• NYWC: What’s More Awesome Than a Bacon-filled Banana?

    The news: Today is the last day to register for NYWC San Diego for Super Early Bird prices.

    Bacon and flutophones?  The brainstorm session for this video was a blast. Ian, Tic, and I kicked around a thousand ideas around the concept of “What would be MORE AWESOME?”

    The shoot: This video was shot all around our office in El Cajon. Literally all around. As Ian set-up and moved lights all around the office to get lighting set, Tic got more and more creative. I stepped out for a phone call with Mark Matlock, came back, and Tic was riding my bike around the office. Hilarious. 

    But wait… there’s more. (Videos that is. Coming in a few weeks.)

  • The Trampoline Effect

    Myth: It matters who you know.

    I couldn’t be more of a nobody. When I showed up as a 17 year old kid on the campus of Moody Bible Institute I couldn’t have been more aware that I’d stepped into a world I knew nothing about, knew not a soul, and had no claim to anything.

    As I met people, they referenced relationships to people I’d never heard of. Famous pastors. Famous parents. Famous books. Famous and important allegiances that would take them far in life.

    Years later I learned that some of my early ministry job references were telling people that my biggest obstacle to a ministry career was that I didn’t come from a ministry family. “He’s a nice guy, but didn’t grow up in a ministry setting, so he can’t possibly ever be that effective.”

    Huh…. Really? 

    17 years later I can look up many of those people on Facebook and quickly learn that knowing all the right people and kissing all of the right rings hasn’t gotten them very far in life.

    Why is that? Because it doesn’t really matter who you know. That’s just a lie told by people in power to make you think you’re a nothing. 

    Your Secret to Success

    The Trampoline Effect: Who you don’t know isn’t nearly as important as what you do with who you do know.

    Give me a handful of friends who want to help one another and we’ll do 10000% more in a month than a pile of well-connected, entitlement fat, whiners who think the world owes them their next paycheck.

    It’s simple physics. 

    Potential Energy = 0 Impact

    If you’re a nobody like me. If you’re like me and your family lineage looks more like a bush than a tree. If your track record includes some famous failures. If you have dreams bigger than your budget or zip code. If you woke up this morning and realized that you have no more tricks in your bag.

    Than the Trampoline Effect is good news to you. Having the right friends is nice. But it isn’t the difference between success and failure! I’m living proof.

    Get together with a couple friends and show the world what you can do. 

    Kinetic Energy = Massive Impact

  • Behind the Scenes on this Year’s Top 20 List

    Today I published the YS list of top 20 bloggers in youth ministry. It’s the second year for publishing it (third year I’ve done it) and I’m really pleased with how it turned out.

    I thought it’d be cool to pass along some notes from the process:

    • Overall, there was exceptional growth this year. In 2010, the YS Blog was the clear #1. Statistically, it was well ahead of the pack. This year that same blog came in at #5. What happened is that the YS Blog was largely flat in growth, lost its lead, then got passed by 4 blogs to drop it to #5.
    • There were a few new entries to the top 20. Kenda Creasy Dean, Greg Stier, Terrace Crawford, Rethinking Youth Ministry, and Doug Fields are all new to the list in 2011.
    • At quick glance, you’ll notice few women, which continues to baffle me. With what I index, there is a ratio of 5 men for every female youth ministry blogger. What’s weird about that is that the field is typically evenly split with 50% men and 50% women. For now, Kenda Creasy Dean and Kara Powell (Fuller Youth Institute) are our female bloggers. (Kara does about half the blogging for FYI, Brad Griffin does the other half.)
    • Looking at the rankings with a 3 year lens, I’m actually pleased with how the formula works. It’s 66% publicly available stats and 33% an influence ranking. (Who knows where that other 1% goes!) If you’ll look year over year over year, it’s cool that there aren’t wild fluctuations.
    • This list is pretty democratic. I’ll index anyone whose blog is on youth ministry, is active, (posted in the last 60 days) and has some statistical value. (Like… more that 25 readers per day top get into the top 100.)
    • Unlike last year, where we saw a HUGE drop off between #5 and #6, there is no dropoff in the composite ranking. There’s no drop off in the index and that carries all the way to #50.
    • Speaking of the composite ranking. Josh Griffin barely held off Mark Oestreicher for #1 this year. I wasn’t sure who’d be #1 until I added the very last numbers.
    • 2012 is “game on.” I think anyone currently in the top 10 could make a run at the top spot next year. There’s even a couple between 11-20 who could make a run at it.
    • On a personal note, it’s really cool to see my blog creep up from #5 to #4. I’m no Tim Schmoyer. But I’m getting there!
    • Last thing, this is a labor of love. I love doing it. And I have seen how these rankings have been used in the past 2 years, so I know that while everyone feels a bit weird about ranking bloggers… it’s ultimately good for the genre of youth ministry blogs AND it’s good for the visibility of the field of youth ministry.
    Got questions? Leave me a comment.

