Demotivational Posters

I'm working on a short talk for a See You At The Pole Rally, and to open I'm going with my big home-run I have used often: the demotivational poster series. They're like those motivational posters that you can buy to motivate you at work, but they don't motivate you at all. They may make you laugh, and they may actually be true, but they don't motivate you to do your job well. Here are a few of my favorites.

Youtube Video Of The Week - 09.11.08

So I haven't done one of these in awhile.

I wish I was a part of the church that did this - I would be so proud.

Cake Wrecks Blog

I'm not really into making cakes, I am into eating cakes...and I thought this blog of pictures of horrifyingly bad cakes was pretty awesome.

Palin And Church Leadership

Dan Kimball has a really good article here. I think he has an excellent point that America is willing to perhaps elect a woman as vice-president who would then be leader of the entire country if something happened to McCain, yet in most Christian denominations, this same woman would not be allowed to lead a congregation of 50 people.

Bible In A Minute

Awesome. These guys are pretty darn funny.

Bible In A Minute - barats and bereta

The Luxury Fund

It's amazing, all of the creative ways people are thinking of to help when it comes to social justice issues.

Take The Luxury Fund. The idea is to take the money that we would spend on a luxury item- i.e. a latte at Starbucks, a candy bar, whatever - and instead give it to The Luxury Fund, which then splits the money four-ways: International Justice Mission, Love 146, Blood:Water Mission and Compassion International.

You can also read more about the Luxury Fund at their Myspace Page.

Love146 Blog

Looks like Love146 has a new blog. Cool. Check it out here.

The Walmart Virus

I'm not a big fan of Walmart. Most people who know me would know that. Although my dislike of Wal-Mart started several years ago, this article in Harper's Magazine really cemented it for me. I try not to shop there, although sometimes you just have to when there aren't any other options.

Anyway, I thought this demonstration of how Wal-Mart has spread through the good ol' U.S. of A throughout the years is pretty indicative of the virus that Wal-Mart has become.

The Ordinary Radicals Movie

THIS looks pretty interesting.

It's a documentary about how faith in America is being reshaped. It's about ordinary God-followers who are tired of the labels that society puts on Christians - most of them rightfully so - and have decided to change the world through love. Not religion.

This documentary comes out September 4th. You can go to the Ordinary Radicals website to find out more information.

Rapha House Blog

When I was looking through some internet stuff about Rapha House - a ministry in Cambodia that helps girls who have been rescued from the sex trafficking industry - I stumbled upon their blog, so I thought I would post it here. I'm also going to be putting it on my sidebar as one of the blogs I regularly peruse.

I had a phone conversation with one of the directors of Rapha House, and it was neat talking about what we can do to help them when we go to Cambodia next summer. My prayer is that our partnership with them will change lives and will be an answer to prayer for them.

Yearbook Photos Through The Ages

From the "Another Way To Waste Time Department"...

Yearbook Yourself is a fun way to see how you would look throughout the ages. Below are my favorite ones of myself.

Have fun!

Stop Human Trafficking Emphasis Sunday - August 17, 2008

I'm excited about this coming Sunday at our church, because the student ministry gets to present its missions trip to Cambodia next summer, as well as some of the other amazing things that are happening in our ministry and around us, as our passion for justice is "infecting" others around us, and they are responding to the need. I will share more after this Sunday, but there have been some amazing stories through all of this.

One of the highlights of this Sunday will be the presentation of the 30 minute video that Christ in Youth showed us this summer - which was the spark for our students to get involved with stopping human trafficking and Cambodia. You can see the trailer below.



Our t-shirt designs are almost ready, we are excited about them and we already have a good response from them! (the front of one of the t-shirts is featured above.)

08.08.08

I think that days like today are really neat. Why? Because it's 08.08.08. You only get to experience those once a year, and only until the year 2012. After 12.12.12, it doesn't happen again until January 1 of 2101.

On an interesting note, a Minnesota baby was born today at 8:08 a.m., weighing exactly 8lb., 8oz.

This is pretty cool. I'm sure it's pretty neat to have a child on this kind of day, except for maybe two years ago. I thought that my friend Meg in Ohio, when she gave birth to her boy on 06.06.06, should have named her boy Damian, but she didn't agree with me. Jacob is a good name, though.

Alexander Solzhenitsyn Dead At 89

I just found out a couple of minutes ago that the great writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn died.

I remember reading his book One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich in high school. I was amazed at the brutality of the Russian labor camps and its leaders.

I think we can find a similar situation in China these days - although I shouldn't get started on what I think about China hosting the Olympic Games, it seriously makes me want to vomit. Especially with the latest news stories: internet shut downs, broadcasting from Tieneman Square is closely monitored, and now Joey Cheek, the Winter Olympian and Darfur activist, gets his visa revoked and is not allowed into China because of his activism in Darfur - a situation that China hasn't helped since they've been supporting the Sudanese government in all of this.

Perhaps a Chinese author will be able to stand courageously against his/her country and tell the world the truth about communist China.

Stop the Traffick Wordle

A design like this is going on a t-shirt that your youth ministry is going to sell in order to raise money for organizations that are dedicated to stopping human trafficking.

We're excited about what God is doing - we'll see what happens this next year as we prepare our hearts and souls for Cambodia.

Wordle

I found, through interestingly enough trying to find some new recipes for our family, a cool website called Wordle, which makes some really cool "life clouds" when you give it a bunch of words. It creates some cool word art.

Here's one I created by copying a post I had concerning the missional church:



Here's another one we created that we might try and paint on our daughter's new bedroom wall:



Pretty cool stuff.

By the way, the website I found this from is this one, she has some pretty good recipes as well.

The Voice - A Bible Project

I'm not sure we need another Bible translation, but this one looks interesting. The Voice is a new Bible translation project that is pretty unique. Here's their description:

-----

A Scripture Project To Rediscover The Story Of The Bible

The Voice Is A New And Dynamic Translation Of The Bible That Brings The Biblical Narrative To Life, Representing A Collaboration Among Scholars, Writers, Musicians, And Other Artists.

