Category: The Youth Cartel

  • A secret deal on my book

    My new book, co-authored with Marko, comes out next week.

    I’m very excited about it for two specific reasons.

    1. Parents of teenagers really need this book. The days of fighting or banning or trying to wall off kids from social media is over. Parents need to know how to help their child live a life that will increasingly be lived online. This book does that really well. It’s short, easy to understand, and very practical.
    2. I’m proud of how this turned out. Marko and I worked really hard on making a book that’ll last a few years. We focused on helping parents understand social media while avoiding all of the pitfalls of your typical Christian book about media– there’s nothing here that is alarmist. We aren’t trying to scare parents, we are providing tested principles that have worked for years, work today, and will work for years to come. Trust me, that wasn’t easy.

    Here’s the Official Description

    With each passing day, teenagers’ lives become increasingly intertwined with social media. How can you as a parent stay informed and involved in healthy ways? How can you help your son or daughter make wise decisions and remain safe online?

    A Parent’s Guide to Understanding Social Media will equip you to have meaningful conversations with your teenager about the best, wisest ways to get connected while staying safe.

    Your guides for this journey are Mark Oestreicher and Adam McLane, who draw from their own wells of experience as parents and youth workers. They’ll help you chart a course toward discovering and practicing wise family online activity.

    My Secret Deal

    I would love for you to get this book in the hands of all the parents in your ministry. Like the other books in this series, this would be great to use as the content of a parent meeting. In fact, the book is based on a short seminar I’ve done for parents of teenagers in a bunch of churches.

    You can pre-order it on our site right now for $6.99.

    If you buy 10 or more copies, you’ll automatically get free shipping on your entire order. (media mail, US addresses only) Check this out. Add whatever else you want to that same order, as long as you order 10 or more copies of the book, you’re getting free shipping.

    If you buy 20 or more copies, I’ll still pick up the tab for shipping on your order, and I’ll start tossing goodies in the box.

    This secret deal expires on December 15th.

    p.s. If you don’t automatically get free shipping, apply coupon code SECRET62

  • FREE RESOURCE: YouTube You Can Use

    Each week I produce a free resource called, YouTube You Can Use. The concept is simple. I take a viral video from YouTube and write a small discussion starter and/or devotional based on the content.

    Currently, more than 1100 people around the world receive it each Monday. They use in their youth groups, in small groups, and as sermon illustrations. I’ve even heard from a number of parents who use it as a family devotional.

    You can subscribe to the email list here and get it in your inbox each Monday. Also, the full archives, currently 56 of them, are available on our website. (free registration required)

    Below is the latest edition.

    (more…)

  • We Went to The Summit Together

    I’m going to remember 2012. It’s the year the Cartel came of age.

    In 2011, we dreamed a lot and casted a lot of vision for what the Cartel might become. We wanted to Instigate a Revolution in Youth Ministry by initiating some stuff, developing partnerships, serving other organizations, etc.

    In 2012, we decided to build a lot of stuff to make those aspirations more of a practical reality. We have served more than 20 Christians organizations with marketing, strategy, and internet initiatives. We launched a publishing line which released our first four titles, and we added two additional events for youth workers– Open and The Summit.

    Those things are about as easy as it sounds. (As in, not that easy at all!) It was way, way more work than I’d ever envisioned.

    (more…)

  • 3 New Books from The Youth Cartel

    In the past 2-3 months I’ve earned a Masters Degree in Publishing. OK, not literally. But I’ve had to teach myself how to turn a manuscript into a book you can buy and a Kindle/iBook you can read on an eReader. It’s been crazy hard and fun.

    So here are the 3 books we’ve published this fall. (In reverse order)

    Leading Up: Finding Influence in the Church Beyond Role and Experience by Joel Mayward

    Back cover:

    Far too many church leaders find themselves frustrated, floundering, or fired because their dreams for the church reach beyond the job description they were hired to fill. Whether you’re a pastor, an intern, or a volunteer, you’re not the one in charge of the congregation. Thankfully, neither is your boss; Jesus is the lead pastor for every church. His Spirit moves in each of us, and those gifted in leadership can find Christ-honoring practices for leading up- having influence that goes beyond role or experience. This isn’t about manipulation or rebellion, but about humbly participating in the mission of God in your church.

