Hey Everyone!
Can you believe that it is almost Christmas?!
Here at Ignite, we can't believe that it is only 3 months left until the conference!
I hope that you have been keeping up with the blog...unfortunately, we haven't been! We will make that a new year's resolution of ours...
Anyway, today I wanted to post an article written by our very own Pastor Jonathan Meyer. These are principles that each student in the youth leadership team at Grace Church go through. It is called "5Things Leaders Never Say." Let us know what you think!

1. They didn’t get back to me.
Expecting someone to get back to you stops the action. Take the initiative and call them again, or ask again.

2. I thought someone else was taking care of that.
Excuses indicate a roadblock to ownership, responsibility and action. Always ask questions to keep things moving.

3. No one ever told me.
Let a supervisor or a manager at work hear you talk this way very often and you will have made a very clear statement about the way you work. If this is you, you operate in a tunnel, oblivious to everything that is going on around you.

4. I didn’t have time. I was too busy.
If you find yourself saying things like this, you are revealing your priorities as well as sharing with all that you have difficulty scheduling your time.

5. I didn’t think to ask about that.
An inability to see down the road may indicate that you lack the ability to take ownership or responsibility. Failure to see down the road may hinder a relationship as well. These failures may cause conflict and hurt feelings in others.

Welcome to Ignite.

We are excited to have an interactive blog this year - for the first time ever! We look forward to hearing from you.

First, let me tell you a little bit about this conference that has become known as Ignite National Youth Leadership Conference so you can better understand our heart for ministry.

the History of Ignite
In October of 2003 a group of youth workers were working on a project to help youth ministries do better youth ministry. As conversations among youth workers go they stumble into a discussion about the cost of sending an entire youth ministry to a conference. They felt that the best bang for their youth ministry dollar was to take the whole group to the same event. However, these seasoned veterans were not going to take the whole youth ministry to a conference, unless it was affordable, attractive and valuable. At that moment, Ignite was born. With 9 speakers, one band (Lost & Found) and a group of youth workers collaborating together, Ignite National Youth Leadership conference held its first event in March 2004 offering youth ministries affordable, attractive training at a reasonable cost.

With the growing numbers of people coming to Ignite and the need to offer better equipping opportunities at the same affordable value, in 2007 Ignite expanded by adding regional partners who helped subsidize the cost of the conference by $20 for each person that attended. These partners, to their credit, put no stipulations on the money they gave, they simply wanted to help do better youth ministry in the Midwest.

Ignite has always been about Youth leadership development through discipleship. In fact, this year is dedicated to developing student leaders who will in fact; lead. Something is happening in the hearts of teens all across America. Growing numbers of teens believe that the teenage years are more than just video games and entertainment.

This year at Ignite we are raising the bar. If we really are a student leadership conference, why do people just come and listen instead of participate? We want to see students serve in local ministries, and even at the conference. We believe there are hosts of student ministries that want to participate in a conference instead of consume. We believe that your ministry is full of students who don’t want to be a spectator, they want to contribute. Let your followers of Jesus show their color. Join us this year at Ignite:Green.

So there you have it, the birth and growth of Ignite.

One more thing - there are a few names (and faces) of Ignite that you will want to know. For the full skinny on these folks, see our website http://www.ignite-youth.org/

First is Jonathan Meyer - founder, speaker and host of Ignite.



Next is Josh Colyer - speaker and co-host of Ignite.

Last is Ashley Hoover - the Ignite conference coordinator


Stay tuned to this blog for updates on the conference as well as articles and conversation on youth ministry. We hope you have gotten to know us a little bit better, now go ahead and comment and introduce yourself to us.