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Unfortunately I don't have much time to write about yesterdays events, even though it was my favorite day thus far. The wireless internet was so log jammed last night that I couldn't even check my email, let alone post something here.
I had a one hour "personal youth ministry consultation" with yesterday morning, and it was fantastic. He helped me see that my current situation is very good compared to many other youth workers, and answered some smaller questions I had about specific things. We discussed how I could more effectively run the youth ministry at St. Mark, as the more abstract thinker that I am. Really good stuff. Mark, if you're reading this, thanks a lot... I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me.
After lunch I met briefly with and his wife, and we talked about youth ministry (duh), blogging and other stuff.
In the afternoon I went to a session called "What Youth Ministers Can Learn from Sociologists" with . His seminar blew my mind. He talked first about sociological perspectives on counseling and how the pre-Freud view of counseling valued reconciliation and community, while the post-Freud view values the self-actualization of the individal, or "save yourself" mentality. Later on he talked about the importance of ritual in religion and family life and then went on to answer questions for an hour or so. I have lots of notes and quotes from the seminar that I'll post later.
At the session w/Tony Campolo I met a youth director from the St. Louis area named . We talked for a while and he invited me to eat dinner with him and five of his ministry volunteers. Good times.
Finally, after the late general session in which Doug Fields spoke about "ministry envy", I went to a screening of Rob Bell's new DVD, Everything Is Spiritual. It's basically an 80-minute combination of biblical hermeneutics, explanations of , apologetics, scientific history, and jokes that somehow manages to be compelling the entire time. While I'm not sure all of the ideas therein would stand the test of scholarly scrutiny, they certainly make sense on a giant whiteboard.
