Youthworker Academy 2014

May 2-4, 2014 
Lake Poinsett Camp

Living Waters Retreat Center, Arlington, SD

(Video Conferencing available at: Bismarck, ND; and Rapid City, SD, for Sat. Sessions 1-3 only)

Batteries Not Desired: Youth Ministry, Social Media, and Christian Relationality in an Age of Networks

Social media, text messaging, and other forms of technology-driven interaction are changing the way adolescents and young adults craft identity and find community. Together we'll explore changes to adolescent understandings of personhood and social connection, and consider opportunities for a faithful response by youth ministries.

Keynote Presenter: Andrew Zirschky

Andrew is the academic director at the Center for Youth Ministry Training in Nashville, Tennessee, and will complete his Ph.D. in practical theology at Princeton Theological Seminary this spring focused on youth and young adult ministry. Ordained in the Church of the Nazarene, he has 18 years of experience as a youth and college minister and has been named a Timothy Scholar by the United Methodist Foundation for Evangelism. He currently resides in Spring Hill, Tennessee.

Cost:

$65 for workshop at all locations. Sat lunch on your own at video conferencing sites...snacks provided). 
Additional $100 for lodging and meals if attending at Lake Poinsett Camp
(For those staying the second night...breakfast and lodging are on us!). 

Only Online registration accepted at www.dakyouth.com Deadline: April 21



Youth Ministry focused Cokesbury Bookstore at the Lake Poinsett Site.

Schedule and Workshop descriptions (all times listed are Central Time):

Friday, May 2, 2014 (Bonus Workshop 1 at LPC only)

6:30-7:30pm Registration at LPC

7:30-9pm Workshop: Beyond Doubting Alone: Engaging the Wavering Faith of Youth in Doubt

Research shows a majority of Christian youth doubt their faith, but few ever talk about it, leaving teenagers to doubt alone. In this workshop we'll consider practical ways to journey alongside youth who are doubting their faith.

9:30pm Evening Devotions/sharing

6:30-7:30pm Registration at LPC

7:30-9pm Workshop: Beyond Doubting Alone: Engaging the Wavering Faith of Youth in Doubt

Research shows a majority of Christian youth doubt their faith, but few ever talk about it, leaving teenagers to doubt alone. In this workshop we'll consider practical ways to journey alongside youth who are doubting their faith.

9:30pm Evening Devotions/sharing

Saturday, May 3, 2014 (LPC + remote sites in Rapid City, SD, and Bismarck, ND for workshops)

9:30am Session 1: Beyond the Moth Myth—In this session we’ll look at how youth ministry has misdiagnosed teenagers’ love for all things digital by assuming they’re simply drawn to things that plug-in and light-up. Rooted in empirical research, we’ll explore the relational longings of teenagers that actually stand behind their ravenous appetite for social media.

Noon: Lunch

1:00pm Session 2: Anxious Youth in a Networked World—In this session we’ll consider a theologically grounded response to networked individualism, a new cultural configuration that drives teenagers’ love/hate obsession with social media and increasingly undergirds the kind of relationality that all of us pursue.

3:30pm Session 3: Communion Beyond Connection—In this session we’ll consider how churches and youth ministries might enact our calling to “be communion” rather than merely sites for making better relational connections. We’ll explore some practical principles for helping churches invite young people beyond the network into an incarnation of the Body of Christ.

5pm Closing (with remote sites)

7:00pm Q and A – hanging out with Andrew (LPC only)

9:30pm Worship

Sunday, May 4, 2013 (Bonus Workshop 2 at LPC only)

8:30am Breakfast

9:15am Workshop: “Herding Cats”

In this session get some really practical tips for dealing with groups that can get out of control, too wild, too loud, or otherwise.

Note: This session may be moved to Saturday depending on how many folks can stay until Sunday AM. We will be flexible!