Photo Friday: two dogs

A few old pictures of my two dogs. The capes are great, aren't they?

Simple phone calls to students

Yesterday, I was making some phone calls to students and was reminded of something simple. A phone call can do a lot.

What holds youth ministers back from calling a student on the phone? I think there are a few questions that sum it up.

When will I catch them at home?
What do I say?
Why do I have to call _______, I barely even know them?

Here are 10 thoughts on talking to students on the phone.

1. Good phone calls do not have to be long.
2. Talk about what you know is going on in their life (sports, family, job...).
3. Ask a few simple questions (how was the test, how is practice, are you ready for ____, is your _______ feeling better).
4. Listen for verbal cues to what is going on in their life.
5. Be ready, some students can be a lot more open than you might be ready for.
6. Stop talking long enough to let the student talk.
7. If necessary, make sure you follow up with them personally.
8. Talk about things they are interested in.
9. Take the time to encourage them.
10. Talking with students on the phone should encourage you.

Pick up the phone this week and call a few students.

How do you connect with students using phone calls?

Trivia Wednesday #38

answer #37 - Star Wars

question #38 - Which actress played the character who turned 16 in the movie Sixteen Candles?

Lessons from The Office: Dunder Mifflin Infinity

Lessons from The Office: Dunder Mifflin Infinity

1. It can be hard to let go of a past relationship (thanks Kelly for showing us how to not try to get someone back)
2. Change is not easy to accept for people, even if you give them a good presentation on the why and what.
3. Gift baskets are awesome!
4. It will take more than force to get people to see the need for change, as a leader you have to help them discover how it will benefit everyone.
5. Going from subordinate to boss is not an easy transition. People will often continue to think of you as the old you.
6. Never, never go back to retrieve a gift once you've given it to someone - it wasn't nice in grade school and its still not nice today.

New Poll: Your favorite part of Halloween

A new poll has been posted. I'd like to know what your favorite part of Halloween is and why. So, take the poll and then make a comment on this post to add some reasons why you like _________ the best.

For me, its the time spent with the boys trick-or-treating. Which I won't be able to do this year because I'll be at the NYWC.

Poll Results: what version do you use?

Another poll is closed, and what did we learn? We learned that the "official" Bible version for this blog is the NIV.

85% of the readers use the NIV (that's 6 people)
14% of the readers say the NASB is their most used version (that's 1 person)

I have to say, I'm glad no one answered they use whatever version says what they want it to say.



I'll try to make 85% of all my Scripture references be NIV :)

The Baseball Season is over

for me. This year I got to enjoy 3 more games than normal. Thanks Cubs.

Next year, it'll be our year!

Now, I just sit and suffer through every other sport until Spring.

Photo Friday: The Maze

Entering the maze.

Do you ever feel like youth ministry is a maze?

Do you feel you are in a maze, trying to navigate your ministry, your life, and your marriage?

Unexpected hospital stay

Yesterday, Wes (my youngest) went to the dr. and ended up in the hospital. He has pneumonia in both lungs. Amy has been able to stay with him overnight, so that was good. We'll see how it goes today.

Please be praying for him.

NYWC: St. Louis - 5 things I'm ready for

The National Youth Workers Convention in St. Louis is just a month away! I am ready.

Here are 5 things I am ready for at the NYWC:
1. I am ready to connect with some fellow youth workers whom I only know as a profile picture.
2. I am ready to stay up late and get up early.
3. I am ready to hear great speakers and musicians.
4. I am ready to listen to youth worker's stories.
5. I am ready to be recharged and refreshed by God.

Watch this promo:


Are you ready? What are you looking forward to?

Lessons from The Office: Fun Run

Well, it has finally arrived (as of last Thursday) - the new season of The Office.

It was an hour long episode, which meant a lot of little stuff stayed in (and they still have 5 deleted scenes that will be up on NBC.com - 4 up currently).


Lessons from Fun Run:
1. Things are not always as they seem
2. It is not always easy to forgive someone who has really hurt you
3. It is easy to base your belief in God on how things around you are going
4. Talking about your religious beliefs at work is not always easy
5. Forgiveness is given when you take actions beyond just words

Trivia Wednesday #37

answer #36 - -459

question #37 - In which films will you find the Millenium Falcon?

to quote someone else: Stalin (evangelism)

"A million deaths is a statistic, one death is a tragedy."

Stalin quoted by Richard Stearns (Pres. of World Vision) in an interview

Now, think of that quote in terms of the lost. It isn't until we see the unsaved as people instead of statistics that we'll be pushed to do something. We hear all the time about there being millions of unsaved people in the world, but does that really spur us to action? But when you have a friend or family member who doesn't have a saving relationship with Jesus - its a whole new ballgame.

Maybe we need to stop talking about the big numbers and start focusing on those around us. We need to help our students (ourselves, too?) see the need to save the one.

What do you do to help students feel the "tragedy" and not the "statistic?"

Photo Friday: Beef A Roo?

This is a sign we saw on our way to Wisconsin. It stood out to me because I call my oldest son "Buck a roo"

Less Journal, More Ministry Reflections: An Apology

I have, over the life of this blog, allowed it to become more of an online journal than what its intended purpose was supposed to be. Technically, having a blog about my thoughts, ideas and hopes of youth ministry will be a journal of sorts. It should be a collection of thoughts and resources for helping others in their ministries - not a personal blog from a youth minister who just writes about what is going on in his ministry. I know not all of my posts are journal-like, which is what I hope has been beneficial to you and your ministry.

I am not promising to never write another journal-like post, because I am sure I will. But I am promising that even those will be less private journal thoughts and more open conversation thoughts.

To anyone who has come across this blog and found something they deem to be careless words or less than loving in attitude, I would like to apologize and say I am sorry. I have tried to go through the posts and remove those things which needed to be removed. I truly regret feeling and believing those things, let alone posting them on this blog. As I have looked back, I have become aware of just how wrong I was in those thoughts.

Why, you ask, are you writing a personal journal type post about this not being an online journal? Good question. I believe I owe it to you (the readers of this blog) to hear my heart about this issue. I could have just deleted sections of posts and entire posts without mentioning anything, but I didn't feel it was enough. I want to be honest and open about how I messed up and to apologize for my failure to be like Christ in this manner.

Thank you for reading this.

I will end with these words from Ephesians 5, as a reminder to myself (and you) of how I need to be living my life (and using this blog).

"Be imitators of God...and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us."(v 1-2)
Verse 4 reminds us to avoid "foolish talk"
"Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise by as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil." (v 15-16)

Creative Commons and Youth Ministry

The other day, I ran across an article (which I can't seem to find now) from Relevant Magazine's Slices that mentioned a lawsuit against Virgin Mobile AU for using a picture with a CC License from Flickr. Here is another article from MSNBC. The person in the picture knew nothing of the ad campaign nor the caption that would be added to her picture.

My first thought was that this has to be a concern for youth ministers. There are lots of youth ministers who take pictures at events and post them on Flickr for easy distribution. Some of these youth ministers are of the "sharing" kind and mark their photos under one of the many Creative commons licenses. Which is not an issue - until one gets used in a major ad campaign.

I would caution any youth minister to always keep your pictures "All Rights Reserved" if they involve people in your ministry or church. Now, if it is your personal photo of your backyard swingset - that is your decision.

Now, I know that CC has a non-commercial option (which I highly recommend). Just know that there are big companies who will try to save some money and use a "free" picture to make a few more bucks.

One of the advantages of the CC license is that people can find many quality pictures without much effort. They can be used in so many forms, but be careful you are not taking advantage of the photographer's generosity.