Four Key Words Describe The Vision Of This Project:

Holistic // Considers Heart, Soul, And Mind
Beautiful // Achieves Literary And Artistic Excellence
Sensitive // Respects Cultural Shifts And The Need For Accuracy
Balanced // Includes Theologically Diverse Writers And Scholars

The Team Writing The Voice Brings Unprecedented Gifts To This Unique Project. An Award-Winning Fiction Writer, An Acclaimed Poet, A Pastor Renowned For Using Art And Narrative In His Preaching And Teaching, Greek And Hebrew Authorities, And Biblical Scholars Are All Coming Together To Capture The Beauty And Diversity Of God’s Word.

----

You can download the book of John at their website. I'm going to take a look at it this week and I'll comment on it once I read it.

Here's a video explaining The Voice as well.

The Sacred Echo

I just received in the mail today the latest book by Margaret Feinberg called The Sacred Echo. I agreed to review it on my blog and on Amazon.com, so it came for free!

I'm excited reading it after seeing the author talk about another book of hers, The Organic God, at the 722 service in Atlanta. As the back cover of The Sacred Echo says, "When God really wants to get your attention, he doesn't just whisper something once. He echoes...He echoes...He echoes..."

I've definitely seen that truth in the last few months with human trafficking and Cambodia.

Once I finish reading this book, I'll post a review.

For more information on Margaret Feinberg, go to her website.

EDIT: It's a signed copy. Cool!

Michael Frost on Missional Church

I'm a big fan of the book The Shaping of Things To Come by Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch - it has revolutionized my thinking on church. I've heard a couple of talks by Hirsch, but never anything by Michael Frost until I found this, which was a talk given to some Presbyterians last year. It's a long video, but I think you'll find it worthwhile if you want to learn more about what it means to be a missional church. I thought his explanation of where the word "ecclesia" (the church) comes from and what our churches should be about was amazing (and very Rob Bell like).

The Silent Tsunami

My family and I signed up a couple of weeks ago to sponsor a child in Africa. I felt moved by the World Vision AIDS Experience tour - I ended up being HIV-negative (you have to see the tour to understand what that means, google World Vision Experience Tour and you can do some of it online).

Her name is Clementine, and she's from Rwanda. I picked her because she is five years old, just like my daughter.

Today I received this in my gmail inbox from World Vision:

-----

Dear Friend,

As a result of widespread drought, skyrocketing oil prices, international economic woes and the recent Asian disasters, a worldwide food shortage has developed that is even more deadly than previously imagined.

It's being called the "silent tsunami," a quiet yet severe crisis contributing to the deaths of more than an estimated 14,000 children each day. These defenseless children die slowly — and quietly — directly from starvation or indirectly from their inability to resist common diseases.

We can't allow their faint voices to go unheard. That's why I'm writing — to tell you there IS a way that, together, we can do something about this crisis right now.

-----

If you've ever thought of supporting a child - it costs something like $35 a month, which is pretty easy if you decide to quit something like me - say, coffee (at least going out for coffee) - right now is a pretty good time to do it because of all the children suffering from the worldwide food shortage.

To learn more and see a video, you can go here.

I'll post a picture of Clementine when I scan her picture into my computer.

Amen.

I believe that is John 13:35 in the ACLV (American Christian Laziness Version).

Pickleball

ABC did a feature recently about a "new" game that's sweeping the nation called Pickleball.

Posh.

First, it was invented in 1965, so it's not new. Secondly, we used to play this game all the time at my high school, which means it's definitely not new.

But I loved it in high school. Maybe I will pick it up again.

What is pickleball? It's a cross essentially between tennis and ping pong.

You can find more information here on this fun game.

Anti-Human Trafficking Websites

I'm encouraged at the amount of organizations out there that are trying to do everything they possibly can to end human trafficking, forced prostitution, and forced labor. Here are several of them:

The Salvation Army - I had no idea that the Salvation Army did anything about human trafficking. It once again tells me that this organization is amazing. I have two friends who were pastors in The Salvation Army (yes, it's a church), and they were amazing people.

Captive Daughters - this group focuses specifically on girls and women.

Coalition Against Trafficking of Women - another organization dedicated to helping women who are trafficked.

End Child Prostitution Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children For Sexual Purposes - wow, long name. But it's obvious what their mission is. We don't realize how much of this happens in the U.S., but it definitely does.

International Organization for Migration

The Polaris Project

The Projection Project - from Johns Hopkins University

Initiative Against Sexual Trafficking

U.S. Health and Human Services - has some good fact sheets about human trafficking.

Also, September 26-28 has been designated as a weekend of prayer and fasting for victims of sexual trafficking.

On August 17, at Life Church, we will be devoting a whole service to human trafficking. We will show the movie we saw at CIY called Baht, and we will tell our church about our trip to Cambodia next summer.

The Beatles As A Christian Band?

I've become a little more fascinated with The Beatles lately. I think part of it has to do with the whole "Paul McCartney is really dead" conspiracy, which you can find a bunch of videos on Youtube about. I've always liked their music, although I have never obsessed over them (I'm kind of becoming that way with Radiohead, however.) I thought this was an interesting article at the Think Christian blog:

The Beatles as a Christian band?
Posted July 14th @ 3:31 pm by Andy


Were the Beatles a Christian band? Most people would point to John Lennon’s public statements about the church, the song “Imagine,” and the infamous “bigger than Jesus” quip and raise their eyebrows. But a recently-unearthed interview with Lennon from 1969 suggests that John Lennon and the Beatles weren’t as hostile to Christianity as it’s been thought. What emerges from the interview is a fascination with the person of Jesus, combined with anger toward perceived church hypocrisy:

Christians around the world had been dismayed by Lennon’s boast in an article in London’s Evening Standard about the popularity of the Beatles, but the singer says he was misunderstood.
“It’s just an expression meaning the Beatles seem to me to have more influence over youth than Christ,” he says. “Now I wasn’t saying that was a good idea, ‘cos I’m one of Christ’s biggest fans. And if I can turn the focus on the Beatles on to Christ’s message, then that’s what we’re here to do.”

