The Willow Creek Association’s Global Leadership Summit features 20/20 Vision for Schools this week. Summit speaker Michell Rhee (former Schools Chancellor of Washington, DC, and founder of Children First) will explore how educational inequity robs inner city children of the skills necessary to complete college, compete in an information economy, or even conduct an inductive Bible study.

The Summit asked me to provide a case study demonstrating how churches and ministries can provide leadership around these issues. Below is the article I wrote for the conference notebook that will be distributed to an estimated audience of 100,000 ministry leaders. The Summit also features the “20/20 Vision for Schools: Transforming Public Education within a Single Generation of Students” workshop curriculum, originally written for Reload 2008-2009, and “Why Public Schools Matter to God (and Should Matter to You Too)” among its Digital Resources.

_____________________

Leading Education Reform Where You Are: One Church’s Story

[Originally published by Willow Creek Association in the conference Notebook for the 2011 Global Leadership Summit. Download article pdf here.]

In September of 2008, Pastor Paul Curtis’ relationship with the public school system fit the profile of many New York City pastors. That is, he didn’t have one. Public schools seemed to him so resistant to help from churches that they were the last place he considered to begin making a difference.

Then he heard about 20/20 Vision for Schools and felt God stirring him toward a vision for people of faith to lead the effort to restore justice to public education – to level the playing field for all students regardless of neighborhood, race, or economic status. Staggering numbers made the problems feel intractable.

Despite 1,700 public schools, 1.1 million students, and a $21 billion annual budget, graduation rates in the city hovered near 50%, and reading and math proficiency lagged at or below 40%. But next to 7,100 self-described Evangelical, Pentecostal, and Charismatic churches in NYC, 1,700 schools didn’t feel so large.

“What might happen if five churches actually prayed for one neighborhood school?” Curtis reasoned. “Dare we expect God to answer?”

And what if God already positioned his church to be salt and light within those schools? Between students, parents, teachers, staff, and relatives, more than 85% of his attenders already had direct or indirect relationships with schools. Might they become answers to their own prayers, or the prayers of others?

He registered Crossroads Christian Church to adopt a school through 20/20 Vision for Schools. In spring 2010, Crossroads organized a prayer walk of four neighborhood schools. He leveraged his pulpit to launch a three-week sermon series the next Sunday, including a panel discussion with educators, administrators and students around the topic of educational justice in the public school system.

Several of Curtis’ church members took the challenge. The next month, the youth minister and five teens from the church volunteered at a local school event. Then the next fall, another of his members volunteered the church’s Storefront Art Center to lead a mural project in the refurbished schoolyard. The changing demographics of the neighborhood meant hundreds of immigrant children at the 1,200-student elementary school, and a parent from Crossroads proposed creating a welcoming environment by celebrating the diversity with a public art project.

Curtis and the school agreed. Eight months later, 450+ volunteers from eight community groups (including five churches) and five sponsors joined the principal, PTA, students, and staff to execute an 875-square foot mural for six weeks. They celebrated with a schoolyard block party on June 4, 2011, attended by 1,500 neighbors of every age, race, and religion.

Now, Curtis is hooked. Welcoming neighbors from the Middle East, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Asia, by empowering their academic success no longer feels overwhelming.

It feels, and looks, like Jesus.

- Jeremy Del Rio, Esq. co-founded and directs 20/20 Vision for Schools. Free how-to resources and practical next-steps, including the PS 102 mural case study, online here: 2020schools.org/wcagls. Visit the PS 102 Mural website here to track the project from beginning to end.

