Category: hmm… thoughts

  • Youth Worker Book of Hope ON SALE NOW!

    At work today Mandy handed me an envelope from Zondervan. Holding it, I could feel a lump in it. As I opened it I joked to myself, “Geez, are they paying me in cash these days?” To my delight it was not a bundle of cash, it was my copy of The Youth Worker Book of Hope.

    Out of pure selfishness, I flipped to the table of contents and scanned for my chapter. Sure enough, on page 99 my name is in black and white. For a blogger that is a funny thing to see. I’m used to seeing my name on a computer screen… but printed in a book was a tactile experience I wasn’t quite prepared for. It was emotional and fun. I then dutifully read my chapter as if I hadn’t read it like 20 times before.

    When this project was originally pitched to me I was literally and figuratively thousands of miles from working at YS. As I’ve blogged about before I didn’t have a strong desire to be a part of a book project. When I walk into a bookstore I love seeing books written by people I know, but for whatever reason I’ve never had a strong desire to walk into a bookstore and find a title with my name on it. While my default answer about any book is always “no,” this project was on a topic near and dear to me– encouraging youth workers faced with crisis. That’s what my chapter is about… how do you handle a crisis in leadership in youth ministry. My working title was “what do you do when the crap hits the fan?” How do you deal with being dealt a bad deck of cards as a leader? I’ve been dealt some fun cards… and I jumped on board with this project because I felt like I had a thing or two to help others.

    Of course, the book isn’t about me. It’s about hope. There are lots of chapters and lots of authors sharing stories of how they found hope in hopeless situations. In that regard I think the book appeals to everyone, even people who don’t work at churches. That’s why I want to encourage you to buy the book. (Like right now! It’s only $11.04, you can do it.) It’s the type of book you want to have on your bookshelf for when hard times hit. It’s the type of book you’ll want to hand to a discouraged friend. It’s the type of book you may even want to come back to. Or even reach out and connect with an author.

    Youth Worker Book of Hope

  • Facebook Morphs Blogging Again

    adam-head-09-100px-squareBlogging, by very nature, is a fluid art. Just a few years ago I thought I was pretty slick because I could journal on my computer using Microsoft Word. Flash forward a few years, to around 2000, and I learned that I could take those Word documents and convert them to webpages. It was cumbersome and I didn’t do it very often… but it was awesome. Then Blogger.com took “the web log” out of the hands of the HTML king and made blogging accessible to just about anyone willing to give it a shot. I was fasinated that I could link to friends blogs and that we could leave comments for one anothers posts. A few years later, 2005-2006 and Typepad and WordPress suddenly made it possible for blogs to live on their own domain easily.

    In 2007-2008, blogging became all about search and syndication. I started seeing my stats level off while I could tell my reach greatly extended. RSS (really simple syndication) made my content portable and SEO (search engine optimization) got my blog noticed high in Google search results.

    facebook2009 has seen blogging morph again. Facebook’s power in the adult demographic has brought blog syndication to a whole new level. Now my posts appear on my Facebook friend’s timeline, so a whole new audience of people has been added to the pool of people who read my blog. When they comment that ends up on their friends timeline, which greatly expands the pool of people reading and commenting on my stuff. (Though there isn’t yet a matrix for this so that’s a bit frustrating.) In the past few months I’ve run into tons of people who read my blog and I have no idea who they are or how they got here… but it’s awesome!

    More noticeably, in the past few months I’ve noticed a steep uptick in folks who read my blog posts exclusively on Facebook and comment there as well. Often times, I’m left with a post which generates two separate conversations. Which is really cool! On top of that, Twitter has further expanded my blogs discussion and reach. While there is some overlap, Twitter is mostly a different audience for my content.

    Wagon_WheelGoing forward, adammclane.com is now and will continue to be the hub of my online presence. It feeds RSS, search results, Facebook, and Twitter. I think of the personal blog as the engine that powers everything else. That said, my recommendation for beginners has begun to morph. You can certainly do the same thing with a WordPress.com blog (free) or even a Facebook account.

    And since I know about 75% of the people who are reading this post will never make it to adammclane.com, here are some ways we can connect. We can be Facebook friends. You can follow me on Twitter. We can pool links on delicious. You can be a contact on Flickr. You can subscribe to my blog via RSS. But you can’t be my Myspace friend. That’s so 2005.

  • How Much is a Trillion?

    HT to Mint.

  • Big God Theory

    Divide-and-conquerI’m not ashamed of my conservative roots. I am a proud graduate of Moody Bible Institute. Yes, it is a Bible school with a dress code, code of conduct which prevented all sorts of fun, they even make their graduates sign a doctrinal statement. A big crazy one, too. I think most would label my theological positions somewhere between “conservative” and “very conservative.” I hold to the inerrancy of Scripture. I believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. I believe that in order to walk with Jesus one must make a personal decision for Jesus. I even believe in a 6 day creation. I’m pretty stinking conservative theologically and I’m proud of that.

