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Changes coming

Some major changes are coming to the YOUTH VANGUARD. Stay tuned…

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Dave.

Preaching Christ Crucified

The National Youth Ministry Convention 07 was lots of fun! I met some great people, was reminded of some incredible truths and have been challenged to trust in God and not myself. There were just under 500 people at the convention and it was exciting to meet so many who are passionately proclaiming Jesus in their context.

The convention closed with a time of communion. The organiser, Stephen Parker, closed with a clear reminder of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was an encouraging time – however the cross of Christ was not given the centre stage throughout the whole conference as it ought. I think that it is helpful to get speakers from different backgrounds, but there were some who share a different gospel and ought not be part of this conference if it runs again in the future.

I said it elsewhere, but what was missing most from the conference was the gospel of Jesus’ death and resurrection for sins. A pastors conference ought not be an evangelistic rally, but as the troops are brought in from the battlefront, they need to be equipped and reminded of what really matters. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul outlines that which is of first importance:

3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

Australian Youth Ministry needs leaders who will preach Christ Crucified to a dying generation.

NYMC Live Blog Summary:

• #1 – Live Blogging
• #2 – Getting here
• #3 – Josh Griffin
• #4 – My Place on MySpace
• #5 – Thanksgiving
• #6 – Josh Griffin Podcast
• #7 – Tim Hawkins and trusting God
• #8 – The danger of assumptions
• #9 – Forge and the emerging church
• #10 – The Skit Guys
• #11 – Duffy Robbins
• #12 – Tony Campolo
• #13 – Graham Stanton

Did you go? I’d love to hear your reflections…

NYMC07 – Live Blogging

I’m at the National Youth Ministry Convention 2007. As the only ‘youth vanguard’ representative here I’ll be doing some live blogging over at my blog.

(Click here for some live blogging I did at a youth convention at the start of the year)

Ultimate Reality – an evangelistic night at Crossfire.

Last Friday night, Crossfire had its first evangelistic night – “Ultimate Reality”. It was part of Annandale Community Church’s ‘Start the Ultimate Relationship’ week, and was a great night.

Here’s how we planned what we did on our night:

1. First step was choosing the Bible passage for the evening. Although we had a groovy name for the event, a funky theme (Reality TV) plus great games and decoration – first up was working out what we wanted to teach from the Bible. So often, youth (and even church) events are planned the other way around. A theme is proposed and then the Bible is made to squeeze around an inflexible program, and so the ‘big idea’ that the kids take home is fashioned before the Bible is even opened.
We decided that more than anything, we wanted to take these kids through Luke 15, to show them that God loves them. He loves them and goes out looking for his lost children like the woman does with the coin, like the shepherd does with his lost sheep, and like the father does with his lost son. We decided that we would focus primarily on this last story – the prodigal Son.

2. With the Bible passage chosen, the rest of the night could flow from there. Next question was: What overall shape should the whole night take? As we read through the passage, it was clear that the story of the lost Son could easily be re-created into a reality TV show. There were a few other suggestions – but reality TV is something that youth get – and it looked like it could be a lot of fun.

3. We wrote a script for a TV show in 3 pre-recorded segments, which would be supplemented on the night with live interviews on a ‘rove’ style set. The TV show was about a son ‘Nick’ who was challenged by the producers of the show to demand his inheritance from his parents and leave home in order to win his freedom. Like reality TV shows, our video contained pre-recorded interviews with (fictitious) friends and family, and reflections from the protagonist on his actions – they’ll be up on youtube soon.

4. These segments were broken up with games and activities and challenges – some loosely tying in with the theme, others not. We wanted to have time to meet and relate with newcomers as well as teach them about God. These were delegated to be organised and run on the night by a leader who was not required to be part of the ‘TV’ part of the night.

5. The video was filmed, edited and put on DVD with automated stops at the right places – to keep things technically smooth on the night.

6. The room decoration was delegated to someone who had read the script and understood what was happening. They brought in a lighting kit, big screen, couch, coffee table and posters and P.A.

7. We wrote the text for invite/postcard ad and then sent it to our graphic designer who came up with the final piece. This was letterbox dropped to the entire suburb along with the other mission advertising, as well as given to regular memebers to invite friends. We had more guests from personal invites than we had from the letterbox drop.

That was pretty much it. Any questions or comments?

