A couple things to keep at the front of your mind if you’re looking for training opportunities for college ministry:

1. CollegeLeader Regional Training: March 31st I will be doing an event hosted by Saddleback. Click here for details on this event or other cities as well.
2. Drink Conference: if you register for Drink before March 31st you get the BEST deal, by far.  Conference, meals, and lodging for $119!!!!!  Crazy.  Click here for details.  When registering use the discount code “earlybird09” to get the discount.

Last Thursday morning I left for New York City. We did a quick blitz of all the sites: Time Square (our hotel was here), Central Park, Trump Tower (pic), Rockefeller Center (pic), 5th Ave., went to the top of the Empire State bldg. at night (pic above), saw ground zero (pic), statue of Liberty, NY stock exchange and Wall St….and all of that in less than 24hrs.

Typically when I travel I go to Portland airport an hour before my flight leaves, go through security, wait, and board the plane – finding my seat in coach somewhere. But not this time. Oh, not even close.

I pulled into a private hanger and parked my car. And this is the plane I took! Yep, private jet. I want to make this clear: this was NOT a speaking event, nor is this normal for me (in ANYWAY!). Nevertheless, we happen to have friends that know some very wealthy people…who have a private jet and had a business trip in NYC – and we were able to tag along for the ride. Someone has to do it, right?

Anyway, we boarded the plane, and got comfortable – check out the inside…

Now, talk about a “date” with my wife. Who wouldn’t take this opportunity to take their spouse to NYC!?. It was incredible, and totally relaxing. No jet lag on this flight my friends. On the way back I even sprawled out on the couch (see above) and took an hour nap. Crazy experience, for sure. But two things really made this an experience that will forever stick in my mind.

First, on the way back into Portland I got to sit with the pilot and co-pilot as they landed the plane. This gave me a very different perspective, for sure. I listened into traffic control as well. Of course I didn’t understand a word of what they were saying. Nevertheless it was a very cool experience and something I’ll surely never forget.

Secondly, and this is where the irony really comes in. Thursday morning after eating a first class meal on a private jet somewhere over the Dakota’s, I took out my computer to get some work done. This was a last minute trip so I had to work on my message for Sunday (yesterday). All of the sudden it hit me…I’m preparing this message on a first class private jet and the passage I’m speaking on is about injustice and oppression. Whoa, talk about the swing of a pendulum…

At Group Publishing’s, Simply Youth Ministry conference this past weekend there were some videos that were very funny.  The first is a music video about youth ministry. Jake is a genius with this stuff. The second one is a hilarious announcement video. Again, Jake is a GREAT sport! Holy Cow.

I’m sitting down at Ava for my weekly hang out time with Trent.  If you aren’t familiar with Trent, he’s a college-age guy in my church and we hang out once a week…and recently started posting a blog each time we hang out.  So, today I asked him a question:

“If you could tell pastors/leaders in the church one thing about people your age, what would it be?”  He replied…

“No matter how “cool” people our age might act or seem, we want to be a part of what’s going on.”

I asked him to explain a little further and he went on to say, “Sometimes I feel somewhat disconnected as the ‘single college student’.  I just want to be connected to people regardless of social boundaries or walks of life – no matter married, single, older, younger.”

Then I asked him, “Why?”  He replied (by the way, I asked him as I wrote that and I’m waiting for his reply): “Because people from different walks of life have different perspectives on things.  People in our age-stage go through similar things and consequently have the same perspective.  I would just like to get more variety in perspective, but more than that I would like to find more wisdom from other people because of their experiences and observations.”

Again, I asked, “Why?” (Now Trent is laughing and said, “oh no…hmmhmhhhhfffmmm.”)  So I clarified, “What do you think this brings to your life…what’s in it for you?”  Ok, he’s stumped a bit…wait a second….

Trent said, “Sometimes I feel like my life is in a vicious cycle and my thoughts/resources limit me to that cycle.  So, it helps to gain fresh perspective on the issues of my life.”

Ok, now VERY brief commentary.  I have “preached” the idea for years now of the importance of exposing and connecting people like Trent to older mature believers in our churches.  This is our responsibility.  This blog was NOT planned and I did not put words/thoughts into Trent’s mind prior to writing this out.  And, no, he’s never heard me talk about that in a seminar.  However, he just chimed in and told me he has heard me talk about that in our college ministry in the past.  

I know your college-age friends have the same thoughts/feelings about this.  So, the question is…what are you going to do about it?  Leave them hanging?  Naw, you’re way smarter than that…

Trents says, “hhhmmhhhmfffhmmm….”

I’m sitting at the Columbus airport, ready to catch a plane back home. I can’t wait to see my family. But, I thought I’d let you in on some of the things I was a part of. If you followed on Twitter you caught some, but here you’ll be able to see more.

