Here are the top 10 most popular blog posts from August 2010 here on More Than Dodgeball:
JG
This may make the live bloggers a little miffed, but apple announced they will live stream their event tomorrow. I love that they made this move.
From their site: Apple will broadcast its September 1 event online using Apple?s industry-leading HTTP Live Streaming, which is based on open standards. Viewing requires either a Mac running Safari on Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, an iPhone or iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or higher, or an iPad?. The live broadcast will begin at 10:00 a.m. PDT on September 1, 2010 at www.apple.com.
I’ll be sure to log in, how about you?
UPDATE: Here the link for the live stream: http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/1009qpeijrfn/event. Here are the system requirements: Safari 4 or 5 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard or Safari on iOS 3 or later. Sorry PC friends.
There are a lot of changes happening in our student ministries right now. In the midst of the crazy summer so many other components are moving in different directions. Many of the changes are great, and needed. And it will be exciting to see how God will unfold all that we have been praying for. But there are a few changes that I (as the wife) do not like so much and don’t understand. It is these changes that I don’t know what to say, and not say, and just what to do. My pride wants to shout at my husband, “Hey, did ya think it all through? Are ya real, REAL sure about that one?!” And my favorite, “Listen to me, listen to me, just listen to me!” BUT…..I know I shouldn’t.
I don’t know if I’m alone on this one, or what?? Anyone else fear change as much as me? I totally trust my husband and his call to this ministry. I do believe he is brilliant and gifted and a wonderful leader. Buuutttttt, what do you do when you don’t agree with it all?? Nothing? Pray? Vent, and visit this site?
I did take a big step (for me) this weekend. Our Pastor asked us to choose one area in which we would come to God daily for the summer and ask his guidance. I was certain that I was going to ask for wisdom concerning all these changes happening for us [...]
Yesterday I was on an hour long live radio show with Faith Radio in Saint Paul, Minnesota. We talked about the book I wrote with Reggie and Abbie called, The Slow Fade. They asked me a bunch of questions, people called in and sent emails to ask questions. If you’re interested in listening to that interview via podcast, click here.
We are excited to finally roll out the new SYMC website for 2011. The new site has the speaker line-up (although there’s more to come there), the great Training options, and all the registration details you need to know. There’s so much there you’ll have to check it out what Doug and the rest of the gang have planned.
We are so excited, I hope you join us in Chicago, March 4 – 7 2011.
This past Sunday, my family headed into the heart of Seattle to attend an Ethiopian church as part of celebratingour daughter. We decided that it would be special to have her dedicated at the Ethiopian church. And it was super special and memorable.
As I sat through the 31/2 hour service I thought a lot of being a first timer to church. This church did an AMAZING job welcoming us in- despite that our family was the only whiteys in the crowd they didn’t make us feel like we stood out. They greeted us, sat with us and even translated for us. The ENTIRE service was in Amharic…and though I couldn’t understand a word of what was being said I could understand the heart of worship in the place and it was powerful. After the service, no one was in a hurry to get out the door…they wanted to be together. So, they lingered together over coffee and bread. Enjoying the benefits and beauty of community.
Here’s a few things I learned:
1. Visitors need to be welcomed in a geniune way. It’s not enough to greet them at the door…someone needs to sit with them and explain what’s happening next or how we do this “traditional” activity. I think being insidea church for the first time can feel very similar to being at a church were no one speaks english- overwhelming and confusing but if you sense that you belong- you can [...]
Ur YM has kicked off for the fall or is about to. How’s ur voluntold team looking?
Mark DeVries in his epic book, Sustainable Youth Ministry, says u should have 1 adult volunteer (engaged and relational I would add) for every 5 of ur youth. How’s that going for you?
Some of u are doing great. Skip the rest of this blog then and go back to chatting on FB.
For the rest of you: having trouble getting enough good volunteers?
Three reasons why: 1) Have you asked the right people?
2) Have you given them a specific job description with clear cut expectations, boundaries, plans and purpose?
3) Are you spending more time with ur teens than w ur volunteers?
Let any one of these three facts go awry and that’s a place to start figuring out why ur begging and pleading for help. Why ur pulling out hairs u can’t spare from ur head. Why uve even resorted to asking the SP if he would like to help “chaperon” the MS lock-in. Ur are one desperate YP if it comes to that!
Stephanie
PS-u can always tell when i’m posting from my phone. grammer, spelling and abbreviations don’t seem to matter to me.
I finally broke down.
I bit the bullet.
I asked permission.
I signed up for X-Box live.
I played Halo 3 until midnight last night.
I found it amazing.
I think my life will never be the same.
This June will mark my 20 year anniversary in junior high ministry. I’m sure that I will do a much more honest and thorough reflection of stuff I’ve learned, but today I was thinking about some of the bigger ‘Ah Ha’ moments I’ve had in ministry. Moments where the light bulb went off above my head and something changed as a result.
