• Turn up the love

    Like you, I’m shocked at the popularity of Haterade.

    a figurative drink representing a modality of thought. those who consume it are themselves consumed by the negativity which with they speak.

    ~ Urban Dictionary Word of the Day, July 26th 2005

    It feels like Haterade is on sale all over Facebook and Twitter these days. People are endlessly extreme and full of hate. It’s as if the middle ground approach, one which gives and takes for the sake of mutuality, has been replaced by an either or mentality… either you are for me or against me. I love people who are for me and damned be the name of anyone who is opposed.

    It’s shocking. 

    I Blame the Internet

    Before Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and Huffington Post… you had to talk to people face-to-face at some point. Additionally, it was harder to find community for extremism. You talked things out a bit more with real people and there was social pressure to move from the extremities of a position more to the middle, something socially digestible, and socially acceptable. Because if you held onto your extreme position your world got really, really small.

    If you didn’t then you were that crazy person on the block with the signs in your yard and 15 dogs.

    The internet reverses this. In order to find community you need to refine your positions. You end up forming community with people just like you, who think just like you, and see things just like you… and that is the fountain from which Haterade flows. In time, you get more popular within an online community when you can clearly articulate and defend the group’s position to others outside of your group. Instead of social sparring knocking the edges off of extreme positions it goes the other way towards reaction.

    As people move more and more of their relationships online we can expect more and more extremism and less and less love, tolerance, and middle ground.

    When an extreme crime occurs in a community, say a school shooting, the news always reports the same things about the shooter. “They kept to themselves” or “They were really quiet neighbors” or “They seemed like loners.”  It leaves me shouting at the TV… “Why are you talking to the neighbors? You should be talking to his friends online. That’s who knows the shooter!”

    Very few people truly know their neighbors enough to be a character witness for them. Maybe we know about them? But do we truly know them?

    That’s rhetorical. We don’t know our neighbors all that well.

    Back to the Coffee Shops

    My dad is a coffee shop guy. For as long as I can remember he’s gotten up at the butt crack of dawn and gone to a local coffee shop to socialize. And by coffee shop I’m not talking about Starbucks or 7-11. I’m talking about the local greasy spoon. A place with a griddle, a wrap-around counter, and an owner who doubles as cook, cashier, server, and moderator. Decades before Facebook and Twitter, coffee shops were the places where folks checked in with one another, gave status updates, and talked about the news of the day.

    We Need Love for Our Neighbors

    That’s something missing in our society. For millennia, neighbors gathered locally for daily chores like this. Women met at the watering hole. Men talked on their way to the hunting grounds or fields. Every society has a type of coffee shop. Romans met at the baths. Greeks met at the agora. On and on.

    And now? We meet no where just to talk. Most people know little about their communities.

    Even at our churches… there’s almost no talking. There are 1% of people who speak and 99% of people who listen. (This, too has changed dramatically in recent decades, leading to extremism. But that’s another topic for another day.) You are seen as a good congregant if you listen well, take notes, smile at the pastor and say nice things. But offer a rebuttal or ask a question? That’s disrespecting authority. Church is anti-coffee-shop… and it wasn’t always like that.

    Left alone, we’ve all become the crazy dog man on our blocks who posts random, hate filled signs. We are encouraged to hold extreme positions created in isolation from one another. And our society is worse off for it. 

    Do you want to be Good News on your block? Open a “coffee shop.”

  • When press releases attack

    funny-ad-vs-content

    (see the full-size version of this image)

    In my morning stroll of Google News about teenagers I picked up on this story. On Google News it was just plain text. But when I clicked the link to bookmark it… well, you can imagine my surprise! Clearly, it was a press release sent around in hopes that it’d get published in newspapers or other online sources. Um, I’m thinking they didn’t intend for their keywords to be paired with these ads.

    Talk about unintended consequences. Oops.

    Here’s a safer link to the same press release.

  • Hot Cheetos & Takis

    This song has our kids dancing around. This is video is pretty much true of our life. Though the kids told me that Hot Cheetos are banned from the school because of the red finger thing.

    Dang, so delicious.

    If you were to make a video of your favorite snack, what would it be about? 

  • OpenYM.org – When my dream starts to become our dream

    It’s hard to put a finger on when Open started to become a dream. I can remember having conversations with Kristen in 2006 about the glass ceiling within the youth ministry world. The majority of the speaking/writing/training opportunities went to a relatively small group of people.