He blames “the hypocrites” for being too “uptight” in reacting to his comments. “If the Beatles get on the side of Christ, which they always were, and let people know that, then maybe the churches won’t be full, but there’ll be a lot of Christians dancing in the dance halls. Whatever they celebrate, God and Christ, I don’t think it matters as long as they’re aware of Him and His message.”

Lennon’s beliefs about Christ (going by the article) seem somewhat muddled, but he was clearly intrigued by Jesus and his message. It’s a shame that the stumbling block which kept Lennon from exploring Christianity further seems to have been… the church itself. The two examples he cites (being kicked out of church as a kid for laughing during a service, and being unable to marry in a church because he had divorced) are frustrating, because neither has much to do with the actual Gospel message. They’re examples of Christians treating him with a distinct lack of grace, even if the actions were justified.

I know some of you are big Beatles fans. Is this a new insight into Lennon’s spirituality? Have you detected a positive attitude toward Jesus in the Beatles’ music, and do you think things might have played out differently if Christians had shown more grace to Lennon and friends?

Re:Light

I've finally finished (for now) our youth page dedicated to the human trafficking epidemic in this world.

Check it out here and tell me what you think.

10 U.S. Places You Must See Before You Die

Hmmm, I better get cranking, since I've seen none of these except for a little bit of the Oregon coast.

1. San Francisco De Asis Church, Rancho De Taos, NM

2. Whaling Museum, Nantucket, Mass.

3. Battery District, Charleston, S.C.

4. Madison Valley, Montana

5. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

6. The Four Seasons Restaurant, New York City

7. The Rothko Chapel, Houston

8. The Huntington Gardens, San Marino, Calif.

9. Robie House (Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago

10. The Oregon Coast

You can see descriptions of this list here.

Love146.org

I found another great organization whose passion is to stop human trafficking.

One of my favorite worship CD's of all time is by a band called Ten Shekel Shirt. The album is called Much, and there are some amazing songs on it. I knew that Lamont Hiebert, the lead singer and founder of Ten Shekel Shirt, was involved with YWAM - and although I do have their second CD called Risk, I never knew what happened to the band. They pretty much dropped off the face of the earth.

Now I know why. Hiebert went down to Southeast Asia and saw the horrible circumstances of the sex slavery and forced prostitution there, and so he founded an organization called Love146. He's also returning to the music front as well now, their new CD comes out in August.

I'm excited to take a look at love146.org to see what are doing and what I can do to join forces with them.

I Finally Updated...

My sidebar list of things I'm listening to and reading.

Right now I'm really excited about listening to Brooke Fraser (as seen below), and reading both Gary Haugen books.

Non-Coincidence #4,000

So I you've read my blog, you know about the whole Cambodia thing - that through the last year of reading about human trafficking, and then going to CIY and seeing a video about it, then going to a luncheon through an invitation by someone I hadn't seen seven years where the keynote speaker was the COO of International Justice Mission.

Here's the next thing.

We have a new family attending our church - they have some great kids, two of them went with us to our local amusement park on Friday. I was talking with the dad after church today.

He goes every year to Cambodia to work with an orphanage that rescues girls. He has a good friend who can translate for us. They partner with a local church. He would be able to help us with all the trip stuff for next summer.

God is amazing.

Interesting Questions, I Guess...

1. What was I doing ten years ago?

It was 1998. I was working at my home church which at the time wasn't a megalopolis like it is now. We would have been on our way right now to CIY in California. Debby and I had been married for a year and a half. Our church was getting ready to move to my home town. Yeah, things were crazy back then.

It's weird to think of how much has happened in ten years. Wow, is it weird. I've lived in three different states, four different ministries, our wonderful daughter was born. Crazy.


2. 5 things on my "to do" list:

1. Take my broken guitar into the guitar shop. It broke in April when someone knocked it over at church. Yeah, it was the new guitar I bought right before I left Ohio. The neck is broken.

2. Get ready for Noelle's second birthday party (her first was with family in Maryland)

3. Try to prepare myself for Sunday, since I will be seeing my stepfather for the first time since before Noelle was born. He has never met my daughter. We had a falling out.

4. Get ready for Sunday morning stuff.

5. Contact missions organizations about going to Cambodia next summer.


3. Snacks I enjoy:

I really like vanilla yogurt with granola on top.
Breakfast cereals


4. Five things I'd do if I were a billionaire:

Use most of it in an effort to stop human trafficking.
Buy a new car - not an expensive one, but new.
I don't know other than that - I'm pretty satisfied with what I have.


5. My 5 bad habits: (Only 5?)

Interrupting.
Chewing my nails.
Being neurotic sometimes about what people think of me.
Bad mouthing other drivers.
Procrastinating.


6. Places I've lived:

born in Aurora, CO
Parker, CO
Fullerton, CA
Tucson, AZ
Denver, CO
Dallas, TX
Surprise, AZ
Springboro, OH
and now Aurora, CO. Everything comes full circle.


7. Five jobs I've had:

I mowed lawns in high school. 20 bucks a lawn, 5 lawns a week, pretty sweet money.
I worked at Round Table Pizza my freshman year of college. Good pizza, bad job.
I worked at Dairy Queen in between my freshman and sophomore year of college. Great hours, great benefits (all the ice cream you can eat), bad job because it was by Fiddler's Green and so we got swamped after every concert.

And after that, I've had ministry positions.

What If Worship Was Like An NBA Game?

It might be like this.

World Vision Experience

I just got back from a luncheon that I got invited to last night. I no longer believe in coincidences, especially when it comes to my passion to help eliminate human trafficking. I thought I was just going to a World Vision AIDS awareness luncheon and experiential tour - but it was more than that.

The keynote speaker was Scott Lewis, who is the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of International Justice Mission. IJM helps prosecute those who exploit women and children in the sex trafficking big business around the world. See the connection?