    Leading Up is a leadership fable that unpacks a paradigm and practical tools for leading up in your church. Logan is a young pastor with a big vision for Evergreen Community Church, but cannot seem to move any of his ideas beyond wishful thinking. At a significant breaking point, a mentor comes alongside to mentor Logan on his journey of leadership, transforming both of these leaders and the church in the process. Logan’s affecting tale will offer compelling insights for any church leader wanting to expand their leadership skills.

    My thoughts: Oh baby, this is so needed in multi-staff churches. I think this would be a great book to work through as a staff team. And if I were overseeing interns, especially those who aspired to be church staff, this would be mandatory reading.

    Releases December 1st. Pre-order from the Cartel store. It’ll be on Amazon for both physical copies & Kindle soon. And it should be on iBook by December 1st as well.

    Masterpiece: The Art of Discipling Youth by Paul Martin

    Back Cover:

    Masterpiece. That’s how Paul the Apostle describes us in his letter to the church in Ephesus. We are God’s masterpiece. Most people never hear that one phrase. Even fewer will believe it. Masterpiece: The Art of Discipling Youthuncovers the process of revealing teenagers as the masterpieces Christ created them to be. It doesn’t approach discipleship with a blank slate, sketching with small groups or painting with programs. Instead, it focuses on revealing the art that is already under the surface of every teenager, removing the grime of life and restoring the vibrancy of the true colors underneath.

    This book is for youth workers who are tired of canned meetings geared towards the masses. Veteran youth worker Paul Martin shares his process for recognizing individual youth as what they are: God’s masterpiece.

    My thoughts: I’m pumped for this book. We, as a tribe, need to think more imaginatively about faith formation and Paul helps us get there. I think every youth worker needs to read/wrestle with this book, I’d love to see it used as a text book for youth ministry students, too.

    Releases December 1st. Pre-order from the Cartel store or Amazon right now. (As well as a few other youth ministry websites) It’ll be on both Kindle & iBooks by December 1st, as well.

    The Youth Cartel’s Unauthorized Dictionary of Youth Ministry by Steve Case

    Back cover: 

    Most church people don’t like to work with teenagers. Teenagers scare people. But what do youth workers like you do? You love them. You spend all your time with them. You do your best to listen to heartaches, guide fledgling souls, and avoid dismemberment. You’re like a saint. A saint who drinks a lot of coffee.

    Even with all that coffee in you and with the mighty hand of God shoving guiding you, sometimes the pressure, church committees and annual budget meetings can make you feel like you are gonna explode. Don’t do that. It’s gross.

    Instead: breathe deep. Allow yourself one of those “snort” church giggles. You can even hide this book inside your Bible (just bow your head and you’ll look like you’re praying). Go ahead and laugh. We won’t tell anyone.

    My thoughts: This book is hilarious. It “gets us.” Plus, how many books in our world can you say… “Oh, I’d totally buy that to read on the can.” Everyone who reads it thinks it is hilarious. If you have a youth worker in your life it’d make a great Christmas gift. And if you’re a youth worker… well, you need to have it because our job is so weird that sometimes you just need to laugh at yourself.

    This released October 1st, so it ships immediately. It’s available on the Cartel store and Amazon. It’s also available digitally on Kindle and iBooks.

    So how many books are you guys gonna do?

    Yeah, starting a publishing business has been crazy fun and we think we’re going to keep doing it! We’ve got 4-5 more books/curriculums in the hopper and we’re talking to a fair number of folks about future stuff. In theory, we’re planning on doing 6-10 titles in 2013.

  • A season of winning

    Saturday, both of my favorite college football teams got big wins. First, SDSU beat UNLV at home to move their record to 6-3 and become bowl eligible. And second, Notre Dame remains undefeated and overachieving at 8-0. How in the world did they end up in the National Championship discussion after a schedule like that? For both the Irish and the Aztecs we are in a season of winning and that makes it very fun.

    In truth, the same is also true in my life. As I reflect on the amazing fall we’re having with The Youth Cartel there’s just no other way to label it except a season of winning.

