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10% of simply youth ministry resources |
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Friday 01 June 2007
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Resource Categories
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Click on each topic for resources, links and downloads!
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Wednesday 20 February 2008
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Podcasting
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Friday 21 September 2007
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Sonlife Ministries Merging with YouthFront
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Press Release
Thursday, September 20, 2007—For Immediate Release
Sonlife Ministries Merging with YouthFront
Sonlife Ministries, Inc. has merged with YouthFront, Inc. effective September 1, 2007 in order to “maximize ministry effectiveness” of the two organizations. Formerly a Chicago-based ministry, Sonlife will relocate to Kansas City.
For more than six decades, YouthFront has brought young people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ through camps, campus ministries, mission trips, creative programming, and leadership development. For nearly three decades, Sonlife has provided Christ-centered training for students and adult leaders through training seminars, conferences, and creative resources.
YouthFront President Mike King and Sonlife President Chris Folmsbee share a conviction that “the youth ministry community is pregnant with expectation and desire for fresh and innovative approaches to youth ministry that are both creative and also theologically and ecclesiologically sound,” says King. Folmsbee adds, “We see youth ministry paradigms shifting away from an overemphasis on programmatic/event-oriented and information-focused styles toward a more robust and holistic understanding of Christian formation. The need is greater than ever to guide young people in discovering how to live as Christ in all areas of their lives.”
In 1943, YouthFront began its ministry as Kansas City Youth for Christ, and it has been written about extensively in youth ministry church history books as a catalyst for the development of youth ministry in North America. By the late 1980s, most churches had committed to having an active and intentional youth ministry. So in a revolutionary move for parachurch youth ministry organizations, YouthFront ceased all programming that conflicted with local church youth ministry and began to re-imagine a role that fully cooperated with churches in the development of Christian disciples.
YouthFront shall continue its tradition of developing innovative youth ministry around the world through its commitment to the development of youth ministry philosophy, theology, and practice. Mike King states, “Our mission to bring young people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ is best accomplished by modeling a passionate life and journey with Jesus; engaging in missional evangelism and discipleship. We believe that in order to facilitate transformational spiritual formation of adolescents, we must teach Christian practices and creatively develop environments where students encounter the presence of God. We are devoted to working strategically with those who are passionately committed to the Christian formation of young people—especially youth pastors, volunteer youth leaders, parents, churches, and denominations. These strategic partnerships are developed through deep relationships, training, content development, providing resources, youth ministry research, and quality programming.”
Sonlife will continue to move forward as a church-assisting organization serving youth workers by facilitating networks; developing and providing training; offering coaching, consultation, and spiritual direction; and creating resources and programs for youth workers and students. Chris Folmsbee believes Sonlife’s mission will be enhanced by merging with YouthFront, resulting in “a passionate and catalytic cooperation with God’s Kingdom.” As a ministry of YouthFront, Sonlife will gain access to more than 5,000 students who are deeply connected to discipleship and leadership development programs facilitated by YouthFront, along with direct youth ministry involvement with an additional 25,000 young people through camp and school-based ministries. Out of this environment, Sonlife’s strategy and effectiveness will be enhanced and strengthened.
Through the new YouthFront organization, all present Sonlife training and development programs for youth workers will continue, including Enroute, Shaping a Missional Community, Shepherding in a Culture of Change, Refresh, and Leadership of the Heart. All training experiences for students will continue, as well, including Merge, Awake and Reveal. “With YouthFront’s hands-on youth ministry environment, coupled with Sonlife’s expertise and training tools, we sit on the precipice of amazing opportunities to train an emerging generation of youth workers,” declares YouthFront COO Topher Philgreen.
“This merger seems natural because of the alignment we have, not just between Chris Folmsbee and me, but also between the organizations that we have led,” says Mike King. YouthFront sees Sonlife’s innovation of a new wave of youth worker participation in training and formational experiences. Sonlife sees YouthFront as innovating new ways to do youth ministry and spiritual formation of adolescents. Consequently, merging together will allow each organization to realize greater ministry impact. Folmsbee confidently states, “I am expectant that God is going to do amazing things through our coming together. I believe we will look back a few years from now to identify many things God has done to strengthen the church through the development of youth workers and students.”