Thursday: left home at 10 am PST, arrived at the hotel in Columbus at 1 am EST. Long day.

Affinity Groups. I began Friday with an affinity group team meeting at 9am before hanging out with my friend Tony Hall. Affinity groups were a great part of the conference. Got to sit around with others in college ministry and discuss life in ministry together. We met twice a day and had some meals together. It was fun.

Panels. I sat on one panel alongside Rick Lawrence and Kurt Johnston and we discussed “the state of youth ministry today.” It was fun, interactive, and insightful. Those guys have some very good thoughts in this regard, for sure. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture. But, we had two of these discussions, each time having a full room of people.  We took Q&A, which led to GREAT conversation.

Another panel I sat on was one for bloggers.  Man, did I feel like an idiot!  I don’t have a clue when it comes to “techie” stuff, and this is what this was about.  Frankly, I didn’t even know if I should’ve been on the panel.  On the other hand, I think having me as the “token tech idiot” was good for some in the room who were just like me.  Sometimes it’s encouraging to know that you’re not the only one that doesn’t have a clue – and yet can still blog.  To the left is Josh Griffin leading this panel.

Seminars. I did an 8 hour track with Kara Powell (left picture) on “preparing teenagers for life after youth group.” Nice how the picture makes me look fat too.  Weird.  Anyway, it was fun to do with her and to have discussion with everyone that came. Having 8 hrs together really helped to dive much deeper in discussion. The round tables really helped with discussion too! I met some really cool people! I included a pic of the room right before a session began as well. I also did a condensed version of our track this morning in an hour and a half. Very difficult to do, but I think it went ok. I also took about 45 minutes afterwards for Q&A. It was fun, and I think fruitful.

Main sessions. I had this time to rest, for the most part. I enjoyed going and listening to the messages and seeing some of the videos. There was a very funny video shown last night – hilarious music video about youth ministry. Jake is a stud!  Once I get ahold of that I’ll post it.

Hanging out. Throughout the conference people asked to hang out for a bit to discuss life, ministry, or just to connect. I love this part! I had the privilege of sitting down with some phenomenal people! This conference has many of them – for sure! Really fun. I think I had the chance to sit down with at least 10 different people individually – for coffee, a meal, or just grabbing a sack chair in the lobby!

Watch this very brief video of Obama sharing about his desire to be financially transparent.  We can think what we want about him and his plans for our country, but if he upholds this promise it’s a GREAT thing.  A greater concern for me however is the fact that the Church is not financially transparent.  For instance, why don’t we know how much our pastors makes?  Why is it a secret?  Why is it awkward for us to talk about how much we make from the church? Maybe we’d say its not a “secret,” but why then don’t we publicize it?  In my opinion financial transparency in the church is crucial.  This, to me, would halt much of the skepticism and exemplify biblical principles much more effectively.  But the bottom line is I just wish we would be more open in the church with our finances…

An article entitled, “Supreme Court says religious group has no right to erect granite marker in public park” (AP) was just released this morning.  It’s an interesting article in that the religious group is one that I’ve not heard much about – The Summum.  It’s a Latin term meaning the sum total of all creation.  This group wants to erect its “Seven Aphorisms of Summum” monument in Utah’s Pioneer Park. The group, formed in 1975, says the Seven Aphorisms were given to Moses on Mount Sinai along with the Ten Commandments. Moses destroyed the tablet containing the aphorisms because he saw the people weren’t ready for them, the Summum say.

This, my friends, could be a great discussion at your small group this week!  Here are a couple things you could bring up with your college students/-age people:

1. You can get political with this if you want – could be dangerous though.  You could ask questions like: How much should gov’t get involved in religious proclamations, whether verbal or physical such as in this article?  As Christians we love the fact that the 10 Commandments are posted in a state park, but in our country every religious organization has equal rights…so where should gov’t draw the line with these things if any?
2. You can ask more open ended questions like: What would you say God thinks about a nation like ours where every religion has equal rights?  You could actually look at 1Kings 18:21 after the discussion.  This is where Elijah looks at the people and challenges them to make a decision on which God they’re going to worship.  A question you could throw out is, “Do you think maybe that’s what God would say to our country…?  Make sure you ask why or why not.
3. You can ask some foundational faith statements like: How do you think this group justifies this other tablet actually existing…versus someone just making it up?  What role should outside sources (extra-biblical) play in our faith development?  We have outside sources like, “Christian books,” so what role should those have in our faith development?  Are there similar dangers in this regard with us as the Summum have with the extra-biblical sources? (now that would be a fun question to ask…might ruffle some feathers, but would likely start great conversation)

Anyway, just some thoughts…fun to think through anyway.  Maybe print out the article, have them read it together, and then start discussing.  Make sure you have some specific Scriptures ready to go to challenge, encourage people in their thought processes.  This could get a bit messy, but I think the discussion could be very fun and healthy.