Those familiar with 20/20 Vision for Schools’ Transformation Matrix know that empowering student leaders as change agents within schools is a pillar of our paradigm for transforming public education within a single generation of students. In summary, it goes something like this:

1. Stop viewing students as consumers of education, buying a product from teachers
2. Instead empower them as owners of their lives, investing in their education as a means to a life worth living
3. As owners, nurture a culture of leadership among the student body of public schools
4. Develop a 10% pipeline of student leaders within any given school because when 10% of a community changes its values, the rest of the population generally follows

This value has defined my youth work since my own teen years, having first been inspired at a youth retreat after discovering this passage, and then serving as the defining characteristic of Generation Xcel’s “by youth for youth” mantra. More recently, this passion surfaced producing Kickin’ It Old Skool for Latino Pastoral Action Center in September and observing God Belongs In My City in November.

Because of this foundational commitment to authentic student leadership, it was 20/20′s privilege to sponsor Reload 1.2.3 on June 12, the first ever multi-site multi-state student ministry conference. (1 conference. 2 States. 3 sites.)  And it was my privilege to director the event with the help of 30+ other youth workers and dozens of volunteers.

Specifically, 20/20 Vision contributed three core components to Reload 1.2.3′s one-of-a-kind program.  First, 20/20 inspired and shaped Reload’s Plus-1 program strategy, requiring every adult involved in the program at all three venues, from musicians and singers to trainers and general session speakers, to integrate a “Plus-1″ protege into their content delivery.  With live music and workshops at all three venues, this strategy created a platform for more than 50 Plus-1 student leaders to provide meaningful leadership at a premiere training event for more than 500 youth workers.  More importantly, Plus-1s demonstrated what empowered student leaders look like, rather than adults simply talking about student leadership as a value, and created a common reference point for more than 500 leaders who can influence a shift towards more authentic student leadership in organizations throughout greater New York.

Second, 20/20 shaped the “Student-Led Student Ministry: Pipe Dream or Possible?” workshop which featured four accomplished student leaders as experts on what student-led change looks like and how to achieve it. The workshop description follows, along with a slideshow that captured visually the impacts of their student leadership.

It’s trendy for youth ministers to say, “Youth ministry is not about ministering to youth, but about empowering youth to minister,” but what does youth-led youth ministry actually look like? Experience youth ministry by young people as NYC students discuss recent student-led ministry models including God Belongs in My City, Kickin’ It Old Skool, Generation Xcel, and World Vision’s Youth Empowerment Project.

(Student Led Student Ministry: Possible from Jeremy Del Rio on Vimeo.)

Finally, Reload 1.2.3 provided a platform for the 20/20 Vision Workshop to be taught live at three venues simultaneously, thanks to our instructors Edwin Pacheco (associate pastor Gateway City Church and director Youth Rock), Walter Sotelo (director New York Gospel Outreach), and Rohin Beach (youth pastor St. Luke’s Baptist Church of Paterson). Here’s that workshop description:

Adults promise children that if they stay in school they will be equipped to succeed in life, but we have failed to make good on that promise for generations — with high school graduation rates in some cities hovering at or below 30%. Come explore how urban youth ministries are transforming public education within a single generation of students by activating congregations, adopting schools, and becoming answers to prayer.

Download video of the Vision Workshop, along with its PowerPoint and lecture notes, here.

Thanks Urban Youth Workers Institute for being an incredible partner and affirming that empowered student leaders are key to reaching their generation.

If you missed the national broadcast of Reload 1.2.3, here’s a flavor of the opening general session, introducing both the technology innovations and the concept of plus-1′s.

Broadcast Intro

Emcees: Ryan Schlachter & Jeremy Del Rio

[VIDEO INTRO: River Rush]

Ryan:

“Welcome to the national broadcast of RELOAD 1.2.3. My name is Ryan Schlachter and I’m a Plus-1. Yeah, I am contagious.

Whether you’re joining us live in Manhattan, Jersey City or watching online around the country, you’ll meet many other Plus-1’s today. Hopefully, we’ll infect a lot more of you before the day is over.

What’s a Plus-1?

We are the next generation leaders, the fruit of the seeds planted by urban youth workers. That’s right. A chosen generation. A royal priesthood. Empowered by God to represent God’s Kingdom Legacy. Wow…I like that.

We’re the future of youth ministry, and our future is NOW.

