• Going Green-ish

    One of our family goals this year was to make some changes to how we consumed the world’s resources. Some of it is a desire to live more simply and some of it is just a realization that the stuff our little family does, when added up with millions of other families, really impacts our planet. So while we’ve been at it for a month, this is the first time I’ve talked about it on the blog. Simply put, I wanted to make sure we were actually doing stuff before I said we were going to be doing stuff!

    Here are a few things we’re doing so far this year:

    • 3 weekends ago we planted a little garden. We know it’ll take a couple seasons to truly get it productive, but we wanted to get something going. As the seasons go on we plan on expanding the garden. We definitely have the space in the yard. We just need to build up the beds.
    • We joined a CSA to support locally grown, organic produce. We picked up our first box this week, this is big change in how we spend money on groceries.
    • We are installing a drip system for watering outdoor plants. San Diego is a coastal desert. That means that we only get a little bit of rain each year and watering plants in the garden is a big deal. This will help us waste less water as well as hopefully make the garden grow a little better. The people from Drip Depot have some sweet stuff, can’t wait to see how it works.
    • Get serious about waste! Kristen asked for, and got, a worm composting system for Christmas. While it isn’t a huge impact, we want to reduce our food waste that goes in the garbage by at least 25%. We’re also trying to be more conscious about buying things we can re-use and recycle.
    • Still rocking the trolley when I can. We’re in a bit of a funk with this because of my travel schedule and the weather. But I’m doing my best to eliminate the need for a second car (we only have one) by taking the trolley to and from work. We eliminate the need for a second car by keeping our work schedules flexible as well as being quick to rent a car when needed.

    We’ve tossed around, but not acted on, some other ideas. More on this as the year goes on.

  • Life is Good

    I am happiest when I have a lot of plates spinning. Not sure why but I’m just wired that way. These days I am very happy. There are lots of plates spinning in my personal life, ministry life, and work life. There is some convergence in those things… but there is also considerable separation as well.

    Why is it that things that make us happiest also tend to drive us insane?

  • Smart Media

    The most important lesson I’ve ever learned about business and social media was from Duck Tales Scrooge McDuck.

    Work smarter, not harder

    This mention of my work by Derek Johnson of Tatango proves my point.

    I’m not a guru. I don’t have a degree in media design. I have never taken a marketing class. I don’t have an MBA. The truth is that there is nothing special about me— all I do is stuff that is obvious.

    That’s good news for un-experts like you and me. You don’t have to have a bigger budget, you don’t have to have a pedigree, you don’t have to schmooze a newspaper editor, you don’t have to buy Super Bowl ads.

    In today’s world a smart message is all you need. Spend all your energy (cough, and money) investing in working smarter not harder.

  • How to create a teen news story

    Photo by sucklead via Flickr (creative commons)

    As someone who watches teen fads and reads teen research blogs all the time… here’s my little tongue-n-cheek guide to creating a sensational teen new story:

    • Find something mundane that most kids do, hopefully related to sex. Let’s say “Hickies.“
    • Apply a new label to it, so that parents think it is somehow more intense and scarier than the hicky they experienced as a kid. “The super hicky.”
    • Apply a catchy version of the word, “the sicky– the so-called “super hicky.”
    • Label “the sicky” as an increasing problem among teenagers.
    • Start highlighting and looking for any and all news stories involving teenagers and hicky’s to highlight the dangers of sicky’s.
    • Find a teenager who died in America with a hicky. Then hypothesize that it could have been tied to a sicky. Even if it isn’t true, it will give the story legs.
    • Mention sicky’s in unrelated news items. “Two teens were injured in a car crash after the football game, we talked to the officers and it appears that sickys, the so-called super-hickey, were not involved in the accident.“
    • Quote some so-called experts on this problem. “In my office, I’ve seen a sharp increase in patients reporting complications caused by super-hickeys.“
    • Create a bogus chart showing rapid increase.
    • Find a celebrity with a hicky and make them the culprit. Photoshop it in if needed. (Shout out to TMZ and The Soup)
    • Any time there is a news story involving teens in a bad light, insert the term sicky. Attach it to a particular group of teens so they can become ostracized for alleged involvement. “The sicky is particularly popular among teens who have read the Twilight series.”
    • Sit back and laugh while municipalities create laws, schools create rules, and youth pastors preach about the ills of the sicky. Wait for the talk shows to talk to kids whose lives have been ruined by the sicky.
    • All this for a completely made up, normal activity of teenagers.
    • And we fall for it every day.

