Youth Ministry Rap

How many circumstances have you seen out of this video that you can relate too? The craziest things happen in youth ministry that most adults don’t see during a Sunday service. Much love to my fellow youth pastors & volunteer youth leaders. Because you’ve seen it all, you know how much teenagers need God! Keep doing what you are doing, because you are making a difference!

Amazing Video!

There are funny YouTube videos and there are visually amazing YouTube videos. This visually compelling video falls in the latter category. This short montage of surfing, skydiving, skiing, cliffjumping and so much more, is as entertaining as it is visually stimulating, all packed into less than 3 minutes. These thrill seekers have Incredible guts and what a rush they must experience! I envy these guys but I must admit some of these dudes are way crazy sick to do some of these stunts! 

It's 2012!

Now that the presents have all been opened and resolutions broken…it may be officially time to look at your calendar and realize that-

It’s 2012! (Cue the creepy music.)

We may have had visions of sugarplum fairies dancing in our heads in 2011, but now this long awaited and much speculated year has people losing sleep over galactic alignments, planetary collisions, and the mother of all doomsday Armageddon predictions happening on December 21st, 2012.

And all because the ancient Mayans had an obsession with counting…

You sneaky Mesoamericans!

To make a lonnnnng story short, 12/21/12 marks the end of the 5th cycle in the Mayan calendar that spans around 5125 years for each sequence. So take the unprecedented ability of the internet to spew disinformation like a manure spreader in a windstorm and the money making motivations of experts in paleobabble and astrocrud - and voila! We have officially birthed widespread concern and even debilitating panic.

In reality, 12/21/12 is not the end of the Mayan calendar any more than December 31st, 1999 was the end of the Gregorian calendar. The next day just starts a new cycle of numbers, which is why on January 1st, 2000 none of the “cats and dogs living together” nonsense came true, and that’s also why on December 22, 2012, life will go on just the same as before.

Let me illustrate…to show you how *significant* this day will be, in your mind count to 10 with me:

1…2…3…4…5…6…7…8…9…

10!

Didn’t it just FREAK YOU OUT when you reached the number 10???

No, because it’s just a number that starts a new cycle of numbers - and so is December 21st, 2012!

Oh, and coincidentally, there are no Black Holes or Planet X’s on a collision course with us. There are no rare alignments or convergences happening, and for sure you can laugh off the 2012 movie theory where the earth’s core superheats and sends us scrambling to China to get on those mega-ships so humanity can survive. Except why are they loading them with giraffes and gorillas when we really can’t EAT THEM!? Is no one saving any seats for pigs or chickens?

So the bottom line is this. Don’t waste an ounce of energy or a millisecond of time being concerned about the 2012 hoax. It’s a dressed up and overhyped reboot of “end of the world” predictions that have been around as long as crazy, rabid squirrel folks have been allowed out of the nut house.

This is not to say, though, that the world won’t someday end. Nor should we ignore predictions that come from a source that has verified fulfilled prophecies numbering in the hundreds. I’m talking about the Bible of course, which gives us the most clear headed and sensible approach to all the “last days” chatter:

But when the Day of God's Judgment does come, it will be unannounced, like a thief. The sky will collapse with a thunderous bang, everything disintegrating in a huge conflagration, earth and all its works exposed to the scrutiny of Judgment.

Since everything here today might well be gone tomorrow, do you see how essential it is to live a holy life? Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we'll hardly notice. We'll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness.

So, my dear friends, since this is what you have to look forward to, do your very best to be found living at your best, in purity and peace. Interpret our Master's patient restraint for what it is: salvation. (2 Peter 3:10-15, The Message).

God’s Word predicts the end of this world with a clear and very certain terms: judgment …disintegration …fire. But please, my friends, don’t get bogged down and freaked out by the sweeping and apocalyptic language that lays out how it will all go down. The point of Biblical prophecy is supposed to be a wakeup call for those choosing to ignore God’s gracious offer of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. It is also intended to be a steadfast hope for Christians who know that the end of days means the beginning of eternity in the new heaven and new earth, face to face with our Savior.

So as the fabled year 2012 unfolds for you, redirect all the stress and apprehension that the speculative crackpots have cooked up for *bank*, and channel it into “living at your best, in purity and peace” - a lifestyle that means eternal treasures.

And when you do, your friends will take notice that you are as calm as an eye in the midst of this hoopla driven hurricane. What a great year for us to live as though Jesus died yesterday, was raised from the dead today, and will come back tomorrow.

Forget the Mayans…remember The Cause of Christ!

