I recently watched a TEDTalk by Amanda Palmer. She is a musician and artist. She gives away her music for free and trusts her fans. That is pretty scary stuff. What if her fans say no? She shares about several instances where she would tweet out and ask for a place for her and her…
photo credit: http://in.socialtimes.me/articles/2013-01-11/official-oscar-app-launched-on-android-and-amazon I watched about half of the Oscars, after The Walking Dead of course. and I reflected on some of the speeches. I love Jennifer Lawrence of Hunger Games fame and now an Oscar winner for Silver Linings Playbook. She is young and unpretentious and her speech was honest and heartfelt. Some use…
We could ask “What is the most most buzz worthy thing you’ve done in your youth ministry that got the whole town talking?” but News Flash: The landscape has been expanded to the Digital Universe. Anyone in your town, another town, and the rest of the world can know what’s going on in your youth…
Full disclosure, I was a waiter in a swanky restaurant and I have feelings about this. I saw this article on Huffpost. A Pastor wrote this smug note on his receipt about giving God 10% “why should I give you 18?” I’d like to answer his question and the questions we should ask, “Why should…
I heard the song If I Could Have A Beer With Jesus with my son the other day and we laughed. He laughed at me because he knew what I would say about it. I laughed becauseI thought country music has finally run out of song titles or real material. As I listened to the…
Every Tuesday I scan iTunes looking for new songs, motivation, and inspiration. This morning I thought I’d share what lit my fire this morning. Fan The Flames – Dustin Smith (anything with fire get me going) Te Amo – Israel and New Breed (anything with T-Bone works for me.) Mighty Fortress– Jesus Culture, Mary kat…
Since gay marriage became legal in in 2015, it got me wondering about the implications for how we cover this subject and others like it in youth ministry. If you came looking for easy answers, you came to the wrong place; nothing but questions here. Maybe questions you’ve struggling with yourself. The safe thing most…
I am taking off my youth pastor hat for the next few posts because I would like to engage youth workers, other believers (or not), in a discussion about this movie. This is not a movie for teenagers, not that they don’t hear or see worse (because they do) but it is movie…
Teenagers can be about as stable as Homer Simpson running a nuclear reactor. The little red light could go off at any time accompanied by wailing sirens. Here a a few tips for staying out of trouble with your teens. 1. Keep your promises Promises are important to teens. They are even more important if…
I love movies. I love movie about teenagers because they remind me why I wanted to minister to teenagers in the first place. These movies range from the 80’s to 2018, but regardless of the year, they are timeless in their portrayal of kids just trying to grow up. The Breakfast Club 1985 – They need empathy Napoleon Dynamite 2004 – They need role models…
