Youth Leader
Conference

Student Ministry //

Youth Leader Conference

Saturday, March 15, 2025

Door Creek Church

The Blackhawk Youth Leader Conference (YLC) exists to accomplish three things: to equip, energize, and connect people serving in youth ministry. The conference is designed for teams (staff and volunteers) to learn, grow, and connect with each other and across churches and ministries. Join us as we create space together to be encouraged and united in our mission to love and lead students to know and follow Jesus.

We design the day around encouraging messages and worship, as well as a diverse range of breakout topics like Understanding Younger Generations, Self Care for Leaders, How to Pastor Anxious Teens, A Practical Theology of Multicultural Ministry, and more.

We are so excited to welcome Jonathan Banks as our YLC 2025 keynote speaker. Jonathan is an Author and the Chief Operating Officer at Urban Outreach Foundation & Together Chicago. With years of ministry, leadership, and education experience, he is passionate about helping others reach their God-given potential in every area of life.

    • $25 – Early Bird (through January 30)
    • $35 – Regular Registration (through February 25)
    • $45: Day Of Registration (March 15)
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Breakout Session 1 (11:30 AM-12:30 PM)
Prayer Space
This is quiet space open for you the entire day. If you would like one of our care staff to pray for you, to pray with a fellow leader, or by yourself, the room is available for you. Stop in anytime for a moment of prayer.

Leading & Including Teenagers with Disabilities
Students with disabilities are in our communities and student ministries, and yet, how to include these students is too often on the back burner. This breakout will present practical tips and key insights on how to get to know students with disabilities, engage them in a life of meaningful community and everyday faith, and help them find purpose.

Transformative Service
Engaging students in local service has the power to change their lives and impact the community for good. Discover how your ministry can be transformed through serving in Dane County using a framework for local service and practical steps to help connect your student ministry to needs and opportunities in our own backyard.

Emotionally Healthy Leadership
God has designed humans with an emotional core that powers how we show up in the world. By learning more about how we reflect God’s image, we can move toward healthy patterns in our relational, spiritual, and vocational lives rather than burnout. This session will create space to learn about, assess, and discuss our current levels of emotional functioning, and provide practical strategies for using this information to connect fully to who we are so we can care for and lead others well.

Pursuing God’s Multicultural Vision in Youth Ministry
It is projected that by 2045, the number of white Americans will fall below 50% and, by 2050, over 60% of those 18 years and under will be of People of Color heritage. This breakout will discuss a biblical theology on why multiculturalism in the local church is essential to be missional, resources for you to dream within your own church context, and how it becomes practical within youth ministry.

Discipling Youth & Students
In this session, learn practical research-based, Scripturally grounded principles and tips for how to effectively reach and disciple the next generation.

YLC Conversation: Multigenerational Ministry
The church is meant to be a place where different generations of people are included and empowered to do life together. But, in some ways, youth ministry has become disconnected from the rest of the church. In this session, explore how to break down walls around youth ministry to connect students with other generations and make our congregations more inter-generational.

YLC Conversation: Recruiting & Retaining Volunteers
This conversation is directed toward staff or ministry leaders responsible for finding and caring for volunteers. From finding the right people to training and equipping them, discover what it looks like to wholistically care for them.

Breakout Session 2 (1:30-2:30 PM)
Prayer Space
This is quiet space open for you the entire day. If you would like one of our care staff to pray for you, to pray with a fellow leader, or by yourself, the room is available for you. Stop in anytime for a moment of prayer.

Leading & Including Teenagers with Disabilities
Students with disabilities are in our communities and student ministries, and yet, how to include these students is too often on the back burner. This breakout will present practical tips and key insights on how to get to know students with disabilities, engage them in a life of meaningful community and everyday faith, and help them find purpose.

Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma has negatively affected churches and other assistance organizations, taxing already stressed systems of care and ministry workers’ wellness. Trauma-informed care is an intervention and organizational approach that focuses on how trauma may affect individuals’ lives and their responses to ministry services. This presentation will examine adverse childhood experiences, explore trauma and its prevalence in society, and learn the values of trauma-informed practice and how it aligns with Jesus’ call to care for one another.

Understanding GenZ/Gen-Alpha
In this interactive, data-driven session, learn about the unique traits and trends among GenZ and what you can do to address and engage with some of the major themes that emerge.

How to Pastor Anxious Teens
Teens are more anxious and stressed than ever before. This breakout will show how to better understand our anxious teens and meet them with compassion and care that leads to peace and joy rooted in the gospel.

