Writing
Fourteen years of thinking out loud about faith, ministry, technology, and what happens where they meet.
206 posts · page 9 of 11
2013
Take A Few Days and Reorganize
Summer is a hectic time for youth ministers. I had one youth minister tell me that out of the 8 weeks of summer, he was going to be gone for 6 of them. So it's best to take the time to get reorganized when you have it. Most of us would…
Read on →Stop Being Horrible At Communication
I am the first to admit - I'm pretty horrible at communication sometimes. But I have made a conscious effort in the last few years to communicate better and more effectively with my wife, my kids in the youth group, my church, and my…
Read on →Google Reader Shutdown Monday
Google Reader announced in March that they would be shutting down the RSS service, effectively opening the whole internet and RSS back up. The big shutdown is Monday, so I'd make it a goal to move your data out of there this weekend.…
Read on →Move On
That snide comment about your preaching? Move on. That lack of respect for you as a youth minister? Move on. Criticism of your wife or kids? Move on. You will move on from these petty things because you have a job to do - spread the Gospel…
Read on →How to Pass Out Tracts for Jesus
Oh goodness. Images originally from Witnessing Made Easy: How to Pass Out Tracts for Jesus. \via
Read on →Edification in The Body of Christ
\[The following is a transcript from my talk on June 19, 2013 at the Chase Park Church of Christ in Huntsville, AL about Edification in The Body of Christ. Feel free to copy and download as you wish with proper attribution.\] In 1997,…
Read on →Devil Dogs and Fellow Soldiers In Christ
At the Battle of Belleau Wood in France in 1918, the Germans described the ferocity and fighting spirit of the US Marines they were battling as tefel hunden , translated Devil Dogs. Devil dog is now a term of endearment in the modern…
Read on →Jerry Elder on Crisis Management in Your Ministry
Jerry Elder has been at youth ministry for a long time - 30 years this year to be exact - and he has lots of experience with all sorts of things in youth ministry. Crisis Management is something we don't think about... until a crisis…
Read on →Using Reading List in Safari
My confidence and trust in free services is at an all time low. Like many other geeks and early adopters, I’m focused on using services that I’ve paid for and for whom I am the customer and not the commodity... So in the arena of…
Read on →'Don't Take It Personal' - A Youth Ministry Philosophy
You want to know what I have to say about someone that tells me 'not to take personally' comments, criticisms, gripes, moans, or complaints about the ministry I work for? Rubbish. Because for me (and you may be different), there is no…
Read on →'Hacking the future is what we do best'
People are being very critical of Google right now, and some of their decisions that they see going against the 'Open Web' policy. Laurent Eschenauer: We are developers, and hacking the future is what we do best. So, time to wake up and…
Read on →The 2013 Hashtag Video Series
The Hashtag Video Series is a free, brotherhood-sponsored and brotherhood-funded video series for teens in the Churches of Christ. First started in 2012 by Scott Bond at Spring Meadows Church of Christ, the Hashtag Video Series was a set…
Read on →Money, Fear & Hunger - From Ron Swanson
I love the show Parks & Recreation . It's not the most Christian show, and it won't teach me any values for my life, but it's silly and it makes me laugh. I love the character of Ron Swanson. Ron is a manly, unforgiving, uncompromising…
Read on →Two Huge Lies
Words of wisdom from Rick Warren today:
Read on →Do You Have A Plan? [Proverbs 16]
This was a guest post on Michael Whitworth's Start2Finish blog today. For the original post, click here. In my early days in college I was dating a girl whose father was a preacher, as if I wasn't afraid of going home to visit her…
Read on →Big Updates for Big Apps
There were two big updates to two big apps that I use everyday released in the last 24 hours. View fullsize The first is an update to Textastic, a great text editor for OSX. They have added tab support so now instead of having multiple…
Read on →Summer Camp Checklist
From YouthMinistry360: Early Prep Work 1. Decide where you want to go for camp, sign up, and send in any deposits. 2. Begin signing-up your students and adult leaders for the camp. There are some great software programs for youth ministry…
Read on →Patton Oswalt on the bombings in Boston
"I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths. But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of…
Read on →Drafts: My Go-To iOS App
As a youth minister, I take lots of notes. I jot down emails and phone numbers. I send emails. I write articles, lessons and sermons. I make lists, and lists of lists for planning projects. All of that involves text . As I am an uber-nerd,…
Read on →Special Post: Podcast Blog Hop
Today's post is very special, because it is a "blog hop." Five blogs are all writing on the same topic, and we hope you will check each one out. The topic today is simply podcasting. Five writers are each listing the podcasts (by category)…
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