Search results for: “good news”

  • Good News curriculum video shoot

    Yesterday, Jon and I spent the vast majority of our day shooting the 6 fictional stories that go along with each lesson in our forthcoming Good News in the Neighborhood curriculum.

    Seeing some of the big picture pieces come together in this project has been amazing. Doing the video segments actually brought new life into the project. With the deadline looming and the reality that there’s almost no chance we’ll be done by our self-assigned deadline of Monday, this project needed some fresh air breathed into it.

    It’s funny how an idea takes a life of its own. In this case, a series of jotted in my notebook over time became several popular blog posts. And in those posts there were several comments saying, “Yeah, but how do I teach that to high school students?” It was the association of the blog posts and the comments of readers which spurred the idea to turn it into a curriculum.

    Truth be told, I’d never have attempted this project without Jon. He brings a depth and breadth of experience to it which takes it from my blog posts to something anyone can try with their group. I’m thankful for his friendship and collaboration.

    And now back to work. Acting as co-author, editor, art director, marketing director, video editor, and every other task on this project is insanity!

  • It’s Here! Good News in the Neighborhood Curriculum

    Big news!

    Jon Huckins and I have been working on this curriculum for youth groups and young adults for several months. I’m excited to tell you that it’ll be out on April 2nd, 2012. Woohoo!

    If you buy it before it comes out… you’ll get it on April 2nd AND you’ll save $15. Here’s the link to buy it now.

    Here’s the description:

    This 6-week series will deep dive your students into the practical realities of a radical life with Jesus. Built around six core postures of community life, students will examine Scripture, gain an understanding of their role in their community, and be challenged by a series of simple experiments they can try. More than a series which teaches your students about being Good News in their community– Good News in the Neighborhood offers practical application based on the life of Jesus and the 1st century Church. Our hope is that your students begin to see how God has called them to become good news in their homes, schools, and neighborhoods.

    Curriculum Outline

    Week 1: Listening (Experiment: Ethnography/Observation)

    Week 2: Submerge (Experiment: Participating)

    Week 3: Inviting (Experiment: Two-fold inviting)

    Week 4: Contending (Experiment: Standing up for our neighbors)

    Week 5: Imagine (Experiment: New eyes)

    Week 6: Entrusting (Experiment: Commissioning)

    What do  you think? Like it? Hate it? Gonna try it? 

  • Teenagers are Desperate for Good News

    One reason youth ministry is flatlining is crappy theology.

    Kara Powell, executive director of the Fuller Youth Institute, was recently interviewed by Relevant Magazine about the present reality that youth ministry presents a faith students easily walk away from in college. She was asked, “Do you think there are any misunderstandings or misconceptions that contribute to young adults leaving the church?”

    Her response:

    The students involved in our research definitely tended to view the Gospel as a list of dos and do-nots, a list of behaviors. We asked our students when they were college juniors, “How would you define what it really means to be a Christian?” and one out of three—and these were all youth group students—didn’t mention Jesus Christ in their answer; they mentioned behaviors.

    Source

    Allow me to translate that. Students are learning really crappy theology from their culture, their parents, and their churches.

    Is your Gospel even Good News?

    Here’s what I encounter when I talk to students in our ministry and even random students I talk to out on the street. They are desperate for Good News. They are looking for Good News. In their honest moments they are desperately searching for Good News. (From Jesus, Buddha, or Katy Perry)

    Their lives need Good News. Somewhere. Somehow. In some fashion… they are hard-wired for and looking for Good News. Why? Because their lives are surrounded by bad news. They need a Jesus who is real, who can help them, or their life isn’t going to get any better.

    If God doesn’t show up they are in trouble.

    And what do they get at a church? Not much. A 30 minute pep talk, some laughs, and some songs. Or, at best– a Christian version of Dr. Phil with an invitation to talk to someone after church.

    But a God who meets them where they are at? Or people who are willing to intervene? Nope. And forget about delivering anything that is actual Good News in their lives.

    I meet students who are struggling with stuff like this:

    • Have hurts I can’t talk to my mom about.
    • Hurts caused by a mom and dad who love themselves more than they love me.
    • Does anyone love me? Am I even worth loving?
    • Why isn’t my dad around?
    • Who the heck am I? What am I going to do with my life?
    • Sex is like a big rock rolling me over. I am so confused and hurt about sex.
    • I’m stuck in the same problems my parents are, can I break the cycle?
    • My family is late on the rent again. We can’t pay our bills and I feel like a big burdon on my parents.
    • I have big dreams but no one can help me get there.
    • I’m stuck in drug and alcohol abuse and I can’t talk  to an adult about it.
    • I’ve been molested by someone in my family and I can’t talk to anyone about it.

