Wednesday, December 6, 2006

Welcome.

Away we go...

Why a book club for the network?
Because we are all reading many books, usually in isolation. It would be beneficial for each of us to come together, think with one another and an author, then discuss the pros, cons, and ministry implications of the text at hand. The Network is here for you, this is another way it hopes to nourish you in your vocation.

Who the heck is Jeremy?
I am an assistant professor of youth and family ministry at Augsburg College. Prior to that I've served two congregations for 7 years in youth ministry.

What will we be reading?
The first book we will take a look at is Choosing Church by Carol Lytch. Check out a review, buy the book, start reading it and we will get started after the new year. My next post is a call for requests. We would like to know which books you are interested in reading and discussing together.

When and how will we discuss it?
We will start in early January. I will post our first discussion question and some initial thoughts on each of the four sections of Lytch's book on Fridays during January. So, on January 5th I will begin the discussion on section 1, January 12th - section 2, Jan. 19th - section 3, and Jan. 26th - section 4. Then, once I've posed the question and initiated the discussion, all are welcome to chime in by responding to the discussion question and sharing their own opinions. When we finish with Choosing Church we will move on to our next book.

There are no tests. You can jump in and drop out of the conversation at any time. We will handle ourselves as adults in a respectful yet constructively challenging way. I hope you will join us and I hope this will be beneficial to us all - for the sake of our ministry, for the sake of our youth, for the sake of the gospel.

God's peace,
Jeremy Myers

2 comments:

Matt Cleaver said...

Hey Jeremy (and everyone else),

I'm looking forward to this. I just found out about it this morning via the Network newsletter. I'm ordering the book as we speak.

I'm a first-time Youth Director at an ELCA congregation south of Dallas. I look forward to "hanging out" online with a bunch of other Lutherans!

Chad said...

Jeremy,

Will the books for your book club have a unique looking sticker on the book cover that shows the book is "Jeremy Myers Approved"?

I'm glad to see that you're starting this up, considering the books that you had me and a few of my college friends read a couple of years ago in your youth ministry classes at Valparaiso U.
This is definitely a needed ministry for all of us, and this time is better than never to get it started.

Chad Lincoln (VU '04)