• Webkinz addicts

    webkinzOur kids got Webkinz for Christmas. If you don’t have kids you probably have no idea what this is. Let me explain.

    You purchase a Webkinz stuffed animal. They are roughly the same size as a beenie baby, maybe a tad bigger. On the tag is a Webkinz registration code. Basically, you register that stuffed animal to your child’s Webkinz account and their animal comes to life on the Webkinz website.

    At Webkinz there is a mini-reality set up. Your child is responsible for taking care of their pet, including earning money to buy food and other stuff. Basically, kids play games to earn cash.

    Our kids are hooked on this, Megan especially. She obsesses about waking up and feeding her bunny, Sparkles, and making sure she goes to the doctor 2-3 times per week. At first Megan was horrible with her Webinz cash but has since learned how to manage her money a little better. (She keeps a balance of about 3000)

    Of course, Webkinz is good and bad. We love that our kids are good at computer stuff. Paul (4) can easily navigate the site. Plus in the course of learning how to do that he can now put in his complex user name and password. To see a 4 year old navigate a mouse, type his name, play games like checkers and classic Atari titles… it warms my heart. The bad part is that they want to play 24 hours per day. They fight over time and would happily skip getting dressed, eating, going to the bathroom, brushing their teeth, or otherwise socializing with the family.

    So our house has been learning about boundaries. We use a timer system and we even use Webkinz as a reward/discipline system.

    This is the world our kids live in. It’s not 100% different than the world I grew up in (Nintendo and Atari) but it is a tech savvy generation. They will spend hours doing something they like and are instantly bored if something has the least bit of imperfection.

    Quite a challenge to reach this generation for Christ, isn’t it?

  • What a day!

    I was having a good day. Really, my new toy arrived and the installation has gone very smooth. I had a good day at work and got a lot done.

    Then I got totally flattered by a post over on the MailChimp blog. (MailChimp is the third party email handler we use for the YMX newsletter)

    Not that they don’t use technology. Youth Ministry Exchange is taking full advantage of a bunch of MailChimp features to spread the word. Here are some things that impressed me:

    * They built an archive of all their past newsletters here. It’s a page they host on their website, then they use MailChimp’s Archive Generator to embed that list. It gets automatically updated whenever they send out a new issue. Learn more about MailChimp Archive Generators
    * They’ve created their own signup form, then pass the data over to MailChimp (insteading of using our default, hosted signup form). Our signup box designer is pretty nice, but it’s always nicer when you host your own.
    * On their signup form, they’re using MailChimp’s Interest Groups feature, which allow subscribers to sign up to receive only specific types of content. Learn more about MailChimp Interest Groups…
    * They’re using MailChimp’s HTML email designer, and they’ve really customized their newsletter design to fit their brand. The content in their newsletters is actually useful! Tips, free downloads, and commentary. Nice.
    * In their newsletters, they link to their blog, and to an RSS feed. More ways to keep your members updated.

    Wow. A Christian ministry getting mentioned as using a lot of technology. I love that.

  • The YMX blog

    For a few weeks now (eternity in my library of ideas) Patti and I have talked about having a YMX blog so that our blogs weren’t quite so clogged up with stuff about the company and/or youth ministry stuff for others.

    It’s not that we don’t love youth ministry or youth workers coming to our site, it’s that beyond our friends people aren’t getting a central location for all of our youth ministry stuff. Also, we need to feature bloggers from YMX more regularly and we really didn’t have a place to do this on YMX outside of the forums. (Right now, only half our traffic goes to the forums so that was out.)

    So, the YMX blog was born last week. It’s got a fancy look that I love and we’ve got a growing list of writers to go along with all the collaboration we do all around the sites.

    Three quick things about the YMX blog:
    1. It’s all original content. We’re not recycling stuff we’ve already posted on our personal blogs or stuff that is making the rounds of blogs.
    2. It’s all about youth ministry. No personal musings allowed.
    3. It’s informal. We’ve got standard on the main site for polished content… we’re relaxing that on the blog.

  • Steve Jobs Keynote in 60 Seconds

    Imagine if we could do a sermon like this.

  • The K List

    The following was posted on Facebook in a group called “Kasper Rocks.” It’s a group dedicated to a beloved high school English teacher. If I can write anything at all it is because of his influence. When I screw up it is due to residual muck from the other 10 years of public school I did not take Dan Kasper. (Coach K)

    Here is his list of writing rules: I’m 31 years old and I still refer to this list. I was happy to find a digital copy as mine from 1994 was getting ugly.

    (more…)

  • What does it mean to love someone no matter what?

    between the eyesbetween the eyesbetween the eyesOur adult small groups are wrestling their way through the beatitudes. It’s an interesting study because so much of it hits me between the eyes.

    I’ll tell you one thing I struggle with as a pastor. I fight to not become self-righteous.

    Here’s what I mean. In my area of ministry expectations are a killer. Students and parents expect me to be and do and approve or disapprove of certain things and I in turn have certain expectations for what I expect out of my students and parents.

    And that creates an inborn battle– because both of us are expecting something we are not: Perfect. And expecting perfect responses and actions from imperfect people leads to the ultimate buzz kill in any type of ministry: Disappointment.

    Juno posterToday Kristen and I went to go see the movie Juno. I loved this movie because of its Juno posterJuno posterhonesty, frankness and utter lack of the traditional hollywood glamorization. What Juno does is capture the true heart of what it means to do life with one another. It shows real life comedy, drama, heartache, and redemption all in the search of love while wading through the stupid ideals we all encounter and discover to be false.

