The Writer's Guild Strike

While I don't watch a lot of TV, I have learned a lot about this whole writer's strike going on. I'm amazed at how much writing really goes on to make talking heads look so good and funny.

Which really got me thinking, "Why don't we write sermons and lessons like this?" I mean, why don't we have staff memebers who are good writers, writing for a talking head, at a church?

I'm sure this is already going on. I remember going to Southeast Christian Church in Louisville and learning that Bob Russel had a team of guys, including his son, who put messages together. And Bob helped, but it was a communal effort, and I'm pretty sure it's worked for him.

At the time, I guess I felt like Bob was cheating the system. I mean, there was nothing wrong with it, to me, it simply seemed at it's best to be insincere or at it's worst, to be fraud.

Of course, that was 10 years ago....

Nevertheless, wouldn't all of our messages be better if we could write them with two or three people that we loved and respected and could take their life experiences and wisdom and put messages/lessons together?! How fun would that be!

Ah....the power of writing...

The Really Big Game

As this weekend draws nearer (Let's go Giants!) there will surely be church's advertising about having a "Super Bowl" party. Because the phrase "Super Bowl" is actually a registered trademark, it is actually illegal to use that phrase to advertise an event. Thus, our church is advertising a "Really Big Game" Party.

My friend Kirk has a great post about Fellowship church captilizing on the Superbowl last year. I wonder how other churches are utilizing this event to reach those seeking. TechnoPraxis™: Super Results

Speaking of the "Super Bowl" do any churches still do these parties for thier students? I had less and less students coming to it, to the point of 5 years ago, not hosting one.

The Biggest Loser....Youth Ministry Style

Marko announced through email and then on his blog the start of a new Biggest Loser contest! Marko has gained some pounds (I believe truly in honor of the late great Mike Yacconelli) and he's tired of it.

And I hear it! So Marko and the kind folks at YS are putting together a Biggest Loser Competition (the details of which you can find on Marko's blog) along with loads of prizes. The other cool thing is that Matthew McNutt (super great guy and youth worker) from Biggest Loser Season 3 fame, is going to help with it. McNutt is the man and has a great blog full of tips for losing weight.

Since I'm doing the local competition here, this will help me continue the hard work a little longer. My buddy Sean is doing it as well, and he could easily win it! Although I told him that if there's a tie between himself, Andy (a great youth pastor in Illinois), and Marko, then I think they should all wrestle for it, and I volunteer to film it.

I've been trying to lose weight for, it seems like, the longest time. But this time it's different. And it's pretty exciting, for me. I've been keeping a separate blog about my journey and I think it has some good tips too. Check it out and good luck!

Religion in the US

This map is nearly out of date. I do wonder how they come up with these numbers and what constitutes a "Christian Church."

I'd like to see the map with Jews and Muslims included too.

I remember the first time I saw this and was amazed at all the catholics. Pretty interesting.

Orange Leaders

Got an email from a youth pastor here in town that I really respect. He's headed to Orange.

Not having a clue what Orange is, I scoured the web for info. I found thier website and a blog from another middle school pastor, Judy Gregory, who is a part of Marko's Summit group.

Hmmm...I'm definitley interested in going.

If I'm honest....I probably need to take that time to pray and listen to God more than needing another conference to go to. can I do both....hmmm.....

It takes Teen Manie to bring out of my blogging silence

It's been a while since i've blogged. Lots of stuff going on. Lots of stuff going on inside my head to blog on.

Nevertheless, let's begin here.

I'm not a big teen mania fan. No offense. I understand what they are doing. It is simply easiest to say that we disagree theologically and theopraxily (if that makes any sense).

I have never appreciated being called by thier call center technicians to plug thier ATF conferences, but understand the marketing idea.

But now this?

Now they've sent me a message on facebook and they want to be my friend?!

Uh....I don't think so.

YS day 3

I have a man crush on Doug Fields.

