Rev. Gary Hartke,
Director of Nazarene Youth International

25 December 2007

Merry Christmas! Joseph, the father of Christ Jesus, has been on my mind this Christmas season. He is such an important figure in the Christmas story, yet seems to get little attention from God when you think about all of the other spectacular drama. Mary has an angel speak to her, the wise men have the star lighting up the galaxy, the shepherds have an angel army appear and speak to them! All Joseph had was a dream. No stars in the galaxy, no angel army, simply a dream. There was so much at stake for Joseph, yet God only gives him a few dreams. This seems like such a small thing compared to all of the rest. On the other hand perhaps it was a tribute to the kind of person Joseph was. All God needed to do was speak to Joseph through dreams and he listened and obeyed. What does it take for God to get our attention. . . and obedience? Let us learn from Joseph this Christmas season.

17 December 2007

On 24 November I left for Malawi Africa with a new evangelism tool . . . a soccer ball with gold, black, red, white, and green colored panels designed to share about Jesus Christ. It is called the "Evangeball" and is produced by the same people who designed the "Evangecube." I used the evangeball in two camps during my time in Malawi to share my own conversion story and invited others to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior as well. Many young people responded to the life transforming message of Jesus Christ. I believe this will be a wonderful tool for youth and recreation ministries around the world. You can learn more about the evangeball at the Jesus Film Harvest Partner website.

6 December 2007

"To make Christlike disciples in the nations" has been designated the new mission statement for the Church of the Nazarene. It reflects our desire to see each one of us be discipled and to disciple others. It reflects our belief that discipleship is a life long process . . . a life long journey of being shaped into the image of Christ. Two questions are being asked around the Nazarene Headquarters (now Global Ministry Center) these days. Question #1: Who is discipling you? Question #2: Who are you discipling? I invite you to embrace and embody this new mission statement into your life as I do in mine.

27 November 2007

I write this from Lilongwe, Malawi in the southeastern part of Africa as I am with Kenneth Phiri, Africa Regional President, at the Central District NYI camp. We are here this week with about 200 young people who have gathered for this special time. I am loving the music of Africa - our young people here know how to sing!! Pray for our young people here in Malawi as they seek to live their lives out for Christ in an environment of great economic challenge. God is at work here this week, and I am thankful for this time together. We are here another day and then depart for Bylantire in southern Malawi for another district youth camp.

30 October 2007

Monte Cyr, Global NYI President, and I spent three days together last week working on NYI.. Much time was spent on issues related to the 2009 Global NYI Convention. If you have been around NYI at all these past two years you know that we are expanding the convention worldwide by adding satellite sites on the Africa, Asia- Pacific, Caribbean, Eurasia, Mexico & Central America, and South America regions. June 24-26 2009 is the date of this Global NYI Convention with Orlando, Florida USA serving as the central site. We are looking forward to a transformational time together . . . I hope that you can be a part.

13 October 2007

I am now a Facebook user. In the short time I have used this technology I have connected with friends who live all over the world. . . . I am new to this but looking forward to staying in touch with Nazarene youth workers through this tool.

1 October 2007

NYI is a "global" ministry . . . I am thinking about the use of the word "global" these days. Up until 2001 we used the word "general" rather than "global." The change in name from general to global reflected our commitment to become an intentional resource to our youth ministry efforts world wide. We are working in the Global NYI Office to resource, network, and faciliate youth ministry . . . everywhere the Church of the Nazarene exists. We are committed to global youth ministry!

25 June 2007

Welcome to the NYI website. You have discovered a connecting point for Nazarene Youth Leaders representing over 381,000 NYI members in 151 countries.

It is our desire to serve your needs through this website. We want to provide resources that will support your Youth Ministry and commitment to 'call this generation to a dynamic life in Christ'.

Thank you for being a part of our global Youth Ministry Team.

Gary