To read some of the discussion going on over at Flickr about this, go here (I have not read all the comments, so I can't say what all is being said or not said) Some of the discussion is just people going back and forth, but some of it is really good discussion on what can be done when someone takes advantage of a CC.

Starting a Local Youth Workers Network: Making Contact with area Youth Workers

This is the second post on the steps to take when starting a new youth worker network. I have included a link to the first post for those who may not have read it when it was first posted.

How to start a local youth worker network:
1. Become familiar with your area.

2. Making contact with the other area youth workers.

I know how easy it is to not do this step. This is a good step even if you aren't trying to start a youth workers network. In terms of the network, there is no way you can build the network if you don't make contact with the other area youth workers. Without others, the area network is just you sitting around talking to yourself.

Making these contacts gives you a better understanding of how youth ministry in the area works. If you are new to the area, this network can help you avoid mistakes or frustrations. Connecting with people who have been doing what you are trying to do (youth ministry) gives you a "safety net." Think about it like this, maybe you want to start a line dancing night at church. Will it take off? Will students show up? You can start it and find out or you can run the idea by a few youth workers who have been in the area longer and find out if line dancing is popular or not.

One other benefit of this step is the feeling of connectedness you will feel. Not just you as the youth worker, but your youth ministry as well. I think once you start connecting with area youth workers, you will be more willing/able to join forces on different events and combine youth ministries to help the students connect with other Christians in the area (even if they are from a different denomination).

Go out there and make contacts. Go to lunch, talk on the phone, meet at their church, do whatever it takes to make contact with other area youth workers (full-time, part-time, volunteer).

Trivia Wednesday #36

answer #35 - Charlie Brown

question #36 - What is the absolute zero, to the nearest number, on the Fahrenheit scale?

New Poll: Which version of the Bible do you use most?

I just posted a new poll. This one asks which version of the Bible you use most often. Do you have a favorite or a "go to" version?

I'd love to hear your reasons why, so please post a comment with why you use the one you use.

I mainly use the NIV for teaching because of its easier understandability. But I like to use the NASB for study due to its word for word translation. There are times a paraphrase (like The Message) works well to get people to see a verse in a new way. But I would have to say the one I use most is the NIV.

Poll Results: Whose going to NYWC

Only 4 people answered the poll for this week. Out of those 4, 2 are going to the National Youth Workers Convention in St. Louis. 1 is not going. and 1 doesn't know what the NYWC is.

For a quick run down and better job at explaining it, go here.

'God' responds to lawsuit

Someone has responded to the lawsuit against God. To the left is a picture of the man who brought the lawsuit against God. I don't know anything about him and have never heard his name before. But I did think the photo was a little ironic. At first glance, I thought the fan that is behind him looked a lot like a giant halo.

You can read the article here.

Sound but no Picture

Recently, I decided to pull out our wedding tape for my wife and I to watch on a date night. Neither of us had seen the tape for a few years (the last time I saw it was when we watched it on our first anniversary in 2002). I was anxious to see how we had changed and to remember all the people who were there. How was everyone lined up on stage? When did we sing our praise songs? What did people say to us in their taped messages? We were really looking forward to watching the tape of our wedding day.

Well, we didn't get to watch it. I put the tape in and all that was showing up was static. It started to clear up, but the picture was extremely blurry and distorted. It was also in the middle of the tape, so I decided to rewind it in order to be able to watch the whole thing. (Bad idea)

After rewinding the tape and trying to start watching it, we discovered something bad. There was no picture, at all, not even a blurry one. All we had was sound. Normally you wouldn't sit and watch a VHS tape will only sound (that's called a cassette tape), but you might if its your wedding tape. We sat and listened to different parts of the tape.

But the crazy thing was that I (I can't speak for Amy here) found myself very moved by what I was hearing. To hear, even though we couldn't see, our friends sharing thoughts and words for us on our marriage and friendship made me emotional. To listen to Troy share his thoughts, to listen to Kevin & Darin lead worship, to listen to Tim sing Love Song by Third Day. It was moving. It was a moment that stirred my soul.

I am going to try to see if we can get a picture to show up or see if anyone in my family has a copy of the wedding and do whatever I can to try to get the video back. But if we do not ever get the video back, I'll be ok with the sound. For within those words are memories. Within those words is love. And I don't want to lose that.

Plus, I consider it a blessing to even have the sound. Amy taped a friend's wedding and the only copy of the wedding was on our camcorder. Well, that was the camcorder (with the tape in it) that was stolen from our house. So, we were never able to give our friends a copy of their wedding. Which I still feel bad about.

Photo Friday: Clean hands at the gas pump

Don't you just love being able to sanitize your hands right there after you've pumped $89 worth of gas into your 2 door Nissan. Maybe this is where all of our gas money is going.

The Office: Season 4 Premiere in one week

The season 4 premiere of the Office is only one week away. While I am excited about the first few episodes (Fun Run, Dunder Mifflin Infinity, Launch Party), I'm more excited about the fact that we are going to watch the premiere at a friends' house. We are actually going to be watching the Office at a couples house without the boys.

I'm looking forward to just hanging out and spending time with these friends. It will be nice to spend time with adults our age without the boys and without it having something to do with youth ministry. Isn't that something we should be doing on a regular basis anyway? (spending time with people as friends)

So, here starts the countdown...

Free phone line: Ooma a new voip service

I just ran across an article on USAtoday.com about a new (free) phone service. Well, its free with an asterisk.

It seems like the system is $400 (will be $600 in 08) and then you don't have to pay a monthly bill. That is unless you decide to keep your land line for emergencies, like your internet going out.

Though there is no way I will be buying one of these now, it does look like a cool concept. I guess I feel about the same as I do with the iPhone - wayyyy too much money for what I need/want/am able to do with it. Maybe this makes me a non-early adopter or maybe it just means I don't have a lot of money to throw around. Though I think I'd rather have this than the iPhone.

This pretty much sums it up (from the USA Today article):

http://www.ooma.com/

Price: $399 for Ooma Hub ($599 starting next year), $39.95 for companion Ooma Scout devices.

Score: 3 stars (out of four)

Pro: No more monthly phone bills. Pretty simple setup and fine voice quality. Well-designed hardware. "Virtual" second line and answering machine with call screening at no extra cost.

Con: Expensive upfront cost. Requires broadband, and you lose phone service if your Internet connection is disrupted, unless you continue to pay for a landline (most likely on low-cost plan).

Small Town YM: school sports

I have now seen a full year's worth of small town school sports come and go. Over this time, I've made some observations about a few sports before. I can tell you I've gone to more sports this year than I ever have in ministry.

Small Town vs. Non-small Town

Same:
1. The basic sports are offered: football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball
2. Parents abound at these games
3. Students show up in full force to support their friends
4. Any sport played in the gym is going to cause you to perspire
5. Some middle school games seem to last forever

Different:
1. No track or cross country
2. More students who play multiple sports (some out of necessity, to have a complete team)
3. I know a lot more people at the games
4. It seems like more parents show up to watch their kids
5. Downtown businesses let people write "encouragement" notes on their windows

Neutral/Specific to this church:
1. I'm not sure if its the small town or what, but I seem to have a larger number of athletes in the youth ministry than I have before.
2. Just the other day, I was driving in a nearby town and saw some writings on their windows to show support for an upcoming homecoming football game. Only some of these notes didn't seem all that encouraging or friendly (keep in mind they tried to have a tie-in between their business name and the saying)...

