10.22.2007

Weekend Wrap Up

I spent this weekend at the Y.S. Convention, woke up super early this morning to drive back to the O.C. So instead of my usual weekend wrap up from my ministry I'll wrap up some of my experiences this weekend.

General Sessions: I really enjoyed the general sessions this year. I think it was primarily because the subject matter of the speakers hit me a bit more personally than usual. I'm a Doug Fields fan, and I get to hear him teach quite a bit, but his message on envy was perhaps the best I've heard from him in a long time. Not sure anybody in the crowd could say 'not me' to what God was saying through him.

Workshops: I sat in some and I taught some. According to the Y.S team, the workshops this year were some of the lowest attended ever. They attribute it to the fact that the conference is in San Diego and the weather was amazing....probably some truth to that.
My buddy, Phil Shinners attended a workshop that rocked his world. I don't know the title of the workshop or who taught it, but I'll do some research and post about it in the future, but the premise was this: We've all been taught and probably believe the LIE that we can change the methods without changing the message when in fact every time you change the method you do, in fact, change the message. Really interesting....and a pretty strong statement that, according to Phil, he backed up well.

People: Lots and lots of youth workers and lots and lots of opportunities to connect with old friends. I got to spend some time with two youth pastors who used to be volunteers in my ministry and are now serving the local church full time. Really fun to hear how God is using them.

Middle School Youth Workers: Always my favorite group of people to be around! The workshops were fun and energetic. Last night a small group of about 13 of us went to dinner together and had a blast.

8 comments:

Unknown said...

You gonna be in Atlanta this time around? If so, would love to connect with u there.

Anonymous said...

yeah, i bet it was good. i attended the ys latin american version in august. i heard a nice talk about the primal teen, research disgregaren the young brain. grabbed the book and now just found news here: http://www.livescience.com/health/
071022-sleep-emotions.html
that are particularly interesting to read under the scope of the book, specially regarding the pref cortex, the pinneal gland, the sleep patterns and mood swings. enjoy.

John Snyder said...

My head almost exploded.

Anonymous said...

Kurt,

What an incredible time. Thanks so much for the connections and dinner. Had a BLAST!!!

I hope you and your family are safe from the fires.

Anonymous said...

How can we get a list of those who attended dinner? It was so great to connect with so many from around the country. Kurt, I trust the drive home was ok. WOW the scene from the plane leaving SD was amazing. When we got up everyones face was at the windows looking at the fires.

Anonymous said...

Kurt,
Thanks so much for dinner...greatly appreciated. I hope all is going well for you and your family. You guys are in our prayers witht hee fires. We actually got evacuated from Camp Pendleton while we were staying there with our friends. God Bless and look foward to hearing from you!

Darryl Nelson
Anchorage, AK

Diana said...

Thanks for you 2.5 hours of MS seminar. I was actually pretty convicted by one thing you said. It was along the lines of even when we're not teaching, we're teaching. I realized what an example I am for busyness at our large group gathering. Although that's necessary to a certain degree, this past week I was able to really think about what I was demonstrating while I wasn't up front talking. It made a big difference in my stress level! Thanks for that reminder. (I was the one originally from Hawaii, my husband and I sat in the front)

Anonymous said...

kurt,

i was curious about the session your friend mentioned (methods and the message). it sounds interesting and i would like to download it if i could. lemme know if there's a link somewhere. thanks and keep on bloggin'!