    • We have amazing and flourishing collaborative relationships with a growing number of like-minded organizations.
    • More and more youth workers are seeing their ministry benefitted by the services, products, and training we are creating.
    • Open Seattle was a high risk experiment and it exceeded all expectations. (Content, attendance, impact, etc.)
    • Middle School Ministry Campference (last weekend) has gone from an alpha mode last year (Can we make this work?) into something which is growing, fun to be a part of, and we know is a winner. I can’t wait for 2013.
    • We started the year with publishing desires but are finishing the year with 4 innovative, high quality titles in our brand new publishing line.

    I could go on… there’s lots of winning going on!

    And in case you weren’t aware we’ve started a new business [without external funding] in the middle of a recession.

    How We Got Here

    Just like on a sports team, when you get into a season of winning you can only point to a long, hard pre-season of planning/training/and hard work. You don’t get here on talent and/or good fortune alone. There’s no better way to win!

    As a result, as much as I am enjoying this sweet season of winning of winning I’m completely reticent of the fact that this is only happening because of the extreme sacrifices we’ve made to make it happen. Long nights, tough decisions, lots of strategy execution.

    Enjoying the Wins

    Is it OK to enjoy winning? I absolutely think so. Something in me wants to act like this is no big deal. Or to blush off the compliments. Or, worse yet, just move past even considering these as wins because we have much larger aspirational goals. Sometimes I don’t know how to take winning. It feels like I shouldn’t, at least not publicly.

    But I think it’s wise/important/necessary to celebrate and enjoy winning! I don’t think it’s gloating to jam the victory spear into the ground and take a picture.

    How do you celebrate wins in your life, ministry, family, spiritual walk? 

  • Campferenceing

    It’s 4:45 and I’m at the airport. For a west coast person that means one thing: You are headed east.

    In just a few hours I’ll meet Marko, Kurt, Katie, and a few others in Louisville for our drive up to Seymour, Indiana. As an Indiana boy it doesn’t get much more Indiana than spending the weekend in the hometown of John Mellencamp.

    The Middle School Ministry Campference is Marko’s baby. (Open is mine, The Summit is ours together… a love child of sorts.) As you know, we are experimenting with several different styles of events. The Campference is an all-inclusive, all-hands-on-deck 360 experience. Unlike a typical conference all of the attendees and presenters are together for the whole weekend.

    This is my first one. (I wasn’t able to make it last year.) And while I’ve done tons of youth ministry with middle schoolers I’ve never been a “middle school only” kind of youth worker. So I’m looking forward to a lot of things about the weekend, the camaraderie you experience when you are with your peeps, unlimited laughter, since Tic is coming I know there will be tears, I’m looking forward to learning more about early adolescence, I’m looking forward to serving others, and I’m looking forward to doing a Cartel event with Marko.

  • Our Baby is Growing Up

    Marko and I are in a very fun place with The Youth Cartel.

    Our start-up, in many ways our baby, is exceeding our expectations in growth. We’re further along in development than we could have imagined we would be 14-16 months ago.

    I’ve done a start-up before. In 2005, with $72 and a small group of friends we created an online community which took off and did really well. So I know that getting an idea/product out there and getting it popular is actually not that hard.

    But, in business-development-land, there’s a big difference between creating a product people are really excited about and creating a sustainable company with a number of products. In my first start-up, YMX, we really had a product that had a shelf life. Fortunately, we sold it at the products peak value so we didn’t have to worry about what the company’s next product might be. Well, we worried about it a lot, but never had to do anything about it.

    The Youth Cartel, from its genesis, is different than that. YMX always had an out-plan… to sell… the goal for the Cartel is not to sell, but build something that can change the very ecosystem we exist in. (This explains our byline: To instigate a revolution in youth ministry.)

    So it’s a different start-up mentality altogether.

    Signs of Growth

    Just like with a real baby, when Marko and I look at the Cartel it’s easy for us to see a baby when in fact there are signs of growth all over the place. Here’s what I mean:

    Publishing – My life has been consumed with books lately. Our first publishing projects, the Extended Adolescence Symposium ebook and Good News in the Neighborhood were both primarily digital products. But starting this fall we’ve got 3 books in both print and digital formats.

