• When the Panic Button Goes Off

    Photo by Mikel Manitius via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    When chaos arrives on the scene panic changes everything.

    Every person has a freak out mode. Rumors spin out of control. People are jumping ship. Like Jonah, there’s a moment when the sailors cast lots to figure out who angered God. Fingers are pointed. Cuss words are muttered under their breathe. Biting words aren’t far behind. Everyone is doing whatever they can to fix the situation. Yet at the same time, in the back of their minds, they don’t know if they are making things better or making things worse.

    Photo by Ira Machefsky via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    Some situations turn the best of us into hyenas with a bad case of fleas.

    It’s one thing to steer a ship on open seas on a calm day. That’s easy and anyone can do that. But it takes a captain to calmy guide the ship into harbor on a windy day with high waves. When the crew freaks out the captain takes over.

    That’s when you discover who the leader is.

    One day the panic button will go off.

    Chaos will appear.

    And then you’ll know.

  • The Obama-Mobile Gets Jacked

    This cracked me up. Can you imagine the conversation in the back of the limo when the presidential limo gets stuck. I hope they laughed!

  • Happy 7th Birthday, adammclane.com!

    Photo by persocomholic via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    On May 25th, 2004 I wrote a post called, “Why am I starting this?”

    Perhaps many people start a blog because they are trying to prove to the world just how smart they are? Perhaps others do it so they can feel like someone is listening to them? Perhaps others do it as a way to share what’s going on in their lives.

    But why am I doing this? Mostly as a way to share with myself, just what is going on. I’m not going to use this as a platform for anything else but… Well, whatever I feel like posting. Quotes. Golf scores. Youth Group talks. Carry-over rants. Interesting articles. Stories about the kids. Whatever I want!

    Seven years later not much has changed. I’m still going and I’m still writing whatever I want.

    Some stats:

    • 3,549 posts in 2,555 days = 1.38 posts per day.
    • 6,260 comments on 3,549 post = 1.76 comments per post.
    • 3,549 posts averaging 500 words = 1,774,500 words I’ve published here.
    • Started on Blogger, moved to Typepad, finally now on WordPress.

    Thank you, faithful reader

    In the early days I was shocked if a handful of people read my posts. Then, a few years later, I remember the joy of noticing that I had hit 100 daily visitors. Then, living in Romeo, Michigan I remember bumping into people at church or even people at the supermarket would stop and tell me something they liked about my blog. Today? A good day sees a lot more than that. And I’m still just amazed that you show up.

    Thank you.

    Thanks for reading my thoughts– good, bad, and ugly– of a youth ministry guy just trying to figure stuff out.

  • 5 Ways to Get Change Moving

    “You are crazy enough to think you can change the world.”

    This was the negative criticism of my ministry nearly 10 years ago by an elder. I took it as a compliment.

    When I read Revelation 2-3 I see that Jesus will not judge individual churches or communities of faith. That’s not what John saw. (Revelation 1:19) Instead,
    I see Jesus judging entire towns based on both what they’ve done and where their hearts are collectively.
    As we look forward to that future judgment, we as church leaders in each community cannot be satisfied with reaching 5%-10% of the population. A logical conclusion would be that how we are doing things will only result in reaching 5%-10% of the population going forward. Simply put, f we want to reach exponentially more we, collectively, must change.
    Most people realize that. But they don’t actually know how to make change happen.

    Here are 5 ways I make change happen:

    1. Present the facts, repeat them often, write them on the walls. Do your homework, get behind the evidence.
    2. Persistence. Be a bulldog. Don’t let the issue die. No isn’t an answer, it’s an opportunity to try a different approach.
    3. Stop the presses. If something is really important you need to stop everything else, at all cost. We can’t go on like this.
    4. Tell a great story. Remember, a well-told story is your most powerful weapon.
    5. Outwork everyone else. Know why everyone says hard work pays off? Because it does. You can’t ignore hard work.

     

  • Caught between two religions

    If you are a fan of storytelling, and chances are good that you are, you need to subscribe to the Moth podcast. The Moth is a non-profit organization dedicated to the art of live storytelling. They put on live storytelling events where members of the audience get a few minutes to tell a story, live and without notes, on a theme. The best stories make it onto the podcast. It’s 13 minutes I look forward to downloading each week.

    The story I’m linking below is poignant for a couple of reasons. First, it’s great storytelling. Jen pulls you in. Second, because the content of her story is just a little too close to home for a lot of my friends. Jen is caught between two worlds, Evangelical Christianity and selling Mary Kay. In the end she isn’t sure which one she is selling anymore.