The Kingdom we represent upends convention and transcends what’s normal. It proclaims good news to the poor and sets free the captive. It restores what’s been stolen and populates empty streets with homes that flourish. It mends broken hearts and fixes broken systems.

And it trusts people like me to change the world.

My generation has already changed the world. That’s why this year, we have revolutionized Reload. Here’s how.”

[VIDEO 2: Social Media Revolution]

Ryan:

Thank you for helping us make youth ministry history today!

RELOAD 1.2.3 is the first multi-site, multi-state youth ministry training event ever.

One Conference. Two States. Three venues that marry the energy that comes when people of like mind and heart convene face-to-face … WITH the real-time interactivity social media provides when face-time isn’t always possible.

Friends from FYI’s Leadership and Management of Urban Youth Ministry Class, below are the lecture slides as promised. Sorry for my delay posting them. Enjoy!

For those not enrolled in the Fuller Youth Institute at Fuller Seminary, sample the content of one of the intensives. Applications for the 2011 cohort will be available online in July. Watch this two minute video to learn more about FYI.

Fuller Youth Institute Feature Video from Fuller Youth Institute on Vimeo.

Lecture Slides

+ LMUYM Day 1 (pdf) // Includes:

• “Leadership 101: Star Power?”
• “The Urban Youth Leader”
• “Strategy: The Basics”
• “Defining Vision: Where are We Going?”
• “Creative Imagination Exercise: Part 1″

+ LMUYM Days 2-3 (pdf) // Includes:

• “Bagged Lunch and a Drop of Oil: Multiplying Resources for Urban Youth Ministry”
• “Planning for Greatness Part 1″
• “The God Who Sees Me: Hagar Case Study”
• “Planning for Greatness Part 2″
• “Igniting Momentum”
• “Creative Imagination Exercise Parts 2-4″

Supplemental Downloads

• “Family Portrait” music video (YouTube)
• 20/20 Vision for Schools Vision Presentation (Includes Powerpoint, Lecture Notes, and Video)
• “Fundraising Basics,” presented by Larry Acosta (My live Tweets from his presentation)

No budget + high profile hostility
+ lousy weather + despondent adult leaders
+ inspired student leaders + 2 weeks notice
+ a community greatly loved + supportive adults
+ viral technology + a God idea
= one of the most amazing youth ministry experiences of my 23 year youth ministry career.

Best of all, for a veteran youth worker: I had nothing to do with organizing it.

All I had to do was show up, with a faith-filled heart and eyes to watch it happen.

In case you missed the memo (or the 100s of #GodBelongsInMyCity Tweets last week), 1,500 people marched through the streets of Manhattan on Saturday, November 14, from 96th Street in the North to Battery Park in the South, with shirts that proclaimed, “God Belongs in My City.”

“March” is actually a misnomer. There was no hostility or militancy. It was more of a walk with a purpose: to radiate love and affection for God and neighbor, while praying that God would be glorified in our City by lives that love others well.

The catalyst for the day was a dismayed youth pastor who asked some of his student leaders why Christians were publicly silent after atheists launched a citywide ad blitz claiming 1 million New Yorkers reject the existence of God. They responded as only youth can — by launching a movement.

Despite a Noreaster bearing down on the Northeast, with flash floods forecast throughout the day, a 1,500 person Flash Mob showed up at the two rally points at 9 am.

God smiled on them. The sun began to shine, and the rains held for four hours, just long enough to convene on the TKTS steps at Times Square for an impromptu worship service followed by a silent prayer meeting beneath the Zodiac mural in the Main Lobby of venerable Grand Central Station.

In the process, adults like me experienced the awe-inspiring joy that can happen only after we have gotten out of David’s way long enough to watch Goliath topple.