    Sadly, even though I’ve since joined the ranks as “one of those people” there still isn’t a true, mechanical and democratic, way for folks on the front lines of youth ministry to get their ideas heard. There is lots of desire within the youth ministry world to hear from new voices. And there is lots of desire from folks doing ministry on the local level to share their ideas. But the path to connect those two groups has been fuzzy, at best.

    That’s really the genesis behind Open. How do we connect those two groups in a way that helps the whole community?

    That’s really been a dream of mine. When I talked about it I got a lot of nodding of the head and people would say, “Yeah, that’s really interesting.”

    It was my dream. And it wasn’t catching.

    Then last Fall something awesome happened. I started to talk to people about it who did more than nod their head. They’d stop me and go, “Hey, just a second. Let’s add ___ into this. This is exactly what we’re looking for.”

    I put together a little white paper and started to shop it around to people who loved that conversation. And it spread.

    That idea has started to go from an idea that Adam had to an idea that many people in our tribe have.

    So here’s how it’s rolling out…

    Alpha test – Proof of concept

    In this phase, I’m very involved. It’s my baby and I’m helping at every step of the way to make sure that the first 3 Open events are what I’ve been dreaming about.

    Those first 3 locations are:

    I hope to see you at one of those 3 first ones. Of course, everything will be recorded and shared with the YM community on openym.org for those who can’t quite make it to an Alpha test city. (for free!) But it’s awesome to see people coming from all over to check it out, too!

    Beta test – Refine the concept

    With the 3 Alpha cities rolling… Later this fall I’ll start to get serious about the next 6 cities. My hope is to add 4 new cities in the United States, one Canadian city, and an additional non-North American city.

    I’m talking to folks in about 10 U.S. cities for what those 4 additional cities might be. Of course, I’m “open” to consider a bunch more. So if you’re in a metro area and are interested… let me know.

    The goal for the Beta phase is really to work out the bugs and start to get things into a plan that anyone can follow. My hope is that of those first 9 cities that most of them will keep rolling and birthing new Open’s all over.

    For instance, let’s say that some people from Portland come to Open Seattle and really dig it. So they come back with an eye on… “How do we do this in Portland to benefit our area?”

    That’s the my dream becomes your dream moment, right? And that’s why we’re doing the next phase.

    Production – Out in the wild

    After the alpha and beta test phases are done in 2013, early 2014. My plan is to document all the how-to stuff and release Open to the youth ministry world as a free, open-source regional training event.

    So, just to be clear, if you’re interested in hosting Open _____ (your city) than you’d need to come to a couple of the Alpha/Beta test cities. Maybe come to one as an attendee or speaker, then come back to one as someone who wants to be a host… because if I know that I’ll make sure you see how the whole thing works! Then, as long as you’ve seen it and get the vibe of it, you can get approved to host one yourself and I’ll work with you to develop the partnerships, find the location, and help you promote it.

    This is fun

    I’m an idea guy. And I’m having fun watching as Open takes on a life of its own. It’s morphing, improving, and getting more awesome as it goes from a “me dream” to a “we dream.”

    What is it going to take to convert your dream to our dream? 

    photo credit: dreaming of cotton candy skies by K Nicoll via Flickr (Creative Commons)

  • Youth Worker Journal review of Good News in the Neighborhood

    Jon and I have gotten some very nice feedback on our curriculum, Good News in the Neighborhood. But none quite as big as the one in this months edition of Youth Worker Journal. 

    Often, conversations about introducing our communities to Christ are centered on program development or planning the perfect event. Yet what Adam McLane and Jon Huckins point out in this new curriculum from The Youth Cartel is the best way to reach our communities is to mobilize and equip our students to forget the church event and get in the middle of their neighborhoods.

    Out of all the curricula I have used in the past 11 years of ministry,Good News in the Neighborhood quickly rises to the top. This 6-week program is designed to engage students with Scripture, evaluate how Jesus did ministry in His community and provides very practical steps to help students do the same thing.

    Each week is packed with materials and options that can be used throughout the lesson. McLane and Huckins start off by providing some great ways to get the discussion started: two options of video clips, an activity option or some icebreaker questions. From there, they dive into Scripture, providing multiple texts to use, a script for a brief talk, as well as a video story that can be played. Each session then has some discussion questions to take the teaching deeper.

    The best part of each session is a proposed experiment, which helps put the lesson into practice and gets students out of the church or their homes and into their neighborhoods. Each week increases in challenge and comfort, eventually culminating in putting together a plan to do something to bring Christ to your neighbors. These also provide great content and discussion for the following week.

