Youth Ministry Team

The Youth Ministry Team works under the oversight of the Healthy Church Leadership Team. The team members are:

Brian Kramer, chair
Paul Hirschy
Kent Kotesky
Bill Blue
Olinda Barnes
Brent Liechty
Matt McKeown

Highlights from the Youth Ministry Team from the last four years:

• Four of the seven annual Youth Pastor Summits took place during the quadrennium. We alternated locations, as well as emphases (we rotate between ministry skill-building and developing the spiritual life of the minister).
• At the request of the Jamaican UB National Conference, three UB youth pastors from the United States led a training event in Jamaica in January.
• Beginning in the summer of 2001, five UB youth ministries have been participating in the building of a gymnasium in La Ceiba, Honduras. Work on the gym should be completed in the summer of 2005.
• The quarterly UB Uth Newsletter was started, then transitioned into the UB Uth Website (www.ub.org; click on youth ministry link).
• There has been an increase in the numbers of churches who have professional youth pastors, but a greater decrease in the number of churches who have youth ministries led by volunteers. There seems to be a growing assumption that, if a church cannot hire a part or fulltime youth pastor, they cannot do effective youth ministry. We have begun efforts to champion and equip volunteer youth workers in smaller churches.

In the next four years our team would like to:

• Develop an effective tool to evaluate the Great Commission effectiveness of our denomination's youth ministries.
• Form a stronger connection and mutually beneficial relationship with the Link Institute at Huntington College.
• Utilize the UB Uth website more effectively.
• Develop more regional training opportunities, which are especially friendly toward the volunteer youth worker.
• Provide regional coaches for youth ministry clusters.
• Refine a strategy of international partnerships for the mutual development of youth ministers, student leaders, and global communities.