    These aren’t rarities. These are just below the surface for a majority of students I interact with. And the churches answer? Come to church. Listen to a message. Attend a Bible study.

    Is there any doubt why 95% of teenagers opt-out of that? They are saying, “I need Good News. I need Jesus to be real because I have no other options.” And the churches solution for everything is prayer, Bible study, and attending worship services?

    Really?

    That’s not Good News. That’s Good Behavior. 

    It’s inadequate. It’s a failure. And it’s certainly not the Jesus they encounter when they read the Bible. You know–  the Jesus who was so desperate to help them that He gave His life for them. They want that Jesus and when He doesn’t show up at their church…

    They are leaving and I can’t blame them. 

    Teenagers desperately need a roaring lion Jesus who will come into their lives, protect them, and help them figure stuff out. They will give anything to a God big enough to do that. Instead they are presented with a smiling, carefree, half-empty suburban-friendly Jesus like substance which cares more about their surfacey behavior than the condition of their heart.

    It’s crappy theology. No pastor would admit to teaching it. But that’s what students are learning.

    And we arrogantly say we don’t need radical change? Hmph.

    Flatliners logic.

    Students are trying everything they can to find Good News! They need Jesus to help them with their real, physical problems. 

    Will your ministry be the one who steps up, gets messy, and points them to the messy, grimmy, grace-covered Good News of Jesus Christ that touches not just their soul but the sole of their feet?

    You want to flip the world upside down? Become Good News to a teenager.

    I spit this game 7 days per week. The easiest way you can support my blog is to subscribe via RSS or sign up for my email updates. It’s real easy. Thanks for your support. 


  • Good News Spreads FAST

    I sit in a funny place sometimes. Meeting with a church leader or talking to a passive Christian, they will tell me that they are too busy or too engrained to change.

    As if reaching 10% or less of their community isn’t an emergency? Like, I don’t care what your theological position is on hell. But we, as Christians, believe to the core of our being that a life with Jesus is better than a life without him, right?

    It’s an emergency! You need to stop what you are doing today and re-evaluate. [Insert red, flashing lights!]

    The crux of their pushback is always the same: I don’t have time to do the things you are saying I need to do. (Be Good News in the neighborhood, on my block, at my school, or at my job.)

    That’s what you don’t understand: Good News spreads fast. Good News spreads faster than your program. It grows faster than your church. It outgrows your budgets. The reason you aren’t growing has nothing to do with your words and everything to do with what you do with your day.

    3 examples from yesterday…

    1. I wrote a blog post praising my experience of Good News from Southwest Airlines. They blessed me and I publicly thanked them. A short post I wrote over breakfast was picked up on their corporate blog and then shared on their Twitter feed to 1.2 million followers. Bam! That’s fast.
    2. I wrote a post a few weeks ago about gifts for geeks at Christmas. Last week I got an email from a producer of a BBC show in Ecuador asking me to be on their show. Yesterday, I got to appear on this show… in Ecuador… to talk about Christmas gifts for geeks and invite their listeners to my blog. That’s fast!
    3. Last year, Kristen and I watched our neighbors dogs so they could visit family on the East Coast at Christmas. This year we get to do it again. Now we are getting known on our block as the neighbors who are happy to do favors. That’s Good News spreading fast!

    Is it that we’re doing something special or that God is blessing us in a way no one else can be blessed? Absolutely not. It’s just one simple thing lived out in three different ways.

    Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity.

    Colossians 4:5

  • Hard wired for Good News

    Have you ever wondered how you could grow your church? 

    What if I could tell you a way to grow your church and your churches impact in the community?

    Here’s how. It’s mostly free. And it’s totally doable. Guaranteed to not backfire. 

    Be Good News to your neighbors. Not start a Good News program. Not preach about Good News.

    That’s putting it on someone else. It’s a way of saying your role as a leader is to move people without you yourself moving.

    Here’s how you grow your impact in your community– starting right now. Be Good News to your neighbor. Yeah, the person next door to you. Yeah, the family across the street.

    Ask yourself this question– What would be Good News for them? And do it.

    Why will this grow your church? Because we, as humans made in the image of God, are hard wired to love Good News. It’s like crack to our soul. We can’t get enough. We are searching for Good News in an instinctual way we can’t explain. And when Good News happens to us or we even partner with a neighbor to bring Good News to someone else, something deep in our soul reasonates with that.

