Necessity is the mother of invention. How often do you look at something and say, “WOW! That’s so clever! Why didn’t I think of that?” I do all the time. Just yesterday I was using my Swiffer Dust Wand and I marveled at the simplicity of the design and the fact that that little neon yellow wand has made the dreaded task of dusting actually kind of fun. We are consumers of fantastic invention and ingenuity, but there’s a part of me that hopes to be the ingenuitor (I made that word up) and inventor sometime. For the most part, however I- like most consumers lack the resources and time to invent and change the world, as it were.
WELL, for me that has changed a bit lately. You see, one of the first things I did as a youth minister was create a unique identity in the church and called it “Connect Youth Ministries”. It started as just the name of our little youth groups, but I soon realized there was potential for something bigger. For the past several years I’ve sort of fantasized about the ways that Connect Youth could serve the greater Kingdom; acting as a clearinghouse of ideas, curriculum, and resources for conservative Lutheran youth groups around the world. I really believe that the Lord has put me where He has for a specific reason, and I think part of it is to be a voice for youth ministry in the youth ministry void that is orthodox Lutheranism.
(To be fair, I fully realize why we Lutherans have historically not had a big emphasis on youth- because our schools were our youth ministries, but with more and more schools closing and more and more of our kids going to public school, a different paradigm is necessary.)
So how can Connect Youth accomplish this greater goal? Well, to start, it needs to provide some cutting edge materials for youth groups. For the past couple of years I’ve been knocking around this idea of creating a curriculum that is decidedly Lutheran and user-friendly so any lay-leader can run it. But it also is interesting, attention-getting, and most importantly relevant. I’ve been through a ton of materials in my tenure, and there is a lot of time-wasting fluff out there, but people go bonkers over it… ick. So I know what I don’t want it to be… Anyway, I needed a senior project, so I made this little curriculum endeavor my ticket to a degree. Long story short, people heard about this and now it has the potential to be HUGE… well, as huge as some DVD’s in the WELS, ELS, and maybe LCMS can be… regardless it is a HUGE amount of work, but jeepers the payoff could be something really special. Every person I talk to about this 1-get’s excited 2- has two or three GREAT ideas about it, and 3- offers their help and support. That’s the tell-tale sign of a need. Necessity is the mother of invention, and I’m on the cusp of at least one tiny step to starting to be a part of a beginning of a possible solution. I have no delusions of grandeur, only sheer giddy excitement over the possibility that I can get a bunch of our kids involved in making some fun and impactful movies and lessons based on the crown jewel of youth education in all of Christendom: the Catechism. (Luther’s Catechism, to be specific… none of that Agricola heresy :) ) It’s a pretty cool thing, and a responsibility I don’t take lightly.
Currently I’m on a mission to surround myself with as much support and as many perspectives as I possibly can. I need to assemble a team of people of which are like minded and have a shared vision. Finding such folks might be the hardest part of the whole project- finding people willing to give up their time is a feat, to be sure. The thing is, however, and what gives me confidence that it will work out is I am passionate about this and I know the need and understand the potential impact it could have… so if I can be passionate about it, can someone else can too… right? (that doesn’t really translate well on paper… it makes sense in my head, though, so don’t worry…)
Regardless, God is good, and I see Him opening a really big door in my life and career right now. I’m exhausted just thinking about beginning the task before me, but I’m super excited to see how it will all come together. I’m not sure where it’ll take me, but man oh man it’s going to be a fun ride!
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