    1. The Moth Podcast- Jen Lee – Targeted     

    (Note to RSS readers – you can come to the site and listen to the audio)

    As a communicator, storytelling is one of the things I wish I were a lot better at than I am. I’d kill to have a group of friends who regularly got together and practiced telling stories. Some ground rules, some themes, and some live audience feedback to refine the craft. Because ultimately, we need to tell stories that matter!

  • 20 Types of Youth Ministry Volunteers

    I’ve been involved in youth ministry in one form or another since I was in high school. One thing I love about being involved with youth group is the cast of characters that each ministry seems to have.

    If I were to write a novel and wanted to include all of the types of youth workers I’ve worked with through the years, I would need to build the cast using these traits. (I’ve played one role or another at various times in my ministry career.)

    1. The sage – Life is a riddle, he has one for all of life’s problems.
    2. The sports guy – Give him a basketball and an hour and he’ll sweat some kids closer to Jesus.
    3. The buddy – Let’s just hang out and play Portal 2 this weekend, OK? Maybe we will talk about Jesus between rounds?
    4. The real man – All of the worlds problems will go away if men are men. Did you hear me son? What we need in this group is more men, real men!
    5. The Bible guy – I earned this Timothy award and I’m not afraid to use it.
    6. The hugger – Why talk when we can just hug? Everyone will feel more comfortable with more physical contact.
    7. The mom – A spoon full of sugar, honey, that’s what you need. And I’m kind of here to keep an eye on Jeffrey.
    8. The waiter – Hold onto your cup! If you put it down for even a second, it’s gone.
    9. The deer in the headlights – How did I get here? I’m in a room full of teenagers, oh my gosh. What’s going on?
    10. The camp guy – In 8th grade this guys life was transformed at snow camp and he is still looking to repeat that experience at 54.
    11. The whistle blower – Rules are important, I have a whistle, and I will blow it.
    12. The Christian ghetto guy – He has connections at every Christian owned business in town. Keep your bucks in the family, you dig?
    13. The clip board guy – If you aren’t careful this guy will sign up everyone for the military. How do we know Jesus fed 5,000? This guy counted.
    14. The evangelist – Every lesson better have a Gospel presentation, because if you were to die tonight…
    15. The bodyguard – If anyone tries to talk smack about this group, these kids, or our youth pastor, I promise you he will punch them right in the face.
    16. The band – Sure, the band might be one person, a guitar, and PowerPoint, but worship should be at the center of what we do, right?
    17. The historian – Do you remember when? No? This guy does.
    18. The elder – Sure, I’m here to volunteer. When I’m not making sure your teaching lines up with our doctrinal statement.
    19. The prayer warrior – A kid just broke his leg? Before we call 9-11, let’s gather in a circle and pray for Lydia… Mr. Myagi style.
    20. The youth-pastor-in-training – With aspirations of one day being in charge, this volunteer does it all and always feels like he is one step away.

  • Immigration, Dreamers, and Youth Ministry

    Immigration reform is a political football. Unfortunately, it has become one of those things that you don’t talk about in polite company. And while I don’t claim to know enough to know how to fix the massive influx of people coming to our country illegally, I do know that we need a pathway to legal residence and citizenship for the students in our ministries who were brought here by their parents.

    I think when you get personally involved with students in this situation it becomes less an issue of politics and more an issue of justice. They are stuck. This stuckness kind of defines them and becomes the biggest obstacle they face.

    Here’s the story of one student, highly successful academically but otherwise stuck:


    No one actually prefers to risk their life crossing the border, leaving behind memories and childhoods, leaving behind their mothers and fathers and leaving behind their children. No one comes to this country because they want to be exploited, and treated less than human. No one migrates to this country and wants to identify as “illegal”. Their decision is not done out of thin air, there have been structures and policies that have pushed many to migrate (NAFTA, Bracero Program, Imperialism, privatization). My parents migrated to the United States because they wanted a better life for their children.

    My mom worked in factories, and my dad worked as a cook. They paid taxes (still do), hired lawyers, paid fines, got robbed by lawyers. But most of all, they lost many nights of tucking me to bed, many nights of reading me books, and combing my hair and seeing me walk for the first time. They sacrificed those nights for a better future for me. They are not illegals, they are my parents. They are strong courageous and admirable.