Sexuality & Spiritual Formation
Whether planned or impromptu, conversations about sexuality will come up with our students. Jesus desires for everyone to image him with their sexuality and, as leaders, we all bring our own thoughts and experiences into these moments. This dialogue will weave together theological, developmental, and practical considerations for what it looks like to embody the goodness of God when talking with students about sex.

Chaos or Culture
As Christ-followers who love kids, we want to be present in their world and make them feel safe around us. However, wherever kids go, chaos tends to follow, and the ways we react to both kids and chaos tend to reflect our own history. Join educators Anthony Ward and Amber Janssen as they discuss ways to process our biases and histories as we work to serve and love on kids in today’s world.

YLC Coversation: Partnering with Parents
Parents and caregivers have much more influence on students than youth leaders. If we want to maximize our impact on young people, we must partner with parents – and they must choose to partner with us. This conversation is for sharing stories and ideas to discern the best practices of working with families to raise their kids.

YLC Conversation: Post-Covid Youth Ministry
In many ways, the world is a different place than before the Covid pandemic. This conversation is designed to be a space to share observations about how students have changed and how we might be invited to adapt how we do youth ministry in response.

Breakout Session 3 (2:45-3:45 PM)
Prayer Space
This is quiet space open for you the entire day. If you would like one of our care staff to pray for you, to pray with a fellow leader, or by yourself, the room is available for you. Stop in anytime for a moment of prayer.

Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma has negatively affected churches and other assistance organizations, taxing already stressed systems of care and ministry workers’ wellness. Trauma-informed care is an intervention and organizational approach that focuses on how trauma may affect individuals’ lives and their responses to ministry services. This presentation will examine adverse childhood experiences, explore trauma and its prevalence in society, and learn the values of trauma-informed practice and how it aligns with Jesus’ call to care for one another.

Emotionally Healthy Leadership
God has designed humans with an emotional core that powers how we show up in the world. By learning more about how we reflect God’s image, we can move toward healthy patterns in our relational, spiritual, and vocational lives rather than burnout. This session will create space to learn about, assess, and discuss our current levels of emotional functioning, and provide practical strategies for using this information to connect fully to who we are so we can care for and lead others well.

Chaos or Culture
As Christ-followers who love kids, we want to be present in their world and make them feel safe around us. However, wherever kids go, chaos tends to follow, and the ways we react to both kids and chaos tend to reflect our own history. Join educators Anthony Ward and Amber Janssen as they discuss ways to process our biases and histories as we work to serve and love on kids in today’s world.

Sexuality & Spiritual Formation
Whether planned or impromptu, conversations about sexuality will come up with our students. Jesus desires for everyone to image him with their sexuality and, as leaders, we all bring our own thoughts and experiences into these moments. This dialogue will weave together theological, developmental, and practical considerations for what it looks like to embody the goodness of God when talking with students about sex.

YLC Conversation: I’m New to This
This conversation is for those in their first year of youth ministry. Leading students is hard and the learning curve can be steep, so we want to provide space to talk about the victories, the loses, and everything in between as we support one another on the journey to better love and lead young people.

YLC Conversation: Empowering Students to Lead
Youth Ministry isn’t ministry “for” or “to” students as much as it “with” and “by” them. This conversation is a place to share stories and ideas of what we’ve seen work and to dream about what’s possible when we empower young people to legitimately shape and lead what we do.

Breakout Sessions
Leading & Including Teenagers with Disabilities
Students with disabilities are in our communities and student ministries, and yet, how to include these students is too often on the back burner. This breakout will present practical tips and key insights on how to get to know students with disabilities, engage them in a life of meaningful community and everyday faith, and help them find purpose.

Transformative Service
Engaging students in local service has the power to change their lives and impact the community for good. Discover how your ministry can be transformed through serving in Dane County using a framework for local service and practical steps to help connect your student ministry to needs and opportunities in our own backyard.

Emotionally Healthy Leadership
God has designed humans with an emotional core that powers how we show up in the world. By learning more about how we reflect God’s image, we can move toward healthy patterns in our relational, spiritual, and vocational lives rather than burnout. This session will create space to learn about, assess, and discuss our current levels of emotional functioning, and provide practical strategies for using this information to connect fully to who we are so we can care for and lead others well.

Discipling Youth & Students
In this session, learn practical research-based, Scripturally grounded principles and tips for how to effectively reach and disciple the next generation.

YLC Conversation: Multigenerational Ministry
The church is meant to be a place where different generations of people are included and empowered to do life together. But, in some ways, youth ministry has become disconnected from the rest of the church. In this session, explore how to break down walls around youth ministry to connect students with other generations and make our congregations more inter-generational.

YLC Conversation: Recruiting & Retaining Volunteers
This conversation is directed toward staff or ministry leaders responsible for finding and caring for volunteers. From finding the right people to training and equipping them, discover what it looks like to wholistically care for them.

