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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"Ferb" preview 2007-11-28 07:22:10 The other day I mentioned the new Disney cartoon with a character based on my old high school nickname. Here is a preview:
More on Rite of passage coming soon......
Rite of Passage Stage 1: Separation 2007-11-27 15:59:27 In my last post, I discussed how Rites of Passage can be used to help adolescents make the jump from childhood to adulthood. While at Asbury Theological Seminary I took a class from Don Joy on Rite of Passage Trail-Camping and, just a few years later, began my own Rite of Passage backpacking trip i... Read more:Stage
, Separation
It's Stupid! 2007-12-07 15:48:11 I came across an interesting article through the The Ramblings On Blog: YPulse, a site for news and commentary about marketing to young teenagers, recently released a list of five principles for marketing ads to teens. Before introducing the list they mention a phrase that I have heard many times a... Read more:Stupid
The History of Youth Ministry 2007-12-06 10:04:19 Check out this video on the history of youth ministry created by the folks at PDYM for the recent Youth Specialties Conference. Warning: there may be a few historical errors...
... Read more:History
, Ministry
Rites of Passage, part 4: Transition 2007-12-03 06:56:24 Part 1; Part 2; Part 3
Perhaps the most important aspect of the rite of passage is the acceptance by the community of the new man. In traditional ROPs, Community support was an important component of the transitional phase because separation from familial boundaries created anxieties in the ch... Read more:Rites
Dealing With Disappointment 2007-12-02 07:23:38 Last night the unthinkable happened – The West Virginia Mountaineers lost to archrival Pitt in a game that was all but a guaranteed win. Most of us are still earliest stage of grief – denial. How could this happen???
This morning I changed my Sunday School lesson for my youth group, and... Read more:Disappointment
Breaking for the Holidays 2007-12-15 08:12:11 The Over-Educated Youth Pastor blog will be on "break" until the first week of January. During this time I will be finishing a chapter for a book on geography of religion, grading all of the finals from my courses, putting together the strategic plan for ministry at FUMC, preparing f... Read more:Breaking
, Holidays
Ministry Shootings Hit Close To Home 2007-12-11 13:00:20 The shootings in Colorado this weekend struck close to home here in West Virginia. One of those killed was the nephew of a former pastor of our church. The event is sobering, and forces all of us engaged in youth ministry to consider what measures we need to take to keep our children and youth safe.... Read more:Close
, Ministry
Cool Website: YouthRoots.Com 2007-12-10 16:42:21 YouthRoots.com is a faith-based social networking site where religious leaders and their youth members can co-coordinate activities, have discussions and communicate with one another. One of the new features on the site is an advent calendar designed for youth and youth leaders, which off...
Final Pomo Timmy Excerpt - Leadership 2008-03-10 09:24:20 This is the final of three excerpts from my book Pomo Timmy. If you want to read more, you'll have to purchase the book! :)
"Leadership
has always been a significant topic in the church, but the recent explosion of literature concerning this vital subject reveals its contemporary i... Read more:Final
Youth Ministry Position at FUMC 2008-03-07 08:23:36 My role as "Interim" Director of Youth Ministry
is nearing its conclusion at FUMC, and it is time to find the right person to take over this youth ministry greenhouse. I've got plenty of planned posts left until I take on my new role in Canada (more on this later...), but today I'd l...
Pomo Timmy Excerpt #2 - Mystery (of Godliness) 2008-03-06 14:06:15 A mystery in the New Testament is a concept which is beyond comprehension but available to believe. Another way of describing it is as a religious truth that is incomprehensible to reason yet knowable through divine revelation. A mystery is an ultimate reality that is impossible to fully grasp in th... Read more:Mystery
Pomo Timmy Excerpt #1: Introduction 2008-02-29 11:17:37 The following is an excerpt from the introduction to Pomo Timmy:
Iranaeus of Lyons claimed, "Error never shows itself in its naked reality, in order to be discovered. On the contrary, it dresses elegantly, so that the unwary may be led to believe that it is more truthful than Truth ... Read more:Introduction
Pomo Timmy Now Available!!! 2008-02-26 09:40:19 The long awaited release of Pomo Timmy is finally here! You can order your copy by clicking on the link to the right. ...
