by Michael Novelli | June 29 2009 04:37 PM
Throughout the event
Scott Erickson painted murals that represent key elements of the stories. The picture in this post is represents God’s kingdom. I love the style of his work.
DCLA day three began with Learning Labs focusing on loving others. Several youth workers shared with me that their students were really connecting with the content from the Labs. I led Bible Storying workshop in afternoon. I worked hard to try and fit my content into 75 minutes! This was a smaller group than Friday’s workshop-10 people. I was thrilled with this size group because it allowed for more dialogue and interaction. The group really engaged in the Storying experience, sharing creative, deep and wonderfully insightful observations. I left this session so encouraged!
The evening focused on stories from Jesus life. Mandee Radford (from the music group
Alathea) shared powerfully about God’s Kingdom. She said,
“Jesus flipped everything around, The kingdom of God is less like a palace or a castle but more like a group of people sharing what they have...having a meal together on a hill.” She went on to connect this with the feeding of the five thousand. Then, Marquis Laughlin gave a riveting telling of the story of Jesus’ trial and death.
Day Four was a shorter day. Following the morning Labs was the final Big Room Session. My favorite moment of this session was when Mandee pointed to the thread of the Holy Spirit being present and active throughout the biblical story. She did a wonderful job of connecting us from the current story of the Day of Pentecost all the way back to God’s Spirit hovering over the waters in Creation. Then she gave the observation that God’s Spirit often rests on those who you’d least expect... like humble shepherds. She pointed to shepherds throughout the Bible–and the most important shepherd, Jesus the good shepherd.
I really enjoyed being a part of DCLA. I am greatful that Youth Specialties allowed me to have a voice in this event and was willing to try something new. My hope is that students gained a sense of their role in of the amazing Story of God.
by Michael Novelli | June 27 2009 09:16 AM
Day Two of Youth Specialties’ DCLA Event in Los Angeles began with Learning Labs. These were clusters of seven students, split up from their youth group to discuss and interact around content guided by media and booklets. Adult leaders formed their own groups around the same content. Student leaders helped keep the conversation moving, with some content given by presenters.I like this model of learning, and it was evident from the first session that students do too. They seemed engaged for the entirety of the time and were candid in their responses. Session one focused on BEING, with discussion and activities centered on discovering our identity in Christ. Steve Gerali did a really good job developing this material.
I taught a workshop on Bible Storying in the afternoon. It is always a struggle for me to compress my presentation into an hour. The hardest part is trying to shorten the story of my experience. It sets up the problem and casts vision, but it is too long! Thankfully, the group of about 50 people seemed engaged. It took lots of energy to keep them engaged right after lunch-and in a gigantic room that swallowed up the sound of my voice. All in all, I feel blessed to be able to share with people my journey and inspire them toward involving their students in their own learning.
The evening Big Room (Whole Group) opened with an interviews-style video recap of the day. Students shared how the Labs had shaped their thinking about God and themselves. It was powerful. The Big Room session continued with a focus on telling God’s Story. It picked up the story of the Israelites, navigating through a large span of narratives from different communicators and video clips.
The level of artistry and variety was engaging. It was a little challenging, however, to gain a sense of the story as a whole. It seems like the event really needs a continual visual device to show the interconnectivity of the stories.
Lots of good “mini-messages” were given. Two stood out to me: Francis Chan unpacked the story of Jonah, giving detail about the context and emotion of the story I’d never thought about. Mandee continued to do a solid job of telling Bible stories and interweaving her own journey through related stories. She is good at making the stories clear and accessible for all.
by Michael Novelli | June 26 2009 09:05 AM
Day one of DLCA was a lot of fun. During the day, in between rehearsals, I got to walk around a bit in downtown LA. The weather was great-high sixties with low humidity. Lots of good restaurants, too!
The first Big Room session focused on the Old Testament stories of Creation through Joshua and Rahab. A variety of communicators, storytellers and media weaver together these stories. All that were a part of this session are excellent communicators, but I especially through Marquis and Mandee brought the story into out imaginations.
At certain points the program drifted from feeling like a story to a sermon. I could sense the group get a little restless during the 2.5 hour presentation. But I think the variety of elements and mediums kept things moving pretty well. We could have made the program much more interactive and visual, but that is a difficult task in a big group!
I am grateful that it some way and my work with storying and input into this event has helped shape it. I will try to post again tonight.
by Michael Novelli | June 24 2009 11:39 PM
I am thrilled to be in Los Angeles this week for
DCLA. Youth Specialties is hosting this national student event to help students "live into the mission of God." The main sessions (Big Room) will focus on telling God's Story from beginning to end, following a missional (Kingdom) thread. I've been privileged to be a part of the planning and designing of this event for the last year. I also wrote scripts for videos that
IMAGO put together that tell three of the Old Testament stories.
I will be posting updates from the event all weekend.
by Michael Novelli | June 12 2009 10:07 AM
In an article written for
Best Health, Ellen Michaud and Julie Bain gives you more than enough reasons to kick off your shoes and rest your head on your keyboard. Here is an excerpt from that article:
Studies show that not only will you feel better almost immediately, says Sara Mednick, PhD, a sleep medicine researcher at the University of California at San Diego and author of
Take a Nap! Change Your Life, but a daily nap of between 20 and 90 minutes before 4:00 pm will...
All told, a nap, according to Dr. Mednick, will:
Increase your on-the-job alertness by 100 percent
Sharpen your thinking so you make more accurate judgments and better decisions
Ramp up your productivity
Regenerate skin cells so you look younger
Increase your sex drive
Help you lose weight by altering metabolism and shifting chemicals that affect appetite
Reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, and other cardiovascular problems
Lift your mood by bathing your brain in the neurotransmitter serotonin
Speed up your ability to perform motor tasks, like typing, operating machinery, even swimming
Improve your accuracy—in everything
Improve the way your body processes carbs, which reduces your risk of diabetes
Sharpen your senses so you take in what's important in your environment—and screen out the 24-hour culture chatter that surrounds us
Put your brain into its creative gear so you can come up with fresh ideas
Trigger a naturally occurring hormone that blocks the destructive chemicals produced by stress
Boost your ability to learn something new—and, better yet, remember it
Zap the need for drugs like caffeine and alcohol to manipulate your mood and energy level
Relieve migraines
Improve your nighttime sleep by eliminating that wired feeling and thus shutting off the brain chatter
Make you feel good all over
Sweet dreams. Zzzzz.
by Michael Novelli | June 03 2009 10:01 PM
On Monday, June 1 my daughter was born: Abrielle Emma Novelli, 7 pounds, 1 ounce, 20 inches long. She is healthy and beautiful.
I am blessed to have two wonderful children and a great wife. Here is a picture of my son, Angelo and his new baby sister.
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