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As I attended sessions, spoke with others and participated in breakouts I noticed a common thread in several “shifts” in student ministry.

1. the Role of the Family in Discipleship
The subject of the family was talked about on more than one occasion. Student Ministries are slowly realizing that while they are important they can only do so much in regards to the spiritual maturity of teenagers. Mark Holman mentioned that after conducting a thorough study, Mom and Dad are two to three times more important than any church program when it comes to one’s faith as a teenager. The study also showed that the Mother first and Father second where the two most important persons in regards to the spiritual development of their teens…not thier youth group leader or pastor. Ultimately Holman argued for both building strong families and utilizing youth ministries. Bubba Thurman youth pastor at Lake Pointe spoke about the importance of the family and shared his story of once being defensive when first hearing the stats Holman shared. Thurman has since then been leading the way in adopting a practical approach to integrating the family in Discipleship. One of the resources Thurman’s church has developed was a center called home pointe which focuses on building strong healthy Christ-centered families and giving families a plan to do that. Thurman argued for a holistic approach to incorporating the family in the church instead of creating another ministry or program just for the family. He encouraged youth pastors to think of how they could inform parents of what students are already learning by sending home material and involving them in things like camp by doing a live-stream or podcast. Holman also suggested creating opportunities to inspire and equip parents to disciple thier kids from a very early age.

2. Spiritual Formation as a Process
Richy Fisher my friend and boss and Dr. Kara Powell of the Fuller Youth Institute spoke in great detail about a shift to approaching student ministry of growing souls and not so much about growing programs and numbers. Fisher spoke about the importance of looking at God’s scorecard when leading a ministry and seeing the results through His eyes. Fisher also pointed out that spiritual formation is not assimiliation but a move to focus on maturity levels and being Christ-centered. A Lot of what Fisher talked about was introduced from the reveal study done several years ago. Fisher has since then been developing processes for students in his youth group to move in this direction and using a language that can relate with parents and students. You can download Richy’s presentation here.

Powell focused on some research the fuller youth institute had done and looked at four components needed to developing what she called “sticky faith.” The “sticky faith” powell described is very similar to what Fisher presented as being Christ-centered in the reveal study. Below are the 4 components she developed that lead to spiritual maturity.

1. Leaders focused on Jesus
Powel,  a long time fan of relational student ministry urged youth pastors to look at this model and examine itself to make sure they were asking leaders to simply follow them but to follow them because they follow Christ… Powell wished she would have talked to students alot more about God than she did. In a relational ministry students will move on to college or something else after high school and youth leaders will no longer be there for students to follow them.
2. Kingdom Centered Justice
Powell talked about the importance of preparation and debriefing when doing service trips or mission trips. Creating opportunities for students to serve and to be the hands and feet of Christ allow students the chance to really use their faith and they want this. Service Trips were the number one things seniors waned more of when surveyed, not programs.
3. Intergenerational Youth Ministry
Powell spoke about allowing/encouraging students to be involved in the overall church instead of always segregating by themselves. The health benefits of working alongside adults and seniors has a tremendous impact of students’ view of the overall church.
4. Early Preparation
Preparing students for college as early as a year before instead of weeks is something Powell also recommended. She spoke about how many students wished their youth ministries would have helped them find churches and ministries to plug into after they left high school…. liveabove is one website she recommended.

Both Fisher and Powell spoke about processes and thinking with the end in mind and encouraged youth pastors to really look at what is truly important in regards to helping students develop in their faith.

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I rarely post youtube videos, however I stumbled upon this video that really resonated with me in my approach to telling stories in the church.

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I had the opportunity to attend the 5th annual San Antonio Independant Christian Film Festival this weekend. Being this was my first year to attend I did not know entirely what to expect.  A lot of people have asked me questions about the festival and were rather curious so I thought I would review the festival right here .

The Audience: I’ll be honest and say that I was shocked at the number of families that were at this event.  If you think about it though, this really is a great family event even if you aren’t interested in making films.  Letting your children see films that portray Christians in a positive light and letting them be exposed to a theological worldview through the medium of film can be a powerful learning experience. This may be the best field trip you could ever take your family to.
The Filmmakers: The filmmakers at this festival were made up of a broad array of storytellers. Several films were produced by families that joined forces.   One film was produced entirely by a church and some films were produced by individuals and even teenagers as old as 14 years.
The Bootcamp: While I didn’t get to attend the academy this year I heard that nearly 500 students and professionals gathered together to here from industry professionals that were paving the way.  The academy was held during the week, while the festival was held during the weekend.  The bootcamp is something I wish they had when I was in high school. Something of this caliber can be a great catylist for aspiring filmmakers who need some guidance and wisdom.
The Location: The festival was held at the Henry B Gonzalez Convention center and is located on the riverwalk itself….enough said about that….absolutely beautiful
The Workshops: I’ll be honest and say I only attend 2 sessions and out of the 2 sessions I attended I left halfway through both of them.  I think I would rather hear from some of the experienced film-makers talk about the making of their films or something really practical/tangible.

