World Health Day Activities

April 7th is World Health Day. It's an opportunity for everyone in every community to get involved in activities that can lead to better health. 

This video explains why the first 1000 days of a child’s life is so important:

Nearly 7 million children under the age of 5 die each year from causes that are preventable and treatable – like malnutrition, malaria, and lack of proper immunization. 200,000 women die yearly due to the lack of proper care in pregnancy and childbirth. It doesn’t have to be this way.

World Vision Youth Canada is pushing the Canadian government to ensure maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) remains a key priority, so that all children have the chance to live Beyond 5.

What can your youth & YA group do to help?

Check out yourmovement.ca/beyond5  for free resources you can download to run activities like: Skip A Lunch, Celebrate Your 5th Birthday Again, 30 Hour Famine and more.

About me: I live a pretty simple life... trying to love God and treat others as good as myself... I epically fail at this but mercifully God loves me anyway... different cultures inspire me... the outdoors is my passion... I'm pursuing my MDIV / Masters in Counselling at Tyndale... I spent 22+ years in the skate / snowboard / entertainment / marketing / retail industry at the executive level... led the charge at West 49/Billabong for 12 of them... I've worked in youth ministry leadership roles for more years then I can count.. after many moons in the corporate world I switched to the dark side and am currently the Manager of Youth & Student Campaigns at World Vision Canada... but more then anything I love giving my heart to mentoring and helping youth! #lovelife #dreambig #keepitreal #socialjustice #jesusjustice I/T @cindymielke  facebook.com/cindymielke

What I Learned about Youth Ministry while in Film School

Here's the "Readers Digest' version of a long story. I've been in youth ministry for almost 30 years. After the first 4, I went to film school and thought God had finally showed me what he had for me in his kingdom! Nope, I was wrong... so back as a youth pastor in a church.... why did God take me off to have that experience and training?  Watch this and you'll see.....

Dave Brotherton was a youth pastor from 1984-2006 and now teaches youth ministry at Ambrose University College in Calgary. Dave is also the National Youth Guy for the Alliance churches in Canada, the director of Legacy Youth Conference, and a junior high volunteer in his church. Dave is married to Lisa and they share 2 of the greatest kids in the world. Fishing, camping, and cheering on the Leafs are some of his favorite things. 
twitter: @oldbrotherdave

Top 12 Signs You’re a Youth Minister

Courtesy of APeX Ministries, here are the 12 top signs you're a youth minister.  Enjoy!

12.  You've responded to the question, "How did the event go?" with "No one died."
11.  You've had pizza for dinner 5 nights in one week.
10.  Your boss refers to you as, "The one who plays with the kids."
9.    You've felt like a failure because you can’t play the guitar.
8.    90% of your wardrobe consists of conference and work camp t-shirts.
7.    Your daughter can’t do her multiplication tables but knows all the hand   motions   to "Awesome God."
6.    You’ve used the phrase, "I don’t want to see any purple."
5.    You have 400 paper plates in your office, but can’t find a writing utensil.
4.    You’ve been asked the question, "What are you going to do when you   grow up?"
3.    You’ve responded, "I am never going to grow up."
2.    You’re always asked to say grace because “You are the professional."
1. You LOVE the work you do!

Clayton Imoo is husband to Gail and father to sons Sean Isaiah and Jacob Isaac and daughter Kayla Marie.  He has served as the Director of the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vancouver for the past ten years, helping parishes develop their own youth and young adult ministries.  When not doing ministry, Clay enjoys spending time with his family, playing music, playing sports, playing naptime, and writing blogs on topics such as family, faith, and the Vancouver Canucks.  Learn more about him at http://www.claytonimoo.com or follow him @claytonimoo      

Two keys for working with people

I recently returned from a cross-cultural experience with teens. Trips like these always provide students (and leaders) with valuable memories, opportunities for conversations, growth and potentially life-changing experiences.

This is one of many different trips that I've been a part of in the youth ministry world over the years. Each time I've travelled to a different country, experienced a different culture, or have simply taken the time to be present with a group of people I've noticed that there are two primary values (keys) that drive connection: a place to belong and someone who believes in you.

These values aren't limited to culture, context, age or gender. They simply exist because they speak to the core needs of humankind. So if these values happen to be the root motivators for connection, what does that mean for us as leaders who work with people? I'm not an expert in this material at all, but I would suggest there are some key shifts that may need to take place in the systems and communities we leaders create.

A place of belonging. There are numerous articles written by people who are much smarter than I am on this particular subject matter. Here is one of my favourites written by a friend of mine, Mr. Mark Oestricher.

The question that belonging answers is "where do I fit?" If the communities, activities and environments we help create answer this question for the people we hope to serve, then we are on to something. But, what if the reverse is actually true? What if the sub-culture we've created is based on something other than acceptance and love and polarises people rather than embraces them?

Can you believe different and still find connection with those around you? If we foster a place to belong we value and embody love ahead of anything else.