    Each person is hard wired for God. And the catalyst, universal connecting point? Good News.

    In a post-Christian society, the best way to grow your ministry is to deeply reasonate with the part of people’s soul that defies logics last stand. Good News supersedes all. It’s the Gospels secret weapon.

  • Good News idea: Ring that bell

    Pretty soon you’ll start hearing a familiar Christmas jingle. No, I don’t mean the annoying Christmas muzak you’ll hear at the grocery store. I mean the jingle of the bell ringer outside.

    If you’ve rushed by the red kettle as quickly as possible your whole life, maybe you don’t know that it’s a fundraiser for the Salvation Army. Simply put the Salvation Army is a denomination (of sorts) built upon the idea that the Gospel of Jesus isn’t just for people who are accustomed/comfortable going to church. For more than 149 years the Salvation Army has ministered to the destitute, hungry, and homeless.

    In other words, the Salvation Army does the work of bringing Good News to those who most need it 365 days per year.  They are there every day for the homeless among us. They are there when disaster strikes. They are there when the hurts are bad. And they are there to help heal painful addictions.

    Here’s a challenge. From Thanksgiving to Christmas you will see these Salvation Army bell ringers outside of malls, grocery stores, and department stores all over.

    Don’t pass a single one. Every time you go in a store with a bell ringer outside drop in a quarter or a dollar. If you have your kids with you, give them the money to put in the kettle so they can start to see the connection between your money and what you do with your money for good.

    But wait? That might cost me a lot of money? 

    Yup, make a choice. You want to save that quarter or dollar– don’t go shopping. 

    Think of it as a toll. To get into that store you have to donate to the poor. Are you up for the challenge?

    Don’t just wish good tiding of joy. Be good tidings of joy. 

  • 5 Ways to Be Good News in Your Neighborhood on Halloween

    5 Ways to Be Good News in Your Neighborhood on Halloween

    Christians have a weird history with celebrating Halloween. Not growing up in the church I was appalled when I heard church people refer to it as “Devil’s night” and say things like, “Of course we don’t celebrate Halloween.” It’s as if we’re talking about two different holidays. There’s the one that actually happens and the one that you’re afraid is happening. Like all things– fear is irrational. 

    The whole anti-Halloween concept is built on a theology of fear. Be reminded that in Ephesians 5 Paul instructs Christians to be light in dark places!

    Many churches offer alternatives such as harvest parties, hell houses, or trunk-or-treating. Those things aren’t bad, but they aren’t good news in your neighborhood. 

    Here’s my suggestion: Skip the Christian alternatives altogether and embrace Halloween for what it is. It’s a night when hundreds of families will wander around your neighborhood, smiling and enjoying one another, and giving candy to children.

    Think strategically: For those who are anti-Halloween I have this challenge. One night a year one hundred families want to come to your door and say hello. Are you going to greet them? Or are you going to turn off your light and pretend they don’t exist?

    Don’t be “that guy” on your block. Embrace Halloween as an opportunity to be good news in your neighborhood.

    5 Ways You Can Be Good News in Your Neighborhood on Halloween

    1. Sit on the front porch. One of my favorite things to do is to sit on the front porch all night and talk to people as they come by. Resist the temptation to go inside between visitors. Trust me on this. You’ll like what happens. You’ll make great small talk with parents AND every time I’ve done it my neighbors see me and do the same. We have great little conversations porch-to-porch conversations between visitors.
    2. Make it a game. Set up a simple game in your front yard to give trick-or-treaters the opportunity to win the big candy bar. It could be as simple as a bean bag toss or throwing a football to knock something down. Make it simple, kids want to hit every house on your block, but this will make a great impression.
    3. Host a warming station on your block. We’ve done this one bunches of times– it’s ALWAYS a blast. We had close to 1000 trick-or-treaters at our house in Michigan and doing this cost me, maybe, $75. Set up a little tent in your driveway or front yard and serve coffee, hot cocoa, and apple cider. It’s a great break to the routine and easy to invite your small group or someone who doesn’t have trick-or-treaters to help with. Do it 2-3 years in a row and you’ll get known as the house that does that tent thing. Really want to make some friends? Offer parents a little Kahula or Bailey’s for their hot drink!
    4. Do something fun and not-so-scary. There are people in our neighborhood who go all out. They build tunnels over the sidewalk and scare the tar out of children. You can have fun like that and just make it fun. Rent a bounce house and play some music. Be weird and decorate your house for Christmas. Dress up like the easter bunny and have an easter egg hunt every 15 minutes. Just because you don’t want to get into the whole devil/ghosts/zombie thing doesn’t mean you can’t be creative to have some fun with the hundreds of kids who will come up your walk.
    5. Cover every house. I live on a block that has some elderly folks. Consequently, we have kind of a bummer block because many of them aren’t mobile enough to hand out candy. It would be great to rally a few people and make sure every porch light is on and there is candy at every house. Warning: You may need to actually talk to your neighbors to pull this one off. (Which is more scary than Halloween itself, right?)

