New Members Appointed to the Network Board
The Network Board of Directors will welcome 2 new members and one reappointed member when it meets following the Extravaganza in early February. New board members include Jade Ortiz, who serves as a TEEM Pastor at Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in Oxnard, California. Jade has 17 years of experience in children, youth and family ...
An Extravaganza Update: Moving to Online Only
Dear friends, I want to give you a quick update on Extravaganza 2021. We find ourselves having to “live into” our theme of “Holding Loosely” as we do our planning. We have made the difficult decision to cancel the “in person” portion of the event at the Hilton in Minneapolis and instead focus all of ...
Announcement: Extravaganza 2021 and 2022
Watch the video announcement, or read below: Hello friends, Thank you for your patience as we’ve been working to figure out how to fulfill the mission of the Network and the Extravaganza in a pandemic world. For the last several months we have been focusing on two questions: “How can we be helpful to people ...
The Network Releases Statement on Race, Inclusion and Ministry
Note: Over the last two months, the Network Board of Directors has engaged in deep listening and conversation around issues of race, justice and inclusivity. While these conversations have been a part of the board’s agenda for years, the events surrounding the killing of George Floyd, and the subsequent events and conversations, increased our focus ...
The Network Board of Directors Welcomes Matthew Lovett as its Newest Member
The ELCA Youth Ministry Network Board of Directors is excited to welcome Matthew Lovett as its newest member. Matthew will be filling the position vacated by Kinda Makini-Anderson. This term runs until February of 2022, when Matthew will be eligible to be reappointed to the board. Matthew lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up as ...
An All New, All Digital Connect Journal
Dear friends, I hope that you and your family, friends and congregations are doing well. The Network is making some important changes regarding the Connect Journal. Effective today, we have moved the journal to a “digital only” format. You can find our new digital version of the journal by going toConnectJournal.org.We are making this change to ...
New Auto-Renewing Memberships Available
Well, finally! It’s been on our wish list for awhile now. We’ve always wanted to give people the option of having their Network memberships “auto-renew.” And now our software and our credit card system are on “speaking terms.” Remembering to renew your membership is just one of those hassles that we’d rather avoid. And when ...
An Update from this Week’s Board Meeting
Dear Network friends, The ELCA Youth Ministry Network’s Board of Directors met this week for its regular spring meeting and had good conversation and made some important decisions in the life of the Network that I wanted to share with you. The meeting was originally scheduled to happen at the ELCA offices in Chicago. Because ...
Results from the Extravaganza 2020 Evaluations
Dear friends, Thank you so much! I am overwhelmed by the Extravaganza 2020 Evaluations you filled out. We have completed going through the responses and creating reports for them. The Extravaganza team leaders will meet next week in Minneapolis to review the responses and to dial in on the planning process for 2021. I’m excited ...
The Holy Spirit is Apparently “Boundless”
Sometimes you just can’t make this stuff up. When “coincidences” like this happen, my eyes widen a bit, and then I catch my breath and realize that the Holy Spirit is at work. Let me start at the beginning: So 3 years ago, the Extravaganza team leaders were together for their regular March meeting to ...
Network is a Verb 