Category: hmm… thoughts

  • No More Wimpy Church

    Alright, this is pretty funny and cool. Mark Driscoll is the teaching pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA and the founder of Acts 29 church plant movement. What’s interesting to me is that he’s not alone in this sentiment. There are a lot of people asking "the church" to get more masculine. I went to a session at NYWC in Cincinnati last fall essentially saying the same thing about youth ministry… How do you think you’re going to attract young men? By doing stuff that would get them labeled as gay? I don’t think so.

    question: For those who go to church… do you agree with Mark’s sentiment that we tend to make church for chicks? If so, what can we do to change that? If you don’t think so, how come?
    HT to Bobby Williams (aka B Dub)

  • Forbidden Blizzard

    I don’t know if I’ve properly talked about my addiction to Mynameisbill.com. But it’s fascinating to see this filmmaker make his way around the globe and video blog his experiences. Today’s installment is unreal. To think of being able to get Starbucks and even DQ in the once forbidden city.

  • Steve Jobs on Youth Ministry

    Saw this over at Tim Schmoyer’s site, thought it applied to more than youth ministry… what do you think?

  • My only iPhone post this month

    Iphone_and_jobs
    I promise to not talk too much about the iPhone. It’s got some pluses and minuses. And the simple fact is that while I would love one if it were free, I will never make enough money to justify getting one. (Unless it were for resale alone.) That said, I do know one person in my life who is desperate to get one. He will remain nameless. Wink wink.

    Here’s a funny iPhone diary that came from the New York Times. Yes, the New York Times did something funny. Write that down.

    Seth Godin has an excellent post on how Verizon screwed up the marketing of the iPhone release as well as what they should have done. I like the fact that Seth isn’t just smart enough to articulate why a marketing campaign sucks, he also takes the time to let Verizon know how they should have turned this into a positive.

    Here’s the best argument I can make against lining up to buy a $600 cell phone:
    – I already have a smartphone that I like. It’s too big, but so is the iPhone
    – I already have an iPod nano that I like. It’s not like I want my big old phone strapped around my neck when I’m moving the lawn!
    – I already have a laptop. It’s not like I could use the iPhone to do web administration or open up PhotoShop or upload via an FTP client to my web server.

    With those 3 factors, there is no sensible reason to get a phone like that.     I do predict that it will be good for Apple and it will be good for the cell phone industry. But in 12 months, AT&T will still suck because they always have.
    I also predict that the first generation iPhone will look like a massive brick in 12 months compared to the new, smaller, colored iPhone to come up Christmas 2008.

    That said, when people do buy the iPhone and it breaks. I suggest sending it to PodDrop and not Apple. You’ll get faster service and it’ll be reasonable… and it’ll get done faster.

    HT to Billy for the video

  • QUESTION: mediocrity vs. excellence

    What’s the difference between the two?

    Isn’t the difference between the two a matter of perspective?

    What if my mediocrity was the most excellent thing someone has ever seen? Would it be excellent or mediocre?

    What if my excellent is considered mediocre by someone?

    Since I’m a perfectionist, is there ever excellence? Couldn’t I get to "most excellence?"

    What if mediocre is the best I can do?

    Isn’t striving for excellence in all areas really leading to mediocrity?

    What if I can’t be excellent at anything, is my value diminished?

    Can an excellent plan produce mediocre results? What about visa versa?

    What are synonyms of excellence and mediocrity?

    Is it arrogant to think I am excellent? Why isn’t it arrogant to say I’m mediocre?

    When I hear nebula terms like "excellence" and "mediocrity" I am left with more questions than answers.

    (more…)

  • Exclusivity in the church

    There has been a quiet, yet interesting discussion going on behind the scenes at YMX. It revolves around a very touchy issue for us: Are all people invited to join the site, or is it exclusive to a certain type of person?

