were seriously in jeopardy. 

A significant hat tip to the Servant Learning crew who made it all happen.  They would prefer if I didn't name names...but you know who you are.  On behalf of all of us who were skeptical...we're sorry.  On behalf of all of us who had young people participate...thank you.  It was a great day. 

This event brought together the church in a way that can only happen in this event.  (Don't we all just wish that the churchwide assembly would be this much fun?)  This event harnessed the power of the church...the power of the community...the power of the Holy Spirit to DO something in Jesus' name.  Did we change the world?  That corner of it, we did.  And the impact on the lives of young people will continue to reverberate through the hallways of congregations, high schools, college campuses and homes for years to come.

When I saw down to write these thoughts, it was not with the intent of sounding like a 'reviewer".  But I am someone who was a part of a planning team...and I am a pastor whose young people experienced the event.  So within those two roles, and on behalf of those who had an experience like we did, I say "Thank you."

Thank you to the Heide, Donna, Rod, Diana and Bill.  Thank you to those of you who conceived of these ideas.  Thank you to the team leaders. Thank you to those who answered 1,346,232.985 phone calls with questions before the event.  Thank you to the team members.  Thank you to the volunteers.  Thank you to the convention center staff.  Thank you to the hotel staffs.  Thank you to the local congregations and the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast synod.  Thank you to the good men and women of Shepard.  Thank you to the congregational adult leaders who brought young people.  Thank you to the young people who came with open hearts and willing hands.  And most importantly, thanks be to God for being faithful.

And now the hard work begins...the work of processing the experience with the participants...the job of helping integrate the Gathering into a vibrant faith...the job of helping young people move the Gatheirng experiences from "event" to "lifestyle."

Thanks to God for what has been done...and for what will be done.

It has been a tough week in the Buegler household.

Normally, I use this space for info about the Network...please allow me to deviate from that for an entry.

Our youngest son, Samuel, was hospitalized this past week.  The short version:

According to the Infectious disease doctor, Samuel must have been carrying around the Strep Group A bacteria for quite awhile. (It went through our household 6-8 weeks ago, and according to the doc, yes, it can remain dormant in the body for that long and longer.)  Sam had a very minor injury a week ago last Friday.  Swimming in the Community Center pool, he hyper-extended his fingers.  No big deal.

He developed a fever.  We thought it must be a cold or flu.  His fingers were sore; of course, he'd bent them.

Saturday, he remained the same.

Sunday morning, the pain was worse, there was swelling in the arm, and a suspiscious red spot had developed over his wrist.  I had to go to worship; Lori took Sam to our clinic, which is open Sunday morning.  They sent Sam straight to the hospital.  They were concerned about an infection in the bone...(read: really bad.)

It wound up being an infection in the wrist joint.  Also bad, but not as bad.

So, 18 doctors, 2 hospitals, 1 surgery, 1 procedure and now 6 weeks of IV anti-biotics to look forward to, hopefully Sam is on the mend. 

As we took this journey, I tweeted what was happening.  Twitter feeds my Facebook status.  Little updates of where we were at and what was going on.  I have to admit, I wondered whether this was 'appropriate' or not.  After all, as a card-carrying stoic norwiegen, we're pretty private people.  And many folks I don't know that well receive my updates.

But the other prospect was answering a zillion phone calls...telling the story over and over and over and over again...

So I twittered my son's illness.

What was fascinating to me was the response.  I'd post something up and would quickly, within 30-60 minutes, have tons of responses:  Well wishers, people promising to pray, people asking us what we 'need'...It was amazing...overwhelming, actually.

And when significant events took place, the same thing happened.  At 9pm on Tuesday night I twittered something like "We're on our way to surgery."  Wham.  Instant responses.  Almost overwhelming.

So flash-forward a couple of days:  The sr. pastor with whom I am blessed to serve is visiting us in the hospital and the conversation turns to prayer requests and then to these Tweets and Facebook updates.  I explain to him what Lori and I'd experienced, and I showed him the posts and the responses. 

His response:  "This is church." 

This is church.

Yes, it is.  It's a different kind of church.  It's not structural...it's organic.  But is the Holy Spirit any less present?  Not in what I experienced.  I experienced the love and grace of God in a way that couldn't otherwise have happened.  God's grace moved in those notes in ways that stirred our hearts.  Healing, emotional and physical took place because of the prayers of the hundreds who read and followed. 

