Come Aboard the Bandwagon

This is a slightly-modified version of a post I did for Canadian Catholic earlier this year.

This Sunday's FIFA World Cup final features two soccer powerhouses:  Argentina and Germany.  The Catholic social media world has been all over the fact that its our current Pope Francis' country (Argentina) vs. his predecessor Pope Benedict's Germany.

The heavy interest in this Sunday's match reminds me of the hoopla surrounding another sporting spectacle:  the Super Bowl.  On February 2 the Seattle Seahawks trounced the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 48. The highly-anticipated match-up between the NFL’s best defense (Seattle) against the league’s best offense (Denver) started off poorly for the Broncos and went downhill from there.

As part of the pre-game hype, I took a break from making Vancouver Canucks music videos to do a song for the Seattle Seahawks, cheering our southern west coast neighbours on (it has 160,000 hits on YouTube).

Here in Vancouver - given our proximity to Seattle – there was a lot of chatter about Vancouver adopting the Seahawks as their NFL team.  As well, there was a lot of back-and-forth between the loyal Seahawks fans and the newer fans leading up to the big game.  The “diehard fans” drew their line in the sand and warned the “bandwagon fans” to stay on their own side.

It didn’t make sense to me.

I’ve been a diehard and loyal Vancouver Canucks fan for practically all 40 years of my life.  I have
fond memories of listening to the games on the radio with my father and my brother.  With the small number of games being televised back in the day, we were forced to use our imagination in visioning what the play on the ice looked like.

In recent years, and especially during the Canucks’ Stanley Cup run of 2011, I heard a lot of backlash against the bandwagon fans.

“I’ve been following this team through thick and thin for 30 years!” was a common mantra for the diehards.  “Where were you when the team was struggling?”

The short-sightedness of these comments was quite amusing to me. Many bandwagon fans are our future diehards.

I’ve always argued that bandwagon fans don’t cause any harm, and that diehard fans should actually encourage them, embrace them, and welcome them. Who am I – as a diehard fan – to judge the level of fandom in a person?  Is it based on how many trivial facts and stats you know?  Or maybe how long you’ve been following the team?  Is it how many games you’ve been to?  Or perhaps how loud you scream at the TV or how many beers you consume while watching?

It got me thinking:  how do we get people on the bandwagon for Christ?

I’m currently investing in my next-door neighbour Mike. He’s my “evangelization project”.  His mother is a CEO Catholic (i.e. attends Mass at Christmas, Easter, and occasionally) and he had a pretty rough childhood as he lost his father when he was a teen.

We hit if off immediately upon meeting as we are both avid sports fans.  Whether we are coming home from work at the same time or taking out the garbage on Sunday night, we always make time for neighbourhood sports talk.  I understand him and he understands me – namely my love for my family and my faith (along with my love of sports).

In 2013 I challenged myself to invite Mike to Mass with me, and thankfully he accepted. He recognized a lot of my friends from hockey parties and other social gatherings and they were all happy to see him there. During Mass, I took the time to explain certain things to him – especially why we kept switching postures from standing to sitting to kneeling. Like sharing the intricacies of a sport, I communicated the meaning behind what happens, while trying not to come across as a know-it-all.

Mike was curious, inquisitive, and respectful.

This is at the core of the evangelization. Are we inviting fallen-away or potential new Catholics to experience the life of our church and faith? Are we doing everything we can to answer their questions?

I want people to see how passionate I am about my faith that they ask me about it. I want to exude joy and have them want to experience it too.

Back to Mike. Since December, he’s asked a couple of questions about what happened, and I’ve tried to answer them the best I can. I plan to bring him to Mass with me again in the near future. I know that my role is to walk with him and be there for him, much like Jesus on the Road to Emmaus.

Let’s go beyond accepting bandwagon fans; let’s be intentional about filling the bandwagons with our friends and acquaintances. After all, the victory parade we’re anticipating is way beyond anything you’ve ever seen, bigger than the Super Bowl and Stanley Cup put together.

So tell your friends to climb aboard, Christ has plenty of room on his bandwagon.


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

Relational Ministry 101

Here are a few important things to remember when it comes to doing good relational ministry with young people:

• Youth cannot be evangelized without a relationship
• Focus on people, not programs
• Be interested in souls, not attendance
• There isn't one correct relational style: God wants you to use the personality that he has given you to reach out to young people
• The heart of relational ministry doesn't change, but opportunity and location do

And most importantly: young people won't care how much we know until they know how much we care.

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  

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

On our recent family vacation to Las Vegas we were blessed to see a few shows.  One was the Jabbawockeez (that I wrote about last week) and another was MJ Live – a tribute to Michael Jackson.

It was a great show, made even more entertaining by the fact that the performer had a hole in his pants (right where you don’t want a hole in your pants) for the first-half of the show.  My family and I marvelled at the actor’s physical resemblance to the late “King of Pop” and needless to say, his vocals and dance moves were spot on.