Some of my ‘Ah Ha’ moments, in no particular order:
- I’m not irreplaceable.
- I don’t have to be cool.
- Everybody ‘loves’ junior high kids (we have to, we’re Christians right?) but some people actually like them. Those are the people to build my team around.
- Functioning as a leader first and a Pastor second is a mistake.
- A lesson doesn’t have to be long to be good, but if it’s going to be long it has to be good!
- Parents need to be viewed as an ally not an enemy.
- To be effective, I have to surround myself with people who are smarter, more gifted and a lot different than I am.
- Pride ruins everything.
- I don’t deserve anything I’ve been given.
In our junior high ministry, our team tries to create what we call a “No Way” moment once in each series. A “No Way” moment is simply something we do in the program that causes kids to think, “No way….I can’t believe they did that in church”.
Our chocolate slip n slide is a ‘no way’ moment.
Our cow tongue toss is a ‘no way’ moment.
This weekend, our lesson was on the power and importance of being connected. As a ‘No Way’ moment, the entire junior high music team and our paid staff performed the ‘all in this together’ song from High School Musical. Because I couldn’t make any of the rehearsals and didn’t have the entire dance memorized, I got handed the solo free-style dance toward the end of the bit. I don’t know how to dance and had put zero thought into my big debut.
My 8th grade daughter Kayla already regrets my decision to free-style in front of our entire ministry, and I’m sure I’ll live to regret it, too.
The audio is terrible because it was recorded from a video camera in the back of our room. My solo is toward the end….if you can bear to watch.
I’ve probably referenced these sites somewhere in the past, but the two sites below are my favorites for youth culture research.
The first, www.cpyu.org , is faith based and is a great place to send the parents of your students who are looking for encouragement, information and resources.
The second, www.Ypulse.com, is not faith based but is a sought-after site by marketers and media executives who want to keep a pulse on youth culture.
- The air is clear today. Even though much cleaning up and rebuilding of homes and lives remains, it is wonderful to have clean air and a cool breeze.
- Despite a devastating O.T. loss last night, the Broncos are still better than the Rams and Dolphins!
- After a crazy busy month, this week is somewhat slow.
- This weekend we have our first-ever small group Fall retreat. It’s a 24 hour relationship-building extravaganza that should be really fun.
- Hilarious, but subtle, line from The Office: The tag line at the end of Michael’s commercial: “Endless paper in a paperless society.”
- I’ve decided Don Cheadle may be my favorite actor. It seems like he’s fantastic in every role he plays.
-Just spent much of the weekend teaching about Moses. What a life he led.
- The newest onslaught of spam in my inbox is trying to sell me exotic watches. I don’t get it.
Lesson Topic: Week Two of our Series: What’s The Point? (40 days of Purpose)
‘Fun Factor’: Above Average
Volunteer Involvement: Average
Music: Average
Lesson Quality: Above Average
Length of Lesson: 26 mins
Student Response: Above Average
Taffy, our student ministries worship pastor, taught this weekend and was, as always, a big hit with the students. His energy is off the charts which makes for fun lessons whenever he’s teaching. The band was led by our high schoolers which is a nice change of pace once in a while. However, even though the quality goes up when they lead, I would always rather see junior highers leading!
I rarely accept invitations to speak to junior highers at camps, retreats, etc. but decided to bend that rule a bit this Fall. This weekend, (Fri-Sat) I’m speaking at my first of three Jr. High Believe events. Jr. High Believe is a ‘junior high only’ tour that heads into about a dozen cities. I attended a Believe event a few years ago and was really impressed with their commitment to trying to put on an event geard specifically to young teens.
At the time, they had bigger name speakers…people who do big stage stuff for a living. However, the speakers weren’t necessarily junior high friendly. Since then, they’ve made the decision to invite more speakers who speak to junior highers on a regular basis. That’s where I came in. Other cities will have Jason Raitz and Scott Rubin (both from the junior high ministry at Willow Creek). This switch combined with the fact that I really like the Believe director, Johny Scott, made it feel like a fit for me.
It will be interesting to hear how the Believe team feels about the trade-off. Junior high pastors who aren’t professional speakers Vs. Professional speakers who aren’t junior high pastors.
The air quality the past couple days has been really bad due to the fires. When you step foot out of your house it smells like a massive fire pit complete with ashes swirling about. In fact, much to the delight of children everywhere, school has been cancelled today due to the nasty air.
Yesterday I was sitting in Starbucks and witnessed a fantastic Kodak moment. Walking side by side up to the doors were two people who weren’t with each other. The first was wearing a mask/filter device over his mouth. The second was puffing on a cigarette. Classic.
I wanted to shout out to the smoker: “Hey lady, toss the cigarette and just breath deeply…save yourself a few bucks today.”
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