Attempted Philosophy

You need to check this out

2008-11-11T08:17:00.005-05:00

You may have already heard about this, but WorshipTogether.com is giving away free sheet music on their website every week. You can't do much with it at church without a CCLI license, but so far in the two weeks I've been a member, they've offered three free songs each week. That's going to add up pretty fast, and it's a lot cheaper than going out and buying more songbooks for your worship team. Plus, it's an easy way to stay updated on what's out there in new worship music. You have to "become a member" to access the music, but that's free too.

Pretty Well-Reasoned Post on Being Christian And Not Republican

2008-11-09T21:25:00.004-05:00

Hello. This is a post about somebody else's post. I voted Republican this year, but I just read a pretty convincing argument for being a mostly-Democrat Christian. I don't think I'd change my vote even after reading this, but I'm blogging about it because, as believers, we should all take the time to try to understand those believers who vote differently than we do. I tell my teenagers that we need Christians of other denominations - that the battle is too big for us to try to fight alone. Because of that, we need to work to understand each other and find common ground. Obviously, the same would apply to believers of different political parties. So, I'm posting this link for the benefit of any mostly-Republicans reading this and encourage you to check it out: Why A Christian Can Vote for a Democrat.

P.S. He also mentions Keith Drury, one of my former Profs at IWU.

Questions my teens asked me at youth group tonight

2008-10-19T21:44:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone,

After a long silence (during which my hit count has mysteriously gone up?) , I finally have something blog-worthy to write about: the amazingly complex questions teenagers ask when given the opportunity. Naturally, few of them are directly addressed by the Bible:

Can demons die?
In John 8 when the Pharisees try to "trap" Jesus by asking him what to do with the woman caught in adultery, we assume that the pharisees would have used either the "yes, stone her" answer or the "no, spare her" answer against Jesus. But how could they used the "yes" answer against Him if it lined up with the law?
I had a frightening dream. Was it caused by a demon?
Can demons kill people?
Could satan be forgiven if he repents of his sins?
Does God hate satan, or just his sin?
Could there be angels and demons fighting right now in this room? (They got really freaked out when I said yes.)

Somewhere along the way I got the idea that the only questions I would ever be asked as a pastor were questions addressed by the Bible. Obviously some of these questions are, but the ability of teenagers, especially young ones, to ask questions that I don't even have categories for, amazes me. If you have any good out-there questions you've heard, I'd love to hear about them too.

Miles per gallon of milk

2008-07-08T10:11:00.003-04:00

So maybe someone's done this before, but I've never seen it. A prof at my alma mater has calculated the approximate number of miles per gallon that you can get from milk while riding a bike. It surprised me a little to see that it may be cheaper to fuel some cars than to fuel your bike! Of course, the calculations only work if you drink only milk . . .

The reason you keep wishing you could integrate your high schoolers into adult discipleship ministries.

2008-07-01T09:22:00.003-04:00

If you're like me, for a while you've had a nagging sense that it would be good for your high school age girls and guys to participate in adult small groups, retreats, and activities. But you haven't really gotten very far in making it happen, perhaps because you're not sure if it would really be a good thing. After all, some of them might end up in the same group with their parents! Isn't the whole purpose of youth ministry to separate adults from their kids so that both can grow in their faith away from the other's critical eye?

Um, no. The purpose is discipleship. Total separation is a tool we've been using. And it isn't working that well.

Today I ran across this link for an excerpt from a real book written by people who know what they're talking about who say what our guts have been telling us all along - older teens do need some degree of integration in adult ministries to help mentor them into adult faith. It's not just our imagination.

So now that we know there's a book out there to back us up, maybe we'll have the courage to try it. And yes that includes me.

(Thanks to Rob at the Youth Pastors Only Facebook group for the link)

Excellent point from NNYM

2008-06-30T07:31:00.002-04:00

Soooo much has happened since my last post that I should blog about, but I keep putting it off until I have time to write a "good" post about each thing. Unfortunately, that means that a lot of good stuff never gets blogged about. So today, I'm writing a short post about the most recent interesting thing that has crossed my mind.

You need to check out the most recent issue of Take5, the monthly "five minute" devotional from NNYM. It's called "Trying vs. Training," and basically points out that, like running marathons, being successful in ministry requires training, not just effort. I think it's an interesting point, because many times we do tend to think that "book learning won't help you much in this job" and "all the stuff you learn in school will never prepare you for what you'll face in ministry" and "you don't have to be educated to be a good minister." While all of those statements are partially true, I think the article is right too. Why should we expect to be effective in ministry without taking the time to learn vital skills and key information related to our task?

It also makes me think about how in many small churches most of the ministry is done by people with no training for their task. Sunday school teachers, youth workers, children's workers, and sometimes musicians serve regular roles of responsibility without ever having attended a class, seminar or single training session about what they do.

Then, when a church decides that they need to step up the quality of their ministries, often their first thought is that they need to hire paid staff, if only part time. But sometimes the small salaries they offer attract only untrained people. Perhaps for many small-budget churches, the better investment would be to spend the money on training for their volunteers rather than on paid staff.

Congregational mourning

2008-05-15T09:52:00.004-04:00

Recently, a teen in our youth group passed away. It's been incredibly difficult for the church and youth to cope with the loss, but that's not what I'm blogging about. I try not to blog about stuff that's too personal or too specific to my church, because (1) I don't want to bore you with my private life, (2) I don't want to compromise the privacy of my church or it's members, and (3) I don't want to post anything in the midst of an emotional situation that I may regret later. However, I mentioned it because it does relate to what I am posting about, and because it's so huge to me right now that I just didn't want to leave it unmentioned. Mostly the latter. I don't want to blog about it, but I would appreciate your prayers.

What I am posting about is that I've realized that we're lucky that the grieving process is relatively well laid-out in our culture. You hold a viewing and funeral, you visit with and bring food to the family, you donate money to help with unexpected expenses, you talk to each other and to pastors and teachers and group leaders and counselors about your memories and your feelings, and you create memorials - tombstones, scrapbooks, journal entries, photo collages.

I realized this yesterday when I was at our local ministerial association meeting. One of the pastors there had just taken a position as the interim pastor at a church that has recently lost about half of its congregation to a church split. What got me thinking was when he said that when a church goes through a loss like that, often there's an experience of mourning. That made sense, but what I realized was that I don't have the first idea of how a congregation could effectively mourn the loss of people who are still alive.

Holding special services to "celebrate" the time you had with the absent people would be absurd in our culture. So would holding meetings to share our memories about the way things were before they left. So would establishing any kind of monument to the people and the effect they had on a church while they were there. To focus any attention on the time before the loss would seem to us to be dwelling unwisely on the past rather than looking constructively to the future.

It seems like the only kind of "mourning" that we accept in that kind of situation is expressions of anger. Often we villainize the people who left, and talk about what terrible things they did and/or how glad we are to be rid of them. Sometimes we bolster our self-esteem by declaring that we are the faithful ones, and we will carry on regardless of who betrays us or abandons the cause. The leavers may truly be villains in some cases, but surely a healthy response to church loss should involve more than just anger and/or gratitude that they left. How do we acknowledge the good things they did while they were here? How do we acknowledge the good times and good relationships that were had, and the goodnes (whatever there was) in the people we've lost? It seems that if it's worth doing in the case of a death, it should be worth doing in the case of a split. Even in the case of someone who chose to die, we look for the good in that person. Shouldn't we do something similar in the case of one who chose to leave? But what could be done that wouldn't seem absurd?

So I really have no answers for this one. But I hope that someday we figure it out and find a good path for churches to walk when they need to acknowledge the grief of a church split or group exit.

"Students work on acceptable dances"

2008-04-01T08:26:00.003-04:00

Recently I saw an article on The Detroit News' website that i thought was interesting - apparently the definition of "appropriate dancing" and "inappropriate dancing" has now become an issue of school policy in some places. The high school in question is located in Bangor Township, Michigan, and apparently enough students are upset about the school's definition of appropriate dancing that this year's prom is in jeopardy. So now the student senate is trying to come up with a list of dancing rules that will be acceptable to both the administration and the students.

I'm probably more sensitive to this issue because I grew up being taught that Christians should never dance in public, except, perhaps, for a very obscure idea of "dancing in worship". Now, as a youth pastor, I've had to wrestle with what I should communicate about dancing to the teens i work with. It hasn't come up often, but what do you do when you're playing music at a bonfire and all of a sudden the whole group starts dancing? You think how glad you are that the bonfire is almost over is what you do.

It could be simple enough to just tell kids that their mind and their intentions should be pure, and that they should dance in a way that reflects that purity. But without specific guidelines, each student has to come up with their own idea of "pure dancing," and I'm not sure that it's fair to expect students to do that if the majority of their dancing "role models" have no interest in purity. For instance, how could a person figure out for themselves what "pure speech" is if they've never heard it modeled for them?

But then, if we try to define it, it's a fast slide to legalism. The body becomes divided into "ok parts," "not ok parts," and "questionable parts," and the art form of dancing becomes limited to a list of acceptable moves. We start counting inches and points of contact.

Maybe it really should be handled like we handle language? There are certain ways to speak that can be clearly communicated as inappropriate. Perhaps the same is true of dancing. But just as we teach our teens pure speech by letting them hear us talk, perhaps the only way to teach teens pure dancing is to go chaperone their dances and let them watch us dance.

They've finally made a video game about adolescence.

2008-03-10T12:14:00.003-04:00

This one shouldn't have surprised me, but i'd never really thought about it before. The other day I saw a display rack for the game "Bully." It traces the adventures of a boarding school student as he deals with the challenges of the school's social structure.

The plotline (taken from Wikipedia) is as follows:

Chapter 1: Making New Friends and Enemies: Jimmy comes to Bullworth Academy and immediately runs into trouble with the Bullies.
Chapter 2: Rich Kid Blues: Jimmy is now more popular, but he must deal with the spoiled Preppies.
Chapter 3: Love Makes the World Go Around: Jimmy gets mixed in with the love affairs of Lola and Johnny Vincent, leader of the Greasers.
Chapter 4: A Healthy Mind is a Healthy Body and Other Lies: Jimmy decides to take on the Jocks, but he first needs to convince the Nerds to help him.
Chapter 5: The Fall and Rise of Jimmy Hopkins, Aged 15: Jimmy, after briefly enjoying his power as king of Bullworth Academy, is expelled. He has to clear his name and get re-enrolled back into the Academy while regaining control of the cliques.
Chapter 6: Endless Summer: Jimmy can tie up any loose ends, such as finishing races, finding collectibles, etc.

I've never seen a video game before based solely around the idea of school as a social battleground, although youth workers and others have seen it as such for some time. Whether it counts as a "good" game or not, hopefully it will help more people see that the challenges of adolescence are, for many teens, significant enough to warrant their own video game.

(The official website for the game can be found here, but the Wikipedia article is probably more helpful for evaluating the game's content.)

Restoration Station - Church Decorating Theme

2008-02-15T13:41:00.002-05:00

I just read an e-mail from our district superintendent highlighting some of the good things going on in our district, and it contained a few pictures from a church that's just being planted in Port Huron called Restoration Station. I'm posting one of the pictures here. It's a little fuzzy, but i thought it was so cool how the cross made of wrenches and the Craftsman workbench being used as a podium integrate the idea of healing/restoration into their worship. If you're ever in Port Huron you might want to look them up.

Michigan considers allowing high schoolers a fifth year to graduate

2008-02-12T08:28:00.000-05:00

As a person who cares about teens, I also care about what's happening in education. There's an article in the Detroit News about a move to allow Michigan students to take five years to graduate from high school, if necessary. Actually, the article confused me a little. I'm not really sure whether they're allowing students to take five years, or just lifting the penalties for schools that may already allow it. Either way, it will make it easier for kids to take five years to graduate, and hopefully it will keep some struggling students from dropping out. It sounds like a good idea to me - we'll see what happens.

Article in Toronto Star about PK's

2008-02-11T15:50:00.001-05:00

I probably wouldn't be linking to this if i hadn't just written a post related to pastors' kids, but since I did I thought this article I just came across was worth mentioning. I'm not sure I've ever seen a secular publication report on the PK experience before. Despite the title, it didn't feel like a negative article.

