Brenda’s Legacy Writings
The Greek word to describe the Holy Spirit is paraklete or paraclete. Kaleo means to call or direct someone. Para means to come alongside.
Hopefully you noticed the holy tension in that. To call someone is forceful; it is active not passive. You have a goal in mind and you will get this person there. Yet to come alongside is to be sympathetic, to be in relationship, to stand in someone’s shoes.
For 25 years Brenda wrote an article series called Pair of Cleats. My sub-title was, “Pair of Cleats is a written ‘letter’ to walk along side with you. It is written from the founder of Wild Frontier, Brenda Seefeldt, from her heart to yours. Brenda truly believes the way to reach this generation is not in a program as much as it is on how God moves upon our hearts. This is part of the Wild Frontier lifestyle where human limits cease and the believers’ lifestyle takes over.
This is a collection of the Pair of Cleats series that have aged well over time and are still timely. These reflect the Bravester heart that is still beating and writing.
“Continue shaking that sackcloth. Even when they seem to be smelling and rotting. It may seem to be so hopeless. The rewards may be few. Many sackcloths need to be shaken at those vultures for the sake of our loved ones. Take heart. They will eventually be taken to the King.”
The End of the Superpersonality Youth Minister (1992)
I was already calling 1990s youth ministry broken way back in 1992.
I was calling for parents to be a part of youth ministry years before the books about this arrived in 1996 and nearly every year since.
“They will see that they are not the only ones with questions and struggles. They will see that I, too, am dependent on God as my source. Me, a minister of the gospel, the writer of words, twenty-plus years along this path, am in constant need of God. You better believe it!”
Of Sparrows and Lost Teens (1993)
“I may not know a lot of sparrows who have fallen but I do know a lot of the teens I have worked with who have fallen. I can picture them as sparrows hitting a glass window (splat!), falling injured and not knowing how to get up. The idea of God’s grace is inconceivable. The politics of church life are as secular as in the real world. The picture of God does not seem to square up with the real world.”
A teaching from Nehemiah I have never forgotten. Because I am also a burnt stone.
Reputation and Character (1994)
This one was passed around a lot. Because of that I have even more allowed these words to continue to teach me.
Life Without Purpose is Just an Experience (1995)
A very early brave faith thought. “Do your teenagers know? Do they know that their lives have purpose? Or are they going from experience to experience. Let me repeat that. Or are they going from experience to experience?”
Don’t Give Me the Stage (1999)
“’Don’t put me on a pedestal, just give me a stage.’
“No true youth pastor would ever say this. I believe we consciously try to not put ourselves on a pedestal. However, this phrase came from a youth who grew up in a youth ministry. It was her perception of her youth pastor. And isn’t there always some truth in perception?”
Why I am not Rah-Rah Over the Campus Missionary Movement (At Least Not as We Know It) (2000)
This one is included because it upset a lot of leaders at the time of publishing. Reading this back now with the learned history of what went wrong the youth ministry in 1990s gives us some things to learn.
Beyond Summer Camp Ministry (2000)
Another critique of being a youth pastor in 1990s youth ministry. I was one.
Inreach or Outreach: That is One of Many Questions (2002)
“How much of what we do is really’’inreach’ as a way of keeping our youth safe? Is what we are doing under the guise of outreach to the lost really duplicating something which is ‘cool’ and making it ‘Christian’ and hopefully will grow one’s faith?”
The Connecting Authority Figure (2003)
“I don’t want to be friends with the youth in my youth group. I don’t want to be a jeans-wearing, cool adult to them. I am a grown adult. I want that significant adult/youth type of relationship and that comes so much easier as a sub because the youth knows that I truly know what is going on at school. When I was just a youth pastor, I was clueless to this large part of their lives. I would tell them to ‘reach their schools for Christ’ without having any clue as to what that means to them.”
Erring on the Side of Challenge (2005)
“One of the things I have learned in my years of youth ministry: Youth are scheduling youth group into their busy lives on purpose. Teens want to know about understanding God, about their place in the world and about why they were born. The church is expected to offer this.”
The Power of Ritualized Time Together (2005)
“With good intentions, we have abandoned our youth. So how do you minister to this secret world in your youth ministry knowing that the youth will not come halfway and that they feel abandoned by adults all around?”
The Bummer Realities of a Brenda-Centered Youth Ministry (2006)
“There was a time in my life when I thought pretty highly of my Brenda-Centered youth ministry. I felt alive. I felt like I was making a dent in this world. I felt true joy when some teens ‘got it. But I also felt tired, overwhelmed, stressed, etc. Something had to change.”
A Culture of Noise—Or Not (2006)
This was written way before smartphones. This one makes sense now more than back then.
Some Insight Into Community Experiences (2006)
This was written before social media. Before “the anxious generation.” Some things are still the same.
Challenge: To Get Your Youth to Gain From Sunday Church (2007)
Some churches have this age-division thing. There is youth group and there is adult church. But after teens age out of youth group they then no longer feel welcomed because adult church is so foreign. Here are some ideas to change that.
Teaching to Our Conclusions (2009)
“Faith development is a process. And I have role in shaping that faith. But no part of my role should be to teach my conclusions.”
Holy tension is very much a part of brave faith. You can find lots of articles here in Bravester about it. I’ve been writing about it since 2010.
A Youth Ministry with Staying Power (2010)
“Church and parachurch youth ministries tend to be far more supportive of adolescents and less agenda-driven than nearly every other system in their young lives. But we still represent a huge, often faceless organization—the Church. Kids perceive us as being more committed to getting them to participate in our events and trips than to them as individuals. In my discussions with thousands of students, many have confirmed that this is one reason for their apparent spiritual lethargy and lack of consistent, free, and passionate growth. They simply do not trust the adults who run programs. As much as they may like us, most will hold back at some level because they see us as adults with self-serving agendas.”
The Long Transition to Church Family-Based Youth Ministry (2010)
This is what I learned as I moved from Brenda-centered youth ministry?
Is the Generation Gap Gone? (2011)
How much more so now?
Brenda-Based Youth Ministry vs. Church Family-Based Youth Ministry (2011)
“Too many youth ministries are centered on the youth pastor. No one would ever tout ourselves as so central to a ministry. Yet whether from church expectation, our training, or our makeup, we have become too central.”