Tuguegarao Training

Last April 6-12, Rey went all the way to Tugegarao, Philippines and trained 47 youth leaders from the Church of the Living God with the GYMN material. Tugegarao is one of the northernmost regions in the Philippines and takes is an estimated 16 hours to reach (if taking the bus ride) from the capital city of Metro Manila. Making what he did almost hard to believe (this was happening simultaneous with their youth camp of 1500+ young people where he was the speaker). But praise be to God for giving him the strength.

Here are some pictures of the event:

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More Than Just a Training

This post was written by Faith Mandalupe, GYMN trainer and volunteer.

“Before the GYMN manual, there exists this book…”

Upon hearing, I was but amazed by those words referring to God’s word – the Bible. I came to hear those powerful words while joining the Trainer’s Training last April 16-18, 2008 at Cloud of Glory, Liloan, in the northern part of Cebu Island.

Yes, indeed the GYMN manual is one of those materials that can help us train youth leaders and workers. But one good thing about it is that it is patterned after Jesus’ life and ministry and it acknowledges the full authority of the Bible.

The Trainer’s Training that we just had was more than what I expected. For one thing, I thought it would be a training were in we were just going to be receivers, listeners and attendees. To my surprise we were expected to speak in front and share one session from the material with only a short given time to prepare plus we also had some jurors to make comments on how we did our session. Nevertheless, it sure helped me a lot, it made me get to know the material more and also helped me correct myself when it comes to speaking in front of people.

Having the Trainer’s Training is such a nice way to maintain the quality of training GYMN wants to have for the youth leaders. Like on my part, I didn’t get the whole pyramid thing especially the old model… I just got the whole idea and the process that the whole youth ministry had to go through but the pyramid model was just so confusing for me to understand at first. I remember my first encounter with the GYMN training, my main goal before was to learn how to really properly organize the youth in my church. And by the time I had the chance to be one of the lecturers a year after; my focus was just the session that I was assigned to share. I wasn’t seeing the big picture, and most especially the entire message of the whole material. But now, with the Trainer’s Training, I understood the pyramid model (new model) so well and was able to see the entire picture clearly. Everything is connected.

For me it was more than just a training. I was refreshed, rejuvenated and was corrected. Which I so needed, to continue on with the youth ministry. I praise God for that.

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Training Flexibility

by Ghie

Most of us are, in one way or another, involved with trainings. I just want to share some insights I got from Sean Mcpheat of Training Manager Success on being flexible with our approaches during trainings.

It’s a good job that all people are different. Just ask my training team! I’d love to see the look on their faces if another 20 people like me turned up! I’d drive them to drink! (On second thoughts a few of them might like that!)

As trainers it is our job to get the best out of people on every course that we run. Everyone needs to get the benefits out of the session and thus we must appreciate that all people are different and all of them will have different learning styles and preferences.

We need to keep the “Loud Mouths” in check yet keep them contributing in an empowering way and we also have to appreciate the quieter types who would rather pull their toe nails out rather than answer any question in front of the group! Then there are the delegates who are more practical, hands on people. There will be the reflectors who will need to make sense of it all, there will be those who want pictures and diagrams and then there will be those that will want a lecture! It is our jobs as trainers to quickly establish the preferences of the group and then be flexible enough to adopt different approaches.

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