I’m no Superman, but I was invited to teach a “Super-Course” at the Youth Specialties Summit this past weekend.

A Super Course is a two hour class that sort of takes place before the whole conference begins. The title of my course was: “Reinventing Success in Youth Ministry.”

I taught about how youth leaders in Mexico have an advantage: We can learn from 60 (or more) years of youth ministry success and failure in the USA. I based my course on research I did while studying my Master’s degree at Columbia International University, and we arrived at some conclusions about where youth ministry in Mexico should go to avoid some of the mistakes we have seen in the USA and to use some of the success stories that have also taken place.

We finished the class with 5 principles that we should apply in the youth ministry setting in Mexico:

1. Include the Family (especially ministry to Moms here in Mexico)
2. Connect with Meaningful Adult Relationships
3. Have a designated and trained youth worker
4. Be a part of the larger Church community
5. Teach the whole Bible

I also gave them homework: to think of ways to practically do these 5 things. I think that’s the hardest part of it all.

We’ll see how much of a head start we can have in Mexico after having learned from our predecessors in the United States.