Introducing the Graduate Residency in Youth Ministry Program
Beginning this fall, CYMT has expanded its certificate program to a full blown Graduate Residency in Youth Ministry. The Graduate Residency in Youth Ministry is unique to the Center for Youth Ministry Training. The residency program creates a whole-person learning environment by nurturing students academically in the classroom, vocationally in the local church and through personal coaching, as well as emotionally and socially through peer interaction in a cohort of fellow students. Graduate residents in the program gain experience in a 3-year supervised practicum as a youth director in a local church while earning a Master of Arts in Religion with a youth ministry emphasis through our partnership with Memphis Theological Seminary. Acceptance to the residency program is competitive and is limited to a cohort of 12 residents per year.
The CYMT graduate residency in Youth Ministry includes:
- All-inclusive scholarship covering tuition, books, and housing
- 48 credit hour degree at MTS earned over the 3-year program
- Serving as a youth director in a local church
- $1,000 per month stipend
To learn all about the Graduate Residency, explore the website. Graduate Residents start here. Churches start here.
Executive Director Note Spring 2011
Exciting things are afoot at the Center for Youth Ministry Training. We just celebrated our fifth birthday so I wanted to share five dreams that God has made a reality through our program over the past few years:
- Masters Degree - CYMT is expanding to a three-year program so that every CYMT student can earn a Master of Arts in Youth Ministry through Memphis Theological Seminary while they are in the program.
- Expansion – The addition of a third year means that we will be expanding our capacity to 36 students and partner churches.
- Second Region – With the hiring of Kris Konsowitz to serve as the Memphis Regional Director, we have broadened our ability to serve the greater Memphis region including North Mississippi and Eastern Arkansas.
- Urban Initiative – We are hiring a summer intern to help us establish stronger relationships with communities where youth are underserved.
- Publishing Initiative – We will be launching a publishing line that will share CYMT’s practical theology training approach with the broader church. I am especially thankful to Jason Fisher, Hank Hilliard, Crea Sielbeck, Maral Missirian-Dill, and Kris Lott for their faithful service on our board the past three years. They have been instrumental in our growth as an organization.
I hope you will note the upcoming fundraisers happening this Fall. We are having a major fundraising event to continue to ensure our long term success on October 27, 2011. Additionally, we are hosting our first 100 Hole Golf Marathon on October 17, 2011, to raise annual fund and scholarship support. We invite your participation in these events. If you would like to assist in these events, please contact our office. None of these things would have been possible without the support of investors like yourself. CYMT continues to see fruit from our labors. Many from our inaugural class are beginning their fifth year of ministry in their churches. Our alumni churches report continued growth in their ministries. Finally, congratulations to Curt Gardiner, Regina Rigney, Sean Murphy, and Trey Wince who have completed the Certificate for Youth Ministry. They are moving on to pursue other ministry ventures while the rest of their class continues to complete the masters degree through MTS.
Serving Christ,
Rev. Dietrich “Deech” Kirk, Executive Director
CYMT Adds Memphis Regional Staff
In May 2011, the Center for Youth Ministry Training hired Kris Konsowitz as the Memphis Regional Director. Serving in this role, Kris will be able to make better connections and stronger relationships with churches in the West Tennessee, Eastern Arkansas, and Northern Mississippi areas.
Kris has been serving as a coach for CYMT for the past two years. When she is not working for CYMT, she is the Director of Youth Ministries and Young Adults at Collierville United Methodist Church in Collierville, Tennessee. She is married to Bob, and they have three children: Melissa, Chris, and Laura.
We are excited about Kris joining our staff in a broader role!
Academic Director strengthens CYMT's Curriculum
CYMT Academic
Director, Andrew
Zirschky, started his
new position July 1,
2010, and lead his first
retreat with our students
on August 2, 2010. He
took time out of his
busy schedule to talk to
us about his new role.
Can you tell us why you think CYMT is important in the youth
ministry world?
CYMT is on the forefront of rethinking youth ministry education and is modeling
a new approach for equipping youth ministers for faithful and effective service.
There are only a handful of organizations that are pursuing new avenues for
training and educating youth workers, and even fewer maintain an effective balance
between educating youth leaders in both the theory and practice of youth ministry.
Extensive research into what constitutes expertise in any field or discipline is
revealing that people who are experts — whether in botany or ministry — have
three things in common: First, thousands of hours of practice in their chosen
field. Second, a large fund of practical skills and abilities, in other words, they
know how to do things. Third, they also have a theoretical framework which helps
them understand why they approach their work the way they do. If any of these
three pieces are missing, then expertise is compromised. What is rather unique
about CYMT is our commitment to equipping our student interns in each of these
three areas through work in a church, individualized coaching, and academic study.
Some traditional youth ministry programs emphasize the learning of theory, others
focus on practical skills, and still others emphasize internships and working in a
church. CYMT has a radical commitment to balancing these three foundations of
expertise. While our student interns will not emerge from two years in CYMT as
experts, they will be placed on a path toward sustainable and effective ministry in
which they can continue to develop toward expertise.
How do you think your role will grow this ministry?
