Month: December 2011

  • Top posts for 2011

    Top 10 posts

    1. Do you need a resume`? It depends.
    2.Repairing a wet iPod Touch
    3. Tim Hortons Arrives in Romeo
    4. Christians and Gun Control
    5. St. Patrick’s Day Prayer for Missionaries
    6. 14 Must Have Gifts for the Geek in Your Life
    7. TSA Resistance
    8. SDSU: I Believe That We Will Win
    9. American Airlines CEO Quits on Moral Grounds
    10. 5 Ways to Be Good News in the Neighborhood on Halloween

    No surprises there. Google brings the traffic to some of my backlog entries. But I was surprised to see some of the late November and December articles take off and make it into the top 10.

    Top 10 Referrers

    1. Facebook
    2. Google (Search, Image search, and Google Reader)
    3. Twitter
    4. StumbleUpon
    5. Youth Specialties
    6. The Youth Cartel
    7. Google+
    8. Raginpagin
    9. DougFields.com
    10. Whyismarko.com

    I had to giggle at #8. That’s a forum for the SDSU bowl game opponent. Facebook out-referred Google by 3:1 in 2011. Crazy!

    Top 10 search terms bringing people to my blog

    1. resume
    2. how to do a resume
    3. Tim Hortons
    4. wet ipod touch
    5. wii bowling
    6. sexting
    7. tiger woods new estate
    8. letter l
    9. st patrick
    10. ipod touch wet

    Again, the power of Google. Looks like I need to spend some time on my SEO of church/youth ministry stuff, eh?

    Top 10 outbound links

    1. thepoddrop.com
    2. facebook.com/adammclane
    3. twitter.com/adammclane
    4. theyouthcartel.com
    5. feeds.feedburner.com/adammclane
    6. mclanecreative.com
    7. thetechherald.com/article.php/200850/2611/Study-reveals-20-percent-of-teens-have-sent-naked-images-via-phone
    8. usatoday.com/tech/news/internetprivacy/2008-12-09-high-tech-flirting_N.htm
    9. markuskrauss.com/Produktdesign/SWAY.html
    10. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_on_arrival

    One of the surprising things that happened to my blog in 2011 was that I didn’t see a dip when I left working at Youth Specialties. As I transitioned from YS to The Youth Cartel I actually saw an increase in traffic, comments, shares, etc. I don’t know what that means but I was happy to see everything go up. (Visitors, Facebook shares, Twitter mentions, RSS subscribers, comments, contacts… everything.)

  • Let them roar(ish)

    We need to allow our kids to learn to roar.

    At eight and ten years old our oldest are flourishing in the elementary years. Half of their existence is in the pretend world of video games, fantasy books, and made-up games in the backyard. The other half is the real world where they help with the baby, dominate academically at school, and run the shipping department for The Youth Cartel store.

    The hard thing for Kristen and I is that they are growing up a little bit faster than we feel prepared to adapt our parenting. A year ago we woke up to the reality that we’d never left them home alone for even 5 minutes… or allowed them out of our sight on their own. So we started taking short trips to the grocery store without them or allowing them to go on walks in our neighborhood alone.

    “It happens so fast.” People have told us this since the moment we found out we were pregnant with Megan. We’ve taken lots of pictures, we’ve enjoyed every step and stage. And yet it feels like it is still going so fast that we just want to hold on to each stage!

    At the same time, it’s that little tendency… the desire to hold on… that we know is the difference between our kids roaring and our kids delaying maturation.

    O! That we would be parents who don’t take video while our kids learn to roar, but stand behind them and encourage: Louder, you can do it!

  • Support Freely in Hope on Sevenly

    Meeting Nikole Lim and learning about her organization, Freely in Hope, was one of my highlights of 2011.

    We all know that storytelling is a powerful medium for moving people to action. Nikole’s eye for this is exhibited beautifully in her short film, While Women Weep. The film threads together the stories of several African women who became exploited sexually and later enslaved by hopelessness before finding new freedom and hope through Christ.

    As I watched the film I was overcome by three things.

