While acknowledging that he had credits in many books on youth ministry, Mark Yaconelli told an ecumenical gathering of youth ministers that they didn't need anything from the bookstore. "Everything you need for this ministry,"he says, "is already in your heart."As director of the Youth Spirituality Project at San Francisco Theological Seminary, Yaconelli has helped lead a research project that explored how contemplative prayer could support youth ministry. The result was a vision for youth work that had nothing to do with the latest book or the best curriculum. Instead, Yaconelli encourages those who work with youth to pray, take time for Sabbath rest, open their hearts to the works of God and the aching hearts that surround them, and then to pray some more.

At first it all sounds too simple and too easy. In reality it may be the most difficult form of youth ministry. How many adults really take time to pray about God's call in their lives, to examine the events around them and listen to how God is speaking to them? How many adults really take time to rest and care for their spiritual selves?

In mid-November, the National Council of Churches invited Yaconelli to be the keynote speaker for a gathering of more than 200 youth workers from 11 different denominations. The "Youth Workers Summit"took place in Orlando, Fla., at Walt Disney's Coronado Springs Conference Center. Participants ranged from local youth volunteers to national level staff. In such a fast-paced, high-energy setting, there was irony in Yaconelli's call to slow down and take time for prayer and Sabbath. Of course, I went home thinking, "If I can take quiet time at Disneyworld, I can take quiet time anywhere!"Then I got home: volunteers had called to change schedules, youth had left notes about how the pew in the youth room is STILL not cool, a note on my computer reminded me about newsletter deadlines, and a headline in the local paper told the story of a "hit list"found at the Middle School.

My next gathering with youth was our after school program on Wednesdays. Sitting with a dozen sixth, seventh and eighth graders, I tried to get into the lesson. I tried to teach. I tried to get my head back into the program so I could help them sort out all that was happening at school.  It didn't take long for me to realize that things weren't clicking. Not knowing what else to do, I asked the kids to sit on the floor and try something different. I asked them to be quiet! Not just quiet, but intentionally quiet.

We listened for every sound we could hear and, in our minds, turned down the volume. We relaxed and took deep breaths. We tried to not think about anything! For two minutes (which is like three weeks in Middle School time) we sat still and experienced the sacrament of the present moment. Without planning or invocation, God‘s presence was more real than any of us could describe. All we had to do was be quiet long enough to notice.

In that moment I realized that everything I needed for this ministry was in my heart. Sometimes we make youth ministry too complicated. In the midst of a rapidly changing culture that tempts us to look for the newest curriculum or hippest music, it is easy to forget that God is what our kids are really looking for. In the midst of our own fears and anxiety about youth ministry, it is easy to forget that God is all we need.  In the midst of  the chaos that youth live in, the easiest way to teach them about God may be to simply help them stop for a moment of Sabbath. Then the God who loves them and is always with them has a chance to be noticed.

Lee Yates, First Christian Church  Lawrenceburg, Ky.