First, the position of academic director allows CYMT to properly balance coaching,
church internship, and the academic study of youth ministry. There are things that
are better learned in a church, or through coaching, than in a classroom. At the
same time, there are things which are better learned in a classroom environment.
Part of my role as academic director is to make sure that the theory and theology
that undergirds the expert practice of youth ministry is connected together with the
coaching and internship that our students experience. Second, as academic director
I hope to grow the already established ability of CYMT to build partnerships and
collaborative relationships with academic institutions such as Memphis Theological
Seminary, Duke Divinity School, and Princeton Theological Seminary. These
relationships will continue to allow us to provide students with valuable experience,
valuable learning, and valuable degrees.
What new things do you hope for CYMT?
I hope to see CYMT become the leader in innovative and effective theological
training for youth pastors. Youth ministry needs innovative ways of training youth
leaders for both longevity and faithful Christian ministry, and I think CYMT is
uniquely positioned for that. It has been said that youth ministry is the R&D
(research and development) arm of the church, and if you look at just the past forty
years it's easy to see that where youth ministry goes, so goes the church. But while
we've been innovative in ministry to teenagers, one of the places where youth
ministry hasn't been terribly innovative is in the training of youth pastors. CYMT is
on the forefront of changing that, and I hope to see the CYMT model replicated at
locations around the United States and even globally.
Tell us why you are excited to be here.
The thing that most excites me about CYMT isn't what we're doing, but who we're
doing it with. Both the team of folks that Deech has assembled, and the students
we work with, give me both excitement and hope for the future of youth ministry.
Lilly Grant continues to fund CYMT Program
The Center for Youth Ministry Training is excited to announce the Lilly Foundations decision to fund our Lilly Laboratory for Youth Ministry grant for two more years. This grant will provide $530,000 in support to further develop the CYMT program, continue to provide resources through YMtoday.com, continue the Youth Ministry Think Tank that we began in 2008, and to help us develop a second campus. We are grateful to the continued support and faith of the Lilly Foundation.
Executive Director Note 2010
God continues to do amazing things in and through the Center for Youth Ministry Training. We commissioned our third class of students on August 1. On August 2, we welcomed eleven new students to our program. We will be working with 22 students and churches this fall. Our coaching staff and opportunities for ministry continue to expand in ways we could have only dreamed of. Again our students are coming from all over the country, and we have expanded our region of ministerial influence to include Northern Mississippi, Western Kentucky, and Northern Alabama while continuing to serve churches in the Middle and West Tennessee areas. I hope you will keep this newsletter and pray for them and their churches often.
We are beginning the second year of our partnership with Memphis Theological Seminary and are excited about the approval of a Masters of Arts in Youth Ministry that will allow our students to secure a degree by completing some additional work after our program. Dr. Ben Conner is our Church History professor this semester. Ben is uniquely qualified to teach our students as he is a practicing youth minister who has a PH.D in church history.
Our staff continues to grow as we expand our
ministry. Andrew Zirschky joined our staff in
July as the Academic Director and is teaching
our youth ministry courses and has
strengthened our holistic curriculum. Mindi
Godfrey joined our staff this Spring as the
Marketing Director for our expanding online
resources. We continue our efforts to resource
equip, empower, and educate youth ministers
across the country.
We continue to be blessed by you who give of
your time and resources to make CYMT a
reality. We have much to be thankful for at the
CYMT. Your prayers and gifts keep the
mission of the CYMT alive. Brentwood UMC and First Presbyterian Church continue to
strengthen and bless our ministry. Please pray
for our board, staff, students, and churches as
we continue this important ministry.
Serving Christ,
Rev. Dietrich “Deech” Kirk, Executive Director
CYMT Partners with Memphis Theological Seminary
The Center for Youth Ministry Training’s Board of Directors is excited to announce a collaborative partnership with Memphis Theological Seminary. Our partnership with MTS will help us more effectively accomplish the CYMT’s vision of training youth ministers. CYMT receives three primary benefits from this new relationship.
The first benefit is academic credit. Our students currently can earn 12 hours credit from Vanderbilt. Through MTS our students will earn 32 hours of credit for the exact same work because MTS will give credit for our students’ youth ministry course work, internships, and core seminary work. This credit raises the academic credibility of our Certificate in Youth Ministry program. We also benefit from this relationship as our students will be two-thirds of the way towards completing a Master of Arts degree when they complete the certificate program. MTS is creating an opportunity for our students to complete the degree by adding a third year to the CYMT program.
Secondly, this relationship will allow CYMT to expand its region as we create an innovative educational model. We have been focused on the greater Nashville area in our first three years due to the travel restrictions of our students. CYMT and MTS are creating a retreat-based curriculum that will allow students to only have to travel to Nashville or Memphis every six weeks for a 3-day intensive retreat. During the in-between weeks, students will meet in cluster groups in their areas. This model will allow CYMT to expand its reach to a 2-3 hour radius of Nashville. We anticipate working with churches next year in Memphis, Jackson, Northern Alabama, and potentially southern Kentucky.
