Open Vancouver is coming in September!

I'm so excited to officially announce that Open Vancouver is happening on September 26-27. It's a new and innovative youth ministry gathering meant for youth workers, volunteers, and anyone interested in dialogue, idea-sharing, dreaming, and learning about what Jesus is doing in the youth ministry world around Vancouver, BC.

Here's the Open manifesto:

There aren’t many places in the church where all ideas have the same opportunity to be presented. Everything is editorialized, shaped, and packaged. Every idea is filtered through a lens.

We think something is wrong with that. Deep in our souls we know the solutions to the problems we face today are already out there, waiting to be discovered.

Open is just that. Open. The Youth Cartel sets the table, plays host, and invites anyone and  everyone who has an idea to the table for a day where we all have equal value for our ideas. Whether you are a big dog with 20,000 people writing down your every word, a college student with some crazy ideas, or somewhere in between, the table is open–we will give you your shot and equal time to share your idea.

Now that doesn’t mean you will automatically be appreciated or celebrated. It’s an open table and you have the chance to play with the big boys. There will be winners and there will be less-than-winners. Just like everyone has the same shot, everyone undergoes the same scrutiny. The point isn’t that everyone will be equally received, the point is that anyone can have the platform.

No one gets paid to present at Open. Why? That wouldn’t be fair, would it? Those making presentations submit a proposal and chances are good that if they’ve got something to say that’s on topic, they will get a shot. Their only compensation is the chance to present their ideas, and free entry to the day.

So what does it cost? We’ve kept it as simple as possible. Tickets start at $25 for the day. If we sell out early then that’s it. But as we get closer to the day, tickets will naturally get a little more expensive.

True to the premise of Open, we aren’t out to make a lot of money. We are splitting any proceeds for the day equally with a local organizer and a local ministry recipient. We think that’s fair, and we will be 100% open about the money so you know who has made what.

From top to bottom we want Open to be a different type of event. We set the table, invite all, and provide a day where the best stuff filters to the top. Why? Because we trust you. We are in this together. We care deeply about impacting the Kingdom and we know you do too. And we know that low control, high trust openness is the way to get there.

Join us. Bring your ideas, bring your voice, and let's dream.

I love this manifesto! Contextualized, approachable, affordable, idea-sharing, and more than just megachurch pastors and well-known authors on the platform. Imagine shorter, TED-like presentations--around 20-30 minutes--with time for dialogue and questions afterward. Imagine extra time to chat in the hallways and foyer with a new colleague in ministry. From theology to program ideas to brain development to technology to social media, and everything in between: if it's youth ministry and happening in BC, we'll have fruitful discussions about all of it.

Here's what makes Open Vancouver a uniquely awesome youth ministry event:

It's local. The content is firmly focused on ideas, concepts, and best practices for developing a youth ministry for your context. The presenters and conversations will be from youth ministry practitioners in the Vancouver area. We want to have dialogue about what's happening in the youth ministry world right here in British Columbia. We want to have a distinctly Canadian Open event; this isn't about an American organization coming (though I'm admittedly American), it's about local Vancouver-area youth workers gathering to equip and encourage each other.

It's informal. While some events have special rooms for big-name speakers or large stages that put people at a distance, Open is...well...open. You'll have opportunities to ask direct questions and have conversations with speakers. The presenter you saw in a session might be learning in the seat to you later in the day. It's low-key and informal; we're all peers here.

It's inexpensive. This doesn't mean Open is cheap or shoddy. It just means we're hosting a fantastic event and we're not in it for the money. For $25, you get an all-day gathering on Saturday which includes a catered lunch at Trinity Western University. Yeah, we're gonna feed you.

I've participated in Open Seattle for the past two years and have greatly benefited from the conversations and relationships that grew from those gatherings. I love the organizing team we have for Open Vancouver in its kingdom diversity: Clay Imoo is a Catholic youth ministry leader and huge Canucks fan from Richmond and Matt Wilks is a lead pastor and Barefoot ministries guy from Calgary, AB. They're also both awesome leaders of the Canadian Youth Worker team, and we're striving to make this a distinctly Canadian youth ministry gathering.

Pastors, community youth workers, volunteers, parents--anyone who wants to share and grow, you're invited to Open Vancouver.

Check out the Open Vancouver website here. More info and registration will become available as the date approaches, as well as blog posts about Vancouver-area youth ministry. Registration will begin on July 1.

If you want to submit an idea for a presentation for Open Vancouver, click here and propose your idea! There are no speakers currently on the website, because we haven't picked them yet. Keep checking back at the website, as we'll be adding speakers as we get submissions.

If you want to be a sponsor for Open Vancouver, click here and contact us! We need a few awesome organizations to sponsor each of our session tracks.

