These are the talk notes from Sunday’s service. It was a cool chance for me to "close out" 2006 and help our church look forward to 2007.
**Note: The images we used for this message were from a Simply Youth Ministry freebie a few months back. Gasp! We used imagery that was used at Saddleback? Doesn’t that mean that we are Purpose Driven? (Man, I’m a bit snarky on January 2nd)
A few months ago I started wondering if YMX should break into a new media. The idea was pretty simple… wouldn’t it be cool if members of the site submitted audio content that I could piece together and distribute to our friends on the site.
My favorite part of the podcast is that it’s helpful for people in ministry. Nothing against any of the myriad of podcast out there… but this one is specifically for the needs of youth workers. Another thing I like about the show is that it’s brief. We’ve put a cap on each episode at 30 minutes.
In light of the "heavy" post below, this is what happens when you are attracted to someone in ways that aren’t physical. You do stuff that makes no sense whatsoever. You are creative in ways you never saw yourself being creative, and you take wild risks to do stuff… like this.
On behalf of men everywhere… women… don’t expect a custom cartoon as a way to be proposed to. Settle for the diamond.
It’s interesting to me how many students are caught in the allure of vanity.
allure (uh-loo-r) v.
1. to attract or tempt by something flattering or desirable.
2. to fascinate; charm.
Did you catch the root word there? Lure, as in fishing lure, the nice yummy shiny object that makes fish think it’s OK to eat it. But when they bite into it they discover a hook that stabs their mouth, drags them from the world they know, and results in them getting fried up and served for a meal.
Doesn’t sound so exciting anymore, does it? Well vanity is pretty exciting to adolescents… they are like bugs to a bug zapper with it. They almost can’t help themselves. Here are the two most common ones I see in Light Force.
OK, as a daddy to a five year old girl, I’m struggling a little bit with the "big kid" stuff that she’s doing. I know this will always be a problem and I’m kind of foolish for feeling this way… but seeing Megan do big kid things, which are completely normal, is tougher than I thought it would be.
Since Christmas, she has gotten her ears pierced and started playing with the pretend make-up that my mom gave her. To make matters worse, the earrings were a gift from my mother-in-law and the make-up was from my mom. My own mother contributing to the delinquency of a five year old? (OK, seriously… I’m going to put the kabash on the make-up. Dress up is OK, but I’m not ready for "real" make-up.)
I was beginning to be fine with these revelations when I got hit with another one last night. Megan had a friend sleep over. The entire night I was exiled to the kitchen while the girls did girlie things and watched girlie videos. Thankfully, Paul was included in the escapade… but still… how did all of this happen?
What’s next? Boys? (Thankfully… Megan will gleefully tell me that boys are yucky.) When you see Megan in a soccer uniform this summer, now you know why. We have to maintain some balance here. Heck, she might even play football.
We just finished reading this book as a staff and I have a feeling a lot of people will be talking about this book in the near future. As is always the case with churches, we’re about 12-18 months behind the curve because this book was hot in management in 2005-2006.
It is, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. What I like about this book is that it’s written as a narrative. In the story you see how the principles of the book play out.. very real life and easy to apply in a team setting.
For people at Romeo… get used to this book if you are on a board. You’ll likely be asked to hear or read it. At the very least, you’ll be reaping the benefits of a more cohesive leadership team as a result of applying some of the principles.
For people leading teams at churches, parachurches, etc… this is the buzz book for church leadership for 2006 and 2007. Pick it up, get ahead of the game and be a part of the conversation. If you are leading a team, at the very least you should read it. According to the authors website, even professional sports coaches are applying these principles on their teams.
thx to Todd for the reminder
Tonight was our last MainStreet of the year. (duh) For something a little special, we combined MainStreet with our Christmas eve service.
Let’s put it this way… I wasn’t convinced that we could transition from the wild and crazy times of MainStreet into the very thoughtful and joyous traditional Christmas service. That said, I think it got pulled off quite well.
I am very proud of our MainStreet crew. Tonight was obviously a "tough sell" since there were loads of people who aren’t used to being brought into a kids world… but let’s just sum it up in this simple fact: At the end, I saw plenty of "older folks" doing their best Rockettes interpretative dance. That… right there… that’s a huge success.
Way to go MainStreet… and off we go into 2007.
I came home today to discover that while I was busy working, YMX got a nice Spam bomb. 1500 junks mails in 30 minutes. Merry Christmas to you too Mr. Spam man. [Insert me sticking out my tongue!]
I hope Santa brings that guy a big fat chunk of coal.