A couple years back I was watching a cooking show on Netflix that talked about making sourdough breads. (Among other things) And in section of the show talking about making sourdoughs breads I learned something really interesting: You don’t need a sourdough starter… you can make your own.
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Representation vs. Representatives
The California primary is coming up in just about 6 weeks. As a No Party Preference voter who doesn’t get to vote in the Presidential Primary, and as someone who really isn’t involved in national politics anyway, my attention for the March primaries is on the local races.
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Two New Books from The Youth Cartel
First-Century Youth Ministry: Exploring Our Jewish Roots to Reclaim Discipleship
I’ve been excited about this book for a few reasons. One is purely selfish as its author, Heather Quiroz, completed the masters program in Youth Ministry Leadership at Huntington. I was once part of the same program, though Heather is better than me in that she completed it.
But the bigger reason is the subject matter itself. I often feel like we, as pastors, look towards the business world for advice on how to pastor… and I feel this is a major mistake. Instead of looking towards capitalism I think we need to continually look back at our roots. And I think Heather does that well here. We’re hearing murmurs from early readers that this might be the most influential youth ministry book in a long, long time. As part of the publishing team, I’m biased, but I can see why folks are saying that.
5 Views on Youth Ministry Short-Term Missions: Are your trips helping or hurting?
As I wrote a few weeks back, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to best do short-term missions with youth groups.
That’s why I love this little book from our “Views” line at the Cartel. There are some youth workers and other church leaders who had bad experiences with missions decades ago and have since tried to toss the baby out with the bathwater. What I like here is that the authors [rightly] assume that the reader isn’t going to do that. I think everyone agrees that there’s something great, and I’d dare say necessary, about getting teenagers outside of their culture to do something– and for most churches that means a mission trip. So we agree on that but leads us to our next question, “How to best go about that?”
For any church looking to answers that question for their context, this little book helps. It’s aimed at youth ministry missions, but it’s really great for every church.
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Aztec Dreams at 15-0
The San Diego State men’s basketball team now stands at 15-0. They had a tough non-conference schedule, won ’em all. After a nearly fatal collapse against lowly San Jose State, they’ve beaten 4 conference opponents in a row.
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Marriage Story (2019)
Marriage Story was a very good, intense documentary, delving into the relationship of a couple who couldn’t even agree on what state they lived in, but loved each other to the point of madness.
The film documents the process of their separation and potential divorce.
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A Foot on Each Side
My life is in San Diego. We live here. I’m as involved locally as I’ve ever been. My work is here. My friends are here. My home is here. My bills are here. Everything is here.
I live here in Rolando.
My life is also in Tijuana and Ensenada, two cities in Baja California, Mexico. There’s simply no denying that.
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