  • I choose hope

    Recession? Here's the NASDAQ Index July 2, 2009 -July 2, 2011

    Our culture loves despair. We ignore the facts and choose lamentation.

    Listen to an hour of the news and you’ll hear how dangerous our country is. (Crime is down significantly over the past 30 years) You’ll hear how horrible the economy is. (The image above shows the NASDAQ Index the past two years.) Public school stink. (In fact, most major metropolitan school systems have seen test scores steadily increase over the past decade.)

    Find a slow news and the media just goes back to the wheel of despair news stories that you love. Teen pregnancy, homelessness, violence in schools, date rape, sexting… you know the list. They go back to that wheel of despair because YOU LOVE THAT NEWS! Our culture is sick,  twisted, and upside down.

    We love to point to examples of bad news and apply them to our entire culture. Gang violence up 2% in Chicago? People in Arizona will go buy a handgun, just in case it spreads. A school in the district is struggling? Pull financial support, start a private school, all the kids with means will go there.

    We’re all going to hell in a handbasket and there’s nothing you can do about it. Armageddon is on the horizon, cope and deal baby!

    That’s our culture of despair.

    I reject despair for a posture of hope

    I refuse to be defined, to think of myself, or to allow myself to be manipulated by an evil system which loves despair. Jesus did not die so I could live a life of despair. He subjected himself, even to death, so that I could live life to full. (John 10:10)

    • My project is faced with impossible odds? I like my odds of winning.
    • Life biggest challenges afoot? I smile at the opportunity.
    • Less than 5% of our neighborhood attends a church? Let’s get to work loving our neighbors.
    • One of my students lives in ruin because of bad decisions? Today can be the next chapter in an amazing story of redemption.
    • 1.5 million people left homeless after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince? Well, let’s feed this 5,000. It’s a start.
    • The church cut the budget, staff let go, initiatives put on ice? Time for some soft innovation.
    • Everything that could have gone wrong today did? Tomorrow is a new day. Let’s learn from this and move forward.

    I choose to fear God alone and allow Him to have dominion over what He’s asked me to do. He’s not surprised by my circumstance. He’s never let me down. And He takes great pleasure when I put my faith and trust in Him despite the odds.

    The only story Americans like more than despair? A comeback. Your comeback can begin right here and right now. But you have to put on hope. You have to wear it like a jacket. You have to allow hope to define you.

    Hope goes beyond and attitude and a forced smile.

    It is a posture I choose to carry in all areas.

    If you don’t like hope. You won’t like me.

    Join me. Reject despair.

    Assume a posture of hope.

  • Summer Garden Tour

  • News from around McLaneland

    A few highlights and posts from around McLaneland.

    Summer Garden Tour

    Learn more about our garden at OurGreenFarm.com

    Jackson is Four Months Old

    Check out pictures and stuff at JacksonMcLane.com

    The McLane Creative Blog is Growing

    Here’s a few posts you might find interesting

  • Google+: Two is Company, Three is a Crowd
  • Four Creative Uses of QR Codes
  • 5 More Top Secret Laser Weapons Under Development by the Navy

    • Connect with my techie, nerd stuff over at McLane Creative

    T-Shirt ideas and more…

    Check out my Flickr page for more random stuff

    That’s it! Random news from McLaneland.

    I’ve got a redesign for the blog coming in a couple weeks. You won’t want to miss that.

  • Hire where you want to grow

    One of my many roles at Youth Specialties is to oversee the YS job bank. While it isn’t the fanciest job hunting service in the world countless people have found their ministry jobs through the site.

    The hiring process, for many churches, reveals the pendulum problem. They aren’t looking for the best candidate for their church. They are looking for someone who isn’t like the last person.

    I’ve read thousands of descriptions over the years. And I can quickly translate a position description into a description of their previous youth pastor. Churches use a code language that they think is clever but is easily translated.