    • The Youth Cartel’s Unauthorized Dictionary of Youth Ministry by Steve Case. Reviews are starting to fly in on this one, it’s a total blast.
    • (Coming in November) Masterpiece: The Art of Discipling Youth by Paul Martin. This book is very, very good. So excited to see its impact on ministries.
    • (Coming in November) Leading Up: Finding Influence in the Church Beyond Role and Experience by Joel Mayward. Boom. Seriously, this book is so needed among church leaders.

    Events & Training – It’s hard to say my  life isn’t dominated by this, too. We are hosting 3 events in 6 weeks this Fall. When you add on top of that some of the training I’m doing with churches and other conferences, it’s a big piece of who we are and what we do.

    • Open – I’ve written a fair amount about the success of Open Seattle. Momentum for this little grass roots style of event is building. Based on feedback from Seattle and the speaker submissions and requests to sponsor at Open Boston… we are definitely onto something.
    • Middle School Ministry Campference – It’s fun to see this growing in its second year. I’m really looking forward to being a part of the weekend.
    • The Summit – We’re quickly approaching our first-ever Summit. And anticipation is killing us! We couldn’t be more thrilled with the lead-up though.
    The thing we’ve learned is that people are tired of gathering certain ways and ready…  hungry… to try new things. Which is cool because I can think of lots of new ways to gather.

    Marketing Services – I’ve quietly served about 25 organizations in the past year. Everything from consulting to building websites to launching products… this has really been one of our powerhouse places and it’s been mostly below the radar. (By design, of course) I had one client meeting where a prospective person said, “Everywhere I look you guys are there.” Yeah baby, welcome to the revolution.

    Coaching program – Marko is starting his third year of the coaching program. It’s been really cool to see it grow, morph, and really change people’s lives. It’s not big and mass media, in fact it’s really slow and has deep impact on people. I’m really excited to see some of the places YMCP is headed in the next 3-6 months, too.

    Becoming a Thing

    As we’re growing we are starting to see more and more clearly how all the stuff we are doing is working together and the Cartel is becoming more than just Marko & Adam’s start-up… it’s becoming a thing. Over the past 3-4 months we’ve noticed how people are talking differently about us. For the first year we heard lots of folks saying, “We love what you are doing.” Now we’re hearing more, “I love where this thing is taking us.” That’s a not-so-subtle and very important thing. The Cartel is lame if its just about Marko and I– but it’s really quite exciting to see that God is taking our dreams, initiatives, aspirations, and hard work and we are starting to see how it is kicking off a revolution within the youth ministry world.

    Where We Go From Here

    In short, we’ve got many more ideas, some of which we’re starting to do and other which we’re waiting for the right time. For now our biggest challenge isn’t opportunity… it’s continuing to execute on the things that have helped grow this thing while we build capacity to go to the next level. We’re building our team, we’re seeing the financial stuff get stronger and more predictable, and both will allow us to build things for the next stage of development.

    In business development terms, we’re making an initial transformation from a bootstrap enterprise with two friends working together to make it happen and towards our long-term goal of becoming a family run small business.

    So, that’s where we are.

    Most importantly for us, we’re having a crazy amount of fun!

  • Pushing Past the Pain of Change

    This weekend, at Open, I heard a few things. Some were from attendees, some speakers, and others from the Holy Spirit.

    Most of the thoughts that stuck are along the lines of change. People are ready for change. They are hungry for it. And the pain of continuing this cycle of depreciating returns is too depressing– finally overcoming the reality that making some levels of foundation shifting change is worth the cost.

    Thoughts like this…

    • how we as a tribe gathers needs to change
    • how we gather teenagers needs to change
    • how we disciple teenagers needs to change.
    • how we think of ourselves needs to change.
    • how we fund the movement of ministering to adolescents needs to change.

    With declining numbers in all of the categories that seem to matter, the reality is that there are so few winners and far too many losers.

    We all need things in our life and vocation to change. And we are in the position to do something about it.

    People, like you and me, are beginning to realize that it is up to us to make these changes instead of waiting for someone else. (Cough, be a leader. Cough, cough. Entropy. Cough, cough. I KNOW! Cough, cough.)

