Summer youth workers and youth ministry interns, let our pit crew help you prepare to shift your summer youth ministry program into high gear. And full-time and volunteer youth ministers, pull onto pit road for pit stops that will help you get more mileage out of your year-round programs.

Pit Crew (Special Guests):

Dr. Wes Black has been student ministry professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for nearly 25 years. He’s not only a professor and a researcher, but also a practitioner. Having served in the local church, he knows firsthand the needs, frustrations, and joys of youth ministry. He is a prolific writer and has had his hand in some of the most recent and strategic youth ministry research currently being conducted. He will be sharing exclusively the finding of his most recent research on “Lasting Faith Scale,” which summarizes findings on how youth ministry can focus for the future in developing faith in students that lasts and transfers back to the local church in young adulthood. He will also be leading sessions for our summer youth workers and interns.

Tim is the lead pastor of Crossroads Church (www.cafecrossroads.com), an innovative church in the Baltimore-Washington corridor. Before moving to the mid-Atlantic, he served several churches in Louisiana while earning a Ph.D. in Christian Education – Spiritual Formation. Tim has more than a decade of experience in student ministry at the church and parachurch levels. Tim is hopelessly in love with his wife, Tasha, and their three daughters, Elle, Zoe, and Ashton.

Chris Backert serves as the emerging church strategist for the Virginia Baptist Mission Board. He works closely with Baptist Collegiate Ministry to develop emerging church worship experiences that offer the gospel to those influenced by a post-modern/post-Christian culture. He also works to mobilize college students to be involved in strategic church-planting locations during college and upon graduation. In addition he works with existing churches in understanding their necessary role in reaching emerging generations, and to foster an awareness of the need for missional/emerging church plants among Virginia Baptists. Backert’s passion focuses on planting and re-planting churches, revitalizing existing congregations, and developing innovative leaders for the church. Before coming to the VBMB, Backert served as lead pastor of New Life Christian Fellowship in Blacksburg and as executive director of the Ecclesia Network. He has also held ministry positions as co-director of the E4 Project for Teleios, regional director of the Mid-Atlantic Division of Great Commission Ministries, regional coordinator for Emergent Ministries, and Community Pastor at Crossroads Church in Odenton, Maryland.

Additional conference leaders are veteran youth ministers currently serving Virginia Baptist churches: Stephen Gray - Westwood Baptist, Springfield, VA Tim Lipp - Smithfield Baptist, Smithfield, VA

Pit Stops (Breakout Sessions)

• Early Bird—Think Small to Grow Big!—effective use of small groups to grow your youth ministry
• Start Your Engines!—how to get your summer off to a fast start
• Youth Ministry in the Pits—tough conversations and dealing with conflict in youth ministry
• Pit Stop or Head to the Garage?—are we on track to produce a lasting faith in our youth?
• Checking the Track Conditions—informal gathering for fellowship, networking, and learning from each other
• Teaching Driver’s Ed—effective ways to teach students today
• The Big Race Picture—past, present, and future trends in student culture
• Involving the Whole Family in the Race—spiritual formation in the context of the family
• Mid-Race Press Conference “LIVE”—a panel discussion with our keynote conference leaders
• Mid-Race Track/Car Adjustment—dealing with difficulties and how to adjust your work when things aren’t going as planned
• Drafting Strategies—gaining leverage and learning from your youth minister
• Tear-Away Windshields—gaining a clearer vision for your summer youth ministry—a summer youth ministry that makes a difference
• Making It to the Checkered Flag—how to finish your summer experience well and close out the experience for you and your youth/leaders
• Working with Your Pit Crew—working and relating to your adult leaders, parents, and other staff

Race Times (Schedule)

Friday, May 30

Tickets (Cost & Registration)

• Cost for the SYMC is $65.00, which includes all sessions, lunch Saturday, a notebook, and complete outlines of ALL workshops offered at SYMC
  

To register online click here or to download the registration form click here and mail to:

Emerging Leaders Team (SYMC)
Attention: Ken Dibble
Virginia Baptist Mission Board
2828 Emerywood Parkway
Richmond, VA 23294

The $65.00 registration fee per person must accompany your registration to confirm your reservation.

Make checks payable to: VBMB.

Participants are to make their own lodging arrangements.
A block of rooms has been set aside under the Summer Youth Ministry Conference group name at Best Western, 7007 West Broad Street, Richmond, Virginia 23294, 804.672.7007 ; at a rate of $60 per room/per night. The cut-off date to guarantee this rate is Friday, May 16, 2008.

For more information check out contact Ken Dibble by email or at (800) ALL.BGAV, EXT. 2255