• Actually, Failure is an Option

    Wait a minute...
    Wait a minute…

    The most common thing

    “I love what you guys are doing.”

    This is a phrase I hear today about our work at The Youth Cartel. It’s a compliment. I say thank you. But I hear it so much– usually 3-4 times per day in one form or another — that I’m not even sure what it means anymore.

    I just know it’s a whole lot better than,  “So, have you thought about looking for a job?” Yep, I heard that a couple times per week when I had another job. No one has said that to me in a long time. And for that I’m grateful.

    The second most common thing

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  • The Early Bird Deadline for the Campference is June 30th

    Let’s hang out at the Campference.

    Yes, there will be skeet shooting.

    Middle school pastors and shotguns. A perfect combo.

  • Feeling Weak and Scared? Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That

    Be Strong and Courageous…

    • for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. – Deuteronomy 31:6
    • or you must go with this people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors to give them, and you must divide it among them as their inheritance. Deuteronomy 31:7
    • for you will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them on oath, and I myself will be with you. Deuteronomy 31:23
    • because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their ancestors to give them. Joshua 1:6
    • Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Joshua 1:7
    • Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9
    • Whoever rebels against your word and does not obey it, whatever you may command them, will be put to death. Joshua 1:18
    • This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight. Then Joshua put the kings to death and exposed their bodies on five poles, and they were left hanging on the poles until evening. Joshua 10:25-26
    • Do not be afraid or discouraged. 1 Chronicles 22:13
    • and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished. 1 Chronicles 28:20
    • Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him. 2 Chronicles 32:7

    Feeling Weak and Scared Today?

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  • Just Say Thank You

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    Pride goes before destruction,
    a haughty spirit before a fall.

    Proverbs 16:18

    I caught a lament on Rachel Blom’s Twitter feed last night, “One thing I dislike about ‘Christian culture’: you can’t really say you’re proud of an accomplishment without being accused of pride.”

    I share the same lament.

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  • NSA, Online Privacy, and Youth Group

    Norwegian Shipowners Association
    Oh, wrong NSA.

    Like a lot of people, I’ve been following the news about NSA leaks. And I’ve enjoyed a fair amount of banter on the topic, which leaves me full of contradiction.

    • I don’t like that the NSA may be keeping a database on me, who I call, do business with, connect with, etc. 
    • I do like that the NSA knows who bad guys are talking to, are friends with, do business with, etc.
    • I laugh at Jon Oliver pointing out the hypocrisy of the GOP, the same people who are cool with the NSA knowing who calls who are also against a gun registry… you know, devices which could be used to commit a crime.
    • But I also laugh at the hypocrisy of the left making fun of the right when they had a field day about this same stuff when Bush was in office.

    Your Perceived Privacy

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  • How do you pick a target audience?

    presbyterian-church

    We exist for all people to know Jesus.

    That’s an oversimplification for most church vision statements. On paper, they are for all people.

    But in a brick and mortar reality, churches make decisions every day which largely determine who they reach.

    The Vision Compromise

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  • Open Updates

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    Open is a series of open-source styled events that we do at The Youth Cartel. We shamelessly favor regional trainers, basically turning the normal youth ministry training event upside down. No one gets paid, all of the speakers notes (sometimes audio) are shared on the website, the process for becoming a speaker is open, and we even post the budget online.

    What is it?

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  • The J.R. Organics Farm Tour

    Three and a half years ago I got a CSA membership with J.R. Organics for Christmas. We’ve stuck with it and we’re glad we have.

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  • Our Second Date

    Adam and Kristen McLane, summer 1995
    Adam and Kristen at Notre Dame in the summer of 1995

    Kristen and I met in late April of our freshmen year at Moody, 1995. We were eighteen years old. For our first date we got tricked into a blind date by a mutual friend. It was fun and awkward and a good story in itself.

    Yet our relationship really started on our second date.

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  • The Chase

    The Grind

    working-the-penske-grindSitting at a stop light.

    Mind racing.

    Texts flowing in, trying to ignore them.

    Kids in the car, not looking forward to school, but not fighting it either.

    I’m trying to distract my racing mind by listening to the radio. But that P!ink song is on. And if I hear it one more time my eyeballs may pop out.

    In so many ways it’s just a normal day.

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