I got a chance to meet Scott after his talk, and I'm excited about the possibility of partnering with IJM in helping get rid of sex trafficking around the world.

Here are my notes that I took during his message:

- There are two standards by which we judge events in the world: NEAR and FAR. Unfortunately, for most of us, things have to hit close to home in order for us to act upon a problem.

- when we take action, it gets us out of the world of US and OURS.

- IJM is a collection of lawyers and advocates who take cases of violence against people in developing nations and seek justice for them.

- a seldom talked-about aspect of the AIDS pandemic is the problem of human violence and sexual violence.

- millions of widows and orphans due to violence. 61% of new infections in women in Nigeria are due to sexual violence.

- 78% of South African women have been forced into sex.

- In sub-saharan countries, more than 25% of womens' sexual experiences are forced.

- Between 1 and 2 million girls between the ages of 5 and 15 are introduced into sex trafficking every year.

- Hebrews 13 - Remember those who are suffering as if you were the one who was suffering.

- What we can do: (1) bring rescue and restore the victims; (2) bring perpetrators to justice; (3) train pastors and community leaders to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the victims; (4) build the effectiveness capacity of the local justice system.

- 6,000 children become orphans due to AIDS deaths every day in the world.

- When God drives out fear, joy comes back to victims of fear.


It was an amazing thing today. I also bought a couple of books by Gary Haugen, who is the founder and president of International Justice Mission. One is called "Good News About Injustice", and the other is brand new and is called "Just Courage." Haugen will be speaking at the Leadership Summit at Willow Creek next month, I will definitely have to get that CD.

And oh yeah, the experiential tour - didn't get to do that yet, because it was pretty busy - but I signed up for next Monday. You can do the online experiential tour here. Just go to the downloads at the top of the page, click on it, and you will see the online experience.

Brooke Fraser

You may have heard of Brooke Fraser - since 2006, she has been part of the Hillsong United worship band - her most familiar songs are probably None But Jesus and Hosanna (which we're doing again this Sunday).

Well, she just recently released her first CD for the US, and it's amazing.

You can go to her her website for more information, or just go on iTunes - her CD was the fifth most downloaded CD of last week. You can get her CD, Albertine, for only $5.99 right now. It's worth ten times that much.

To preview some of the songs, go to her myspace page and check her out.

You know how much of a Once evangelist I was when I finally saw that movie. Now I'm a Brooke Fraser evangelist - you won't be disappointed! (especially if you're a Sarah McLachlan fan, which she reminds me of)

Twelve Hallmarks of a Missional Church

1. The missional church proclaims the gospel.

2. The missional church is a community where all members are involved in learning to become disciples of Jesus.

3. The Bible is normative in this church's life.

4. The church understands itself as different from the world because of its participation in the life, death and resurrection of its Lord.

5. The church seeks to discern God's specific missional vocation for the entire community and for all of its members.

6. A missional community is indicated by how Christians behave toward one another.

7. It is a community that practices reconciliation.

8. People within the community hold themselves accountable to one another in love.

9. The church practices hospitality.

10. Worship is the central act by which the community celebrates with joy and thanksgiving both God's presence and God's promised future.

11. This community has a vital public witness.

12. There is a recognition that the church itself is an incomplete expression of the reign of God.

- GOCN report on the missional church, as reported in The Shaping Of Things To Come (yes, I'm reading that book again.)

At The Towson, Maryland Parade, We Met...

The crew from Charm City Cakes - the bakery featured in the Food Network show Ace of Cakes.

Here's Duff:



Here is my sister-in-law and family with Duff and Elena:



And here is Noelle with Duff (it was really loud at the parade), afterward he gave her a big high five:

Happy Fifth Birthday

To my wonderful amazing beautiful daughter Noelle.

Your daddy loves you!

Unlearning Church, Chapter One

Back to my notes on Unlearning Church by Mike Slaughter, the pastor of Ginghamsburg Church in Tipp City, OH.

CHAPTER ONE - BORN TO BE WILD

- "Church growth" was the mantra of the 1980s and 1990s.

- To move forward I have had to unlearn the megachurch and CEO model.

- A one-size-fits-all approach toward growth will definitely not be the most effective model of the 21st century.

- If the emerging church is recognized and valued for anything, it's for a highly effective, indigenous carrying out of the mission of Jesus Christ.

- Anybody God uses to accomplish a miraculous purpose takes risks and dreams out of this intuitive voice of the Spirit that calls within.

- Peter did the impossible (walked on water) because he responded to the voice of Jesus instead of listening to the storms and fears of others.

- If God could speak through Balaam's ass, God can also speak through me.

- Jesus' followers had been with him for three years. Didn't they learn enough about Jesus by watching and copying his work? Jesus claimed that information and imitation aren't enough.

- LIVING FOR GOD IS NOT IMITATION, IT INVOLVES CRUCIFIXION.

- I want to invest my life in those who want to pursue radical Christianity.

- Jesus calls us to self-expenditure, not self-infatuation.

- I don't want to lead a megachurch of people who come together to be inspired to live status-quo lives peppered with Judeo-Christian values. I want to empower radical followers of Jesus.

- My continued quest is to stay focused on the horizon, watching where God is moving. I want to see where God is taking the church next.

- God intends for churches to move much less predictably than most usually do.

- Your church may become hard to label, just as fire from heaven is hard to fit into a box.

CIY 2008 Slideshow #1

Thanks to Brooke, I now have pictures. And now it should work.

CIY Highlights

It's long, but the end of the video is worth it. Dodgeball! Steve's out.

Viva La Vida

I like it a lot.

I would put Coldplay's albums (including the Live one) in this order of favorites:

1. A Rush Of Blood To The Head

2. Live 2003 (the DVD is awesome as well)

3. Viva La Vida

4. Parachutes

5. X&Y

This is not to say I don't like X&Y; it's still better than what most bands put out. I just think it's the worst of the Coldplay albums.

Christ In Youth Conference, Day Five

I don't know if it's because I haven't been in seven years or what, but I was really impressed with the CIY conference.