Down side of ministry - Many preachers' kids grow up knowing their behaviour reflects on parents' vocation

(I found this through the Rev! Leadership Update)

"Are you still reading “Holy Bible New Living Translation?" "

2008-02-07T13:10:00.001-05:00

I just got this e-mail from my iRead Facebook application. I just think it's funny.

----- Forwarded Message ----

From: Books iRead <apps+oplpz1v1@facebookmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 7, 2008 12:25:34 PM
Subject: Are you still reading "Holy Bible New Living Translation?"

Dear Joy,

We noticed that you have marked Holy Bible New Living Translation as "Reading It" on Books iRead. Are you still working on it? We wanted to send you a reminder, just in case you finished reading the book but forgot to mark it on iRead.

You can,

Mark Holy Bible New Living Translation as Read It. You will be able to rate and review the book on this page.

Get personalized recommendations for new and interesting books to read.

Add a new book to your bookshelf.

Find a new book.

Books iRead makes it really easy for you to organize your bookshelf and show off your reads to your friends.

Sincerely,
The Books iRead Team

Pastors Kid Resources

2008-02-06T15:01:00.001-05:00

In May I'm helping to lead our district's Pastors' Kids' retreat, and I've been online looking for resources. Specifically I'd like to find a book i could give them as a take-home present that would encourage them in their faith and in their specific challenges to their faith. There are plenty of books available for teens on the topic, but so far I can't find anything that's written with a PK in mind. I'm even having a hard time finding stuff that is written for teens in general that would be appropriate for PKs. The problem is that pastors' kids see things that many other kids and teens don't see, and those things have a profound impact on their faith. They don't need books summarizing the Bible; most of them are the most faithful members of their Sunday school classes. They don't need books describing God's nature; they have in-house theologians who have probably already done that.

My guess is that they need something that answers questions like: "How can I believe in God when my family has worked so hard to serve him but bad things keep happening to us?" "How can I feel good about church when I've seen it's darker side?" "Why would i want to be a Christian when i've seen all the dumb things "Christians" have done, and the way some of them have treated me and my parents?" "Why would I want to be a part of an institution that i've seen suck the life out of my Dad/Mom?"

Obviously not all of these questions would be relevant to all pastor's kids, and not all PKs have the same experience. For some, being the pastor's kid may not have made their lives much different than it would have been otherwise. But for many, their lives, and their experiences with God and the Church, are vastly different from those of the other young people in their communities.

But i've found next to no resources dealing with these issues. I found one website and one book dedicated to adult PKs. I also found one out of print book that looked like it was written for counselors and dealt with helping PK's. But beyond that i've found nothing in print. No books for teens, no books for parents that dealt exclusively with raising PK's, and no websites dedicated to them. And honestly that makes no sense to me.

The unique situation of a pastor's kid is something that we've recognized in western Christendom for years, if not centuries. Surely there are no fewer pastors' kids out there than there are pastors, but there are tons of books written every year for pastors. Have the market analysts really determined that nobody's interested in buying books about raising or being a PK?

So i'm writing this post to (1) see if any of you out there know of any good resources you could recommend to me, and (2) in the hopes that this little post on this little blog in cyberspace would spark the realization in a writer or a publisher somewhere that there are a lot of PK's out there who could use encouragement, a lot of pastors out there who could use advice in raising their kids, and a few PK's out there who grew up to be youth pastors and really care about PKs and could use some resources in their efforts to support them (like me). Maybe someone could write a little book for us?

(Sort of) free will

2008-02-04T11:04:00.001-05:00

I don't think that most people in our culture (or our churches) really believe in true free will. I realized this morning that often I really don't either.

Right now I'm reading Teenage Guys by Steve Gerali, and currently I'm in the section on agression and violence in young guys. (By the way so far it's an excellent book.) He was using the story about Cain and Abel as a case study, and he described the way that God (sort of as the first youth worker) tried to encourage Cain to deal with his feelings of rejection a different way. Of course, Cain didn't listen, and went on to commit the first homicide. As I was reading Gerali's paraphrase, I found myself thinking something along the lines of "Wow - God didn't handle that one very well." A few moments later I realized that I was assuming that God - as the youth worker - could have talked Cain out of it by doing or saying the right things.

I realized that I usually operate under the subconscious assumption that I can fix things if i can just figure out the right actions to take, and I think our churches and our culture reinforce it often. When we hear about school shootings, we think long and hard about what could have been done to prevent that young person from choosing that action. We form plans and strategies and encourage teens and adults to look out for hurting young people, and we tell ourselves that we can make a difference if we're willing to get involved. And all of this is true and our efforts are good, but i wonder if I'm the only one who hears the unspoken message that if we can just figure out how to do it right, we could prevent all violence and eventually cure all teen isolation and depression.

Even churches that claim to believe in true human free will often express the same mindset. We preach that no one is too far gone for God to reach. We tell people to pray expecting that God will get through to the person we're concerned about. We hear about "irresistible grace" and the "hounds of heaven" that make redemption all but unavoidable for those God and the church choose to pursue. And while I technically agree with all of these things, it is extremely easy to start believing - even without realizing it - that by our prayers and our actions we are truly in control of what happens, and that if we just figured out how to do it right, we could fix all the ills in the world.

I'm not so much trying to argue that people have free will, because that's a theological debate that's not worth the effort to address well here. I really value my brothers and sisters in Christ who disagree with me on this one, and I'm not trying to pick a fight. But what's interesting to me is how easy it is for those of us who think we believe in free will to subconsciously begin to believe that we really can fix everything if we could just figure out the right actions to take. Even Reformed theology puts full control in God's hands, not ours. As much as I believe we should do everything we can, as youth workers we need to check ourselves on this one. We can't allow ourselves to believe that we can be successful with every teen and prevent every tragedy, or else we're going to spend our lives discouraged and confused when it doesn't work.

You might have really cool volunteers in your youth ministry if . . .

2008-01-10T18:27:00.000-05:00

. . . you discover the marshmallows were put in the offering bucket by your adult leaders, in the hopes that then they wouldn't be thrown around the youth room anymore that night.

You might be in youth ministry if . . .

2008-01-08T16:29:00.001-05:00

. . . you find marshmallows in the offering bucket.

Reflecting on snow

2007-12-25T15:34:00.000-05:00

How cool is it, that when God gives us a different kind of precipitation for the coldest, darkest part of the year, He gives us one that reflects and distributes the little light we have left? I like the beauty of winter, but i have a hard time getting used to the cold. I'm pretty sure cold weather is part of the curse on the earth, but a couple of weeks ago i noticed something new about it. I was walking my dog before dawn and realized that it was a lot lighter outside than it usually was that time of day because of the snow. Starlight, moonlight, streetlights, and sunlight all result in a brighter landscape when snow is present. Could it really be a coincidence that winter precipitation makes the most of limited light? I guess it could be, but i doubt it. God's little mercies amaze me.

You're accepted when you're needed

2007-12-06T10:14:00.000-05:00

Last night i watched Kid Nation for the first time. I only caught the second half of the episode, but it was pretty interesting. The kids had to work together to complete challenges, and it was a lot like survivor except there were no alliances being forged because no one was getting voted off. Instead, the climax of the show was watching the council of older kids chose one town member to honor with a real (large and solid) gold star.

Anyway, the part i wanted to blog about was a comment one kid made at the end of the episode. Apparently they're nearing the end of the experiment, and all the kids were sitting around a campfire talking about their experiences so far. One boy made the statement that "I was never accepted before i came here." I haven't seen enough of the show to know for sure, but it seems like what has happened is that the producers have created an environment of real competition (not just grading kids on their performance, but providing real rewards when they succeed and withholding them when they don't), along with real teamwork (the kids have to figure out how to work together to win the rewards), which means: every kid is needed. Which means: every kid has a chance to earn acceptance by having a good attitude and working hard to help.

I think needing someone is one of the most natural forms of acceptance we have. It's not forced, so it's not hard to show or to receive. All of us will put up with a lot more of what we don't like in a person when we need that person, because then we recognize their value. All of this makes me think that part of what we lack in churches and youth groups is that we don't need each other enough. Among adults - that's probably because we don't have big enough goals that we're trying to reach together, so we really don't find ourselves needing each other. In youth ministries (like mine) i suspect the problem is that we don't depend on our teens enough. We don't give them enough responsibility in carrying out Christ's mission, and we don't hold them accountable for their work. When we don't need them and they don't need each other, its a lot harder for us to truly accept each other, because we don't appreciate each other's value.

Teens can be unreliable, but they can tell where they're needed and where they aren't - and the people who need them get their greatest commitment and effort. Not to mention, isn't part of discipleship helping people to understand that they are needed in God's kingdom, and that we all (including God) are depending on them to help with its work?

P.S. There's an excellent article about trusting God and how it relates to trusting our teenagers in this month's e-newsletter from NNYM.

"Failed" Youth Group Event

2007-11-19T19:48:00.000-05:00

This weekend our youth ministry held its first lock-in on-site at the church. On Friday i expected the next 72 hours of my life to be some of the busiest and most stressful i'd ever experienced. I had to finish getting ready for the lock-in that day, try to stay awake and clear-minded throughout the event that night, grab some sleep the next morning, attend a friend's wedding on saturday afternoon and evening, spend the rest of the evening cleaning up for the weekend, put the finishing touches on my sunday school lesson that night, try to get some more sleep, teach, worship, prepare another lesson, teach, come home and try to relax, try to get a good night's sleep, try to take a day off on monday, and then start the week all over again on tuesday.

It's now monday evening, and it's amazing how differently the weekend turned out. The lock-in went really well for about 3 hours, and then had to be ended early due to sewer problems. This meant that we got to accomplish most of what we had hoped to with the lock-in (i.e. connecting with the teens in the community), but with the added bonus of getting to go home and go to sleep early. The massive amount of clean up that was going to be required resulted in us skipping the wedding. Even though we spent most of the day at the church, it was a lot of fun (for me) because it meant hanging out with people and doing work that wasn't too difficult. The sewer still wasn't fixed by saturday night so Sunday school and youth group both got cancelled. This meant that i didn't have to work on any lessons on saturday, and that i'll have a lot less work to do this week since i've got two lessons half-ready that i wasn't able to use this weekend. Which means that i'll actually get to take a few days off for thanksgiving this week, which i wasn't sure i was going to be able to do.

It's just amazing to me how God can do things so incredibly unexpected. We never know what's getting ready to happen. I'm not sure that God allowed the sewers to back up to make things easier on me and some other people in the church (and maybe its sheer arrogance that i even think it's a possibility), but it just reminds me that we never know what God is going to do. Which means that no situation is impossible, because even when it look like something has to happen, it might not (think Red Sea). And when we worry, we never know if what we're worried about is even going to happen. Same thing with fear. Life is just predictable enough to get us in the habit of predicting it though, and i guess i need to always remember that anything could happen at any moment.

Nevermind

2007-11-19T19:40:00.000-05:00

Ok, i take it back. I just couldn't bring myself to feel good about starting a blog series whining about commercials. Any way i cut it it's still complaining, and i think if Jesus had a blog He wouldn't spend His time griping about commercials that disrespected him. Of course, he would have needed a blog and a television, or else he wouldn't have any commercials to complain about. Unless he went to a friend's house.

So if you are an executive or a marketing professional, I politely request that you respect the essence of Christmas in your holiday advertising. But beyond that, i don't think there's anything constructive i can say.

Stupid Holliday Commercials

2007-11-18T23:05:00.000-05:00

I'm going to try to do this one lovingly, without spite or bitterness, but i think i'm still going to do it. Tis the season of one of my pet peeves - really lame Christmas commercials, and i plan to chronicle this year's crop here. For me, it's the ones that have nothing of Christmas left in them. My favorite from last year: "Happy Honda Days." This year's first installment: "Happy Holi-duh" (Hundai's new favorite word is "duh.")

For some reason i don't mind companies using Christmas to sell their product, as long as they leave some shard of the real thing intact. Something about love, or families, or giving, miracles, anything. Just more than a choir singing "duh duh duh duh duh, duh duh, duh, duh." This is a day that celebrates an event held sacred by about a third of the world's population. Can we show it a little respect, please?

I'm friends with Jesus . . . on Myspace

2007-11-15T14:30:00.000-05:00

The other day one of my teens alerted me to the fact that Jesus now has a Myspace page. Or He has at least one of them. It wouldn't surprise me if there were several of them out there. The one she found was created by someone who won't reveal their own identity, but they state in a blog post that they made the page so people could add Jesus as a friend. Its actually kind of a cool page, with a couple of quotes of Jesus from the gospels under the "about me" section. (You can see the page here.)