  • McLane Creative

    McLane Creative

    If you pay close attention, you may see a links to mclanecreative.com on some websites. What is that all about?

    Essentially, McLane Creative is for stuff I do outside of my work at Youth Specialties. Sometimes there may be a project I want to experiment with that has nothing to do with my full-time gig, so I fly those things under that banner. Those are personal projects… stuff I play with when I’m bored.

    But I also do some projects for people under the McLane Creative name. Up until this point I’ve kept those projects very small, kept closely within my network of friends, and kept my involvement in them below the radar. The simple truth is that for every project I had time to work on I was saying no to about 20 inquiries.

    As an entrepreneur– this drove me nuts! There are so many great ideas out there and it is super annoying to have to say no to 95% of them. (And about 99% of my own) I simply don’t have the time/energy to do more than what I’m already doing… but there must be a third option.

    That third option was such a simple solution. Why didn’t I think of this before? I’ll keep doing the 5% of projects completely on my own. But I’ll also start saying yes to more projects I’m passionate about, just won’t do 100% of the work myself. Instead, I’ll work with my network of existing friends who are all themselves brilliantly creative. In football terms, my role with McLane Creative will be primarily to distribute the ball. (Unlike in the NFL, this will be a fair trade deal. I don’t believe in hiring coders in Eastern Europe or Asia, you need to ask about that these days when hiring creatives.)

    So these are the 4 types of things I’m now open to under the banner of McLane Creative: (*super-important disclaimer below)

    • Web design/development/implementation
    • Social media and online marketing consulting
    • Full-on marketing campaigns (print, video, web)
    • Speaking, staff training, one-on-one nerd coaching, writing

    Last, it’s probably good to say up-front that I don’t work for free. (I do a fair amount of pro bono work, but I pick those projects on my own for my own reasons.) Since I pick only projects I am passionate about, my rates tend to reflect that passion. But free? No can do. Barter? I do like tacos. I’m looking for a country club to exchange a free membership for web design!

    Want to know more? Hit the feedback button on the side of my blog or head over to the website and contact me.

    *Super-important Disclaimer. I’m not starting a business in any way, shape, or form! I’ve got a job that I love enough to call two full-time jobs already. The only way I can say yes to more is to hand most of it off. Nor will I consider any project, even one that I’d hand off to a friend, which competes with Youth Specialties/YouthWorks in my opinion.

  • Off to Minneapolis

    If going to Alabama is the dirty south, does that make Minnesota the “clean north?”

    Regardless, I am missing church this morning as I begin my trip north (and east) to Minneapolis for a few days of meetings with the YouthWorks team.

    Here’s something fun about heading to the clean north. I kind of like the cold. Don’t get me wrong– I love winters in San Diego where people wear ski jackets when it hits 50 and pull their kids out of school because of a rain storm. But I’m not one of those people who hates a hard, cold winter. In fact, there is a freshness to the cold air that invigorates the soul. (That could also be the freezing of ones lungs resulting in a shot of endorphins and adrenaline, but those are little details!) I’m looking forward to a little snowstorm tonight and it getting progressively chilly in my time there this week.

    I plan on laughing and listening a lot this week. As we continue to mix our organizations together into a new organization we are finding that we share so much in common. And we definitely share the “we don’t take ourselves too seriously” quality that is a hallmark of YS. Al0ng the same lines, so much of why we are passionate about what we do lies in our story. So I am jazzed to listen and get to know people beyond the giggles and hear their hearts.

