Purpose Driven Youth Ministry: The Conference is rocking back on to the student ministry conference scene in a big…but small way in 2009. The PDYM Conference took a couple of years off due to some busyness in their ministry and after experimenting with two very successful regional conferences in Florida and Texas.

In 2009 the conference will return, but its going back to some of its roots by focusing on an intamate atmosphere. Even when the conference got big, I always felt it had a much more intimate feel than YS or anyother large youth conference. The Conference is only going to register around 650 649 people for the conference, so if you plan on attending, now’s the time to register yourself and your team. You can register now by clicking HERE. For more information on the conference such as pricing, travel information, Click HERE.

Why PDYM?

• Balance
• Simplification
• Biblical
• Effective

There has been a lot that has been misunderstood and incorrectly conveyed about PDYM and about Purpose Driven in general, this has led to a lot of assumptions and misconceptions. Here is a little of how PDYM helped me and why I believe in its principles.

PDYM is not program driven or program heavy. In fact when I first started looking at PDYM and started to implement it, our student ministry reduced the number of programs we were doing. We looked at the 5 basic principles that PD emphasises and determined what those looked like in our ministry and what we would do to weave them into our ministry. Where our church had people strongly focused on evangelism through a program, we emphasised evangelism being a lifestyle, something that should happen all the time not just in a program. Where our church had a Sunday School program and dabbled in Small groups that focused on discipleship, we simplified our focus and utilized discipleship tools through our small groups to focus on spiritual growth. We did not want to teach the mentality that spiritual growth happens in a program, rather it has to happen on our own, and by providing tools, we encouraged that personal growth, while our small group leaders were there to assist students through that process.

We transitioned our traditional “come and watch while we feed and entertain you” youth group into a student ministry where we encouraged students to own it and to serve the students in the community that we were reaching and those we hoped to reach. We provided opportunities for students to serve and encouraged students to create their own ministries surrounding their passions. We cut out monthly “Events” and “activities” and focused on periodic larger events (Fall Retreat, Summer Camp, Etc.) that emphasized relationships and a theme for our students to grow spiritually around. Instead of providing a baby sitting service we encouraged our small group leaders to invest in their students’ lives by going to their ball games, taking them to lunch, and being a central part of their life as a caring adult.

As a State Mentor I hear a lot of criticisms of PDYM, when I ask, “Have you read the book?” The typical response is, “I’ve read some of it, I’ve read half of it, or No, I have not read it.” Basically, they are saying, I formed my own opinion based on a couple of chapters or they are saying I have formed my opinion based on the opinion of someone else. Typically I hear this when discussing the use of other strategies within PDYM. It is highly recommended that you solely use PDYM if you want to be a student ministry that is balanced (structurally) around Evangelism, Discipleship, Ministry (or Service), Fellowship (or Relationships), and Worship. Some people say they prefer “The Seven Checkpoints” over “PDYM,” and that is great, however I have examined the Seven Checkpoints extensively and it will not do anything for your ministry outside of discipleship. It is not something you would use to build a structure by unless you are going to focus heavily on discipleship. The Seven Checkpoints is great for spiritual growth and we have used it within our small groups and we have taught from them, but it is not strong on structuring to help balance out all of the purposes for the church. A lot of churches are strong on one or some of the purposes, but come up short on balance. Are you there? Do you do a lot of activities, but maybe you are not seeing life change through salvations and spiritual growth? Or are you seeing a lot of salvations, yet you have nothing in place to see those students mature spiritually? PDYM can help!

The Conference is worth going to. You will not walk away without learning something, and if you can carry a team of volunteers I highly recommend you do it, they will come home pumped up and ready to share Jesus with students all throughout your community. The breakouts are awesome and this year if you are attend I hope you will come by the breakout for Kingdom Day.

Remember only 650 spots are available to Register Today!

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