Month: January 2008

  • Secure Homepage: I’d pay money to use it

    igoogleI love iGoogle. It is a homepage that is extremely functional for me as I use it to manage everything from my work tasks to my blog feeds to my Jon Stewart quotes.

    And yet it lacks the one thing I really want. I am left dreaming of a homepage that offers these things, plus some more things that I look at all the time. I would love to have more powerful Google homepage. In fact, if another company could develop what I am looking for I’d actually switch my homepage to another service.

    I want a homepage that offers both my typical stuff I have today and secure information. I want to go to my homepage and see my bank account balance, IRA portfolio, AdSense earnings, status of my Amazon.com orders, my PayPal balance, and just about anything else I want to turn into a widget.  And I expect it to be secure.

    I’m a big boy. I can handle the power. Would someone please develop this?

  • You Matter

    you matter to GodYesterday we kicked off a series of articles at YMX. Let me tell you why I’m excited about this series. It is practical, between the eyes, encouragement to youth workers.

    One of the main goals of YMX is to be an encouragement to the Youth Ministry community. So I have been asking our forum moderators and a few other folks to write brief notes of encouragement to the community called “You Matter.”

    (more…)

  • Derek Webb: Is he right about Chrisitan Art?

    Check out this video. In it Derek Webb says that the Christian market talks about 2% of life while ignoring the 98% of “stuff” in the real world.

    What do you think? Should more Christian art reflect the themes Derek mentions?

  • You Kill Me: A Good Date movie

    you kill meLast night Kristen said the following words, “I got a movie.” Now, in our house this could be good or it could be bad. Lately it hasn’t been that great. (Shrek 3 last week, yuck!)  So when I looked at the cover of this movie, You Kill Me, and realized I had never heard of any of the actors or the movie itself, I figured I was in for a long night.

    I was wrong. The movie was worth watching. Starring Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley as an alcoholic mafia hitman sent to San Fransisco for rehab. In the course of his rehab he gets asked to do some funny things, gets paired with a gay guy at AA, and falls in love.

    The only thing I can really compare this movie to would be “So I Married an Ax Murderer.” To be fair, it wasn’t a slap stick silly as that. But it was as absurdly funny as the Mike Myers classic.

    Best part. If you live in Romeo, you can watch this flick for free. It’s available at the library.

  • The Academy Award goes to…

    academy awardBoth of our children take after me with their dramatic abilities. While I do my best to limit my dramatic presentations to the stage, the kids stage is their life.

    Here are 2 quick examples of Paul’s acting abilities from the past 36 hours.  

    1. Paul was too tired to walk upstairs. So he let his legs go limp and collapsed on the floor.
    2. He was having a tantrum after we put him in bed. When I went up there he had his hand covering his forehead. He told me his forehead hurt and he wasn’t sure I could fix his problem. When I tried to lift his hand up to see what he was talking about… his whole body came with his hand. As I moved side to side, he moved with his hand.

    Of course, Megan is an equally good actress. I’ll have to remember to document her roles. She has an amazing ability to turn the tears on and off on a moments notice.

  • Everyone loves the drums

    This is proof. From 1 years old to 100 years old. Everyone loves the drums.

    HT to Boing Boing

  • The Google Fridge

    google fridgeSometimes you see something and you think, “Can that be true?“ Apparently Google rewarded some of their bigger advertisers with this little dandy of a logo item. It’s a mini-fridge. Actually it is so cool that it both cools and warms things depending on your preference. Also, it comes with a car connector for using it on the road.

    I can’t lie. I want one. I use Google docs. Google’s homepage, iGoogle. I use Adwords and Adsense. I use Analytics. I use Feedburner. I use their search engine. I use their mobile apps. Essentially, I am a Google-phened webdork. And I think the Google Fridge would compliment the rest of my Google stuff.

    So what would I do if I had a Google Fridge?
    I’d proudly display it in my office. I don’t truly have a need for it. But as the standing internet guy on our staff, I’d like to display it so that I can solidify my status permanently. I just plain want the thing.