Slept in and got great seats to hear from Doug on ministry envy. Great message. I do deal with envy on a number of different levels. Not in the typical ways that I used to, i.e. guys in ministry, other churches, people speaking, etc. But in other ways that are just as deadly. I had big expectations for Doug's message and he delivered.

I left my seminar to update the blog. Now I'm caught up but truly dissappointed in the lack of creativity in my updating.

YS day 2

Started the day with a seminar about powerpoint which was so helpful. My buddy Phil knows my hisory of graphic design and when we were in Nashvile he gained so much from the workshop so that I didn't want to miss it and wasnt' dissappointed.

The next general session was with Phyllis Tickle (sp) and she was great. No wonder my SP really loves her stuff. I hope I'm still with it at 74 years old. I was scraping the bottom of the barrell (it seemed like) to keep up with her. Really really good stuff. A lot of emergent stuff and history.

Went to see Les and he talked me into staying for his seminar on creativity.

The last general session was Louie Giglio and I was so tired that I had a hard time really paying attention. His message was about how we can trust God even when things are hitting the fan. It was a good word and an intriguing story, I was just way zapped.

Bob, Nicole, Jen and I had a lot of laughs at the late night comedy.

and so ended a long day 2

Rest of Friday at YS

Went to Chap Clark's seminar about middle school ministry. Really good stuff. Also a good reminder of some basic things that I have been neglecting and really need to put into practice.

I was really looking forward to the second main session because of this guy who Nicole is crazy about Shane Clairborne (I think that's his name, I'm so dumb.)

Anyway, he took the stage, spat fire, did a back flip, and then said he was honored to share with us the greatest sermon ever.

Then he proceeded to read the Sermon on the Mount and closed by saying a prayer that God would give us the strength to really live it. And that was it.

I was really looking forward to hearing from him. I figured he'd tell some wild stories and I'd want to read his book. then he started reading. And I figured he'd either read it and be done or he'd read it and use it to jump off of for his talk. I figured the latter. but he did the former.

A lot could be said about this. However, I loved it. I thought it was the perfect compliment to Andy Stanley's message earlier in the day where he said, "What do you do when you know you are the most important person in the room? You need to leverage your power to serve others."

So what does this Shane guy do when he realizes he is the most important person in the room, when he could totally just say whatever he wants, use the platform to espouse politica ideas or to sell his book?

No. He humbles himself and lets the Word of God speak. Total humility. I thought it was beautiful!

After the main session I had three things I wanted to do. This is typical of YS. I can't do it all. I wanted to meet Jay Howver, I wanted to say Hi to Andy from Wheaton, and I am a sucker for magic tricks.

Between trips to all three I saw a few lame card tricks from the magicians, met Andy Jack in the elevator and he remembered me from Nashville when Kurt Johnston bought us all dinner, and got to meet Jay finally.

I also got to meet Len Evans, a guy I think a lot of, and totally made an ass of myself. Totally frustrating. I was exhausted and as what often happens, I speak without thinking. So Jay and Len probably think I'm an idiot, which is true sometimes. Hopefully I can make it up to both of them.

So glad to be at YS.

NYWC update

Evidently I'm an idiot and can't figure out how to get the internet working in my room at the holiday inn, so I'm finally at the digital lounge for my update.

 

YS is such a great place for me to come to be refocused on the little things that are so basic that I'm missing.  In a lot of ways it's been really rewarding and affiming of what we are doing in ministry.  In other ways I'm reminded of how far we have to go.  But i really love and appreciate YS and am so glad to be here, with my sweet wife no less, and two of our youth coaches.

 

I'll make this short:

 

Friday opening session:

~the sand guy was good.  Had huge expectations based on Marko's blog and Sean's.  but it was still really good.

~Andy Stanley lead the first session and Marko made a big deal about Andy's last talk and how he was never going to speak at YS again, but all got resolved.  Jen and I had been here for the last talk and we couldn't remember for the life of us what all the hubbub was.

~Andy talked about being humble...and it was great, especially later in the day.  I ALWAYS appreciate guys/youthworkers/speakers who are humble. 

