Category: hmm… thoughts

  • Fighting the Elongation of Adolescence

    As long as I’ve studied adolescents and been doing youth ministry I’ve heard talk of "the elongation of adolescence."

    That’s a fancy sociology term for saying, Kids grow up slow these days. Not all kids, but most, are being more dependent on their parents longer.

    A Quick Disclaimer: This has more to do with books and articles I am reading than individuals I know.

    Some causes

    • Parents don’t want their kids to grow up. They don’t enter adolescence with Bill Cosby’s goal of kicking them out… so they never raise adolescents to move out.
    • Kids are happy to accept luxuries without paying for it. It sickens me that parents just foot the bill for adult children. (By adult, I mean those who are old enough to live on their own and pay their own way.) They pay for their college, they give them spending money, they give them a cell phone, pay for their car, feed them, clothe them, and basically treat them like royalty. Honestly… why would you move out if you are waited on hand and foot? Think of all the free stuff you would lose if you moved out!
    • Parents are too nice. Just so we are clear… parents are not under obligation (Legally, morally, or spiritually) to provide for their children indefinitely! It’s not doing your children a favor to tell them "just concentrate on school and I’ll take care of the rest." The result is an unemployable and lazy, overeducated child who will live in your house and sponge off of you until you die. Imagine the interview of your adult child when they are a fresh graduate from college! "I‘ve never worked, I can’t do my own laundry, and I don’t really need this job because everything will be OK. My parents will make sure I don’t starve, they’ll buy me clothes, pay my bills, pay my car insurance, let me live rent free, and even give me money to go on vacation." Would you hire this person? I wouldn’t. I want to hire people who are hungry to work hard and have demonstrated hard work.
    • There is no allure of marriage. Think about it. Why get married? Take away the sex and companionship… and there is no reason for a young adult to get married anytime soon.
    • No urgency to grow up. No one expects an 18-19 year old to be an adult. We become shocked when 18-19 year olds want to act like adults! We even freak out a bit about it, don’t we? It’s a self-fulfilling prophesy.

    Some possible solutions

    (more…)

  • Draught

    How come no one wants to use this term? The Romeo area has to be more than 6 inches behind on rain. People who haven’t watered their lawn are now experiencing dormancy and people who do water are having to do so nearly daily.

    How come no one wants to use the word drought? I’ve not heard it on the news or anywhere. How come Al Gore isn’t marching around telling everyone it’s the result of global warming? How come some idiot isn’t on the God channel telling everyone it’s the result of too many gays in Michigan?

    Obviously, this isn’t NorCal and we’re used to getting regular rain showers in the summertime.

    Growing up in Indiana I remember the farmers and all locals talking every year about too much rain or too little rain. They were quick to use terms to label the season. But around here, I talked to one farmer who is excited there isn’t much rain. "Less grass to cut" he told me.

    Huh.

  • 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.