Georgia Youth Workers' Summit 2009

Didi madloba - Georgian for “thank you very much.”

That’s what comes to mind as I try to summarize what took place during this past week in the Kakheti region of the Republic of Georgia as Tagg Wolverton, Holly Davis and I invested time, energy, money & heart into the lives of youth workers from across the Republic of Georgia, Belarus & Armenia. All together, we numbered about 20 youth workers.
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Pictured here: Ciskara, Tato, Samuel, Gocha, Mushegh, Kelly, Pavel, Iza, Tagg, Nino, Holly, Ana, Lea, Natia, Eka, Dali, Tino, Elijah, Alex - not pictured: Ana, Maja, Brian

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first of this kind of gathering in Georgia and, thanks to the Lord, was encouraging and challenging to all present.

Brian Wolf, a missionary with I.G.O. (International Gospel Organization?), organized the event. Brian has been in Georgia for just short of 5 years, is married to a beautiful Georgian woman, Maja, and is involved in church planting, youth ministry and other key areas of ministry effecting healthy, growing churches throughout the Kakheti region (the eastern-most region) of Georgia.

While all-day Friday & Saturday morning sessions were focused on foundations of ministry to young people, discipleship & leadership multiplication, Saturday afternoon & Sunday afternoon were designed as panel discussions for question & answer and idea-sharing & stimulation.

Cross-cultural issues abound around the world and North Americans are not the only people to commit faux pas when operating outside of their home borders. During our time in Georgia we encountered French Christians traveling throughout the country who, upon their arrival, presented at least one host family with an “acceptable menu” of food items for their meals while in Georgia - brazen, to say the least!

As well, we watched Armenians wrestle with the Georgian culture and the Georgians struggle with Armenian expectations. I’m withholding details out of sensitivity to those involved.

Expectations play a large part in cross-cultural relations and they can be devastating if not handled in a mature manner.

I have to say that Tagg & Holly really seemed to connect with the youth workers throughout the weekend. Holly, through her excellently effervescent personality and constant smile, drew the youth workers to her through her casual, open style of communication and seemed to give them hope & ideas for their own local ministries.

Tagg, in his dry, Southern-style humor and quick wit broke barriers & stereotypes of “older” youth workers. As well, Tagg’s exceptional ability to draw the “issue” at hand into a system-wide discussion - laced with practical suggestions & ideas - opened their eyes to a balanced approach to ministry to young people. Both exhibited a comfortable confidence that comes from experience in ministry & a solid relationship with Jesus Christ. What a joy to watch them serve these young youth workers and give them hope, encouragement and joy in their ministries.

Brian was beaming with joy as we discussed the results of the Youth Workers’ Summit. He was encouraged for 2 reasons: 1) He saw his youth workers light up with joy, enthusiasm, energy and desire to discuss, dream and move forward in their ministries and 2) he realized that the training that he had done in the past years was basically right on - at least in comparison with what we shared during the weekend. As well, he enjoyed the fellowship with native English speakers - as did we.

We definitely accomplished our goal of encouraging, equipping and giving hope to these young youth workers.

How can we improve for the future? That’s a topic for another post. Stay tuned....