~it was so fun to watch Bob and Nicole enjoy YS and all that it offers.  It's a blast to be here with all of them.

 

 

I'll update the rest later!  promise!

My kids will get a kick out of this!

I'm sure I may get some grief about this and I have more stuff I need to update, but when I saw this on Sean's blog, I knew I had to have it.

Click HERE to see it full screen and make one yourself!

Off to Oklahoma City

Dove is doing a really interesting campaign to help teen girls.  Here’s an article about it here and their website.

 

Dove is teaming up with another organization called Step Up Women’s Network and they are doing nationwide events to help teen girls.

 

So I’m taking Jen down there to today’s event to check out what they are doing.  It should be really interesting and provide good article fodder for Jen’s books coming out in the Spring.  Are organizations really doing something to help teen girls, or are they using it to hawk more stuff?  Are they really addressing the issues of identity? 

 

And it may give Jen some good contacts on a nationwide level.

 

When it rains...

Actually, rain has nothing to do with the trials of the last few weeks. It began with me wrecking my truck. Then Jen got hit. Now this...





About five hours ago I decided to fill up our water "jug" that goes in the fridge. while it was filling up I'd go and tuck Jen in. while I was laying in bed, I fell asleep.





Fast forward 45 minutes...the smoke alarm is going off. I wake up, notice there isn't any smoke, and take the smoke alarm outside to make it quieter and let the smoke dissipate...remember, I just woke up...





I go in the kitchen and there is water all over the kitchen cabinet where the jug has overfilled and spilled on the ground. Only, not a lot of water is on the ground.





Jen goes downstairs and calls me down, where water is dripping through the ceiling. I'm imagining who many gallons are being held up there on the drywall.





We decide to punch some holes in the ceiling to let the water drain...and drain...and drain. Two hours later and we're just letting it drip out.





Don't know what to do now. I can fix the wholes...but I don't think I can do a whole ceiling! Hopefully it's just a few sheets. It could have been a lot worse. Everyone is safe...everyone except my pride.





good times....The smile is fake but the water seeping down from the ceiling is as real as it gets.

Hanging out in Grand Rapids, Michigan

I was warned before I left that Chicago O'Hare is terrible. How they mangaged to miss my one bag during a 2 hour stop in Chicago on my way to Grand Rapids, is hard to understand. Nevertheless, my stuff isnt' here. So I can have them "deliver" it to me 90 minutes away or I can just wait it out.

So I decide to hang out for a couple of hours and go check out Zondervan's headquarters.

The place is HUGE! It was so cool. I went in there and was so dumb. The lady asked if she could help me...so I say, "Yeah, my wife is one of your author's and I was in town and I just wanted to see the place where her books are going to be made." (They don't make them there. But they do store them and distribute them.)

The receptionist was so nice. She called down a lady named Joyce from the Author Care division and she gave me a tour of the whole place!

I got to see the warehouse where they have just tons and tons of books and got to see them wrapping up some books and putting tons of cases of them into a UPS truck. They had these huge conveyer sytem and everything. It was really cool.

Because Jen's books and my books are being done with YouthSpecialties, no one in Grand Rapids actually messes with our books. Everyone with YS is in San Diego or Colorado.

Got to see the offices including the history of Zondervan. Also got to see the big head honcho room, the board

room where every new release is showcased for a couple weeks for all the big wigs to see them.

Joyce said that if she knows an author is coming she makes sure to put thier stuff out there too.

Probably the coolest part was when Joyce took me to meet the contact with YS. And while he isn't working on the team yet with our books, he had seen the prospective covers and he said that everyone is really pumped about how cool they look.

It was so cool. It really is a dream come true for me to be published with YS and it is all to Jen's credit so it was fun to have her be the high light.

At the end, Joyce took me by her office and hooked me up with some free pens and paper as a thank you for Jen being in the Zondervan family.

Good times.

Now, I'm off to pick up my stupid dufflebag...

