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Goliaths Fall When Students Lead
By Jeremy | September 14, 2009
Goliaths fall when adults like Saul get out of David’s way.
The Biblical character David was an untested teenager, a shepherd boy with no military training, when he simultaneously proved to be the only man among soldiers courageous enough to confront the giant Goliath.
For 40 days, Goliath’s taunts paralyzed Israel’s army with fear. Then David overheard the mockery, witnessed the cowardice of the adults around him, and was moved to action. The rest, as they say, is history.
On Saturday, 12 student leaders rejected the contradiction that “student leadership” events could only be led by adults, and hosted 68 student leaders for the first student led student leadership conference in my memory of 21 years of youth ministry and youth development here in New York.
I was blown away by their poise, dedication, and — yes — leadership, despite inexperience and a lack of proven models for what such an event could look like. I was also impressed by the dozen adults who voluntarily stepped back to follow their lead, and provided the support necessary to allow them to shine, especially the visionaries at Latino Pastoral Action Center whose generosity and innovation made the day possible.
I’ll be posting more about Kickin’ It Old Skool throughout the week. Stay tuned. Meantime, check out some Twitter highlights from the event (including Twitpics and more) here.
Topics: 2020 vision, kickin it, leadership, lpac, training, youth, youth ministry | No Comments »
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