One of the cool things that we got to do while in California was tour the Refinery; we also held our daily meetings there. Doug expressed his love/hate relationship with the building and I think every youth worker who has a solid focus on growing their students spiritually through relationships would agree with his premise, although we would also love to have a building like the Refinery 🙂 . Doug shared that he has been doing student ministry for over 25 years without a “student building” and in that time he has come to the realization that student ministry can be done outside of a permenant building. I think most of us realize it can be done in a living room, in a gym, outisde under a tree, or where ever else students convene. If we ‘think’ our student ministries can only be effective in a nice building, we run the risk of narrowing our focus of ministry to be program driven. That is not my heart and I know it is not the heart of focus of PDYM. Doug said he made it clear that he did not want the Refinery to be considered the “Student” building, though it has a student ministry theme throughout, he wants it to be considered a “Community Center,” and by the looks of what happens throughout the week, its exactly that. They are using this beast of a building to reach out to their community…and that is awesome! They also host their new service FUSE in the high school auditorium, from what I’ve heard that service for 20 somethings to 30 somethings has exploded and God is blessing it in a huge way.
I’ve included some pictures of the Refinery below, I ripped them from my friend Tom’s Facebook and my friend Dan’s blog (My wife would not let me take her camera). Click HERE to go to the Extending the Vision Blog for more Refinery pics and stories.
Outside Front of Refinery
Outside Front of Refinery 2
Outdoor Water Theme
Refinery Lobby
Skate Park
Doug Giving the Tour
Outside High School Auditorium
High School Auditorium
Middle School Auditorium & Gym
Cafe & Misions Wall
Diner Area
Diner Area 2
Ustairs Water Bar Area
Gathering In Session
By the way, this picture shows a little more about what the Gathering is. Its not a big conference and really not a big youth pastor’s event. (Its big to us) It is a “Gathering” of PDYM like minded youth pastors who Doug Fields and Neely have selected to represent the PDYM philosophy/paradigm for student ministry in their states. Like Proverbs 27:17, we sharpen each other, pray for each other, and have a lot of fun. When its time to say goodbye we are like a bunch of school girls crying that it would not end.
The 2008 Gathering is over. I hate having to type those words. I think Doug tweeted it best, I wish we were all neighbors. Every year I make new friends and deepen my relationship with those who I am already connected with. My favorite part of these few days together is pictured above, sharing life with some of the sharpest leaders in student ministry. We do not discuss numbers, we don’t flaunt successes, we sharpen each other, we stretch each other, we pray for one another and we have tons of fun! I cannot describe the power of the authenticity that takes place around our tables during our various sessions, but I can say, its good.
Check back…I’ll be posting more about the Gathering and my week in California…right now I’m getting ready to fly home to my family who I greatly miss. California is great, but it stinks without them! California with my family would = Heaven 🙂
