There is a panel discussion going on now. I'll post any interesting points that come up.

The panel is made up of a lot of older youth workers. The is over 300 years of experience on stage!!

-Today, more than ever, with Dawkins etc, we need credible answers to young people's questions...

-"Please stay as youth workers. Don't get a proper job!"

I love that. Quote of the day

-it's important that we dont let young people down and that they can trust us. We need to live that out in what we say, what we do, how we look, and everything else...

-YP need to realise that "coming to Church is not about woodworm in your posterior, but about an encounter with Jesus."

Good point.

-Were don't just pray for YP or come to church. They won't come unless we go out the and engage with them.

Good point again. The need to get of there and do stuff rather then just praying and expecting is a key theme of the day. Also reminds me of Colm Leyne's talk from Rebuild My Church.

-"Am I just a youth worker for my church? Or am I a youth worker for my borough, my ward etc?"

Another good point. We are a mission.

The last few hours...

The panel discussion was interesting but nothing really amazing came out of it.

Tim Vine was awesome.

Rend Collective Experiment were also awesome.

Marko is talking now about what to do when the dream has died...

He is talking about the awful state he was in when he was let go from Youth Specialties. He went into the desert to face his emotions. He was afraid of a lot of things...

It's an amazing talk, but there's not much I can write down. You kind of have to be he really!!

The experience of visiting Haiti after the earthquake had a huge effect on him at this time. He had expected to see incredible pain, and he did. But he also found something he didn't expect - In a field hospital he met a man named Rudi who was still hopeful despite losing his home, his parents and his family.

He also saw a huge crowd in a street who were singing praise and worship songs. Even though they had probably all lost somebody. He then remembered Romans 5:3-5. Go look it up. It's awesome.

He said that in a poor country he saw great hope in youth workers because they had nothing... All they had was Christ.

How do we as youth workers reflect this? Are we always waiting for something big to happen? Or do we just get on with it?

Marko tells us the story of the bleeding woman who touched Jesus' cloak. A great story of hope.

I'm signing off here.

Darn... and I thought I'd just miss a few songs!!

Ah well, at least I got to an empty Brent Cross station

We left as soon as it finished, and was empty too!

Ah, well... I imagined that tiny tube station would be rammed. Maybe loads of them walked or came in cars.

Anyway, what an awesome day... I'm gonna type up my thoughts and impressions today