Today I’m working on powerpoint for this weekend’s seminars at the National Youth Ministry Conference in Columbus, OH. I’m teaching an 8 hour track with Kara Powell on preparing high school kids for life after youth group. We’ve been working together for the last couple months on our material – I’m very excited about it.

We have four 2 hour sessions we’re teaming up on. I’ll teach the bulk of two of them, and Kara will do the other two. The two I’m teaching on will cover the following topics:

1. Internal Confusion: Five Critical Issues We Must Prepare Kids to Face.  This will cover 5 areas of life college-age people think through differently than any other stage of life: identity, intimacy, meaning, pleasure and truth.  I will be discussing each topic in depth and then walking through what we need to do to prepare high school students for this time of their life.  Also my forthcoming book, College Ministry 101: a guide to working with 18-25 year olds (Zondervan), has 6 chapters devoted to these.  So, this weekend I will unpack that a bit – well, at a 30,000 ft. view.
2. The Slow Fade: Detachment From Christian Community Is a Process.  This time will talk through how the detachment after high school for youth today is rarely an overnight detachment – it’s much more of a slow fade out of Christian community.  I will be unpacking some of the ways in which we as leaders contribute to that (despite our best intentions) and how we might be able to bring lasting resolution to the issue.

In addition to this 8 hour track I’ll also be on a couple panels with Rick Lawrence, Kurt Johnson, and some others talking about the state of student ministry today.  I’ll also be leading an affinity group of college ministry leaders – where we sit around a circle of bean bags and talk life and ministry.  I’m looking forward to that time.  Plus, I get to have coffee and meals with some of great people!  I’ll try to update throughout the weekend on how things are going.

Anyway, fun stuff.  Oh, FYI, I will also be covering topic #1 (from a bit of a different angle) in one of the seminars at all of the CollegeLeader Regional Training events.

As American’s we love things to be black and white.  We may not want to admit it, but the phrase, “it’s just the way it is” can bring us a real sense of comfort.  When things are that simple there is a certain amount of satisfaction we have.

It’s the ambiguous that often rubs us wrong.  It’s the “gray” areas we don’t like.  If we can’t fully understand something we get frustrated.  Instead we like categories and systematics because it helps us feel like we understand.  Not that this is bad, but it is interesting when you think about it.

Yesterday I taught on a passage of Scripture that is clear, yet provokes questions.  It’s simple, yet serves as a catalyst for intellectual gymnastics.  I taught on Ecclesiastes 3:1-15.  Much of the passage can be summed up in verse 11b: “Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”

This passage articulates the fact that God has given us a certain amount of intellectual capacity to grasp the idea of “eternity.”  But this capacity has limits…and intentional limits.  The passage clearly states the purpose of our intellectual limitations: so that we will not fully understand.  hhhhmmmmm?

Interesting, is it not?

Working with college-age people – who just so happen to be in a stage of life where they are trying to figure everything out – this can be helpful.  College-age people often think they can solve debates that have been going on for thousands of years.  It can be healthy for some thought to be put into looking into these things, for sure.  But maybe we can also help them embrace the fact that they can never fully understand…because that’s the way God designed us.

 In addition, maybe we can help them better by not trying to make everything SO simple.  I’m all for understandable, but maybe we can also help them understand the fact that they won’t be able to understand EVERYTHING.  Man, talk about going against every cultural bone in our body…

But this is Scripture, is it not?  Scripture does give us insights into who God is, but this passage also let’s us know we’ll always fail to fully grasp how God works in our lives.  Personally, I think when we try to make God so simple and understandable that college-age people shy away from the Church.  When they grow up in the church learning everything as black and white and then enter the abstract world of the college-age years things change.  What they learned as black and white all the sudden become gray.  Maybe this passage can meet them where they are in that struggle to make sense of some of their thought processes…

A guy just sat down next to me.  He graduated from university of Portland in December of 2007.  Nice guy.  We got to talking a little about life.  He works part-time for Adidas, but is looking for something “full-time.”  Until then he works, hangs out with friends, and comes here to return emails and “surf the internet.”

I’m constantly reminded through these types of conversations that college grads, more than ever before, often are left lost when it comes to direction.  At 23 years old he still refers to himself as a “kid.”  His life revolves around social interaction with friends.  He is fully embracing this new found freedom he has.

30 years ago he would’ve been an anomaly.  Not today, that’s for sure.

Some get frustrated with no direction.  Some throw their hands in the air and just embrace every part of this free moment.  Working with people like this in ministry is fun, I think.  But watching people in midst of frustration is not at all.  This guy is enjoying life, but there is definitely parts of him that feels lost.  He even used that word.

People like him need us to be there, for encouragement and direction.  The conversation has started with this guy…he says he comes here a lot…I’ll make sure the conversation continues!