More Karaoke

Ah, I couldn't resist. Here was tonights "Set"


I think we're alone now, by Belinda Carlisle
We're not gonna take it, by Twisted Sister
The Greatest Love, by Whitney Houston
Mickey...I don't remember who it's by.

The kids have so much fun. My voice is so bad! Lots of fun.

Jen's surprise gift today

So Jen called me earlier in the day and told me that she picked me up a surprise! And after totalling my truck, I could use a pick me up. (pun not intended)

Enter: "Tunes From the 80's" 32 songs from House Party Karaoke.

I finish brushing the teeth and run down to my daughter's room and toss disk one in her karaoke machine.

I start out with "Take on Me" by A-HA.

Ciera and Noah come down and they are just cracking up!

Jen comes down and we perform Dionne Warwick's "That's what Friends are for."

We can't stop so we do the Go-go's "We got the beat."

And our kids are getting pretty wild, I'm sweating like Jack Black in School of Rock, so we decide to slow it down a bit with a religious song...How about "Faith" by George Michael.

I remember the fun organ start and then it goes into a cool pop sound. Jen and I barely got the first line out, "Oh, I thought it would be nice..." before we both made a mad dash for the stop button. I didn't recall the next line, nor did I want to start the conversation at bed time that begain with, "So dad, what does it mean when they sing, 'I thought it would be nice, if I could touch your body?'"

We ended with "Alone" by Heart which isn't much better, or quieter...especially when I'm rocking out.

The kids had fun and i forgot about the truck. so that was nice.

Tomorrow night: Twisted Sister's, "We're not gonna take it" NO!!!

I can't believe this is the city I live in...

Here's a link to the front page of the web page for the city we just moved to: Ark Valley News.

In case it gets moved...here's how the article opens...

If all you saw was the color of his skin, you may have never discovered that Jay Grayson was a cheerleading coach. That he played football in high school and college. That he was a guest instructor at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center. That his father was a decorated Marine.

If that’s all you saw, you may have never known Jay Grayson.Though his skin color represents a milestone in the history of the Valley Center Police Department, Grayson is more than the department’s first-ever black officer.

Dude, where the heck do I live?! When I moved out to the midwest from California, I was amazed at how white everywhere was and how much it was like stepping back in time. How, in this day and age. are people still being judged by the color of thier skin?!

Of course, my brother spent a night in jail last week where he was "encouraged" to sit where the "rest of his kind" was sitting in the holding cell. So it goes both ways...I suppose...

I didn't read anymore of the newspaper for fear of finding an announcement of a lynching or a Klansman Anonymous meeting...

R.I.P. Jesse Duke

Long story short, my brother-in-law Jay owned his own auto shop where he often acquires vehicles. He asked me one time if there was a car I was looking for. I told him a sweet truck, but not too big, not like Jesse Duke's truck, a big white ford or something.


So he calls me up and tells me he has acquired a truck for me. He drives it out in the dead of winter from California to Kansas and gives it to me. A 1977 Ford F-150 with a 460 HUGE engine in it. The truck is great! Only it gets like 5 miles to the gallon...ah, the days when gas was only $2....and my sister made sure that it had a custom toy licensce plate in the back window that read "Jesse Duke."


After consuming a ton of gas and repairing the radiator and some other stuff, I sold the giant truck. My buddy Pat was upgrading from a 1991 Nissan that he actually drove off the factory. It was truly his baby. And he gave me a GREAT price of what I paid for the other truck.


Anyway it was a great truck!!!


And today, it lies in my driveway, with a twisted metal hood.


I got into my first real accident. I've had a few fender benders before but nothing like this.


It was surreal.


Here's what happenned:


In this pic you'll see on the right side a big white building...Walgreens. There is a driveway in and out of the Walgreens parking lot.


Directly south of that driveway is another driveway for a strip mall.

I'm trying to exit from the Walgreens parking lot. I'm going to turn left and proceed south on the street.

I look left...it's clear for a while.