It seems like he or she has a pretty solid Biblical understanding of who Jesus is and is trying to represent Him accurately, so i added "Jesus" to my friends list. I'm not entirely sure whether this is a meaningful way of acknowledging (and promoting) my Savior on my page, or if having Jesus on my friends list will just cheapen Him and annoy the people who visit my site. But, the first option seems more likely, so I've made him my "top friend." I'd imagine some people will roll their eyes and think I'm being excessively churchy, but isn't that the same reaction we always get whenever our faith causes us to stick out?

Anyway, I'm curious to see what other Christians on Myspace will do. What would you do?

Talking points

2007-11-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

Today i got a blog post in my email that linked to another blog post, and together the two of them gave one interesting piece of advice - how to steer an interview in the direction you want it to go even when you can't choose the questions you'll be asked. Both posts are by Penelope Trunk, and the first one tells what talking points are, and the second one explains better how to use them.

The quote i found most interesting was this:

When President Bush walks into a press conference, he doesn’t worry what journalists are going to ask him because he already has the answers he’s going to provide — no matter what the questions are. Such answers are called talking points.
Politicians want to frame an issue, so they listen to a question and then decide which of their talking points they’ll use to answer that question. In this way, each question they’re asked is an opportunity to get their own points across.

Her main emphasis is that this is a good tool in job interviews, but it seems like it would be really useful for youth ministers in a lot of situations - anywhere that we want to present ourselves well and get our message across clearly, like when someone is asking us why a particular ministry is worth the time/money/effort/mess/hassle/noise.

Time sensitive

2007-11-06T14:06:00.001-05:00

Hello again,

I got this update from Tim Schmoyer's blog and thought some of you may be interested:

Seminar on Teen Internet Hangouts tonight!

Tonight I’m teaching a seminar for my youth group parents on teen Internet hangouts like Facebook, World of Warcraft, YouTube and some upcoming sites to be aware of. In order to help equip others who are interested in learning more about this, we’ll also have a live video feed online where you can watch the seminar and even interact through the adjoining chat room. It all starts at 7:00PM central time. If you’d like more information about what we’ll cover in the seminar, check out my previous blog post about it.

Watch the video feed using this direct link to the video feed or the embeded stream below.

Youth Culture Notes

2007-11-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

Some things take entirely too long.

Every month i put together a few excerpts from articles on the internet that i think would be educational for our youth ministry's adult leaders. Whether due to the difficulty of the task or just my perfectionism, the time it took to compile the last one seemed to far exceeded the good that will be done by them reading it. So, since i can't go back and invest less time in it, i figure the only thing to do is make it available for more people so maybe it will do more good and come closer to justifying the time spent. So i'm posting it here for your enjoyment and (hopefully) education:

Youth Culture notes – 11/4/07

Maine middle school to offer birth control - updated 10:27 a.m. EDT, Thu October 18, 2007

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) -- After an outbreak of pregnancies among middle school girls, education officials in this city have decided to allow a school health center to make birth control pills available to girls as young as 11.

King Middle School will become the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available, including birth control pills and patches. Condoms have been available at King's health center since 2000.

Students need parental permission to access the school's health center. But treatment is confidential under state law, which allows the students to decide whether to inform their parents about the services they receive.

There are no national figures on how many middle schools provide such services. Most middle schoolers range in age from 11 to 13.

"It's very rare that middle schools do this," said Divya Mohan, a spokeswoman for the National Assembly on School-Based Health Care. [. . . .]

Supporters said a small number of students at King are sexually active, but they need better access to birth control.

"This isn't encouraging kids to have sex. This is about the kids who are engaging in sexually activity," Richard Veilleux said.

Excerpts from http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/18/middleschool.contraception.ap/index.html

The Teen Film Revolution

by Troy Lanier and Clay Nichols

[The producer] leans over the director’s shoulder “Two more takes. Period.” The director rolls her eyes and walks over to the lead actor. He’s well-known with the crew for his stage work, but in this scene his gestures are about to knock the camera over. The DP takes the bounce board out of a grip’s hands and puts the light where he wants it: “Right here, okay?” The grip looks sheepish, stepping back in to take the board.

It’s a pretty typical set for an independent short. Except that none of the players here are over the age of 18.

Not that teens making movies is big news. Lately, however, they’ve been growing more ambitious. They don’t just want to make a funny home movie. They want to make a real movie.

Festivals, summer camps, schools and non- and for-profit organizations promising to support the work of teen moviemakers have mushroomed. Moviemaking is finding its way into high schools, too. While it hasn’t replaced the school play just yet, some programs put up a good fight.

Kids used to save up to buy a car. Today, at least one kid on the block saves up to help his parents with the camera. Many parents will plunk down the change themselves, assuming that moviemaking has to be more constructive than, well, almost anything else teens do. Maybe it will even get them into college. Austin senior Carleton Ranney, labeled a “Moviemaker to Watch” by the movie-savvy Austin Chronicle, won the gamble. He will be attending the School of Visual Arts in New York City and majoring in film.

Many festival directors have observed that the top tier student films are improving, too. Although most kids can’t afford a boom pole or shotgun mic, they are paying close attention to sound and light, taking their cameras off auto mode.

Many adults fret that reading is on the decline while media consumption is up. Perhaps there is some consolation in the increasing levels of media literacy expressed by these young moviemakers. They are experimenting with a new digitized visual language and are finding their own voices. They may be just a bunch of kids fooling around—or they may just be revolutionizing the industry. MM

Excerpts from http://www.moviemaker.com/articles/item/the_teen_film_revolution_2901/

A Consumer’s Spot for Apple Grows Up - October 31, 2007

By STUART ELLIOTT

THE idea that you do not have to be a professional to create a good commercial is becoming widespread, in a trend known as consumer-generated content. Leave it to Apple to — paraphrasing the company’s old slogan a bit — think differently.

A television commercial for the new iPod Touch from Apple, which began running on Sunday, was created by the longtime Apple agency TBWA/Chiat/Day. But it is based on a commercial that an 18-year-old student in Britain — an Apple devotee named Nick Haley, who says he got his first Macintosh when he was 3 — created on his own one day last month.

Late last week, Mr. Haley’s spot had been viewed 2,131 times on youtube.com. Among the viewers, Apple executives said, were marketing employees at Apple in Cupertino, Calif., who asked staff members on the Apple account at TBWA/Chiat/Day to get in touch with Mr. Haley about producing a professional version of the commercial (which, truth be told, had the same look and feel as many of Apple’s other ads).

He traveled to Los Angeles in October, in his first visit to the United States, to work on a broadcast-ready version of his spot with creative executives at TBWA/Chiat/Day.

Consumers creating commercials “is part of this brave new world we live in,” said Lee Clow, chairman and chief creative officer at TBWA Worldwide.

“It’s an exciting new format for brands to communicate with their audiences,” Mr. Clow said. “People’s relationship with a brand is becoming a dialogue, not a monologue.”

Excerpts from http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/31/business/media/31adco.html?ex=1351483200&en=8c1de0ef6596aafe&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Joy's Summary of “User-generated content”

OK, I couldn't find a satisfactory explanation of this on the web to quote, but basically “UGC” is anything that the consumer produces that helps sell the product. This ranges from customers making commercials, to people designing their own Myspace page (which Myspace makes money off of by placing ads), to people uploading their own videos of products on those products' webpages, to portions of a site's content being submitted by users (ie Amazon book reviews & tags). It's apparently a huge buzzword in marketing and is being used by all sorts of product brands, websites, and TV channels.

It's not exclusively used when targeting teens, but when it is, the idea is that young people will be more likely to watch content created by other young people, and that the excitement of having their own content displayed will encourage brand loyalty as well as word-of-mouth advertising.

P.S. after i wrote this i saw Tim Schmoyer's blog post with his notes from a lecture by Walt Mueller about the way teens are marketed to, it contains some revealing information about why brand loyalty is so important for companies to establish - you can check it out here.

Juggling "Excellence" vs. "Acceptance"

2007-11-05T16:36:00.000-05:00

I don't know if larger churches have an easier time with this one, but at least in my experience with smaller churches there is always an issue of how picky to be when choosing volunteers - especially in the music ministry. Alan Nelson wrote a post at Rev.org about this - it's not really long and i'd appreciate more examples, but it offers some good ideas. Check it out here.

Dreams & Intelligence

2007-11-03T19:33:00.000-04:00

Last night i had a dream. Actually it would have been this morning between 5:30 (when Phil got up to take Kodiak out) and whenever Phil and i finally woke up. It was really long and centered around my vain hunt to find the perfect new purse. The purse part wasn't really surprising, i've been thinking about buying a new one, and the way i took forever to make a decision in the dream is only a slightly exaggerated version of what would have happened in real life. But the thing that surprised me this morning as i woke up was all the extra details: the conversation of the two guys who were sitting in the purse section at KB toys and discussing how someone they knew had stolen a car and were now selling it; and the details of the Bible commentary video that came with one of the purses. Both of these were so original. Neither is entirely surprising - i had seen a car for sale yesterday, and if you were going to try to sell me a purse throwing in a Bible commentary would possibly be a good move, but the dialogue and the images in both situations were truly original. It really surprised me to think about the creative potential of my unconscious mind - that it could write script for an original composition and compose new images. One of the birds in the Bible commentary video was something that, as far as i know, I've never seen before. It had an unusual beak and that was part of what the commentator was talking about. And that was only one element of the video. My mind drew on elements present in it but created something truly new - the video, the conversation, the design of the purses.

I don't think you could claim that my dream was formed without intelligence. The pieces didn't just fall together at random - they were assembled. The conversation and monologue made sense. It just amazed me that my mind had such abilities, even when running on autopilot.

Last weekend i gave a short presentation on creation and the problems of evolutionary theory to some teenagers at a retreat, and one of the points on my notes was that the physical brain doesn't create or house the mind. Supposedly, even if evolution could explain where the brain came from, it can't explain the mind because the mind isn't something physical and therefore couldn't have been formed by anything in the physical world. I don't know enough about neuroscience to be able to verify that for myself, but either way, i don't think the mind could have been formed without intelligence. The fact that it is intelligent, that it can take disconnected elements and put them together to create something both new and meaningful, tells me that undirected, natural processes and random chance could not have put it together. Think about it, random forces couldn't have created my dream. Its obvious my mind knew what it was doing - it understood how to form language and it knew what were normal patterns of behavior for the characters. It knew that it would take me forever to find a purse. If something as common and comparatively simple as a dream obviously required intelligence, wouldn't the formation of something as complicated and capable as a mind require intelligence as well?

Soo Excited about this year's CORE

2007-10-25T08:42:00.001-04:00

About an hour ago I was reading this weeks YS update and was literally flailing with glee when i saw the information about this year's CORE training. I wasn't expecting it so soon but i'm really excited. I love these events because they're not very expensive and the one-day local format cuts out a lot of travel and lodging costs that you face with other events. Pretty much all we have to buy besides registration is a little gas and lunch. I recommend it for anyone who works with teens (even if its not in a church), and i think its especially fit for people in small ministries where funding is limited. Seriously, registration is about $55 - less if you sign up early. Even many tiny churches could afford to send their youth volunteer to that.

Anyway, this year's title is "Generation Change: Calling Students to Change Their World." Last year i brought my pastor, my volunteers, and a friend who is a nurse and works with adolescents. This year I'm considering inviting my teens' parents as well. Not being a parent myself, or nearly as old as any of them, this is one of the few ways i could provide growth opportunities for them.

Their website is http://core.go.youthspecialties.com/. Maybe I'll see you there :)

Follow-up

2007-10-20T17:08:00.001-04:00

Hello again,

I don't know how much of it is to our credit, but part of what i hoped for has happened in regards to Mynamar/Burma.

"Bush announced Friday that Washington would expand sanctions imposed last month to punish the military-run government and its backers for the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.
"Bush ordered the Treasury Department to freeze the U.S. assets of additional members of Myanmar's ruling junta, and tightened controls on American exports to the country. He also urged China and India to do more to pressure the government of neighboring Myanmar, also known as Burma."