"Corner the bulldogs" (at a store called "The Corner")
"Cruise over the bulldogs" (at a car dealership)
and my personal favorite...
"Break their 'limbs'" (at the Willow Tree)

Going to a sports event in a small town changes my purpose. In the past, I've tried to go to part of the game (usually the end, because you don't have to pay) and see the student and the parents if I can. Now, I have started going at the beginning and staying longer - trying to interact with the parents. Plus I get to see a lot more students who are not involved that I try to connect with. Then, you throw in that my family is there with me and I my goal is to spend time with them also.

Trivia Wednesday #35

answer #34 - Houston (Astrodome)

question #35 - "Good Grief" is the expression associated with which character?

Kickoff DVD - a wanted treasure

This past Sunday, I put out a sign up sheet for anyone who wanted a DVD of the raw footage (over 2 hours) from the scavenger hunt we did as part of our kickoff. We had 31 at our kickoff and 23 people signed up for the DVD. That is just crazy to me. I thought there would be a few people who would want one, but almost 80% is unreal. A funny aspect is that there are 2 people who want a DVD that were not at the kickoff.

It is taking me forever to make the DVDs. I can only do one at a time and it takes like 3 hours to do each one. Plus I'm doing them on my computer at church, and can't on my Mac at home, so I can only get 3 done a day.

I never planned on having a DVD to hand out, but then I decided I needed to put all the footage on one DVD and get it off my computer. So, I figured I could make more copies if someone wanted it. When I first mentioned it, I had a handful of people say they would like one.

I am excited about what this next year will bring...even if I have to make 23 DVDs.

Nebraska State Senator Sues God

Yeah, the title is enough to get your attention, is the whole articlehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif.

All I can say is wow!

Good Idea, Bad Idea: Message & Vocal Effects

Good Idea: Wanting to do something funny (which was suggested by a few of the students you have just met) at the beginning of the first message you'll give in the community after starting a new ministry.

Bad Idea: Listening to the students who think it will be funny to put the vocal effects pedal on "chipmunk" when you get up to speak.

When I spoke into the mic and I sounded like a chipmunk no one laughed. Well, out of 400 students and adults about 5 people chuckled. And I think some of them were out of pity for me. What makes it even better is that once I did switch mics it didn't help. I was being picked up through the original mic, so out of my 10 minute message I was fighting with the sound for over 1/2 the time.

The students still bring it up, though, which makes it a great memory. We laugh about it now, because it is hilarious. But then it was just awkward.

Study YouTube and get college credit

It is now official - you can turn anything into a college class. Here is the story.

Pitzer College, in CA is now offering a class on Learning from Youtube. There are 35 students in the class. You can even follow the class online (on YouTube, of course) at the classes site.

Discussion Starter or Sign of the Times: Mr. Deity

I just found out about Mr. Deity recently through one of my professor's blogs. Here is what he had to say. Take a look at his thoughts.

Allow me to say these things about Mr. Deity:

1. It is not written from or meant to be a "Christian" video
2. There is a little language in a couple of the clips (see #1)
3. It does bring up many questions about Christianity - though no answers are given
4. It "proves" that Lucifer is a woman and her name is Lucy
5. It has the potential to (and probably will) offend a good number of Christians who would see it
6. Mr Deity and Lucy have a relationship (which is very anti-biblical)

I used episode 2 (Mr Deity and the Really Big Favor) to start a class on "What we believe about Jesus Christ." The clip brings up many points about the relationship between Jesus and God. And Jesus' role in salvation.

Here is episode 2 - Mr Deity and the Really Big Favor...



What do you think? discussion starter or sign of the times?

Photo Friday: Shaved heads

This was the four of us who got our heads shaved. The two youth coaches on the ends were blessed to have groups who actually just finished shaving the entire head. The two of us in the middle got to go home with some design in our hair. I ended up with only 1/2 a sideburn and 4 little squares on the top of my head. The other guy ended up with a mohawk.

All in all, it was a good night. One I think the teens will remember for along time.

DSL has arrived...

in the church building. Thanks to a bunch of "technical work" by a Verizon technician. He did a lot of rerouting and moving lines or something like that. IT was a lot of stuff that was way (and I mean almost hit that 747 flying overhead) over my head. Somehow he got it to sync with our system by bypassing some "jump stations" or something like that.

Anyhow, we now have it in the building. But it is only on one computer right now (the new one for our secretary - which she doesn't even use much, if at all). So now I wait for our "phone guy" to come and run cables so that everyone on staff will have highspeed. Its almost like a dream.

to quote someone else: Kenda Creasy Dean & Ron Foster (youth ministry)

"Youth look to the church to show them something. Most of the time we have offered them pizza."

taken from The Godbearing Life by Kenda Creasy Dean & Ron Foster

First off, this quote makes me smile every time I read it.

I had a conversation along these lines lately with one of the youth coaches. The students are yearning for something bigger than themselves. They want the church to show them what God is like. Sadly, there are times all they see is games and silly events or pizza.

Not all ministries are the same and not all students are being offered the same things.
Some students get:
- silly games
- upfront craziness or goofiness
- donuts in the morning and/or food at night
- only "cool" people get to do ministry
- popularity = leadership
- love lived out in daily situations
- a great adult who pours into their life
- a chance to see all generations serving together
- neglected and/or the leftovers
- love for God taught and applied

What are you showing your students?

Customer Feedback and Ministry Evaluations

Recently I have had two experiences with customer service feedback - not counting those website codes you get at some checkouts. The first came while trying to get my home phone/dsl working properly. We noticed the dsl running slow and then the phone would lose its signal. So we called Verizon to let them know we were having problems with our phone line. After talking with a technician on the phone, who couldn't do anything but give me another number to call to get someone to come and manually look at and repair the line, she asked me how I would rate her customer service on a scale of 1 to 5. I'm all for customer service evaluations, but having the person just ask me. Come on! I don't think that is a fair or good way to go about it. I could have told her a 1 and she could have written down whatever she wanted. Or if I did tell her 1, how would she respond? Would she want to know why? Would she just hang up and be mad the rest of the day?

The other instance came after eating dinner at Applebee's. Our waitress gave us a survey (when I say us, I mean the two females at the table got one and I didn't) to fill out about our visit. It was a fairly normal survey until you got to the last question - "Are you a pharmaceutical representative?" I just find that strange. But I think it would have something to do with them thinking/knowing they have a lot of pharmaceutical reps who use Applebee's for meetings.

Anyway, I got to thinking about how ministries evaluate themselves. Sometimes, we just ask people face to face, asking questions like this:
"How do you think the ________ ministry is going?"
"What do you think about ___________ (insert person's name)?"
"Did you like _______________ or should we avoid that next time?"
"Didn't _____________ do a good job tonight?"

How do we really expect people to answer these questions? If we want to hear what we want to hear, I think these are great questions. But I'm afraid that sometimes we are too afraid to hear the truth. I am all for asking people in person what they think, but I don't always think the minister or person in charge should be the person asking the question.

The other method we use is questionnaires. These allow for more openness, but still have a drawback. I like annomnimous, but then you can't follow up. If you have people put there names, then they are not always completely honest. Is there a better way?

Feedback is so important to a ministry. How do you go about getting input? How do you evaluate ministries? Do you evaluate on a regular basis?

Trivia Wednesday #34

answer #33 - Jack

question #34 - Name the first US city to house a major domed sports stadium.

What month are we in?

Last Tuesday, my family went shopping. For the most part it was a normal day - except for two things. First off, neither of the boys fell asleep during the whole trip until around dinner time. Second, our trip to Macy's.

