I just received an email from three of our students in the Master’s program that we are teaching. Today is the first day of their new youth ministry program at their seminary.
The multiplication of the ministry God has given to us has already begun in two other seminaries in his country, and today there are now at least 4 seminaries in Latin America that have youth ministry programs that will be training many youth workers to minister to young people throughout the world.
Here’s a translated email from Pancho, the director of the center for youth ministry in one of the seminaries, talking about the new Bachelor’s Degree in Youth Ministry at his seminary.
Beloved I am sending you this email so you can participate in our joy, in our immense joy that today is a historical day for our ministry and country.
Today 15 students begin to prepare themselves in the Bachelor’s in Youth Ministry with a strategic plan for them to become members of our School of Youth Ministry where they will be able to develop themselves in the future as professors, trainers, or researchers in youth ministry.
The joy takes our breath away, but it has been proceeded by tears, sweat, prayer, and passion, but overall these other things we have also seen God participating in this by opening doors, approving projects, touching pockets, etc.
You now have the call to turn yourself into a prayer supporter of this newborn baby; it is what we need the most and one more time we echo the beloved Psalm 1, that God will make it prosper.
We cannot repay everyone who has made this dream possible, but God does. He knows how to repay, and he will give 1000 times more than what you have now.
BLESSED BE THE NAME OF OUR INCOMPARABLE GOD.
How cool is that? We are seeing the ministry multiply into other parts of the world. Thanks for your support and encouragement as we seek to train youth workers for local churches who will in turn train others.
Today is the beginning of a new quarter at our seminary. I really am looking forward to the classes I will be teaching. I am teaching Youth Culture and Campus Ministry.
I have taught Youth Culture before, and I love this class based on the controversial nature and the fact that it causes students to get out of their comfort zone, rethink some things they believe, and talk to people they might not otherwise talk to.
Campus ministry is going to be a lot like a lab class. The students are going to evaluate the material, get out of the classroom, and conduct some hands-on experiments with schools, professors, students, and directors. It should give us some insight into just how much ministry we can actually do on campuses here, and it is another class that hopefully will allow them to think about some things they have never thought about before.
It’s going to be a great quarter.
Yesterday, for my birthday (which was Monday), my students took me out to Starbucks. We had class on the comfy couches and talked about ministry. It was a good time with them.
It’s the first time we’ve been to Starbucks this quarter as a class. Usually, we go about once a quarter. I love the atmosphere, and I wish I could have a classroom that was like a Starbucks. It would be so much better for my discussion-based classes.
Yesterday we had our first ever dating workshop at the seminary. My job was just to be there and grade. Basically, I just watched. Overall, I think it went okay. There were some technical difficulties, as usual, and some of the videos they had made couldn’t be shown.
I think the interaction with the crowd was pretty good. They told some pretty good stories talking about different stages of dating, but I wish they would have given some more practical advice for the attendees. As usual, there was a TON of information without a clear landing point.
I believe they learned a lot through the experience. Tomorrow in class, we will be evaluating the workshop. I look forward to hearing what they think.
NOTE: I was going to try to broadcast the workshop live on Ustream.tv, but the internet connection was horrible where we were at, so I was unable to do so. I guess I’ll have to try it some other time.
For the dating part of my family ministry class, I thought it would be so much better if the Mexicans taught themselves about it by doing a group class project.
Instead of hearing the gringo talk about dating (which I’m not so sure I understand in an American context, let alone a Mexican context), they have been researching, struggling with, and putting together a dating workshop for both parents of teenagers and teenagers.
The four major issues they will be dealing with are: Definitions in dating, Dangers in dating, Reasons for dating, and Influences in dating. They have done a GREAT job thinking through the material, and Tuesday they will be presenting it in workshop format. I’m looking forward to seeing what they come up with.