    I’ll leave you with two pictures from my iPhone– the humor is all-the-more funny now that everyone is getting to know one another.

    November 6th – I wore this to work to lighten the mood. The previous day we had been told to dress appropriately when YouthWorks came to town and to make a good first impression. This is about as opposite of YS attire as I could get. Is that enough Bibles? I love the Bibles.
    November 23rd – The YouthWorks recruiting team hung this sign on the bulletin board next to convention headquarters in Atlanta. We were all glad they were hiring for something!

  • The Most Expensive Sketch Ever

    I’m going to miss Conan. Can’t lie– Leno sucks. My favorites are still on though. Long live Jimmy Kimmel and Craig Ferguson.

  • Example

    I define a leader as a person who takes others where they would otherwise not be willing to go.

    In my view, this is why some leaders do great things for God and why others just talk about leading but never actually see something materialize.

    To lead others to where they would otherwise not be willing to go… it starts with your example. You have to be willing to go where they won’t go yourself.

    This is the question I ask myself all the time: Am I trying to get people somewhere I am unwilling to go?

    It’s not just Missourians who live in The Show-Me State.

  • Social Media and Youth Ministry

    Today I had the chance to talk to youth workers in East County about all sorts of internet and technology stuff. Here are some highlights of that discussion.

    • It’s important to identify WHY you are a part of social media. Youth workers must get past the passive-praxis response of just doing it because it feels like we should and all the cool kids are doing it. Please pause and reflect on the theology behind what you are doing. I’ve got an article in the Winter 2010 issue of The Journal of Student Ministries which talks more about this.
    • Teens are multi-tasking everything. They watch TV while texting and having a friend over– and both are listening to music on their iPods. This results in some funky relationships where people are “together” physically but don’t talk to one another. Though they might text each other about the movie they are watching. If you need to see this phenomenon go do some observation at Target. You will see teen girls shopping together while talking via text to other people. True confession: I’m guilty of this one, big time!
    • Text messaging is king in youth ministry. You text a student, you know you are getting to them. Do more of that! go unlimited, baby! Engage them where they are with how they are willing to engage you.
    • Don’t forget to go to stuff like games. Technology makes some things easier, but you physically showing up in their life is still a big deal.
    • The new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation on media consumption by teens is mandatory reading for youth workers everywhere. Here’s the link. Don’t come to conclusions, read articles, or do anything else about the topic until you digest this new study.
    • Parent issues with technology are a big deal in some circles. But it seems like there is less of a battle with Facebook compared to Myspace.
    • Fewer ministry dollars and time are being spent on building a web presence as we all just cave in and do stuff on Facebook. I think this is a good thing.
    • Tools like Hootsuite and CoTweet are perfect for busy youth workers. Sit down once a week and schedule Facebook profile messages and tweets.
    • Presence is becoming a major issue. Kids don’t even know how to just sit and have a conversation anymore. Of course, this starts with adults. I’d suggest everyone reads Flickering Pixels by Shane Hipps. I love how he approaches the topic.
    • IRL is back. All of this technology is leaving kids hungry for real life experiences. Events, retreats, concerts… experience are all hot this year. It might not be in traditional ways, but real life stuff is becoming cool again.

    One trend that I meant to talk about but ran out of time with is this: I’m seeing fewer and fewer teens reach out to become content creators. It’s not just that I am around shy kids, it really is that there are fewer teens out there who are contributing substantive thoughts/comments. Attention spans are about that of a flea right now. Which is why sites like Fail Blog, FML, and TFLN are so popular among teens. (Those links are not safe for work) Look at the comment sections of these sites. Nothing of substance whatsoever. There must be $1 billion in text messages sent in 2010 containing either “lol” or “k.”

  • WFP on Letterman