Professional Youth Minister Series: Intro

Grace builds on nature. So if you are paralyzed by 347 emails you haven't read, lack vision, creativity, or focus in your youth ministry, or just need some motivation to get back to work, welcome to the club. This series is about working on our nature and becoming a professional youth minister so all that grace has room to build.

I've been a Director of Youth Ministry for the Catholic Church going on three years now, and I know nothing at all.

But I have come across some things that have helped me a great deal, and I think if you are a youth minister you could use these things too. I've also realized that half the battle is having the right attitude and mindset. Its easy to get sucked into the stereotypes and not expect much (or expect too much) from yourself.

Youth Ministry is hard for the same reason working from home or being an artist is hard. Often there isn't much accountability or feedback. Its hard to make things in a world without many rules. Its easy to get sucked into the world of relying on the Holy Spirit to save you from the talk you're preparing last minute or a thing you haven't planned or a semester pissed away on Facebook. Its easy to develop an unhealthy lifestyle as a youth minister. I've been there. I talked about my burn out a lot in my confession type post.

I'm going to be focusing in this series on figuring out how to become a better youth minister. I'll be sharing things that helped me stop wasting so much time in the office while telling the world that I'm soooo busy because youth ministers work soooo much. I'll also be focusing on some simple tech tools, books, and resources that I wish someone would have showed me years ago. Things that helped me organize my thoughts better, organize my work better, do better ministry, and be a healthier person in general.

CAVEAT: I will not be focusing much on the spiritual aspect of being a youth minister, being in ministry, praying, etc. There are lots of other places on the internet that do that way better than I could. I'm assuming you pray everyday. I'm assuming you realize that God doesn't need you in this ministry. I'm assuming that you realize just being more productive will not make you a better minister unless it is coupled with grace and God's will. I'm also assuming that you don't want to be the dodge ball guy or the stereotypical goofball youth minister. I'm not here to hold your hand, I'm here to kick you (and myself) in the pants. When I want to talk exclusively God and other things besides being a professional youth minister, it will be on this website but not part of this series.

You can see all the articles in this series by clicking the "Professional Youth Minister" series category tag on the right --->

If you want to get these articles in your email, enter your email address in the sidebar.

Why We Love the Catechism [Video Podcast]

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/89812204] Why is the Catechism important? Who should read it? Check out this new video/podcast with a familiar face....

Nulla Magna

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Coffee Interviews: Lay Evangelist Michael Gormley

[youtube=http://youtu.be/QWiKj8oohm4] Coffee Interviews is a series of video interviews I hope to bring back to this blog. Here's a blast from the past to enjoy.

Today I got to speak with Michael Gormley (AKA Gomer) about his life as a "sort of" full time lay evangelist. This guy's sharp and knows his stuff. He gives some great insights and this hour interview is jam packed. Click read more to see the show notes.

Topics Covered

Gomer's Background and How His Ministry Started The New Evangelization as Middle Ground The Needs of Modern Man Missing the Personal Element of Evangelization Studying Comedians to Learn How to Engage Modern Man The Best Way to Introduce Modern Man to Life-Changing Discipleship Changing People in the Pews, Not Just Politics of the People Christian Morality as an Art of Living Advice to Those Discerning a Call to the Public Ministry of Evangelist The History of Lay Ministry

Various Schtuff Mentioned

layevangelist.com youcatholic.com Research on the Average Spirituality of Teens in America (Moral Therapeutic Deism) Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity Dedication and Leadership by Douglas Hyde Back to Virture by Peter Kreeft The Christian Philosophy of St Thomas Aquinas by Etienne Gilson

"Lay people also fulfill their prophetic mission by evangelization" Catechism #905

"And he gave some as apostles, others as prophets, others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers" Ephesians 4:11

The Greatest and Bestest Pen In The Whole World

You'll never need another pen. He'll never let you down and always make you feel like what you are writing/working on is important. Giving people the confidence they need to be smooth and creative. Get more schtuff done. Throw away all the crap BICs you own. I love my Pilot G2 10.

things I'm scared of

drowning

being hit by an oncoming truck swerving out of its lane

failing

my son dying

my dad dying

giving everything i've got and still failing

death

giving everything i've got and failing people who i love and respect

the things i do that aren't who i want to be

jesus

the way i act when i'm on the phone with my bank's automated system with speech recognition

being misunderstood

loving people too little

being loved too much

knives

the sound my back makes sometimes

how much i care about appearances

being sappy

alcoholism

writing this list

confrontation

not facing what im scared of

what are you scared of?