Someone who believes in you. Every single person who is in existence, has existed or will exist in the future needs someone who believes in them in their life. Someone who comes along and speaks hope and life into you at a dark place in life. Someone who has your best interest in mind in the way the speak to you and interact with you. Someone who isn't willing to see the dark side of our human nature overshadow the hopefulness of the image of God that exists in every human being.

Without someone who believes in us, we may never find the strength to persevere through tough times or the hope to carry on when things don't seem to make any sense. What if having someone that believes in us is a literal matter of life or death? No one can walk through life alone, nor should they believe the lie that says they have to. Do our ministry efforts foster a culture of belief and hopefulness through the exchange of respect, honour, love and admiration?


Do you agree with these two ideas? What would you add or subtract from this conversation?


Jason has lived in Calgary, Alberta Canada since 1995, and been a youth pastor since 2001. He is married to the love of his life, Bonny, and together they have three incredible children: Saydie, Cannon and Deklon. Jason possesses a desire to see youth, parents and families become who God created them to be through loving and living like Jesus. He currently serves on staff at Centre Street Church in Calgary. He loves hockey, playing guitar, writing and creating environments and opportunities where others can realize their potential in Jesus while experiencing the full life He promised to those who follow Him!

Be Awakened: The Cause for Women

“Really?” Would have been my response if you had told that Sr. High girl who was often mistaken for a boy because of her height and that really bad hair cut, that one day she was going to be the organizer of a girl’s conference. I remember I was timid back then. I was a good Christian kid who never stirred the waters. My friends asked me why I was so nice, and I just smiled not having a clue of how to tell them about Jesus. God is really into the transformation business. I say all of this because I never would have imagined myself in this position. Today I am the founder of a non-profit organization called Young Women of Power fighting for the causes of young women with deep seeded conviction. I can feel it, every day this conviction for the Cause of women gets stronger and stronger. I can’t hide it. For those who’ve only known me since I’ve been involved with Young Women of Power, I HAVE NOT ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS! I am so focused, like the eyes of a lion locked onto its prey. Friends buying me books such as Lioness Arising or sending me the movie Girl Rising, and watching women of wonder in my city like Connie Jakab inspiring me to be W.I.L.D. and a Culture rebel for God’s kingdom in big ways. It’s changing me. The girl in her 20’s who was passionate about everything where is she?  What happened? And how did I get here? Is God shaping me into a feminist? Would he do that? I remember the day when God woke me up and turned my commendable-church Christianity into a culturally dangerous one. This is the story of how I got here and founded Young Women of Power.

It was October 2007; I was a volunteer youth pastor at the time. I was sitting in my car with one of the core teens from my youth group. She was pouring her heart out as she shared with me about the events over the past couple of days after her sister age 20 or 21 at the time had been raped by two co-workers. My heart sunk. This was a family of 5 girls Jodi, the sister she was talking about being the oldest. This news was disheartening because Jodi just regained the courage to ride the transit alone. You see in 2006 Jodi was sexually assaulted almost a year to the date of this new incident. Tears strolled down my face as I listened to her sister tell me the story of what happened. I was disturbed and had heard this story before, it is like perpetrators know exactly who they can take advantage of. It was uncanny; it was literally a couple days shy of the exact date that she had been previously raped. This is not an isolated case, I’ve heard other stories similar to hers; in my experience girls who have a history of abuse or low self-image and self-esteem are extremely vulnerable to sexual predators. Girls are taken advantage of just because they didn’t understand their true value or realize their greatness. It doesn’t have to be. Jodi’s story was the final straw for me, as Bryan Adam sings tears are not enough. Her story provoked me to act. As I drove home the vision and concept for a Conference that would raise the confidence of girls and teach them street smarts was now under way and Young Women of Power (YWOP) was born.

Since that day I swallowed the red pill and my eyes have been open to how deep this rabbit hole actually goes. From Human Trafficking, to how females are portrayed in media, to recognizing the need for women in positions of influential leadership and the constant battle for personal confidence. I was invited to attend a training session hosted by youth justice. As the speaker spewed her statistics on girls in North America, I held my head down as I could no longer clear the floodgate of tears fast enough strolling down my face.

In an article in Time Magazine it stated that every century faced a moral challenge. In the 19^th Century it was Slavery. In the 20^th Century the issue was Totalitarianism. The moral challenge of the 21^st Century is the brutality against women and girls.

Being Black, I recognize the severity of slavery; it’s the very reason why I would never want to travel back in time. To see the brutality of women and girls in the same category with slavery awakened a moral cause. I own a CD filled with all of Martin Luther King Jr.’s messages. As a speaker and follower of Jesus Christ, he has been a role model and inspiration to me. He was a man who was culturally dangerous. Listening to his messages I was in awe of how he used his speaking skills and inspired by Faith for a moral cause. I longed for that. It was in that place God answered back whispering my cause into my spirit. My voice would be used to raise up and empower women and making right where things have gone very wrong for the sake of societal restoration, personal healing and justice for God’s glory.

