KID CHURCH
    Recently, on the CBS reality show Kid Nation, the young citizens of Bonanza, took on the subject matter of religion.   The show opens with two young women walking with empty buckets to the water pump.
   One asks the other, “Do you think God put us here for a reason?”   After an initial response, the girl with the question states that “The problem is, I can’t figure out my reason."
   Young people are thirsty for the reasons God have placed them into the world.   Remarkably, many also seem to have been able to find their spiritual wells.
   The Barna Group, which provides research for Christian ministries, indicates in a recent study that about three-fourths of teenagers say that they pray in a typical week.  About half attend a weekly worship service at a church - this is at a rate which surpasses the attendance percentages of adults.   About a third of young people attend some form of religious education program/ “Sunday School,” youth group, small faith group, and/or read the Bible.
   The town council of Kid Nation is guided by “journal entries” purported left behind from the previous citizens of Bonanza- a ghost town where the community failed to thrive. The journal congratulates them on feeding themselves but wonders “Have you taken time to feed your soul?’
    When the town council rings the bell to gather the citizens to a previously announced community worship service, they end up asking the question, “Where is everybody?”  No one responded.  Yet, later that same day, a campfire is built and a young women, Morgan, walks throughout the town, extending a personal invitation for folks to gather around and pray.  The young people’s prayers include “Bless us and keep us safe” and “Thank you for our friends.”
    Young people are thirsty to connect in with the Spiritual. They are seeking the “something more.”  Our young people are not unlike the Samaritan women who encountered Jesus at the well. (John 4: 4-30)  Jesus offered great insight to her, yet she sought more, the Messiah.  Jesus professed “I am He” and promised “living waters.”
     Our challenge as a Catholic faith community is not to be found wanting or dry by young people. Unfortunately, we can often believe that just by the mere effort of attempting youth ministry, we should find them streaming inside our doors and yet we disappointedly find ourselves asking “Where is everybody?”
     It should not take a reality show to remind us to ensure that our own internal fires are lit, that we need to gather young people by personal individual invitation, and that young people long to quench the desires of their heart to know God and their life’s purpose.   In Catholic youth ministry, this is not found only in the songs, or the games, or the warm and friendly environment.  Our efforts with young people “should be guided by their need to hear the Gospel proclaimed, to pray and celebrate the Holy Mass, to form a Christian community, to live the Christian life, and to serve the needs of others (#61, A, 5, National Directory for Catechesis)
     As Kid Nation continued, there was the ubiquitous “reality tv” competition between teams.  Beyond the reward of status with chores for the individual four teams, there was an incentive challenge as well.   If the young people accomplish their tasks within the time limit, they are presented with a choice of prizes: an 18 hole miniature golf course or a library of religious books, including the Bible, Torah, and Koran. The show’s host characterizes it as a choice “between instant gratification and spiritual purification. . . . between holy books or hole in one.”
     By a significant majority, the town members vote for the holy books. Just as the show began, the young citizens of Kid Nation knew that they were spiritually walking with empty buckets.  Their choice for the holy books also indicates that they knew where they might find “living waters.”  [youth ministry]

YOUTH MINISTRY FUTURE 
    Marko posted this question in his own site:
    "help me think about this.
  i’m working on my closing general session talk for the national youth workers conventions (first one is in san diego, next week!). and i’ve decided to talk about youth ministry: past, present and future. i’m hoping this will be an affirmation of how the collective of youth workers have reflected culture in good ways and bad ways as we try to live out our calling with teenagers, as well as a vision-y nudge toward our collective need for change.
   i’m trying to find a few words to best describe a preferred future, and would love thoughts from anyone.
   i have a handful of variables i’m using to describe where we’ve been, where we are, and where i hope we can go. but i’m having trouble landing on a few important words for the future:
   First question: if youth ministry past was “proclamation-driven”, and youth ministry present is “program-driven”, what’s our hopeful ‘driver’ in the future? my first thought was to say “kingdom-driven”. but that’s SO broad, and requires quite a bit of theological unpacking to be meaningful. i am considering “missionally-driven”, which also requires some unpacking (i’m not talking about taking missions trips, but about helping teenagers live into our present calling to be active participants in god’s kingdom work, here and now, with the assumption that that ‘practice’ will form a lifetime of praxisy faith that will sustain them long after they’re in youth group). ooh, maybe “praxis-driven”? ha, look at me, using all P-words. rick warren would be proud.
   Second question: if youth ministry past was focused around key themes of EVANGELISM and CORRECTION, and youth ministry present is focused around key themes of DISCIPLESHIP and POSITIVE PEER GROUP, then what would be the key themes of this preferred future? a brainstorm of some of the word-themes i’m considering: COMMUNITY, MISSION, KINGDOM, JOURNEY, CALLING, HOLISTIC, FLUID. i want to be careful not to merely use buzz words, which some of these could easily be.
   whatcha think?