Share this blog post and/or the Open Vancouver weblink with your youth worker friends in BC: vancouver.openym.org

4 WAYS TO INSPIRE YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

Part of my job as a pastor is to build ministry teams that are motivated, hopeful, and strategically pushing towards a clear and compelling picture of the future. These teams, made up of paid and unpaid staff, must be led by leaders who know how to encourage and lead their teams forward into an unknown and uncharted future. Any pursuit into the unknown will provide set-backs and discouragement that, depending on the key-leaders ability to rally the troops, could either stall all forward movement or inspire creative and compelling solutions.

Follows are four things I have learned about inspiring my teams to hope and purposeful action.

1. No BS.

People know when the ship is sinking, crap is in the fan, and when they’ve just swallowed a sugar coated razor-blade. There is no disguise that staff and volunteers will not see through eventually. Team leaders who try to divert their teams’ attention away from the cold hard realities are the leaders who end up losing credibility, build shallow solutions for deep problems, and who often end up discouraged and confused as to why the vision seems so unattainable.

Teams that operate in their prime are known for clarity of analysis and interpretation, courage to move forward against impossible odds, and who have a face like Clint Eastwood. Teams can only move forward if they know the reality of the situation they face; this means that part of the role of team leader is to strip away the peripheral and engage head-on with the task at hand. No flowers. No sugar. Cut the BS.

2. Never Waste a Crises.

There is nothing that will unite a group of people faster than a problem, crisis, emergency, or disaster. Some of the most powerful revolutions were born on the back of shared injustice, lack, or shortfall. People, bonded together through the memories of conflict and crises, innovate out of necessity – often from the ground up.

These are absolutely critical times that will determine the strength and creativity of our teams. While we do not manufacture crises, we shouldn’t be fearful of them either. For the healthy team it tests them, allows them to do necessary purges, and brings about a closeness that is not possible when times are quieter, softer, easier, and greener ($$$).

For years, one requirement of my leadership teams’ was to go on a roadtrip every six months with people they had just met in the last six months. Besides the community and relationships this built, it was fundamental in helping our team leaders use crises to look for creative solutions. Why? Every good road trip is bound to have a few wrong turns, a missed exit, a weirdo hitchhiker, a flat tire, or an empty tank of gas. Four people in a car, while learning to either love or hate each other, must put everything else aside to work towards crises resolution – most often resulting in strengthened relational bonds.

3. Ante Up.

As one pastor put it so eloquently, “Put your cup on, lower your head, and head back into the ring.” Volunteers and staff are more likely to face the challenges of adversary head-on when they go into battle side-by-side with their leader(s). Team leaders must respond to challenge by upping the ante themselves, calling people to action, and daring people to move with them. This often requires the blood, sweat, and tears of leaders in breaking ground and punching out new and exciting possibilities – even when all the odds are against them.

Staff and volunteers don’t mind taking a few shots and enduring a few hardships when they see that their leaders are out front bearing the assault as well. Leaders, ante up, and then challenge your people to put their money on the table as well.

4. See the Future.

Team leaders who inspire and motivate their team continually open windows into the future that are both compelling and achievable. Sometimes these windows are very small and are only open for a moment to help re-direct the team; other times the windows into the future are massive floor to ceiling portholes that provide a sweeping panoramic of a land far away and beautiful. Either way, these windows into the future will continue to drive staff and volunteers towards imaginative and strategic movement.

Seeing the future is about hope. It’s about the people and places we hope for and about clearly seeing what might be. Seeing the future is about community. It’s about where we expect to be and who we expect to be there with. It’s collaborative and felt by all, seen by all, and believed by all. There are times, however, where team leaders need to become the mouthpiece of “we” re-envisioning, re-imagining, and re-calibrating what exactly it is that the team sees. A clearly defined image of the future is often enough to ensure the continued hope, inspiration, and creativity of our teams.

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Finally, leading teams through set-back and failure is perhaps one of the more difficult leadership challenges that a team leader faces. In my own experience, these are the times I feel most vulnerable to feelings of inadequacy, thoughts of resentment towards team members, and thoughtless reactions to minor issues.

I am continually faced with the truth that not everything I do, the future that I see, and the current reality that I describe, are not always as I see them. Yet, I must continue. I must remember that God is at work and often in the most surprising of ways. I must remember that I am loved and cherished by the God whose image I am made. I must remember that my value as a person is not attached to my accomplishments, net-worth, or leadership skill set. Rather, my inherited worth is that I am undeservedly heir to the Kingdom of heaven, known as a child of God, and called and equipped to serve His community with humble faithfulness.

What have I missed? How do you inspire your teams?

-Jer

On Twitter @JeremyPostal, on the world wide web at www.jeremypostal.com, and in real life in big bad Whistler, BC. 

