Category: The Network
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 ...
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’s Board of Directors Announces Two New Members
At its fall board meeting, the ELCA Youth Ministry Network’s Board of Directors appointed two new people to fill vacant board positions. The board positions will be filled by Heather Hansen and Josh Toufar. Heather Hansen is a pastor in the San Antonio, Texas area. Most recently, she served at MacArthur Park Lutheran Church. Heather ...
Announcing New Outdoor Ministry Partnership
The ELCA Youth Ministry Network and the Lutheran Outdoor Ministries Network have formed a new partnership that links them together for mutual support and to grow in mission. The Network has had “gold” and “silver” partnerships for a number of years, allowing for organizations, resource providers, colleges, seminaries, and other groups who share Network values to ...
Nominations Being Taken for Network Board of Directors
This winter, two new people will take on important roles on the Board of Directors of the ELCA Youth Ministry Network. Sue Megrund and Tom Schwolert will each be completing their second term at Extravaganza 2020 in Anaheim. Board members may serve a maximum of two terms. The Board is responsible for tending to the ...
Trust, Grace and Accountability: How we think about the Roar Curriculum Problem
I’ve been paying attention to the conversations in the past 2 weeks about the Roar Curriculum, produced by Group Publishing. It reminds me of the critical obligation that those of us who practice faith formation in congregations have. One of our basic and most important tasks is to look through any materials we receive or ...
Changes to the Network’s Facebook Presence
The Network is changing the way we use Facebook, hopefully to make it a more helpful experience for our whole community. Our Facebook group has been our primary presence. This group is now over 6,100 members. We’ve used this group both to communicate Network news and updates to the community, and to encourage conversation, support ...
Extravaganza: Changing It Up!
The Extravaganza planning team is hard at work putting together the 2020 event in Anaheim, and there are some pretty amazing changes in the works for how we learn together. The first task the team leaders took on when we met together in March was to read and give careful attention to the evaluations that ...
Network is a Verb 