For one, I thought the speakers were excellent. In my past days at CIY, you definitely got some hits and misses. This year they were all hits. Also, I thought the worship band - Matt Bayless (or as I like to call him, Billy Ray Cyrus, he looks just like him) and his band did a great job.

As for the day:

I went to breakfast earlier than usual because we had an adult meeting before the morning show started. The morning show ended on a good note. Then it was to Encounter and D-Groups again, it seemed like everyone was a little bit tired and quite a bit ADD today.

After lunch, the group went to see a comedian, while I went back to the dorms and worked on some stuff for Sunday. I also went and bought a surprise that I unveiled that night. The reason I didn't go to see the comedian was (1) not a big fan of comedians, I don't know why, never have; (2) I needed to get that surprise; and (3) some of our group were going to be involved in the dodgeball competition during free time.

So those of us who did not participate in the competition went to cheer our group. They lasted a whole minute and 45 seconds in the first round, which was amusing to everyone. Then we went and played frisbee and another group challenged us to Ultimate Frisbee, where we got destroyed again. The good thing is our group are all good sports. I tore a hamstring muscle trying to catch up to a frisbee to knock it down, so for the rest of the trip I was hobbled. But it was all good.

One thing that I think I have failed to mention is that our group has attracted a few people from other groups who have felt out of place from their churches or who don't feel their churches are friendly. We got the comment all the time that we were easy to talk to and that it seemed we were honestly interested in each person. Which is awesome. In fact, one of them is going to visit us and possibly join our group. I was very proud of our group all week long at how they responded to other people (like the kicking us out of our spot incident).

We went to dinner where the dinner was actually good - for once, although all the lunches and breakfasts were good - and then it was on to the last main session. It was great. The speaker was from Flatirons Church, which is where my brother plays on the worship team once a month. He was awesome - he said things that have been resonating within me for the last few years, and I thought he tied in the whole week very nicely. At the end, we had four commitments: two rededicated their lives to God, one person dedicated themselves to ministry, and one person gave their life to Christ. Praise God! Afterwards everyone said goodbye to the people we met, and then we went to our youth group time, where we ate more ice cream, talked about our decisions and what happened during the week, and then we prayed. As we were praying for the student who gave their life to Christ, a funny thing happened (he'll have to tell you), and we all laid down on the basketball court and laughed for about fifteen minutes.

And I can't forget the surprise: we now have a student ministry mascot. And I'm going to say its name and what it is, and nobody will get the inside jokes except for our youth group. I presented "Smessica the Unicorn" stuffed animal to our group last night, and it was quite honestly the perfect ending to a perfect conference.

I have realized how much I truly have missed youth ministry. I feel like I'm making an impact on lives again through the Spirit. I love worship ministry and I'm glad I get to do it, but I think there's been a void in my soul because even though I guess it has an impact on certain people on Sunday mornings, I feel like I'm gifted through God to help bring change in students' lives. Although I'm much older than when I started youth ministry (which is good and bad, let's just say it's going to take me two weeks to recover from this past week), and sometimes I feel out of touch and place, I feel like I can make a difference.

Now we'll see what happens with our students, as we continue to challenge them to grow and MOVE from even where they left CIY to what God has in store for them this year.

Christ In Youth Conference, Day Four

Didn't have a chance to update last night, because we got in late.

I did not see the rest of the students until our Encounter time, because I didn't feel well. But Encounter went well, and then we did our D-Group, which also was a good time. After D-Group, we all went to the gym to hear a speaker talk about his ministry called Heart Support, which helps people with addictions. The guy got up to speak - he wasn't a very dynamic speaker - but he looked exactly like Rob Bell, and it made me think that he was copying what Rob Bell looked like which I thought wasn't very original.

Yeah, he's Rob Bell's brother. Silly me. No wonder he looks like him.

For our free time after lunch, we went to downtown Durango to hang out. I bought a Durango shirt and hat and a shirt for my daughter, we went to lunch at Beau Jo's.

The night session was amazing. We got to see the video called "Baht", which is a story about a girl who was kidnapped by sex traffickers and who spent over a year in the sex slave industry in Thailand. It's an amazing sad story. I felt physically ill watching the video, because of the statistics and everything. The first $25,000 of the offering for Christ In Youth conferences this summer goes to a place called Rapha House, which is a place in Cambodia that houses girls who have been rescued from the sex trafficking industry and teaches them how a trade so that they don't return to a life of prostitution - forced or unforced. After worship, the youth minister from Mars Hill - his name is Steve Carter - talked about Stephen from the Bible and how we are called to be bold.

For our youth group time, we actually went over to a spot by the guys' dorm, because we had snuck ice cream out of the cafeteria to eat at night. We laid down on the basketball court and looked at the stars for awhile. Thankfully, the spiders and snakes were finished with their basketball game so we could use the court (sorry, inside joke - that one's for you Elisa). We talked about what we could do in order to help combat the trafficking problem in the world. I think our youth ministry is ready to make a difference, to go beyond ourselves to help people definitely less fortunate than we are.

Friday is our last day at CIY, and we don't want to set it on cruise control and just coast the last day for tomorrow. My prayer is that everyone stay focused and listen to how God wants them to MOVE.

Christ in Youth Conference, Day Three

It was another beautiful day in Durango.

If it wasn't six and a half hours away, I could really see myself coming here and hanging out. It's absolutely beautiful. The picture above is a view looking towards Fort Lewis College where we're staying (on top of the plateau).

Today started out kind of late for myself and one student because we woke up late. No running today.

Today's topic was community, and of course we had problems with our little community, the group of students and myself who went. One student wasn't getting along with another student and it was affecting our D-Group time, so I ended up getting all the guys together in one of the rooms and we hashed it out for about 45 minutes. In the past, as a student minister, I was not very good about confrontation and helping students solve problems. I'm not a confrontational person at all, although I'm trying to be better - and I figured that this time with the guys duking it out would help us actually be a better community. The amazing thing is that it worked.