Objectives for this merger
• To be more effective as a national youth ministry training organization, serving a wide variety of youth workers, churches, denominations, and organizations.
• To provide quality youth ministry resources to thousands of youth workers and churches throughout North America.
• To create and facilitate transformational Christian formation experiences for students and youth workers.
• To create an environment where youth ministry ideas, philosophy, concepts, theology, and practices emerge.
• Initiate youth ministry that will benefit hundreds of thousands of young people directly and indirectly; initiating deep Christian formation that leads to a life-long journey with Jesus Christ.
• Provide leadership development for the next generation of youth ministers and ministry practices.
• To act as a collective agency that empowers others toward deep and widespread regional youth ministry impact.
Management Infrastructure:
Mike King will continue as President/CEO of YouthFront. Chris Folmsbee will serve as CMO (Chief Ministry Officer) of YouthFront and President of the Sonlife division. Folmsbee will serve on the Executive Leadership Team of YouthFront, which makes all major decisions regarding mission, personnel, finances, and ministry priorities. Topher Philgreen will continue as COO of YouthFront. Matt Wilks, Director of Youth Worker Initiatives for Sonlife, will serve as Youthfront’s Director of Youth Worker Training and Initiatives. He will continue to build strategic relationships throughout North America and will lead a team of people to deliver quality and effective training to youth workers. Mike Novelli will serve as Director of Merge and will also focus on developing content and resources. Other support staff (i.e., administrative help, marketing, etc.) will be added to the staff of YouthFront.
YouthFront board member Dr. Dean Blevins states, “I believe that the next significant expression of youth ministry will be born out of a committed community of Christ’s followers who engage deeply in spiritual practices and formation, and model a new way of life and missional living.”
More than anything, we ask for prayer that this new venture will honor God, bring youth into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, and fulfill our calling to cooperate with God’s Kingdom agenda. For questions regarding this merger or to seek more information about the ministry of YouthFront and Sonlife, please contact Andy Garlich at 800-770-4769 or -email-
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YouthFront
4715 Rainbow Blvd.
Shwnee Mission, KS 66205
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Saturday 25 August 2007
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Magazines
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Friday 24 August 2007
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Teen Christians campaign against pop culture
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From CNNhttp://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/22/gw.teen.christians/index.html
Editor's note: This is part of a series of reports CNN.com is featuring for "God's Warriors," a documentary hosted by CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
(CNN) -- At one point in Jared Hutchins' young life, the Beatles were a big problem.
The rallies, which draw mostly teens, are one part concert, one part Christian revival.
1 of 3 "I had to stop listening to them for a while," said Hutchins, who lives in Cumming, Georgia, and plays the piano, guitar and harmonica. He said the group's world view "had a negative effect on me," and made him irritable and angry.
"God owns my life, not the Beatles," he said simply. Although Hutchins said he enjoys a wide range of music -- from Pink Floyd and Arcade Fire to Christian bands such as Hillsong United -- he said he has to be careful of what music he listens to, for the same reason he temporarily turned off the Beatles.
Hutchins, a 16-year-old graced with poise and thoughtfulness, is one of many teenagers who say that some part of popular culture, with its ubiquitous references to sex, drugs and violence, has harmed him.
Last year, Hutchins and his Christian youth group attended an Acquire the Fire rally in Atlanta, Georgia, he said. Acquire the Fire -- regional rallies held across the country -- and BattleCry -- the larger rallies held this year in only three cities -- are the products of the evangelical Christian organization Teen Mania. Go behind-the-scenes with CNN's Christiane Amanpour at a BattleCry event »
One part concert, one part Christian revival, the rallies seek to "stage a reverse revolution" against secular popular culture. They have the pull of headlining rock concerts, drawing thousands of people regardless of the region of the country, the month of year or the day of the week. The audiences are nearly always predominantly teenagers and young adults.
From 2006 to 2007, a total of 127,830 people attended the 34 Acquire the Fire rallies, and 71,414 people attended the three BattleCry events held in San Francisco, California; Detroit, Michigan; and Bristow, Virginia, according to Teen Mania. Watch flags, fireworks and teens at rally
For Hutchins, who said he struggled in his early adolescence to fit in and be cool before having a personal experience with God about four years ago, the organization's message is exactly right.
