- BIG NEWS FOR MARK OESTREICHER AND MAYBE FOR YOU, TOO!  Marko has just laid out details of his plans to start a youth ministry coaching plan. If you are looking for a fantastic opportunity to be mentored by one of youth ministry’s best thinkers, I couldn’t recommend this opportunity more highly!  Check here for more details.                                                                                                   

- Just heard that Taylor Guitars is giving away five free guitars at our Radicalis conference next week! I found this interesting because I had heard in the past that Taylor never gives away free guitars…that they don’t sponsor musicians etc. So this seems like a pretty big deal.  As a fun side note, Bob Taylor served on the board of elders while I was at Skyline Church in San Diego and both of his daughters attended our junior high ministry. Now that my son, Cole, is an avid guitar player I have always wanted to try to get a deal on a Taylor for him….you know, Bob’s way of saying “thank you”.  But to date, I haven’t found the courage to ask.

- This weekend we are starting a new series called, “Cup O’ Joe”.  We are decorating the stage like a coffee shop and I will be telling the story of a different Old Testament hero of the faith each week.  Each person highlighted will have a name that starts with “JO” (thus the creative, and somewhat confusing, title/theme of the series). We are teaching on Jonah, Joseph and Joshua.  Should be pretty fun as we have some creative ideas for teaching within a coffee shop feel.

- My Plug For An Expensive Piece of Awesomeness: If you are a reader, you need to get a Kindle! Yes, it is expensive but it really is an impressive/convenient/wonderful item to have in your back pack (that’s the beauty…you can carry around dozens upon dozens upon dozens of books in your back pack!). It is the best “luxury purchase” I have made in a long time…mostly because I don’t make too many luxury purchases! My most recent download: “Lincoln On Leadership”. My favorite leadership book is now with me everywhere I go.  Amazing.

- To try something new, we created a “Prayer Room” in our student ministries suite. We had an extra office so we decided to decorate it and dedicate it solely to prayer and reflection. It’s complete with candles, a board for writing down prayer requests, an iPod playing hymns, a comfy couch etc.  Nobody is allowed to use this room for anything other than prayer.  Not a ton of traffic so far, but it’s neat to know it’s there if needed.

- Today is cold, wet and windy. Having 3-4 days of rain in a row in Southern California is really rare and a fun change of pace! I’m holed up in Starbucks doing some writing and getting ready for “Staff Camp”.

- “Staff Camp” is our team’s 3-day getaway where we do lots of long term planning,  lots of work and have lots of fun. That’s the plan, anyway because this will be our first one.

- I am really excited about, and having trouble finding the time to write, a new book that should release in early fall. The Best Practices In Youth Ministry takes a look at an extensive study that was conducted to determine why some churches seem to have more success  fostering “mature faith” in their students. I am co-authoring with a long-time buddy of mine, and it has been really fun to take a massive study and break it down into a user-friendly youth ministry resource.

- Want to contribute to the book?  One of the features we would like to include in the book is about ten, 300-400  word, essays entitled, “I Hate When That Happens”.  These need to be stories of something that has gone horrifically wrong in your youth ministry! It can have to do with a program that went bad, a relationship scenario, a volunteer story, a youth group vs. “big church” story etc.  If you are interested, please contact me at kurtj@saddleback.com

- New Blog coming soon!I am in the initial stages of phasing out my personal blog and replacing it with a “Simply Junior High” blog that will include a team of contributors from the world of JH ministry. These men and women are good friends with a ton of junior high ministry experience and insight. The result will be a whole lot more content and encouragement from a whole lot more perspectives.  I will keep you posted on the timing of this move.

Found a blog post from about six months ago by Kara Powell that is well worth the read.  The post itself is great, but the best fodder for discussion is found in the comments.

WEEKEND WRAP UP:  This past weekend we kicked off our new series, “Flipped”.  This series takes a look at some of the ways Jesus flipped the world’s ways of thinking upside down. This week’s topic was “Power Doesn’t Matter”.  Matt Hall, one of our team members, did a fantastic job of helping students look at Jesus’ view of what true power is all about.  We played a game we called “Flipped Phrases”, which was a rip off of Mad Gab which went over well.  We also had a cool backdrop/sign on stage with our “Flipped” logo on it that we flipped over halfway through the lesson, which was a pretty fun little visual.