After our D-Group, I had promised the guys in the group that we could go to Walmart down in Durango, because one of the guy students wanted to be in the talent show they were having later on. He's a spray paint artist, really neat stuff. I wasn't really sure that it would work in this context of a talent show - usually it involves mostly singing and playing instruments. Plus I was wondering if they would really give him the time to paint his picture. He went and performed - and he painted this amazing space picture in three minutes! Everyone was amazed and he became quite the popular guy on campus today. Which is awesome.

I'm going to go ahead right now and brag on the youth ministries I've been part of. In some way or another, every single one of my student ministries has made me proud at CIY and other trips. I remember my first student ministry, we went on a missions trip and we went to this beach event put on by the college that I went to, and they had a beach competition. Our youth ministry, which was located in a state pretty darn far from the beach (that would be Colorado), won the beach competition. The group I took to CIY from Dallas in 2001 had a bunch of musicians, and people from other churches would come and hang out with our music people and sing songs all night. And now, with this group - we have some talented students and because we're a small group, we've already "attracted" one girl from another group who has been hanging out with us because she gets "lost" in the large group she's with.

Anyway, during free time I got to spend some time with a youth ministry friend - I grew up with her husband, and they've been youth ministers of a church in Flagstaff, Arizona for 12 years. It was good to get caught up with her.

Tonight, the same guy who spoke last night came up and spoke about community. He talked about the stories of Achan in Joshua and Ananias and Sapphira in Acts and how these were examples of people who had the potential to destroy the community of people who believed in God - but that they instead were killed because God takes these kind of things seriously. Then he told us of four different community killers: (1) Make it all about you. (2) Lie to your leaders (in other words, tell them you're fine when they ask you and don't open up to anyone). (3) Never confront anyone. (4) Believe that cheating God is no big deal. Of course, we all thought it was interesting that #3 was the issue today, and our students resolved some issues and created actual community.

Tonight, before we talked in our youth group time, I took everyone to Baskin Robbins and treated them to ice cream. It was a fun ending to a great day.

Christ In Youth Conference, Day Two

Day two started out with a bang - actually a run, as three of us guys got up at 6:30 a.m. to go running. We didn't go very far, considering 1) two of us don't usually run very often, and 2) we are in Durango, which is 7500 feet up. But it felt good to do a little exercise to start. When we walked out of our rooms, we saw three guys doing some kind of Tai Chi or something and when we came back they were still doing it.

The theme of the day was The Holy Spirit, which I thought was a good theme. Unfortunately, for the most part, the "brotherhood" of churches I've grown up in and that CIY is part of has not done a good job teaching about the Holy Spirit. He's kind of that uncle that everyone has that no one talks about because 1) We don't know a lot about him, and 2) He's kind of weird when we get around him. Our brotherhood has emphasized the Word of God way over the Spirit of God, emphasized reasoning and logic over feeling and emotional responses. So I was glad that we were able to spend a day learning about the Holy Spirit.

Our youth group time and D-Group place* (see below for what happened) is this rock garden area that opens up to a circle that's perfect for a group. So for our discipleship group we talked about the Holy Spirit, and I had this great illustration about letting the Holy Spirit work in our lives, but the two glasses that I was going to use were stuck together and we spent about ten minutes trying to get them unstuck, so I had to modify.

We had about four hours of free time after lunch, which I used to work (after all, I'm also a worship minister who does all the media stuff) and take a short nap. Dinner was not good. I wish the Holy Spirit had told me not to eat the pork chop, because it really affected me later on. Then we had the evening session, which was really good. The worship band played three of my favorite worship songs (From The Inside Out, Consuming Fire and Mighty To Save). The speaker was Chris Duncan, someone I spent a couple of weeks with back in my ILYGD (stands for Impressively Large Youth Group Days) - and all the students really felt that his message impacted them. He talked about the Holy Spirit and then we did this neat exercise where a third of us sang with the band, a third read scripture, and a third prayed a prayer on the screen, and then we rotated. After that exercise we spent some time allowing the Holy Spirit to move in our lives and guide us.

Which was my favorite part of the day. I have been for the past year been bombarded with God telling me to do something with the whole human trafficking problem. But I keep getting busy and I don't allow room for God to work in my life to make a difference somehow, even though he keeps telling me this. Case in point: I had not listened to Mars Hill's podcast in over six months. Three weeks ago I decide to listen, and they had a guest speaker. Guess what he talked about? Human trafficking. And today we saw a video about - guess what? - human trafficking and sex slavery. God is convicting me - now I just need to get serious and specific about what he wants me to do.

* Least favorite part of the day - session gets out and we go to Youth Group time, to our spot - the spot we had last night, the spot we did our Encounter and D-Groups at - and someone has already taken it. We tell this person that we have been using that spot, and he throws out the ILYG card by saying, "Well, our group is big and we need a bigger place for us to meet." So we lost our spot. Not cool. It made me think if I would have done the same in my ILYGD. I'm not sure. Probably. I didn't think much in those days about smaller youth groups, although we did plan things to do with a couple smaller youth ministries.

Anyway, that was the day. The guys' supply of Cheetos, Oreos and Mountain Dew is disappearing rapidly. We may have to stock up again tomorrow. And oh yeah. My jaw is going to be sore tomorrow, since I got hit with a frisbee we were playing with in the dark. I know. Genius.

Christ In Youth Conference, Day One

So I thought it would be kind of cool to each day at the end of the night share my experiences of that day at the Christ In Youth Conference. For those who don't know, eight high school students and I are in Durango, CO at Fort Lewis College. We are at the Move Conference, a summer event that takes place on college campuses all over the country. This is my first CIY adventure in seven years, so I'm not sure what's different going into it.

It's a six and a half hour drive from Aurora to Durango, so we left at 8:00 a.m. and for the most part had an uneventful trip. We get about twenty minutes outside of Durango, and they're doing construction, and we wait in a line for over an hour. We got out of our van and skipped rocks in the creek. We finally get to Durango, we eat, we fumble around trying to find our rooms and where to get the keys, I miss an important adult leader meeting in the process, and then finally there's the evening session. By the way, the girls totally got shafted in the room department. They actually are in guys' dorms (there aren't any guys in there during the summer), and the guys are in nice apartments. The girls all have to share showers with their hall - each room in the guys has its own shower.

