The International Center for Youth & Family Ministry
The International Center for Youth & Family Ministry (CYM) was founded in 1999 and serves as the comprehensive training and networking arm of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and Boyce College for those called into vocational youth ministry. Students at Boyce College can receive a Bachelor of Science in Biblical Studies: Youth Ministry Major. Graduate students at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary can receive a Master of Arts in Youth and Family Ministry or a Masters of Divinity with a concentration in Youth and Family Minsitry.
Our long term goal is to recruit, train, place, and network local church youth leaders globally. We embrace the Strategic Family Ministry Model that is: biblically and theologically grounded, missions oriented, local church structured, pastor led, and family focused. This four-fold mission is carried out through undergraduate and graduate programs in the US and at growing number of international training centers.
The CYM offers multiple training events throughout the year to equip parents, youth workers and youth pastors to more effectively minister to students. Please mark your calendar for our next major event, the Re:Invent Conference at Southern Seminary November 4-5, 2011.
re:Invent Conference Breakout Sessions
re:Invent
Is youth ministry relevant to the church today? Is your youth ministry effectively reaching teenagers and their families? What does the Bible say the primary purpose of youth ministry should be? Throughout the last half of the 20th century the church struggled with how to handle teenagers both inside the church and outside the church. Youth ministry has been the point of contact for that struggle. But has youth ministry changed?
re:Invent, the 2011 Youth & Family Ministry Leadership Conference will equip you to become more effective in leading transformational youth & family ministries in the local church. It will also equip your youth ministry volunteers to practice effective ministry with teenagers and their families while unifying your team for maximum effectiveness.
re:Invent will host nationally respected leaders in youth & family ministry that will challenge you and will encourage you to be faithful to the task of reaching and discipling teenagers and their families.
Breakout Sessions
- Dave Adams: laying the foundation for effective youth ministry: a youth ministry strategy
Start from the beginning and build a vision for youth ministry that is biblically based and Great Commission focused. You will be equipped with a timeless strategy for local church youth ministry.
- Jeff Borton: mobilizing your students to be on mission…everywhere!
21st century teenagers are cause oriented. They are driven to respond to global needs and meet the real needs of people around them. Hear how you can develop a student movement to carry the Gospel to hurting people while meeting real needs.
- Chad Brand: helping your students navigate the landscape of American spirituality
Secular American culture is rampant with spiritual pursuits that are anything but biblical. In this pluralistic climate that teenagers are swimming in, how can you lead them effectively to understand what is not the truth? Help your teenagers see through the maze of false spirituality and be equipped to give answer for the hope that is within them.
- Daniel Broyles: from ideas to execution: aligning your strategy with your resources
Take your vision to new heights by aligning your resources with your ministry strategy. Don’t miss the mark by spending energy on efforts that don’t propel the vision of local church youth ministry while depleting resources from the most critical
- Mark Devries: sustainable youth ministry
What would it take to build a youth ministry that withstands the revolving door of youth ministers? Pinpoint the problems that cause division and burnout then learn practical tools and structures needed to lay a strong foundation for youth and family ministry—one that isn’t built solely on a person.
- Dan DeWitt: reaching the skeptics in your student ministry
How do we know that God exists? Is the Bible really true? If God is good, then why did my parents get divorced? Teenagers are filled with questions. Then there are teenagers who don’t believe Christianity is true. They question the existence of God, the deity of Christ, the resurrection, and validity of the Bible. This session will equip you with answers and strategies for reaching the skeptics in your youth ministry.
- Kelly Knouse: intentional youth ministry…how programs accomplish the mission of your student ministry
Youth ministry has seen many changes in the 21st century. One thing that hasn’t changed is the need for effective programs. Youth ministry is so much more than activities and events. These programs are necessary, but must be purposeful. As a youth minister, you must intentionally design programs that accomplish the mission of the youth ministry. Purposeful programs are powerful programs. Streamline your youth ministry while maximizing your effectiveness.
- Walt Muller: download: teaching teens to filter their media choices
Whether kids are 8 or 18, popular music serves as a soundtrack and guide to their journey from childhood into adulthood. This seminar will focuses on the world of popular music and the powerful role it plays in students’ lives while providing informative and practical principles that can be applied to all popular media. You will be challenged and equipped to think and respond “Christianly” to today’s music and media as you’re trained with a practical tool you can use to teach the kids you know and love to do the same.
- Matt Lawson: building an effective youth ministry leadership team
Youth ministers are called to live out Ephesians 4:12 every day. Equipping the body to serve requires and active, intentional strategy that must recruit, train, and place believers in positions to serve the mission of the church. Gain critical principles and strategies for developing a labor force that will effectively disciple teenagers and equip them for the mission.
- Alvin Reid: leading your students to reach their friends with the Gospel
Keep the main thing, the main thing. The Gospel changes everything and you can equip your teenagers to see God change their peers from the inside out. Learn how to effectively equip and encourage your students to share the Gospel with their friends and see God turn your youth ministry upside down.
- Phil Rice: navigating youth ministry landmines & living to tell about it
Youth ministry is the greatest position in the local church…hands down! It’s also one of the most tenuous positions. Why? Youth ministers face challenges to serve students and their families as well as lead their own families. Leadership for the youth minister does not come without its landmines. But how do you avoid or survive those landmines?
- Randy Smith: international student ministry…in your community
The world is young. Young people remain the most receptive to the message of the Gospel. How are you equipping teenagers to reach the world right in their community and in their schools? This session will help you see the harvest around you and give you a strategy for sending your students into the mission field both domestically and internationally.
- Randy Stinson: what parents need from local church youth ministry
Youth ministry’s mission is to see teenagers mature spiritual in their walk with Christ. Youth ministers use a variety of resources to accomplish that mission. But youth ministers must not overlook the greatest resource in the discipleship process…parents. Find out what parents really need from youth ministers that will propel your ministry of discipleship with teenagers.
- Rick Young: building a small group curriculum plan
We all teach in our Sunday School, small group discipleship programs. But if we have a teenager from 6th grade through 12th grade, what should they know about God, the Bible, and the faith when the graduate? How do we lay out a strategy to train our teenagers to be lifelong disciples? What are the resources that will help us get there? Here’s a practical process to help you answer those questions and more.
- Gary Almon: kids hurt, Christ heals: ministering to teens in crisis *
The American teenager is in crisis. The changing influences of our culture produce positive and negative impact on every young person. How do we view these influences through the biblical standards and principles? The youth minister must be equipped to recognize root problems and develop a meaningful strategy for helping the hurting teenager.
* Session One Only
- Gary Almon: a theology of youth ministry **
Youth ministry is many things…challenging, enthusiastic, cross-cultural, exciting, discipling, evangelizing. Before it can be anything, it must be theological. Learn how youth ministry is a vivid expression of biblical mandates and how your youth ministry must connect with those commands in practical ways.
** Session Two Only
