Last night at the PDYM conference kicked off great. If I had to sum up the night it was "It's not about the building." Saddleback has one of the best youth ministry facilities in the country, but until recently they'd met in portable facilities, tents, etc. Lucas and I were talking about it on the drive back to Riverside last night and both of us feel like we don't walk into an amazing youth facility (I've seen a few now) and go "Oh....well they can do great ministry because they have a great facility." Don't get me wrong, I definitely say "Oh, this would be sweet to have." But at the same time youth ministry is not about a building, just like church is not about a building.

Stoked for the rest of the conference. Nicole and Addie are coming down with me today. If you're at the conference I'll be the guy in the bright green shirt with the the hot wife and super cute 8 month old daughter.

Labels: family, PDYM, youth ministry

I'll be there! Hope you can make it too!

Labels: PDYM, youth ministry

Labels: PDYM, youth ministry

Labels: PDYM, youth ministry

I'll be hosting a PDYM Community Lunch here at our church in Riverside on Thursday, November 29th (11:30am-1:00pm). If you're committed to Purpose Driven Youth Ministry or just interested in what it's all about feel free to join us. Shoot me an email to let me know you're coming. If you live someplace else, check out the other locations here.

Labels: PDYM, youth ministry

I just put my first post up at PDYM Community. Here's a clip:

"I've been a Christian for over 20 years now. I've been in youth ministry for almost 8. And yet, I sometimes still struggle with feeling "good enough" for God. I'm quick to remind myself of past failures, present tensions, and future struggles. How can God love someone like me, let alone use someone like me?"

Check out the full post here.

Labels: PDYM, spiritual growth

I enjoyed my time at the Gathering. Here are some highlights:

• Putting a couple pieces together in my head for how our process of moving students will work in our context. It's finally coming together for me.
• Hearing Buddy Owens talk about the need to maintain our own intimacy with God before serving others. Sounds basic enough, but I need to remember that daily.
• Connecting with a handful of youth pastors that helped me focus some of my thoughts on evangelism and our front door program in our ministry.
• Getting to spend some time talking to Jake Rutenbar (former sorta blogger) about what's going on at the Saddleback San Clemente campus. I'm excited for how God's using him there.

Labels: PDYM, youth ministry

Well, we just finished up our meetings for the day a little bit ago. I'm relaxing at the hotel right now waiting to head to dinner and some fun outing. We had a great day today of talking through where PDYM is headed, potential future conferences, and just getting to know each other. One thing's for sure - there are some SHARP people here. I've really enjoyed hearing what other people are doing in ministry and it really is sharpening me and what we do in our ministry. I'm looking forward to tonight and another day tomorrow of learnings and discussion.

Labels: PDYM, youth ministry

No, I didn't join a cult. I'm in Lake Forest this week for an event called The Gathering. It's basically a collection of youth pastors committed to PDYM and learning from each other. I'm pretty excited about the experience this week. I already have picked up a couple things just from conversation with people. I'm tweaking the way I'm doing my parent meeting on Sunday based on some advice from Lyndale Holloway and Tom Elmore. I'm rooming with Tom Roepke. In fact, I think he may be blogging right now too from the other bed in our hotel room. More to come later.

Labels: PDYM, youth ministry