Reverb Culture Launched!!!

It's been awhile since I've written here, and for good reason. One of the most exhausting and stress inducing things I've ever done is finally out in the public. And I couldn't have done it on my own.Over the past several months, myself and an awesome team of Catholics have been talking, praying, working, and arguing about a project that is the result of a simple idea: What if we created a community of young adults striving to live out the Catechism in a wild and real way?

I've been blown away by the support, positive reactions, emails, tweets, and encouragement this project has received. Its been a huge undertaking, one that I have been nervously hiding from people for too long. The fear of rejection or the weight of self criticism can be stifling.

We launched ReverbCulture.com this past Saturday, after already gaining a small but punchy email list following (thanks all you early adopters!). The day before and day of the launch, I probably put in around 20+ hours total into the design/content of the site, with the help of a bunch of great people. I was worn out. Just a few hours after we launched, we threw an online party, the Epic Launch Party on google+ hangouts. It was live and recorded (you can watch the hour of epic awesome here) and a bunch of people showed up. It was such a blast and such a joy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JX9r_XyeGO4&feature=share]

We gave away a catechism and a book, had tons of laughs, people from Puerto Rico, Hungry, a postulant from a religious order, and all over the US showed up. I can't say enough how much fun it was!

You can learn more about Reverb Culture on the website, I just wanted to throw it out here ad let you know what's been going on recently. I would love to hear your feedback and would be overjoyed to have you become part of this strange thing called Reverb Culture.

We have some blogs coming out, podcasts, interviews, videos, and tons more in store. We are in this for the long haul. Praise God for the opportunity to share our love of the Faith in this fun way.

I'm tired. Talk to you later. ;)

+JMJ Edmund

The Catechism Movement* Secret Sign Up List

So a quick update.

I have gathered together a dream team of Catholics to help me with this super sweet project that has been weighing on my heart for the past two years.

The super good news is we are skipping the kickstarter campaign and getting right to the creating. Basically I realized that trying to raise money to fund this project is just another way of me putting it off. I don't want to tell you too much just yet about it, but I do want to let those of you that have been following me here join ahead of time.

Okay fine, I'll tell you a little more about it. Think of it as a most epic Catholic movement. Not just a website, but a community. A community of people doing epic things with the catechism. Culture, community, and credo collide to bring you a melting pot of awesomeness. The expression of a bunch of young adults giving their all to the Catechism, Jesus, and the Church, and figuring out how to do it better by living a life that is beautiful, compelling, and authentic to the entire faith.

Okay okay. I gotta stop. I don't want to ruin the surprise!

But surrrriously. If you are interested in hearing more and getting involved, we'll be sending out a few updates here and there so sign up to the mailing list and I'll keep you in the loop. You'll hear the details about the website and the launch before anyone else.

Keep us in your prayers. We'll talk to you soon! AMDG

Click here to check out the coming soon page and sign up to the email list.

Exciting Announcement!

In order to keep myself accountable, ensuring that every Saturday morning I am actually working on this, I want to tell you about a HUGE project I am working on with a few other holy souls.

Right now it is just called the catechism movement, but it is an idea I have been praying about, studying, reading, writing, and talking about for almost two years.

Part sexy website, part community for the counter-cultural, part dream team of Catholic evangelists, right now I am finally putting it all on paper (virtually) in a pdf manifesto that will hopefully be complete for limited viewing in the next two weeks. I'm also in touch with the USCCB (no one wants a copyright lawsuit...) and beginning to ask a few people to roll up their sleeves and joing me in creating this beast.

Once the manifesto is finished I'll be sending it out for review and asking more people to get involved. So pray for us and help me stay on top of this! Here is a rough timeline:

• Dec. 9, 2013 - the catechism movement Manifesto Finished and Select Viewing
• Late February 2014 - Kickstarter Campaign Launch
• October 2014 - the catechism movement Big Launch

If you don't hear anything by Dec. 9, you have permission to fill my driveway with cool whip.

+JMJ November 24, 2013 Feast of Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe

Pope Francis Approves of Rugby

Pope Francis met with the head of FIFA and the managers and players of rugby teams from Italy and Argentina today. Pope Francis took the opportunity to talk about the superiority and spiritual benefits of rugby (and not soccer for obvious reasons), because well, its the best game ever. I played rugby in college for a few years and agree whole heartedly with the Pope's reflections. I approve.

Here is a link to the article I found with the most quotes from Francis' private audience. If anyone can find the complete text or more quotes from the audience, let me know.