- from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071020/ap_on_re_as/myanmar

Japan adds to pressure on Burma

Japan is halting $4.7m (£2.3m) in funding for a human resources centre in Burma, as economic pressure mounts on the military government there.
The move follows the death of a Japan's journalist during the Burmese military's bloody suppression of anti-government protests last month.
It reflected Japan's "strong concerns" over the situation, a minister said.
On Monday, the EU upped sanctions on Burma and the US urged "consequential" action against its leaders.
Japan is a leading aid donor to Burma and has been criticised in the past for failing to take a harder line against the military government.
The funding, promised in 2005, was to have been used for a centre at Rangoon University, where courses in economics, management and Japanese would have been taught.
But the shooting of video journalist Kenji Nagai, 50, sparked outrage in Japan and has led to a tougher position.
''Japan has to show its stance and we can't effectively be supporting the military junta at this point in time,'' said Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura.
The funding represented about one sixth of Japan's annual aid to Burma.
But Japan stopped short of ending all aid and remains one of the military junta's significant trading partners - leaving it unclear exactly what effect the cancellation might have.

- from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7046267.stm

I don't know how many of you signed a petition, e-mailed diplomats, or encouraged others to do so (if you did I'd love to know), and i don't know if I or any of you reading this made any difference in the outcome. But we might have :) We'll never know if it would have been any different without us, but we know we didn't sit still.

I really hope things get cleared up over there. It would be so cool to look back in a year or two and see that the crisis was resolved and the people of Mynamar now have freedom and stability. If you haven't done anything to help yet, I have the link to one petition and two diplomats' email addresses here. And if you know of any other petitions out there, let me know.

Thanks.

Burma Crisis

2007-10-16T11:19:00.000-04:00

Hello again,

One of the reasons i haven't been blogging as much recently is that most of the really good information i come across seems to make it into a bunch of other blogs, so there's no point reposting it here. But i got an e-mail yesterday with some things i hadn't heard before - things that also couldn't be reposted too often.

I don't know how much you've heard about the crisis in Burma right now, but all I had heard until yesterday was neutral news reports of monks protesting and the government fighting back. But then I got an e-mail from an organization I trust called World Hope with some more information. I discovered that the Burmese government is truly oppressive, Christians suffer greatly there, and the protesters need to be supported by the global community. I'm frustrated that the news networks describe the conflict in vague terms and leave people with no sense of what the conflict is over or whether it warrants international action.

The e-mail I got from world hope (which you can read here) contained links to three ways to get involved - one petition and 2 e-mail addresses to write. I did all three, and I'm copying them here for you to use if this makes sense to you. The petition link also contains more information about the conflict. Also, if you have a blog, please consider re-posting this for your readers. Wouldn't it be great to know that you were a part of the global outcry that helped liberate an oppressed people?

Avaaz: People power can win this. Burma's powerful sponsor China can halt the crackdown if it believes that its international reputation and the 2008 Olympics in Beijing depend on it. To convince the Chinese government and other key countries to intervene, Avaaz is launching a major global and Asian ad campaign including full page ads in the Financial Times and other newspapers to deliver its message. Avaaz needs 1 million voices to be the global roar that will get China's attention. Visit www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/t.php to sign the petition.

You can email the EU President Luís Amado to strengthen the EU position on Burma at http://burmacampaign.org.uk/eu_action.html.

You can also send an email to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at inquiries@un.org, urging him to coordinate a strong response to Burmese repression at the UN Security Council and reminding him that waiting, as the UN did in Darfur and Rwanda, could cause untold suffering.

Thanks.

Petition for kid-safe films on airlines

2007-09-17T13:30:00.000-04:00

Hello again,

Recently i got this article in my inbox about in-flight movies on planes. If you fly you've probably experienced 2 kinds of in-flight entertainment: the kind where everybody gets to choose what movie they want to watch on their own small screen mounted to the seat in front of them, and the kind where several screens are placed throughout the plane and everyone gets to watch the same movies, which are chosen by the airline. Apparently, some airlines have made the choice to show barely-edited versions of R-rated movies on planes with the latter entertainment system, regardless of the fact that these screens are perfectly in view of the children on the planes, all the way down to preschoolers. The article argues that the passengers are basically a captive audience - adults can choose to close their eyes but parents can't control what is shown to their children. So someone's written a petition, and i signed it, and maybe you would like to too. For more information about the petition or to sign, click here.

the most hilarious thing i 've ever seen!

2007-09-14T13:44:00.000-04:00

Ok, I'm not sure whether they're really trying to attract billionaires to their cell phones or if they just thought it'd be so hilarious that more normal people would pay attention to their ads, but Sprint appears to be actually selling a phone and throwing in a private island. Of course, that way the phone costs 10.5 million dollars. I don't know enough about the web to get the video to show up here but the link to it is here.

Good thought - excessive emphasis on excellence can be a bad thing

2007-09-07T09:31:00.000-04:00

Check out this blog post about how a focus on excellence can get overdone. It's short and sweet, just like this one :)

Excellent Article at Youth Specialties: "It’s a Both-And Thing"

2007-09-05T16:36:00.000-04:00

Hello,

If you're a young youth worker like me, you've probably struggled with the tension between doing big events vs. small group, relational ministry. I just got a link to a great article by Grant English that dissolves the tension and makes the whole thing seem oh-so-simple. In a really believable way. Check it out: It’s a Both-And Thing, The False Dichotomy between Events and Relationships

I got the link to this in the Youth Specialties weekly e-mail update, you can sign up for it here.

New tool (to me anyway)

2007-08-29T12:30:00.000-04:00

Ok, so thanks to Brooke, I've now discovered Feedblitz. Actually, i knew about it, but i didn't know much. I knew that i could use it to subscribe to some blogs by e-mail, but i didn't know i could subscribe to any blog (and nearly any website) for free, and i didn't know that i could add it to my site for free, either. I assumed the blogs had to pay for it. So now if you scroll down to the bottom of the page you'll see a link where you can add your e-mail address and get new posts that way, and if you go to their website you can sign up for e-mail updates for just about anything else, too, like you're local paper's web updates. I have a feeling my inbox is about to get a lot busier.

Negotiating Indirectly

2007-08-28T09:10:00.000-04:00

Today i got this article in my e-mail about negotiating, claiming that to get what you want you have to start by asking for something else, instead of being completely direct. The author gives a convincing argument, and it does seem to make sense that sometimes we scare people off when we tell them what we really want up front. So i wonder how this might apply to church work. My first thought was with approaching potential volunteers - is it better to tell them up front what we hope they'll sign up for, and all of the accompanying expectations? Or do we get farther by starting small - like getting them involved in small capacities before trying to sign them up for the jobs with high expectations, or like talking in general terms about the job and then, laying out all the details a few conversations later when they're really interested?

I guess neither of these really counts as asking for one thing in hopes of getting another, more like asking for something but not describing it fully up front. But it still raises the question - how do we as pastors best "negotiate" for what we need, especially when recruiting volunteers? Last time i was looking to fill a high-committment volunteer position i struck out twice by approaching people with the full job description and asking for a yes or no. The third time i gave most of the job description up front, but invited the person to participate in the ministy for a few weeks so he could check it out while he was trying to make a decision. The rest of the details were hammered out when he was ready to commit. So far he's the most committed volunteer i think i've ever worked with. God's hand was in it - i think he really was the right one out of the three i asked. But i also think the way i approached the previous two - unloading all the information up front in a single conversation - probably helped scare them off.

Need to Clarify

2007-08-28T09:00:00.000-04:00

After re-reading my last post i realized i wasn't entirely clear. I'm looking for some html i can use on this site in the left column that will automatically update from several blogs and websites, instead of having to create separate spaces for each site. I'm not sure if i can get what i want for free, but i thought it didn't hurt to ask. Thanks!

need code

2007-08-27T19:54:00.000-04:00

Hey, if there's anyone out there who knows how to do either of these or could point me to some good information - please comment!

- I have a new cell phone now with a web browsing feature. I was able to get to this blog but couldn't really read it because the html was not designed with a cell phone in mind. Does anyone know how or where to find blogger templates that will also render well on mobile browsers?

- I'd love to do an rss feed that pulls from multiple sites at once and puts the most recent article at the top - instead of having separate rss feeds for each site i connect to here. Anybody know how to do that?

Thanks :)

One in four Americans read no books last year

2007-08-27T19:32:00.000-04:00

Don't be one one them next year, please :) CNN's article.

TIME Article about Mother Theresa's Struggle and Doubt

2007-08-27T19:04:00.001-04:00

In case you haven't heard, there's some new stuff out about Mother Theresa that reveals a very different side of her than we've seen before. The headline of the TIME article is "Mother Theresa's Crisis of Faith." A new view of Mother Theresa is going to necessarily affect peoples' view of the Faith itself, so it's really worth checking out.

"Complaining is bad" - The Bible and Yahoo Finance

2007-08-25T09:34:00.000-04:00

Ok, for any of us who don't take the Bible seriously when it says not to complain, at least one business columnist is saying the same thing. Check it out: Five Ways to Avoid Being Overworked by Penelope Trunk.

Cheap TV Commercials

2007-08-24T09:41:00.001-04:00

Hello Again,

Today in Rick Warren's e-mail update i found a link for an article about how advertising on TV isn't as expensive as many pastors assume. I don't know if our church is ready for it, but maybe yours is. Here's the article - Church TV Commercials for a Buck. No - it's not really just a buck, but it is pretty cheap and the article isn't trying to sell you a particular service.

My identity has been stolen (a little)

2007-08-23T09:22:00.000-04:00

Well, it appears i am now officially a victim of identity theft. Yesterday i got one of those "returned mail" messages in my inbox, but i didn't recognize the address that the message had been sent to - and when i saw the subject line i knew i hadn't sent it. I e-mailed Yahoo about it (which by the way i've loved using yahoo mail for around 7 years now), and they said it looks like someone's managed to falsify the "from" or "reply-to" section of a spam e-mail that they sent. So now it looks like i sent the message. Worse, it appears that there's nothing Yahoo can do to find out who's doing this or to stop them. So all i can do is delete all the returned messages that come to me and pray that my legitimate messages don't start getting filtered out by spam blockers.

I guess it doesn't do you much good to know this, since i don't think there's a way to prevent it, but I just wanted everyone to know that the return address on the spam you get could be that of another innocent bystander.

Article at Leadership Journal about church security

2007-08-22T08:19:00.000-04:00

Hello again,

I found an article today by a police lieutenant giving churches advice on how to respond in case of an attack by a gunman, and how to become a little more prepared for that event. It's worth taking a minute to read. I know my tendency is to almost take pride in a church with minimal security - it seems like churches should be safe places as well as places where we trust each other - instead of places where you have to go through a security checkpoint. But the question is worth asking - should we be doing more to protect our sheep?

Here's the article : Security Against Shooters

the stories behind tattoos

2007-08-17T09:04:00.001-04:00

For some this may be an obvious concept, but many, if not most, tattoos actually have deep stories behind them, and are not the result of some short-sighted whim. Unfortunately, i think a lot of times in the church, or at least a lot of times in the past in the church, we've assumed it was always just that. There's an article about this at the Center for Parent-Youth Understanding by Paul Robertson, and i highly recommend it if you find yourself wondering why anyone would choose to put such a permanent mark on their bodies.

How to respond to racist jokes

2007-08-14T09:08:00.000-04:00

I've let a whole month slip by without blogging :( Part of the problem is that i'd rather read the really good things other people are writing than write something halfway good and put it out there. So today i compromise and post a link to something really good that someone else wrote, hopefully furthering the world of good thought without watering it down.

Today i ran across an article at Race in the Workspace titled "How to respond to a racist joke." I'm passing it along because i'm sure a lot of other Christians and church workers besides me have a genuine desire to avoid participating in racism but aren't always sure what to do. I'm not convinced that this author's approach is going to work, but it might and it certainly seems worth a try, so check it out.

What happens when you bake a credit card

2007-06-14T08:52:00.001-04:00

A. It turns black
B. It shrinks up
C. It thickens
D. It releases a thin smoke that doesn't smell really good
E. It actually retains the numbers on its surface

So much for hoping it would melt into a pretty little puddle on the tinfoil.