I’ve often felt the need to clarify to people that I am not a feminist because there is a negative connotation with that word. It’s the equivalent of an Ismaili Muslim having to clarify I AM NOT A TERRORIST! There are different approaches and philosophy’s surrounding feminism, but in its purist form the definition according to dictionary.com is advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. By this definition, God has instilled in me the heart of a feminist, however I AM NOT AN EXTREMIST!

A FEMINIST
Someone who believes the radical notion that woman are people.If you believe that women and men should have equal rights, you are a feminist. There’s nothing "extreme" about it.http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=feminist

God’s brought me to a place where I will no longer stay silent on issues concerning females. As a result He is expanding my borders and giving me a platform in my city not just with teens but with women as well. My prayer is that whether you are a male or a female that God would open your eyes as He did mine to see the moral challenge we face today. That you too would no longer turn a blind eye on the enemies assault against women, but that you would rise up and be intentional on how you are investing in the lives of females all around you. I pray that your Christianity will not be tame or lame but that it will be culturally dangerous in our society.

The vision of Young Women of Power is to reduce the statistics of violence against women. We do this by providing conferences, workshops and mentorship for teenage girls. YWOP is not an exclusive Christian Club but it is our gift to the city, equipping all girls by inspiring female greatness. This is year 5 for us. We are still young with lots of room for growth. If you would like to be or perhaps you already are an advocate for teenage girls or young adults please contact me so we can see how we can collaborate. If you would like to know more about Young Women of Power visit our website at www.ywop.ca to see how you can be involved. Our desire is to go across Canada with this and we cannot do that alone. So send me an email or send your girls and attend our conference in Calgary April 25-26 2014 and prepare to be awakened.

The Founder of the Young Woman of Power (YWOP) Conference, Alison develops programs that are designed to build girls confidence such as the YWOP PivotFWD workshop which she delivers in Calgary’s Youth Judicial System. Alison’s heart for young women is to see the statistics of violence against women decrease and to see females become counter culture/culturally dangerous by growing in true confidence. For more info or to book Alison as a speaker visit www.ywop.ca 

Catch

Today before walking to the bus I played catch with my 7yr. We had an extra few minutes before we had to leave so we were both talking about it being opening day across major league baseball today. The Smyth family are huge Toronto Blue Jays fans and after a disastrous 2013 season we are now on the verge of a new season which brings hope. Hope for a better season, better pitching, actually better everything over last year.

Once you choose hope, anything is possible!

So my five minutes before our walk to the bus brought up many memories for me. You see, I grew up without a father so actually playing catch with my son is very special for me. He is experiencing something that I was never able to experience. He is talking about hope with dad, he is making crazy throws and diving for catches and we are both laughing together because when you play catch with your dad, anything is possible.

Now in your own life, when you are alone and it is just you and God, do you have hope? When you are with your family at mealtime, doing homework or playing, do you have hope? As you prepare and plan for your youth ministry for today, this week, this month, this season, do you have hope? Anything is possible in any area of your life!

Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope.

-  1 Chronicles 29:15 

Jeff loves Jesus, his wife and family. He has been married for 12 years and he has one of the most energetic boys in the world. Jeff is also a life long fan of the Toronto Blue Jays & Montreal Canadiens. You can connect with Jeff online: Jeff Smyth Blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+

Reveal Realities Photo Contest for your youth

Looking for a fun activity for a youth night that has a faith and works competent?

The Reveal Realities Photo Contest challenges students to take photos that reveal the impact of inequality in their community.

Inequality is everywhere. It affects all of us and endangers children. This generation can reveal the realities of inequality in our communities and across the Americas by sharing perspectives through photography.

Top photos will be voted on globally and judged by a panel from various international development agencies. The top photos will be showcased in a Photo Exhibition Tour and Calendar that will be used to advocate governments and societies across the Americas.

Don't have youth with camera's or photo skills? Check out the posted pictures and discuss the various issues of inequality that are presented and related them to Jesus' ministry, and how your youth can make a difference locally or globally. 





About me: I live a pretty simple life... trying to love God and treat others as good as myself... I epically fail at this but mercifully God loves me anyway... different cultures inspire me... the outdoors is my passion... I'm pursuing my MDIV / Masters in Counselling at Tyndale... I spent 22+ years in the skate / snowboard / entertainment / marketing / retail industry at the executive level... led the charge at West 49/Billabong for 12 of them... I've worked in youth ministry leadership roles for more years then I can count.. after many moons in the corporate world I switched to the dark side and am currently the Manager of Youth & Student Campaigns at World Vision Canada... but more then anything I love giving my heart to mentoring and helping youth! #lovelife #dreambig #keepitreal #socialjustice #jesusjustice I/T @cindymielke  facebook.com/cindymielke