Princeton Forum on Youth Ministry

I got home yesterday from a great week at Princeton Theological Seminary. As I explained in my last post, I have been attempting to attend this Forum on Youth Ministry for several years and was finally successful. It was everything that I hoped and more.

First there is the treat of being surrounded by people who share the same passion for ministry and youth. Anyone who has ever been to a conference of any kind knows what I'm talking about - be it for work, a hobby, or any common interest. There something special about being with your "people." I met lots of great folks from all over, but spent the most time with the folks in the picture . Jen is the Associate Pastor at Second Presbyterian Church in Baltimore (right by the hospital that I spent so much time in back in the Fall), Brandon is the Youth Director at Woods Presbyterian in Severna Park (20 minutes from me) and Sara is a Youth Leader in Lawrenceville, NJ (so Princeton was her stomping grounds). We had so much fun together and laughed until our faces hurt. Jen has a memory like a steel trap. I was constantly amazed by her ability to recall where people were from (not just towns, but names of churches) who they worked with and sometimes who their predecessors were. Brandon is one of the funniest people I've met and he and Jen can not do anything without a cell phone in hand and sending constant text messages, Twitter updates and/or Facebooking. Sara is an amazing spirit. She has the voice of a soulful angel and despite having to deal with some very serious medical issues (which ended two lifelong dreams) she has a wonderful outlook on life.

Second, the workshops, lectures and extended seminars were full of insight, thought provoking questions and inspiration. I took -

• Freed to Lead: How to Relate, Delegate, Create - on Schedule! Kendy Easley
• Student Leadership: Panacea or Predicament? Mark DeVries
• Should I Stay or Should I Go Now: The Spiritual Discernment of Following Your Call Amanda Drury
• Lifecasting: Teens Fishing for Intimacy in a Sea of Technology Andrew Zirschky
• “The Mystery of the Gospel”: Discerning the Signs of the Times Douglas John Hall

And for my extended seminar I took A Preaching Life in the Spirit which was taught by Luke Powery. You can read descriptions of each class on the Institute for Youth Ministry's web site.

Everyone attended lectures by Obrey Hendricks and Andrew Root and we all worshiped together each day. Honestly the whole trip was worth it just to hear Emily Anderson's sermons. I can't wait to get downloads of them so I can re listen to what she had to say. The worship services were really great on the whole, but her sermons were fantastic.

While this was not a formal perspective student visit, I did get a chance to be on the PTS campus, see Princeton University, the town and surrounding area. This is definitely a school which I will be considering.

Lastly, it was just a great chance to get out of my normal routine, be in different surroundings and do a little relaxing. They had a nice big block of time built into the schedule on Wednesday with nothing happening so we could have some sabbath time. I spent mine getting some new shoes and then relaxing in my hotel room. I watched some bad movies on cable and restrung my prayer beads, which broke the day before I left.

I also managed to get pulled over by the NJ police although I committed no moving violation. The officer said he pulled me over because he ran my plates and that my registration is suspended in Maryland. This is news to me, since all my paperwork is in order and I have received no notices from the MVA telling me about any problems (I'll find out for sure when I call on Monday). I can't imagine why he would have randomly run my plates and kind of doubt that he actually did. My guess is that dreadlocks in a VW with political bumper stickers and out of state plates got me profiled. Perhaps he wanted to see if any funny smells came out of my car when I rolled down the window or if I may have been otherwise intoxicated. He seemed a bit surprised when he found out that he had pulled over a car full of youth ministers who were in town for a week of classes at the seminary (Jen, Brandon and Sara were in my car at the time). He was very nice and didn't give me a hard time (except for pulling me over in the first place). He gave me a summons, but told me that after I had straightened things out with Maryland, I just had to call a number on the back and tell them that I was out of state and I wouldn't have to come to court in NJ. So, we'll find out on Monday what the real deal is. If nothing else it provided one more thing for the four of us to laugh about and every siren that we heard for the rest of the week was followed with -- "Chris, they're coming to get you!"