As you read this I’m getting on a plane for the D6 Conference in Dallas this week. I’m looking forward to talking a lot about family ministry and the church and would love for you to join me in processing it! Be sure to check out D6’s live video feed of some of the sessions where I’ll be interacting in the live chat.

This conference will be particularly interesting for me because I’ve been processing family ministry from a youth ministry perspective for several years now, but it’s only been in the past year or so that I’ve been approaching family ministry from a family perspective. Hearing church leaders talk about family ministry at D6 this week will undoubtedly be a collision of those two perspectives for me.

One of the guys I’ve been bouncing some of my family ministry thoughts off of is Heath Hostetler, a guy in the Epipheo network where I now work full-time. Our stories are very similar except he’s about 10 years head of me, making the lessons he’s learned especially valuable to me.

I sat down with Heath and talked with him about several things:

• Lessons we’ve learned from stepping out of church ministry.
• The “American Church Story” and how it influences how we do ministry.
• A clearer understanding of what the “church” is and isn’t.
• How scripture views “calling.”
• What all this means for how we do youth ministry.
• How youth pastors should begin to approach family ministry.

I’d love to hear your feedback about our discussion in the comments below. This is still very much a learning experience for me, so hearing your thoughts and reactions is helpful for me and others who read them. Thank you!

You can watch to the interview above or download it in iTunes.

1. Play the audio of this interview     

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2. Play the audio of this interview     

[mobile]

Posted on September 25, 2012