• Congregations Where Teenagers Have a Voice

    3 Things

    1. Yes, yes, and yes to Mandy’s talk. 
    2. Come to The Summit this year, November 8-9 in Atlanta, we’ve got 18 brand new speakers to blow your mind.
    3. All of the audio/video for the 2012 Summit is now available for purchase starting at $4.

  • In Social Media You Are the Product

    What's going on behind the curtain at your favorite social media site?
    What’s going on behind the curtain at your favorite social media site?

    Facebook announced Tuesday that it had started a small test to let advertisers and agencies use Facebook Exchange (FBX) to serve retargeted ads — specifically called “Page post link ads” — to your News Feed, which, of course, is Facebook’s prime real estate. These ads take into account people’s browsing behavior outside Facebook, as captured through cookies, with the aim of offering up messages about products they’ve already shown interest in.

    Source

    Queue Facebook User Privacy Freak Out

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  • Those Risky Teenagers

    Those Risky Teenagers - A Real Life Story of Teenage Faith

    The hypothesis of the study –– that adolescents make finer distinctions between levels of risk and reward than adults do –– contradicts much conventional knowledge about young people and risk taking, according to Reyna.

    Source

    Those Risky Teenagers

    “I’ve got a challenge for you. My theory is that those who are really dedicated to following Jesus, those who take some risks for their faith, will be rewarded. I can’t promise you what that reward will be, but I’ve learned that God will meet me there when I take a risk for Him.”

    She heard her youth pastor say that. And she needed it to be true. What he didn’t know that night was just how on-the-fence she’d become about the whole “Jesus thing“– as her friends called it. Youth group had become a place to see her friends. But in this small town you see your friends at lunch just as much as you see them at youth group. Plus, the repetition of games and songs and a Bible teaching was getting on her nerves. She likes it all, sure, but it’s pretty much the same thing every Wednesday night for the past 4 years. She’s growing up and everything in her world is maturing, eating baby food while blind-folded just doesn’t feel as grown up as it did in seventh grade.

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  • Why You Should Attend a Conference Outside of Your Area of Expertise

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    • What am I doing here?
    • Do I fit in or stick out?
    • Will I learn anything?
    • Will I have a good time?
    • Am I just wasting my time & money?

    These questions have stopped me from attending conferences and seminars. Really it is simple… If I have to give a day or two to anything it better be worth my time. And if its going to cost me a bunch of money? Too risky. 

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  • Telling the truth versus something less

    6555465757_f98e370880_bWhile I totally miss being on staff at a local church– there’s one thing I don’t miss at all.

    I don’t have to filter my interactions with students through the grid of “what I’m supposed to say because I work at this church.”

    3 Easy Examples

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  • Bringing Craft Back to Content

    Here are my notes from my WordCamp San Diego talk. If you have any feedback on the presentation or want to connect on making something awesome, leave me a comment or hit up my contact form. (If you missed it, it’ll be on WordPress.tv)

    PDF of my talking notes, which I kind of used.

    10 Tips for Crafting Content

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  • Taking a Risk This Weekend

    wcsd-logoAt Open we ask speakers to come on their own dime, present something fresh, and step out in faith– to take a risk for the sake of the community. The premise of Open is that the best ideas about ministering to adolescents are already out in the field being tried… and amazing things will happen when we share them with others in our field.

    This weekend I’m taking a similar risk by presenting a not-so-normal topic at WordCamp San Diego. (Open is modeled after WordCamp)

    I’m excited to speak into this community of collaborators and innovators. In my work at McLane Creative I take a lot so it is fun to give something back.

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  • The Cycle Can Stop

    For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

    Romans 6:14

    broken-cycleThe Apostle Paul and the Holy Spirit smashed some guys in my small group last night. It took my breath away.

    My co-leader and I spent an hour pushing through Romans 6 phrase-by-phrase, defining all the words and concepts, drawing out what that meant to first century readers, making principled comparisons to today. It was exhausting… and while the guys participated and were inquisitive I was concerned that it wasn’t sinking in. It felt more like an English class than a small group.

    I asked…

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  • The Fokken Twins: A Saturday Night Live Skit in Real Life

    The Fokken Twins of Amsterdam
    An interview with the Fokken twins, the oldest prostitutes in Amsterdam, goes horribly wrong in the most awesome way.

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  • Do the hustle

    hustle

    From 1995 until 2002 I worked at BlueCross Blue Shield of Illinois.

    First, I ran a machine that printed ID cards for their 6 million members. Then, in 1997 at the age of 21, I was put in charge of managing 15 or so machine operators who ran the machines.

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