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:

1. 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.
2. Expansion — The addition of a third year means that we will be expanding our capacity to 36 students and partner churches.
3. 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.
4. Urban Initiative — We are hiring a summer intern to help us establish stronger relationships with communities where youth are underserved.
5. 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

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