I’m happy to report that I’m going to the Prelude Gathering in Kansas City in April. I first heard about Prelude from Chris Folmsbee while I was attending one of his seminars at the Youth Specialties NYWC-2007 in San Diego. I was interested in going, but didn’t think it would be possible because I was already planning to attend a conference oriented more toward Family, Youth, and Children’s ministry and I wouldn’t have the budget money for a second.

After finding out that Josh, Tom, and Chris (and maybe a few others from our area) were going, I began to think more about how I might be able to attend. The reason I wanted to go is because of the conversations that will take place about new kinds of youth ministry and spiritual formation in adolescents and the chance to experience those conversations with some good friends and colleagues. After explaining this to my pastor and showing that I won’t be too much overspent on my conference budget, I was given the go ahead to attend. I registered for Prelude and got my airline tickets on Wednesday! My dream is that the group of us from Northern Virginia will be able to take what we learn and experience at Prelude and come back and together do some transformational things in youth ministry/spiritual formation in our area.