    But there are practices from within my tribe I’m not proud to associate myself with. And most of them can be boiled down to a little God theory of the world.

    Little God theory [I made this term up] is the belief that people are only “truly Christian” if they happen to agree with your views of God, church, Jesus, and how you worship.

    I remember Ray Pritchard illustrating this with a joke when we attended his church in the Chicago area:

    A man is driving across a bridge late one night when he comes upon another man standing on top of the railing of the bridge, positioned to commit suicide. He stops his car and cautiously walks up to the man. “Mister, I don’t know what’s happened in your life but I can promise you that whatever it is, killing yourself won’t fix anything.” He proceeds, “Sir, do you believe in God?” The man replies, “Why yes, in fact I

    am a deacon in a Lutheran church.” Amazed, he replies “Well, me too! Tell me, what synod of the Lutheran Church are you a deacon in?” The man on the ledge says, “I’m a lifelong member of the Missiori synod, how about you?” Angered by this reply, the Good Samaritan lunges forward and pushes the man off the ledge. As the man plunges to his death the man shouts, “You heretic, there is only one true synod… the Wisconsin synod of the Lutheran Church!”

    That story illustrates just how silly a small God theory is in the hands of a mighty, sovereign God. Small God theory is willing to separate over things that aren’t that big of a deal. Music, methodology, gray areas, etc. Small God theory elevates minor things to major thing status. It takes these things and blows them out of proportion. It assumes that people who don’t like bluegrass/hip hop worship can’t possibly worship the same God as those who live for it. It assumes that people who want to have an altar call before you get your food at Chick-fil-a couldn’t possibly fellowship with people who aren’t sure if altar calls are ever appropriate. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there are people who just don’t think they can worship with those crazy skim milk fans. Small God theory can’t get over the 2% difference between two groups of people… that 2% really, really matters! [Just wait, someone will leave a comment about that 2%, what if it’s ___.] From that reasoning they can justify building a church across the street. This separation thing is one of the hallmarks of being protestant, isn’t it? We love to take our 2% ball and go somewhere else!

    bridge-jumpI’m a big God theory dude. The way I see it, God’s love is super big-wide-deep-tall for His people. He has created some people to speak in tongues, some who hate tongues speaking folks, some who like gangsta rap worship and some who like to chant in church. I think God loves the diversity of His body. I see Jesus as a loving groom who greatly enjoys His funky, off-the-wall bride. We speak all languages, worship in thousands of fashions, have theological views which clash and clang against one another, but together are wildly in love with the groom… big eye shadow and all. I don’t even have a huge problem with my small God theory cousins. They just add that little spice that keeps the party interesting.

    To be honest, I’m longing to find friends who enjoy the big God theory ecclecticism. I’m happy to make friends who shrug their shoulders at differences– even significant ones– yet rally around a love for Jesus. And when those small God theory folks call me names– I get a kick out of that too. Everyone has a know it all relative, don’t they?

  • Does the church love my child?

    This video is from the blog of Andrew Marin. If you haven’t read his book, Love is an Orientation… shame on you!

  • Butt Call Etiquette

    butt-call

    As someone with an “A” name I get a fair number of butt calls. What is a butt call? A butt call happens when someone forgets to lock the keypad on their phone and unintentionally calls someone when the phone is placed into a pocket, jacket, purse, or the like. Since “Adam” happens to land as the first contact on a lot of people’s phones I tend to get a lot of these.

    It’s happened three times in the past 24 hours. I find it comes and goes. Typically, it’ll happen with the same person in a string… especially when someone gets a new phone.

    Most often I screen my calls. (Especially if someone is a notorious butt caller. You know who you are.) So this means I end up with lengthy and fun voice mail. They sound a lot like testimony tapes from an FBI wiretap. Muffled, unclear, scratchy. They sound a lot like the Watergate tapes. Almost all of the time I listen for about 5 seconds and then delete it. But lately I’ve been thinking it would be fun to remix them or mash them up into a dance mix.

    What is the proper etiquette when you discover you have butt called someone?

    1. Ignore the problem. It really isn’t a big deal. People like me are used to it. Think of me as your accountability partner.

    2. Apologize. If you know you were probably talking mad crap about the person when you butt called them, you might want to clean up that mess. Chances are they have saved that message.

    3. Fix the problem. Every single cell phone has a screen lock. Get used to using it. Check your cell phone bill. If your pocket has been calling the same person 4-5 times per day you can fix this problem by modifying your behavior. Make the first contact on your phone “911” and I guarantee you’ll get used to using the screen lock by the time the paramedics leave your house for the third false alarm.

    4. Talk louder. If your purse is going to call me, speak up for crying out loud so I can mock you better! If you are in your car and you want to crank up some REO Speedwagon while your pocket calls someone… you’ve got to make it more entertaining. Sing loudly in your car.