Some of the highlights (a sampling of play-by-play tweets from the day, with links to photos):

• The largest silent prayer meeting ever at Grand Central because #godbelongsinmycity http://twitpic.com/pixo7
• At 110 1500 teens will pray silently in Grand Central for 5 minutes because #godisinmycity http://twitpic.com/pi91r
• A choir of angels, a/k/a youth, because #godbelongsinmycity: http://pic.gd/96e3ad. His Kingdom belongs to them
• http://pic.gd/c91920 “they all have God on their tshirts” because #godbelongsinmycity
• Overwhelmed wat happens when youth lead #godbelongsinmycity http://pic.gd/48d618
• http://pic.gd/a049a0 who are these people? #godbelongsinmycity http://tinyurl.com/viralcity
• This is why @mikebloomberg closed the streets to cars http://pic.gd/e66ae4 #godbelongsinmycity
• Thanksging Parade comes early to Macys because #godbelongsinmycity http://pic.gd/9c1a7d
• Hark the Herald (Sqare) proclaims #godbelongsinmycity http://pic.gd/172690
• Hustler: you da bloods they da crips? Nah u got God on ur shirts #godbelongsinmycity
• At Madison Square #godbelongsinmycity http://pic.gd/0c6bd5
• Unity at Union Square because #godbelongsinmycity http://pic.gd/37d0bd
• Three generations wear it proudly because #godbelongsinmycity http://pic.gd/90eb1e
• Mr Mayor: #GodBelongsInMyCity http://twitpic.com/phkln
• We will never forget: #GodBelongsInMyCity. Esp at Ground Zero http://twitpic.com/phiyw “Buried in the rubble r the seeds of revival”
• Even on Wall Street #GodBelongsInOurCity. http://twitpic.com/phhl3 Romans 5:20
• #GodBelongsInMyCity Battery Park rally prayer http://twitpic.com/phg6i
• In case you missed the memo #godbelongsinmycity. Some of the student organizers http://twitpic.com/phg0w

More Viral Videos

Google Video is picking up new “God Belongs in My City” videos each time I search. Watch the first two here.

One Youth Group’s Journey

Here’s another perspective from the North route. (Please comment if you know which group this is. Thanks!)

Sights and Sounds from Times Square

RELATED

+ Goliaths Fall When Students Lead
+ Embrace the Mess: Why Youth Must Lead Now
+ Confessions of a Youth Pastor Hypocrite on Loving the Least of These: Meeting Jesus on the Lower East Side
+ Young People are NOT the Future: Embracing the YW8? (Why Wait?) Generation

I’ve always said money doesn’t motivate me.

I thought it did when I was in high school, but I discovered later that what actually motivated me about money was its ability to pay for the stuff that really mattered to me, things like fighting poverty, illiteracy, and injustice.

Sometimes people react in a mystified way by my lack of interest in making money for its own sake. You know how “they” say money is the cause of most marital stress? Diana and I can attest to that.

Today a TED video by Dan Pink eased my concerns about my lack of personal ambition towards bringing home more Benjamins. Here’s a nugget: “Management is great if you want compliance. But if you want engagement, self-direction works better.”

Here’s another: “If/then rewards often destroy creativity. … The secret to high performance isn’t rewards and punishments, but that unseen intrinsic drive, the drive to do things for their own sake … because they matter.”

Dig it, and be challenged.

Career analyst Dan Pink examines the puzzle of motivation, starting with a fact that social scientists know but most managers don’t: Traditional rewards aren’t always as effective as we think. Listen for illuminating stories — and maybe, a way forward.

I need your help with a unique opportunity.

The DeVos Urban Leadership Initiative (DVULI) has empowered me to invest in the leadership development of twelve youth ministers from New York City for fifteen months beginning in January 2010.

That’s right! DVULI is providing the resources and structure for me and a fully-scholarshipped cohort of twelve hand-picked youth leaders to learn and grow in our capacity to disciple young people for maximum impact.

For more than a decade, DVULI has trained over 600 leaders in 27 cities with best-of-class curriculum designed and taught by leading urban ministry practitioners. I have personally known many of the instructors as well as dozens of alumni and consider it an honor be associated with them here in New York.

