• Universal Declaration of Human Rights

    Thoughts?

  • My kind of town

    In the morning I am headed to one of my favorite places on the planet, Chicago. Cathy and I are headed out to the Windy City for a few days to check out the kickoff of the Planet Wisdom Tour. I’ve always wanted to go yet they never quite made it far enough to take my group from Romeo.

    While I’m not going to blog the tour, you can rest assured that I will share my thoughts about YS’s new student event.

    Of course Chicago has a soft spot in my heart. Kristen and I met there. We went to college there. We started our family there. Our time in ministry began there. Much of who Kristen and I are today began in Chicago, so I greatly look forward to any time I can get there.

  • The unicorn of death

  • NYWC Sacramento Post Thoughts

    Let’s see. I am home from my first NYWC as a staff member. Looking back over the weekend I have a lot of things floating around my head. Here are some quick reflections.

    #1 People are people. This isn’t profound to me but I kept getting asked, “What is _____ like?” I don’t know a nicer way to say it than the obvious, people are people. I met tons of folks… both general session speakers and youth workers and they are all pretty much the same. Just normal folks.

    #2 I told the truth. It’s a little weird being on staff at YS because people will flat out ask you for the world. And while my ministry with YS is to encourage and resource people while building community I simply am not able to do everything I get asked. Typically, I’m a people pleaser and I have a hard time saying no. But this weekend I made sure I didn’t commit to anything I didn’t actually have the ability to do or the desire to do. And since I was often out talking to people, when they asked questions that I knew the answer to, I just told them the plain truth. A few times that was “I’m really not able or qualified to talk about that.” But a few other times it was more like, “Let’s go check it out together.”

    #3 I have all new respect for the events team. Wow. I mean WOW! I know that there were times when they were overloaded, but Tic’s team makes it look easy. I bow to Holli, Michelle, and Yost. On top of that there are the volunteers who pull off all the little details. Not only are they giving up their time, but they take so much ownership of the event. Plus, a lot of them are new friends of mine.

    #4 This year was profound-er than ever. Tony Compolo laid a smack down on us last night. I think Andrew Marin is the sleeper for those going to Pittsburgh and Nashville. I don’t want to do any more spoilers than we had on the live blog.

    #5 It’s weird being an insider. Yeah, that’s self-explanatory.

  • Talking about homosexuality in the church

    Homosexuality is one of the 1000 pound gorillas of today’s evangelical church. In other words there are a lot of people either struggling with gender preference themselves or someone they love is. And the churches silence on this issue has lead to a ton of people feeling like they cannot connect to God.

    Into that understanding, Andrew Marin presented on Friday night. In a very loving, Christ-centered manner, Andrew challenged NYWC attendees to begin figuring out how to build bridges between kids who are either gay or thinking they may be gay and a loving, forgiving, and grace giving God.

    As his part of the session ended I prayed that the Holy Spirit wouldn’t let this discussion die when Andrew left the stage. It’s my hope and prayer that this is just the beginning of the evangelical church taking this 1000 gorilla seriously. My favorite quote (paraphrase) of Andrew’s time, “If you think this issue doesn’t pertain to your church just know that there are gay people in your church. And if there truly aren’t any people in your church that are gay, and this issue hasn’t come to your ministry yet, you’ve got the opportunity to do something now so you don’t screw up.”

    Discussion question: Beyond an annual “talk on homosexuality” how can you help your ministry build bridges with the gay community in your town? How can you help facilitate a loving way to connect homosexuals to your ministry?

  • I rode the magic unicorn

    Talk about a string of words I never thought I’d string together? So there was a camp here at NYWC that has a mechanical unicorn one can ride.

    Well, with a little coaxing I actually got on the thing. I have to tell you… riding a mechanical anything isn’t nearly as fun as I had thought it would be. I fell of two times quickly.

    The worst part about it was that the second time I fell off I actually got hurt. I think the back of my leg scraped across the handle part or something. All I know is that I have a massive bruise on the back of my leg.

    Don’t worry, you’ll get to catch this moment on video!

  • Sacramento Day 1

    I’m here. Being on this side of things is great. At the same time the next 24 hours are the most stressful of the 3 conventions.

    The live blogging kicks off at 1 PM PST. Make sure you check that out. nywc.com/live

  • NYWC Sacramento: Wednesday

    I’m one of the few folks still in the El Cajon offices this morning. The primary convention staff went up Sunday while the rest who are going up are trickling in the rest of the week… some arriving as late as Friday. My flight is early Thursday morning as I still have to help get the YMX booth set up in the exhibit hall.

    What am I doing at NYWC Sacramento? Lots!