The Films: I had the opportunity to see 15 short films and 4 feature length films.  As a filmmaker and as a Christian I walked away from the weekend with alot of respect towards the people that produced these films.  I was blow away at some of the things that these filmmakers were able to do without a huge budget, crew or even professional actors.  With that in mind and being a fellow filmmaker I want to be honest and fair in the following critiques.

Feature Films:
1. the Secrets of Jonathan Sperry – This film was produced and directed by Rich Christiano. I went up to Rich later that week and thanked him for making a film that showed creative discipleship. This film was my favorite the entire week.  Shot on super16 the cinematography is beautiful and the casting was superb. This coming of age drama shows an older gentlemen creatively engage with middle school students as he shows them what it means to live the Christian life in a practical and inspiring way. Towards the end of the film we see the students take ownership and begin to lead by themselves. This film will open in theaters in September of 2009.  In my opinion every church that can afford to should help support this movie by sponsoring a theater.
2. Fireproof – produced by Stephen Kendrick of Sherwood Pictures. Stephen said after the film that if this film helps lower the divorce rate in America by just 1% this film will have helped countless families and children from having to endure the aftermath of such a thing as divorce.  After hearing that and hearing that Kirk Cameron volunteered for free to do this film I was blown away by the passion and heart behind these guys.  Kendrick shared with the audience how they would constantly be in prayer and would get theses God-ideas while shooting that ended up being their favorite parts of the film.
3. A Widow’s Might – This film was produced by Huemore Productions. Although I liked the film and enjoyed the overall story I felt this film fell short.  The plot was mediocre.  I struggle with this in my own filmmaking so I can’t say I’m not guilty of this.  Films that lack irony and that lack the ability for you to believe that the conflict is worth the conflict in my opinion lack a certain power that other films possess. I would have liked to see the widow packing up her things or having to live out of a car or something drastic for me to believe her situation was worthy enough to make a movie about it.
4. Pendragon – produced by two families I was shocked what they were capable of doing despite a budget and despite not being hollywood. While I did enjoy parts of the film I have to admit the acting was a hindrance to this film being truly great.

Short Films – Out of the 15 short films I experienced only a few of them really stuck with me.  There were several shorts and documentaries that lacked any cinematography and several films I kept asking myself how they even made it to the festival.  I was really encouraged by Crown Financials Vision to take short films around the world in similar fassion to the jesus film movement and impact poverty driven areas through the medium of film. Crown showcased three shorts and of the three the story of Abraham and Isaac was my favorite.  It reminded me of reading Kierkegaard’s Fear and Trembling and was stunning to see on film. I was also encouraged to see some of the films from Modern Parables.  These films make for great discussions and can be used in tandem with bible study material.  One of my favorite shorts this year was stained which was also the winner of the 168 hour film festival in LA. This short gives us a powerful metaphor of what its like to be in sin and then to be given new life.

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This weekend I will be heading up to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. The SAICFF is in its 5th year and this year Stephen Kendrick of Sherwood Pictures and Kirk Cameron will share with the audience about the making of fireproof.

Here are 4 things I hope to take away from the experience
1. see new and upcoming short and feature films that are being produced by fellow Christians
2. be inspired to puruse my aspirations to create short and feature films
3. connect with other film-makers who I might be able to colloborate with in the future
4. here from Stephen Kendrick on just how he focuses his church to create films

Will you be there?

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This year’s conference in my opinion looks like one of the best put together student ministry conferences in the last several years.

Speakers such as Francis Chan (Breaking Free From Complacency), Mark Holmen, Bubba Thurman (Connecting the Church and Home), David Kinnamen, Mark Matlock (Engaging Culture for Effective Ministry),  Scott Rubin, Kara Powell (Transformation that Sticks), Bill Hybels (Leadership Axioms) and Marcus Buckingham (The Truth About You) will all be there and will challenge us to the next level of where we are.

While at the Shift conference you will be able to attend 3 different breakout sessions with 14 options for each session. Okay I going to be bias and urge you to attend the following breakout session if you attend shift. C066 Developing Teenagers Through Spiritual Formation. In this session Richy Fisher, my boss and friend will help us discover what we need to do to assess spiritual formation in our youth groups.  Oh and I’ll also be there so come and say hi.

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