This is church.

Some may not be comfortable with it.  Some may not understand it.  Some may diminish it.  Their claim is that real relationships cannot be lived out online.  Speaking as an immigrant to the digital culture, I respectfully disagree.  The prayers and support that was communicated to me via short, 140 character messages lifted our hearts and brought healing to us.  It is a different form of community, but it is community.  And I belive that it is the work of God's Spirit.

This is church.  There are not walls.  There are not boundaries. It shouldn't diminish traditional church as we have known it, and it certainly won't replace it.  But it is one of the ways that God draws together the twos and threes...the tens, hundreds and thousands.  It is one of the places the Spirit blows and it cannot be ignored.

This is church.

tb

I leave on my first trip of the summer on Saturday morning. 

It's a big one.  A bus and a mini-van, both will be full.  We're heading from Minneapolis to Washington DC.  We've got 2 days of driving, a day of touring, 5 days of working with Habitat for Humanity, 2 days of camping at the beach and then 2 days of driving home.  12 dayss total...over 2500 miles of driving (not counting the little shuttling around trips we do)...cooking for ourselves...getting around a strange city...safety...health...ok, I admit it, I'm getting kind of a headache just thinking about it.

You know what I mean.  You've done it yourself.

This is a time when I could use some prayer.  I'm looking for peace and assurance.  There are so many things that could go wrong.  And of course, some things will.  Every day, as the trip approaches, I pray that it will all go well and that the things that don't will be minimal.

And just a few weeks after this group is back, another group leaves for the ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans.  More prayer.

I know that you are praying the same thing for your trips.

I'd like to make a commitment that we pray this summer for each other's ministries.  We'll keep it simple.  But when you pray, could you pray for the ministries, in particular the summer trips, that your brothers and sisters are doing?  Pray for safety.  Pray for experienced blessed with the grace of God.  Pray for powerful experiences of faith formation.

This Network is about lifting up and valuing each other as colleagues and as people who share a common mission and call.  We do that by praying for each other.

Will you pray for me?  For the summer experiences I am on this year?  For our group?  For our congregation?  I will pray for you.

It's what we do.

tb

Lori and I brought Sam, age 6, to a birthday party on Friday.  It was for the birthday of a classmate.  One that we didn't know, and whose parents we didn't know.

Now you have to understand something first about little-kids birthdays.  They are normally pretty tame, controlled events; at least the ones we have participated in before.  Example:  In our house, the boys get to invite as many friends as they are years old.  So when Sam turned 6, he got to invite 6 friends.  There are games...activities...gift bags (don't get me started...) There are social norms for kids birthday parties.

This isn't what we experienced on Friday.

When we pulled up to the house, the yard was crawling with kids.  It was chaotic.  They had rented a bouncy thing...the kind with an obstacle course and then a big slide.  It was nuts.  Kids weren't sliding.  They were sitting on the top, and then jumping down to bounce on the 'landing pad' 1000 feet below.  Ok, maybe just 6 feet, but it looked like 1000.  They'd bounce off of the pad and then land on the CONCRETE sidewalk. 

There were no parents around watching things.  The parents were greeting other parents in the garage area...then the other parents were leaving. 

I said to Lori "This doesn't look good."  "I know." 

Sam, of course, looked like he gone to heaven.  He was ready to go.  What do we do?  Lori went up and introduced herself to the Mother.  She was very nice.  They didn't take oiur cell phone number.  Lori walked back to the car.  She looked at me: "I'm not sure what to do...I could offer to stay, but what that be too pushy?"  "I don't know." 

Sam is smart and pretty wise for his age.  He's also uses caution.  He may talk a good game, but he's pretty careful.

We went.

2 hours later, Lori picked him up.  He was fine.

But the whole thing made me wonder:  When a parent pulls up to Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Maple Grove, Minnesota, to bring their young person to an event/retreat/confirmation night/youth group/whatever for which I or one of my colleagues are responsible for, what do they see?  How do they feel?  Do we instill confidence?  Do they go back out to the car and say "I'm not so sure about this?"  Do they trust us?  Do we give them reason to? 

We'd better. 

The trust of the parents is the #1 asset we have.  Squander it and we're dead in the water...becalmed. 

The Standards and Guidelines initiative that the Network is putting together under the leadership of Tammy Jones West, is all about this.  Are we as ministers worth being trusted?  Are our ministries?  Are our congregations? 