Ministry with the cognitively disabled

2007-06-12T10:02:00.001-04:00

Today i ran across a link for a ministry i'd never seen before, and am really excited about. It's called Friendship Ministries, and it's a nonprofit that helps churches create a program for teens and adults with mental disabilities. I've been keeping my eye out for this kind of thing for a while, and until this morning i had found very little. Probably many of you, like me, know of someone in or connected to your church who you wish you could minister to better but who just doesn't fit well into your existing programs. Not to mention the fact that if most families with special needs children are unchurched (as i heard a while back), probably most teens and adults with special needs are unchurched too. They, their families, and their caregivers would probably be very excited to find a church that had such a ministry.

I have to admit that I may never become involved with this ministry myself (although right now i really wish i could), and so it feels a little hypocritical to be plugging for them, but I know this or something like it could help a lot of churches and I had to pass it on.

It's gone

2007-06-11T12:45:00.000-04:00

For any of you who might notice, my other blog with my old sermons on it is gone. Traffic to it was dismally low, indicating that it probably wasn't doing anyone much good. Realistically, would a person in need of spiritual guidance really take the time to read one of my long sermons? And i posted to it so rarely that probably most of the people who would have benefitted from it would have lost interest between posts. And, after reading an article about the perils of sermon plagiarism, the thought of having my old sermons out there seemed even more needless.

So yeah, it's gone, in case you noticed.

Good post at "Out of Ur"

2007-06-09T13:13:00.001-04:00

Just thought i'd mention that the most recent post at the Out of Ur blog is really good - it's titled "Success Covers a Multitude of Sins" It talks about how character formation is slow, so a lot of pastors avoid it because it slows them down in the pursuit of tangible outcomes from their ministries. It made a lot of sense, but my question as i read was whether inner character development and external, tangible results can or should be separated. I've thought for a long time that some "results" can be generated by human effort, but that true character transformation will always result in visible, noticeable transformation of the person, the church, and the community. So, will a focus on character transformation really slow us down in seeing results in our ministries, or will it just slow us down temporarily before resulting in even more dramatic "results"? Or are we really meaning "attendance numbers" when whe say "results"? In that case, of course "results" will come slower, but it seems to me that there'll be more fruit in the orchard, even if it's a smaller grove.

Battle Cry Stuff

2007-05-18T06:13:00.000-04:00

This is a post about a topic about which i am entitled to say little. The issue is Aquire the Fire and particularly their Battle Cry events. The reason i'm unqualified is because i've never attended any of them. But i am developing an opinion nonetheless, based on what i'm hearing from others who have attended, and based on what i see in their advertising. Their advertizing turns me off with its near-promises of dramatic revival if you just get your teens to the event, but it is, of course, still possible that if i took my teens there would be dramatic revival. I've never tried it. But a lot of other youth workers have and my doubtful vibes have been reinforced by their comments. Honestly, i'm not sure i've ever heard a completely positive review of Battle Cry or Aquire the Fire from a youth worker.

Anyway, for anyone who's trying to make up their own mind, or who needs to be able to quote a couple of other youth workers when defending their decision not to attend, here are some links to some blog entries that i found on this very topic, all of them (if i remember correctly) by people who have actually attended the events and know more than i do about what they're talking about.

http://doctorheadly.wordpress.com/2007/05/17/fuel-for-the-battle/

http://timschmoyer.com/2007/05/17/battle-cry-is-more-like-battle-screaming/

http://living4jc.livejournal.com/68761.html

http://sandyssayings.typepad.com/sandys_sayings/2007/03/battle_cry.html

A lot of these refer to Planet Wisdom as an alternative, which i've also never attended, and some of the youth workers i talk to personally highly reccommend Dare 2 Share, which i've also never been to. So i can't reccommend either of these either, but they might be worth checking out.

You might be a pastor if . . .

2007-05-15T16:00:00.000-04:00

. . . you've discovered that "incarnational" isn't recognized by your spell-checker.

Read "A Generous Orthodoxy"

2007-05-03T08:17:00.001-04:00

Last week on my week off i attended my own private theology conference with Brian McLaren by immersing myself in his book and wolfing it down until finished. I wont' write an extended reveiw but it was very thought provoking in a very good way. He pushes the edges of what many conservative Christians (like myself) believe, but he really makes you see things in a new light. If i try to start hitting the highlights i'll write far longer than i have time to because it would be so hard to do justice to . . . well i can't even really describe what he does without taking forever to do it. He makes you think. And i highly reccomend it, especially for pastors.

You might be a true Christian if . . .

2007-05-03T08:10:00.000-04:00

Ok, I hope it's not blasphemous or irreverent or immature of me, but i actually find these quite funny! I found them on exchristian.net, a profoundly anti-Christian website, so the author was most likely not "laughing with us," but i think it would do us good to see ourselves for a moment as many non-Christians see us. And i think they're hilarious!

You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

You feel insulted and "dehumanized" when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

Your face turns purple when you hear of the "atrocities" attributed to Allah, but you don't even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in "Exodus" and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in "Joshua" including women, children, animals and trees!

You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of the Earth (a few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is just a few generations old.

You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs (excluding of course those in all rival sects) will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most "tolerant" and "loving."

While modern science, history, geology, biology, physics and textual scholarship fail to convince you that the Bible may be less than reliable, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in "tongues" is all the evidence you need to "prove" Christianity.

You define 0.01% as a "high success rate" when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that small percentage to be evidence enough that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE rate was simply God saying "No."

You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history, but still call yourself a Christian.

from http://www.exchristian.net/exchristian/2007/05/you-might-be-true-christian-if.html

My dog food

2007-04-19T09:14:00.000-04:00

Just a note, if there are any of you out there wondering if there are any brands not affected by the pet food recall, the one i use, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul, appears to still be safe - their website says they don't even use wheat, wheat gluten, or rice protein, so it looks like they probably won't be the next one added to the list. Their website is here, and they make cat food too. We get it at our local Market Place Pet Supplies. Good luck :)

A "Christian Worldview"

2007-04-13T10:59:00.000-04:00

At least since i began attending my Christian university 8 years ago, and maybe before, i've been familiar with the term "Christian worldview." It refers to a particular way of seeing the world, history, and the future, supposedly from a biblical perspective. At IWU it was presented thus: time is linear, not cyclical; the world is not inherently good or inherently bad but fallen; history will come to an end; etc. It kind of made sense to me at first, but currently i've got some doubt about the idea.

This really became clear to me yesterday as I read the press release for George Barna's latest book about parenting. In an effort to discover what kind of parenting is most likely to produce "spiritual champions," or solidly Christian young adults, he began by identifying a number of these "spiritual champions," whose upbringing he could then study. One of the criteria for these young people was the posession of a "biblical world view":

Each of these young adults possessed a "biblical worldview," based on their responses to a series of questions about their view of life. In essence, they contend that absolute moral truth exists; such truth is defined in the Bible; God is the all-knowing and all-powerful creator and ruler of the universe; faith in Jesus Christ is the only means to salvation; Satan is a real being; Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth; and all of the principles taught in the Bible are true and accurate. link

I thought it was worth noting that Barna's criteria didn't involve any observable behaviors other than participation in a church, such as helping the poor or being a person of integrity. That aside, the article made me wonder whether we tend to define too narrowly what it means to think like a Christian.

I wonder what it would look like for a member of a non-western culture to have a "biblical worldview." I remember watching The End of the Spear and hearing one of the primary characters, a Waodani man living in Ecuador who had accepted Christ after participating in the murder of several missionaries, talk about entering the afterlife as "jumping the great boa." Assuming that the movie didn't fictionalize this part, we have a man who has accepted Christ and understands that salvation is through Jesus, still understanding the world in the terms of the natural environment that he understands. Is his any less of a "Christian" world view? How much of our "biblical world view," with its emphasis on absolute knowlege and the approved sources of truth, really came to us from the Bible? How much of it is really from our cultural influence from the enlightenment emphasis on the aquisition of knowledge?

I guess i'm not really challenging whether a biblical world view exists, since it's clear that the Gospel will eventually change the way we see the world. But i do wonder if we've really taken the time to dialogue with Christians from other cultures about this to make sure that the litmus tests we come up with really are purely biblical and not the Bible as read by the western world.

And i also question whether it's really that important. It seems like we at times judge whether people are real christians by their posession of such a perspecitve on life, which is going far above and beyond the biblical litmus test: faith in Christ that makes a difference in the way we live. I want really badly to say that i'd rather have a Christian that fails the biblical world view litmus test but trusts Christ alone and gives sacrificially, than one that passes the test but is hard-hearted and selfish, but I guess i can't quite take it that far for fear of eventual apostasy due to poor theology in the church. But i know which Christian i'd rather try to pastor.

Automatically importing blog posts to facebook

2007-04-03T08:43:00.000-04:00

Ok, so first i had blogger. Then i got a myspace and saw that there was room for a blog on it too. I posted a little, but i really don't like having two blogs. Then i got facebook too and it's basically set up to have it's own blog as well. Well, i finally figured out that i can set up facebook to automatically import blog posts from my blogger blog! My virtual reality has become slightly more integrated :) If you're in the same predicament, just go to your "my notes" section on facebook and there will be an option to import notes from your blog if you just type in your blog address. Now if only myspace would do the same thing . . . .

The problem of ministerial blogging

2007-03-26T20:11:00.000-04:00

It's been exactly a month since i blogged anything substantial. Ironically, i've been getting more hits these days, probably because of the frenzy of new links to my blog created by everyone posting the list of bloggers who participated in that Christian bloggers survey. The increase in people trying to read what i have to say combined with the decrease in me saying anything is frustrating. Part of it is always busyness, but i think the big thing is a problem i'm not going to be able to completely fix - it's not easy blogging as a minister. Most of what i'm passionate about, what i read about, and what i could write about has to do with ministry. Some of it is abstract enough to blog about, but a lot of it, and usually the best material, has to do with real stuff i'm facing in my ministry - my concerns, struggles, theories, and victories. And since churches and ministries are made up of people, all of these things are directly related to real people that i know - which means i've got no business airing my opinions about these things on the internet. Unless of course i was blogging anonymously, but i'm not.

One of the primary ideas behind blogging is creating a window into a person's experiences in the world - but as ministers who genuinely care about the people they interact with, not to mention being obligated to protect the confidentiality of those people, there's actually very little left of our lives that's OK to blog about.

So i guess i'd better read another book to review :)

Small Achievement

2007-03-26T19:41:00.000-04:00

Ok, i really don't think it means much, but it feels really cool. ReverendFun is one of the cartoons i read on the web, and i've submitted my first idea for a cartoon and they used it!! And i know i'm biased but i think it's hilarious.

You might be a pastor if . . .

2007-03-14T10:46:00.000-04:00

. . . you've discovered that "unchurched" is not recognized by your spell-checker.

Grace Incompatible

2007-02-26T15:43:00.000-05:00

I wonder if the reason grace is so hard for us to accept is because we were originally designed not to need it.

Christian Blogger's Survey

2007-02-26T15:01:00.000-05:00

It all started out so innocently. I found out about a survey of Christian bloggers and thought i'd help out by donating a few minutes of my time for the cause of research. I've been on the other side of surveys and been quite frustrated by low response rates, so i try to return surveys when i can. But now apparently i've obligated myself to post the results of the survey and the list of all the other bloggers who participated.

I guess i shouldn't complain - free material to update my blog! And i think i'm already seeing more traffic from other people who posted the link to my site, so perhaps its the least i can do :) Unfortunately, however, the link to the full results of the survey doesn't work anymore. (Guess i waited too long) The best i can do now is the results summary still available on the surveyer's blog. First is the results, then my comment about them and the researcher's reply, and then the list of participants.

2007 Christian Bloggers Survey Results Announced

By Cory Miller | February 21, 2007 |

I’m delighted to FINALLY release the results of the 2007 Christian Bloggers Survey that I helped do in partnership with Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox and with the generous help of Element Fusion’s Icebrrg online forms website today.

Here are some snapshots of the survey:

Total Number of Blogs In Survey: 367 blogs
Most Popular Blogging Platform: Blogger with 184; WordPress was next with 77
Length of Blogging Tenure: 122 blogging for one to six months; followed close by 121 who have been blogging one to two years
Frequency of Posting: 175 indicated “one to 10 times a month”
Gender: 309 were males
Age: 136 are between 31 to 40 years old
Ministry role: 128 respondents were “senior pastors”

***************************

Joy on February 22, 2007 6:50 am

Cory,
I’m one of the minority of female, non-senior pastors who responded to your survey. You may have thought of this, but if Rick Warren’s newsletter is the only place you announced your survey, that’s probably why you got a majority of sr. pastors responding. I would imagine few staff pastors read it because most of us work in a specific field that’s not heavily addressed in that newsletter.

