Are you gearing up for any fall events? We sure are! With the San Diego National Youth Workers Convention just 10 days away, the sparkhouse team is packing up and heading west. And we’re really looking forward to spending time meeting with youth workers from around the country!
Can’t make it to San Diego, but are venturing to the second National Youth Workers Convention in Atlanta this November? We’ll be there, too! With the promise of great sessions and speakers, and opportunities to connect with God (and each other!), both are bound to be incredible weekends. We’re going to have a booth set up with all sorts of re:form goodies and some great giveaways. You’ll definitely want to stop by.
For those of you on the East Coast, we’ll also be at the Momentum Youth Conference in Hickory, North Carolina later this week. We hope to see you at one of the youth events this fall. Whether you’re headed to San Diego, Hickory, or Atlanta, be sure to find us and say hi!
Not able to make it? No problem! Follow along with re:form on Facebook and Twitter to catch all the latest event updates.
Fans of re:form, rejoice! Coming this August, we’re rolling out a brand new resource from the creative teams that brought you re:form and re:form Traditions. . . re:form Ancestors! This youth Bible study explores the ancestors of our faith by exposing the real, unpolished and unexpected personalities of Old Testament Bible characters.
From Adam and Eve (the lovable screw-ups)Â to Daniel (the invincible visionary), this fifteen course Bible study is bound to spur great conversation. Our hope is that youth will discover similarities between themselves and the many unlikely people selected by God to do extraordinary things. To see a full list of the characters included in re:form Ancestors Old Testament, head to our Facebook page. Take a moment to watch a preview video from the lesson “Moses: the Frustrated Leader.” And be sure to let us know what you think!
And coming May 2012 – re:form Ancestors New Testament. Stay tuned for more!
In March, the re:form Ancestors Dream Team – youth leaders, pastors, and theologians from all over the country – gathered for a two day Creative Jam, full of collaboration, imagination, and inventiveness. Rev. Melissa Cooper spoke with us about working on this brand new curriculum and that its innovative look at Old and New Testament characters will “allow high schoolers to be able to wrestle with the Bible and for that to be OK is going to be huge in their spiritual development. In the end, they’re going to come out owning their faith.”
On Tuesday, Children and Youth Ministry specialist Andy Root began a series of weekly re:form podcasts on his LiveBlog site. His first guest was youth pastor Dan Haugh, from Bedford Community Church in Katonah, NY. Their conversation on re:form session video “Does God still create stuff today?” explored ways to discuss creation with youth and, as Dan mentioned in his blog overview of the podcast, the “theological intention behind affirming that God still creates and recreates today.” Read more about he has to say on his Emerging Youth blog. And Andy wrote up a piece about the podcast for Youth Specialties, which you can read on their site!
Each week Andy plans to discuss a different re:form video with a leading youth ministry expert. April 12 features youth ministry guru Mike King and a discussion about the re:form session video “Who wrote the Bible, God or humans?”. If you’d like to watch the video, you can find it here. And be sure to listen in for the next several weeks as Danica Montplasir, Lars Rood, and Kenda Dean call in for more youth ministry, theology, and re:form discussions!
Update: Now all five videos are on the Youth Specialties site! To listen to the podcasts, head to: http://www.youthspecialties.com/blog/discussing-reform/
Recently, we had the pleasure of chatting with members of the re:form Traditions Lutheran, Methodist, and Reformed Dream Teams. Hear what Rev. Mike Baughman of Custer Road Methodist Church in Plano, TX has to say about working on this innovative, exciting new curriculum!
On March 2 and 3, sparkhouse hosted a group of youth ministers, pastors, and theologians from all over the country for a Creative Jam. The focus of the Jam? Kicking off work on the next round of re:form resources! It was truly collaboration at its finest. Thanks to everyone who participated and stay tuned for what’s coming next!
Congratulations to Toolbox Studios, who won twelve ADDY awards on Saturday, including 3 Gold awards AND the Special Judges Award for the re:form curriculum!
Paul Soupiset, their Creative Director who’s been tirelessly working on re:form and re:form Traditions (see some of his incredible work here), was quoted on Toolbox’s blog as saying, “This year, the awards we won really showcase the type of work Toolbox Studios is best known for delivering. It reinforces that we are providing valuable solutions to our clients.”
We couldn’t agree more. Thanks to Toolbox for their creative thinking, incredible designs, and endless enthusiasm!
Is re:form a huge hit with your youth? Have you found yourself wishing for more? Well, the wait is over! Coming this April: re:form Traditions, created by the same team that brought you all 40 sessions of the original re:form curriculum.
You may be asking, “What is re:form Traditions?” This resource gives your youth the tools they need to deeply explore their particular faith tradition with witty videos, engaging individual and group activities, and an online forum (re:form gallery) for sharing what they’ve learned. Traditions is designed to be used alongside the core re:form curriculum in settings like confirmation classes where additional denominational-specific material is preferred or required.
To create re:form Traditions, we assembled the dream team of Methodist, Reformed, and Lutheran theologians, pastors, and practitioners from across the country. Together, they provided historical accuracy, a theological framework, and translated it all into fun activities and language that speaks to today’s youth.
Lutheran, Reformed, and Methodist traditions are already available for pre-order! Each tradition will be sold separately and include 4 sessions (Backstory, Beliefs, Practices, and Tradition Today). Be sure to check out samples from all three tradition!
Become a fan of re:form on Facebook to receive updates on re:form Traditions. Let us know how you’ll be using this resource with your youth!
It’s official – re:form just keeps getting better and better! With 40 downloadable sessions, you now have the opportunity to experience re:form in new and exciting ways. This also means that it’s even easier to create the best possible program for YOUR congregation. Do you have a youth group that fluctuates in size from week to week? Are you considering using re:form for an Adult Bible Study because the session questions are ones even grown-ups are pondering? Do you think re:form would be the PERFECT supplement to your youth Sunday school?
The downloadable re:form à la carte includes all you need to lead a single re:form session.  You get:
Complete Anti-Workbook PDFs for a single lesson (reproducible)
Complete Leader Guide PDFs for a single lesson (reproducible)
A complete Video file for a single lessons
From “Why does the Bible contradict itself?” to “Can someone lose their salvation?”, here’s your chance to pick and choose which units and session fit your program best. It’s like a heavenly buffet. Only better.
How are you using re:form with your congregation? We’d love to hear your feedback!
This week marks the start of the San Diego National Youth Workers Convention, and the sparkhouse team is heading west to spend some time connecting with youth workers and celebrating the wonderful world of youth ministry!
Wondering what NYWC is all about? Well, as their website explains, this event is ” a chance for you to connect with other people who understand your unique challenges and who are as committed to teenagers as you are. It’s a time for you to feed your soul, equip yourself for effective ministry, and come back to your ministry with energy, vision, and even more passion for impacting a generation of teens for the kingdom of God.” It’s going to be an incredible weekend and we can’t wait to learn, experience, and connect with all of you!
We’re going to have a booth set up with all sorts of re:form goodies and some great giveaways. Be sure to stop by and say hi! We look forward to seeing you there.
Not able to make it? No problem! Follow along with re:form on Facebook and Twitter to catch all the latest updates on the event as it unfolds.
Are you gearing up for any fall events? We sure are! With the San Diego National Youth Workers Convention just 10 days away, the sparkhouse team is packing up and heading west. And we’re really looking forward to spending time meeting with youth workers from around the country!
