I just received a really great note of encouragement on our youth ministry blog in Spanish (www.ministeriojuvenil.com). The youth ministry resource site has received so many great comments and created so many incredible contacts for us. Here is what the comment said (translated into English):
Hi. It is a blessing to have the opportunity to have access to this space and receive refreshment. I am from the city of Cartagena in Colombia, and I serve with my husband as youth pastors in the youth ministry. It is very interesting and edifying to have the opportunity to receive from you all and to be able to bring renewal to our local church. I pray that God will continue filling you with His grace and presence. Congratulations on your work and dedication.
We also received an email from someone today interested in inviting us to teach our informal youth ministry training conference.
We are excited about the possibilities for 2010 as we plan on investing more time in this valuable tool for training youth workers all over Latin America.
This past Saturday, the Seminary had a big publicity event. My participation in the event was to help the youth ministry students with our information booth, teach a youth ministry seminar, and organize a skit for one of the worship times. The event was a huge success.
There were more than 300 people at the event (which was our attendance goal), and during the two seminar times, my youth ministry workshop was packed. I spoke about the goal of youth ministry to more than 100 prospective students. We handed out fliers and collected names at our booth. I even ran out of business cards.
There is a great thirst for youth ministry training in Latin America. I believe that we are living in a time where youth ministry training is about to explode both in Mexico and other places in the world. It is humbling and exciting to be a part of what God is doing.
If you would like to support the work of our family in Mexico, click here to find out how to join our team.
Sunday night and Monday, I went away (about an hour away) with the youth ministry students for a retreat experience.
It was organized by a group of them for their programming class. Overall, we had a good time. It was tiring (especially after Youth Emphasis Week), but fun.
We just announced over on our Spanish website that we’ll be starting up a certificate program in youth ministry (see the announcement – Diplomado en Ministerio Juvenil – in Spanish) in January.
The idea is to offer an informal youth ministry training for those who cannot study at the seminary full time. This program will meet on Saturday mornings for four hours starting January 10, 2009. We’ll have two locations – one at the Seminary and the other at a church in the south of the city.
The entire certificate program lasts for a year, with nine courses overall that each last a month. We’ll be taking June, July, and December off each year.
I’m praying for 30-40 students in the entire program, which will benefit many churches.
So, if you read this and know someone in Mexico City who would be interested, pass them the link with more information. If you don’t live in Mexico City or know anyone in Mexico City, pleas pray with me for this new way to train youth workers 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.