Cory Miller on February 22, 2007 7:47 am

Joy, yes, it definitely wasn’t scientific or an all-encompassing survey. We relied on the traffic from Pastors.com and this site as well as those who were gracious enough to promote it.

I’m hoping for more next year … and with your help and others … a more complete response.

***************************

Christian Blogger Survey participants

The bloggers below participated in the Christian Bloggers Survey.

churchcommunicationspro.com

http://www.churchcommunicationspro.com

friesville.net/blog

http://friesville.net/blog

ministrymarketingcoach.com

http://ministrymarketingcoach.com

johnsmulo.com

http://johnsmulo.com

douglast.com/thoughts

http://douglast.com/thoughts

thebellsite.com

http://www.thebellsite.com

ghostofmediocrity.blogspot.com

http://www.ghostofmediocrity.blogspot.com

morethanstone.blogsome.com

http://morethanstone.blogsome.com

davedavis.typepad.com

http://davedavis.typepad.com

theflippingsweetblog.blogspot.com

http://theflippingsweetblog.blogspot.com

blog.aspiringindie.com

http://blog.aspiringindie.com

spirittalks.blogspot.com

http://www.spirittalks.blogspot.com

chiselrod.com

http://www.chiselrod.com

microexplosion.com

http://microexplosion.com

levite.wordpress.com

http://levite.wordpress.com

learning2beastoryteller.blogspot.com

http://www.learning2beastoryteller.blogspot.com

billspondering.blogspot.com

http://billspondering.blogspot.com

dhfriss.typepad.com

http://dhfriss.typepad.com

imageforth.com

http://www.imageforth.com

despuesdeldomingo.com

http://www.despuesdeldomingo.com

mattandnancy.org

http://www.mattandnancy.org

mondaymorninginsight.com

http://www.mondaymorninginsight.com

valuetheprocess.wordpress.com

http://www.valuetheprocess.wordpress.com

themerge.blogspot.com

http://themerge.blogspot.com

semilladeamorgt.blogspot.com

http://semilladeamorgt.blogspot.com

mattsingley.com

http://www.mattsingley.com

timsweatman.blogspot.com

http://timsweatman.blogspot.com

jenniclayville.com

http://www.jenniclayville.com

anotherstorm.com

http://www.anotherstorm.com

elblogdecristianosh.blogspot.com

http://elblogdecristianosh.blogspot.com

kelly94942.blogspot.com

http://kelly94942.blogspot.com

melindalgroth.blogspot.com

http://www.melindalgroth.blogspot.com

churchrelevance.com

http://www.churchrelevance.com

lapalabra.ws/blogs

http://www.lapalabra.ws/blogs

twelvewitnesses.com

http://www.twelvewitnesses.com

thoughtsofacountrypreacher.blogspot.com

http://thoughtsofacountrypreacher.blogspot.com

knhamann.blogspot.com

http://knhamann.blogspot.com

lizziesotola.com

http://lizziesotola.com

jdblundell.blogspot.com

http://jdblundell.blogspot.com

jason.voxtropolis.com

http://jason.voxtropolis.com

rwbooth.com

http://www.rwbooth.com

decloaked.blogspot.com

http://www.decloaked.blogspot.com

davetilma.com

http://www.davetilma.com

debbie-thoughtsof.blogspot.com

http://debbie-thoughtsof.blogspot.com

theclayvilles.typepad.com/brian

http://www.theclayvilles.typepad.com/brian

estudios-biblicos.blogspot.com

http://estudios-biblicos.blogspot.com

elcalvario.us/quicuj

http://elcalvario.us/quicuj

arator.wordpress.com

http://arator.wordpress.com

xanga.com/rtsguy

http://www.xanga.com/rtsguy

la-guarida-del-perro.blogspot.com

http://la-guarida-del-perro.blogspot.com

forgodssakeshutup.blogspot.com

http://forgodssakeshutup.blogspot.com

determinacionhoy.net

http://www.determinacionhoy.net

discipleshipmeanderings.wordpress.com

http://discipleshipmeanderings.wordpress.com

challies.com

http://www.challies.com

allensonthe.net

http://www.allensonthe.net

nanolog.blogspot.com

http://nanolog.blogspot.com

donniejohnson.blogspot.com

http://donniejohnson.blogspot.com

missionsconnexion.com/cs

http://missionsconnexion.com/cs

tonydye.typepad.com

http://tonydye.typepad.com

brianeberly.com

http://www.brianeberly.com

curtbradford.typepad.com

http://www.curtbradford.typepad.com

gavin.inthebackyard.com

http://www.gavin.inthebackyard.com

communionreflections.blogspot.com

http://communionreflections.blogspot.com

victorychristianfellowship.net

http://www.victorychristianfellowship.net/index.php?page=blog

timothymyson.blogspot.com

http://www.timothymyson.blogspot.com

rbcgrace.com/deanblog/index.html

http://www.rbcgrace.com/deanblog/index.html

youthguy68.blogspot.com

http://www.youthguy68.blogspot.com

digitalchurch.com.au

http://www.digitalchurch.com.au

djs-book-rants.blogspot.com

http://djs-book-rants.blogspot.com

robertpooley.org

http://www.robertpooley.org

wideworldof.blogspot.com

http://wideworldof.blogspot.com

revunplugged.blogs.com

http://www.revunplugged.blogs.com

xanga.com/welcometotheedge

http://www.xanga.com/welcometotheedge

collinwimberly.blogspot.com

http://www.collinwimberly.blogspot.com

thecrossers.com/blog

http://www.thecrossers.com/blog

atravelersjourney.blogspot.com

http://atravelersjourney.blogspot.com

kairosofthisworld.blogspot.com

http://kairosofthisworld.blogspot.com

revnorman.blogspot.com

http://revnorman.blogspot.com

soomah.de

http://www.soomah.de

leadingsmart.com

http://leadingsmart.com

pontiacbible.org/brian

http://www.pontiacbible.org/brian

tianke.multiply.com

http://tianke.multiply.com

mountain-top-musings.blogspot.com

http://mountain-top-musings.blogspot.com

discipletim.blogspot.com

http://discipletim.blogspot.com

macmike.typepad.com

http://www.macmike.typepad.com

mcfaddencircle.blogspot.com

http://mcfaddencircle.blogspot.com

getanchored.blogspot.com

http://getanchored.blogspot.com

bucketsfromgoldie.blogspot.com

http://bucketsfromgoldie.blogspot.com

leslieherron.typepad.com

http://www.leslieherron.typepad.com

adoracionyartes.blogspot.com

http://www.adoracionyartes.blogspot.com

johnnyleckie.blogspot.com

http://johnnyleckie.blogspot.com

ridleybarron.blogspot.com

http://www.ridleybarron.blogspot.com

davebowmanonline.com

http://www.davebowmanonline.com

kevinpurcell.org

http://www.kevinpurcell.org

evtales.com

http://www.evtales.com

checkyourcompass.blogspot.com

http://checkyourcompass.blogspot.com

theoskaris.blogspot.com

http://theoskaris.blogspot.com

samshaw.wordpress.com

http://www.samshaw.wordpress.com

zayasbazan.blogspot.com

http://zayasbazan.blogspot.com

explorechrist.blogspot.com

http://www.explorechrist.blogspot.com

gracepages-mbc.blogspot.com

http://gracepages-mbc.blogspot.com

morganchurchdevotional.blogspot.com

http://www.morganchurchdevotional.blogspot.com

2timothy22.blogspot.com

http://2timothy22.blogspot.com

mixmastersean.blogspot.com

http://www.mixmastersean.blogspot.com

freedombc.org

http://www.freedombc.org

velocityhsm.blogspot.com

http://velocityhsm.blogspot.com

josue.townhall.com

http://josue.townhall.com

echalelena.blogspot.com

http://www.echalelena.blogspot.com

myspace.com/ncm.pcc.syl

http://www.myspace.com/ncm.pcc.syl

anopendoerr.com

http://www.anopendoerr.com

rockc3.com

http://www.rockc3.com

youthministryhilarity.blogspot.com

http://www.youthministryhilarity.blogspot.com

otbthinking.blogspot.com

http://otbthinking.blogspot.com

cowboycountrychurch.com

http://www.cowboycountrychurch.com

xanga.com/apolizzi

http://www.xanga.com/apolizzi

newlifebrisbane.blogspot.com

http://www.newlifebrisbane.blogspot.com

straightfrompastor.blogspot.com

http://straightfrompastor.blogspot.com

lifeofchrisrandomthoughts.blogspot.com

http://lifeofchrisrandomthoughts.blogspot.com

arktrav.blgspot.com

http://arktrav.blgspot.com

jurgenvandenherik.nl

http://www.jurgenvandenherik.nl

johannesrueschel.de

http://www.johannesrueschel.de

hufi.blogspot.com

http://hufi.blogspot.com

completinggodsmission.com

http://www.completinggodsmission.com

cobbsinger.blogspot.com

http://cobbsinger.blogspot.com

fellowshipdayz.blogspot.com

http://fellowshipdayz.blogspot.com

bridgecommunity-mike.blogspot.com

http://bridgecommunity-mike.blogspot.com

jonathaneverette.blogspot.com

http://www.jonathaneverette.blogspot.com

thegatheringplacehome.blogspot.com

http://thegatheringplacehome.blogspot.com

seabourn.org

http://www.seabourn.org

gupdate.blogger.com

http://www.gupdate.blogger.com

jonathaneverette.blogspot.com

http://www.jonathaneverette.blogspot.com

myspace.com/morelikeyou

http://www.myspace.com/morelikeyou

preacherjoe.blog

http://www.preacherjoe.blog

theworldfrommywindow.blogspot.com

http://theworldfrommywindow.blogspot.com

attemptedphilosophyblog.blogspot.com

http://www.attemptedphilosophyblog.blogspot.com

amandaowen3.blogspot.com

http://www.amandaowen3.blogspot.com

pastorsview.blogspot.com

http://www.pastorsview.blogspot.com

severnrun.wordpress.com

http://severnrun.wordpress.com

waitingforsunday.com

http://waitingforsunday.com

lynda.pongracz.blogspot.com

http://www.lynda.pongracz.blogspot.com

reverandd.bravejournal.com

http://reverandd.bravejournal.com

oncoffee.blogspot.com

http://oncoffee.blogspot.com

otherstudentministry.com/blog.cfm

http://www.otherstudentministry.com/blog.cfm

jayhardwick.com

http://www.jayhardwick.com

stonecreekchurch.com

http://www.stonecreekchurch.com

unfoldingneurons.com

http://www.unfoldingneurons.com

the-beat-goes-on.blogspot.com

http://the-beat-goes-on.blogspot.com

fbcsulphur.org

http://www.fbcsulphur.org

evenyou.blogspot.com

http://evenyou.blogspot.com

now-lets-see.blogspot.com

http://now-lets-see.blogspot.com

becoming.voxtropolis.com

http://becoming.voxtropolis.com

emilioetaty.multiply.com

http://emilioetaty.multiply.com

hblogcpj.blogspot.com

http://hblogcpj.blogspot.com

marshilltop.blogspot.com

http://marshilltop.blogspot.com

jeffreycrawford.blogspot.com

http://jeffreycrawford.blogspot.com

thewhatisup.blogspot.com

http://www.thewhatisup.blogspot.com

trevorscott.vox.com

http://www.trevorscott.vox.com

gmchurch.org/blog

http://www.gmchurch.org/blog

blog.myspace.com/servingtheking

http://blog.myspace.com/servingtheking

chipsanders.blogspot.com

http://chipsanders.blogspot.com

tommyham/typepad.com

http://tommyham/typepad.com

highercallingchurch.blogspot.com

http://www.highercallingchurch.blogspot.com

livingwatermuscatine.com

http://www.livingwatermuscatine.com

thislamp.com

http://www.thislamp.com

blog.myspace.com/nathanhyde

http://blog.myspace.com/nathanhyde

bibleblog.typepad.com

http://www.bibleblog.typepad.com

peanutsizzler.blogspot.com

http://www.peanutsizzler.blogspot.com

danmoore.livejournal.com

http://danmoore.livejournal.com

cmol.org

http://www.cmol.org

mikebellanti.voxtropolis.com

http://mikebellanti.voxtropolis.com

lenscleanse.blogspot.com

http://lenscleanse.blogspot.com

darinsrealtruth.blogspot.com

http://www.darinsrealtruth.blogspot.com

graceforme.org

http://www.graceforme.org

jeffsmithspeaks.blogspot.com

http://jeffsmithspeaks.blogspot.com

simplyhsp.multiply.com

http://www.simplyhsp.multiply.com

untilsunday.blogspot.com

http://untilsunday.blogspot.com

umbl0g.blogspot.com

http://www.umbl0g.blogspot.com

lorenhicks.typepad.com

http://www.lorenhicks.typepad.com

caldjr.blogspot.com

http://caldjr.blogspot.com

thewallah.blogspot.com

http://www.thewallah.blogspot.com

