YS Day 2

My day started off with a glorious cranberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese from Einstein's Bagels. And it just kept getting better from there. I love Shane and Shane. I haven't heard them recently but every time I do - I remember how much I resonate with their lyrics and love their music! And today was no different. It was amazing too because they were both sick - one with bronchitis and the other with an infected tonsil. And they still sound great!
Then Phyllis Tickle. She basically left us with a plea to guard Christianity and theology well because what we do with it will affect our faith for the next 500 years. Every 500 years there are HUGE changes within the church and we are in the middle of one now...our denominational differences and becoming more and more the same while at the same time some people within denominations are trying to hold onto what they know even harder. She asked us to remember that the people we are in disagreement with are still Christians. There was a lot more to this but that is how she ended. (You can a more thorough write up here and here) What struck me is that I am pretty sure that I work in a church(United Methodist) that is going to stay UM, it has no interest to change and does what it does really well. And then there is me. If you have never heard or read Phyllis Tickle - you have got to! She is incredibly smart and passionate...

I bought way too many books at the YS bookstore - I am a sucker for books. I even bought two books that I already own but have loaned out - so now I have more. :)

I spent the afternoon session with Rich Van Pelt in Helping Parents with teens in crisis. It was basics but basics that I think many youth ministers could use. I really appreciated that he gave us the story of the four friends that bring the paralytic to Jesus in Mark 2 as a reminder that parents and youth ministers aren't expected to do miracles but we need to work together to bring the kids to Jesus.

My Thinking theological class met for about 1 1/2 after the afternoon session to share 1 sentence about each session we have been to. The 1 sentence was supposed to be a theological "nugget" that we gleaned from the session. Harder to do than I thought it would be. 1 sentence!? I need a paragraph to explain...

I skipped Louie...and hung out with friends again for the evening...and now am getting ready for bed. I am meeting with Marko in the a.m. to discuss Meltdown 08 and just hang out. I am supposed to go to the backstage area and just ask for him - so hopefully I don't get lost! Ha.