I got a message last week, asking if I would be interested in playing cajon and back-up vocals with the guitarist for worship at the upcoming Illinois Nazarene District Team Day South, in Salem, Illinois. I am always excited about these kind of offers, so this was a great surprise! Last Saturday was that Team Day; a conference consisting of seminars for different areas of ministry, including Sunday School, Youth Internation, Missions, and Pastoral. We started the day with the worship set, and I joined Tim Young Jr. with All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name, My Redeemer Lives, and Lead Me to the Cross. It is such a great feeling to look out and see God's Church standing in worship, humbled by the presence of His Holy Spirit, filling us with the excitement of living for Him!
At first, I didn't know what to think of this year's Team Day. Previous years seemed to have a much better flow, looking at it from before the day would begin. This year was really good for me! The Nazarene church is starting to really push for movement outside of its four walls, and the seminars were geared toward the same.
My first seminar pick was taught by my good friend Tim Sorenson, youth pastor at a Nazarene church in Royalton, Illinois. We got to hear his life-changing examples of teens in his ministry that have effected him and his family, as well as meet one of the mom's, of a teen from his church, that was unsaved a year ago, but is now volunteering and helping out where she can! I cannot begin to tell you how much one teen can change the way we live for Christ, their testimonies speak for themselves.
The second was with Todd Holmann, a youth pastor at Casey, Illinois, speaking about face-to-face ministry. He has a fantastic way fo showing how important humor is in ministry; breaking the ice to begin forming relationships that last a life-time. We started with a few "what if" questions, which got the group laughing and opening up to each other, and he went on about how important it is to form relationships with those in our ministries, because trust is so important in a culture where trust is almost as rare as an endangered species.
Our third part of the day was lunch. (For more on what this lunch consisted of, check out my blog on "40 Days of Plenty" and read my post "Why Yes, I'll Have Another Slice") This lunch was different than in years past, because round table discussions were offered while we ate together in fellowship! I didn't know how this would really go over before it began, but it was really helpful to hang out among those that share the same concerns and excitements I have for serving Christ. It just goes to prove judging a book by its cover does about as much good as burning it and hoping to absorb the details by inhaling the fumes.
The third seminar was on using social networking as a ministry resource. What was great about this class was that it wasn't saying social networking was the only way to go, and it wasn't created with sarcasm to say using technology hurts ministry either. Like me, this class was geared toward having a healthy balance of both face-to-face ministry and media ministry. The teacher, Sharon Autenrieth, started out the class by asking everyone to state their name and what social networking sites we are a part of...the average was one site per person, everyone's heads turned when I started my list. Thankfully, I have been able to tie all of mine together so when I post to one it shows up on the others, otherwise my head would explode. I offered a little piece to the pie by saying social networks are great for speedy connections, but the only place you'll find a connection emotionally is face-to-face. One thing to remember about all of this technology, even for a guy like me who seems to be involved in a never ending list of networking sites, is the best place to find a real relationship is in person.
The final class I had signed up for was with the special speaker, Darrell MacLearn. He is a Senior Consultant of NCS and has an amazing testimony about the home church neighborhood network he has started where he lives. The session he led was about Life Transformation Groups. I had been through a similar course during last years Team Day, but this was a nice refresher and it always helps to have another perspective on a topic! The key point that I take from talking about "Life Transormation Groups" is that no matter what you want to call it, it's beneficial to have an accountabilty partner that you can get into scripture with, talk about it together, hold each other to some tough questions to keep us on guard with the temptaitions we face daily, think of people we can pray will recieve Christ, and pray together. Call it whatever you want, but accountability and support are so important in our walk as fellow followers of Christ!
I always take something home from Team Day, and this year's didn't disappoint.
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