We normally do not go into Macy's (I can't remember the last time I have been inside one). Anyway, Amy was looking for some jeans, so we thought we'd try Macy's. Being the good dad I am :) I took the boys so Amy could look at jeans without being distracted. My first mistake was in thinking Macy's had a toy section - they DO NOT! But while walking around upstairs, I did discover something I wasn't ready for: Christmas decorations.

They are already putting out Christmas decorations. I thought we used to have to wait until at least November, after Halloween. I can see even October, but the first week in September. Wow!

No, I didn't go look at them. I don't buy Christmas decorations until after Christmas when they are over 50% off. I am a youth minister, remember.

New Poll - Are you going to the National Youth Workers Convention?

There is a new poll up. Are you going to NYWC?

If you are going, I'd love to hear which one and how many you've been to. Leave any and all additional information/comments by commenting on this post. Hope to see you at the NYWC in St. Louis (where I'll be helping in the YS Store)

DSL - still nothing

Apparently because the church is in a rural area we get to get all the "fun" parts of trying to update technology. We had to "fight" to even get Verizon to realize we could get DSL service (took months). Now we are having trouble with the line and its not our fault. So we get a Verizon tech out to look at it tomorrow.

For the last 4 days I have been without any internet at work (not even dial-up, thanks to some rewiring for the dsl). Its not the end of the world, but its tough to not even be able to send an email or look for a lesson help. I have to do it all at home.

Hopefully, tomorrow will bring some relief.

Poll Results: Your Role in the Church

It seems like there is a good mixture of people who read this blog - based on the latest poll.

30% are jr/sr high youth ministers
20% are birth to college youth ministers
20% are sr. ministers
10% are music ministers
10% are church volunteers
10% do not work with or at a church

With 10 people voting that translates to 3 jr/sr high only youth ministers, 2 birth to college youth ministers, 2 sr. ministers, 1 music minister, 1 church volunteer (keep doing what you're doing) and 1 person who doesn't work with or at a church.

Thanks for voting.

Post #500 - a look back

Welcome to the Festivities :)

Fun Facts about this blog:
1st Post - May 26, 2005
2nd Post - June 24, 2005 (wow, one month for 2 posts)
3rd Post - July 25, 2005 (my last big trip with old youth ministry) (another month, no wonder no one ever started reading)
This was originally supposed to be a blog for my former ministry - but it never worked out (what with the whole firing thing). So, now it is my personal blog.

Some of the most popular pages:
5 things youth ministers don't want you to know
The Office: Season 4 premiere For a while I was the first entry when you went to yahoo and searched for "office season 4"
10 Minute email This one gets found with searching for "10 minute porn" - so I'm not sure what people expect to find.
Dakota Fanning Rape Scene I posted this a long time ago, but its starting to get a lot of hits because of the movie coming out soon.
5 Ways to Survive Summer
YM Thought: Your relationship with Jesus
5 Things I Learned at the YM Summit
Why Ministers Go to Church - some good thoughts in the comments section
Is your ministry like Wal-Mart - I just "love" wallyworld


Posts I love, that most people have never read (written before people other than friends read this blog)
The Lighthouse Effect
Raising Lazarus & My Life
Yesterday was the day (announcing to congregation we were leaving) - this is always an emotional thing to think about for me
Final Sunday & My final day in the office two posts about my last two days of last ministry
Ramen Noodles & God - even reading this post makes me cry to remember how much God provided for us while I was out of the ministry
Do you ever feel like its enough?
DxVxF>R - something to think about
Depending on God
God vs. God's gifts - I always need this reminder

The Simpsons Movie

The Simpsons Movie

For Simpsons fans, the long wait is finally over. The movie version has been made. And it seemed a little anti-climatic.

There were unexpected hilarious moments throughout the movie. On the other hand, there were a lot of moments that just did not seem to fit. For the longtime fan, the movie has some treats (like the ambulance smashed against the tree by the Springfield Gorge, from the episode Bart, the Daredevil). Not the mention all the characters that make appearances; some getting more airtime than almost the entire run of the show.

The movie is not solely based on having a working knowledge of The Simpsons, though. You do not need to know the episode numbers or the character names to enjoy this movie version. It can stand alone - and I think it does a great job of doing just that. As a minister, I think there are some great discussion starters throughout.

Here are a few of the discussion starters...

- the way the Simpsons stick together, as a family
- Bart's desire for a "better" dad
- Homer and Marge's marriage
- Can you really be completely seperated from the world?
- putting other's first
- "visions"

I would not say The Simpsons Movie is for everyone. But I do know that most of the students in your ministry have probably seen it. I know a lot of students in my ministry have seen it, and I didn't know most of them even watched the show.


Dec. 18 release of the movie on DVD

Fall Kickoff ends in shaved head

Tonight is the first official meeting of the fall for our ministry (the younger kids took the summer off completely and are starting back tonight).

Tonight we are going to be watching the recap video from our kickoff, two weeks ago. Which was about 1 1/2 hours of footage. I got it down to about 22 minutes of video. I thought that was pretty good. But today in SS, when I mentioned it just about everyone was upset that they couldn't just watch all 80some minutes. :)

(Thankfully, I was already planning on putting all the raw footage onto a dvd. Now I am going to be making extra DVD's to give out to students.)

Anyway, the biggest thing tonight, is going to be the "prizes" some of the teams get for the scavenger hunt.

We had 5 levels of prizes:
1 - eat dinner during kickoff
2 - get dessert
3 - put a pie in an adult's face
4 - shave an adult's head
5 - 1/2 off the cost of any youth trip/event (no one made this level)

So, after tonight I will be bald. I've never had my hair that short, so we'll see. There are a couple other youth coaches who are willing to get their head shaved - so there is a chance.

You Version

The Alpha version of YouVersion is out and I got my password this week. Though its only the Alpha version and there are many aspects that are not done yet - it looks great.

For a more indepth description, check out Adam's post here. I haven't had a chance to really do a lot of looking, but what I have seen looks good.

I know it is just the alpha version, so you can't expect everything to be working (therefore I look forward to the beta version - and ultimately the official release).

I would encourage you to check it out and sign up for the updates.

The Wuzzles - 13 episode cartoon from the 80's

The Wuzzles

I had never even seen The Wuzzles when I was growing up. But Amy (my wife) has a thermos she kept from when she was a kid. The other day, I decided to use it to take a drink to work. I was intrigued. So I did some investigating online. The Wuzzles is a show about these animals who are a combination of two animals. In fact the whole "land of Wuz" is a combination of two things. For instance, they have flants, which are a combination of ants and flies.

I'd love to find an entire episode online, but I've only found snippets. Here is one. Enjoy.



Did you ever watch the Wuzzles? What cartoon did you like growing up?

Photo Friday: Warren Moon Poster

I found this Warren Moon Poster in some of my old stuff a few weeks ago. I gave it to Wes (my youngest - 23 months) and he wanted to put it up on the wall. :)

We may just be the only house in America with a Warren Moon poster on the wall.

Do you have any strange posters up in your house?

Students & Prayer

This morning, I was able to be a part of a very special prayer circle.

One of the adults who has been very involved with FCA and the high school (in general) was diagnosed with cancer last year. He has battled it and was doing better til recently. Now, he is about to start a new form of treatment to try to slow things down. Well, he was at FCA this morning. It is always a blessing when he can make it to the school to be a part of things.

During the prayer time, one of the students asked if we could huddle around him for prayer. We had to stay some distance away due to his weakened immune system, but we had a circle of prayer for him. It was pretty cool.

It was encouraging to see that happen at a student led event. To see the students step up and go the extra mile.

Those are the moments I remember when someone asks me why I'm in youth ministry.

Trivia Wednesday #33

answer #32 - Barbie

question #33 - What is the most common name used in nursery rhymes?