    A fictional example of a position description:

    First Presbyterian Church – Youth Director

    FPC is a family-friendly congregation serious about the raising the next generation of believers in Anywhere, US. We are seeking an individual to oversee and direct our thriving youth ministry program of 7-12 grade students. Duties will include teaching Sunday school, overseeing midweek Bible studies, planning regular activities with the emphasis on developing the ministries effectiveness. Qualified candidates will possess at least 5 years experience in working on a multiple staff team in a youth ministry role, a Masters degree from a denominationally approved college or university, and a desire to seek ordination within the Fictional Presbyterian Church.

    What we know about the previous youth director from this position description:

    First Presbyterian Church – former youth director, Cindy Johnson

    Cindy was single. (e.g. Not family-friendly) As a former YoungLife staff person she was passionate about students… just not the ones whose parents give a lot of money to the church. (e.g. Serious about raising the next generation at FPC’s kids) She probably did a good job teaching Sunday school, (e.g. The new person can still do that) wasn’t that involved in midweek teaching, (e.g. overseeing is code for “will be there and run it”) and Cindy’s cardinal sin was that she planned activities that were fun and easy to run… but weren’t tied together so that parents could tell what she was trying to do. (e.g. emphasis on developing the ministries effectiveness.) Cindy was focused on youth ministry and never really had her heart in staff meetings for things that weren’t about her job. And the pastor’s wife was highly offended that Cindy RSVP’d “No” to her Christmas Tea, choosing to fly home to spend the holidays with her family instead. (e.g. at least 5 years experience on a multi-staff team.) Cindy got the job right after graduating from her undergrad and left to pursue an MDiv at a non-denominational seminary. (e.g. People were always suspicious of her Baptist roots, anyway. They knew she wasn’t really Presbyterian all along because she didn’t like the bag pipes.)

    That’s how the pendulum swings. And it carries right into the interview process with candidates walking away scratching their heads. “Why did they ask me so many questions about my personal finances?” Um, because the last person sucked with money. “Why did they ask me questions about my musical preferences?” Um, because they want to know if you’ll help lead the worship team. “Why did they ask me about my philosophy of parent ministry?” Um, because the parents hated the previous person and got them fired.

    They aren’t interviewing you, per se. They are interviewing to make sure you aren’t anything like the previous person.

    For untrained people often left to do the hiring… it’s human nature. Want something different? Bam. We’ll give you different. We had Cindy, now we have Tom and Janet and their six kids. Tom’s been a youth pastor for 15-years at various churches, is ordained in the denomination, and has an MDiv from the Presbyterian seminary as well as a Masters in Non-Profit Business Administration.

    I give Tom 2 years until that pendulum turns into a wrecking ball.

    What’s a better strategy?

    Simple. Hire where you want to see growth. The leader a ministry hires should reflect and be prepared to take you where you can’t, don’t know how, or won’t go without them.

  • The Dogpile Effect

    Photo by John Shardlow via flickr (Creative Commons)

    Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you.

    1 Thessalonians 4:9-11

    We live in a dog pile society. Everyone has an opinion on everything. Their own opinion is superior to everyone else’s. And nothing gets us talking faster than repeating or adding to someone else’s opinion.

    It’s the dog pile effect. It takes a mountain, makes a molehill, then it makes Mt. Everest. All in the name of “just talking.”

    As if the collateral damage was worth it?

    The annoying thing about the whole dog pile method is that, at the end of the day, it’s typically over things we don’t actually care about or effect us.

    And while we all join in, and get injured by, the dog pile– we do it to other people! (It’s true that hurt people, hurt people.)

    National politics? Office politics? Denominational politics? Church politics? Sure, I’m up on the news but I don’t really care enough to say… hurt a friends feelings by saying his opinion is stupid.

    The bottom of the dog pile hurts

    Broken bones. Broken dreams. Broken lives.

    It doesn’t matter if you’re a big, fancy nationally known person or the guy handing out flyers at the grocery store. When criticism mounts, when accusations fly, when things get repeated to the point that it’s assumed to be true even before you take a serious second to think… all of that adds weight to the dog pile.

    Stop it

    O, that we would be different! That we would seek to understand before volleying an opinion. That we would differ in opinions in a way that honored, loved even, others.

    There are things in this world that are worth destroying. But one another is not one of them.

  • Inhibitions to the spread of the Gospel in your community

    The church is decreasing in America while our population continues to expand. One major factor contributing to this decline is how Christians think about themselves and their community of faith in the greater community in which they interact. This “self-talk” internally acts as a mental inhibition towards the innovation and creativity we need to reach lost people with the good news of Jesus Christ.

