We’ve had a pretty crazy week. Brent Carl, the Vice President of Training Operations for Youth Ministry International visited this week to teach an intensive course to the youth ministry majors at the seminary. I’d tell you more about it, but I’ll let him (click here to go to his site).
I’ve written about the opportunities for youth ministry training in Latin America before, and it seems like more and more people are becoming interested in youth ministry training.
I just got another email from a graduate of ours who recently went to the Dominican Republic, and of course he talked about youth ministry training while he was there. He writes to me, saying, “The people in the Dominican Republic are very interested in taking the experience we had here to their country, and I think it would be a great place to invest in because they have very little ministry to young people. It’s almost zero.”
There are at least 4 countries on the horizon for us in Latin America. We need to know where to go. We need to know what to do. Things in Mexico are picking up. We have a certificate program planned to start in January, and we are working with our Seminary to start a Master’s program as well.
So, where do we go from here? That’s a good question. Please keep praying with us about these things. Pray for wisdom. Pray for resources (both human resources and financial resources).
These are exciting times.
(Photos by: oui c’est moi! on flickr)
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.
“Hello, friend. I just finished a mission trip with 60 students that was stupendous, thank God. It was explosive, dynamic, and was very cool. Thank you for teaching us. I’m sending you the link so you can see the photos and download them if you want so you can have them. A hug…your brother.”..Giancarlos.
I received that email from one of the students in Cuba. He’s the middle school pastor of a local church who has seen incredible things happen in the last three years.
His group went on a summer mission trip that he planned using the principles we taught in Contemporary Youth Missions.
I’m extremely proud of him and the work he’s doing.
You can see a video interview with Giancarlos here.
You wouldn’t believe the amount of opportunities we have to minister in other parts of Latin America. God is opening doors and giving us new contacts everywhere we turn. It’s a great thing.
Today, we got word about more ministry opportunities, and Huberto, part of our team in Mexico, told me last week about all of the invitations our Center for Youth Ministry in Mexico is receiving to train youth workers throughout central Mexico.
We need wisdom to decide what God wants us to do in each of these situations. It’s a great situation to be in, but it’s also an important time for us to establish some guidelines as to how we will advance the work that we have been given.
We’re also always looking for new members of our team. If you’re a youth pastor and feel God calling you to train other youth workers or to missions, I’d love to talk with you about possibilities with Youth Ministry International.
(Thumbnail by alfon18 on flickr)