Board games & Life

If you are in youth ministry, I'm sure you have probably sent one of those notes to a student that reads something like, "You have mounds of talent." But the word "mounds" is replaced with an actual mounds candy bar.

When I heard this quote (thanks to my wife passing it on) I thought about that concept. This is a statement made by some guy on a morning talkshow. It really doesn't matter who it was or what he does - the best part is just the quote.

"If we don't play monopoly with our kids today, they'll play sorry with us tomorrow."

Isn't that great? :)

I'm thinking about using it at my next parent meeting. If you get to use this quote first, please let me know how well it goes over.

And remember, go play monopoly with your kids or you'll be sorry.

The Office: season 3 on DVD

Today is the day to go and pick up the Office season 3 on DVD. Only 3 weeks til the season premiere "Fun Run"

Not sure where to buy your Office season 3, check out the options here. I recommend Best Buy or Target, unless you want just the basics...

What Wouldn't Jesus Do?

Thanks to BustedTees, we can now walk around asking another question about Jesus. We don't need to just ask WWJD? anymore.



Do you think Jesus would hang glide?

The Box from the 21st Century

Yesterday (Saturday) the church got a package. This is not just any package, though. It is the one thing that will help bring our offices/church into the 21st Century. What is this great gift from "the future" you ask? A dsl package from Verizon. :) (If words could only express how excited I am)

Hopefully by the week's end, there will be no more dial-up.

I am looking forward to helping set it up this week. My prayer is that I don't let the "new" technology get in the way of ministry.

Book Review: Small Group Strategies by Laurie Polich & Charley Scandlyn

Small groups are wonderful avenues for growth. Small groups help students connect with each other. Small groups help adults connect and mentor students. Small groups are vital to many ministries around the world. Small groups are not always easy. So, how can you make them the best they can be? Allow Small Group Strategies to help.

Whether you are thinking about starting a small group or have been leading small groups for 20 years, this book will be a great resource. Small Group Strategies is not a book on starting or maintaining a small group structure. It is not a manual for how to run or lead a small group, though these topics are discussed briefly. It is a resource for strengthening and challenging individual small groups.

You will find ideas which will challenge and stretch a small group. Ideas are separated into five main categories: community, worship, discipleship, service and outreach. Within each category are levels. If your group is looking to go to level six in community (looking for ways to expand your community) then you have six great ideas to try. The six ideas are: the empty chair, a theme night, on campus community, Jesus in my community, small group family night, and bring a friend night. Each idea is fleshed out in greater detail to help you understand how to implement it within your small group.

Not sure where your small group is? Then you can use the small group profile provided on page 30 to evaluate. Once you have evaluated your group, you will want to study the small group matrix on pg. 28 and 29. The small group matrix helps you understand each growth area and the six levels in each area. It also allows you to see the bigger picture of where your group is spiritually. These two pages all alone are a great resource for anyone leading a small group.

As you look through the 182 ideas offered, you will find yourself building off of some of the ideas. Some of the ideas will stick out in such a way, you will want to implement them in your next meeting. Two such ideas, for me, are cross of brokenness and bags of sin. These two ideas are in level four of worship: giving students opportunities to experience intimacy with God.

Could you use some fresh ideas? Do your small group leaders need some ideas? If so, then this book is a resource you need to pick up.


My advice (rating) – go out and buy it (4 out of 5)

Photo Friday: Pink Elephant Drives

Yep, that is a pink elephant driving that truck.

Starting a Local Youth Worker Network: getting to know the area

When I worked in GA, there was an existing network of youth workers who met regularly. I joined the group shortly after I started ministry and was sad to leave the group when I left the ministry at that church. The connection I made with the other youth workers helped me get through a ton of stuff. Since I was new to ministry, I was able to glean a lot of wisdom from a few of the more seasoned youth workers. I was even able to get some mentoring (which was greatly beneficial).

Then I moved to a small town in southern IL. There is no youth worker network. There is really not too many youth ministers (part or full time). A majority of the youth workers in this area are volunteer. The youth ministries have, in the past, not really done too much together. I wanted to change that.

I know the benefit to having a network of youth workers, so I have been working on starting a network in this area. As the network grows and changes, I am going to try to share insights and lessons learned with you (the reader). So, this is the first of many posts on how to start a local youth worker network.


How to start a local youth worker network:

1. Become familiar with your area.
Are there a lot of full time youth ministers? What is the average youth ministry like? Do the youth workers have other jobs? Is there a history of interaction between the local ministries?

This step can be done fairly quickly, depending on how long you have been in your area. Unless you understand the area you are ministering in, you will have a hard time working together with other youth workers.

The importance of this step is that it is foundational. Once you understand and become familiar with the area, you can plan for the best way to connect and encourage the area youth workers.

This step is also beneficial to you as you start a new ministry.

5 Things that last longer than youth ministers

5 Things that last longer than youth ministers in the local church:

1. 4 C batteries in a toy fire engine

2. A grande coffee from Starbucks

3. A pack of gum in an orthodontist's office

4. The long suffering of a Cubs fan

5. The student loan from going to college to be a youth minister

Tag is bad, according to this school

No more tag on the playground.

A Colorado school as banned tag from being an option during recess. I don't see it as too much of an issue. I just find it interesting that you can ban tag. The assistant principal said,

Running games are still allowed as long as students don't chase each other.

When I was in high school, I tried to ban "spoons" from being played at my house. I haven't banned any games in the youth ministry yet, but I have tried to adjust games to even the playing field between athletes and non-athletes.

Have you ever had to ban any certain games from your youth ministry?

The Office: Summer Vacation video

Don't watch this if you don't want to see any new footage from the upcoming season 4 of the Office. If you want to laugh and/or wonder what happened between season 3 and season 4 - then you will def. want to watch this video.

There, you have been warned:

small town trust

Last night, I got a glimpse of the beauty of small town trust. I took the boys to Dollar General to pick up a few items. While there, we ran into someone from the church (I know, shocking in a town of 2000 that I would see someone I know). After talking for a little bit, we went back to getting our last item. When we walked to the checkout I saw some hamburger buns in a bag. So I asked if someone how left them after paying for them. The two ladies said "yeah, I think it was that lady." Neither one knew her (which was strange for a small town). I asked if it was the lady with the young boy (this being the women I knew). "I think so," was the answer I got.

I told them that I knew her and could get the hamburger buns to her. Keep in mind, neither of these ladies really know me. The cashier looked at me and asked if I wanted to do that. I said that I would. She then said, "Okay, and I guess if this is not hers you can bring it back tomorrow."

She trusted me to do one of two things: 1. contact the lady and see if she left the buns in the store. 2. return them to her or the store

Turns out the lady did leave them, but told me to keep them.

Is there anywhere in your town where they would trust you to do something like this? Do you trust people this way? Do we (in the church) trust people this much? Can we in today's culture?

The picture just doesn't fit

This is the cover for the athletic booklet at the school in town. The mascot is a fighting lion. But doesn't that lion look like he is dancing, not fighting. Thankfully this is not the regular "logo" the school uses.

If you are from northern IN, you may know of Bob Rohrman (he sells RV's). Doesn't that lion look like the lion that says "Rooooooohrman" in the TV commercials?

Trivia Wednesday #32

answer #31 - Singin' in the Rain

question #32 - Which popular doll, introduced in 1959, cost $2.99 at the time?

Aaron Shust: Whispered and Shouted

The sophomore album from Aaron Shust is packed with great songs. For fans of the first album, Anything Worth Saying, this new album will come as a much appreciated continuation of great music. For those who have not heard of Aaron Shust, this album is a great way to start.