louicanchola.typepad.com

http://www.louicanchola.typepad.com

tommyhargrove.blogspot.com

http://www.tommyhargrove.blogspot.com

leehodges.blog.com

http://leehodges.blog.com

growingtogether.net

http://www.growingtogether.net

nathanrice.org

http://www.nathanrice.org

sdmkp.blogspot.com

http://sdmkp.blogspot.com

360.yahoo.com/genblessings

http://www.360.yahoo.com/genblessings

donbillie/myspace.com

http://www.donbillie/myspace.com

pastorjohnccc.blogspot.com

http://www.pastorjohnccc.blogspot.com

ministrycenter.blogspot.com

http://www.ministrycenter.blogspot.com

brassworld.blogspot.com

http://www.brassworld.blogspot.com

pastoringonpurpose.com

http://www.pastoringonpurpose.com

kimzweygardt.com

http://www.kimzweygardt.com

tonymorganlive.com

http://tonymorganlive.com

andrewcairns.com

http://www.andrewcairns.com

paulpeterson.wordpress.com

http://www.paulpeterson.wordpress.com

freshfaithworship.blogspot.com

http://freshfaithworship.blogspot.com

newhopeaubrey.com/consume/consume.htm

http://www.newhopeaubrey.com/consume/consume.htm

markbatterson.com

http://www.markbatterson.com

runwithgod.com

http://www.runwithgod.com

sequimur.com/banditsnomore

http://www.sequimur.com/banditsnomore

kemmeyer.com

http://www.kemmeyer.com

danieldecker.net

http://www.danieldecker.net

adventurefaith.blogspot.com

http://www.adventurefaith.blogspot.com

michaeldeutsch.blogspot.com

http://michaeldeutsch.blogspot.com

xanga.com/timsmithxa

http://www.xanga.com/timsmithxa

tonystewardblog.com

http://tonystewardblog.com

p-robspot.blogspot.com

http://p-robspot.blogspot.com

johnnylaird.blogspot.com

http://www.johnnylaird.blogspot.com

chadkmiller.blogspot.com

http://chadkmiller.blogspot.com

anchorite.org/blog

http://www.anchorite.org/blog

e-devotion.blogspot.com

http://www.e-devotion.blogspot.com

chriswhitehead.blogspot.com

http://chriswhitehead.blogspot.com

nathandiehl.com

http://nathandiehl.com

girlrev-cindy.blogspot.com

http://girlrev-cindy.blogspot.com

revsonic.org

http://www.revsonic.org

jameslaws.typepad.com

http://jameslaws.typepad.com

elhammond.vox.com

http://elhammond.vox.com

georgejromano.blogspot.com

http://www.georgejromano.blogspot.com

faithengineer.com

http://www.faithengineer.com

edbuford.blogs.com

http://edbuford.blogs.com

stevansheets.com

http://www.stevansheets.com

baileythoughts.wordpress.com

http://baileythoughts.wordpress.com

barryclarke.blogspot.com

http://barryclarke.blogspot.com

lizardsmommy.blogspot.com

http://lizardsmommy.blogspot.com

wonderingthoughtsbyjoe.blogspot.com

http://wonderingthoughtsbyjoe.blogspot.com

achristianchronicle.blogspot.com

http://achristianchronicle.blogspot.com

blurty.com

http://www.blurty.com

theviewfromosprey.blogspot.com

http://theviewfromosprey.blogspot.com

trydyingtolive.blogspot.com

http://trydyingtolive.blogspot.com

genejennings.com

http://www.genejennings.com

ericmesselt.blogspot.com

http://ericmesselt.blogspot.com

InsightsfromRick.com

http://www.InsightsfromRick.com

chuckmusselwhite.com

http://chuckmusselwhite.com

stanchfieldbaptist.com

http://www.stanchfieldbaptist.com

pastorjohn58.blogspot.com

http://pastorjohn58.blogspot.com

rpc-foundation.blogspot.com

http://rpc-foundation.blogspot.com

discoverychurchjason.blogspot.com

http://www.discoverychurchjason.blogspot.com

simplystudents.blogspot.com

http://www.simplystudents.blogspot.com

wdmbarker.blogspot.com

http://www.wdmbarker.blogspot.com

timschmoyer.com

http://www.timschmoyer.com

serialyouthpastor.blogspot.com

http://www.serialyouthpastor.blogspot.com

gondimenespanol.blogspot.com

http://gondimenespanol.blogspot.com

pastorbrad.org

http://www.pastorbrad.org

ridgethoughts.blogspot.com

http://www.ridgethoughts.blogspot.com

xanga.com/revshortridge

http://www.xanga.com/revshortridge

jonsampson.blogspot.com

http://jonsampson.blogspot.com

juniorhigh.blogs.com/joshuamichael

http://juniorhigh.blogs.com/joshuamichael

wideopensecrets.blogspot.com

http://www.wideopensecrets.blogspot.com

studying-by-grace.blogspot.com

http://studying-by-grace.blogspot.com

undertheeagleswing.blogspot.com

http://undertheeagleswing.blogspot.com

myspace.com/blogpastor_charlie

http://www.myspace.com/blogpastor_charlie

mattandmeganmckee.blogspot.com

http://mattandmeganmckee.blogspot.com

flowerdust.net

http://www.flowerdust.net

revitalizeyourchurch.blogspot.com

http://www.revitalizeyourchurch.blogspot.com

xanga.com/samwisegmge

http://www.xanga.com/samwisegmge

pcnotas.com.br

http://www.pcnotas.com.br

supermom56.blogspot.com

http://www.supermom56.blogspot.com

lastsermon.blogspot.com

http://www.lastsermon.blogspot.com

djchuang.com

http://www.djchuang.com

tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com

http://tallskinnykiwi.typepad.com

pastormikeinantigua.blogspot.com

http://pastormikeinantigua.blogspot.com

myspace.com/stevepatient

http://www.myspace.com/stevepatient

268pastor.blogspot.com

http://268pastor.blogspot.com

growthstarts.org

http://www.growthstarts.org

horizonscommunitychurch.blogspot.com

http://www.horizonscommunitychurch.blogspot.com

paulneel.blogspot.com

http://paulneel.blogspot.com

cyword.com/jesusheaven

http://www.cyword.com/jesusheaven

jasondeuman.com

http://jasondeuman.com

talawas.com

http://www.talawas.com

chrisburke.ca

http://www.chrisburke.ca

joshcrain.com

http://www.joshcrain.com

jaycurlee.blogspot.com

http://jaycurlee.blogspot.com

themerge.blogspot.com

http://themerge.blogspot.com

weskenney.net

http://weskenney.net

churchtechmatters.com

http://churchtechmatters.com

daves-doodles.blogspot.com

http://daves-doodles.blogspot.com

blog.myspace.com/ricolsen

http://blog.myspace.com/ricolsen

doug-hart.net

http://www.doug-hart.net

chetswearingen.wordpress.com

http://www.chetswearingen.wordpress.com

armyrenewal.blogspot.com

http://armyrenewal.blogspot.com

bittersweetblue.blogspot.com

http://bittersweetblue.blogspot.com

randompokes.org

http://www.randompokes.org

calvaryaustin.org/blogs/allen

http://www.calvaryaustin.org/blogs/allen

debbie-thoughtsof.blogspot.com

http://debbie-thoughtsof.blogspot.com

gjblog.com

http://www.gjblog.com

wallsandgates.squarespace.com

http://wallsandgates.squarespace.com

nomad4god.blogspot.com

http://nomad4god.blogspot.com

vidaplus.blogspot.com

http://vidaplus.blogspot.com

smconger.blogspot.com

http://smconger.blogspot.com

mynameiselisabeth.blogspot.com

http://mynameiselisabeth.blogspot.com

timliu.org

http://www.timliu.org

praisegodbarebones.blogspot.com

http://praisegodbarebones.blogspot.com

assembling.blogspot.com

http://assembling.blogspot.com

gomotion.blogspot.com

http://gomotion.blogspot.com

pollections.blogspot.com

http://pollections.blogspot.com

downshoredrift.com

http://downshoredrift.com

talesfrommiddleearth.blogspot.com

http://www.talesfrommiddleearth.blogspot.com

davesamples.blogspot.com

http://www.davesamples.blogspot.com

davidpete.blogspot.com

http://davidpete.blogspot.com

worldoffaith.wordpress.com

http://worldoffaith.wordpress.com

mightyfowl.blogspot.com

http://www.mightyfowl.blogspot.com

blog.jasonkearney.net

http://blog.jasonkearney.net

kevinbussey.wordpress.com

http://kevinbussey.wordpress.com

pathwaycc.blogspot.com

http://pathwaycc.blogspot.com

robwitham.com

http://www.robwitham.com

matt-knight.blogspot.com

http://matt-knight.blogspot.com

themiracleofmercy.blogspot.com

http://www.themiracleofmercy.blogspot.com

texasinafrica.blogspot.com

http://texasinafrica.blogspot.com

reformedchicksblabbing.blogspot.com

http://reformedchicksblabbing.blogspot.com

blogministry.com

http://blogministry.com

glenwoods.blogspot.com

http://www.glenwoods.blogspot.com

journals.aol.com/marqduncan/the-bishop-blog

http://journals.aol.com/marqduncan/the-bishop-blog

suzy.theshipmans.co.uk/blog

http://suzy.theshipmans.co.uk/blog

CriesOfTheHeart.com

http://www.CriesOfTheHeart.com

pcnotas.com.br

http://www.pcnotas.com.br

dancort.gospelmais.com.br

http://dancort.gospelmais.com.br

marriagevictory.com

http://www.marriagevictory.com

videoadoracao.blogspot.com

http://www.videoadoracao.blogspot.com

blindbeggar.org

http://www.blindbeggar.org

paulmayers.blogs.com

http://paulmayers.blogs.com

missiodeiscandia.wordpress.com

http://missiodeiscandia.wordpress.com

thiagocarvalhodesign.blogger.com.br

http://www.thiagocarvalhodesign.blogger.com.br

iwerth.blogspot.com

http://iwerth.blogspot.com

thewearypilgrim.typepad.com

http://thewearypilgrim.typepad.com

coisasdemim.blogspot.com

http://coisasdemim.blogspot.com

davethepastor.vox.com

http://davethepastor.vox.com

davethepastor.livejournal.com

http://davethepastor.livejournal.com

newhopevalp.org/blogger.html

http://www.newhopevalp.org/blogger.html

itslikeherdingcats.blogspot.com

http://itslikeherdingcats.blogspot.com

prayershake.blogspot.com

http://www.prayershake.blogspot.com

missionalchallenge.blogspot.com

http://missionalchallenge.blogspot.com

igneousquill.blogspot.com

http://igneousquill.blogspot.com

chuckwarnockblog.wordpress.com

http://chuckwarnockblog.wordpress.com

amicusdei.com

http://amicusdei.com

dennyburk.com

http://www.dennyburk.com

stevebishop.blogspot.com

http://stevebishop.blogspot.com

ngpfocus.wordpress.com

http://ngpfocus.wordpress.com

cantodojo.blogspot.com

http://cantodojo.blogspot.com

gotgrace2.blogspot.com

http://gotgrace2.blogspot.com

littlepastor.blogspot.com

http://littlepastor.blogspot.com

julieclawson.blogspot.com

http://julieclawson.blogspot.com

larzmarshall.blogspot.com

http://www.larzmarshall.blogspot.com

e-devotion.blogspot.com

http://e-devotion.blogspot.com

faithfulweb.wordpress.com

http://faithfulweb.wordpress.com

oddideas.com

http://oddideas.com

pastor-jons-blog

http://hopebaptistsingles.squarespace.com/pastor-jons-blog

alliancefriendschurch.org

http://www.alliancefriendschurch.org

veldugo01.blogspot.com

http://veldugo01.blogspot.com

countercultureblog.com

http://countercultureblog.com

markkelly.wordpress.com

http://markkelly.wordpress.com

The Dirt On Learning

2007-02-06T20:09:00.000-05:00

The other day i finally finished The Dirt on Learning by Thom & Joanie Schultz, and it was really good. If you're a big fan of Bible Bowl or Bible quizzing, beware - they have some strong cautions. But they seem to be well founded - along with most of the rest of the statements in the book. The Schultz' disect the parable of the sower, but instead of seeing it as a fatalistic tale of inevitable ministry ineffectiveness due to poor soil, they place all the blame for bad soil solely on the shoulders of the sower. It may be a bit harsh, but they do have a lot of convincing support for what they say. Each of the maladies of the soil is commonly caused by something we do at church in our sowing efforts, whether bribing kids for good behavior, focusing on detail retention only, or using boring, confusing, and/or irrelevant worksheets as teaching tools. They might stretch the metaphor a little too far, but it's a good read and important material for any teacher to understand.

