The Curiosity Tour Leader

C. McNair Wilson - Unlike many who spend their entire life wishing upon a star, McNair Wilson grabbed one and climbed aboard. Having spent ten years making dreams a reality as a Disney Imagineer (on design teams for seven new theme parks) and Artistic Director of a multi-million dollar theatre company, McNair has become a master at working with individuals and corporate teams to unleash their creative spirit. Using tools developed over a thirty-year life in the theatre, he engages audiences and inspires professionals to recapture their creativity.

As founder of the Assume Brilliance Group (Consulting + Training), Wilson offers a variety of presentations and workshops designed to re-ignite personal creativity. As a fully certified trainer for Ken Davis's Dynamic Communicators Workshop, McNair trains individuals, corporate teams, ministry professionals and business leaders to communicate with focus, clarity and power.

3 Big Questions

Leaders: Jen Bradbury & Brad M. Griffin

The teenagers in your life are searching for answers to their 3 biggest questions:

But young people struggle to find satisfying and life-giving answers to these questions on their own. They need caring adults willing to lean in with empathy, practice listening, and walk with them in the direction of better answers.

Based on new landmark research from the Fuller Youth Institute, this course will give you and your team practical strategies, conversation and connection ideas to help teenagers reach their full potential. You’ll be equipped with essential tools you can start using this week to point young people toward Jesus’ best answers for their identity, belonging, and purpose questions.

3 Big Questions Leaders

Jen Bradbury serves as the TenX10 Content Director for Fuller Youth Institute. Jen holds an MA in Youth Ministry Leadership from Huntington University and prior to working at FYI, she served as a youth worker in the local church for 19 years. Jen is the author of several books including The Jesus Gap: What Teens Actually Believe about Jesus, The Real Jesus, and Called: A Novel About Youth Ministry Transitions. Jen lives with her husband, daughters, and cat in the Chicago suburbs.

Brad M. Griffin is the Senior Director of Content for the Fuller Youth Institute, where he develops research-based training for youth workers and parents. A speaker, writer, and volunteer youth pastor, Brad is the coauthor of over a dozen books, including 3 Big Questions That Change Every Teenager, Faith in an Anxious World, Growing Young, several Sticky Faith books, Every Parent’s Guide to Navigating Our Digital World, and Can I Ask That? Brad and his family live in Southern California, where he serves as Pastor of Youth and Family Ministries at Mountainside Communion.

Groups with Gravity

in partnership with Lutheran Outdoor Ministries

Leaders: Jeff Fairfax, Cole Hemmah, Mir Youngquist-Thurow, Rev. Andy Twiton 

Groups that pull us in because they are groups we love to be with. Groups that love us. Groups that have love to share. Groups that grow. Groups that want to be together again and again and again and…again!

Ministry leaders who have been associated with Lutheran Outdoor Ministry camps are recognized for their ability to gather individuals who don’t know each other or have drifted apart and spearheading the formation of new or renewed groups. This Intensive Care Course prior to the ELCA Youth Ministry Extravaganza will offer a rare opportunity to benefit from some of the most renowned of these leaders sharing their “secrets” of group-development.

During this Intensive, the principles of these scriptural references will come alive –

• "All the believers…continued to meet together…praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people…And the Lord added to their number daily…" Acts 2:43-47
• "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and people." Luke 2:52
• "For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed." Romans 8:19

This ICC promises to be a valuable experience for even the most experienced of ministry leaders, especially youth ministry leaders and outdoor ministry leaders. There are three components to this ICC:

1. Purposeful Activities that Lead to Extraordinary Groups – how to facilitate interactions that lead to deepening and growing relationships.
2. The Beautiful Impact of Natural, Outdoor Settings on the Formation of Extraordinary Groups – why the “outdoors” of Outdoor ministries is so important.
3. Extraordinary Groups Learn Together from the Experiences They have Together – how to plan activities that matter.

This ICC is open to all ministry leaders. If your organization is a current Network Outdoor Ministry level partner, this ICC registration is included with your partnership enrollment fees. 

Purposeful Activities that Lead to Extraordinary Groups Leaders

Jeff Fairfax has been the program director for youth and outreach at Sky Ranch Camp in Colorado since 2016, after working at Luther Springs Camp and Conference Center in Florida, the YMCA of Central Florida, and Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp. Jeff and his wife, Maddie, and son Calvin (Cal) live in Wellington with their dog Toby. They enjoy camping, traveling to new places, and enjoy visiting the dairy farm down the street to watch the sunset.

Cole Hemmah has been the High School Program Director at Sky Ranch since March of 2020.  He’s had six summers working at LOM camps, four of which were on summer staff at Sky Ranch.  He is a graduate of Black Hills State University with a degree in Outdoor Education. Cole has certifications in Wilderness First Responder from NOLS and Level One Facilitator from the ACCT.

The Beautiful Impact of Natural, Outdoor Settings on the Formation of Extraordinary Groups Leader

Mir Youngquist-Thurow is the Environmental Education Director at Agapé + Kure Beach Ministries, North Carolina.  She holds a B.A. in Biology & Education and Masters of Education in Environmental Education.  She developed and oversees the Agapé Center for Environmental Education, which has served over 100,000 children and adults with school field trips since 1998. 

Additionally, Mir has been serving as the summer naturalist since 1983 at camps in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania (where she developed the Lutherlyn Environmental Education Program), and North Carolina.  Mir brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of God's creation - and a lot of enthusiasm in sharing with everyone she encounters.