From the first track, Long Live the King, to the last, Worthy/Let All I Do, you'll be singing along in no time. Along with the extra singing, I also find myself a little happier after listening.

My favorite song on the whole album is Long Live the King. Shust says it was inspired in part from watching The Chronicles of Narnia and continually hearing all of Narnia refer to Aslan with those words. Long Live the King is a great reminder of how I need to respond to God. Look at all He has done, I should show Him honor and respect.

This album is a great addition to your collection. Put it in your iTunes, your iPod or whatever you happen to use. But I would suggest you buy the album at Family Christian for one reason. When you buy Whispered and Shouted from Family, you get the Inspired Heart edition (which includes an additional interview DVD). This DVD is a great resource to hear the stories behind the songs and to get a glimpse into the process of writing and making the album.



(photo from aaronshust.com)

Household Tip: Getting Your Laundry Done Quickly

Maybe you have a pair of jeans or a shirt you really like to wear, but you can't wear it as much as you want. Every time you want to wear it, its in the laundry. What are you to do? Here is what I do when I don't want to wait a long time...

Put the clothes you want to get back quickly in the laundry room. Preferably the best place is on top of the washer. What I have learned is that the laundry that is on the washer gets done in the next load - regardless of what else is getting washed. It may take a week for my laundry to get washed, but the boys' laundry might get done tomorrow. So, if I put a favorite shirt in the laundry room then it gets washed with the boys' laundry and I'm free to enjoy wearing it again sooner.

Now this may not work if you live alone. :)

Even if you don't have children, it can work for you (sheets and towels can always use filler).

Try it and see if it works in your house. If so, "you are welcome"

New Poll: Your Role in the Church

I just posted a new two-week poll. This time I want to know your role in the church (ie. local congregation). I'm wondering how many non-youth workers read this blog. Take a minute and answer the poll. If you would like to clarify your answer or share a little about your role, please do so by leaving a comment on this post.

I work with mainly jr. high and high school students. I do oversee a Kids Worship (3-6 grade), but for the most part it is just the older students.

Scavenger Hunt: jr. high vs. high school

Yesterday, for our kickoff we split up the jr. high (7/8) and the high school (9-12) for the games and scavenger hunt. The high school did the hunt first, while the jr. high played the games. Then we switched.

Afterward while talking to some of the youth coaches I was told about a big difference most of them noticed. The high school was more into it then the jr. high. There were some jr. highers (mostly girls) who didn't want to participate in certain things because they were scared a friend would see them and would make fun of them at school.

I was really caught off guard by this conclusion. I thought the jr. highers would be more willing to "be silly" than the high schoolers - but I was wrong. I haven't watched much of the video or seen many of the pictures yet, so we'll see. But I have a feeling it could have just been the few girls who were a little "too good" to participate.

Have you noticed this difference between jh & hs? Is it normally the high school who are more willing to "be silly" and embarrass themselves?

Poll Results: Years in Youth Ministry

How long have my readers been in youth ministry? (that is to say, the ones who voted at least). 50% have been in ministry for 1-5 years. 33% have been in ministry 6-10 years. And 16% over 11 years. That is translated into 3 people within the first 5 years. 2 people in their 6-10th year. And 1 person with over 11 years of ministry experience.

Discussion Starter: Mormonism taught via cartoon

Here is a video that discusses Mormonism using a cartoon format. It is a very interesting video. We are going to be starting a small group on other religions and faiths in a few weeks, and I'm going to use this video to start our discussion on Mormonism.



Any other ways to use the video? What else could you use it for?

(gracias a Ben)

Fall Kickoff

Our Fall Kickoff is this Sunday. The way our church is set up, the students don't move up til the first Sunday in Sept. (even though this is their second week of school already). So, last year we had the high school and jr. high split for parts of the kickoff and together at the end. It worked pretty well, so we thought we'd do it again this year.

This year, we're doing a scavenger hunt and outdoor games. Our theme is "The Hunt" (so the scavenger hunt just seemed obvious). One group will do the scavenger hunt, while the other does the games - then they'll switch. then for the for last 2 hours it will be combined for a bonfire with dinner/worship/devo.

I'm excited about all of it - I'm hearing a good amount of excitement from the students and think we could have a great group. The one thing I'm not excited about is filling all the water balloons. I hate filling water balloons.

Sunday, the Hunt will be on. I'll post any pictures and stories next week. I'm especially looking forward to the scavenger hunt. It is a combination of video/photo hunt. I went around town and took upclose shots of places for them to find and do "something" at to get points. We'll see how well they know their town.

Photo Friday: 1st Day of Preschool

the picture that will make me cry at his graduation.

deep spiritual questions from a 3 year old

While reading our nightly story from our "Jesus Book" tonight (which was from Mt. - on the rich man who throws the feast and ends up inviting the lowest of society) Nathan asked a very deep question. He asked Amy and I if the four of us (us, him and his brother) were all going to be with Jesus in Heaven.

It caught me off guard, though it shouldn't. We told him that that would be a decision he and his brother would have to make as they grew older.

But, what a question...

Free Robbie Seay Band CD

Robbie Seay Band has a new album coming out and you can download it for free, thanks to Relevant Magazine. Go here to download it. You are required to sign up for 2 newsletters: 850 Words (Relevant) and a Robbie Seay Band newsletter. I already get the 850 words and enjoy it, so its worth the sign up. You only have until Friday (tomorrow) to get this entire album for free, so go quickly.

I've been able to listen to most of the album and I like what I hear. Go check it out, download the album and enjoy some new "free" music.

(gracias a Brian)

Rangers score 30

Check out the story here. Now that would have been a game to watch in person. The article says it hasn't happened in 110 years. Apparently, they are not counting church softball games.

to quote someone else: David Clarke (God)

"If you don't have God at the center of your life and your relationship, something else will be at the center."

taken from A Marriage After God's Own Heart by David Clarke

This is a quote taken from a marriage book, but I think it is a great quote for any and all of our relationships - including connecting with students. In our marriages, we can put anything at the center: kids, yard work, physical relationship, your job, your social status. Whatever it is that you spend a majority of your time talking about and being involved with is the "center" of your relationship. For youth ministers and the connection we have with students it could be: sports, books, music, being cool, opposing authority, movies. When you are spending time with students is the focus on only surface level issues? Now these two relationships are not closely related and you cannot compare them, but the principle is the same.

When God is at the center of your life and your relationships, you will not be easily knocked down. You will not be shaken by the changing world. But when it is something else, suddenly you are not so steady. It is not hard to be crushed when the "center" is filled with something that will not withstand the pressure.

Is God at the center or is it something else? If it is something else, what do you need to do to get God back where He needs to be?

at the Christian bookstore...

I saw an item that had the initials FBI (and used it to turn into some "catchy" saying). But this one was a stretch - even for a "Christian" product.

FBI = Faithful Believer In Christ

now, that's cheesy

Trivia Wednesday #31

answer #30 - The Wizard of Odds

question #31 - The silent film The Dueling Cavalier later became which 1952 musical classic?

Day 1 of preschool

Today was the big day for Nathan (our oldest). His first day of preschool. It was weird to be home and not have him with us. He's only 3, and he's already started going to school :(

It was a good day, though. He enjoyed it and is ready to go back Monday (he only goes 2 days a week). He was super excited about his backpack (he has sesame street), even though he didn't bring anything home in in today.

Just thought I'd share a few random thoughts about this huge day in our house.

Discussion Starter: Ninja or God?

Over at Indexed, I saw this post:



I've never thought of God and a ninja as being equal. And I still don't. But its an interesting post on an interesting site.

