{"id":4666,"date":"2013-05-08T14:00:27","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T19:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/?p=4666"},"modified":"2013-05-08T14:05:40","modified_gmt":"2013-05-08T19:05:40","slug":"a-word-from-tom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/","title":{"rendered":"a word from Tom&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt;--><\/p>\n<p>Tom Dierenfeld of LifeSpring Covenant Church serves as Director of Youth Ministry and is a valued member of an experienced team that is recognized for its diverse and complementary skills that provide quality speaking for conference retreats, leadership training, and gatherings of Covenant churches.<\/p>\n<p>And now a word from Tom:<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Covenant speaker team has been a blessing to many people, including myself, in many ways, and it is an honor and a privilege to serve in this capacity.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most rewarding part of the experience for me has been to meet people from around the country and realize that I\u2019m serving those who are very similar to me, in similar ministry contexts, dealing with similar issues, even though we\u2019re not all the same.\u00a0 In our diversity, there is a great sense of unity because we\u2019re all trying to follow Jesus.\u00a0 There\u2019s nothing really flashy about it.\u00a0 I\u2019m a youth pastor, just like the youth pastors I meet.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got some quiet, and some rowdy middle school students, just like the students I meet.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to lead others and follow Jesus the best that I can, just like the communities of Jesus followers that I meet.\u00a0 What a great gift it is, to know in times of loneliness, that I\u2019m not alone!\u00a0 It\u2019s my hope that this is the same realization of every student and leader I meet; that our common bond is in Christ, the One who never leaves us or forsakes us, even when the retreat is over.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about Tom\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/speaker-team\/tom-dierenfeld\/\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> and listen to his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lifespringchurch.org\/sermons\/\" target=\"_blank\">sermons<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/a\/covchurch.org\/spreadsheet\/viewform?formkey=dE92dk1iZTA4dHU0dm1lRy1KMU5VaEE6MQ\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2011\/08\/RequestSpeaker.jpg\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-report-this\"><a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate?moderation_action=report_form&#038;object_type=post&#038;object_id=4666&#038;width=250&#038;height=300\" class=\"thickbox\" title=\"Report This Post\">Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tom Dierenfeld of LifeSpring Covenant Church serves as Director of Youth Ministry and is a valued member of an experienced team that is recognized for its diverse and complementary skills that provide quality speaking for conference retreats, leadership training, and gatherings of Covenant churches. And now a word from Tom: &#8220;The Covenant speaker team has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[191,281,240,429],"tags":[20214,237,17952],"class_list":["post-4666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","category-resources","category-speaker-team","category-ym-network","tag-center-for-youth-ministry-studies","tag-speakers","tag-youth-workers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>a word from Tom... - ECC | Youth Worker Update<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"a word from Tom... - ECC | Youth Worker Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Tom Dierenfeld of LifeSpring Covenant Church serves as Director of Youth Ministry and is a valued member of an experienced team that is recognized for its diverse and complementary skills that provide quality speaking for conference retreats, leadership training, and gatherings of Covenant churches. And now a word from Tom: &#8220;The Covenant speaker team has [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ECC | Youth Worker Update\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-08T19:00:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-08T19:05:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2011\/08\/RequestSpeaker.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tanyac\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tanyac\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"tanyac\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/840060c795ac0f51742ef621f80b092f\"},\"headline\":\"a word from Tom&#8230;\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-08T19:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-08T19:05:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":278,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/75\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/RequestSpeaker.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Center for Youth Ministry Studies\",\"Speakers\",\"youth workers\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Events\",\"Resources\",\"Speaker Team\",\"YM Network\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/\",\"name\":\"a word from Tom... - ECC | Youth Worker Update\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/75\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/RequestSpeaker.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-08T19:00:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-08T19:05:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/840060c795ac0f51742ef621f80b092f\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/75\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/RequestSpeaker.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/75\\\/2011\\\/08\\\/RequestSpeaker.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/2013\\\/05\\\/08\\\/a-word-from-tom\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"a word from Tom&#8230;\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/\",\"name\":\"ECC | Youth Worker Update\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/840060c795ac0f51742ef621f80b092f\",\"name\":\"tanyac\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98c88903bc6127726c30f662902f32484f454991af21ca12961431789ac2ffa1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98c88903bc6127726c30f662902f32484f454991af21ca12961431789ac2ffa1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/98c88903bc6127726c30f662902f32484f454991af21ca12961431789ac2ffa1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tanyac\"},\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/ywupdate\\\/author\\\/tanyac\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"a word from Tom... - ECC | Youth Worker Update","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"a word from Tom... - ECC | Youth Worker Update","og_description":"Tom Dierenfeld of LifeSpring Covenant Church serves as Director of Youth Ministry and is a valued member of an experienced team that is recognized for its diverse and complementary skills that provide quality speaking for conference retreats, leadership training, and gatherings of Covenant churches. And now a word from Tom: &#8220;The Covenant speaker team has [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/","og_site_name":"ECC | Youth Worker Update","article_published_time":"2013-05-08T19:00:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-05-08T19:05:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2011\/08\/RequestSpeaker.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"tanyac","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tanyac","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/"},"author":{"name":"tanyac","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#\/schema\/person\/840060c795ac0f51742ef621f80b092f"},"headline":"a word from Tom&#8230;","datePublished":"2013-05-08T19:00:27+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-08T19:05:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/"},"wordCount":278,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2011\/08\/RequestSpeaker.jpg","keywords":["Center for Youth Ministry Studies","Speakers","youth workers"],"articleSection":["Events","Resources","Speaker Team","YM Network"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/","name":"a word from Tom... - ECC | Youth Worker Update","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2011\/08\/RequestSpeaker.jpg","datePublished":"2013-05-08T19:00:27+00:00","dateModified":"2013-05-08T19:05:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#\/schema\/person\/840060c795ac0f51742ef621f80b092f"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2011\/08\/RequestSpeaker.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/75\/2011\/08\/RequestSpeaker.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/2013\/05\/08\/a-word-from-tom\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"a word from Tom&#8230;"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/","name":"ECC | Youth Worker Update","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/#\/schema\/person\/840060c795ac0f51742ef621f80b092f","name":"tanyac","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98c88903bc6127726c30f662902f32484f454991af21ca12961431789ac2ffa1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98c88903bc6127726c30f662902f32484f454991af21ca12961431789ac2ffa1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/98c88903bc6127726c30f662902f32484f454991af21ca12961431789ac2ffa1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tanyac"},"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/author\/tanyac\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4666"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4673,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4666\/revisions\/4673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/ywupdate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}