Top 10 Reasons to Attend Open Boston 2015

This just in from the great folks who have organized the Open Boston youth ministry conference...

Open Boston is just under THREE WEEKS AWAY and we so hope that YOU are going to join us February 6th and 7th up on the North Shore of Boston! Here are the top ten reasons why you should join us in three weeks:

10. Swag - who doesn't like free stuff? Join us for Open Boston and we promise you, we'll hook you up with freebies worth more than the cost to register!

9. An AWESOME Raffle - On top of the free stuff we will give to everyone, we'll also raffle away some great prizes at the end of the conference. Our sponsors in the past have given out conference registrations, year-long curriculums, tickets to our annual Youth Worker Recharge, and more!

8. FREE Dinner on Friday Night - who's going to complain about a free meal...from Panera Bread too. Yum!

7. FREE Lunch on Saturday Too! - Yup, included in the registration cost is a second meal for the weekend! And Gordon College has some fantastic catering.

6. Joe Frey - we've upped our game as far as worship is concerned this year, as we'll be joined by New England musician Joe Frey. He'll be leading us on Friday night and Saturday morning. You can check out a sample of Joe here with a free download of his song Send: https://joefrey.bandcamp.com/track/send

5. Incredible Intensives - this year during our pre-conference on Friday we have two phenomenal options for you to check out. Social media expert Adam McLane will be leading Teenagers + the Small Screen from 1:30pm-3:30pm and then from 4:00pm-6:00pm, we'll have Scott Larson, as seasoned veteran with working with at-risk students, lead us in 10 Things Youth Workers Need to Understand about Reaching and Engaging at-Risk Youth for Transformational Change. (Did we mention that the pre-conference sessions are INCLUDED in the $25 conference registration!)
4. A Worship Service on Friday Night - as youth workers, we are constantly leading others. Here is your chance to just come, worship and take in God's word without any responsibilities or jobs! We're excited to have New England Youth Pastor Nathan Rockafellow sharing a message during our service from 7:00pm-8:00pm at Calvary Baptist Church in Peabody.
 
3. 15 New England Based Speakers to Choose From - we've got 15 awesome youth workers right from our back yard to choose from on a variety of topics all context sensitive to the ministry you are doing.

2. You Support a Local Ministry - 34% of every ticket sold for Open Boston will go to support Life Bridge Mentoring, a mentoring organization that is currently serving in 8 public schools in New Hampshire and Vermont and looking to expand! 

1. $25!!!!! - All of this - the pre-conference on Friday, Saturday's conference, the two meals, the swag, the worship service...all of it is just $25 per person! Seriously, it's the best deal in youth ministry when it comes to training! (We also have a great deal with a local hotel for $82 which included breakfast too! That means for a total of just over $100 you get three meals, lodging, the pre-conference and the Saturday conference!)

Parent Night of Prayer

Recently I facilitated a Parent Night of Prayer in our church, and it was such a blessing. In the process of organizing it I didn't come across many resources online, so I want to share with you here what we did, in hopes that it will be helpful for you and the families in your church.

Our evening started out with a brief time of instruction and sharing about parenting and the joys and challenges associated with it. Then we spent the rest of the evening praying. Some parents were by themselves, others were with their spouses. Each parent was given a card at their arrival that was hooked onto a binder ring. There were seven prayer "stations" scattered throughout the sanctuary, each had a different card which could be added to the ring, so by the time they went home, the would have a visual reminder of the prayer focuses and what God may have spoken to them in that time. Below I've listed (in no particular order) and explained each of the seven stations, and I've also included the JPEGs of each of the cards in case you'd like to use them.(Each card also includes a scripture passage that goes along with it.) (If you'd like the original Publisher files so you can edit them, please email me, and I'll be glad to send them to you!)

1. Cover card--title and date of prayer.
2. Pray for your child's safety online, watching TV, on social media, etc. At this station I set up a monitor, a TV remote, and an iPod touch as visuals of some of the items that young people interact with daily.
3. Thank God for the unique traits of each of your children. I had a table set up with a number of empty picture frames, reminding parents that each of their children is a "masterpiece" created by God.
4. Pray that your child will maintain their purity and avoid traps like pornography, premarital sex, and sexual immorality. This station was a table covered with a white table cloth, simple and reminiscent of purity.
5. Pray that your child will choose godly friends and role models as their primary influencers. I'm afraid that I didn't have any good visuals that came to mind for this station. If you have something, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
6. Pray for your child's future...spouse, career, God's call on their life, family, etc. At this station I had a picture of a baby progressing through each stage of life...growing up, teen, adult, senior citizen, with the caption "Remember, you're not just raising children...you're raising future adults."
7. Pray that your child will come to know Jesus and will follow Him on their life-long journey. I had a simple cross that we use on our communion table set up for this station.
8. Pray that your child will develop a hunger and thirst for the things of God (His word, prayer, fellowship with His church, etc.) I set this station up on our communion table, which has a large Bible, some shofars, and anointing oil.

I'd love to hear if you use this idea, how it goes, if you have additional ideas for parent prayer nights.