Owner: The Over-Educated Youth Pastor URL:http://michaelferber.authorweblog.com Join Date: Fri, 28 Sep 2007 20:06:15 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: The Over-Educated Youth Pastor discusses topics important to youth ministers from the perspective of an author who triples as a Youth Minister, Adjunct Professor of Geography, and Lecturer on Urban and Regional Planning.
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Outcome-Oriented Youth Ministry 2007-10-09 09:20:00 Photo: Discussing ministry at FUMC with Pastor Gary Shepherd (left).
In my last post I discussed the importance of listening to youth, and at the end of the post I suggested that it might be a good idea to start listening to parents and staff first. I have come to this conclusion based on years of ... Read more:Oriented
, Ministry
Existing Conditions: Listening to Youth 2007-10-08 07:53:05 (Picture: G.T. playing "Chubby Bunny" last night before our parish World Communion Sunday event. Can "Chubby Bunny" ever fail?)
The five groups of stakeholders I believe it is critical for a youth minister to listen to include teenagers, parents, volunteer youth staff... Read more:Listening
Narcisissm 2007-10-22 09:00:29 This week I am beginning a new series of posts on narcissism in youth ministry. By narcissism, I do not mean the personality disorder, which is a professional issue. Sites like the MayoClinic and Narcissim 101 do a good job of particularizing this disease. Instead, I plan to discuss approaches...
Logic Models in Search and Rescue 2007-10-19 15:57:12 Jake was found yesterday afternoon in Dolly Sods, and the entire state of West Virginia is celebrating along with his family. As I try to get back to my theme, I cannot help but filter the subject of planning in youth ministry through the broad lens of emergency operations planning and the specific ... Read more:Logic
, Search
, Rescue
The Search for Jake 2007-10-18 13:16:31 Yesterday I traveled to Dolly Sods to try and help find Jacob Allen, who has been lost in the wilderness since Sunday afternoon. He does not have food or water, and time is running out. "Jake," has a severe case of autism, which is described quite well in the Moose Droppings bl... Read more:Search
Search and Rescue 2007-10-16 23:41:46 I am leaving in just a couple of hours to join the rescue efforts for the autistic boy lost in the Dolly Sods Wilderness. The stories I related last month of getting lost planning a Rite of Passage trip and again doing wilderness pre-marital counseling both happened in the Sods. I can't ... Read more:Search
, Rescue
Logic Models, part 2 2007-10-15 15:02:42 The logic model worksheet above comes from the University of Wisconsin Extension Office, which has an excellent site dedicated to the subject, including many logic model templates in a number of computer applications and a free course. As you can see from the diagram, a logic model is just tha... Read more:Logic
Imagine Your Death 2007-10-28 13:50:56 Friday I posted some reflections on this week’s lectionary reading from Luke 18 and 2 Timothy 4. In the service this morning, Dr. Shepherd took the I Timothy passage and developed a message about priorities and faithfulness. He used a wonderful exercise from Habit #2 of Stephen Covey’s S... Read more:Imagine
Tim Schmoyer Rocks! 2007-10-27 10:21:30 Tim Schmoyer, author of the Life in Student Ministries Blog, has some gifts and callings that can greatly assist the rest of us serving in youth ministry. I stumbled upon his work while trying to get acquainted with Facebook this week. (Yes, it is pathetic that I am just now getting around to Facebo... Read more:Rocks
Narcissism and the Lectionary 2007-10-26 07:43:59 For the first time this week I went to our county ministerial association’s weekly lexicon discussion. I mentioned this group a few weeks ago and commented on their deep sense of purpose to minister to one another through encouragement and community. I am the only youth pastor who attends, and...
Is Youth Ministry About The Youth Pastor? 2007-10-25 08:47:46 A few weeks ago in The Just Another Pretty Farce Blog Katherine Coble clearly illustrated her frustrations with narcissistic youth ministry. She states, “When I was growing up, most of the youth ministers I encountered were guys who had some sort of arrested development thing going on. They go... Read more:Ministry
, Pastor
Narcisissm 2007-10-22 09:00:29 This week I am beginning a new series of posts on narcissism in youth ministry. By narcissism, I do not mean the personality disorder, which is a professional issue. Sites like the MayoClinic and Narcissim 101 do a good job of particularizing this disease. Instead, I plan to discuss approaches...
The Pleasant Word 2007-11-01 11:07:00 Yesterday I pledged to share about my experiences thus far in my self-publishing endeavor. My motivation for this stems from a request made by my publisher, Pleasant Word, to provide some feedback for use in marketing. I am happy to do this, and thought I might as well throw it up here on the blog i...
Why Self-Publish? 2007-10-31 06:32:53 In the last few weeks a few people have asked me why I am self-publishing my book instead of going through traditional channels. One even made the argument that with my resume as a previously published author, an instructor at two reputable institutions of higher learning, and nearly three post-grad... Read more:Publish
BLANK-driven Youth Ministry 2007-10-30 03:33:40 Joshua Griffin recently posted a blog in the PDYM network that agrees in spirit with my last month’s worth of blog posts, but still manages to frustrate me to no end. Titled “Blank-driven Youth Ministry
,” the post outlines five potential foundations on which a youth minis...