  • How to fart in public

    There is actual value in this below. I mean, if you work with students at some point you’re going to be in a van way too long and need to release some pressure.


    How To Fart In Public –

    HT to an unnamed co-worker

  • Beat up by my elderly neighbor

    This story rocks. It’s living proof that you can’t judge a book by its cover. Apparently, this 24 year old man thought he could intimidate his elderly neighbor. Instead he got the beating of his life.

    05_Flatbed_1 - JUNEGregory McCalium, 24, was left with severe facial wounds after the knife-wielding thug attempted to rob his elderly neighbor in tBotley near Oxford, England, Britain‘s SkyNews reported. The would-be burglar broke into the home of Frank Corti last Aug. 19 – without realizing the 72-year-old was a retired boxer.

    A mug shot released by the Thames Valley Police reveals the results after Corti disarmed his attacker, let loose with two punches to the face and restrained McCalium until the police arrived on the scene.

    On Tuesday, McCalium was sentenced to a 4 1/2-year sentence for the crime. link

    Please tell me this will be made into a movie? Rocky 10?

    HT to Boing Boing

  • Two views of the local church

    church-views

    There are two sides to every coin, aren’t there? I’ve had this post stuck in my head for several weeks– and I think the illustration says it all.

    Church leaders: Complacency sneaks in. We surround ourselves with people who go to church. We spend a lot of our time at the church. Our perspective becomes that the community revolves around activities at the church. Pretty soon we become ambivelent about the neighborhood we live in. Our schedule is defined on what’s convenient to those who come to church. Our agenda becomes to serve them.

    We perceive our ministry as a “city on a hill” when in fact the people living in our neighborhood are completely unaware of our existence. Before we know it, we are so comfortable with our programs, budgets, staff, and people who come to church we forget reality.

    The reality is that in most communities about 5% of the population attends a church. And yet we are comforable with that. Go ahead do the math yourself. Spend 30 minutes calling every church in your community and get actual attendence numbers. Next, simply divide that number by the population of your community. In most places that number is 5% or less of people who attend church on any given weekend. And we all know that just because someone attends church on Sunday doesn’t mean they are Christians, right?

    Why not take some time to get to know how 95% of the population views your church? Think of it like this. Count the next 20 cars that drive past your house. Only the 20th car will attend a church this weekend. In the illustration above there are 18 houses in view of that church. And none of them will attend that church this weekend. If your theology is like mine, you recognize that Jesus died for all 20 of the people in those cars and all 18 of the people who live in those houses. But who is our ministry serving? The 5% who show up. Most of our money and time is spent serving Jesus from the perspective of the 5% and not the 95%.

    That perspective should change things. 1 in 20 people will attend church this weekend. Any church. Even that church that is so bad you won’t even meet with the pastor to pray.

    I’m speaking to you out of deep gratitude for all that God has given me, and especially as I have responsibilities in relation to you. Living then, as every one of you does, in pure grace, it’s important that you not misinterpret yourselves as people who are bringing this goodness to God. No, God brings it all to you. The only accurate way to understand ourselves is by what God is and by what he does for us, not by what we are and what we do for him. Romans 12:3, The Message

    And yet church leaders reassure themselves that numbers don’t matter! This is the state of the church and people say we don’t need to fundamentally change how we do ministry. We worry about offending the 5%. We worry about changing too much too fast while our sworn enemy puts up victory statues all over. We follow leaders who look at this reality, shrug their shoulders, and move on with their lives. We go to denominiational meetings which agree to spend more money on organizations which are smaller every year. In short, we invest all of our time and energy in a broken model.

    And then when someone really breaks through. And that community reaches 6% of the population so we flock to hear how they did it? Got a book? Teach a seminar? Our perspective is jacked up, isn’t it?

    New leaders are needed. I dream of church leaders coming to the forefront who are drastically interested in the 95%. I long to surround myself with leaders who keep the 5% in perspective. We celebrate those lives changed! But I want to be with men and women who think differently. Where are the leaders who look at those 5% as just the beginning? Where are the people who recognize that a model cannot be built around an individuals talents? Where are the leaders who know they need to start a swarming movement?

    Point me to those people. I am tired of those who are satisfied with the failure of 5%.

  • Thanks for missing me

    This morning I got quite a few emails, texts, tweets, and Facebook messages asking me about the status of my blog. It was really nice to be missed!

    Never fear, all is well. I had some nasty server issues which caused the host to temporarily shut off the account until I could sort it out. I’m sure I’ll write a little about my theory of mass acceptence of technology and the decrease of customer service in correlation to the meltdown I’ve watched happen at BlueHost. The bigger they get the more like AT&T they become.

    Speaking of which, in the middle of all of that Cox Cable decided that I didn’t need internet access.