    1. This film is beautiful in every way.
    2. This would be amazing to watch with a small group or with people who are looking for a cause to rally behind.
    3. Nikole needs to tell more stories.

    So please buy her film to support her continued work through Freely in Hope & as an encouragement to this young artist to keep going!

    In related news, Sevenly is featuring Freely in Hope this week with a special t-shirt.

    From now until January 1, your $22 purchase helps to protect women from sexual abuse in Kenya. With your support, Freely in Hope can uplift women out of poverty and decrease the vulnerabilities of sexual abuse. Your support will give protection & education to young women, helping them attain jobs and a better living.

    Go here to buy a t-shirt

    So if you’re looking to end 2011 with a little conspicuous consumption that can make a big difference– here’s my challenge. 

    Go buy the DVD, pick up the t-shirt, and tell your friends that you’re going to host a party to boycott the BCS Championship game farce by hosting a Freely in Hope party at your house.

  • What does your ministry have to do with Dropbox?

    Did you catch that? Steve Jobs invited Drew Houston, CEO of Dropbox, to his office to play Let’s Make a Deal. And Drew Houston walked away.

    Why? In the written interview for Forbes and the video above you get clued into Houston’s reasoning.

    • “He said we were a feature, not a product.” Apparently, Jobs was thinking that Dropbox would be a great feature… what is now iCloud. (Which is buggy and I’ve turned off, by the way.)
    • “We are excited about the prospect of building a really great and independent company.“

    Those two statements have great meaning if you understand how the tech industry works. In the tech ecosystem there are whales and minnows and only a few medium-sized fish in the middle. The whales go around and gobble up anything that looks tasty. If you are a minnow your goal, largely, is to get swallowed by a whale. Virtually no company survives a full life cycle from minnow start-up to medium-sized company to big great, independent company. The whales have too much money and too many lawyers. (see Patent Troll)

    While at first blush every tech start-up I’ve ever met will tell you that they are excited about their product line and would love to grow into a great company, the reality is that acquisition is probably their exit strategy. If you asked them, “Would you sell to Google?” Almost everyone will say yes because as they grow they realize a couple of things.

    • They are great entrepreneurs/inventors and not great managers of people.
    • They have a product and not a company. It might be their 4th product which hits and makes them a household name but they can’t see past the success of their first product.
    • They are starters and not sustainers. Their business model is short-sighted.
    • They want to cash out to get billions, bottles, and babes.

    What does this have to do with people in ministry?

    • If you want to build a great ministry you have to keep innovating. You can’t get so hung up on perfecting your first “product” that you stop innovating altogether and never find the thing that hits.
    • If you want to build a great ministry you have to be a great manager of people.
    • If you want to build a great ministry you have to sustain. Stop looking for a better job and make your job the best job you could ever get.
    • If you want to build a great ministry you better forget about billions, bottles, and babes.

  • Dear 2012

    Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.

    Philippians 3:13-14

    Dear 2012,

    We, the undersigned, are ready for you. 2012 will be better than 2011. Not that we’re ashamed of 2011… we just want 2012 to be different.

    Rejecting apathy – For too long we’ve been defined by our apathy. We come to church to listen and not change. We engage Scripture to learn and not make a difference. We apply biblical truth to our hearts but not our blocks. We wait for the church to do something so we can feel good about funding it. We hire experts to teach our kids because we’re too busy doing nothing important.

    Apathy will not define us in 2012. We’re done talking about what we are going to do. We are done dreaming. We are done crying about what hasn’t been done. And we won’t wait for a program to do what we can do on our block. We don’t need a tax break. We don’t need a sermon.

    2012 will be known as the year of being Good News in our Neighborhood.

    Foregoing aestheticism – Sure, we didn’t live 2011 in the desert eating locusts. But we were way more reclusive than we wanted to be. When we were home we hung out in the house or in the backyard. We spent time with our family and deepened friendships with people who aren’t on our block. We were reclusive. We were loners. We defined ourselves by how we lived and not how we impacted our community.