In Sunday School, we're talking about what we believe about God this Sunday - maybe I'll use this picture to start conversation about how we view God.

3 boys, 1 bike, a dog & a busy street

What would these 4 things have in common? Normally not much, but yesterday they combined to form one of the strangest (saddest/scariest) sites I've seen in a long time. We were driving home from playing mini-golf (another interesting story) on a four lane, with middle turn lane, busy road when we saw it. There were three boys riding one bike. You know, the completely unsafe way - one sitting on handle bars, one sitting on seat, and one standing on back wheel. And they were riding down the right lane, acting like they were a car (only going much slower). The kid in the back also had a fishing pole. Then to top that off, they were being followed by a dog. This dog was just walking/running right behind them (I can only assume it was one of the boys' dog).

The funny part was that after we passed them, I looked back and the dog was getting up on the grass before the boys did. I wish I could have taken a picture of it - it was a sight to see.

Thankfully, as far as I know, none of them got hurt. But its a wonder their parents were either ok with it or didn't have a clue.

Left Behind... the rapture song

I saw this song/video over on Mark Riddle's blog (who found it via Mike King) and had to post the video here. What a great song!

Here is the video...

Telling youth apart

I have one set of twin guys in my group right now. I have had a difficult time telling them apart. Up until two months ago I was hesitant to use their first name for fear that I would be wrong. I've got it now, but for a while it was sad how I could not keep them separated.

I ran across a story today about identical quadruplets. Thankfully the story says that all four girls are doing well. As I read the story I was just thinking about trying to tell them apart. It is hard enough for youth ministers to remember students' names, let alone twins. Then imagine trying to remember quadruplets.


How do you tell identical twins apart? What "tricks or secrets" do you have?

I try to have a picture of each and just look at it over and over. Or I'll try to connect a physical trait with their name (like Timothy has long hair and Todd has short hair - longer hair is longer name). The best thing for me, though, is to just be around them enough to just know. After some time, you just start seeing them as not being identical.

Photo Friday: Bob Russell

On Sunday night, I attended Super Summer Celebration at camp. It was a "thank you" from the camp for the 60 years of support. The main speaker was Bob Russell, retired sr. minister at Southeast Christian church. He did a great job.

I just took this picture for fun, because he was sitting a few rows in front of us.

NYWC: St. Louis (countdown)

2 1/2 months til the National Youth Workers Convention in St. Louis from Nov. 2-5. If you haven't been to a NYWC before, you need to check it out.

See if you can take a few youth coaches with you, too. Or your spouse.

My yearly review: Lesson Learned #1 (promotion)

I got the rest of my evaluation at this month's elder's meeting. It was good. As expected, there were some things mentioned that I need to improve on, some I am doing well and some I need to start.

I wanted to share a few of the lessons I learned from the review. This is the first of a series of posts on lessons learned from my annual review. My desire is that these lessons will encourage you to be a better minister, too.

The first lesson I want to pass on is about passion. This is not about passion for God or the students. This is a passion for the programs and events you do. Really its about a passion for "selling/promoting" the event or program. One of the elders said something that stuck with me. He said,

"You must be convinced of what you are "selling" before you can convince others"

This was in reference to some of the events we've tried to do and some low attendance at said events. Now the elders don't know everything about how I promoted or didn't promote events or who I talked to about them, but they were just sharing some thoughts. Despite the fact that I believe there were other reasons for low numbers, this sentence struck me as true.

As I've looked back on how I promote events or programs, I have not always been excited when talking about them. For some reason I make it a quick announcement, in a low/hushed voice. Like I'm interrupting something and don't really want to be heard. I'm not sure why this was a habit, but it is something I know I need to change.

How to promote/sell an event or program:
1. Be excited about it. If I'm not excited then I either don't need to plan it or need to get excited about it.

2. Be more creative with promoting. I need to start using more methods than just announcing it. This is harder because we meet in a room that is really too small for our group and we sit in a circle. I don't always have access to a TV/DVD, so I have avoided using video. What other creative ways could I use?

3. Get someone else to promote it. I could have a student read the announcements or get a random adult to come in and do them.

4. Remember I'm giving them one more event to attend. Not that I want to compete with other activities, but sometimes I am. Most of them will have to choose between the youth event and something else.

5. Talk about it more than just during a youth event. Share with individual students outside of church. Get feedback from them and discuss any issues they might have.

How do you promote an event? What have you learned about "selling" an event or program?

I would make a horrible bachelor

My wife and two boys have been gone since Monday afternoon. I am bored and miserable. It is so quiet at home without my family here. I have been reminded of one thing, I would make a horrible bachelor. I have little desire to cook. I get easily distracted by technology. I don't think I would do nearly enough yard work. The house would be pretty dull. I would probably be a bit more unhealthy, because I would guess I would eat out more.

It's just not the same. I miss my family.

but the good news is that they come back home tomorrow!!!

Discussion Starter: Armless Man Gets 5 Years for Driving

I saw the headline "Armless Man Gets 5 Years for Driving" and didn't know what to think. It turns out what happened is exactly what the headline said.

A man with no arms and one leg who wouldn't stop driving despite a long list of traffic violations was sentenced to five years in prison Friday on felony driving and drug charges.

Apparently he taught himself to drive at age 13, after losing both arms and a leg in an electrical accident. At one point he had a valid driver's license, but lost it due to a number of violations.

The article ends with these two lines:

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Wiley said he's done driving.
"I'm beat. The white flag is up," he said. "You can only bang your head against the wall so long before it hurts."

Use this article to start a discussion. It could be on anything, just hear the students' reactions. Specifically, I think you could use this to talk about: perseverence, knowing when to quit, stubbornness, asking for help.

Trivia Wednesday #30

answer #29 - Antioch (Acts 11:26)

question #30 - What game show did Alex Trebek host starting in 1973?

to quote someone else: Elizabeth George (gentleness)

"Gentleness Means Bowing the Soul - I also found a lovely word picture that helped me with gentleness. The Old Testament term for gentleness, anah, describes a mature, ripened shock of grain with its head bent low and bowed down. Just think for a moment on the beauty of this word picture. As wheat grows, the young sprouts rise above the rest. Their heads shoot up the highest because no grain has yet formed. It their immaturity, little fruit, if any, has appeared. But, as time passes and maturity sets in, fruit comes forth - so much of it that the burdened stalk bends and its head sinks lower and lower - and the lower the head, the greater the amount of fruit."

taken from A Woman's Walk with God by Elizabeth George

Which one are you? It's easy in ministry to be that tall stalk. May you bend your head and heart!

New Poll: How long have you been in youth ministry?

I just added a new two week poll to the sidebar. I'm curious as to the length of your ministry. Not necessarily at your current congregation/ministry - but total. I would love to hear if its mostly full or part-time, too.

I've been in full-time youth ministry since '01 (so 6 years - with a 9 month "sabbatical" from ministry). I am currently at my second ministry.

What about you? Add any comments or clarifications to the poll by commenting on this post.

Old friends & a new ministry

Last night we got to see some old friends. They were up (from GA) near the area for a funeral. We were both going to an event at camp, so we got to meet up. What a blessing it was to see them. Then after the event we went to Burger King (along with about 1/2 the other people at the camp event) to get some food and catch up a little. Despite the longgggg wait for our food (and the incorrect completion of our order) it was a great catch to talk. They have a little boy who is almost 3 months younger than Wes (our youngest), so the 3 boys played a lot together.

