February 16, 2012
Youth Ministry Rap
January 26, 2012
Amazing Video!
January 9, 2012
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-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
December 20, 2011
Teenagers and Their Smartphones in 2011
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
December 13, 2011
Can the World Deal with Tebow's Zeal
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.Click here to read Costas entire “halftime essay.”
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.”
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.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?
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).
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.
December 12, 2009
Unrecognized and Ignored
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?
October 15, 2009
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!
February 27, 2009
Our theme is Live Love. What I hope happens this weekend is that our youth and adults will respond to the challenge by the Holy Spirit and respond to Him to live out our lives with love and care for others and through us they will see Christ and be drawn to Him.
I am currently reading a book titled, The Spirit of the Disciplines by Dallas Willard, which focuses on the understanding of how God changes lives. In the book Willard states that we must practices such things like "...simple and sacrificial living..." and "...service to others." I pray that we will truly understand how to do so and produce godly fruit in our lives.
February 13, 2009
Flashback with Facebook
The Facebook phenomenon continues to draw in younger people these days. But at the same time, older and older people are increasingly finding their way to this online social network. As a result, I'm suddenly more connected with people who I went to high school and college with over 15-20+ years ago.
And "flashing back" to our own high school and college years can be a real advantage for those of us in youth ministry. I like to have our volunteer youth workers think back to when they were in middle and high school, "What were you like when you were a teenager?" "Which of the students in your small group were you most like when you were in middle or high school?"
- Were you the shy & quiet kid, not making eye contact with anyone?
- Were you the frenzied tornado kid, ricocheting back and forth across the room?
- Were you the kid with way more on your mind than your facial expression revealed?

How I wanted so much to be "cool"... and yet how tricky that was. And how I had no idea how much Jesus loved me... and what that meant for me. I'm thankful as a youth 18 year old lost college freshmen I had a godly man, John Ramirez, BSU Director, who came into my life and reached out to me with the love of Christ.
When students in our ministries are adults one day, will they "flash back" and think about how much God became real to them through our efforts? May it be so!
(part taken from scott rubin)
February 2, 2009
Update on Me
Here is an update on my stomach issue. In stead of just an upper GI they did both upper and lower GI's (fun) last Monday, January 26. My wife, Jennifer has some funny stories as some of you know what I'm talking about...you are really out of it. During the lower GI everything looked normal and they took a biopsy of the colon. During the upper GI this is what they saw and did:- Stretched my Schatzki’s Ring
- Mild reflux
- Gastric mucosal abnormality characterized by erythema (whatever that is) - biopsied
- Erythematous duodenopathy (whatever that is)
- The 2nd & 3rd part of the duodenopathy (whatever that is) - biopsied
The doctor started me on Nexium and I am waiting on the pathology results of the biopsy. It’s been a week now and I still have not heard from the doctor concerning the results. My stomach has done very well the past five days, I even pigged out with my 9/10 grade guys LIFEgroup during our Super Bowl watch party last night and my stomach did not bother me. I guess the Nexium is working well. It's a magical purple pill. I will share the pathology results when I here from the doctor. Thanks for those of you who have asked about me and who are praying for me.
January 15, 2009
Pray 4 Me

January 12, 2009
Facebook - 150 Million Active Users
Check this out...today I came upon this description of the growth of facebook and how it is expanding, and expected to continue growing in 2009. AMAZING. Check it out...
December 16, 2008
10,000 Text Messages

The research, which was carried out by Bebo, a social networking site popular with teenagers, reveals that more than two-thirds of young people use their mobile phones and digital cameras to keep a photographic record of their lives. Almost 75 per cent of those surveyed said they used social networking websites to share photos and keep in touch with friends.
Around half of those questioned said they had as many as 250 "friends" with whom they kept in regular contact via the internet. Most of the teenagers who responded to the survey, which was posted globally on the Bebo website, said they spent the majority of their spare time on the web, with almost one third saying they watched more than 50 online videos per week, usually on sites such as YouTube and Bebo, and other social networking websites such as MySpace.
But watching traditional, broadcast television is still a popular pursuit for many young people, with 31 per cent admitting to watching more than five hours of television per day, and 32 per cent stating that they watched TV for between three and five hours per day.
"Communicating with one another is one of the most popular hobbies among teenagers today," said Sarah Gavin, global director of communications for Bebo, which has more than 11 million users in the UK. "If technology enables them to do this more easily, then it makes the experience all the more appealing to them."
And new research suggests that using social networking sites might even be beneficial to youngsters. A study by the MacArthur Foundation in the United States concluded that use of sites such as Bebo, Facebook and MySpace helped young people to learn crucial life skills.
December 12, 2008
Teens who Lie, Steal, & Cheat see themsleves as Ethical
- “American teenagers lie, steal and cheat more at "alarming rates," a study of nearly 30,000 public and Christian school high school students concluded Monday.
- The attitudes and conduct of some 29,760 high school students across the United States "doesn't bode well for the future when these youngsters become the next generation's politicians and parents, cops and corporate executives, and journalists and generals," the non-profit Josephson Institute said.
- Boys were found to lie and steal more than girls.
- Overall, 30 percent of students admitted to stealing from a store within the past year, a two percent rise from 2006. More than one third of boys (35 percent) said they had stolen goods, compared to 26 percent of girls.
- An overwhelming majority, 83 percent, of public school and private religious school students admitted to lying to their parents about something significant, compared to 78 percent for those attending independent non-religious schools.
- Despite no significant gender differences on exam cheating, students from non-religious independent schools had the lowest cheating rate, 47 percent, compared to 63 percent of students attending religious schools.
- Despite these high levels of dishonesty, these same kids have a high self-image when it comes to ethics."
- Some 93 percent of students indicated satisfaction with their own character and ethics, with 77 percent saying that "when it comes to doing what is right, I am better than most people I know.”
December 8, 2008
Daddy Daughter Date

As a dad I have my daughter's best interests at heart and I want her Prince Charming to come along (many, many years down the road!), sweep her off her feet and treat her like the princess she is. I understand that it's at least partly up to me to see to it that she starts getting the royal treatment at an early age. By treating her so I let her know that settling for anything less is just plain unacceptable.
A great way I have discovered to do this is to have Daddy Daughters Dates. I set aside specific date days or nights to spend with her and only her because girls usually love extra little things that make them feel special.
Well this past weekend I had a wonderful time with my 3 daughters with daddy daughter dates spread out over the weekend. We had a blast from getting flavored coffee/hot chocolate, checking out the Rhema Christmas Lights, going to Best Buy and playing with the awesome Apple computers and with the latest and greatest gaming consoles, eating out, and most importantly spending some time talking.
I know that the most important thing isn't what you do, or where you go, but that I'm spending some one-on-one time with my baby girl (and no matter how old she is, she's still my baby).
What are some good daddy daughter dates that you've experienced?




