Learned from Twitter: 2 weeks ending April 25, 2009

Here is what I have learned from Twitter over the past 2 weeks...

1. shawnmichael (Shawn Michael Shoup) reminds us that youth ministry doesn't stop when a student "gets saved." There must be discipleship and teaching.
"8 salvations so far this Easter wknd w/ a brand new discipleship life group starting Tuesday 2 help them start on their spiritual journey!!"

2. pastorbuhro (Bradley Buhro) shares a great moment in youth ministry. Is this the new "window flyer" form of advertising for your ministry?
"We tweet our sermon notes to teens every Tuesday. A couple of my teens went to the Verizon store & set the sample phones to recieve them."

3. YS_Scoop (Youth Specialties) offers a few free tools for your youth ministry. You need to check them out.
"3 Free Productivity Tools for YM. Guest post from @joeldiaz & @joshcook83. http://eepurl.com/Wt7"

4. CoffeeWithChris (Chris Szulwach) offers some advice to another youth worker, that I think we all can use. You might want to check out this game site.
"@saraeden just was you are looking for game sites? Is that right? I'll add http://www.ylplaybook.com/ to the mix for ya!"

5. AdamLehman (Adam Lehman) is interested in starting a ym teaching pool. You might want to check it out.
"anyone want to form a youth ministry teaching pool? http://twurl.nl/iivzk2 #stumin"

6. snavenel (Len Evans) shares a link to a free book with some great insight. Take the time to check out the book and see if it can benefit your ministry.
"Youth Ministry Tribe-Free book- Paul Turner's "The Cure For The Common Youth Ministry" @ http://thediscipleproject.net Great insight & FREE"

7. Drpoulette (Dennis Poulette) relaxed, something youth ministers need to do often. Might I recommend a hammock.
"Relaxing in the hammock swing on the back porch. It's beautiful out tonight in Mexico city. Q"


What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Photo Friday: TMNT - Michaelangelo

Thought I was back in the 80's enjoying my childhood again when I walked down the toy aisle recently. I saw this old-school Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles packaging. This is the exact same packaging & product that I remember getting when I was a boy. (I might even still have my original Michaelangelo in my parent's attic.)

Who was your favorite turtle?

Miss California comments on same sex marriage

As I was checking my email I saw an article from Sunday night's Miss USA Pageant. The headline is "Hilton, Miss California take sides on 'Today'"

(note to those who may not want to see a young woman in a 2 piece swimsuit - the picture that goes with the article, at the time of this writing, is of Carrie Prejean - Miss California - during the swimsuit part of the competition.)

Here is the clip:



This is an interesting article, though brief, about a part of the Miss USA competition on Sunday night. Read the article to get the story.

I think that this is the type of behavior we want our students to convey. We want students who are not afraid to stand up for what they believe, even if it might cause them trouble.


One paragraph I found particularly interesting was this one:

Hilton, who also appeared on the "Today" show Tuesday, said his question was relevant and that Prejean should have "left her politics and her religion out because Miss USA represents all Americans."

She needed to leave "her religion" out of the pageant...but it was okay for Perez to bring his own personal beliefs into the pageant, as a judge. Does that sound contradictory to anyone else?

I am glad to hear that Prejean was willing to voice her beliefs in front of a national audience. I hope all the students in our youth ministries would be willing to do the same thing - and I hope they each get an opportunity to stand up and voice their beliefs for others to hear.

My favorite line of the whole article was this last quote from Prejean:

"It's not about being politically correct," she said. "For me, it's about being biblically correct."

(added video on 4.22.09)

Trivia Wednesday #118: First Barcode

answer #117 - Every six seconds

question #118 - What was the first product to have a barcode on its packaging?

Photo Friday: Red Tree Top

Trivia Wednesday #117: Blinking

answer #116 - 300 million

question #117 - You blink approximately how often?

Church Signs: money related

Recently, I have seen a couple church signs that are financially oriented. I thought I would share them with you.

"The IRS can't tax treasures stored in heaven."

"Tithe if you love Jesus, anyone can honk."

Do you have any favorite money-related church signs?

Learned from Twitter: week ending April 11, 2009

Here are some of the things I learned from Twitter, this Holy Week...


1. theuprisinglive (Chad Swanzy) offered up an idea for a "free" night of fun with your youth group.
"free slurpees for your small groups and very low budget road trip idea... http://tinyurl.com/d533wp"

2. EvanCourtney (Evan Courtney) provides a code to get some free videos from BluefishTV.com.
"10 free downloads from Bluefish TV. Use code GoGreenRev"

3. ICEHOTEL_Sweden (Ice Hotel) is close to saying goodbye until next winter.
"Only two weeks left of ICEHOTEL - We are getting closer and closer to spring, when the Midnightsun takes over... http://tumblr.com/xbv1jts3k"

4. FlowerInTheRain (Janelle Painter) proves she is one proud "parent." :)
"It's Bring Your Child to Work Day. I brought my macbook. the end."