The entire audience loved it.  In fact, screams of “We love you, Michael” cascaded throughout the theater.  In retrospect, I sure hope they know they were watching an impersonator.  In a nice ironic twist, the actor’s name is actually Michael.  But I digress.

When I speak to young people about image and imitation, I talk about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery.  That is, when someone copies you, generally it’s because they want to be like you.  I then go on to share stories of my kids and how they flatter me (good, bad, and ugly) but imitating me. 

But regardless of good, bad, or ugly, I know that I am not the BEST example to my kids all the time. For that example, we all need to look towards another loving Father: that is, God. And in imitating God the Father and Jesus Christ His Son, lies our challenge as Christians: to be the face of Christ to everyone that we encounter.

Wouldn't it be cool if every single person that we meet walks away thinking to himself: “Man…what is up with him? Where does he get that sense of joy and love from? Whatever it is…I want some of that!” Whether our family and friends are churched or unchurched, the way that we carry ourselves is a true form of evangelization.

Now that I think about it…it’s more than being the face of Christ. It’s being Christ-like completely. Compliments like “you’re awesome,” or “you’re a good friend,” or “you look great,” or "nice haircut" pale in comparison to the one that says: “You were Christ to me.”

That’s what I often tell people: the essence of being a good Christian is BEING, and not necessarily DOING.  After all, we are called human beings and not human doings.

Yes, imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery. 

God doesn’t need to be flattered.  But He does need to be imitated.

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

How to Breathe Life Into a Stagnant Youth Ministry

This is a slightly-adapted version of an original blog written by Randy Raus, President and CEO of Life Teen.  Life Teen is an international Catholic youth ministry with headquarters in Mesa, Arizona and Atlanta, Georgia.

Some of my original youth ministry training was with Life Teen and I am a loyal supporter of their mission and ministry.

You can view the original post here.



The voice paused on the call, almost hearing her gulp, and then the words “I’ve been at this parish for four years now and it seems stale, I think something needs to change or I must move on.” Ever feel this way? Like youth ministry at your parish is in a rut and you don’t know how to get out of it? You are not alone. More times than not I have found that there are some definite steps you can take to breathe life into a stagnant youth ministry.

1. Call It Out: Be a leader and admit to yourself and others that things seem stagnant. Don’t try to fake it. Call it what it is and decide that you are going to make some changes to bring more life into the ministry.

2. Think in Terms of Movement: It’s much easier to steer a car that is moving than trying to turn the wheels while sitting still. Plan a Pilgrimage, Mission Trip, Summer Camp, Youth Conference, Retreat, Ski Trip, or anything that will get you, your leadership team and the teens moving on a journey somewhere. Community is built twice as fast when you and your core team spend away time with teens!

3. New People Bring New Energy: Recruit new youth leaders, musicians, parent helpers and especially new teens. When new people show up, it is a sign of a ministry living the new Evangelization. Just the thought of new people involved makes us smile!

4. What Looks the Same is Probably the Same: Been a while since you changed the environment of a youth night? Have the walls of your office become just a jog down memory lane or is it a reflection of the current group of teens? Have music playing, hang new banners, update photos and add some new paint to add new life to the spaces you hang out with teens at your parish. We serve in one of the most transformational ministries in our parishes – does the vibe of our space reflect that?

5. Add Depth: Spiritual depth never is stale! If you feel like you are in a rut, most likely you are just skimming the surface with your teens and youth ministry leaders. When is the last time you planned a talk or prayer experience that really challenged you and those you serve. Go into the deep and it will totally energize your ministry!

6. Add More Fun: Make them laugh! Fun is contagious. Has fun left youth ministry at your parish? Start by being more spontaneous. Spoof something, make up a song, lovingly prank someone, spend an afternoon playing video games with some teens weekly, plan a random fun only event or whatever it takes to get you and ministry fun again. When it becomes fun again, no way it is going to feel stagnant!


So what are the areas you need to work on the most? Remember the best way to keep your ministry from becoming stale, is to be doing most the above on an ongoing basis.


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.  Learn more about him at http://www.claytonimoo.com or follow him @claytonimoo

Reflections from Ottawa: Leadership Development & The New Evangelization

You may recall that last I week I wrote a blog just prior to the start of the CCYMN (Canadian Catholic Youth Ministry Network) National Youth Ministry Conference in Ottawa on the conference theme of "Be Still and Know That I Am Your God.

As expected, the conference affirmed me, inspired me, humbled me, and challenged me.  During the conference, I was interviewed by Cheridan Eygelaar of Salt + Light TV for their blog on their website (Salt + Light TV is our national Catholic TV station).

We spoke about some of our office initiatives, my thoughts on the New Evangelization, and some of the challenges of ministering to an increasingly “plugged-in” generation.

-Clay





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.  Learn more about him at http://www.claytonimoo.com or follow him @claytonimoo