    I remember the time I was reunited with my parents; I was about 5 years old. I arrived in Harlem. They pushed me to be the best I can be; making sure education was a priority, motivating me to always be honor roll. And that is what I did, I excelled in school. I hoped time would soften the difference between others and me. I always knew that I was undocumented, but I trusted there was a fair system that would fix that up. My dad promised me my status would soon change, lawyers promised him that too. But no results. I knew my undocumented status put me on a different path than those friends I hung out with. There would be no Cornell University, no going away, no trips abroad, no teaching, no career, no fraternities, and no peaceful nights that did not consist of thinking of “deportation” or “illegal”.

    Read the whole story

    If Sonia were a graduating senior from your high school ministry, what advice would you give her?

    Do you agree or disagree that the Dream Act is more a justice issue than an immigration reform issue?

  • Created to be Good News in the Neighborhood

    Yesterday, I had the opportunity to teach at Encounter, the high school ministry of Journey Community Church.

    Here’s the main idea of my talk: With the canvas of our life God gives us the ability to create a masterpiece with our lives through our good works.

    Ephesians 2:10 describes believers a God’s masterpiece.

    [Pause, think about that for a second. Whoa.]

    So often we feel like being a Christian is a cookie-cutter experience. Not so! We were each uniquely hand-crafted by God to be his agents of Good News to our community. (Our church, our city, and specifically our neighbors.) Our talents, skills, strengths, and stories are lovingly interwoven with the activity God wants to tell in our community. He doesn’t need us to do His will, but He created us in Christ Jesus to do it.

    To download my notes and the slides that went along with this talk, click the link below.

    [download id=”17″]

    To check out all my free stuff, click here.

  • Concierge Service from McLane Creative

    I have a little side business called McLane Creative. After we sold YMX in 2008, I needed a category for some of the other stuff I was doing. (Small design projects, consulting, writing stuff, etc.) I figured that if I named it after myself I could never sell it!

    For years I’ve had 3-4 people per month approach me about helping them with their blog. Generally, these are friends of mine in ministry who want to have a web presence but don’t really know how to get started. Generally, these are people with a WordPress.com or Blogger blog who want to move to a WordPress self-hosted blog with a custom look/feel.

    But the reality is that most youth workers don’t have the $1500 minimum I need to make it worth my while. Which meant that every month for the last several years I’ve had to tell a friend who needs help with their blog that I just couldn’t do it for what they could afford.

    Finally, about a month ago, I had an epiphany. If I could just separate the roles, I could put together a standard package to help my friends in ministry out at a price they can afford and also help out some of my freelancing friends. That’s how we got to the Concierge Service.

    What is it?

    It’s a flat fee service that migrates your blog from WordPress.com or Blogger to a self-hosted WordPress blog on your own hosting package so you have full control and can grow your blog/brand/small business. We’ll do all the work, we’ll customize a WordPress theme of your choosing, and we’ll spend an hour with you teaching you how to use everything, answering your questions, and training you how to maintain the site for yourself.

    How much does it cost and how do I get started?

    I’m still nailing down the details, but I anticipate starting this in June 2011 and the cost will be between $475-$625.

    Want to learn more?

    I’ve written a more detailed explanation here. And if you are interested in this service let me know.

    And, of course, if you just think I’m nuts, leave a comment.

  • The weekend ahead

    I’m looking forward to a fun and crazy next 5 days.

    We’re going to Disneyland!

    We might be the only family in Southern California who has never been to Disneyland. And that’s all Megan wanted for her 10th birthday. So today, after school, we are going up to do just that. We’ll be in Anaheim tonight through Sunday. I’ve actually never done anything at a Disney park, either. So we’re all pretty amped up about it and a little nervous, too.

    Sunday morning, I’m getting up at the butt crack of dawn to leave Disneyland and come back down to La Mesa to teach at Encounter. My talk is called, “So I’ve been thinking about how to be good news in my neighborhood.” It’ll be all about unleashing your creativity to be good news. (I’ll post the notes in the free section.) After church, I’m back to Anaheim to hop in the pool and then drive everyone home.

    Monday afternoon through Tuesday, I’m off to Chicago to help out my friend Andrew Marin. He’s working with a publisher to produce some training materials for his smash hit book, Love is an Orientation. Actually, I’m not 1000% sure what my role is in that. But I know that I’ll be speaking into the youth ministry portion of the content, helping youth workers practically minister to adolescents in matters of sexual orientation.

    I’d appreciate your prayers for this whirlwind 5-days.