My posted response:
   Marko-  Here’s my take (for what it is worth)
   FIRST: Youth Ministry future shall no longer be “-driven” but claim the driver’s seat.  
   Specifically, it is time to drive the church into her/our future.  We have the message (proclamation), we’ve programmed the message (even with intentional purpose, greetings Rick Warren), but has the message been transformative?  I know that we all might be weary of Barna’s and Soul-Searching’s challenges regarding our ministry, but……
   The proclamation and the program of youth ministry need to be our entire churches. It’s gonna hurt the ears of those ecumenically minded and especially sound dissonant coming from a YS stage, but perhaps now is the time to stick inside our own walls of doctrinal faith, and begin to transmit to “spiritual but not religious” young people and adults alike the message, values, theology, and the uniqueness of being Lutheran, Baptist, Mormon, Evangelical Methodist, or Roman Catholic.
    SECOND:  The word, therefore, is communion.
    The theme is what brings and keeps us together, what feeds us, and how do we image Christ throughout the world, both individually as well as corporately (as church.)
    As potentially divisive as the first answer just sounded, we can only come to a greater appreciation of each other after having fully owned what is ours.  Our societal discomfort with the seemingly extreme nature of Islam is that we no longer have sense in our mainstream faith the radical nature of Catholicism or the reformative nature of Protestant churches.
     We’ve been attempting to impact the head (cognitive), hearts (affective), and hands (behavioral) of young people. Perhaps it is time to begin to aim towards their feet - - - giving them a (spiritual) home in which to attain maturity in faith, to which to call upon throughout their lives, and from which to “go out and make disciples of the nations.” [youth ministry]

REAL BEAUTY
   For my daughters and the women in my life, "you're beautiful, it's true." Anyway, click for more info on Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty.  [youth ministry]

PERSONAL UPDATE II: RESOLUTION
   This blog has been in existence for over three years…  but it really kicked it up a notch in with the 2007 new year. Part of that was:
Ø       a resolution/ commitment to post on a daily basis
Ø       a resolution/ commitment to podcast on a weekly basis.
   Since then, I’ve added little series of posts like on Confirmation and “the States of Youth Ministry.” And then, in another level of insanity, I started to attempt to slideshare “First Up” webinars each month.
   I remember when I was posting three or four items daily in February. People were impressed with the output then, wondering where I found the time to do it.  
   This bad boy has been built up to level that, while I truly believe serves the field of Catholic youth ministry, is no longer serving me and my life.  Blogging is a form of a spiritual practice for me, but c’mon… moderation in all things.
   The move from offices to cubicles has demanded restructuring my work life and patterns.  There has been considerable tossing of the clutter surrounding me.  YOU, dear reader, are not a part of that clutter.  However, how I continue to minister within this venue needs some restructuring- - -
   So, new resolutions:
Ø       While I will attempt to continue to post daily, there are no apologies (to self or virtual community) for not doing so.  
Ø       The transfer from office space to cubicle living must impact “Inside the Youth Ministers’ Studio.”  I can no longer close the door, put the phone on the intercom, and record a interview. I now have four work mates that are less than eight feet away without walls and doors. Any future interviews will be done face-to-face. Since we don’t have folks visiting our diocese every week…. the weekly Wednesday schedule of the podcast, which has been difficult to maintain for the past months, is also discontinued.  You’ll get them as I get them.
Ø       “First Up”….  What…..? Are you kidding me?  What was I thinking?  I have enough 'live' presentations (in the diocese as well as three outside the diocese in the next two months) to prepare, let alone attempting to set up power point and audio for a monthly schedule of presentations…. This doesn’t mean I won’t continue to do them…, but just when I have the moment, time, and intention.
    Whew!  Don’t know about you, but some self-imposed weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
    Meanwhile, might I invite your prayer support for all of us in Catholic youth ministry?  May we each continue to establish good boundaries, clear that which clutters our lives, and seek to be more effective on our ministries.  AMEN.   [blogging]

