The Festival of Faith and Music (FFM) is adding a pre-conference in 2011 for youth leaders. The one-day event, which takes place on Thursday, April 7, 2011, is designed to provide youth leaders with a better understanding of how they can help young people reconcile pop culture with their Christian faith.
"Youth pastors play an interesting role in the life of kids when it comes to popular culture," said Eric Kuiper, the young life coordinator for Calvin College who is working with the Calvin Institute for Christian Worship (CICW). "We want to help youth pastors have that conversation as well as they possibly can."
Organizers hope this pre-conference will help get that conversation started.
Canadian pastor John Van Sloten, who will also lead a seminar at FFM, will be keynoting the pre-conference. Van Sloten, the author of "The Day Metallica Came to Church," will give a pastor's perspective on how he incorporates pop culture into his teaching.
"His ministry embodies a worldview that sees all forms of culture as being part of God's creation and therefore they are places to see God at work," said Kuiper of Van Sloten. "If we do not remove the sacred/secular line from our thinking, we will surely miss many important opportunities for encounters with the Divine. Van Sloten is helping many people avoid that mistake."
The pre-conference was an idea that developed as a result of the partnership that Calvin and Young Life forged this past fall. The event is free and designed for youth leaders, specifically those who work with high school students. A free lunch and dinner provide bookends for the pre-conference, which wraps up at 6:15 p.m.. The pre-conference is sponsored by CICW, the department of congregational and ministry studies and admissions.
Following the pre-conference, the Festival of Faith and Music kicks off at 7 p.m. with an opening concert by well-known musician Matisyahu. Shara Worden, The Civil Wars, Jon Foreman and Vienna Teng will also be performing at FFM.
For a full list of festival speakers and performers or to register, visit www.calvin.edu/go/ffm
Requests for FFM media passes should be made to media relations manager Matt Kucinski at msk23@calvin.edu or 616-526-8935.
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Received on Wed Mar 30 09:10:15 2011
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