The 2012 hoax/hype opens up a door for spiritual conversations as wide as the Milky Way. End times fears can be preyed upon by the swindlers, or they can be prayed for to bring an awakening for the gospel. Take some time and think about how God might use you this year to help people find peace through Christ in the 2012 trepidation and then start a conversation this week with someone who needs Jesus.

by Dare to Share

Teenagers and Their Smartphones in 2011

The newest mobile phone numbers are in from Nielsen in their new State of the Media Mobile Media Report for the third quarter of 2011. The results probably won’t be surprising to anyone who hangs out with teenagers. In short, more teens are getting smartphones, they’re downloading more data, texting a lot, and talking less.

Smartphones still aren’t the majority for teenagers. Only 40% of 13-17 year-olds now own a smart phone, compared to 53% of 18-24 year-olds and 64% of 25-34 year-olds. But the numbers have grown at an insane rate compared to years past. This table provides a good breakdown.

I notice several things from this table:

§  Slightly more females now own smartphones where it used to be 10% more males in 2009.


§  Every age category has more than doubled in the last 2 years.


§  25-34 and 18-24 still dominate in smartphone ownership

According to the same Mobile Media Report, the top two sites accessed by smartphones are Google (#1) and Facebook (#2).


Nielson used data from the monthly cell phone bills of 65,000+ mobile subscribers and analyzed mobile usage trends among teenagers in the U.S.

§  Teens age 13-17 now use an average of 320 MB of data per month (a 256% increase over last year’s 90MB average). (Males used 382 MB, females used 286 MB.


§  Average number of messages (SMS and MMS) exchanged monthly by a teenager is now 3,417 per month. (3,952 by females, 2,815 by males)


§  Voice time (phone calls) has gone down from an average of 685 minutes to 572 minutes.


Hmmmmm.

By Jonathan McKee

Can the World Deal with Tebow's Zeal

Last week I spoke to our students during Revolution on Tim Tebow's criticism and how we are to be a "City on a Hill." Like Tebow, we have all been given a platform by God to be a light for Jesus Christ. We cannot hide our light because we face potential criticism.

Here is a good read on Tebow...

It’s not often that we hear positive words about Christians on national TV. But Tim Tebow is making a more than a few people scratch their heads and wonder, “Is this whole Christianity thing actually working for this guy?”

Those of us watching the Sunday night football broadcast on NBC this weekend might have heard Bob Costas’ halftime report about Tebow. While many in this nation are mocking Tebow’s faith, or laughing, dropping to one knee and doing the Tebow… others are taking note of his character and undeniable belief.

I couldn’t say it better than Bob Costas did:

“Still, there is no doubt that Tebow and his team benefit from his honest belief. How? Frank Bruni put it well in today’s New York Times. Whatever Tebow may lack in classic NFL quarterbacking traits, he possesses other qualities in abundance. And in his case, those qualities — confidence, equanimity, optimism — and a presence that can’t be explained, but can certainly be felt. The whole Tebow persona derives from how he sees the world, and his place in it. Those qualities, no matter how one comes by them, are an asset, perhaps especially in sports.

Good for Tebow, and those who share his beliefs. And those who don’t can still acknowledge, and appreciate, that who Tim Tebow is, is not only genuine, but for the moment at least, it makes him and the Broncos, one of the most fascinating, and in whatever sense you interpret it, uplifting stories in sports.”

Click here to read Costas entire “halftime essay.”

After hearing Costas give that report yesterday, my daughter Alyssa smiled at me with a surprised look and said, “That is so cool!”

I looked at her equally surprised. “Pinch me. I think I’m dreaming.”

How often have you seen the world take notice of a Christian because of his character?

Will they still notice if he doesn’t get that W next week against the Patriots?

Bronco fans might have flinched when Costas said, “Whatever Tebow may lack in classic NFL quarterbacking traits,” but facts are facts. Tebow can’t throw like Tom Brady. But as Costa so astutely pointed out, what Tebow lacks in quarterbacking, he more than makes up for in character. Kudos to Costas for fairly pointing out that Tebow’s internal qualities are an asset.

Imagine that… the world noticing someone’s character over performance.

New York Times Frank Bruni, mentioned by Costas above, made candid observations about Tebow’s religion as well:

Which brings us back to religion. With Tebow there’s no getting away from it. He uses the microphones thrust in front of him to mention his personal savior, Jesus Christ, and has said that heaven is reserved for devout Christians. He genuflects so publicly and frequently that to drop to one knee in the precise way he does has been given its own word, along with its own Web site, where you can see photographs of people Tebowing inside St. Peter’s, in front of the Taj Mahal, on sand, on ice and even underwater.