How can we be most effective...most trustworthy...most allied with parents, who are our primary partners in this ministry?   This is the challenge that sits before us.  More will be coming out soon for people to review.  We'd love your feedback.  Watch the e-news for more information and drafts to review.

Some people are threatened by standards and guidelines.  Don't be.  We are putting them together that we might be freed to be the best, the most excellent, the most trustworthy that we can be in this ministry.

Our young people and their families deserve nothing less.

tb

Normally things in the Network planning cycle are relatively calm at this time of year.  The timing works well...it allows the Network leadership to focus on their congregational stuff coming into summer.  This year, however, we're in the midst of a sort of a 'perfect storm' of busyness. 

First, we're doing some fundraising.  Our goal is to have all of the Network leadership folks (about 113 people) to participate.  There's a fair amount of communication going on.  It's kind of a fun thing...

Second, the E-Team is moving ahead quickly on Extravaganza stuff.  Great stuff is coming together around the ICC courses, speakers and musicians.  I'll let you in on a secret:  The first speaker we've locked down is Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Ministries.  He's going to be amazing.  More info is coming to the web site soon.

Finally, we're working frantically on the Academy at the ELCA Youth Gathering.  At the Academy, we will provide networking and support opportunities for the adults who are bringing young people to the Youth Gathering.  There will be comfy decompression rooms, places to connect with peers and colleagues, opportunities to talk about processing the Gathering experience with groups, ministry resources, a computer lab to catch up on e-mail, and more.

So it's a busy time.  But the people who work this stuf...they are second to none.  Committed, dedicated, passionate people who care about youth ministers and youth ministry. 

So to the E-Team...to the Development Team...to the Academy Team...on behalf of all of us who work with young people in congregations, thank you for giving more...for being busy,..for working on our behalf.

tb

2 nights ago, I was at the Minneapolis International Airport, on my way to Chicago for the "Conspire" Children's Ministry conference at Willow Creek Community Church.  More about that later.  When I booked the flight, I wanted to maximize my time at home and so booked the last flight out to Chicago:  10:35pm. 

Life and schedules change and I wound up getting to the airport earlier than I had originally thought.  (We wanted Lori and the boys to get home in time to for them to get to bed ontime.)  So at 8:30pm, I was wandering MSP.  Looking at a schedule, I discovered that there was a flight leaving for O'Hare at 9:15pm.  Hmmm...getting an earlier flight...getting to the hotel in Chicago and to bed earlier...sounds good.

I went to the gate.  A transcription of the conversation:

Me:  I'm wondering what are the chances of getting on this flight on 'stand by', so I can get there earlier?
Agent:  Yes, we should have room.  This flight is pretty wide-open.
Me:  Great!
Agent:  There is a $50 fee to go stand by.
Me:  What?
Agent:  There is a $50 fee to go stand by.
Me:  But there's plenty of room.
Agent:  Yes, but there is a $50 fee.
Me:  Seriously?  You're going to charge me $50 more to occupy an empty seat 1 hour earlier than I otherwise would?
Agent:  Yes, there is a $50 fee.
Me:  No thanks.
Agent:  But there's plenty of room!
Me:  Yeah, but it's not worth $50 bucks.

So what happened here?  They could have made an ally.  They could have created a sense of gratitude.  It would have cost them nothing for me to switch.  They have disintegrated some (not all, but some) loyalty.  There is also some angst in Minneapolis because of the transitions in the NWA/Delta merger.  This did not decrease the angst.

For NWA, this was an opportunity lost. 

It makes me wonder though.  If we approached our congregation's families...parents...even the young people, with a sense of 'customer service', what messages do we send them?  Do we build trust?  loyalty?  gratitude?  relationships?  Are we doing ministry?  Do we follow the letter or the spirit?

Must think more.

We've been living in the 'afterglow' of Extravaganza 2009 now for a few weeks.  There have been lots of positive comments...lots of words or thanks...lots of fun photos to look at...great evaluation forms to look at...

Then we got the hotel bill, and $78k later we're back to normal.

Well, not really.  Because the E is a transforming experience...so while we're back to 'normal', there is no way that 'normal' looks like it did prior to the E.

And we're heavily into E2010 already.  Right now, we're pretty confident that we're going to be in Charlotte, NC for the event.  But we haven't signed any contracts yet.  The hotel contract is still not quite where we'd like it to be at and we have a couple of other cities vying for our presence...so we'll see what happens.