    Exclusivity in anything labeled "Christian" automatically makes people nervous.     To one extreme some feel like since salvation is free and open to all, that most parts of Christianity and the church ought to be accessible to all as well. To the other extreme, some feel like there should be private areas of Christianity that allow for frank discussion away from the eyes and misunderstanding of those outside of Christianity, and in YMX’s case… outside of youth ministry altogether. (The reality is that the discussion is clearly in the middle of these extremes as no one is to one extreme or the other.

    (more…)

  • Two odd but true internet rumors

    There are two oddities floating around the internet. Both are completely real and both make us all laugh a little and scratch our heads.

    Exhibit A: Ted Nugent and David Crowder Band team up for their next album, Remedy.

    Exhibit B: Someone snagged this picture of Snoop Dogg reading an Andy Stanley book.
    Snoop

  • When the rain comes

    Rain
    It’s been exceedingly dry here in Romeo for close to 3 weeks. On the one hand everyone loves nice weather. It was hot all day and cooled down at night. But it was starting to look drought-like around here. Grass was turning brown. Dirt was cracking. Plants withered. It was time for some rain.

    This morning we woke up to darkness and a cool breeze. I can’t tell you how refreshing the damp air of rain is after a long spell of dryness. It’s a breath of fresh air. No… it’s better than that. I’m struggling to find the right comparison.

    It’s like ______________.

    p.s. If you haven’t been to weather.com and seen their new interactive map…. you should check it out. You can pretty much zoom down to see the weather on your block.

  • YMX Investment Club

    Invest
    It’s no secret that I think Kiva.org is super cool. The idea of little people like me giving microloans to people in developing countries so that they can improve their business… that just rocks.

    A few months back we started talking at YMX about forming an investment club. Not the type of investment club that invests money in stock… but an investment club that seeks to help people in developing countries get ahead.

    So today the investing began. Here’s our homepage and here is our Kiva portfolio. Any YMX member can join… send me an email and ask me how.

    Not a YMX member and interested in starting an investment club with Kiva? Shoot me an email!

  • New stuff is in the air

    There must be something in the summer air that has got me going… but there are all sorts of things swirling around my head.

    Sometimes I pray "stupid prayers" to God. I asked Him to take what I’m doing and blow it up for you. Maybe that meant "destroy" or maybe that meant "make it cooler than I can imagine." But He’s God and He is in the process of blowing some stuff up in my life.

    Let me narrow it to two categories.

    1. Light Force. I’m not satisfied that we are missing close to 3100 students from the schools we’re supposedly trying to reach. I’ve been praying about that a lot lately and seeking Godly counsel. I’ve come to a simple conclusion that flows directly out of what I taught for the last 28 weeks in Acts. We need to get busy spreading God’s virus in a dead and dying world without Christ. All that to say… in the coming weeks I plan on exploring a lot and meeting with a lot of people to talk about developing a new "foyer" environment for 7-12th graders in Romeo.
    2. Website-o-rific. Holy cow… I’ve made a lot of websites in the last few weeks. Most of them are still "shells" for what is to come. In the coming weeks I’ll be completely moving all of the churches sites/subdomains from fbcromeo.org to romeochurch.com. In the process of doing that I’m launching several brand new additions to the church’s family of sites. So there will be loads of cool new things to look at as we develop sites for our leadership teams, kids ministry, student ministry, young adult ministry, married couples ministry, and even our main church site. Holy cow… that’s a lot!

    As I  reflect back on 6 weeks ago… I was completely worn out and exhausted. I’m praising God that with a little rest and time away, I’m feeling charged back up… more creative and carefree than ever.

    God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
       his merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
    They’re created new every morning.
       How great your faithfulness!
    I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
       He’s all I’ve got left.

    God proves to be good to the man who passionately waits,
       to the woman who diligently seeks.
    It’s a good thing to quietly hope,
       quietly hope for help from God.
    It’s a good thing when you’re young
       to stick it out through the hard times. Lamentations 3 (The Message)