Youth Ministry Training in…Miami?

I spent an exhausting weekend in Miami with Darwin, one of my former students and graduate from the MA program in Cuba. He moved to Miami a few months ago, but he still has the vision and desire to train youth workers.

After surveying the situation in Miami, he called our office and asked if we would think about and pray about the possibility of training youth workers for the hispanic churches in Miami. We prayed about it, thought about it, and decided to at least do something to empower him and the 2 other graduates who live there now.

This past weekend I flew to Florida to be with Darwin and the Florida Baptist Convention at an event called the Cumbre de Estudio Biblico, or the Bible Study Summit. Darwin and I shared some Biblical principles of youth ministry. To everyone’s surprise, our 2 hour workshop was packed. We made a lot of connections and talked with many different youth leaders from Baptist churches in Miami.


(more…)

Florida Trip March 2017

Darwin, one of my friends and former students from Cuba, called me a few months ago to ask for YMI’s help to start youth ministry training in Miami. He also put me in touch with the Florida Baptist Convention’s hispanic division and they invited me to share a workshop at a conference they are having on March 11. I’ll be sharing twice in the morning and once in the evening at Darwin’s church.

While I’m there, I am going to take a week all over Florida to share about our ministry with Youth Ministry International.

Since we are support-based but live in the USA, we don’t have specific times to do “home ministry,” or time to get in touch with current donors and potential partners of our ministry. In the past we would come back to the USA from Mexico City to share with donors and those who were interested in our ministry.

This is a “mini-furlough” for me.

My goal for my trip is to share with as many people as possible about what is happening. Lately, I have been privileged to train youth workers in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and Europe, and I’m excited to share all of this with new people.

I wrote this on our Facebook page last week about how people can help my trip to Florida:

  • Pray that I will be able to make appointments with the correct people while in Florida.
  • Pray about the possibility of partnering with us financially. If you’re not in Florida and would like to be a part of our ministry by supporting our family financially, just respond to this email and let me know. If you’re in Florida, I would be more than happy to meet with you for coffee, breakfast, lunch, dinner, ice cream, a walk on the beach, or anything else you might want to meet over to talk about the possibility of partnering with our ministry.
  • Consider hosting a dessert night with people who are interested in missions and/or youth ministry who may also be open to supporting our family financially.
  • Put me in touch with leadership of your church to see if they would be willing to meet with me while I’m in Florida on this very specific trip.

If you live in Florida, I’m looking forward to connecting with you. Please let me know if we can get together.

(Photo by Bob Jagendorf)

Why We (Also) Do Informal Youth Ministry Training

If you know anything about our ministry with Youth Ministry International, you know that we talk a lot about formal training and that we focus a lot of our energy on Seminary programs that will systematically train youth workers for local churches.

You may not even know that we do “informal” youth ministry training…but we do.

In fact, while I was in Mexico teaching a Seminary course about “Youth and Family Ministry,” Claudia, the director of the Seminary program, was in Merida, teaching a weekend conference on youth ministry.

Today I got this message on Facebook from a young man who was at the training event with her:

(more…)

More than Just Tacos and Starbucks


I keep joking around with my friends here that everyone is going to think that all I did during my trip to Mexico was drink Starbucks and eat tacos.

The reality is that tacos and coffee are just the means by which I can have meaningful conversations with youth workers and other friends that I haven’t seen in a while.

I will admit, I’ve eaten many tacos and drunk a lot of caffeinated beverages during this trip, but the times I’ve had with people during those meals have been well worth the price of admission.

Here are a few things I’ve accomplished either during a meal or a coffee:

  • Josue gave a talk at Starbucks about love and values.
  • Meeting with Josue and David about their church’s worship service and how to make it more efficient.
  • Lunch meeting with youth ministry certificate graduates about starting a network in Monterrey.
  • Tacos with Josue and talk about Seminary and the Family ministry class we are co-teaching.
  • Meeting for coffee with Rafa, one of our graduates who is serving as youth pastor in Ojo de Agua.
  • Lunch meeting with Adolfo, Masters in youth ministry graduate who wants to talk about future training opportunities.
  • Meeting with Claudia, currrent director of the Center for Youth Ministry at the Mexican Baptist Theological Seminary.
  • Dinner with my good friend and missionary from Argentina (and youth pastor) Gerardo.

Im sure I will have other meetings while I’m here, and some of them just might be at a Starbucks or a taco place. I might as well take advantage of the time I have in Mexico. 😀

First Few Days of Mexico Trip – VIDEO

I decided to make a videoblog about the first few days of my trip to Mexico.

You should watch it just to see the story of the lady I sat next to on the airplane on the way to Atlanta who had never been on an airplane before.

Do you remember the first time you went on an airplane? Were you as excited as she was?