By definition, a conference Christian is someone who spends a great deal of time (and often money) attending Christian conferences. They love hearing the speakers, love singing with the bands, love letting the world know who they meet and what they are experiencing via blog/Facebook/Twitter, and love meeting up with other conference Christians. Some of these conference Christians somehow manage to work a job in around all their conferences. Others are ministry leaders spending tithe dollars to pay for their hobby/vacation/fanboy obsession.
Here's what I thought was really insightful (and applicable for youth workers):
1. A Pseudo Elder Board
They have a pseudo elder board that they self-select from their favorite preachers and authors. This allows them to not submit to a local team of actual spiritual leaders who know them, but rather just defend themselves by appealing to their heroes, who would be embarrassed to see how they were being used by conference Christians.
Having recently attended a youth ministry conference, I can say that I, too, appreciate conferences. It was great to spend time with many of our team members, meet other youth leaders, and spend time learning from some wise, faithful veteran youth workers. But there was an aspect I was uncomfortable with: some people I spoke with were in awe of some of the "youth ministry celebrities." I wonder if Driscoll's comments about a "pseudo elder board" apply to a good number of youth workers. And I wonder if a downside of conferences (and blogs, resources by popular youth workers, etc.) is that we become disconnected from those around us that we need to allow to pour into our lives. Those resources are great--in the right places. But we can't allow them to become our support structure.
Sometimes we're tempted to believe that we're all alone in our community--at least in terms of being youth workers. Or we might fool ourselves into thinking some of the church leadership is against us (if it really is, we need to have a different conversation). I know what it's like to feel like no one "gets it"--that no one really understands what it's like to be in youth ministry and be asked (in a bit more of a round-about way), "So, when are you going to move on to a real job, or real ministry?" But the truth is, we're not alone...if we don't want to be. Yes, there are a relatively few youth workers out there who serve a church literally in the middle of nowhere, and you're the only youth worker for miles around. For those like you, the Internet is a Godsend. But for the rest (and vast majority) of us, we are not all alone. We can have support structures who will love us, encourage us, and speak truth into our lives when we need it. Even in Utah (where God is doing some amazing things, by the way), there are people I've come to trust and love, and I value their insight and input.
So, let me send a call out to all youth workers: use the technology resources you have at your disposal to learn from other youth workers who may live hundreds or even thousands of miles away from you. Connect with friends you meet at conferences. And continue to fire up that Mars Hill Church app on your iPhone when you clean the house on Thursday nights (maybe that last one's just me). But if your time at Starbucks is spent more on reading blogs and being fed by your pseudo-elder board than it is actually talking to people who can help and encourage you in your calling as a youth worker, it's time to close up the laptop and begin connecting with others in your church and your community.
