Since first being exposed to ministry during college, Adam has had the opportunity to be involved in a variety of different areas of ministry. Below he lists the areas which he has been able to focus on, and a brief description about his involvement in each area.
College & Young Adult Ministry
During seminary, Adam had the opportunity to work with Presbyterian college youth at Princeton University, and really enjoyed being able to walk alongside young adults at that critical time in their lives. While his primary focus at Asbury UMC has been developing the youth ministry program, he has worked with college students when they’ve come home on breaks and during the summer. Adam has organized fellowship activities, summer book clubs and discussion groups and taken a few students from California to the College Conference at Montreat. He also served on the Planning Team for the 2011 College Conference at Montreat.
Youth Ministry
Adam has spent three years working with youth in a camping ministry context, and almost five years working with youth (grades 6-12) in a congregational setting. Adam works to model a relational style of ministry with youth, and seeks to find ways to promote intergenerational ministry. At Asbury, Adam has been working with volunteers and the Youth Council to align the vision of the youth ministry with the church’s Core Values Statement: “Centered in Jesus Christ, we Grow in Faith, Celebrate Community, and Serve Others with Love.”
Preaching & Worship Leadership
Adam has a lot of experience preaching and seeks to find ways to move away from a lecture format of preaching, to a more participatory and communal form of preaching within a congregational context. Adam also has experience planning worship, and leading worship in song through guitar.
Emerging Church & Alternative Worship
Close to ten years ago, Adam became involved in the early years of the emerging church movement, and was excited by all of the creative energy in rethinking church and ministry. While in seminary, Adam co-founded Presbymergent: a group of “loyal radicals,” committed to the Presbyterian Church (USA) but also interested in asking important and sometimes difficult questions about what the future of the denomination is and what ministry might look like in a 21st century context. This group continues to be a place for people to come together and think together outside the box.
While doing ministry in Idaho, Adam collaborated with some friends and put together an alternative worship experience called .bE, and was able to lead the service at a variety of churches, retreats, colleges, seminaries and conferences over the next 8 years. If you are interested in seeing photos of the .bE service, you can find them here.
Interfaith Work
A strong interest of Adam’s is interfaith work and dialogue. As he developed a Theology Pub in the local Livermore area, he reached out to other denominations and faith traditions in our community, and worked with two local rabbis to co-lead many discussions. Adam has led Theology Pub conversations on pluralism, interfaith dialogue and how people of faith can hold their convictions in a diverse world. In April 2011, Adam worked with local Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders to host an interfaith youth event called Interfaith Works. Over 25 interfaith youth and leaders met together for a day of learning and service. You can read his detailed description here, and read articles about the event in two local news sites, the Livermore Patch, and The Independent.