"We don't have to be branded by the culture, we are branded by God," he said. "Be who God created you to be."
But the glossy, glamorous appeal of popular culture too often obscures that path to God, Teen Mania followers say.
And so, Ron Luce, the 46-year-old founder of the organization, has waged a modern-day crusade against "purveyors of popular culture," whom he has condemned as "the enemy." More than two decades old, Teen Mania estimates it has reached more than 2 million teens with its message "of living completely for Christ."
The organization is sprawling. In addition to its live stadium rallies, there are BattleCry shirts and hats, mobile screen savers, books and a television program. There are international mission trips -- Hutchins attended one in Tijuana, Mexico, this summer. There is even a Teen Mania internship, a one-year program called the Honor Academy, based in Lindale, Texas.
In the live events, Luce couples the earnest appeal of a young father with a preacher's ability to mobilize a crowd. He weaves disturbing statistics about teenagers amid his gospel.
Today's teenagers are in crisis, he says.
"We're fighting for those who don't know they have a voice, that are being manipulated by our pop culture indulging in things that, really, they're not mature enough to be thinking about yet," Luce told CNN.
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"Kids are hurting," he said. And of those who he feels inflict these moral wounds, Luce said, "We call them terrorists, virtue terrorists, that are destroying our kids."
"They're raping virgin teenage America on the sidewalk, and everybody's walking by and acting like everything's OK. And it's just not OK."
To some, Luce's rhetoric is off-putting, hateful and divisive. Opponents point to his views on homosexuality -- not "in God's plan" -- and abortion -- the "ending of a precious life" -- and say Luce is imposing conservative values on vulnerable teenagers. Explore Americans' views on religion
It is this criticism that Luce and his followers confronted head-on in March at BattleCry San Francisco.
There, in arguably the most liberal city in the United States, protesters, armed with megaphones and poster board signs, rallied against BattleCry on the steps of City Hall as the Christian teenagers circled and prayed in a demonstration of their own.
"Ron Luce is a liar!" one protester shouted. "Let me hear you say Christian fascist," another yelled.
Luce and the youths, some as young as 11, also raised their voices.
"God, I ask that as we do this BattleCry, Lord, that you would reveal yourself to the teenagers, God, here, God," Mindy Peterson, shouted. Peterson is a member of Teen Mania's Honor Academy. Afterward, Peterson railed against what she said was the protesters' mischaracterization of BattleCry.
"These people think that our war is against other people. They think that our war is against man. And our war isn't. Our war's against ... the pain in teenagers' hearts, like depression, alcoholism. Those things that -- that are, like, tearing our teenagers apart," she said.
While much milder in his terms, Hutchins agrees. "We're a generation that is kind of troubled," he said. Luce wants to "rescue the hearts of our generation," he added.
And of the critics' contention that the rallies, the organization, the message is neo-conservatism wrapped in Biblical verse? Hutchins smiles, nods patiently. "I don't go because I have a political agenda," he said, adding that his friends don't, either.
"Mostly, what we're concerned with is Jesus."
CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Julie O'Neill and Taylor Gandossy contributed to this report.
All About Christianity • Judaism • Islam
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Friday 25 May 2007
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Fathers Day Gift and a Must Read for Youth Pastors molding a young mans heart
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The Way of the Wild Heart: A Map for the Masculine Journey
Here it is, a great fathers day gift.
John Eldredge writes his follow-up volume to Wild at Heart. He begins with the observation that "God is a God of process," then identifies six stages through which men pass in their life journeys: boyhood, cowboy, warrior, lover, king and sage. Eldredge describes typical behaviors, actions, attitudes that occur in each stage, and illustrates them with examples primarily from the Bible but also from secular biographies, popular films and legends. John Eldredge initiates men into a new understanding and ownership of their manhood and equips them to effectively lead their sons to manhood. The Way of the Wild Heart: A Map for the Masculine Journey is a must read for dads!
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Friday 27 October 2006
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Doug Fields Simply Youth Ministry
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Thursday 05 October 2006
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Chris Tomlin's New ALbum
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