    Here’s some examples of inhibitions:

    • There’s nothing new under the sun. Really? I hear this dismissive tone nearly every time a new idea is floated. While there are certainly many, many who just redress the same pig and expect a different award at the fair– there are also tons of brand new ideas out there. In fact, the rate at which new information about our world is gathered, disseminated, and implemented continues to accelerate. There are actually new things discovered under the sun every second of every day.
    • People aren’t interested in Jesus. To the contrary every study reveals a wide gap between those claiming Christ and those actively involved in fellowship with other believers. While the gap changes based on the studies you read, let’s ballpark it at 20% of the United States population. That’s 61.4 million people in America who are walking around identifying themselves with Christ but are disconnected from the Christian community. When Jesus said the fields are white for the harvest he wasn’t kidding. Literally, 1:5 people you will meet today already call themselves a Christian but just need to get connected. (John 4:35)
    • I am not an evangelist. Good! People desperately need community. And people with microphones selling Jesus scare almost everyone. The good news is that the Holy Spirit is the best evangelist ever. Your job isn’t to tell every person about Jesus and ask them to receive Christ. Jesus said the two most important things you can do are to love your neighbor as yourself and love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. (Matthew 22:33-35) Anyone can do that, right?
    • I’m not a pastor. Cool, neither was Jesus. He was a carpenter and a lay teacher– A blue collar regular guy like you or I who went to work every day. He didn’t have a church to invite people to. If the last 50 years of church decline have taught us anything it’s that the “If you build it, they will come” strategy can’t reach an additional 20% of a growing population. We can’t build fast enough.
    • People don’t want to come to church with me. Who said they need to go to church? Giving your heart to Jesus and finding community with other believers doesn’t mean people have to join a church. You can form a community of believers who hate church right in your house. Who knows? As they discover that you aren’t a tool, maybe they’ll want to be a part of church later? And maybe that group of church haters in your house will grow… and become a church?

    What are other inhibitions, mental blocks, that are impacting the spread of the Gospel in your community?

  • City People Really are Wired Differently

    Photo by Jerry W. Lewis via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    In 2002, Kristen and I considered a position at a lovely church in rural Nebraska. The nearest large city was Lincoln some two hours away. The town was quaint and cute as a postcard. But as we dug into the realities of moving somewhere with one coffee shop, a small grocery store, a gas station, and three farm implement dealers we realized that we really couldn’t see ourselves living 45 minutes from the nearest town with a  supermarket. (Or hospital, mall, or even Applebee’s.)

    We loved the idea of a ministering in a simple, farm town. And we adored the church and their vision for the community. (Nearly half the town attended their church each Sunday morning!) But, ultimately we are wired as city folks. We were used to riding the cramped train to work. And, in Chicago, we were never more than a few blocks from the nearest Starbucks. Even in our 5 years of living in Detroit’s northern suburbs we found ourselves constantly annoyed by the monoculture of suburbia. The quiet and wide open space and all of that stuff kind of raises my stress level a bit. When it’s that quiet and wide open I find myself humming the Dueling Banjos from Deliverance.

    I feel alive and free in an urban setting while visiting or living in a more rural place raises my anxiety level. (Folks from Romeo will remember that we chose to live in the village and not out in the more rural areas of town.)

    I always thought this was just my personal preference. But, it turns out that city people and rural people really are different neurologically. A recent article in Time Magazine shared some insights from recent research on the differences between rural and cities people’s brains.

    In an international study, researchers at University of Heidelberg and the Douglas Mental Health University Institute at McGill University report in the journal Nature that people who live or were raised in cities show distinct differences in activity in certain brain regions than those who aren’t city dwellers.

    Those who currently live in the city, for example, showed higher activation the amygdala, the brain region that regulates emotions such as anxiety and fear. The amygdala is most often called into action under situations of stress or threat, and the data suggest that city dwellers’ brains have a more sensitive, hair-trigger response to such situations, at least when compared with those living in the suburbs or more rural areas. Read more

    All of this is kind of locked in during the first 15 years of life. Your developing brain is either used to the stimulation of the city or in suburban/rural settings and that becomes comfortable with one or the other.

    As the article goes on to point out– there are positives and negatives to either. City people tend to be more anxious over their lifetime than rural people. And people raised in the country are less likely to ever fully feel at ease living in the city.

    Why does this matter?

    Understanding yourself is often half the battle to managing life stress. As the article concludes, “So what does this mean for avid city livers like me? I’m not giving up my urban lifestyle, but I may have to balance the high-energy hum of city activity with more downtime. “In general when it comes to stress, it’s important to keep a balance,” says Pruessner. “These results suggest the need to keep things in balance so after a period of working hard, you balance that with a period of off-time as well.”

    Read the full article here.