One of the best parts was getting to hear about the new ministry Brian and Katie are getting ready to start (well, they move in Oct.). But to hear the excitement and passion in Brian's voice is great. You see, Brian is the guy who took my position (but only part-time) after I was gone from my former congregation. He got to learn a lot while he was there (he is no longer at the church) and is looking forward to being in ministry full-time. And from hearing what he is already doing - sounds like he is ready.

I was reminded of a few things about ministry last night...

1. The staff you work with makes a HUGE difference in your ministry!
2. Not all ministries are created equal.
3. New ministers start every day.
4. Ministry is long-term, there are no shortcuts.
5. God is always faithful, despite what people try to do.

I am looking forward to getting to hear more about the ministry once he gets there in October and following him as he journeys.

Church Signs: Better than DQ?

We had this on our church sign a few weeks ago. I don't know if anyone stopped by because of the sign or not, but I thought it was fun. The great thing is that there is not a Dairy Queen anywhere close to the church (we had one in town but now its just a local diner). You have to drive a good bit to get to a DQ.

10 Minute email

I saw this disposable email on lifehacker.com. It wasn't the concept that caught my attention as much as one of the reasons Lifehacker gave for using it...

10 Minute Mail offers free email addresses that last for only 10 minutes -- perfect for forums and signing up for porn (lined through in their post) sites that you think will sell your email address.

Though I would hope they were not promoting porn sites, I was caught off guard by the mention. Mainly because there are probably a good majority of people who use sites like 10 minute email for that very reason. That saddens me.

Have you ever used a disposable email address? (not for porn sites, just to avoid spam) I just use an old email address that is mainly for signing up for sites I don't want to get mail from or to avoid spam/unwanted email.

Poll Results: Fall Kickoff Planning

With the start of the school year less than a week away around here, its time for fall. According to my poll: 75% of you are planning a fall kickoff, 12.5% are not planning one and 12.5% haven't planned that far yet. With 8 people voting that translates into 6 yes, 1 no, and 1 not planning in advance.

We're in the final stages (hopefully) of planning our kickoff. I always look forward to the start of a new school year. The excitement and freshness.

Photo Friday: family project

This is a picture of me and the boys putting up a multi-hook wall hook in the playroom. It was such a fun project to have them help with.

Book Review: Teaching That Works by Cliff Schimmels

Have you ever walked out of a classroom and just shook your head glad that you are done teaching? Do you pray for next week’s lesson to be better? Have you walked into the classroom hoping certain students are not there? Do you feel you have a good grasp on your teaching, but know you could do better? If you answer yes to any of these questions then you would benefit from reading Teaching That Works.

Teaching that Works is full of great insight and strategies for more effective teaching. Each chapter is an exploration of a passage of Scripture. Subjects range from teachers being under stricter judgment to telling a story. Every chapter is easy to read and comprehend. Personal stories are used to help expand on a topic and to give you another visual representation of each teaching strategy.

In “See the Field” Schimmels writes, “The first step to assessing the field assigned to us is to recognize Jesus as the Great Arranger. Jesus knows that you have Kevin and A.J. in the same class. Jesus knows that you teach in the back room of the basement. Jesus knows how many come and how many don’t. Jesus knows that you are a teaching assistant. Not only does he know, but he arranged it all with a definite purpose. Jesus gave you your field. He put together the field, and he picked you specifically for it.” These words alone offer encouragement to keep teaching. Knowing (or being reminded) Jesus has not placed us in a teaching situation by mistake should encourage us to remain faithful to teaching and not to start coasting.

In a chapter on questions, Schimmels takes a look at how Jesus teaches from Matthew 16. Jesus asked the disciples two questions, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” and “Who do you say I am?” Schimmels calls the first question, the reporting question. It is designed to get students talking. There are no wrong answers, it is solely based on what the student has heard or seen. This allows the students to process information, share and build confidence. The next question is the penetrating question. This question allows them to dig deep and take all the information and discover their own perspective and beliefs. Too often, teachers try to go straight to the penetrating questions and neglect to ask the reporting questions.

Reading this book opened my eyes to teaching strategies I was not utilizing.


My advice (rating) – go out and buy it (3.5 out of 5)

i-caught & your ministry

I was able to watch the first i-caught Tuesday night on ABC. Basically it was an hour long show about viral videos. They took some of the most popular videos on YouTube or Myspace and talked to the people in the video or the people who captured it. The crazy part for me was that I hadn't seen most of the videos (even though some of them had gotten 3 million hits).

Here is what I got from what I saw... it worked. They took stuff that people have watched (viral videos) and put them on TV. But they didn't just show an hour of "3 minute videos" - they took it further and got the story behind the video. They got me to watch.

So, I was thinking about how that would connect with youth ministry. No, I don't think you need to use viral videos each week at youth group. But what drew me in was the stories that went behind the videos. There are many stories that can be told.

When you see a student's life changed and it is noticeable, try to get a way to share that student's story with the group.

Make a short interview video.
Do a live interview.

Remember people are drawn in to a story. People want to know the "behind the scenes" information. So get the stories heard!

How do you get stories heard? What impact has a testimony had on your group?

Trivia Wednesday #29

answer #28 - Marty McFly

question #29 - According to Acts, where were the disciples first called Christians?

to quote someone else: David Clarke (marriage)

"No marriage dies of natural causes. It has to be killed by the behavior of one or both spouses."

taken from A Marriage After God's Own Heart by David Clarke

Is your ministry like Wal-Mart?

There are a few things I do not like about Wal-Mart. The other night, I experienced two of them and found a new one.

Here is the timeline of events for Wednesday evening at Wal-Mart:

7pm - have man riding zamboni-type machine cleaning the floors
8pm - put pallets on the floor
8:30pm - have only 2 non-self checkout lanes open

The first one - cleaning the floors - was a new one for me. I understand that Wal-Mart is open 24 hours and therefore cannot clean the floors when they are closed. But at 7pm? Why not wet the floors down sometime in the middle of the night, when there are not that many people in the store?

And the pallets issue always bothers me. They put all the pallets out on the floor when people are trying to get around and shop. Besides the fact that it looks horrible, you can't get around the aisles. And then on top of that, the people pulling the pallets out usually do not bother to notice that there are shoppers and act like they have the right of way and can bull you over. Again, lets try doing this at night, when not many people are in the store.

The issue with the registers is not as bad (at least it wasn't that night). We didn't wait in line too long before someone opened up another lane. So they handled it well.

But I always feel like I'm an inconvenience to the store when they act like I'm not there. Isn't the point of the store to get people to buy stuff and don't people buy more stuff when they can get around? It also shows me they are more concerned with getting the product out than anything else.

But then I got to thinking. How often do I do the very same thing on Sunday morning. I'm busy running around trying to make this copy or put "that" in the classroom. I can become so engrossed in "last minute" details that I run people over. I treat people like they are in my way and I just need to get stuff ready. Because if I get stuff ready, then those people will be able to learn about God. How foolish.

So, how do I change?

Here are a few things I need to remember...
1. Be prepared. Get the copies made during the week. Put stuff in appropriate rooms before Sunday morning.
2. Get to church early, if needed. If something comes up, I need to get to church early to handle it.
3. Slow down. I need to stop "running people over" on my way to more important things. Take time to listen and talk.
4. People are important. People are the reason I do what I do. I need to make sure I act that way.
5. Adjust when needed. Be willing to step up and do what needs to be done without hesitation. If I need to talk to someone, do it. Watch my surroundings and adjust accordingly.

Kirk Cameron: Bringing Religion to the Internet

I just saw this promotional picture on my yahoo mail page. Interesting.

I hadn't realized that it was Kirk Cameron who brought religion to the internet, I always thought it was Al Gore.