    This year will be different. We will be social. We will be a front porch type of neighbor. We will not just have our little circle of friends chosen by a shared hobby or faith. Instead we will choose to be different. Our relationships will be defined by proximity, not affinity. We recognize that Jesus told us to love our neighbor and we will stop trying to redefine the word neighbor to fit our comfort level. And we recognize that Jesus has us living where we live for His purpose and not our own.

    2012 will be known as the year of being Good News in our Neighborhood.

    Living as the best neighbor ever- Yeah, we saw opportunities in 2011. And we blew it. The elderly neighbor who lost her husband. The person who hired a gardner to weed because they were too busy. The latch-key-kid who sat at home all afternoon waiting for her mom to come home from work. We saw it. We heard about it. But we didn’t do a darn thing about it and we’re sick of feeling guilty.

    This year we’ll go from observer and shoulder shrugger to opportunist. Our neighbors will know that they can depend on us. We will rearrange our schedule to serve. We will stop being busy at the church so we can be the church on our block. We will know their names and they will know ours.

    2012 will be the year of our neighbors knowing we are Good News in their lives.

    And finally- We will rally others because Good News spreads fast! We will lay aside petty differences for the sake of our neighbors. We will let forgiveness and grace reign. We will become block uniters instead of block dividers.

    This year will be marked by it’s impact!

    Making 2012 count,

    [signed]

    Leave a comment to join me. Feel free to add to the letter, too. 

  • Christmas happiness

    The five McLane’s had a very simple Christmas day. 

    • Everyone slept in so we didn’t get out of bed until about 7. A huge treat!
    • As excited as the kids were to open presents they were polite and orderly about the whole thing.
    • It took Jackson exactly one gift to figure out what this was all about. He loved opening gifts!
    • Christmas was pretty low-key from a gift perspective. We’ve gone from extreme to extreme in our house. Sometimes we’ve given them only 1 gift and other years we’ve gotten them lots of gifts. This year, we gave them each a few and they seemed quite pleased. There were some things off of their lists and some surprises.
    • Speaking of gifts. While I’m a noted C.S. Lewis-hater, my kids now have a full set of the Chronicles of Narnia.
    • Megan and Paul’s “big gift” is a day trip with mom or dad. Megan is going whale watching with Kristen and I’m taking Paul out on the ocean for a day of fishing.
    • Jackson’s big red tractor was a big hit. Several times during the day we saw JT crawl over to the tractor and talk to it.
    • Kristen made a huge feast! Ham and all the fixings. My favorite.
    • For the second year in a row, we channeled our inner Brit and started Christmas dinner with crackers. We all felt quite royal eating our feast with our crowns on. (Yes, mine was pink… quite lovely.)
    • Our house rotation continues. This summer we converted our living room to an office and our dining room into a living room. Well, yesterday was our first family meal in the kitchen around the table. We even did highs/lows while we ate. Look at us– real parents!
    • Megan, Paul, and I had epic battles throughout the day with our fake nerf guns. Why is it that the cheapest gifts (stocking stuffers) end up being the most fun?
    • With Christmas on Sunday it feels like we got ripped off a day. Kristen is off from work today. But I have three projects due this week so I’m off to the office later this morning. (A website, a curriculum, and first steps on a book project)

    A Fiscally Responsible Christmas

    For the last several years Kristen and I have kept a pretty tight Christmas budget. With all the commercialization of Christmas we take great pride to see December as a month to continue our savings/budget goals. It makes me smile to know we can enjoy Christmas and continue our goals at the same time. Take that Madison Avenue! 

  • Holiday story telling rules

    There’s a pretty good chance you’ll be visiting people in the next week or so. This video is totally helpful.

    I’ve found that eye brows up and a little head bob lets the storyteller that you have a better story and to kindly shut up. I’ve also noticed that looking at your phone is the universal “Take your time, I have another 45 minutes.”

    Quickest way to get people to leave you alone so you can watch football? “What do you think about the republican primaries?”

    And if you need to kick off a storytelling fest at your next party. The line, “I bet I have a better baby puke story than you do.” Everyone has one of those stories.