5. YMX (Youth Ministry Exchange) offers up a free lesson on John 9.
"Thought about a lesson for next week? Hit the link & get freebie for April 9: See Believe Live Inductive Study on John 9 http://is.gd/rGS6"

6. theofficenbc (The Office) provides a link to the new opening credits.
"Notice the new opening credits? Watch the "Michael Scott Paper Company" version again @ http://tinyurl.com/d9ez5u"

7. kentshaffer (Kent Shaffer) offers up some free fonts.
"30 free fonts for professional designs - http://bit.ly/GB02A"


What did you learn from Twitter this week?

Photo Friday: cross on church building

You might be a youth worker if...

Recently I had a conversation with a couple teens that reminded me that being a youth worker makes you very different from other adults your age.

Teen: "Hey, I'm on your Facebook now."
Me: "Yes, you are correct."
(a minute later) Teen: "Hey, do you have myspace?"
Me: "Yeah."
Teen: "Bebo?"
Me: "Yeah."
Teen: "MyYearbook?"
Me: "Yeah."
Teen: "Twitter?"
Me: "Yeah."
Teen: "Do you have hi5?"
Me: "No, but I've heard of it."

It was at this point that I realized something. I am a 30 year old man and I have an account on some of the more popular social network sites. (most of these accounts are at least 2 years old) Only a youth worker would have all of these accounts and not be considered a weirdo.

Have you ever had a moment like this? A moment when you were hit with the fact that as a youth worker you are quite different from other people your age. If so, I'd love to hear about it.

April Trivia

The trivia topics for April will be a continuation of the human body and a few product marketing questions.

I hope you are able to use these trivia facts during your classes, while you are eating lunch with students or just randomly inserting them into daily conversation.

If you have any suggestions on topics you would like to see used for the trivia questions, just leave a comment and let me know.

Trivia Wednesday #116: blood

answer #115 - True

question #116 - Each drop of your blood contains how many red cells?

Reflections on: Spring

I love Spring. It is supposed to mean that winter is over and warm weather is on its way. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about Spring and here are those thoughts (in a somewhat orderly fashion).


Reflections on: Spring

1. Baseball is upon us. Go Cubbies - this is the year.
   
2. Only in Spring can it be 70 one day and 40, with snow, the next
3. I really like the warmer weather.
4. Spring means Easter is upon us.
5. Spring signifies "new life"
6. More time outside with the kids.
7. It means the end to the current TV season.
   
8. Unfortunately this does not apply to "reality TV".
9. While cleaning up around the house, you tend to find treasures you forgot you owned.
10. Time to go shopping at yard sales. :)
    

to quote someone else: Steven Case (dealing with complainers)

"Ask yourself this: How would you react if the complainer were one of your students?"

taken from Help! I'm a Frustrated Youth Worker by Steven Case

This quote/question really struck me as a great mental filter for youth workers. We all have complainers in the church and we all deal with complaints weekly. How do you respond?

It is also good to remember this truth:

"It's important to remember not to take criticism personally. People will complain no matter who sits in the youth minister's office. It's not about you."

also taken from Help! I'm a Frustrated Youth Worker by Steven Case

Learned from Twitter: week ending April 4, 2009

This week I learned a lot from twitter. Maybe it was a rather informative week, maybe I just paid more attention, or maybe it had to do with April Fool's Day. Whatever the reason, I'm dumping it all here for you to enjoy/learn from.

1. pastorjohnbyrne (John Byrne) shared some thoughts on evaluating your ministry. They are worth a look.
"How to Evaluate Your Ministry: http://hex.io/fqo"

2. marklee3d (Mark Lee) goes goes "Star Wars" on us.
"Watch Mac stab me with a light sabre mid-song http://tinyurl.com/dh6d67"

3. nikomas (Nikomas) thinks you'll laugh as you watch this.
"a good read: Try not to laugh while you watch http://tinyurl.com/dm3wxo"

4. YMTV (Youth Ministry TV) offered two links to free book downloads of "the Fine Line" (as of 4/4/09 it still worked) and "Get a Grip on the Basics"
"download The Fine Line audio book for free (limited time): http://www.zondervan.com/m/..."
"RT @bethjonesFREE download of entire "Get a Grip on the Basics" book to establish new believers, www.gettingagriponthebasics..."

