Tag: tip

  • 5 Common Misreads on Teenagers in Youth Group

    One of the things you learn as you go in youth ministry is that teenagers are experts at sending off false signals that can be difficult to pick-up on.

    Here are five common ones I see newbies miss all the time.

    • “I’m just hanging out” or “I just thought I’d drop by because I was bored.” If you have a student that stays late or is just hanging around or lingers longer than usual or drops by the office for no real reason– it isn’t an accident. There is always a reason. They want to talk and are waiting for you to take the initiative. And sometimes when they do this you’re going to have to build a little repoire before they share what’s really going on.
    • That student in the back isn’t paying attention. This is a frustration that comes out of youth workers all the time. Stop it. It doesn’t mean what you think it means at all! It’s easy to think that a student who is sitting in the back, looking at the wall, or just looks like they aren’t paying attention isn’t paying attention or is being disrespectful. My experience is that they are usually paying attention and soaking in more than the kids who being compliant, smiling, responsive teenagers in the front row. If they weren’t there for an encounter with God they wouldn’t be there. Period.
    • The student who wants to be a up front is a leader. Nope. Up front skills and spiritual leadership are two different things. When I was in youth group I was up front, leading games, and even leading a small group before I even gave my life to Jesus. Some people are born leaders and lead wherever they go. Students who like to be part of your leadership teams might be just as lost and trying to figure it out as the dude in the back who stares at his iPod the whole time.
    • Spiritual maturity and physical maturity are two different things. This is really hard for adults to grasp. But if you do youth ministry for any length of time you will meet students who are just as spiritually mature, or who are MORE mature, than most of the adults in your church. You don’t have to be 50 and have kids in college to be mature in Christ. How do you judge spiritual maturity? Fruit. Stop looking down on students because they are young. Bottom line on that one.
    • They aren’t ready for theology. Ugh. Any time a youth worker says this I want to punch them in the face. I actually had a methodist youth worker say this recently via a Facebook message. My response: “How old were the founders of Methodism when they got started? Look it up.” Yeah, don’t underestimate what the teenage brain can handle. You can’t tell me that an 11th grader who just wrote a 5 page paper on Whitman’s use of symbolism isn’t ready for some theology. Just because you’d rather play video games than study doesn’t mean that every student is like you. A big reason they eventually bail is because they are bored and the faith that you are exhibiting is boring compared to what they read in the Bible.

    These are the misreads I see all of the time. What am I missing? 

  • Video Tip: Consider the Background

    Check out what happens at :37. My guess is that something happened or maybe the person filming the piece wanted to change up the subjects angle or the lighting was just a smidge better… but they caught a recycle bin in the background.

    Drats. I hate it when that happens.

    You can usually get away with shooting something on the odd side of an office building or even back by the loading docks. Just make sure you look at the whole shot.

  • Repairing a Wet iPod Touch

    Repairing a Wet iPod Touch

    The other day our youngest son had his mom’s iPod Touch with him as he headed to the bathroom. Resting the device near the sink seemed safe. That is, until he started washing his hands. Moments later he came back out and handed a soaking wet iPod to his mom.

    Fearing the worst we fired it up and were happy to see that it was still working. But on further inspection it was clear that there was some moisture under the screen.

    Never fear, we have a fix for that! Actually, this works for iPods, cell phones, and pretty much any small electronic advice that’s a little bit wet. Put this tip in your arsenal.

    Step One: Power off the device as soon as possible. For an iPod that just means shutting it down. But if it has a battery or is connected to a power supply… turn it off quickly!

    Step Two: Dry it off as well as possible with what is visible to you. Don’t take anything apart. Don’t shake it. Just get it dry as possible with a towel.

    Step Three: Wrap it in a paper towel and place it a ziplock bag. Don’t seal the ziplock bag! That’ll just make things worse.

    Step Four: Place the bag in a window sill or on the dashboard of your car.

    Step Five: Give it some time. A day usually seems to do the trick.

    Step Six: Take it out of the bag and fire it up.

    Typically, this process will remove moisture from circuitry. If it doesn’t fire up it’s safe to say that you have cooked a board or something like that. You can try the process again but if it doesn’t turn on at all it’s not looking good. For us, this process has fixed several phones and, we’re happy to report, removed moisture from mommy’s iPod screen.

    What if this doesn’t work? If there is a major problem and this didn’t work I’d suggest talking to my friends at The Pod Drop. Seriously, these guys are better than Apple repair. Typically, Apple will just give you a new one and if isn’t under warranty they will tell you to buy a new one. I’ve seen it myself, the folks at The Pod Drop can bring back almost any DOA iPod. Even better, if they look at it and it can’t be repaired they will likely buy it from you for parts and apply that towards the purchase of a new one.