Reaching Teens – Marketing Article

Came across this interesting article from ypulse.  The article is written from a marketing perspective but some of the points can be applied to youth ministry as well.  Particularly, the message needs to be simple.  The other ida that made me think was make the item customizable.  How do we do this with youth ministry?  How can we equip students to make youth ministry their own?  food for thought.

I Stop for Arcade Fire

Sitting at Ladro, working on somethings, sitting at the window bar seat thing, Arcade Fire comes on my iTunes.  It was on shuffle but I had to stop and listen to the whole album, Neon Bible.  Great album, very ear catching because it’s unique and very layered.  It moves with my spirit.  It’s a great album check it out.But the reason that I am writing this is because it the music was good enough for me to stop shuffling and stick with it.  This made me think about the church.  We live in a shuffle world.  People are busy, people are looking for the sound bites, the video clips, watching an hour of tv is impossible without TiVo, people are running around all over the place.  What is the church doing to break people out of shuffle?  What are our ministries doing to break out of shuffle?  Are we just sound bites?  Are we just clip-worthy?Are we just putting out singles?  Or are we offering true, deep, truth that breaks people away from their need to shuffle and go from one thing to the next.  Do people want to soak in what we are offering?  Like a great album you have to listen to the whole thing at one time.  Neon Bible, Joshua Tree, Jesus Freak, Devil’s and Dust, these all make me stop and listen to the whole thing. These are albums that were thought through, intentional, non-fluff.  I think too often our churches are guilty of trying to produce hit singles when we need to be thinking of the whole album.   We may never break the charts, but every once in awhile there is a break through.   Great singles don’t sustain a band, great albums do.  Singles come and go, but people latch on to great albums.   Just a thought. 

it’s raining

I love the rain, it’s refreshing, it brings life.  But today is just too much.  Many of the streets around my house have flooded.  It’s crazy.  Saturday it snowed like a maniac and then yesterday it rained snowed rained in that order and it hasn’t stopped raining.  So all that snow and all that rain have no where to go.  It’s a big mess. I adventured out to the Library today so that I could focus on some writing and research for this Thursday’s beyond, and then also for my next Sunday Morning sermon on December 30th.  It’s a long way off but with Christmas and all that hustle and bustle I have to get it done early.  So I will be hunkered down here for the next several hours, watching the rain fall.  

Free Xbox 360

This worked for Tim Schmoyer, and by golly it can work for me.  Help a brother out getting a 360.  This how it works.  Click on the link.  To get directed to my user account.  I think you can set one up yourself too.  Complete a trial offer, like netflix, gamefly, something fun like that.  I just need nine of you fine folks to give this a try.  So what do you say? 

Argh – Technology

So today I preached at Creekside and man was it good.  I guess it was too good for our recording system because something didn’t work right. :o)In all seriousness It was a good time, I think preaching is best when the preacher is having fun, and I was having a great time and I heard good feedback.  I’ll post my notes below, I realized halfway through that I never really looked at them.  I kept moving the pages at the right time but never really used my notes.  But if you want to know what I said, keep reading.Continue reading “Argh – Technology”

Lack of Creativity

It seems like I am spending more time directing this blog to other people’s thoughts than I am my own.  Something that I am learning over and over again is that creativity comes in waves, and while you are in the lull, you’ve got to keep on learning and seeking ideas that might spark something in you.  And that’s why I post links and thoughts from other pastors and leaders that are challenging the way I am thinking.  It’s healthy.I’ve also learned that the times of the greatest stress are also the times of the lowest creativity for me.  But that is when i need to keep learning the most.  So I won’t always post other people’s thoughts but it’s part of how I keep my brain working.I will say this.  I have been working through Confessions of A Caffeinated Christian.  This is a great book, kind of inline with Messy Spirituality.  Check either of those two out.