    It’s about a girl who messes up and gets pregnant. In her innocense I could squint and see many of the young ladies I’ve worked with over the last decade making the same mistake and getting into the same predicament, wondering where to turn. She wasn’t dating the guy and she couldn’t even admit to herself that she liked him. From a “pastor’s perspective” I could feel myself giving this girl “the judgment look.” You know, the look of disappointment we glare at a person when they don’t live up to our expectations of purity, innocense, and all that other stuff. It’s not limited to pastors but I suppose we are famous for it. (Yes, we did learn how to do that in seminary. With no partying what else was there to do?)

    I was ashamed of myself for thinking I would give this girl “the look.” (Even in my imagination!) Why? Because that’s not an appropriate response. That’s a self-righteous response. It’s me thinking that I am better than a 16 year old who gets pregnant. In actuality I am no better than her. I am just as guilty of 16 year old stupidity as she is. It’s something Jesus would have glared at me about. In fact, it was precicely that type of response that drove me so far from Christ as a high school student myself.

    And now I felt myself wanting to do the same thing. Shame on me.

    I want to be the type of person who is there for students like Juno. I want to be the person Juno calls when she’s done something stupid. (I love how the movie depicts her waiting for people to tell her it was a mistake, as if she didn’t know.) And I want to have the honest response that even though she’s done something really stupid that it’s going to be OK. I want to lead a ministry that lets people know that it doesn’t matter what you’ve done… that God is a God of mercy and grace and forgiveness and… and opportunity.

    There are no mistakes with God. He doesn’t screw up. He doesn’t allow terrible things to happen for no reason. He doesn’t allow our 16 year old mistakes to turn into living breathing babies accidentally. He can turn every “bad thing” we’ve done into something good. He can make all things new. He can allow us to learn to discover love, forgiveness, and grace as we deal with the consequences of our stupid mistakes.

    Jesus said— “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. Revelation 21:5-7

  • K9 Web Protection: Protecting your kids eyes on the net

    k9 web protectionA common question I get from moms is “How do I filter out some sites from the internet so my kids can’t see them?“ (Honestly, I’ve never had a father ask me that, wonder why? Think about it and get back to me.)

    My first response is always the same. Ultimately you can’t keep someone who wants to see something from seeing it. Teenagers are very savvy about disabling filters and if they want to look at something when you aren’t around the filter isn’t going to do much for a child beyond 11-12 years old.

    What a filter can do is keep someone from stumbling on a porn site. And that’s what we want to keep our kids from doing.

    So, this is K9 Web Protection is worth checking out. It’s free and it’s based on some very powerful stuff.  Here are some quick facts:  (quick  summary:  it’s good and it’s free) (more…)

  • Who vs. How Many

    That’s the question Seth Godin wants to know.

    helpAre your efforts at work, school, or church aimed at reaching the most people or at reaching specific individuals, audiences, or people groups?

    Some places require an egalitarian approach. (such as a public school) But in the church world there are two specific and important audiences… the lost need to be reached and the found need to be taught.

    What about in the business world? Are you more interested in keeping customers or reaching new customers?

  • The Mac Switch Continues

    macbook blackI was waiting until MacWorld to make a purchasing decision on my next laptop. And while Macbook Air is really cool it isn’t powerful enough for what I need. So, I went ahead and got this bad boy. It’s not the most powerful Mac, but I got a great deal on it and it is a proven performer. Later tonight I’ll be boosting it a little more when I order a 4 gb upgrade to the RAM. (I remember having a 4 GB hard drive on my first laptop in 1999.)

    So, in a few days the conversion to Mac will be underway. I am planning to run boot camp on this computer so that I can use some of the great toys we have at the office. The iMac did a good job of teaching me how to get things done in Leopard. Now it’s time to put that into production. It’s going to be an interesting ride. 

  • CSR: The Crazy Loon Cafe & Pie Company

    CSR GreatWith Pepper’s, the Doghouse, and Sempre` now out of business, I am looking for a new spot for my lunch rotation. This gives me the chance to revisit some old favorites that just didn’t make my rotation before.

    Location: 66850 VanDyke Washington Township This is one of those diamonds in the rough kind of things. The strip mail just south of 31 Mile, Woodland Plaza, may not look that appealing but there are a few good spots in there. (Juliet Chocolate being another)

    Description: If this were in a city I’d call it a whole in the wall. It’s a small store front that serves interesting, upscale-like sandwiches and pies. The decor has kind of a cabin feel to it with pictures of Loons and other water fowl. But overall, it is clean and simple… two things that typically don’t bode well for the long-term life of a small eatery in Romeo. They do their two main things very well, sandwiches and pie. Both are outstanding and you shouldn’t leave without trying both. Another bonus is that they make their own potato chips. They are awesome!
    Service: The thing that sticks out to me is that they aren’t afraid to be quirky. Every time I’ve been in there the folks who worked the counter gave me a hard time and left me with a smile. This is atypical for Romeo! For some reason most servers are kind of shy as if they are ashamed to work there or wouldn’t work at all if it weren’t for mom and dad breathing down their neck to get a job. This isn’t the case at the Crazy Loon. They are fun. If I had to find a negative, it’s actually a positive. Food is a little slow since they make every sandwich to order.

    Cost: I typically get a sandwich, drink, and a slice of pie and that costs about $8. In my book that’s cheap.

    Rating: A great sandwich for a low price with sassy service that leaves you smiling, full, and happy to go back to work? That’s great service to me.