  • The Incarnation

  • High schoolers passing in the night

    I volunteer with the high school ministry at my church. Each Wednesday night I help to lead a small group of high school guys. And each Sunday morning I am one of the adults trying to engage our students in some sort of meaningful conversation.

    Journey is of the size where you can successfully go for ages without ever actually talking to someone. And the high school group is much the same. I’d estimate weekly attendance to our weekend experience like this:

    • 50% regulars (They come on Sunday and Wednesday nearly every week)
    • 25% irregulars (They come on Sunday 1-3 times per month)
    • 25% who the heck are you? (They come every 6 weeks or are a one-time visitor)

    Journey is also the kind of place where you can grow as much or as little as you’d like as a leader. So we have students in many different areas of responsibility in the church. These are amazing young men and women who will make you turn your head 25 degrees to the right and say, “High schoolers can do that?”

    Sunday morning is a expression of two students passing in the night.

    • Students for whom Christ is at the center, He is changing them and they are growing fast.
    • Students whom are checking out of their relationship with Jesus. As soon as their parents allow them, they’ll not come back.

    It’s this sad-hopeful spot in which I sit each Sunday. Both students are on a journey– hopefully towards Christ. One is taking the more direct, obvious and measurable path, while the other is from Missouri, the Show Me State. They may re-engage later in life. But until they have the opportunity to check some things out they aren’t ready to give their lives to this thing.

    I can see the unexpressed frustration on both ends of the spectrum. Those who are growing are looking at their peers and thinking, “When are you going to wake up?” And those who are looking to check out are thinking, “Why don’t you just shut up so I can get out of here?” It sometimes gets expressed through passive-aggression but it is most-often unspoken.

    But it’s that tension, two students passing in opposite directions, which you can feel in our high school ministry.

    Earlier in my ministry career I freaked out about this. I might have thought it was something we could correct. And I certainly would have thought it was something we needed to directly address. But as I’ve gotten a bit older (maybe wiser) I’ve learned that both types of students are on the same spiritual journey. Little I say and do can effect either of the groups. In the end, being loving and supportive and listening and respectful of their story is going to make way more impact.

    Question: Do you see this same phenomenon in your ministry? Are you actively addressing it or passively observing it?

  • Good News Spreads FAST

    I sit in a funny place sometimes. Meeting with a church leader or talking to a passive Christian, they will tell me that they are too busy or too engrained to change.

    As if reaching 10% or less of their community isn’t an emergency? Like, I don’t care what your theological position is on hell. But we, as Christians, believe to the core of our being that a life with Jesus is better than a life without him, right?

    It’s an emergency! You need to stop what you are doing today and re-evaluate. [Insert red, flashing lights!]

    The crux of their pushback is always the same: I don’t have time to do the things you are saying I need to do. (Be Good News in the neighborhood, on my block, at my school, or at my job.)

    That’s what you don’t understand: Good News spreads fast. Good News spreads faster than your program. It grows faster than your church. It outgrows your budgets. The reason you aren’t growing has nothing to do with your words and everything to do with what you do with your day.

    3 examples from yesterday…

    1. I wrote a blog post praising my experience of Good News from Southwest Airlines. They blessed me and I publicly thanked them. A short post I wrote over breakfast was picked up on their corporate blog and then shared on their Twitter feed to 1.2 million followers. Bam! That’s fast.
    2. I wrote a post a few weeks ago about gifts for geeks at Christmas. Last week I got an email from a producer of a BBC show in Ecuador asking me to be on their show. Yesterday, I got to appear on this show… in Ecuador… to talk about Christmas gifts for geeks and invite their listeners to my blog. That’s fast!
    3. Last year, Kristen and I watched our neighbors dogs so they could visit family on the East Coast at Christmas. This year we get to do it again. Now we are getting known on our block as the neighbors who are happy to do favors. That’s Good News spreading fast!

    Is it that we’re doing something special or that God is blessing us in a way no one else can be blessed? Absolutely not. It’s just one simple thing lived out in three different ways.

    Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

    Colossians 4:5