Archived Webinars

Creating an Equal Seat at the Table: Bringing Youth with Differing World-Views Together in Community

December 6, 2012

Featuring Josh Higgins (Glendora Community Church, Glendora, CA), Soong-Chan Rah (North Park Theological Seminary, Chicago), and Amy Williams (Gang Intervention Specialist, Chicago)

Rap and Religion: Understanding the Gangsta's God

November 19, 2012

Ebony Utley, author of Rap and Religion: Understanding the Gangsta's God

Dr. Ebony A. Utley tackles a sensitive and controversial topic: the juxtaposition — and seeming hypocrisy — of references to God within rap music. Dr. Utley identifies the characteristics of the "gangsta’s God" for men and women and explains how a God-sanctioned gangsta identity can be empowering.

Youth Worker Sustainability: Creative Revenue and Scenario Forecasting

November 11, 2012

In this new economic climate, it can be difficult to balance your calling to ministry with the need for real revenue to keep both your organization (and your position) financially afloat. This session will discuss policy issues that affect the field of youth work, the foundation God's calling provides on your life, and creative ways to develop revenue using a Scenario Forecasting tool to help the youth worker proactively contribute to the future of youth work in his/her community.

Youth Leadership Development: Empowering the Next Generation of Leaders

October 8, 2012

Taught by Daniel White Hodge, Center for Youth Ministry Studies at North Park University

This course is designed to engage the urban, suburban, and rural youth & young adult worker to better understand how to raise local youth leadership within their context. This intensive will help to create a space, learning context, and best practices model for youth & young adult leadership development within the Christian Community Development philosophy.

No Church in the Wild: Gen Y's, Millenials and Spirituality in Post Soul America

October 2012

Taught by Daniel White Hodge, Center for Youth Ministry Studies

This lecture and discussion will explore the current generation of youth culture in the U.S. (individuals born after 1990), providing a socio-historical account of the philosophical, theological, and cultural constructs within this generation. Dr. Hodge will also share his latest research, which has taken place over the last five years, in which he has interviewed over 145 youth from this generation, and analyzed and coded over 500 films, musical artists, and contemporary commercials to grasp the complex meanings that this generation of youth find important. Come hear Dr. Hodge give insight into this rising generation which has been labeled the “largest group of non-religious youth,” and discover what this might signal for ministry, higher education, and missions in the twenty-first century.