Big and Little People

2007-02-06T19:57:00.000-05:00

Today finds me back at my alma mater for a few days of on-site classwork for my master's. It's been an emotional roller-coaster - i'm so attached to this place but it's changed so much. It's been another humility workout too - I want to say i'm the smallest youth pastor in the group but that shows how wrong i'm thinking - i'm the youth pastor with the fewest teens in my group. And despite how much it feels like it, that doesn't make me small. The thing i've been having to tell myself today is that God doesn't need a few people to do huge things, he needs a million people to do the right thing. And if my place in the grand scheme is to just do a good job with a handful of students, that doesn't make me less important and it certainly doesn't make me a failure. It's just part of me is so ingrained in the thinking that I can be somebody "big," and so if i don't become "big" then i've missed my potential and it's a huge shame. But at the same time, I don't want to settle for ministering to a few students if i could help more. I'm supposed to care about all the ones who don't know Jesus at all -right? It's just so hard to want growth for the right reasons. And to keep from playing the "i'm just as good as they are so why don't i get to do that cool thing that they get to do?" game.
I must have a lot of humility to learn - i seem to be getting this lesson often. But it's good.

More hits

2007-02-05T09:54:00.000-05:00

I'd probably get a lot more hits if i'd post more often. But i have no time! So in desperation i resort to petty tactics like posting about not having any time to post. It's a shame, i've got some good material lying around . . .

And We Charge it to Jesus' Credit Card, Amen

2007-01-24T14:24:00.000-05:00

I wonder if a good way to understand the "in Jesus' name" concept would be to think of it as an account that Jesus allows us to "charge" our requests to.

Fastest Beef Stew

2007-01-24T07:54:00.000-05:00

Ok, another non-philosophical one - but i'm thinking there's gotta be another busy youth pastor out there who could use this one. It takes like 10 minutes and my husband loves it.

1 can cream of *something* soup (i've used mushroom, potato, and celery with good result)
1 can whole baby potatoes
1/3 small bag baby carrots
2 frozen hamburger patties
2 packages brown gravy mix
2 cups water
Crock-Pot (I use a medium-sized round one)

Pour the cream of whatever soup into the bottom of the crock pot. (Don't worry about spreading it around.) Then put the hamburger patties in on top of that. Then the potatoes, then the carrots. In a separate dish, mix the brown gravy mix and water, then dump that in on top. This should come pretty close to covering all the ingredients with liquid.

Turn the crock-pot on for 8-10 hours on low or 4-5 hours on high, or some combination of the two (each hour on high counts for 2 on low). Serves 2.

My First "article" on THEOOZE

2007-01-17T16:44:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's really not much, and i didn't even get the idea for it myself, but I'm really excited that THEOOZE thought it was good enough to publish as an article. Here's the link:

CIVIL RIGHTS AND A CREATION WORLDVIEW

Youth Ministry VS. Sports

2007-01-09T09:10:00.000-05:00

I'm in an online youth ministry class, and this week we got talking about how frustrating it can be when teens and their families consider other things more important than church and youth group involvement. It gave me a good excuse to put in writing some things i had been thinking for a while:

I agree that its a problem - but i wonder how much of it has to do with the way our ministries are structured. I see three things most extracurriculars have that most youth groups don't: accountability, goals, and rewards.

Most youth ministries will not penalize a student for missing a week or several weeks in a row. We're just glad to get them back when they do return. Most extracurriculars, on the other hand, have strict attendance policies. It doesn't surprise me that a teen would choose to go to football practice instead of youth group - the coach will be less forgiving than the youth pastor.

Many youth ministries aren't really working toward a goal with their students. Pastors may have goals - but what is the teen accomplishing by coming week after week? What difference does it make if they miss a week? Are we really preparing for any definite, visible challenge that we then can celebrate together when we achieve? Or do we just meet week after week with the vague goal of "growth"? Most extracurriculars, on the other hand, are organized around a scheduled set of challenges. Everyone involved knows what the goal is and works toward it. When the challenge arrives, it is fought and either won or lost togehter. The team either gets to revel in a job well done or focus their efforts for the next challenge.

And as far as rewards, youth ministries are again often vague. We promise heaven in the oh-so-distant future, and other assorted blessings - but only when God chooses to give them. Peace, prosperity, health, friends, stability, all are hoped for but may or may not come at any particular time, or even before graduating high school. We usually don't hold ourselves as youth ministers accountable for whether or not teens recieve the things we promise them. Extra-curriculars, on the other hand, have a regular schedule of rewards. Teens know that if i do X i will recieve Y on Z date. Honor, scholarships, and awards are all distributed as expected. In short, teens know what they're going to get out of it, and its often a lot more tangible and immediate.

I'm not saying that we should change our youth ministries and make them all like sports teams where we don't tolerate absentees and we use honor and rewards to bribe kids into doing what we want them to. But i do think this explains a lot of why teens and their families make the time decisions they do. Youth group will still be there next week if i can't make it this week - football might not be.

. . . . I just think that if we expect teens to make the Kingdom a priority, we may need to find a better way to channel their energy into it.

I'm trying to do some things at our youth group that will create opportunities for this kind of high-accountability, goal-focused teamwork, but i also believe teens still need a place where people are just glad that they came. If this makes sense to you or you have any ideas or challenges to this idea i'd love to hear them.

Christmas Giving

2006-12-26T19:18:00.000-05:00

I've never read The Five Love Languages, but i've heard enough about them to discover that i am definitely not a gift-giver (or reciever). For me, material posessions feel too frivolous, too hollow, and too expensive to be a genuine expression of affection. If i find the right gift, i enjoy giving it, but giving gifts is someowhat unnatural for me. And so the gift-giving portion of Christmas can be a little difficult sometimes. It's hard to decide how much to spend and how many people to put on the gift list. Most of the time it's fine, and I do have spurts when i'm excited to spoil someone with the perfect present, but sometimes i just don't feel like giving.

However, during one of my lower gifting moods a few days ago, I realized that giving a gift you don't feel like giving is quite possibly more in line with the spirit of Christmas than I thought. Of course, usually we think that true giving is supposed to be enjoyable. Giving gifts out of obligation or to the ungrateful or undeserving is a vice to be avoided. But which kind of gift was Jesus? Certainly one given willingly, but do we know that he was given gladly? It was nearly more than the Father could afford. It was given to the ungrateful, the undeserving, and to people who would never give a comparable gift in return. God could have chosen not to send Jesus, but it seems like an element of obligation was probably present. I'm speculating about things beyond my understanding, but it wouldn't surprise me to discover that Jesus wasn't a fun gift to give.

So maybe when we have to give to people who already have more than they need, who won't be grateful, who won't give in return, who we really don't get along with very well . . . when the gift is more than we want to pay, could it be that those gifts are the ones that reflect the true spirit and meaning of Christmas? I'm not saying that Christmas is a depressing holiday all about obligatory gifts, but that perhaps when you give a gift that isn't fun, you've really tapped in to what it means to give like God gives. That sounds like something to be blessed for.

Finally fixed it

2006-12-21T10:47:00.000-05:00

My apologies to the youth ministry blogring and all its users - when i changed over to blogger beta it deleted the code for the ring links and its taken me this long to get it back on here. Luckily it appears no one was checking up on me. But i didn't escape unpunished - my hit counts have been lousy lately and i assume its partly due to that.
God Bless.

Italian Quesedillias

2006-12-21T10:36:00.000-05:00

Ok so this isn't very philosophical, but if one of my kitchen discoveries can be of use to someone else, this is my little spot on the web so i thought i'd put it there. I've discovered that a quesedillia (sp?) made of mozzarella and tomatoes and then spread on the outside with pesto is really good. Kind of a clash of cultures but i like it.

The perfect shredder

2006-12-21T10:34:00.000-05:00

So i just opened my mail and my credit card company sent me some checks that they want me to use and then charge me interest for. I thought about shredding them and then envisioned someone taping the evenly cut strips back together and trying to use them. I was getting ready to do it anyway when my puppy walked in the room. Eureka! He's now turning the whole letter into unevenly sized, crumpled, and slighty slobber-dissolved debris.

Just a quarter?

2006-12-18T12:56:00.000-05:00

Hello everyone,
I just looked at my salvation army kettle and its still empty. If you could "drop in" even a quarter, it would be awesome. the link is at the top of the page and looks like a kettle :) Thanks!

Attempted Philosophy

You need to check this out

Pretty Well-Reasoned Post on Being Christian And Not Republican

Questions my teens asked me at youth group tonight

Miles per gallon of milk

The reason you keep wishing you could integrate your high schoolers into adult discipleship ministries.

Excellent point from NNYM

Congregational mourning

"Students work on acceptable dances"

They've finally made a video game about adolescence.

Restoration Station - Church Decorating Theme

Michigan considers allowing high schoolers a fifth year to graduate

Article in Toronto Star about PK's

"Are you still reading “Holy Bible New Living Translation?" "

Pastors Kid Resources

(Sort of) free will

You might have really cool volunteers in your youth ministry if . . .

You might be in youth ministry if . . .

Reflecting on snow

You're accepted when you're needed

"Failed" Youth Group Event

Nevermind

Stupid Holliday Commercials

I'm friends with Jesus . . . on Myspace

Talking points

Time sensitive

Seminar on Teen Internet Hangouts tonight!

Youth Culture Notes

Juggling "Excellence" vs. "Acceptance"

Dreams & Intelligence

Soo Excited about this year's CORE

Follow-up

Burma Crisis

Petition for kid-safe films on airlines

the most hilarious thing i 've ever seen!

Good thought - excessive emphasis on excellence can be a bad thing

Excellent Article at Youth Specialties: "It’s a Both-And Thing"

New tool (to me anyway)

Negotiating Indirectly

Need to Clarify

need code

One in four Americans read no books last year

TIME Article about Mother Theresa's Struggle and Doubt

"Complaining is bad" - The Bible and Yahoo Finance

Cheap TV Commercials

My identity has been stolen (a little)

Article at Leadership Journal about church security

the stories behind tattoos

How to respond to racist jokes

What happens when you bake a credit card

Ministry with the cognitively disabled

It's gone

More Content

Good post at "Out of Ur"

Battle Cry Stuff

You might be a pastor if . . .

Read "A Generous Orthodoxy"

You might be a true Christian if . . .

My dog food

A "Christian Worldview"

Automatically importing blog posts to facebook

The problem of ministerial blogging

Small Achievement

You might be a pastor if . . .

Grace Incompatible

Christian Blogger's Survey

2007 Christian Bloggers Survey Results Announced

The Dirt On Learning

Big and Little People

More hits

And We Charge it to Jesus' Credit Card, Amen

Fastest Beef Stew

My First "article" on THEOOZE

Youth Ministry VS. Sports

Christmas Giving

Finally fixed it

Italian Quesedillias

The perfect shredder

Just a quarter?