This morning was great! YS didn’t schedule anything until 10:00 AM so we could sleep in on a Sunday morning for once. Plus, with the time change, we got an extra hour, too. I can’t even remember the last time I sleep in on a Sunday. It felt great.

The speaker at the first general session was Ralph Winter, the director of five Star Trek movies, all three X-Men films, Fantastic Four and more. Although I didn’t end up taking too many notes and his speaking style wasn’t really that dynamic, his message about the importance of storytelling was fantastic. We all have stories to share, stories permeate the scripture and people connect with well-told stories on a very personal and emotional level.

General Session Notes: Ralph Winter

• We have to learn the skills of storytelling and master the skills.
• We have to market it and reach the audience.
• Barna reports that most people cannot remember the theme of a sermon 2 hours later, but most people can quote lines from a movie 2 months later.
• YouTube and other online sources are people sharing their stories. People have stories to share and want to share them.
• If we see Hollywood only as a harmful media and not an opportunity we will miss the point and not connect with culture.

During the general session they also announced that they are giving away Doug Field’s general session talk from the NYWC 2005 as a free mp3 download at YSunderground.com. I remember hearing him give it know it’s a great talk on What Matters Most. Get it here.

I attended two seminars this afternoon and, as usual, here are my notes. The first one was by Tic Long on leadership and the second one was by Andy Braner called, Building Bridges: Helping parents and their teenagers have a better relationship.

Tic Long – Lessons on Leadership notes

Andy Braner – Building Bridges Between Parents and Students notes

After having dinner with Mike, Greg Stier taught at the evening general session encouraging us to keep the gospel in the forefront of our ministries to students. I always appreciate Greg’s passion and solid foundation on the Word. His talk from last year’s NYWC still rings in my head and has left a huge impact on my prayer life.

Greg Stier – Preach Christ Crucified notes

Dana and I went to the late night Comedy Club option with Lost and Found, Rob Stromsberg and The Skit Guys. Video and pictures will come later.

Posted on November 5, 2007