Metaphor Breakdown 2008-02-19 08:38:03 At some point every metaphor breaks down. I've been running with the metaphor of a youth ministry greenhouse, and it has worked well for many aspects of youth ministry. However, it breaks down in evangelism because the power of Christ transforms weeds into oak trees. Also, a greenh... Read more:Metaphor
Individual Assets 2008-02-15 09:07:48 While it is helpful to discover the organizational assets of a faith community, it is also important to help individuals understand their own strengths. Broadway Christian Parish United Methodist Church does this by asking people three important questions:
1) What three things do you do well&... Read more:Individual
, Assets
Asset-Based Community Development 2008-02-13 08:05:06 The Asset
-Based Community Development
book Asset-Based Strategies for Faith Communities states,
"Asset-based community development begins with the assumption that successful community building depends on rediscovering and mobilizing resources already present in the community.&nb...
Sufi in the Greenhouse 2008-02-08 13:02:58 Last week (before I was trapped for an entire day in the Toronto airport - with the Spice Girls - while flying home from Edmonton) I shared a story related by John McKnight with a moral that posits ultimate wisdom is found in the local community rather than from an expert. This ...
Off to Edmonton! 2008-02-01 11:29:52 For the next few days I will be in chilly Edmonton
Alberta, Canada at the King's University College. So, there will be a slight hiatus in the blog until I return late next week. At that time, I'll delve more deeply in the Sufi story I shared in my last post......
Successful Youth Ministry Idea: March Madness! 2008-03-13 12:13:26 This weekend our parish is going to try a lock-in I had a lot of success with in 2003. (Warning - part of my silence on the blog is the phenomenal amount of work that goes into this event!) In fact, Group Magazine actually published an article about it! Here is what they shared:
L... Read more:Ministry
, March
, Madness
, March Madness
How to Pull Off A March Madness 2008-03-21 11:36:55 Last week I shared about my crazy idea to do a MarchMadness
lock-in in 2003 - and my even more insane idea to try it again last week as a multi-church parish-wide event. It was AWESOME and I have finally recovered enough to coherently pass along the details so you can try it yourself.
First,... Read more:March Madness
Working with students in poverty, post #1 2008-03-25 15:48:54 Over the course of my fifteen years in youth ministry I have consistently worked with children and youth in poverty. In my first paid role in the mid-1990s I worked in a rural setting in Kentucky where half of my students were the children of rich tobacco farmers and the other half were children of ...
Working with students in poverty, post #2 2008-03-28 10:12:35 Find post 1 HERE... Situation #2:
In the late 1990s I entered into a ministry setting in which a young child was accidentally scolded to death in the tub by a grandmother. The family was a block away from my church and another daughter (not the mother of the child) occasiona...
Poverty #4: Some helpful poverty blogs 2008-04-03 09:16:31 The Confessing Tiger shares about Fuller Seminary’s Curriculum on poverty developed for World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine
Chris comments on some reflections on youth ministry and poverty from Tony Campolo
The Just Life blog breaks down the Christian Community Development Movement
A g... Read more:helpful
Working with students in poverty, #3 2008-04-01 15:40:23 To read the beginning of this series on working with students in poverty check out post #1 and post #2.
For my third situation in which I failed to bring trnasformation to families in poverty I'm going to reiterate a post from September of 2007 that originally fit into my "How not to do y...
Jayakumar Christian on Poverty 2008-04-04 09:49:36 For many years I had a somewhat unilateral, materialist understanding of poverty. I saw poverty only in the dimension of the financial and neglected to recognize the structural, spiritual, relational, emotional and even intellectual dimensions. I once felt that if those of us w... Read more:Christian
, Poverty
Poverty and the Kingdom of God 2008-04-15 11:43:35 Last year when I worked at World Vision Appalachia our executive director, Ruston Seaman, interpreted poverty experts Jayakumar Christian and Bryant Myers by summarizing the circumstance of the poor into two general concepts: the poor have a marred identity and the poor lack purpose. ... Read more:Poverty
, Kingdom
Youth Workers Wake Up! 2008-04-22 10:18:31 Wake up youth workers! We are in a global food crisis, and we who work with youth have a voice to do something about it. But, are we?
The Rethinking Youth Ministry Blog has a great post with questions about how to address issues of global poverty beyond an annual 30 hour Famine. Somehow ... Read more:Workers
Pomo Timmy Receives First Review! 2008-05-02 21:19:36 The first of what will be many reviews of Pomo Timmy is in! This one is by Anthony Horvath, an author who operates a Christian Apologetics website. Check it out at SntJohnny.com!... Read more:First
Blog Hiatus 2008-05-16 07:28:42 You've probably already figured this out due to my silence, but the Over-Educated Youth Pastor Blog is on a bit of a hiatus as I transition to my new role as Professor of Geography and Director of Environmental Studies at the King's University College in Edmonton, Alberta. When the blog picks ... Read more:Hiatus
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