    If you buy one curriculum this year, make it Good News in the Neighborhood. It will go a long way in your ministry to help your students reach the people around them.

    source

    buy here

  • What’s measurable in youth ministry?

    • Church attendance. (duh)
    • Program attendance. (double duh)
    • Baptism.
    • Renewal/reaffirmation of baptism vows.
    • Attend confirmation.
    • Complete confirmation.
    • Small group participation.
    • Program participation.
    • Content retention.
    • Content progression.
    • Content application.
    • Becoming a volunteer.
    • Attending volunteer training.
    • Volunteer hours.
    • Bringing friends.
    • Bringing a Bible.
    • Bringing friends with a Bible.
    • Going on a mission trip.
    • Going on a service trip.
    • Creating a service opportunity.
    • Completing a service opportunity.
    • Recruiting friends for a service opportunity.
    • Fundraising for a service opportunity.
    • Joining a student leadership team.
    • Leading a student leadership team.
    • Youth ministry board participation.
    • Church board participation.
    • Finding a mentor.
    • Being a mentor.
    • Volunteering outside of the youth ministry.

    There are a lot of things in youth ministry which aren’t measurable. Standing alone,  these quantifiable things might not mean a lot because students can easily fake them or do them with no heart or impact on their relationship with Jesus.

    But that doesn’t mean you don’t measure stuff. You mix this quantifiable stuff with qualitative stuff to help you determine an individuals growth as well as the health of your entire group.

    For example, at my last ministry one of my assumptions was that a student would make the leap into adult involvement in our church if they had a place they called their own in the congregation. As a result, something I measured and moved our students towards was transitioning from high school ministry involvement to being part of an adult team. (Leading kids ministry stuff, helping on our main service team, participating in one of our mercy ministries, etc.) It was measurable and attainable and made a big difference.

  • The Ups, Downs, and Mechanics of Blogging

    Last week, I published my 3rd annual list of the Top 25 Youth Ministry Blogs. For some reason looking at all of those blogs from a statistical (as opposed to content) perspective caused some reflection on my own blogging life.

    The Ups

    My blog has more than 8 years of thoughts on it. While I’ve started to give myself a day off here and there for the most part I’ve averaged more than 1 post per day for 8 years.

    There’s massive upside to this blog. First, for myself. I need an outlet for my thoughts. I need a way to organize what I’m thinking into what I’m really thinking. And  many times I need to write just get it out of me. Second, for my readers. In the first few years I was adamant that I blogged for me. But as time has gone on and as this blog has grown in popularity I’ve had to deal with and accept the reality that this blog has influence over people’s lives in ways that just don’t make sense to me. — I’ve received infinitely more feedback (positive/negative) on this blog than I’ve ever received in preaching, teaching, writing for magazines, or writing books.

    This blog has encouraged, challenged, and trained a lot of people in ways that make no sense. For me, it’s weird enough that I can sit down and writing something over a cup of coffee that several thousand people will read before I go to bed.

    Since 2008 all of my families income has come as a direct/indirect result of this blog.

    The Downs

    This blog has probably cost me some friends along the way. People today are so flippant with others. Relationships are ruined because of the stupidest things like philosophical disagreements. I’ve been confronted many times because of things I’ve written and it never feels good. For every opportunity this blog has created it has probably spoiled just as many.

    This blog has pissed off a lot of people. People think they know me because of what I write. People think that because I write something that I’m making some sort of statement… as if I have the authority to do so. I’ve heard friends in ministry call my blog a liability. I know of at least one person who has their subscription to my blog used as a reason to be fired from their church.

    The unfiltered nature of blogging is a double-edged sword. I love that I can sit down over a cup of coffee and without an editor, publicist, or mechanism of any kind have a thought go out into the wild. But that means that my ability to communicate what I’m thinking in that moment can easily be misconstrued, misconstructed, or even flat-out-wrong.

    The Mechanics of My Blog

    People always want to know how I do this. I think they look at their life, have a small glimmer of a desire to blog, and can’t figure out how it actually works.

