DCLA Day Two

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.