Wonderful time at Youth Specialties in Nashville

  I am heading home today after being at the wonderful as always Youth Specialties Convention here in Nashville. I taught this year about theological topics to address with youth prior to their graduating. Having been a youth pastor for many years and then transitioning to young adult ministry, I have learned some lessons I didn't quite grasp while I was serving specifically with youth. The seminar I taught was why I believe we need to  teach youth about some of the tougher theological issues while they are still in high school. So when the graduate, they perhaps won't be caught off guard when they go to college and not know how to respond to varying viewpoints that they will discover and be challenged with.

I started by stating that I was working off the assumption that youth leaders are foremost teaching youth about their primary questions they are asking about how they are loved by God, and their identity and belonging is with Him and about life in the Kingdom and the 2 Greatest Commandments that Jesus taught (Matthew 22:36-40).  After I gave that introduction, I then taught that I feel there are three critical theological topics that I believe we also need to be teaching about for teenagers to at least begin to understand before they graduate.

The first one I stressed was to be teaching on the importance of being able to address the trustworthiness and inspiration of the Bible, having a sense of how it was formed and put together, knowing what "inspired" means, and how to think about problematic passages and basic biblical hermeneutics. I recommended Scot McKnight's book "The Blue Parakeet" for youth leaders to read as it challenges us to think about how and why we view the Bible as we do - which is a very Important thing to think about. So youth aren't sucker-punched in the post-high school years when they become aware of weird passages or challenged about the Bible. They are prepared in advance.

The second issue that I suggested that we need to adequately prepare teenagers to be thinking through how to view and respond to world faiths and pluralism in a thoughtful, intelligent, and heartfelt way. Again, prepping them to be aware of the kind of questions and challenges that will inevitably arise and they will have to wrestle with.

The third topic I shared that I feel is important to adequately address with youth before a high schooler graduates is teaching about human sexuality and marriage. Not just about whether one should have sex before marriage or not. But a holistic look at human sexuality. This is such a huge, huge and complex issue in so many ways. I suggested that we teach teenagers to be able to begin getting a grasp of what the "covenant" of marriage is (Malachi 2:14-15). Also that we go beyond just a surface level on how we teach on homosexuality by usually quoting a few Bible verses in isolation and then ending it there. How we need to be intelligently teaching more in depth about why we believe what we do and examining the entire biblical narrative in regards to sexual ethics and God's design. We must create a loving and safe and trusted culture in our youth ministries (and churches) so youth have trust to talk to leaders as they grapple with sexual issues. Leaders must set the example of how to be loving and compassionate about this. But at the same time, confidently and sensitively teaching what we know from Scripture.

This issue is obviously heightened right now and I get asked often about my view on marriage human sexuality with the attention in California there is with Proposition 8.  I did share my viewpoint again, as I taught on Saturday. I shared what I wrote in the book They Like Jesus But Not The Church. But I will explore this further in another post soon. But when I do post about it next, I am going to be sharing an interview I did just two days ago with a friend of mine in Santa Cruz. I'll include the whole interview when I post on it, But part of what she said is:

"For most of my life I have been romantically and sexually attracted to other women. That would make me exclusively gay in my sexual orientation. I tried (very hard) to change my orientation to heterosexual for many years, but was not successful. So I stopped trying to change."

My friend grew up realizing she is attracted to the same sex since her youth. As a young adult, she did get involved in same-sex relationships. But she then went and did a thorough and exhaustive research and study in the Scriptures on the topic of human sexuality. It was because of her study in the Scriptures she then chose to stop and refrain from acting upon her same-sex sex orientation. She remains celibate and does not pursue gay romantic relationships because of what she believes the Scriptures teach. She has read and studied all the more recent Scriptural arguments for pro-gay theology, and she doesn't feel they are strong (she will explain why, but it is pretty much the same reasons highly respected scholars like Scot McKnight and the late Stan Grenz don't either). I also personally teach and believe the same as Scot and Stan Grenz does about this and am thankful to them and so many other scholars who have written books with detailed biblical, cultural and grace-filled studies on this.

My friend will share more about her story and why she believes Scripture guides her to not to act upon her same-sex attraction. I will post the full interview when I blog about this and then she will be joining in on the comments section where you can ask her specific questions. We will  try and have some dialogue if we can through the comment section. I think her voice is important as you will hear from someone who this is a very real issue to them.

 So human sexuality was the third topic I suggested we teach at a deeper and more compassionate level in the pre-college years if we aren't already. It could be a special class for high school seniors as they prepare for graduation or taught to all the high schoolers in approriate times and ways. But those are the three things I suggested.

I also taught another seminar with my dear friend Lilly Lewin about experiential worship yesterday. With learning styles that are diverse, how we can teach Scripture taking into account various learning styles and also how different people express worship differently. It was a lot of what we covered in the Sacred 
Space book that we wrote together and was just released a few weeks ago.

I did get to go to the Grand Ole Opry while here in Nashville. It normally is in some new fancy complex, but they are holding it right now back in the original Ryman Auditorium downtown here where it started. It was quite fascinating. Felt out of my element for sure at the Opry. Cowboy hats kind of scare me for some 
reason too and there were plenty of cowboy hats there last night. But I was glad to experience what is a major historical tradition in the country music world.

I also got to catch up with my friend Marko last night (whose new book Youth Ministry 3.0  has quite a buzz about it going and I got a copy and look forward to reading it this week). And after we hung out, I went into the main general session where the 5,000 youth workers were all gathered. I had a moment as I  scanned over the crowd it was quite overwhelming. As I was looking over the crowd, I was thinking about all the teenagers that are impacted and influenced by these 5,000 youth workers. How each person in that large crowd last night took out time, money, energy to be at this event for the sake of youth. How so many youth workers are often the lowest paid staff person, or only hired part time yet have a full time job in reality. Not only the paid youth leaders, but the thousands of incredibly devoted volunteers who sacrifice time, prayers and energy for youth. The Youth Specialties Convention feels like an annual 
homecoming event each year for them to be inspired, encouraged, refreshed, stretched and worship and pray together. But I just was overcome a little looking at them all and knowing the challenges of youth ministry and all the more challenges in today's world. Katie and Claire are only 6, but I prayed for whomever the youth leaders in their lives will be one day.

I fully know parents are the ones who are responsible for the spiritual development of our children, but youth leaders play an incredibly important part of youths lives. As I scanned the crowd I prayed for them and thanked God for those who serve with youth. If you are reading this and a youth worker, I respect you highly for the commitment you make to the gospel and teenagers. And if one of you ends up being Katie and Claire's youth leader one day, I will try and be a helpful parent who supports you and prays for you - but please just don't wear a cowboy hat as they make me feel a little scared and If Katie and Claire see you as a role model they may want to wear one too.