I look right...two vehicles...the first one is White truck. Both vehicles are heading southbound, the same direction I'm trying to go.

I look left again...still clear.

I accelerate...and hit the white truck.

I didn't see a blinker, but the white truck moved from the left lane (Five lanes with a turning lane) to the turning lane and was turning left into the driveway just south of me.

I didn't even see it. And it was all so surreal. It all happenned and I didn't even hit the brakes. I just hit him. As you can see...very little damage.

Cop gets there and reads both of our reports. He says that in his opinion it's a clear case of in attentive driving.

He asked me lots of questions about whether I was trying to dart out between cars. He didn't understand how I could cause so much damage with my little nissan just by pulling out.

I didn't have an answer at the time, but I did tell him later that I didn't even hit the brakes. It was all happening so slowly...so quickly...the only thought was that I was going to really hit this truck, this is my first real accident, I can't believe it's happening, I should hit the brakes, CRASH!

The police officer was SO great. Again, he said that I was at fault but that he wasn't going to charge me with inattentive driving because it's a $160 fine that really doesn't do anything but make the county richer. So he wrote me up for not having my proof of insurance with me!

DANG! That is so sweet.

Now I need to find another vehicle...I'm going to try to get an estimate on getting it fixed. With the vehicle dripping oil...i'm pretty hesitant.

Do I pay a couple grand to fix it up or pay a couple grand for another used truck...

Irregardless...R.I.P. Jesse Duke...

Two Great Reasons You Should Write About Your Ministry

A little over a year ago, I suppose, our church started doing a sweet weekly newsletter.  It’s like a mini-newspaper.  You can check it out here. The staff was “encouraged” to add content and use the paper as a resource.  But seriously, I have really fought it because:

1.  Writing articles for the church newspaper is not my idea of a good time

2.  I have a really hard time writing
3.  Writing takes me sooooooo long

However, our Director of Education, Libby Eaton, from the start has tried (and I think succeeded) in having something in the Light (our newspaper name) every week.  And being a dad, I love to see my kids in there.  And I was impressed at how much response she got out of the paper and what it communicated to the people who never even step foot into her ministry area.

So maybe 6 months ago…probably less…I tried to steal some of the spot light from Libby.  I have definitely not been as diligent as her but I have tried, especially all summer long, to get something in the Light once a week to spotlight middle school ministry.

Then two cool things happened:

A couple weeks ago I was having lunch with one of the people from our congregation and he says, “Man, your student ministry is really booming!!!”  How did he know?  Had he been with us on a trip?  No.  How about in Sunday School?  No.  Had he heard from a parent?  Nope.

He read it in the Light!

Here’s the second cool reason…it’s a bit longer.

I get this phone call yesterday from this sweet little old lady named Carol.  She tells me that her daughter doesn’t attend church but has two boys and mom is considering bringing them to the parent meeting later that evening.  Carol is obviously sad that her daughter doesn’t attend church and has “fought and fought” to keep her daughter on the mailing list and now that she’s coming she wants to make sure they have a very pleasant experience and that she’ll be praying the whole evening.  Nothing like a little pressure.

So we’re eating dinner before the meeting and there is a woman there with two boys I’ve never seen before.  Low and behold it’s Carol’s daughter and her two boys are in middle school!  So I’m talking to her and she offers up this statement:  “Every week I read the paper and there’s something about middle school.  Middle school this and middle school that.  I figured that I needed to check out this middle school thing for myself!”

Wow….As someone who readily understands the pain and prayers of having a loved one disconnected from the church, it’s humbling to think that my toiling out stories about middle school for a couple hours each week could result in a doorway to reconciliation with the church and an elderly woman’s years of answered prayers.

Pen Tricks

I still remember one of my best friends Jeff Threet practicing and practicing two of these pen tricks. I never had the patience to learn them, so I'm posting this for him as I know he'll want to learn the other three on this video.

My buddy Bob Tinker has the same pen trick OCD.

Maybe some day I'll get the hang of it...