Now I am asking you to help me select the cohort.

Specifically, you can help me in two ways:

1) Nominate a youth leader/s (including yourself if applicable) that should apply for the program. Nominees must:

• Have at least three years youth ministry experience;
• Hold a ministry position that includes the organizational authority to implement change; and
• Possess the flexibility in their schedule to attend 5 overnight retreats and two national conferences (plus other local gatherings) in a 15-month period (specific dates will accompany the application materials).

In addition, I would like to leverage DVULI as an opportunity to develop the next generation of urban youth ministers, so my personal preference would be for a final cohort comprised partly of my youth ministry peers, but mostly of our protégés.

2) Review 3-7 applications (excluding your nominees) that are received.

Additional info about the program is available at DVULI.org.

Please email me indicating whether you would like to nominate someone for the cohort and/or whether you would be willing to serve as an application reviewer.

Please note: Nominations are due no later than October 16. Nominees will be sent information about the program and invited to submit an application.

I am excited to see what God does through twelve leaders committed to learn, grow, and do life together. Seems to me He demonstrated that great things can come from such a group once before.

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.

It feels trite to even say this, but Bono’s prophetic voice speaks again, this time to those of us facilitating the ONLY student led student leadership conference in NYC this September.

Every generation gets a chance to change the world
Pity the nation that won’t listen to your boys and girls
Cos the sweetest melody is the one we haven’t heard
Is it true that perfect love drives out all fear?
The right to appear ridiculous is something I hold dear
Oh, but a change of heart comes slow

It’s not a hill, it’s a mountain
As you start out the climb
Listen for me, I’ll be shouting
Shouting to the darkness, squeeze out sparks of light
…
We’re gonna make it all the way to the light

From “I’ll Go Crazy if I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msCCBPy8iCk

Related

+ Kickin’ It Old Skool

Great article in Christianity Today today about the demise of faddish Gen X ministries and the rise of socially conscious, missional communities in their wake. Here’s a poignant take-away.

Having learned from the example of other next generation ministries, leaders at Central Peninsula Church suppressed the tendency toward intergenerational dissension with one key decision made when hiring Buzzard—he regularly preaches before the entire congregation on Sunday mornings. The church doesn’t see him as a youth pastor for young adults, but as another shepherd and teacher for the whole congregation. Just listening to a young preacher and seeing many young faces in the congregation has reminded the church that their God is mighty to save.

Bonus: the article examines the rise, fall, and rebirth of Willow Creek’s Axis ministry as a case study, and features two acquaintances, Daniel Hill (a former Axis leader turned inner city church planter/community developer and a friend from CCDA) and Jon Peacock (current Axis director charged with rebuilding Axis “from the ground up,” and my host at Shift 2007).

“There is a collective sense in the emerging generation that one of the areas of failure in the modern church has been its inability to preach and live a gospel that cuts across racial, cultural, and socio-economic lines,” Hill said. “But people are struggling to know what to do with that sense.” …

“The model must be relational,” Peacock said. “If it is based on the big event with one person teaching, I just don’t think it’s going to work. We’ve learned to break these things down into smaller communities where people actually know each other. We didn’t come up with it, but our mantra is, ‘People belong before they believe before they behave.’ Many people in this generation are already coming in with distrust toward God and the church. The more relational environments we have, the more trust can be built and people will be more open to exploring Christianity.”

Perhaps the most hopeful comment was this about North Point Church in Atlanta:

Shortly before Axis reorganized, Jarrett Stevens moved to suburban Atlanta where he led 7|22, a twenty-something ministry at North Point Church. But church leaders recently closed down 7|22—not for lack of interest, but because the larger church had taken on the ministry’s ethos. It had simply become redundant.

The article’s conclusion: replace big box churchianity with:

Deep, genuine community as a crying need and key avenue for communicating and displaying the gospel.

Sounds oh so Biblical. See Acts 2, for example.