Duffy Robbins - This Way to Youth Ministry: An Introduction to the Adventure

ZONDERVAN

This Way to Youth Ministry

Copyright 2004 by Youth Specialties

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ePub Edition June 2009 ISBN: 978-0-310-83560-8

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible: New International Version (North American Edition). Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan.

Scripture taken from THE MESSAGE. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Some of the anecdotal illustrations in this book are true to life and are included with the permission of the persons involved. All other illustrations are composites of real situations, and any resemblance to people living or dead is coincidental.

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Editorial and art direction by Rick Marschall

Editing by Jon Preimesberger

Proofreading by Linnea Lagerquist

Cover and interior design by electricurrent

Design assistance by Sarah Jongsma

Indexing by Jon Preimesberger

Bibliography by T.J. Foltz

Readers: Carol Anderson, David Fraze, Nate Landis, Joseph Modica, Jon Preimesberger, Scott Slawson

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my Mom, Mary P. Robbins (no longer on earth, but very much alive), and to my Dad, still on earth and one of the most alive people I know, and

to my brother Guy, whose love of research and study have provided for me a wonderful example of diligent scholarship, and

to Joe Modica and Chris Hall, two men who exemplify passionate scholarship combined with a passionate love for Christ, and who, beyond that, have been willing to share with me the journey of life with Jesus, and

to Darrell Pearson, Calenthia Dowdy, Eduardo Ramirez, Christine Parker, T.J. Foltz, and Jennifer Voloninno, coworkers in the Youth Ministry major at Eastern University, and trusted companions in the sometimes wild, sometimes exhausting, sometimes exhilarating odyssey we share, and

to Katie Robbins, and Erin and Peter Limaand now, Henry (!)whose laughter, love, and support always make life a fun and fascinating (and fascinating even when it is not always fun!) adventure, and especially, to Maggie, my wife and best friend who has shared the journey with megood times and tough timesevery step of the way, and who consistently lives out what it means to explore new frontiers in her relationship with Jesus.

But remember, sinner, it is not thy hold of Christ that saves theeit is Christ; it is not thy joy in Christ that saves theeit is Christ; it is not even faith in Christ, though that is the instrumentit is Christs blood and merits; therefore, look not so much to thy hand with which thou art grasping Christ, as to Christ; look not to thy hope, but to Christ, the source of thy hope; look not to thy faith, but to Christ, the author and finisher of thy faith; and if thou dost that, ten thousand devils cannot throw thee down, but as long as thou lookest at thyself, the meanest of those evil spirits may tread thee beneath his feetit is not faith, it is not our doings, it is not our feelings upon which we must rest, but upon Christ, and on Christ alone.

Charles Spurgeon, in a sermon delivered August 24, 1856, New Park Street Chapel, Southwark, England

We are now ready to start on our way down the Great UnknownWe have an unknown distance yet to run; an unknown river yet to explore. What falls there are, we know not; what rocks beset the channel, we know not; what walls rise over the river, we know notJests are bandied about freely this morning; but to me the cheer is somber and the jests are ghastlyWith some eagerness, and some anxiety, and some misgiving, we enter the canon [canyon] below.

From the journal of John Wesley Powell, August 13, 1869, written at the junction of the Colorado River and the Little Colorado River, Arizona Territory

Saddle up your horses, weve got a trail to blaze,

Through the wild blue yonder of Gods amazing grace;

Lets follow our leader into the glorious unknown;

This is a life like no other; this is the great adventure

Steven Curtis Chapman, The Great Adventure

On your way! But be carefulthis is hazardous work. Youre like lambs in a wolf pack.

Luke 10:3, The Message

It had been three wet, miserable days since John Wesley Powell and his team of nine adventurers had crashed through the 14 miles and 35 rapids that make up the section of the Colorado River known as Marble Canyon. Powell and his crew were well into their fourth month of a grueling and dangerous attempt to navigate the entire course of river through the Grand Canyon. It was a journey that began on May 24, 1869, when four boats under Powells commandthe Emma Dean, the Kitty Clydes Sister, the Maid of the Canon, and the No Namewere launched at Green River Station, Wyoming Territory. The opening quotation above was written on the morning of August 13, 1869, as the expedition team was ready to descend into the roaring water that would lead them into the steepest depths of the Grand Canyona journey of amazing adventure, or death, or perhaps both.

Perhaps it seems strange that these should be the opening words in the opening chapter of an introduction to a youth ministry text. We do not commonly think of the classroom as a place of adventure: The Quest for Calculus, Journeys in Biochemistry, Expeditions into Spanish Verbs. We are confronted in these opening paragraphs with words that might give pause to any reasonable person: words such as depths, dangerous, death, and, that scariest of all words for college students, morning. But it is good that we should begin here on the banks of a wild, beautiful, unpredictable river, because this book is about a launch into a grand adventure.

Risk, as we have seen, is indispensable to any significant life, nowhere more clearly than in the life of the spirit.
Dan Taylor, The Myth of Certainty

The spiritual cannot be made suburban. It is always frontier and we who live it must accept and even rejoice that it remains untamed.
Howard Macey, quoted in Wild at Heart

There are some very cautious, prudent, and entirely unadventurous 20-somethings who will never do anything wrong because they never do anything. Being an old maid in the following old poem is not a factor of gender; it is a factor of mindset:

Here lie the bones of Nancy Jones.
For her life held no terrors.
She lived an old maid,
She died an old maid,
No hits, no runs, no errors