    The Pain of Change

    Actually changing things will cost you something. It might make people hate you. It will be messy. It might lead to your organization losing money or even closing. There’s a pretty good chance that you could get fired.

    But I want to encourage you as you think about change. When you lead towards what you feel God is calling you to move towards… it’s always scary. It’s always full of fear. It’s always brought with some pain.

    Sometimes in Scripture we need to read between the lines a little bit. I think of people like Noah going home and telling his wife he needed to build an ark and gather animals. I’m guessing he and his wife didn’t see eye to eye on that at first blush, something tells me he slept on the coach, and maybe it was a little while until she accepted the lunacy of her husbands vision. Rest assured… building an ark isn’t good for your sex life. Or I think about the Centurion in Acts… I’m sure it went well when his boss in Rome found out he and his entire house converted to the religion he was paid to squelch. I don’t think that guy got a raise. Or I think about the Peter on the day of Pentecost… I’m sure that his message of Jesus as the Christ went over like a pile of bricks. Remember, most of the people in the audience walked away saying he was drunk.

    So this is what I know. Not just from the Bible but from my own life: Until you suck it up, accept that the changes you know you need to make will involve some pain, you’re just going to keep doing nothing.

    No sir. Not for me. I want to sleep at night. The word regret will not be on my tombstone.

    Things will change because they must. Pain will be overcome because its just pain. And the vision and dreams God has laid on our hearts should scare the hell out of us.

    But fear of pain preventing me or you from the leaders we can be?

    May we never sink so far.

  • Celebrating the Collective We

    Saturday was one of those rare experiences where you witness a vision reality.

    Something that existed purely by way of imagination, aspiration, and hopeful preparation took physical shape resulting in a day I’ll always remember.

    It started to get real when I picked up the t-shirts. Brian Aaby had connected me with a local screen printer who not only did a great job but passed along a beautiful price. When Kevin popped the lid on a massive box of antique cherry red t-shirts emblazoned with a white “Open Seattle” logo– I was taken aback. It was like that box pinched me and woke me up. THIS IS HAPPENING!

    The Friday night speakers dinner was next. 30 speakers & their significant others enjoyed a meal together. Again, it was one of those things that was just on the calendar… it was a thing I knew would be cool but had no idea how fun it would be. Though most of us had never met face-to-face, everyone had a great time getting to know one another. There were lots of hugs and laughter mixed with our spaghetti and cheesecake. Perhaps the quality of the night was best exhibited in the volume of the group. It was so loud in there!

    After a sleepless night I got up before dawn to head over to Seattle Pacific University. I was the first car in the lot. The campus was silent as I unloaded my rental car and schlepped boxes of stuff into Upper Gwinn.

    Then it all kind of started to go in fast-forward. Sponsors started showing up to set up their booths. No sooner did I get stuff unpacked before the early birds started to arrive. And seemingly 15 seconds later it was 8:57.

    I grabbed Mark Moder… “Um, can you help me? I need someone to do a little welcome and mixer.”

    Literally, I needed that 2 minutes to shift my brain. The build up had been so long but the morning so short. I needed to capture the moment, gather my thoughts, and say this:

    It’s because of you. We do this thing for you. The world needs you. And we need you to not just love Jesus and love kids. Today is an expression of the collective we. When we gather, we share what is working and our ideas… we begin to welcome in a new, bigger collective we of adults who minister to adolescents.

    (Or something like that.)

    I’ll share more about the day later. But it was a great day. It’s one thing to dream dreams. But it’s another thing to see your dreams become a reality. And what was really fun for me is that it wasn’t a celebration of a kooky idea that I somehow snookered 125 people to being a part of. It was a celebration of something that we can all stack hands on, own, and say… “That thing belongs to us, the collective we.”

  • Seattleness Weekend

    I’m up in Seattle this weekend hosting the first ever Open event.

    Please join me in praying for a great day. There’s a lot of people traveling from all over the country (specifically the Pacific Northwest) to get here. I am praying that its a wonderful weekend of refreshment.

    If you’d like to follow the action, the hashtag for the weekend is #openseattle