Trauma-Informed Care
Trauma has negatively affected churches and other assistance organizations, taxing already stressed systems of care and ministry workers’ wellness. Trauma-informed care is an intervention and organizational approach that focuses on how trauma may affect individuals’ lives and their responses to ministry services. This presentation will examine adverse childhood experiences, explore trauma and its prevalence in society, and learn the values of trauma-informed practice and how it aligns with Jesus’ call to care for one another.

Understanding GenZ/Gen-Alpha
In this interactive, data-driven session, learn about the unique traits and trends among GenZ and what you can do to address and engage with some of the major themes that emerge.

How to Pastor Anxious Teens
Teens are more anxious and stressed than ever before. This breakout will show how to better understand our anxious teens and meet them with compassion and care that leads to peace and joy rooted in the gospel.

Sexuality & Spiritual Formation
Whether planned or impromptu, conversations about sexuality will come up with our students. Jesus desires for everyone to image him with their sexuality and, as leaders, we all bring our own thoughts and experiences into these moments. This dialogue will weave together theological, developmental, and practical considerations for what it looks like to embody the goodness of God when talking with students about sex.

YLC Coversation: Partnering with Parents
Parents and caregivers have much more influence on students than youth leaders. If we want to maximize our impact on young people, we must partner with parents – and they must choose to partner with us. This conversation is for sharing stories and ideas to discern the best practices of working with families to raise their kids.

YLC Conversation: Post-Covid Youth Ministry
In many ways, the world is a different place than before the Covid pandemic. This conversation is designed to be a space to share observations about how students have changed and how we might be invited to adapt how we do youth ministry in response.

Chaos or Culture
As Christ-followers who love kids, we want to be present in their world and make them feel safe around us. However, wherever kids go, chaos tends to follow, and the ways we react to both kids and chaos tend to reflect our own history. Join educators Anthony Ward and Amber Janssen as they discuss ways to process our biases and histories as we work to serve and love on kids in today’s world.

YLC Conversation: I’m New to This
This conversation is for those in their first year of youth ministry. Leading students is hard and the learning curve can be steep, so we want to provide space to talk about the victories, the loses, and everything in between as we support one another on the journey to better love and lead young people.

YLC Conversation: Empowering Students to Lead
Youth Ministry isn’t ministry “for” or “to” students as much as it “with” and “by” them. This conversation is a place to share stories and ideas of what we’ve seen work and to dream about what’s possible when we empower young people to legitimately shape and lead what we do.

Pursuing God’s Multicultural Vision in Youth Ministry
It is projected that by 2045, the number of white Americans will fall below 50% and, by 2050, over 60% of those 18 years and under will be of People of Color heritage. This breakout will discuss a biblical theology on why multiculturalism in the local church is essential to be missional, resources for you to dream within your own church context, and how it becomes practical within youth ministry.

Speakers
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Jonathan Banks is an Author and the Chief Operating Officer at Urban Outreach Foundation & Together Chicago. With years of ministry, leadership, and education experience, he is passionate about helping others reach their God-given potential in every area of life.

Jess Barryhill is a trauma survivor himself who has worked in the behavioral health field for 38 years. His career has included clinical, administrative, and consultative work. He is a commissioned Stephen Leader through Stephen Ministries and started a Stephen Ministry at his church. He previously served as the Trauma-Informed Care Coordinator at the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services before retiring. He holds a Master of Science in Education degree from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Steve Berg is the Student Ministry High School Pastor at Door Creek Church. Bio coming soon.

Alyssa Greeley is a Professional Counselor at Crossroads Counseling Center. Bio coming soon.

Ben Knox is the pastor of Middle School Ministry at Blackhawk. He has served for over twenty years in staff and volunteer roles with students ages 11-19 through ministries in various cultural contexts. He approaches this conversation through his experiences as a student, a pastor, a friend, a parent, and a spouse.

Tiffany Malloy serves as the Pastor of Spiritual Formation at Blackhawk Church, where she oversees and leads the expression of spiritual growth in the Blackhawk community. She is passionate about encouraging and equipping others to grow in their life with God as they lead and influence others in all spheres of life. Tiffany has been married to Jake for 20 years, and they have four tweens/teens: Asante, Aly, Ada, and Anaya. After many adventures traveling and living in different parts of the U.S. and abroad, she and her family settled in Madison in 2013. When she’s not driving kids around, Tiffany enjoys reading, running, and ice cream.

Joe Thackwell is the National Director of High School Transition at InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Bio coming soon.

Peter Vang is an Associate Pastor at Blackhawk Church. Bio coming soon.

More speaker bios coming soon.