Spirit Day 2012: "Almighty"

We at the Office of Youth and Young Adult Ministry (OYYAM) of the Archdiocese of Vancouver have just released our promo and registration material for Spirit Day - our annual rally for grade 7 students.  Spirit Day has quickly grown to be the largest Catholic youth rally in western Canada and it has blessed our churches in so many ways.

Close to 100 youth and young adult volunteers put the event together by serving on a variety of teams: the Stage Team, the Spirit Team, the Logistics Team, and the Production Team.  It's an awesome witness for the 1,900 grade 7 participants (and their adult leaders) to see so many young people (many of them former Spirit Day participants) serving at the event.

The theme for this year's event is "Almighty" - a recognition of God's power and strength. For God and with God, all things are possible.

Enjoy these 2 videos.  The first one is the official promo video and the second one is a music video parody of One Direction's "What Makes You Beautiful".




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

Can't Keep Up? 5 Ways to Simplify Student Ministry

In today’s climate of youth ministry the pace and workload of the average youth worker seems to be ramping up and the number of overworked and burned out pastors is almost unbelievable. With so many demands, programs, events, and people to please (or pastor), it seems like the only choice is for the youth worker to work harder.

But working harder doesn’t usually mean that you are working smarter. In fact, working harder is typically the onramp to a road of burnout, frustration, or pride. Simply, youth workers must learn the rules of efficiency and productivity in order to keep pace with the vocational side of their calling.

RockShox Pump Track Challenge - Crankworx 2012, Whistler BC

Work Smarter, Not Harder

1. Write a Yearly Plan

With the rate of change found in today’s youth culture, writing a 5-year plan is nearly useless. A plan crafted even two or three years ago is at best a cultural dinosaur and at worst, working against you. However, there is definite benefit in getting away for a few days to pray, dream, and strategize into the coming years’ focus and how it will look and feel. Writing a yearly plan and then working that plan will save you a ton of anxiety and will build your leadership credibility. Trying to organize & inspire your students, volunteers, and parents while having no idea what the next month or two holds is frustrating to everyone involved.

A good plan, actually, sets the stage for a youth worker to be prepared. Preparedness is far more significant and noteworthy than the plan itself allowing the youth worker to be ready and flexible – key performance indicators of a good plan. Trust me, it’s worth your time.     

2. Eliminate

Not every task that comes across the desk of a youth worker is worth doing. Or, if the task is worth doing, it doesn’t mean that the youth worker must do the task. This game is called Prioritizing and there are seven rules:

1. There are urgent items on your task list.
2. There are important items on your task list.
3. Know the difference.
4. Do what is important first.
5. Next, do what is urgent.
6. When you missed “urgent” because you did what was important, it is important to congratulate yourself. Urgent took care of itself.
7. Repeat.

To stay sharp and energized for the important tasks, eliminate lesser tasks from your schedule, thoughts, and energy.

3. Train Leaders & Delegate

There are two ways that pastors screw this up: one, by delegating a task and then micromanaging it and two, by delegating a task and then offering no guidance or parameters. Delegating is the smart money on most things if you do it right.

PS – You don’t have to only delegate to people. Delegating to technology is also a great option! The key here is automation: autoresponders, filters, and applications that help you batch.

4. Batch Tasks

Is it more efficient to respond to emails as you get them or to respond to emails in one sitting? Studies show that every interruption requires approximately 20 minutes of recovery time to return to the same level of concentration. This means that every tweet, email, phone call, or Facebook notification that grabs your attention slaps your efficiency in the face. Batching tasks allows one set up and tear down time, focused energy, and better output.

Practically, I respond to emails once per/day, I write 3-5 blog posts in one sitting, and I’ll stack a bunch of meetings on top of each other. The goal is to only do one task at a time and only when the task needs to be done.

5. Shorter Deadlines

If there are ten hours available to complete a task, guess how many hours the task will take? Ten. Guess how long it will take to do the same task if the available hours are five? Creating tighter deadlines forces the real work to get done with as much focus and learning as possible. In the world of industry and start-ups, this is called the minimum viable product. Guaranteed, those lingering projects will never finish if you don’t set a deadline.

As youth workers and church leaders the bulk of our ministry doesn’t happen behind a desk in some bunkered down office. Youth ministry happens with people – students, volunteers, and parents – and so we must create sustainable administrative structures that will free our time to do just that, spend time with people. 

Jeremy Postal is the director of Whistler School, a bible and discipleship school based out of beautiful Whistler, BC. He is passionate about building communities of restoration & creativity with Christ as the focus. You can also catch him regularly on his blog at www.jeremypostal.com or connect via Twitter @JeremyPostal.