Anyway, the session starts. The worship leader is pretty good, I had never heard of him before (remember, it's been seven years!), but I find out he was there last year as well, which is why there are a lot of screams when they come on stage. They do several worship songs - most of them I know but some are unfamiliar to the students because we haven't done some of them yet. Then the conference director - Nate Karnes - gets up and says some interesting words, words that made me think. He talked about the way we judge people even when we get to the conference, and he even brought up how youth leaders do the same - they look at a large group, and think "they must be shallow" or they look at a small group and say "that church must be lame."

The last few years I went to Christ in Youth, I was regularly taking 50 plus students every summer. I remember being one of those "large churches". I remember the pats on the back. I remember one of my youth ministry friends comment to me, "Wow, you really have done well in your ministry. You have one of the largest groups here." I remember being proud because there was only one youth ministry that brought a larger group than we did one summer.

I looked at the seating chart this year, and our group is the smallest. There's a church in Arizona that has over 300 students at the conference. Our small group, highlighted in blue, is very obviously small. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Thankfully God has changed my heart in this regard. To me it doesn't matter how big or small a group is at CIY. I'm extremely excited about the group God has led from our church to come to CIY. I'm excited to get to know our students and for our students to get to know each other.

Oh, and before I get ultra-spiritual, I just had two of our students knock on the door and moon me.

We'll see what God has in store for us tomorrow.

Unlearning Church, Introduction

I'm reading through Unlearning Church by Mike Slaughter for the tenth time, I believe. It's a great book and I would encourage you to read it. But if you just want the Cliff Notes, just read the next several blog posts to see highlights from each chapter:

INTRODUCTION - TIME TO UNLEARN

- this book is about leaders in churches, old and young, daring to leave the status quo and fearlessly stepping out into God's promising and yet unknown future. It's about "Unlearners" on the cutting edge of how God works best: through unique personalities localized to their context. It's about the prophetic witness to Christ's presence in individual communities with a ripple effect reaching around the world.

- I'm 'unlearning' the model of cloning someone else's blueprint.

- God's Kingdom is not best represented by franchises of McChurch.

- The Holy Spirit is empowering transformational leaders who demonstrate the kingdom of God in unique ways in each different community.

- Every church leader has a specific call and distinguishing base of talent. You already have the God-given gifts you need. Your mission is to use them to excel in a local implementation of the overall mission of Jesus Christ. Your effectiveness in the future will be measured by how well your church demonstrates the Kingdom of God in unique ways to your indigenous community and beyond.

- Today's emerging churches are anchoring themselves in the ancient truths of biblical authority, yet they're operating in an atmosphere of innovation and change.

- Armed with a strong sense of "first causes", they're forming distinctive communities of faith. They are safe spaces for spiritually hungry hearts, environments of deep connection, experiences of community, and centers of involvement in the pursuit of social justice.

- THE CALL IS TO UNLEARN - TO BREAK THE RULES OF CONVENTIONAL WISDOM IN ORDER TO TRANSLATE GOD'S ANCIENT PURPOSES TO TODAY'S POSTMODERN WORLD.

- It's time to go beyond knowing and believing God's truth to experiencing and demonstrating God's presence.

- God is calling people to develop faith communities that effectively reach unchurched populations for Jesus Christ in a postmodern, post-Christian world - radical disciples abandoned to the purpose of evangelism.

How He Loves Us

I love finding new, different worship songs. Each one is kind of like discovering a treasure.

A few weeks ago I found one that I think is incredible. It's called How He Loves Us by John Mark McMillan. I'm not sure if I am going to use it for worship at the church I'm at, but I definitely have been using it for times of personal worship.

Here are the lyrics:

He is jealous for me
Love's like a hurricane, I am a tree
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realize just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.

Oh, how he loves us so,
Oh, how he loves us,
How he loves us so.

So we are his portion and he is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in his eyes,
If grace is an ocean we're all sinking.
So heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest.
I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way...

He loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves.
He loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves us,
Oh how he loves.

When I first heard it, the whole "sloppy wet kiss" part really bothered me, but I've decided that it's okay to be uncomfortable in worship sometimes.

Here is the song done by Kim Walker and Jesus Culture. I think it's an excellent rendition.



And if you want to see something that will blow you away (at least it did me, I lost it watching this), take a look at how another church used the song.

Designing A Website Is Long, Tedious Work...

but I'm getting there.

I'm putting together a student ministry website for...get ready...my student ministry. I like it so far, it needs some work, and as of right now only the pictures link and the calendar link is up and running. Hopefully by the end of this next week, it will be fully functional. You can check it out here.

Gotta Love The Onion...

Right now their most popular video is "New Wearable Feedbags Allow People To Eat More, Move Less" - as I was watching the video I wondered if that really was the CEO of Yum brands (the company that owns Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC, etc).

Watch it here. It might make you laugh.

40 part two

About nine months ago, I blogged about an incredible set of illustrations concerning the 40 days of Jesus in the wilderness. I took those illustrations and used them in a video for a worship service that we did once a month at the church I was at in Ohio called Element. I put an Explosions In The Sky song to the illustrations, and it turned out great. Well, I found out today that there's a devotional book that was put out by Proost (Jonny Baker and Grace's site of music/media and more) and of course I had to get it.

So I bought it and downloaded it. I'm going to print it out and use it for forty days for a devotional. It looks pretty good, and the poem/devotional stuff looks interesting.

Below is the video - I watch it all the time and now I put it up on YouTube.

Free Rice

If you go to the Free Rice website you can play a vocabulary game and at the same donate rice to the world's hungry. I'm a big vocabulary buff, so it's a fun game, and I'm doing something for someone as I'm playing.

Free Rice will donate 20 grains of rice for every word you get right. I try to do about 2000 grains a day. Try it - it's fun!