PERSONAL UPDATE
    OK, I'm a little blocked on blogging right now. On a day that celebrates a man of simplicity, life is a tad too complicated right now. 
     There is a seasonal change occurring in life right now.  The Youth Contact meeting/ Created to Love/ secret project have now all fallen from their branches.  Today we moved from our offices to temporary cubicles for a five month floor renovation. Yesterday, we joined our boss, Dr. Ron Valenti as he mourned the loss of his father. 
    All this, and I have a rare moment of not having all that much in my reserve "tickler" file. This "hobby" seems a tiche overwhelming for the first time in a long while. Tomorrow is the first full day in cubicle-land, I'm resting throughout the weekend. Hope to be posting back up soon.
     In the meanwhile, thanks for checking in. [blogging]

INSTILLATION
    I celebrated by staying home and watching the new boss on EWTN. Looks like he'll be all right, so I am showing up at the office today.     [work day]  
FIRST (NOT) UP
    Sorry for the delay - - attempting to get it right rather than on-time (in making a deadline that only I have set.)   [blogging]
CONFESSION COMEBACK
    Time magazine suggests that Catholics are tired enough of America's no-accountability culture to make the rite of owning up appealing again--as long as it involves, he adds, a "spirit of gentleness." A campaign Archbishop Wuerl ran in Washington DC this past Lenten season--dubbed The Light is On for You--made confessions available on Wednesday evenings as well as the traditional Saturday afternoons. Priests were instructed to create warm and well-lit atmospheres at their churches. Read more here    [church]
THIRTY DAYS OF EVANGELIZATION: DAY TWO
    Today is the Feast of the Guardian Angels. Www.americancatholic.org suggests that “perhaps no aspect of Catholic piety is as comforting to parents as the belief that an angel protects their little ones from dangers real and imagined. Yet guardian angels are not just for children. Their role is to represent individuals before God, to watch over them always, to aid their prayer and to present their souls to God at death.”
   Today, please remember to join us in our prayer for evangelization at 3pm and when you see young people in your neighborhoods, on buses, or in stores, please also pray for their parents who watch over them and guide them.
  Loving God, Through the ministry of your son, Jesus Christ, you showed us the pathway of discipleship.
  Make us models of your Gospel in action that by our words and deeds young people may be inspired to lives of justice, holiness and love.
  Renew our dedication to the entire church especially the young church of Baltimore.
  Strengthen us to be evangelizers in the world today.
  Glory be . . .   [evangelization]

FIRST UP:
FOUR C's OF CATECHESIS
    It will be posted first up this month, just not first up this morning. [slideshare]
UNIQUE PRIVILEGE I
    Archbishop O'Brien begins his service in Baltimore today.  Last night is a prayer service for the archdiocese's priests, nuns, deacons and seminarians, he knelt in front of the tomb of John Carroll, the first archbishop of Baltimore, in the Basilica of the Assumption's crypt. He has called his new position "a unique privilege," given the history of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the first diocese created after the American Revolution. He said, "I cannot imagine a better place to inaugurate my ministry among you than at his tomb and in this historic basilica, where so many of the decisions that shaped the lives of generations of Catholics were ratified," the archbishop said in a homily last night. Read more here.   [church]
UNIQUE PRIVILEGE II
    Over the weekend, former Inside the Youth Ministers' Studio guest (07/04) and son Clark Miller and I co-directed a parish's confirmation retreat. What a good day.  [friends & family]
THIRTY DAYS