40 of my closest friends got on a plane

So we wrapped up our conference of youth pastor's from the largest United Methodist Churches in America. These churches all average over 1200 in worship over a weekend. We had 40 of the 100 invited who came to Church of the Resurrection for the gathering.

We began with a challenging message from my Senior Pastor, Adam Hamilton, of who we are as United Methodists and what role we can play as Youth pastor's of the largest churches in raising up the next generation of ministry leaders.

After sharing in some desserts and conversation we began moving into "business" discussing such topics as; staff structure, team building, org charts and leadership by gifting, discipleship, mentorship, recruiting and equipping of both adult and student leaders. The discussions were insightful, positive, and inspiring for each of us involved.

Some new connections began and this event will continue next year with another church hosting. I am excited to have been a part of "birthing" this idea. it is really great to sit down with other leaders with similar settings in ministry.

Two cool moments....The first would be that one of the participants, Steve Cragg, long time Youth Pastor at Memorial Drive UMC in Houston, TX was celebrated for raising up Dave MaGee, our own High School minister here at Resurrection. The second was Kirk Dana from First UMC in Lakeland, Fl. He has been in full-time youth ministry for 36 years!

Check out UMYouthPastor.com, Jeremy Steele from Christ UMC in Mobile, AL has begun this resource sharing web-site!

God is Good!