    • For me, blogging is a habit. It’s just what I do when I get up.
    • Most often I am writing my post for about 45 minutes somewhere between 6:30 – 8:00 am.
    • Yes, I really do write posts the day they go out. Often times they have only been read through 1 time before I hit publish.
    • I rarely schedule posts to publish in advance.
    • I almost never have a plan.
    • I do capture ideas for future posts on Evernote, almost like it’s a religion.
    • In Christian language, you could call this blog my devotions. Before I had a blog I had lots and lots of notebooks.
    • I write every day no matter what I’m feeling. Each days post reflects my mood. Just like in real life, some days you are feisty, some days you are chilled, some days you have something to say, and some days you have to force something.
    • I have to say something every day. Think about that… sometimes it’s easy to come up with something to say and other times it’s really hard.
    • I don’t have an expectation that they will all be winners. Some are turds and some are golden eggs.
    • Getting people to think about things sometimes means I’m intentionally stating things just to get a reaction. I’m intentionally telling one side of a story or over-stating an opinion. Why? Because you won’t care if I write something diplomatically.
    • While I know, particularly sometimes, that I will tick some people off with things I say. I don’t ever intend to harm, tick off, or whatever. I don’t take pleasure in hurting someone’s feelings. (I’d like to think I’ve grown in this area.)
    • I don’t have an ax to grind. There are times when I know I need to talk about something big in my life. (I have to get it out on the blog or it’ll come out in some less healthy way!)
    • I’ve been told I hate the church, I hate youth ministry, I hate I hate I hate I hate. Please stop it. That makes no sense whatsoever. I mean, why would I dedicate my life to serving, encouraging, and training church workers if I didn’t have a deep love of the church and hopes that bagillions of people would experience Christ there?
    • I try to limit my posts to 500-600 words. And this post is already over 800.
    • And I’m out of time. So if there are type-o’s I apologize.

  • Outsmarting Your Opponent

    Rocky Long is crazy. Yesterday, he told reporters that as head coach of the San Diego State football team he is planning on always onside kicking and always going for it on 4th down.

    Rocky Long is genius. By telling his opponents he is not going to traditionally kick the ball off and not planning to punt on 4th down, they have to prepare for that potential even if he has no intention of doing it.

    This is Rocky Long’s Moneyball moment. After 40 years as a head coach he has a wild idea and he’s toying with the gamble. He sees something that his opponents don’t. And he’s convinced that this could give him the competitive advantage over more talented teams that he needs.

    He told the Union-Times:

    And yes, Long — who apparently hasn’t yet tried it all in his 40 years of coaching — is serious about this. “It makes sense,” he said, seeming almost giddy in talking about the possibilities. “Additional plays would allow you to score a lot more points,” he said. “It also puts a whole lot of pressure on the defense.” source

    As a season ticket holder I know that this announcement is influenced by his personnel and not just a crazy idea he woke up with. He lost 4 of his most crucial players to the NFL and wasn’t able to replace them with players of equal/higher quality. (QB, RB, MLB, Punter) Additionally, they are one year away from entering the Big East where he will likely have a competitive disadvantage every single week of conference play. He’s interested in a gimmick because he is desperate to give his team any sort of advantage. And just the threat of this makes other teams prepare for it.

    That said, the person he’s learning this philosophy from is pretty successful with it.

    The possibly not-so-mad professor of this “punting-is-for-wimps” practice is Kevin Kelley, the head coach of a small private school, the Pulaski Academy, in Little Rock, Ark. In nine years, Kelley’s teams have posted a 104-19 record, winning three state titles. Last season, Pulaski went 14-0 and averaged 51 points per game. source

    It’s crazy. But it might just be crazy enough to work.

    What’s your competitive advantage?

    In ministry, the head coach of the other team is Satan. And he’s been doing some winning lately, hasn’t he? Sick of him winning yet? He has more resources than you. He’s got great recruiters. He’s actually smarter and more experienced than you. You are losing, not because you’re a bad person, but because you’ve been outsmarted.

    My prayer is that you’re ticked off about this. My hope is that you’re tired of losing. And my eye glimmers with the possibility that maybe you are ready to start playing with the team you have and not the team you wish you have.

    Maybe it’s time to try that idea you’ve always wanted to try but thought was too risky? Maybe it’s time to look around and discover something that’s way outside of the box but is totally working? And maybe it’s time you took a 48 hour retreat and figured something out?

  • He’s God and We’re Not

  • Unleash your awesome for good

    Such a beautiful portrait of what can be done for good when you really unleash your true self.

    It makes me wonder… if you follow Jesus you were created for good works. (Ephesians 2:10) All too often we focus on the good works part and rush to do stuff. But maybe you’ll find what your good works are simply by leaning into discovering what you were created for? 

    Can I get an amen?