Catechism, part 2 2007-11-03 10:49:53 Yesterday I mentioned that catechism can be used effectively in youth ministry, especially for short-term knowledge-based outcomes. Outcomes involve the hard questions about what you actually want to accomplish in your ministry as a whole, as opposed to what you would like to see happen on a particu...
Catechism and Strategic Planning 2007-11-02 08:48:12 In the Over-Educated youth minister blog I’ve been working on a long series about strategic planning in youth ministry. I’m not alone in thinking this is a significant point of deficiency in our work (see youth ministry tips, for instance).
I have already walked through some of th... Read more:Strategic
Incorporating Catechism in Youth Ministry 2007-11-07 13:02:39 This week in the Deep Thoughts Blog Gerrard Fess laments the “Pop Quiz Theology” of our culture as highlighted in bumper sticker theology. In the post, he mentions the importance of “Mystery,” a subject about which I have written extensively in Pomo Timmy. I am intrigue... Read more:Ministry
Catechism Quiz 2007-11-06 10:57:22 Here is a short quiz to see how well you and your youth know some basic catechistic texts. Do you need me to provide the answers?
Please put the appropriate letter next to the appropriate text:
A. Quote from the Ten Commandments
B. Quote from the Apostles Creed
C. Quote from a...
Final Critique of PYM 2007-11-15 08:23:48 Here is the end of my critique of PYM where I introduce the philosophy of critical realism:
Part 1
Part 2
Critical realism takes seriously the epistemic fallacy described above and treats it as a critique of both modernism and postmodernism. A critical realist would argue both focus too much on ... Read more:Final
, Critique
Critique of PYM, part 2 2007-11-13 21:14:09 Here is part 2 of a 3 part series from a review of Postmodern Youth Ministry. I updated the text here and there for relevancy (or more appropriately irrelevancy - I am getting old!)...
Part 1
I write from the perspective of a ten (sixteeen) year youth ministry veteran who is also a PhD stude... Read more:Critique
Critique of PYM, part 1 2007-11-12 18:18:59 Six years ago I wrote a rather eloborate philosophical critique of the book Postmodern Youth Ministry that I never got around to publishing anywhere. I was going through my hard drive this weekend and stumbled upon the now slightly out-dated review. I was excited to find it because writi... Read more:Critique
Reborn to be Wild? 2007-11-09 11:54:49 It is interesting to observe what the secular world thinks of youth ministry. Occasionally something is said from an outsider perspective that crystallizes a metaphor youth pastors might otherwise be challenged to grasp. Trent, at the Youth Ministry Fertilizer Blog, recently posted “... Read more:Reborn
Spiritual Disciplines 2007-11-08 13:56:48 For the last few days I’ve been rambling on about the use of catechism as one of a few ways to structure knowledge-based outcomes in youth ministry. This discussion has transpired in the hope of avoiding some of the narcissistic tendencies in our work. Today I would like to introduce anot...
Gratitude 2007-11-20 08:45:34 Researchers have demonstrated the links between gratitude and health and, in light of this, I should be one of the healthiest guys on earth! Here are a few things I have to be thankful for this season:
- I have been reconciled through the blood of Christ and transferred from the pow...
Where to Begin: Local or Global Missions? 2007-11-16 11:47:27 In the next few weeks our church, and particularly the youth group, needs to make some major decisions about what we want to see happen missionally next summer. There are two very exciting options on the table.
1) When I worked for World Vision I had the privilege of visiting the Navajo Nation t... Read more:Local
, Global
, Missions
Rites of Passage, part 1 2007-11-26 07:17:19 Brian Eberly of 180 Student Ministries recently brought up the issue of Rites
of Passage on his blog after the parents of one of his middle school students asked him about the value of the concept. In addition to catechism and spiritual disciplines, I believe that Rite of Passage (i.e. maturity...
Phineas and Ferb 2007-11-24 04:42:29 For twenty-five years I have carried the nickname “Ferb,” but starting in “Ferb-uary” the name will have new meaning. Last night the Disney Channel aired a sneak peek of their new show “Phineas and Ferb.” Here is a quick description of the show from a Disney Socie...
Hysterical Sermon Blunder! 2007-12-01 17:28:10 This video has been around for a while, but it is worth repeating here. It is timely for me this week because I brought the message Sunday and made a minor blunder by mixing up the names of some of people in the congregation. I'm glad I didn't mess up as badly as this youth pastor!
If... Read more:Sermon
Rite of Passage, part 3: The Wilderness! 2007-11-29 06:58:00 Part 1, Part 2
The second “liminal” phase is considered the actual “ritual” of the rite of passage. This is an in-between time where the adolescent is no longer a child, but is not yet an adult either. My liminal phase consists of a five-day hike in the Dolly Sods Wilderness
...
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