The Youth Ministry Course, sponsored by Student Ministries, officially finished up this week with a conference call to discuss the last of our three recommended books, Connecting, by Larry Crabb.

Thirty-seven participants signed up to take the four month long course which consisted of the following: listening to 22 Covenant Seminary lectures on their Worldwide Classroom website; participating in an online classroom covering questions from the lectures; reading 3 recommended books and discussing the books during 3 conference calls.

This course is the first equipping/training opportunity offered by Student Ministries.  The course had a suggested syllabus time-line of 4 months.  However, one of the benefits is participants’ can work at their own pace; therefore, some of the youth workers are still working through the assignments.

Youth workers came from a wide range of backgrounds and presbyteries.  Leaders were full-time, part-time, veterans, first year youth pastors and volunteers alike. Furthermore, they came from all over the country – from California, Florida, Tennessee, Michigan, Indiana and Georgia – to name a few.  The age of participants was just as broad, ranging from 18 to 50 years of age.

Feedback from our last conference call came from a youth pastor in his late forties, who is on a new career path, in his first year of ministry, he summed up the experience best.  He stated that the course far exceeded his expectation and he often found himself sharing what he was learning with others at his church.  Regular conference callers also commented that they looked forward to re-connecting with the other callers and looked forward to future online training opportunities.

Student Ministries is working on future equipping opportunities that will offer both training and connecting, such as book studies and additional courses.  Stay-tuned for the next opportunity and offer suggestions of books or courses on our EPC Youth Leader Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/wdtvGr.