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Hoosier United Methodist News Archives
| Hoosier United Methodist News |
November 2001 |
Empowering event reaches 300 youth and leaders
By Patti Splitgerber
Hoosier UM News Correspondent
The organizing team behind "Empowering Youth and Youth Leaders: Leading a Generation" hoped to reach at least 200 youth and youth leaders. Over 300 showed up. "The overall expectations of the planning team was more than surpassed," said Teresa Witkoske, Christian education director for the North Indiana Conference. The North Indiana Conference-wide training event was held at Oakwood Park in Syracuse Oct. 6.
One reason cited for the success was the fact that the event was owned by the very people it targeted. Youth and adults alike all took responsibility for various pieces of the program. The original idea came from the youth who serve on the Conference Council on Youth Ministries. The Rev. C. Jack Scott, coordinator for the group, took the idea to Witkoske who ran with it.
Nationally known youth ministry speaker, Duffy Robbins, was the keynote speaker for the event and led one workshop. His presence was a major draw. "But, we had quality leaders from right here in our conference. And that's reassuring," said Witkoske.
The bulk of the schedule was made up of various youth ministry workshops. Participants could choose to attend three topics. Robbins' keynote, as well as a panel discussion fielded by five youth from the CCYM group, was held in their own time slots to allow everyone to attend.
Robbins stressed the importance of youth peer discipling. He called on leaders to nurture the youth, but he called on the youth to multiply themselves. Drawing a parallel between cattle farmers and youth leaders, Robbins concluded that "Farmers don't make cows. Cows make cows." He went on to explain that the farmers are there to nurture the cows.
During the CCYM panel discussion, youth spoke about choices. Admitting that demands on their time is stressful, they spoke about prioritizing and making sacrifices. They also urged leaders to make youth ministry relational and to spend time talking with the youth in their groups.
Several fun surprises dotted the event. The Rev. Chris Danielson, associate pastor at Muncie High Street UMC, received a standing ovation for his tongue-in-cheek liturgical dance which gave directions to the workshops. A Friday night praise jam brought a crowd of about 100 to their feet with lively music.
"From the sampling of those who returned evaluation forms, one hundred percent of the people say we need to do this again," said Witkoske.
Last updated on 01/14/2004