Evangelism Strategy Part 1

CCECYOUTH has a 5 pronged evangelism strategy. I’m currently re-working some of our strategy material. But at the moment, here’s a quick sketch of the gear:

• 1) FRIENDSHIP EVANGELISM – We want our teenagers to know the gospel, seek to live the gospel and share the gospel with their friends in whatever way they can. We equip them in at least 3 ways: Two Ways to Live, The Jesus Bridge, Telling your Jesus Story. The first two tools are more about understanding the gospel than how to share the gospel. The 3rd is about giving your testimony.
• 2) FRIDAY’S ARE FRIENDLY – We want any week of youth group to be a good week to bring a friend. We recognise that outsiders are present each week – we want to present the good news of Jesus every week. We also don’t want to use insider language and jokes all the time – we want to speak about Jesus often and clearly and in a way that’s not boring. Friday’s should be fun!
• 3) DOUBLE UP ONCE A TERM – While any week is a good week to bring a friend – one night a term we have a night where the talk is specifically geared toward someone who doesn’t know Jesus. The aim is to double our numbers on this night. We haven’t yet done that, but this year there have been many non-Christian teens come on those nights.
• 4) FOLLOW-UP SMALL GROUP – We’ve got 2 follow-up courses called simplyJESUS. The junior youth material is similar to Tim Hawkin’s Discovering Jesus (God, Man, Jesus, Jesus’ death, Our response). The senior youth material is based around the two ways to live structure.
• 5) WEEK LONG MISSION – Currently we run a week long program in January – this is a heightened period of bringing friends along to events that we put on for juniors and seniors. The juniors program runs closely with our family mission in the mornings. Seniors runs a bit more independently in the evenings at a local hip youth centre (very cool space!).

What do you think? Would love to hear some feedback as I rework all this stuff.

In the end – we want our teenagers captured by Jesus. That honours him. And they are going to be far more effective at evangelising their peers than I can be by handing out flyers in the local high schools. (Note to self – get rid of Christian school so there are more Christians in gov’t schools!)

If you don’t know what I mean by the gospel… check out this.

Invitation

Below is some info about a conference we are hosting this coming weekend. You are more that welcome to attend! coast youth REVOLUTION is all about living radically in response to the good news of Jesus.

You don’t have to be from the Central Coast to attend! If you’re planning on coming – come! If you’re bringing a group that needs somewhere to sleep on the Friday (and Saturday if need be) contact ccecyouth@gmail.com and we’ll organise billets.

coast youth REVOLUTION* conference 2007

coast youth REVOLUTION* radically changed by the goodnews of JESUS
3 great speakers | 2 great bands | 1 incredible GOD

coast youth REVOLUTION* conference
Friday Sept 7 – Saturday Sept 8 AD2007

Erina Centre (next door to library @ erina fair)

SPEAKERS: Andrew Heard, Paul Dale & Dave Miers

BANDS: Running Home & Revive

Workshops

When you understand the cross of Jesus… it radically changes everything. Join us on our first coast youth REVOLUTION conference as we look at JESUS and learn how to… LIVE THE REVOLUTION

PROGRAM
FRI PM: 7-10pm (program @ 8pm)
SAT AM: 830-3pm (program @ 9am)
SAT PM: 3-6pm (activities & hang time)
SAT PM: 6-10pm (dinner 6pm, program 7pm)

Fri 7-10pm & Sat 830am-10pm

COST = $25 (or $10 per session) Bring some $$ for lunch + Arvo activity (Activity price range $0-$15)

BILLETING AVAILABLE
Contact info@cyrevolution.com or
Dave & Row Miers 4322-2107 to arrange

www.cyrevolution.com
myspace.com/cyrevolution

Download flyer for photocopier (100KB). Download postcard (1.8MB)

The Gospel and Teenage Culture

I gave a talk to a bunch of leaders at a mission training day a couple of weeks ago. The aim was to think through how we reach teenage culture without compromising on the timeless gospel of Jesus’ death for our sins.

The Gospel and Teenage Culture (mp3)

How do you preach the unchanging gospel in your context?

Double Up

Hi all, just thought I’d tell you that Liz and I (Tim) had a baby girl last Saturday! Way cool. And, Steve and Penny (Steve is another contributor to the Vanguard) also had a new bub on the very same day! Double way cool.