    And I started thinking about the other ad companies and wondered what they are giving high rollers? What would it take for me to display one of their promo items in my office? I mean, I do have standards. So how much of a freebie would it take for me to take the ribbing of having their products in my office? I mean, I can be bought… so here’s what it would take. (You can see how much I like these companies.)

    1. Yahoo! Plasma TV… I’d put that up.
    2. Linkshare MacBook Pro… sure.
    3. Amazon Associates digital photo frame… I’d rock that.
    4. Auctionads Bose… OK, I’d do it for that.
    5. Microsoft adCenter Toyota Prius… only if it were dark when I came to work.

    What about you? When it comes to freebies, what are your standards?

  • Recovery time

    Last night was a hit. I’m not sure how what we did couldn’t be a hit, but it was a hit. Also important is that it was a true foyer event in that our students brought some friends. That is fantastic!

    The momentum continues to build and I am excited about that. I hope we’ve turned a corner.

  • thump thump

    I am 31 years old. I have done youth ministry, pretty much, since I graduated from High School.

    And I still get jazzed about an all-nighter. I am pumped to hear that many of our students are not only coming but bringing friends.

    In 30 minutes doors open. I’m ready. I hope they are.

  • YMX: Something on the side

    We are youOver the last few weeks I’ve had several people ask me about Youth Ministry Exchange. I don’t mean people from the community, I mean people from Romeo.

    So here is the scoop.
    Back in November-December 2005, I created a website with some friends of mine. It’s an online community for people like me… people who do youth ministry vocationally or as volunteers. Feel free to check it out, I’ve got nothing to hide.

    What, were you bored?
    Nope,just crazy. We just set out to meet a relevant need. From there God has blessed it and it’s taken off. In a lot of ways it’s taken a life of its own.

    So it’s a place where people vent about their jobs or waste time at work?
    While there is always that kind of thing at any online community (facebook, myspace, etc) there is actually very little of that. Most of what I participate in is practical advice, encouragement, and that kind of thing for people working/volunteering with youth groups like ours. I know for me personally, I don’t go to the site much during the day at all… well, unless I need advice on something at work! Like… I need an event and I’m looking for something cool… got any ideas?

    What about all these other websites?
    If you look on my sidebar to the right you’ll see a bunch of other websites that YMX owns. These are “sub-sites” that operate within the youth ministry genre but to a slightly different audience within youth ministry.

    I heard you do web design “on the side,” is that true?
    Yes and no. I do all of the church’s sites and all of YMX’s sites. But I’m not a professional web designer by trade so I always feel uncomfortable building other people’s sites. So, if you’ve got a project… just understand that as much as I like you… if it’s not for the church I’ll have to charge you and I’ll have to do it outside of my “work hours” at church or on a day off. Hints, discussion, advice are always plentiful and free!

    Is it profitable?
    This is the question that every person from the church wants to ask but is afraid to! Yes and no. Yes the site generates revenue and pays for itself. No, I don’t take a salary from the site. We simply reinvest profits into growing the site. Kristen and I are in it because we want to encourage other people…

    Are you a solo act on this thing?
    Nope. Never! Yuck. Boring. I have a great business partner. Also, I have an incredible group of moderators who oversee the “heavy lifting” part of the company, the forums. (1300 members and growing every day) The other thing we are getting known for is our youth ministry content. All of the credit for that goes to our managing editor. Seriously, Amy is awesome.

    Is the goal for this website to become your job and for you to stop being a pastor at Romeo?
    Not at all. The aim of the website was always to encourage other youth workers. I am more passionate about reaching this amazing generation of students here in Romeo than ever. As Kristen and I like to say… we have 28 years left on our mortgage so we intend on being here for a long time. We don’t know the future. Really, YMX is the result of responding the Holy Spirit’s prompting. Just like I love building into the lives of Romeo’s students, for some reason the Holy Spirit is directing us to build into the lives of youth workers around the country. The church is always #3 in my life. And YMX is generally a distant #4 or #5.