Tomorrow, I’m leaving for a quick trip to Honduras. I’m going to be investigating what’s happening there as far as youth ministry is concerned, and I’ll be looking for future opportunities to work in that country.
One of my long term goals is to have contacts in each country in Latin America, so I’m going with my friend who was a missionary there, and I’m hoping to get to connect with some new people down there. I’ll be back on Wednesday. I’ll be posting from there, so keep up with the trip here.
The last few days, I’ve been working pretty hard on a new design for our Spanish youth ministry website, ministeriojuvenil.com.
I haven’t dedicated as much time to it as I would like, but it is a part of our ministry that has an impact all over the world. For example:
- People from 28 different countries visited the site last month.
- 21 of those countries are in Latin America (that makes sense, it’s a Spanish website)
- The average visitor visits more than 3 pages when they visit, meaning they are reading more than just the home page. They are getting into the articles.
- The social network for youth workers has 67 members signed up, creating a space for youth workers to interact with each other and support each other.
I’m looking forward to seeing this part of the ministry grow as our ministry grows. Keep praying for us as we train youth workers in Latin America.
Today I administered the last final exam of the seminary career of our first youth ministry graduate. It was an interview-type exit exam for my Professional Orientation to Youth Ministry class. Both students in the class did very well. It was bittersweet because it was the last final exam for Huberto, the first graduate in youth ministry.
Huberto has been with me from day one at the seminary. We’ve been through a lot together. We have spent a lot of time together in class and out of class, talking about ministry and life in general.
I can’t believe four years are over. We’re entering a new era of ministry in Mexico. Huberto will definitely be part of our team here in the future. He has the passion and calling to train youth workers, and I’m looking forward to seeing how he fits into the vision for youth ministry training in Latin America.
Please pray for him as he finishes up with a few projects for various classes.
Today was the last day of class at the seminary for this school year. I’ve got a flood of emotions inside. I’m excited, proud, reflective, a little sad, emotional, happy, and all kinds of other things that I can’t describe.
If all goes according to plan, and all of the work gets turned in, Huberto will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in youth ministry. He’ll be the first certified graduate in youth ministry in Latin America. In my opinion, he has definitely proven himself as a leader and great youth pastor.
I’ll write more about it later, but for now, I wanted to say how crazy it is that four years have gone by, and we are finally seeing some fruit from the labor.
Series: Global Youth Ministry
This post is part of a series on Global Youth Ministry. Be sure to check out part 1 – Why Global Youth Ministry is Important.
Before you talk about a subject, you should define terms so that everyone is on the same page. When I’m talking about global youth ministry, I have a concept in my mind, and I’m sure not everyone thinks as crazy as I do, so I wanted to define some terms for you, at least in my mind, when it comes to global youth ministry and global youth workers.
Global Youth Ministry – Ministry to young people throughout the world. I’m not talking about a U.S. based youth group going on a mission trip, while that can contribute to international youth ministry. I’m talking about the 97% of youth population that lives outside of the United States and deserves the same opportunity for care and ministry that the students in your local high school deserve.
Global Youth Worker – A youth worker who is aware of the need to minister to young people all over the world and is doing their best to actively participate in ministry to young people regardless of their nationality or geographical location. This youth worker sees beyond his own youth group and dreams about personally impacting students throughout the world.
There are reports that 87% of the 3.6 billion people who live in Asia do not personally know a Christian (link). One out of every four young people on the planet live in China. There is a great need for international youth ministry. The youth pastors I know are doing a great job of ministering to their students. I just want to see the same opportunity for young people worldwide.
How would you define global youth ministry or a global youth worker?
In January, I taught a class on camps and retreats in the Master’s in Youth Ministry program that YMI is directing. Their post-class assignment was to actually plan a camp. They worked out their schedules to put together two camps. One is happening this weekend, and the other happened a few weeks ago.
The focus of the camp a few weeks ago was to train youth leaders using the Jesus Focused Youth Ministry curriculum from Reach-Out. It seems that the camp went very well.
Here’s a visual report that they sent me, with some descriptions of the photos. Click a picture to read the title and description.
By the way, this isn’t a youth camp in Mexico. It’s in another country. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, watch the slideshow and read the descriptions. You’ll get the idea.