    What are other ways you can embrace Halloween as a way to be Good News in your neighborhood?

  • 5 Ways Your Church can be Good News to Unemployed Young Adults

    A Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Wednesday said 745,000 more job seekers between 16 and 24 years old were unemployed from April to July. That compares with an increase of 571,000 among the same age group last summer.

    In July, the share of young people who were employed was 48.8%, marking a record low for the second straight year. July is traditionally the peak month for summertime employment. Another Summer Chill for Youth Employment- USAToday, August 24th 2011

    Photo by London Permaculture via Flickr (Creative Commons)

    If I do the math correctly this means 51.2% of Americans between the ages of 16-24 don’t have a job. Half of people 16-24, when they are physically strongest and most able to work… can’t find a job.

    You can’t care about the youth of America and not wonder what you can do. You individually. You as a leader in the church. And you as an advocate for the young adults in your community. You can do something. You have to do something.

    We live in a post-Christian society. Young adults have heard of the church. They likely know who Jesus is. But, in many cases, they won’t have anything to do with Jesus or the church because both seem irrelevant. In short, before they are willing to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ they need to know that the Gospel really is good news for them. If you can help them find employment– that’s good news.

    Here’s 5 ways you can be Good News to unemployed youth in your community

    1. Start a childcare fund for single parents in your church struggling financially. One of the biggest challenges a single parent faces is consistent and affordable childcare. (Affordable doesn’t mean free.) If you set up a fund to employ 3-4 people through your church to either watch children in their homes or to set-up a 10 small daycare facility in your church, you’d be surprised how easy funding could come together. This would help single parents and it would help the young adults you’d hire to run the program. (There’s Federal/State grant money available for this kind of thing as well. Ask a librarian for help.)
    2. Sponsor a local grant for small businesses in your community to offset the cost of hiring part-time help between the ages of 16-24. One of the best motivators you could offer to small business owners in your community is a grant to offset some of the costs of employing a person. Work with your local Chamber of Commerce to help get the word out, pitch the concept to business people in your church, and ask your congregation to rally behind the fund. Keep it simple. If a small business hires a qualifying young adult, you verify that they worked 500 hours, you award the employer $2,000.
    3. Host job readiness seminars in your church. While the unemployment rate is shocking, equally shocking is the amount of young adults who are unemployable. Partner with Junior Achievement, the Chamber, and other like-minded local community organizations to put together a series of helpful seminars for job readiness. Teach the basics like, interview skills, resume` building, work expectations, etc. (Again, there’s grant money out there for this kind of thing.)
    4. Hire someone in your home. We’ve just completed our second summer of having a regular, summer babysitter. Last summer we hired someone full-time who also lived in our home. We found that was a bit too much for us, so this summer we “shared” a full-time babysitter with another family in our church. No, we couldn’t afford it. But this sacrifice was worth it– and helped us out a ton. Maybe you don’t need childcare? Hire someone to do yard work or complete the projects around the house you’ve wanted to do but can’t find the time.
    5. Start a job pool. A church is a great connecting point. If you acted as a connecting point between people looking for work and people who need work done, you could help a lot of people. More than simply having a job board… Set-up a simple screening process, set work expectations like timeliness and appearance, and coordinated both supervision and payment between people in the community who need work done and young adults looking to do work. If that’s too much work for your staff to handle ask a business person in the congregation or members of the local Chamber of Commerce to sponsor a 10 hour per week position from May – September to coordinate.
    Will you commit to helping find employment for people ages 16-24 in the next 12 months? 

  • An example of Good News to a public school

    A while ago I wrote a blog post called, 10 Ways Your Church can be Good News to Public Schools. Here’s one church doing just that.

    Amazing.

    Check out more like it at 20/20 Vision for schools.

    Imagine what could happen if your church got together and said, “How could we be Good News to a public school?” Anything is possible.

  • 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.

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