Every year I attend the [tag]National Youth Workers Convention[/tag] I have the same problem — trying to figure out which workshops to attend. There’s so many excellent choices and I want to go to them all, but alas I am not omnipresent. Grrr… So instead I’m forced to pick only one workshop per time block, which means I’ll probably end up purchasing CDs of several seminars I’m unable to attend. Dana and I will be attending most of the seminars together, so that’ll be fun now I have a wife to help process the information with me. She’s decided to visit one or two on her own, though, which is fine.

Here are the seminars I’ll probably attend:

Changing Youth Group Kids into Youth Missionaries, by [tag]Dan Kimball[/tag]
Isn’t it interesting how students get so excited—passionate about God and their faith—when they’re going on a cross-cultural mission trip? Is it possible to see the same passion for missions and evangelism during the rest of the year when they’re back in their own local schools and communities? We’ll discuss how to take an inward-focused youth group and help them become outward-focused youth missionaries, but without memorizing a few Scripture verses so they can awkwardly “witness” to their friends out of a sense of guilt and pressure.

The Importance of Theology in Youth Ministry, by Dan Kimball
Everything we do in youth ministry methodology stems from some theological belief, whether we realize it or not. We’ll explore why thinking theologically is critical in the life of the youth leader, but we’ll also discuss why students can enjoy and learn theology too. Finally, we’ll look at some important theological topics that perhaps we should be teaching our students during their teenage years to prepare them for life after high school.

Reaching Out to Unchurched Teenagers, by [tag]Jonathan McKee[/tag]
Based on Jonathan’s hit book, this training will help you get into the mind of the unchurched teen and look at your ministry more objectively so you can see what you need to do to proactively reach students who aren’t making it to church.
– Learn the top five “beliefs” that resonate in today’s postmodern, paganistic, and pluralistic society and have begun to creep their way into the church.
– Learn how MTV, movies, music, and celebrities affect youth culture and are a megaphone for these five beliefs.
– Learn three essentials for reaching out to the “unchurched”.

Leading Change in Your Youth Ministry, by [tag]Mark Oestreicher[/tag]
Change is great. But poorly conceived or executed changes in ministry can result in frustration, misdirection, conflict, and failure (sounds fun, huh?). This Super Seminar allows a bit of extra time to learn a handful of exercises to help you consider change in your youth ministry. We won’t formalize your possible changes, but we’ll prepare you to do the thinking and preparation necessary to effectively lead change.

Marriage, Ministry and Family Q&A, by Doug and Cathy Fields
Are you ready for a change from the typical seminar or workshop format? If so, come hang out with Cathy and Doug Fields as they talk about marriage, ministry, and family life. Cathy and Doug have spent almost three decades doing ministry together. They’ve also been married for 22 years and have three fairly normal kids (ages 17, 15, and 11) who are now a part of their mom and dad’s youth ministry at Saddleback. You’ll set the pace for this interactive seminar, as Cathy and Doug come prepared to answer your questions from their own personal experiences, making your agenda their agenda.

Creating Sacred Spaces: A Practical Introduction to Experiential Worship, by [tag]Lilly Lewin[/tag]
Just what are the elements that make worship experiential and how do you start? Using a passage of Scripture, we’ll go through the process of creating experiential worship. We’ll look at how to incorporate experiential elements into our teaching or gathering times and help students interact and engage in the Bible with all of their senses—going beyond just listening to interacting with and applying God’s Word to their real lives.

[tags]NYWC, Doug Fields, Youth Specialties[/tags]

• My proposed schedule for NWYC
• Q&A: Why my summer youth schedule is different than the school year’s schedule
• NYWC 2007 St. Louis: Day 3
• Upcoming Skypecast schedule
• What we learned from the NYWC