STAFF CAMP: We are trying something new in a couple of weeks. Because of budget cuts, we lost the ability to take our team to a conference this year for ongoing learning etc. So, in a creative moment we decided to take the money it would cost for ONE person to go to a conference and put on our own, in house, conference for our entire student ministry team. We have asked a couple of the other pastors on our team to share with us, we will do some reading, some training etc.  Should be awesome….but could be a flop!

CHANGES: A couple of months ago I posted here that our team is in the beginning stages of streamlining our programs, re-evaluating how we spend our time etc.  Two months later and we are still taking some baby steps toward some fairly significant changes that we will ease into throughout the summer and into fall.

HARRY REID: I’m not sure which is worse, the horribly offensive language he used to make his point, or the sad sad sad reality that what he said is probably true. Actually, I do know which is worse. One is one man’s display of ignorance and racism while the other is that of an entire society.

RADICALIS:It’s not to late to join Pastor Rick, Andy Stanley, Mark Driscoll and others at Saddleback’s Radicalis conference.  The conference includes NINE HOURS worth of youth ministry training and discussion with Doug Fields and our Saddleback student ministry team.

If you work with students, you really should consider joining us for SYMC in Chicago in February! Advanced registration closes in two weeks, and you don’t want to miss the action.

In addition to the fabulous general sessions, the great conversations and opportunities to make some new friends, I (along with Scott Rubin, Katie Edwards and Johnny Scott) will be hosting a total of almost 16 hours worth of junior high ministry stuff! We have a one-day “pre conference” junior high ministry seminar, a 4-hour intro to junior high ministry track and a 4-hour advanced junior high ministry track.

Register, grab a parka, and join us in Chicago!

As a friend of Marko, I was devastated when he left Youth Specialties. I was sad for him and wondered what the future held for an organization that has helped lead the charge of youth ministry for so many of us for so many years.

Today I learned that Tic Long has returned to YS as its new Executive Director, and I must say that I am thrilled! In recent months I have said in several conversations that I believe the youth ministry world needs “a vibrant Youth Specialties”.  As a guy who has been around for a little while, I owe a large debt of gratitude to Youth Specialties and I am excited that Tic is at the helm as it heads into this new season.

 I’m super excited about two brand new resources available at Simply Junior High!  We’ve created a “Smart Stuff” small group video curriculum as well as a “Smart Stuff” 10-minute moment book for your students.  Each resource takes a look God’s wisdom found in the book of Proverbs.

Because I love our planet (it’s a pretty good place to call home, for now.) and want to be a good steward of what God has created for us, I have slowly become more interested in the discussions concerning global warming; specifically mankind’s role….or lack of role.

To be fair…I’m only interested, I’m not overly concerned about or consumed by the subject and I really haven’t been a student of it. But I recently ran across this organization and thought it had some interesting insights.

NOTE: I am not endorsing thier views or trying to get people to sign their petition (which I wouldn’t do myself)….just passing along something I found.

EXTRA NOTE:  I am also posting this because I don’t have much “junior high ministry stuff” going on in my head today!

WEEKEND WRAP UP: Our first weekend of the new year was suprisingly strong. Attendance was high, energy was high, volunteer involvement was high, and the lesson was strong. Our topic was an uncreative “How to Have a Great Year”, but the lesson itself was really fun. The main point was simply DECIDE THAT GOOD ENOUGH ISN’T GOOD ENOUGH. We talked about the various areas that junior highers tend to settle for “Good Enough” and ways to avoid that temptation. All in all, it was a great weekend.

A BUSY SEASON:I feel like I am heading into one of the busiest seasons in a long, long time. A couple of writing projects, several speaking/training engagements, and beginning the process of a fairly radical “re-tooling” of some crucial aspects of our student ministries program at Saddleback. I’m not much of a list maker, but I am in the process of creating a fairly lengthy one to help me keep my priorities on track.

DENVER BRONCOS: Still too sad to comment.

WHAT I AM READING: I am currently reading “The Guinea Pig Diaries” by my A.J. Jacobs.

LOOKING FORWARD TO: Ditching church this Saturday night to take my 12-year-old son, Cole, to Supercross.

Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas. I hope you find time to slow down, enjoy family and friends and celebrate our savior.

No blogging for me until the new year.

See ya in 2010.