That zeal doesn’t go over so well with many football enthusiasts, me included. Tebow performs a sort of self-righteous bait-and-switch — you come for scrimmages and he subjects you to scriptures — and the displeasure with that is also writ colorfully on the Web, in Tebow-ridiculing Twitter feeds and Facebook pages, one devoted entirely to snapshots through time of Tebow in tears. An emotional man, he has traveled a weepy path to this point.

But the intensity of the derision strikes me as unwarranted, in that it outdoes anything directed at, say, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, accused repeatedly of sexual assault, or other players actually convicted of burglary, gun possession and other crimes. In a league full of blithe felons, Tebow and his oppressive piety don’t seem like such horrendous affronts at all.

Besides which, to get lost in the nature of his Christianity is to miss the ecumenical, secular epiphanies in his — and the Broncos’ — extraordinary season. Their sudden turnaround isn’t just thrilling. It illustrates the limits of logic and the shortcomings of the most quickly made measurements and widely cited metrics.

Bruni’s entire article was worth reading (with a dictionary by your side).

As a parent of three teenagers and a 20-year youth ministry veteran, I have to say, it’s nice to see a positive role model emerging in a world full of lousy heroes. Having just written a summary of 2011’s number one songs and artists, I have a bitter taste in my mouth. Britney? Gaga? Kanye West? Katy Perry? These are the number ones?

Young people today need a hero. They need authentic. With Tebow, they get someone who is genuine on and off the field, a true light in a dark world. That is something worth talking about with our kids.

I pray—and you should too—that Tebow can stay true to his faith and not stumble… because all of America is waiting for him to do so.
 
From Jonathan's Blog from The Source.

Unrecognized and Ignored

I shared this story with our youth this past week:

It was Friday morning, January 12th, in the middle of the morning rush at the DC Metro. As over a 1,000 people passed by, a young white man in jeans and baseball cap pulled a violin out of its case, threw a few dollars down as seed money, and began to play.

A rich sound filled the Metro plaza, an elegant and pure melody that these walls had never heard before. An occasional passerby dropped a few coins in the case, but for the most part, the musician was ignored.

1097 people passed by that morning. The violin case managed to collect a mere $32 and change in donations.

Who was this unrecognized brilliant young musician?

“No one knew it, but the fiddler standing against a bare wall outside The Metro in an indoor arcade at the top of the escalators was one of the finest classical musicians in the world, playing some of the most elegant music ever written on one of the most valuable violins ever made.” (Pearls Before Breakfast, Washington Post, April 8, 2007)

The musician’s name was Josh Bell. Three days before this experiment that the Washington Post arranged at the Metro, Bell filled Boston’s Symphony Hall, where average seats went for $100. Two weeks later there would be standing room only at the Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda. But on this particular frigid January morning only a handful of people paused for even a moment to take in the beautiful sound that under normal circumstances filled Halls and packed auditoriums.

The violin that Bell cradled was a 3.5 million dollar instrument hand crafted in 1713 by Antonio Stradivari. It is said that no violin produces a sound as wonderful as Strads from the 1710s.

Sixty three people passed by before anyone even seemed to notice the musician at all. A middle aged man slowed his pace for a moment and glanced to the left. He kept walking, but it was something. Not a minute later a women tossed in a dollar without even stopping. It was six minutes before someone even stopped to listen.

Only seven people stopped at all to listen to the master musician, twenty seven people gave, and over 1,000 never stopped, never even turned to look.

The master musician had gone unrecognized and overwhelmingly ignored. (Click here for the original Washington Post Article and a short video clip of Bell in the Metro )

2,000 years ago the very creator of the universe showed up, and very few people even noticed.

You’d think that people would recognize our master creator by what they saw and heard. But overwhelmingly, people were too busy and too blinded to notice.

Of course, God didn’t choose to enter the world as a conquering king or triumphant hero. His arrival was humble and simple. He came as a baby, born in a dirty stable because there was no room at any of the inns.

The master creator showed up on earth to save us from the walls we had built between ourselves and God. His arrival was hardly noticed, but for centuries to come, people would celebrate this single, momentous, yet ignored occurrence- one of the most significant events in human history. This event is what we call Christmas. 2,000 years ago most people missed it.

Are you missing Christmas this year?

Awake and Alive Lock-in

Pray for me as I have an "all night lock in" tonight...UGH!!! LOL! Were taking our students to the Skillet, Hawk Nelson, Decyfer Down concert, then eat tons of food!, gym games that will big pain to my body (big target on my back always), open game room, watch a movie, sardines & flash light tag in the big church (always to biggest hit), then smack down some Krispy Kreme's. 13 hours of fun and torture all in one long night. My Friday will be shot but it's all for our great students whom I truly enjoy. Great students and leaders!