Virtual Prayer Websites

Over the last six weeks or so, I've prayed quite a bit. I think I've prayed more in the past month and a half than I have in five years. Seriously. A lot of it has to do with me structuring my time in prayer and using a book called The Divine Hours to help direct my prayer.

Anyway, I thought this would be useful to others out there - this is a list of some virtual prayer websites where you can post your prayers online, or do some type of visual reminder of what you prayed about.

Here you can virtually light a candle to pray for someone else (click on number 10 in the labyrinth).

Here you can also light a candle and pray for something in your life.

This is a virtual prayer wall.

A lava lamp prayer site - I've mentioned this one before.

Creepy...yet Funny

Yes, I get creeped out at all these pictures. Seriously. All of them. Just go to the ManBabies website to see what I mean. It's kind of like a car accident, you just can't look away.

Teddy Roosevelt And Memorial Day

"Much of that which is best and highest in national character is made up of glorious memories and traditions. The fight well fought, the life honorably lived, the death bravely met - those count for more in building a high and fine type of temper in a nation than any possible success in the stock market, than any possible prosperity in commerce or manufactures...

Every feat of heroism makes us forever indebted to the man who performed it. All daring and courage, all iron endurance of misfortune, all devotion to the ideal of honor and the glory of the flag, make for a finer and nobler type of manhood. It is not only those who do and dare and endure that are benefited; but also the countless thousands who are not themselves called upon to face the peril, to show the strength, or to win the reward. All of us lift our heads higher because of those of our countrymen whose trade it is to meet danger have met it well and bravely.

All of us are poorer for every base or ignoble deed done by an American, for every instance of selfishness or weakness or folly on the part of the people as a whole. We are all worse off when any of us fails at any point in his duty toward the State in time of peace, or his duty toward the State in time of war. If ever we had to meet defeat at the hands of a foreign foe, or had to submit tamely to wrong or insult, every man among us worthy of the name of American would feel dishonored and debased.

On the other hand, the memory of every triumph won by Americans, by just so much helps to make each American nobler and better. Every man among us is more fit to meet the duties and responsibilities of citizenship because of the perils over which, in the past, the nation has triumphed; because of the blood and sweat and tears, the labor and anguish, through which, in the days that gave gone, our forefathers moved on to triumph. There are higher things in this life than the soft and easy enjoyment of material comfort. It is through strife, or the readiness for strife, that a nation must win greatness."

New Weezer Video

Awesome.

All I have to say is that I'm so excited for their new album to come out. It is AWESOME.

And this video ranks up there with Buddy Holly as best Weezer video. You might want to brush up on your Youtube lore before watching it, you might miss out on some of the jokes.

Memorial Day video

Here's a video we're showing this Sunday. I only added different music to it, I didn't really care for the "I'm Holding Out For A Hero" Top Gun song that was with it.

Prayer For The Chapmans

I went to the Yahoo web page tonight to look at the news, and saw a very sad news story:

The 5 year old daughter of Steven Curtis Chapman and his wife was killed when one of their sons hit her with a SUV at the house, obviously on accident.

Story here.

Be in prayer for the Chapman family, she was only five years old.

Middlesbrough - my adopted Premier Football League team

I haven't really paid attention to football - or soccer, as we call it in the States - for a long time. I played it quite a bit up until high school, and I thought it was boring to watch, until I watched a game on T.V. with an actual soccer fan.

So, I'm going to follow a team. I picked the Premier Football League (U.K.), because I've actually heard of some of the teams - Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal.

But I want to support one of the middle-tier teams: all of the above teams are really popular and really successful.

So, once I found out that one of the teams is nicknamed 'Boro - and since I have recently lived in a cool community in Ohio called Springboro (also nicknamed 'Boro), I was sold.

So I am now officially a fan of Middlesbrough Football Club. Should be interesting.

Funny Prank...

Ken Griffey Jr. paid back his teammate Josh Fogg (who was a Colorado Rockies player last year, known as the Dragon Slayer because he beat a bunch of big name pitchers on the Rockies wild ride to the World Series) a $1500 debt. In pennies.

Pretty funny.

Here's the scoop.

Denver Rescue Mission Thoughts

Were you there tonight Lord?
Were you waiting in line?

Maybe you were the little old black lady dressed up as if she was going to a nice restaurant, yet I could see the street-awareness etched on her face.

Or were you the tall black guy, the funny one who caused a commotion, who asked me if I had a certain Bruce Lee DVD, and who took a couple of extra pieces of bread and an extra bowl of spaghetti on your way out?

Maybe you were the guy who was on his way to Samaritan's House across the street, and had to hurry through the line - get a tray sans spaghetti since they were busy making it to cover the last forty people or so.

Or the tall older gentleman who reminded me of someone famous and who took a long time to eat everything on his plate?

One homeless man, who looked like the tall guy in Run DMC, asked a student to give him an encouraging verse from the Bible. When he couldn't, he gave one of his own. Another one of the homeless men there tonight told one of our students, "We're the least of these. You're helping us, the least of these."

Jesus said, "Whatever you've done for the least of these, you've done it to me."

We served you spaghetti, salad, bread, green beans, and some funky cookies.

And although this morning we got together as a church and sang songs to You, Jesus, the bigger worship service was at the rescue mission tonight.

You were there tonight, Lord.
You were waiting in line.

Interesting Poem

How shall I pray?
Are tears prayers, Lord
Are screams prayers,
or groans
or sighs
or curses?

Can trembling hands be lifted to You,
or clenched fists,
or the cold sweat that trickles down my back
or the cramps that knot my stomach?

Will you accept my prayers, Lord,
my real prayers,
rooted in the muck and mud and rock of my life,
and not just the pretty, cut-flower, gracefully arranged
bouquet of words?

Will you accept me Lord,
as I really am,
messed up mixture of glory and grime?

Interesting Prayer

Even more interesting, that it comes from China...

Help each one of us, gracious Father, to live in such magnanimity and restraint that the Head of the Church may never have cause to say to any one of us, This is my body, broken by you.

- from The Divine Hours.