5. hulu (Hulu) told us that you can now watch Charles in Charge online - awesome.
"Another walk down memory lane: Hulu's now streaming Season 1 of Charles in Charge. http://www.hulu.com/charles..."

6. Some April Fool's Day tweets:

lilkup (Me) posed this question:
"If Jesus was born on April 1st, do you think everyone would have thought it was a April Fool's Joke?"
bigsmooth433430(Matt Couch) responded with this statement:
"@lilkup Maybe even more interesting to ponder is...If Jesus had died or risen on April 1st, would people have thought it was a joke?"

crowderband "It's time for a new look. Hair and goatee are gone."
YS_Scoop "BREAKING NEWS! Stop the presses. RT @crowderband It's time for a new look. Hair and goatee are gone. <-- wow!"
StudentMinistry "BREAKING NEWS! Stop the presses. RT @crowderband It's time for a new look. Hair and goatee are gone. <-- wow! (via @YS_Scoop)"

foecuspastor "RT @human3rror: North Point Ministries launch NEW WEBSITE...! MUST SEE! http://is.gd/q6K3 // LOL!"

ymgeek "I think this http://budurl.com/6y2a was my favorite Tech April Fools prank. They spent quite a bit of time on it. It's even been twittering."

7. thirdday (Third Day) wants us all to know about a sale on iTunes.
"FYI - Revelation is on sale at iTunes for $7.99 as of today. The sale will run through 4/13. http://tinyurl.com/d6n2nr"

8. ymgeek (Youth Ministry Geek) was one of a few people to let us know about the possibility of Google acquiring Twitter.
"google in talks to aquire twitter? Interesting...http://budurl.com/fkczabou



What did you learn this week from Twitter?

Photo Friday: Full Moon

The full moon. (with Spring here, we might be able to enjoy these more often)

5 Things that would have been great April Fool's Day jokes

While thinking about April Fool's Day jokes, I starting pondering a few things that would have made a great joke. Unfortunately these things are not jokes, they are real.

5 things that would have made a great April Fool's Day joke... if they were not real:

1. Hulk: the movie (2003)
2. Sanjaya on American Idol
3. Crystal Pepsi (check out these commercials)
   
4. the Seinfeld finale
5. the day I learned that WWF wasn't real wrestling

Honorable Mention:

1. The Cubs not being champions for 100 years
2. Furby

What would you add to this list?

Trivia Wednesday #115: April Fool's Day

answer #114 - True

question #115 - True or False On April Fool's Day in England, jokes are only played in the morning.

Book Review: Faith and Pop Culture by Christianity Today Study Series

Christianity Today has put together a series of studies designed to be used in a small group setting. I got a chance to look at Faith and Pop Culture, one of eight books in the series. Each book uses various Christianity Today articles to use as springboards to start the discussions. In Faith and Pop Culture, the reader is challenged to answer the question, "Can we find Jesus in popular entertainment?" (back cover) The goal for this study is to "wrestle with the positive, negative, and neutral aspects of entertainment and the place it should have in the life of a Christian." (p. 9)

Each of the eight lessons have the same basic format, which helps as you are working through each one. One thing I like about the "open up" section is there are 2 options to choose from. One option might work better for your group, or it might just help you think of another way to introduce the topic for your small group. The eight lessons are diverse and cover a large range of topics. But I see one topic missing from the list: music. One other thing you might notice as you go through the study is a bias in the question writing. I understand every author has a bias when they write, so I'm not trying to be picky. I think it is important to note that some of the questions are leading toward a "right" answer.

Overall, I would say this is a good resource to use to help you talk about the use of pop culture within your small group setting.

My advice (rating) – borrow from a friend (3 out of 5)

Learned from Twitter: week ending March 28, 2009

This week, I learned a few things on Twitter that I wanted to share with you.


1. gavoweb (Gavin Richardson) shared a link to a free video.
"the folks at 'the work of the people' are giving away this cool video as free download. http://is.gd/oMdT i really like their work"

2. arpierson (Allen Pierson) challenged anyone to try this science experiment. I haven't tried it yet, but plan on doing it.
"I cracked open an egg into boiling water out of sheer curiosity and it was pretty much the coolest thing ever. You should try it sometime."

3. WorshipRising (Kevin Richardson) wanted to introduce everyone involved with worship ministry to Dan Wilt. Go ahead, check him out.
"Seriously, worship pastors, if you aren't aware of Dan Wilt, you should be. Start here (.pdf article): http://tinyurl.com/cvw84v"

4. UstreamTV (Ustream) shared a link to the tour for Mercy Me and Hawk Nelson. Check it out.
"The Road Show, with @MercyMe @HawkNelson, and others, streaming their whole tour! http://bit.ly/n6vjP"


What did you learn on Twitter this week?