Finally, this relationship raises CYMT’s reputation and credibility in academic circles and in the eyes of potential students. We will now, through our relationship with MTS, begin to develop one of the strongest youth ministry educational programs in the country. We plan to develop a Master of Arts in Youth Ministry that would begin in 2010. We also plan to work with MTS to potentially hire an associate professor of youth ministry in the near future. We will be able to market our program to future students who are seeking a job and a top-notch youth ministry education.
Executive Director Note January 09
As the Center for Youth Ministry Training moves into 2009, I must take a moment to pause and remember all of the incredible things we have accomplished in 2008. We received our first national grant that has expanded our staff from 2 to 10! This increase has allowed us to expand and improve our capacity to do ministry.
We hosted a national youth ministry think tank where we led the way in exploring how to best educate and train youth workers. We commissioned our inaugural class of students as youth ministers in the Body of Christ. Our third class of students has arrived, and we currently have 13 students serving in partner churches where young people’s lives are being touched by the Good News of Jesus Christ. Our partner churches continue to see growth in their youth programs both numerically and spiritually as CYMT mentors guide both our students and the leaders in those congregations.
We have developed a youth ministry library that will be available to our students and the Nashville area youth ministers. Finally, we have created a partnership with Memphis Theological Seminary that will increase the credibility of our program and allow our students to earn a Master of Arts degree in conjunction with our certificate.
As we look to 2009, we see a year full of new and exciting components to our ministry. We will launch several national youth ministry websites in January targeted at resourcing, educating, and equipping youth ministers. YMtoday.com is the primary website, and we are confident that it will quickly become the premier youth ministry site.
We will begin to identify potential locations for second campuses in other regions of the country. Our partnership with Memphis Theological Seminary will allow us to expand our Nashville campus to include the Memphis and West Tennessee areas.
We have much to be thankful for at the CYMT. In these difficult economic times, we are grateful for your continued support of our ministry. Your prayers and gifts keep the mission of the CYMT alive. Brentwood United Methodist Church and First Presbyterian Church Nashville continue to strengthen and bless our ministry. Please pray for our board, staff, students, and churches as we continue this important ministry.
Serving Christ,
Rev. Dietrich “Deech” Kirk, Executive Director
Executive Director Note June 08
As the Center for Youth Ministry Training approaches the end of its second year, I am overwhelmed by my emotions. We are commissioning our inaugural group of students to be youth ministers in the body of Christ this August. We would like to invite all of you to that service on August 3, 2008. I feel a great sense of pride in how the CYMT has helped them develop their gifts for ministry. I also am overcome with gratitude for this class of students who came to the CYMT on faith. The role that they have played in teaching us as we have taught them will make a difference in all future students of the CYMT.
We are proud to say that ministry with youth will be a part of all of their futures. I continued to be humbled by how God has provided for our ministry needs. Our “Imagine the Future” event last May has provided a foundation for financial stability and growth. Your support has provided the funding we have needed to sustain our budget over the past year and for years to come. We are more than half way to raising our goal of $1.5 million dollars that we need to sustain our current program into the future.
Through God’s providence, we have received a $404,000 grant from the Lilly Foundation for the next two years with the potential for another $450,000 for the two years after that to enhance and expand our program. This grant has provided us time and opportunity to do more than we would have ever imagined at this point in our development. The grant has given us three times as many staff hours to accomplish our vision as we had when we started our program.
The CYMT has eight staff members now, all but one are part time, but we are excited about how these positions have expanded our capacity for ministry. I am also excited about how God is continuing to use the Center for Youth Ministry Training to impact churches. From Loretto United Methodist Church that only had one youth coming to their church when CYMT began working with them, to Lebanon First United Methodist Church that has grown to more than 50 youth participating in their ministry in only 6 months, the CYMT is developing youth ministers and churches that are impacting the lives of youth. I am thankful for the support of each of you individually, both in your prayers and gifts.
I also want to thank Brentwood United Methodist Church and First Presbyterian Nashville for their continued support and encouragement.
We hope that this newsletter gives you a taste of how God is at work in and through the CYMT.
Please pray for our board, staff, students, and churches as we continue this important work.
Serving Christ,
Rev. Dietrich “Deech” Kirk
Executive Director
Lilly Foundation Grant Gives CYMT Room to Grow – June 08
The Center for Youth Ministry Training is excited to announce that they have been awarded a grant from the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment in the amount of $404,000. The grant will fund the first two years of a four year project entitled The Lilly Laboratory for Youth Ministry. The grant will also support the Center for Youth Ministry Training’s continued work of developing youth ministers who are both theological practitioners and practical theologians.
Several of the components of the project include developing youth ministry training curriculum and coaching manuals for youth directors and churches; developing a national youth ministry think tank; developing a national youth ministry website and resources; and launching a second CYMT campus. Seminaries and Divinity Schools will benefit from the grant research, which will provide insights into how to reach the broader youth ministry community and how to better train their students as practitioners. In addition, the professional youth workers, volunteers, and youth in 63 churches will immediately benefit from theologically grounded youth ministries.
Deech Kirk, Executive Director of the Center for Youth Ministry Training, says of receiving the grant, “We are grateful for Lilly Endowment’s gift that provides time and opportunity to further our capacity to train and equip youth ministers.”