National Youth Gathering Part II

I attended the National Youth Gathering as part of the focus of Youth and Family ministry. The Rev. Dr. Roland Martinson, from Luther seminary, offered for the first time, a Pastors' Academy on the afternoons of the Gathering Days.

There were about 30 of us who gathered in a windowless, airconditioned room. Dr. Martinson - better known as Rollie - is a dynamic teacher with an emphatic laugh that punctuates his best stories.

I met a seminary classmate and several other friends, and we filled one of the round tables.

Rollie has sent us home with myriad ideas - and resources to use in our own congregations. None of these is a prepackaged "program"; rather I come with ideas, stories, examples and questions to trigger our own unique reactions and responses.

All of this material and all of these processes are based on the same premis as the Certification School in Dubuque - if we seek to develop spiritual children and teens, we need to pay attention to, and nourish, our own adult spirituality.

Are there adults at Good Shepherd who are interested in kids, willing to share their own doubts and faith journeys, and committed to walking with the young people as they make their own spiritual journeys?