blogging (and twittering) the NYMC

I am here at the National Youth Ministry Conference having a great time learning, talking, and processing youth ministry. I'm sorry I'm not getting to this earlier, but I've been trying to avoid the internet fees that my hotel charges to get on-line.

I'd like to make a few observations thus far (and you can also follow my twitter updates for more up-to-date microblogging):

* I'm glad I have a self-evaluation in hand that I finished earlier this week... it has helped me to set some goals for what I want to think about while I'm here, specifically summer internship program ideas, bridging the gap between our sixth-graders (and other preteens) and the youth ministry, some possible administrative improvements, and building a long-term sustainable youth ministry.

* The first general session was really good. I liked the effort at trying to set the tone for the conference as being open, accessible and conversational... the morning workshop today was a pretty good example of this. I'm wondering if I can use this reasoning to get Doug Fields to reveal his secret blog address :)

* I wasn't especially impressed with the Harris brothers speaking last night. I like what they had to say (that our students can think deeply and that they are up to the challenge of doing great things), and I really think I'll like the book once I get to read it. But last night, for some reason, I wasn't particularly engaged. (See my tweet about the devil shaking about students reading systematic theology.)

* One last thought: I've been thinking a lot about the concept of "Empire" and the way America and our culture is steeped in maintaining affluence and status, even while it can only exist at the expense of other people (see $8 hot dog video at http://www.workofthepeople.com/). This leads to thinking about Christianity as having the task of undermining and subverting that way of life. It's really hard to go to a conference, see the bigness of everything and feel connected to the broken around the world. With that said, I'm really proud of the way they featured the Compassion speaker. But at the same time, it's hard to sing the chorus we sang last night, "You're the Defender of the weak; You comfort those in need" when most of the time I'm not defending or comforting anyone but myself.

I hope to stay updated better now that I have internet. Look for me at the live SYM 100th episode podcast! And click on these links for others who are blogging NYMC and posting twitter updates!