This is a little long…sorry.  There is much that I have been thinking about.  I just finished spending 2 days at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.  I was there for the first “Reveal Conference.”  It was a very full conference, with a lot of good information.  There are a couple of things about it that I am processing, however. 

 

I need to preface this by saying that I am not a Willow Creek basher.  I understand the dynamics of a large church, though they take the word “large” to an extreme.  This place is huge.  Really huge.  But I am not one who bashes big places, or who is critical because they take a certain style of church, often referred to as “seeker oriented.” 

 

The conference itself revolved around the results from the “Reveal Study.”  The study, first done by Willow Creek as a self-assessment, and then done by 500 chuches, to give it statistical significance, has compelling data and information.  It is all available in two books:  “Reveal” and “Follow Me.”  While there is much to be learned there, the results really seemed to focus on a couple of key elements: 

• The need and desire to take the study of scripture seriously.
• That churches that set a high bar/expectation for personal growth have more effectiveness.

 

What I have spent most of my time thinking about is worship. 

 

A session was dedicated to how churches provide meaningful worship experiences.  The worship band from Gateway Church in Dallas, TX was invited up to lead worship, and the pastor from there delivered the message.  The whole thing was a little bit overwhelming.  I’ll focus on a few of the elements:

 

• Music.  The band was really good.  Too good.  A total of 10 people, who all appeared to be “A” players who could have been on stage with any major musician ou tour made up the group.  The quality and production values were amazing.  Unfortunately, for me this created a distance between the experience of the ‘worship leader’ and the experience of the worshipper. I found it hard to worship because I was so attuned to what THEY were doing.  They got in the way.  In all fairness, it didn’t appear that others had the same experience as I.  The arms were up and people were singing with a sense of joy. 

 

• The Message.  The message was all about the need to go deep and to be authentic in our worship.  Ok.  It focused on “if we’re not committed, why should those we lead be committed?”  Ok.  There wasn’t much in the way of gospel.  No, there wasn’t anything in the way of gospel. 

 

 

• The Liturgy.  Yes, I am being serious, and no, there wasn’t any.  I didn’t expect any in the traditional sense.  That’s not what I’m talking about.  I’m talking about it in the form of the ‘work of the people.’  We were encouraged to focus on the worship leader and to sing.  But there wasn’t any other response that wasn’t coercive.  Example:  The pastor talked about raising praises to God and that we were all going to shout as loud as we can.  Moment of full-disclosure:  I don’t like to shout.  But the pastor said something like “the Psalms talk about lifting our voices…of singing…of shouting to God.  So if you’re not used to it, or not comfortable with it, you’d better get used to it, but that’s what heaven is going to be like.”  Really?  Bummer for me then.

 

• The “Me” Factor.  One of the findings of the Reveal Study is that there are four primary categories or types of people in terms of faith formation:  Explorers, Beginnners, Growing and Committed.  Ok.  There are some problems here, but actually I think categories like this can be helpful and the data from the study does a good job of supporting this information.  But one of the interesting (and helpful) things about the category of “Committed Christian” is that the Commmitted Christian knows that it’s not about them and that they are able/capable of getting out of the way and naming God in their life, the lives of others and in the world.  But this was directly in contrast with my worship experience.  In this worship experience, there was no getting out of the way.  It was about the leader.  It was about what the leader did.  It was “I want to create a worship experience”.  It was “I want to take people from the front porch to the altar.”  I understand about the key role of quality leadership.  However, God was not mentioned.  There was nothing about what God does in worship.  There was nothing about the role God plays in transformation.  I think it was implied, but it certainly wasn’t explicit.  The leaders did nothing to get out of the way. 

 

These are just my observations and reactions.  They are not gospel either.  I could easily  be wrong.  I’m just writing from my observations.  And I write because I am processing and learning.  I don’t mean to imply that we (I) have it down perfectly yet.  Far from it.  There are lots of problems with the worship experiences where I play a leadership role. 

 

And I did learn from this experience.  I learned about what I think about worship.  I certainly learned more about what I don’t like.  But most importantly, I learned about leadership, and the importance of stepping aside and letting God do God’s work in the midst of the people.  I’m going to have to think about when and where I do (and don’t) get out of the way.

 

Peace,

Todd.