    Job #1 I’m live blogging, twittering, and making a daily video blog. This includes overseeing a fun group that I put together of three other youth ministry bloggers. You can watch our live blogging craziness at NYWC.com/live.

    Job #2 I’m a social butterfly. Is that a job? Yes, it really is! 350 days per year my job is to use non-personal means to reach out and encourage thousands of youth workers like email and internet stuff. But 15 days per year I get to do this in person. So I will be talking up a storm. Listening to people’s stories. And basically a ton under the umbrella of “connecting.” Think about it like a PGA Tour event. There, most of the players can stay “inside the ropes” where the public doesn’t go. While I do go there as well, I try to be “outside the ropes” as much as I can. (Honestly, YS staff rarely stay inside the ropes… we’re all social butterflies!) So if you see me at a seminar taking notes or in the hallway or walking around the convention center, please stop and say hello!

    Job #3 The YMX Booth. Last year YMX made its debut at NYWC Atlanta. We were a tiny little company in a big huge room of 400 exhibitors. We had a small booth and most people probably missed us. This year, you won’t be able to miss us! Right when you walk in you’ll see our sexy new logo and be invited to sit down and connect in our “bigger-er” booth. Bring your laptop and enjoy some free internet too. Get ready to learn about ymwomen.com as well… Register for an account at YMX/ymwomen (free) and enjoy the loudest giveaway I’ve ever seen.

    Job #4 Facilitate the small church youth worker discussion. I’m super excited about this! Obviously, I’ve been in a small church for the last “forever.” Together we’ll talk about what’s going on in your church, encourage one another, and just have a blast. Trust me, it’ll be great.

    Job #5 Bringing the energy. Yesterday, in the podcast Marko talked about being weary. I gotta say, that is not me. (right now) I’m exuberant about the conventions this fall. I know some of that is that I’m the new guy on staff. But a big chunk is that I feel like I’m right where God wants me for this season of life. I can’t wait to connect with others and I hope to be a part of the energy on site.

  • Adam Gets Drunk!

    Well, not me. And it’s for scientific discovery. So that’s OK.

  • Car Salesmen Etiquette

    Rule #1 As soon as a customer parks, start trotting towards him. Hopefully, it will scare him to death. The first salesmen to shake his hand wins! And if the customer is scared… good job!

    Rule #2 Ask your marks name. Then hand him a business card and promptly forget his name. He’s just a mark to you, his name is irrelevant.

    Rule #3 There is no such thing as “just looking.” Even if a customer just wants to walk around the lot, you have to follow him, hound him, and fish for personal information. Close the deal today!

    Rule #4 You’ve never heard of the internet. You’ve never heard of the term “invoice price.” And as long as you keep pretending to be nice while forgetting your marks name, he’ll never suspect you are simply running a selling system.

    Rule #5 Smoke a lot of cigarettes. Sure, it’s 2008 and smoking stopped being cool 20 years ago. But hunting your mark on the lot is more fun while chain smoking. It’ll make your mark think he’s in a Tarantino film.

    Rule #6 Ask your mark for his social security number ASAP. Sure, you can’t remember his name. But get his social security number so your finance manager can determine how to best screw him. In fact, share a little of your recent sexual history and maybe the mark will fork over the keys to his financial history to you. You know… just between us guys.

    Rule #7 If a mark blows you off, send someone else! If two or three people get blown off, send a manager! That way the mark will know how desperate you are.

    Rule #8 Never talk to your mark about money on the lot. This requires that you go inside so you can start running the “manager game.” So while you may be able to tell a mark about tire pressure or the torque ratio of 25 different cars, you can’t do simple math. If the mark asks about specifics on the lot, show them another car! They’ll forget.

    Rule #9 Disrespect your mark as much as possible. If the mark tells you what he wants, he is a liar. If he tells you how much he wants to spend, he’s a liar. Only you will determine what he wants and how much he will spend.Your job is to make car buying an emotional experience. All car buyers are stupid anyway, it’s not like they pay your salary.

    Rule #10 Dealer’s personal toys have earned the right to be sold at full price. The car that you’ve driven like a maniac for 2999 miles, smoked in, jumped curbs in, and picked up car dealer sleeze in for 6 months is still worth it’s original purchase price, and maybe more. So are cars you’ve been renting to marks for two years. The mark should pay more for a used car because you used it!

    For those looking to buy a car and want something beyond my sarcasm, here are a few sites that help me see through the sleeze.

    Insidercarsecrets.com – Car buying advice from a 37 year veteran of the business.

    Car Dealer Dictionary – understand the lingo before you look for a car.

    Edmunds.com – Research car prices before you step foot on a lot.

    Carsdirect.com – If you don’t want to deal with sleezy car dealers at all, buy a car online.