02/09/2012
Thought I would post this article on being a connector over being a networker. Thought it applied to those of us who are in ministry with students and families.
02/08/2012
For your viewing pleasure: Click here for an outstanding article by a personal hero of mine, Mark Oestreicher, on innovations we need to incorporate into ministry with students and families. 
02/06/2012
Just a quote today: “Too many young folk have addiction to superficial things and not enough conviction for substantial things like truth, justice, and love.” – Dr. Cornel West. Thoughts?
01/22/2012
Recently read an article on Cnet about the OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) initiative introducing a new tablet form of their laptop offering. The title of the article is “Can the education-focused OLPC XO 3.0 tablet teach consumer manufacturers anything useful?” This interesting read got me thinking…does the church (a non-profit, possibly the LARGEST non-profit) have anything useful to teach the world? If so, what? What innovative ideas for organization, service, or customer satisfaction does the church have to offer the world around it? Would love to hear your ideas and thoughts on this. Please comment!
01/20/2012
from my friend and fellow minister Brent Parker’s Facebook page from 01/16/2012 comes a post and article worth sharing and reading…
“As we commemorate the birthday of our seminal civil rights leader, we should take some time out to remember that the same King who changed the course of history started out like you and me. He liked playing basketball and joking with friends. He was young and had fire in his heart.
King’s legacy should inspire our youth to step up and exert the visionary leadership that will help guide us through our era of change and uncertainties. Tenured scholars, contentious politicians and fat-cat business executives are too cynical, comfortable and conservative to do anything.
It’s up to our wide-eyed students. And they should remember that youth is not an impediment; rather, it’s the seed that can bring forth a better future. Just look at the young King.
And the post, too, is an invitation to those who share in the great work of youth ministry, to see our ministries, not as holy playgrounds for safe and moral activity, but as “labor and delivery rooms” for what God is waiting to “birth” through the lives of our young people.”
Click here for the CNN article.
01/19/2012
from my daily reading, Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
from nikolaitsai.us
How often to do we see acts of justice and mercy, like feeding the hungry or clothing the naked or giving the homeless a place to stay in our own homes, a “revolutionary” act? What if we re-imagined that these acts were not so revolutionary but expected of each person as a natural course of action when faced with injustice and suffering?
“Judge your earth with mercy, Lord: and teach us to love justice.”
“He has told you, human one,
what is good and
what the LORD requires from you:
to do justice, embrace faithful love,
and walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8 (CEB)
01/17/2012
In the early 90s author and marketing guru Jay Conrad Levinson introduced his concept of “Guerrilla Marketing”: taking free and often-overlooked opportunities to market your message/organization. Levinson has applied it from everything to major corporations to non-profit/charitable organizations. As the Adminstrative Director of the non-profit ministry Project-44.org I have been reading his collaboration with Frank Adkins and Chris Forbes Guerrilla Marketing for Nonprofits . 
The authors define Guerrilla as a person with conventional goals who uses unconventional means in order to achieve them. In chapter 3 Levinson, Forbes, and Adkins outline 12 characteristics/qualities of the Guerrilla that I believe we can apply not only to marketing but to student ministry as well. They maintain that Guerrillas are:
-imaginative
-patient
-active
-sensitive
-aggressive
-innovative
-generous
-good storytellers
-focused
-constantly learning
-enthusiastic
They also go on to write that a Guerrilla is well-balanced in these qualities/characteristics, not allowing one or more overtake the rest. In what ways would you describe yourself or your ministry using these adjectives? How do you allow those you reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ, in other words the students and families you minister with, to exhibit these qualities and characteristics? Are you a Guerrilla?
01/16/2012
“Lord, if we are extremists: may we be extremists for love.” – from Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals
On this celebration of the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., let those of us in ministry within the context of the local church remember Dr. King’s desire and belief that the church be the “conscience of the state.” As such, are we as ministers truly allowing the church to serve this purpose?
Are we, as the church, challenging the status quo of a self-absorbed, media-saturated, technology-driven culture or are we proclaiming the light of the gospel in the midst of darkness?
Are we challenging the messages of culture or are we affirming them?
Are we standing as a contrast society to the the one that forces us to choose sides and alienate one another based on the color of our skin, the place of our birth, the orientation of our sexuality, the political party we support?
As youth ministers in particular, are we challenging our students to pursue more than just the “American Dream” (whatever that is nowadays) and pursue abundant, eternal life? Are we providing them with life-giving mentors, resources, and experiences with an authentic God or are we filling their time with more technology, cruise directing, and time-waste?
You may say, “You are being too extreme.” I say, “Let us be extremists for the love and grace of God, who breathes life, through Jesus Christ, who offers us abundant, eternal life.” To truly show love to our neighbor, to shine light into dark places, to answer the call of Jesus Christ we must be extreme: extremely different from the world around us.
I was blessed to be present at an outstanding sermon by Reverend Jason Hamilton on John 3:16 this past Sunday. Reverend Hamilton ended his sermon with two thought-provoking questions. I will amend these questions a bit today to serve the purpose of this post and ask, “What is robbing you or preventing you from offering life, offering Christ to the world around you?” and “Who or what is allowing or has allowed you to experience and offer life to the world around you?”
