Last weekend the whole GCYM gang had the joy of attending the Rooted conference out in Atlanta. This was the third year of the Rooted conference, but the first for each of the three of us. The theme was “Hope in a Time of Suffering,” and Jared Wilson was the keynote speaker.
Rooted, both as a conference and a ministry/blog more broadly, is doing a lot of what we are trying to do at GCYM, so we thought we would spend our first few days here with some follow-up on what we saw there. In the next couple days we will post some audio interviews we grabbed while at the conference, but today, here is each of our recaps of our time at Rooted.
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Andrew Faris
When I think of a youth ministry conference, I think of rows of seats in big auditoriums with loud bands, flashing lights, and high energy from start to finish. The goal seems to be not only to inform attendees, but to pump them up.
Rooted was nothing like this. It was small (about 60 people), and we sat at round tables for the weekend. Nearly everyone stayed together for meals (which were included in the cost). The band was comprised of two acoustic guitars, a violin, a male singer, and two female singers. The cumulative effect, at least for me, was feeling a sense of community and rest.
“Refreshing,” in fact, may be the primary word I would use to describe Rooted. Wilson’s preaching completed this for me. How wonderful to hear again from God’s Word that I am fully loved and forgiven by God in Christ! My life and ministry, I was reminded, stems from my identity in Christ. It is God’s holiness, sovereignty, and glory that will sustain me and my students in suffering. These were the dominant notes at Rooted, and I loved it.
As someone who came into the weekend feeling spiritually tired and dry, I did not need a conference that tried to pump me up with atmosphere. I needed rest in the gospel. I am deeply grateful that Rooted did just this, and I will almost certainly attend again next year.
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Andrew Lindquist
In 2011, Wayne Rice of Youth Specialities commented,
“We got what we wanted. We turned youth ministry into the toy department of the church. Churches now hire professionals to lead youth ministry. We got relevance but we created a generation of teenagers who are a mile wide and an inch deep.”
It is the truth of this insight that has driven the three of us to ask the question, “how do we get back to God-Centered youth ministry?” It was from this question that the Rooted Conference was born.
During my first year of youth ministry a wise mentor told me to keep my eyes fixed on Christ and as I journeyed along, focused on him, to be watchful for other brothers and sisters who are walking the same road. They are gifts of grace from God. Cherish those relationships. Rooted was a gift of grace for the three of us. We all left the conference with or hearts stirred to show our students the goodness and sovereignty of God in a hard, broken world.
There are too many highlights from the conference to mention all of them. One particular highlight for me was Dr. Alvin Reid’s workshop entitled, “Creating a Missional Culture of Gospel Centered Students,” in which he gave three things that, in his opinion, students need most from their youth ministers.
- A Vision: Students need someone to come along side them and give them a vision as big as God! As youth pastors, we ought to be holding up the glory of God to our youth and helping them discern how God might want to use them to do incredible things in the context he has placed them in.
- Encouragement: Students need someone to believe in them! When children are young we are excited about every achievement, but once they reach high school we often tend to focus on pointing out areas they need to work on. Encourage them not to fulfill their agenda but to fulfill God’s agenda for them.
- Permission: Tell them that they can do something for God…right now! Give them permission to try something radical for God and the assurance that if they fail it’s OK.
He ended his talk with a quote from E. Stanley Jones. When Jones was asked how he had managed to make disciples out of students who others had written off, he replied, “I take students, put a crown over their head, and help them grow into it.” This is the heart of student ministry.
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Kyle Lundquist
God does not forsake us or abandon us in our suffering.
As I listened to Cameron Cole (the Founder of Rooted) speak this past weekend, I was reminded that relationship with God is a life-altering reality that Christians are allowed to enjoy. Life is guaranteed to bring suffering – or as Cameron worded it, we will “eat gravel” – yet God walks with us in our pain, sanctifies amid hardship, and exalts His name through our suffering.
The Gospel reveals the beautiful reality that the Holy God of the universe loves me and calls me into sweet submission. This does not render the pain in suffering any less painful, but it does provide real hope in the midst of hardship. Tears will still be shed, pain will continue to hurt, and suffering will always be difficult to endure – but I am not alone. God is with me. God sees those tears, he knows my pain, and He does not abandon in difficulty. In Christ there is real joy and hope in suffering as God redeems and uses the pain we endure.
Apart from God, suffering can only lead to despair. But with God, we can cry out with the Psalmist, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” (Psalm 73:26)
I was incredibly blessed by the Rooted conference, and I cannot wait for next year. It was refreshing to be at a youth conference with no smoke machines or games of chubby bunny. Instead, I was encouraged to find a community of like-minded youth ministers with a decisive desire to root youth ministry on God’s power for His glory. Doesn’t get much better then that.
Oh and did I mention that the conference was in Atlanta, which means I ate the greatest fried chicken in my life? Mary Mac’s Tea Room definitely beat my California options of KFC or the frozen section at the grocery store…
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Thank you, Cameron Cole and the rest of the Rooted team for such a fantastic weekend! We are truly grateful, and we would recommend the conference next year to any youth workers without any hesitation. Hopefully we’ll see more of you there!
Dr. Brent Bounds is a clinical psychologist and the Director of Family Ministries and Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, serving alongside Tim Keller. Dr. Bounds is also two more things: (1) a workshop presenter at next month’s Rooted conference, and (2) our guest today on GCYM Conversations, in which he gives a snapshot/preview version of that very same workshop.
At last weekend’s 
God-Centered Youth Ministry 