How I Come Up with Blog Material

A friend of mine reluctantly started a blog recently. He didn’t know where to get started because he didn’t think he had anything to say. He only started the blog because he was one of the few people he knew who didn’t have one.

Here’s some tips I gave him based on the content I put in this blog:

1. Share wisdom, tips and tricks based on your personal experience
2. Post clips of pertinent information you find on the Internet then link to its source
3. Include tidbits about yourself, interests, family – not too personal, but enough to help your personality to come through your posts
4. Industry news related to the general subject of your blog
5. Tips for others about how to be a good blogger

Lesson Ideas: Changing Perspective

When I teach hope to change the perspective of my students. Most of them have heard the same stories taught repeatedly since they were toddlers. I hope they leave saying, “I’ve never thought of it that way.” That’s when minds are stretched and the biblical truths regain their attention.

Some examples I’ve seen from others lately are:

1. A teacher talking about Jonah revealed that Nineveh worshiped a fish god. When Jonah was delivered from a fish to tell Nineveh that God was going to destroy them, it had more meaning than we’ve realized before. This is a great way to show a deeper meaning of the Bible, a little humor, but, most importantly, the sovereignty of God.

2. Another teacher talking about purity said that he could jump to get off his roof, but would break his leg in the process. It would be okay because he would eventually heal. He used this to point out the flaw in thinking we can sin knowing God will forgive us. He said when we live like that, it’s true that God forgives us. However, we damage our souls. God’s forgiveness is instantaneous. However, the damage we do to our souls when we purposefully go against his design is lasting.

Teaching to change perspective takes more effort on our part. However, making the extra effort can make the difference between sending them home with small group checked off their to-do list and equipping students to make life change.

Tethering My iPhone 3Gs to My Laptop for WiFi

UPDATE 9/13/09: This does not work on iPhone 3.1 yet, but they’re working on it

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I’m amazed how easy it was to tether my iPhone 3Gs to my laptop. I was also slap-happy I didn’t have to jailbreak my iPhone to make it happen. I’m actually writing this blog post thanks to my iPhone being tethered to my Windows laptop. Here’s a link to a video that explains how to make it happen.

I knew this was possible, but was afraid of messing up my iPhone. Today my clients’ son was using his iPhone for WiFi at the restaurant where we met. He sent the link to me. My life may never be the same.

The video at the link above shows how to do it with a Mac. If you are a Windows user, you can ignore his instructions at the end for how to set up the networking. If you have the latest version of iTunes, your computer will automatically recognize and connect to your iPhone as a WiFi hotspot if you have tethering turned on. You might want to restart your computer if there’s a glitch. If your computer is Bluetooth enabled and has a Bluetooth adapter, you can even tether that way.

– If you’re on AT&T, you should have the unlimited data plan. If you don’t have an unlimited data plan, you might not want to do this. The data usage could get mighty costly.

Could this be a preview of heaven?

Here’s a link to a much less boring demonstration. I just couldn’t embed it into my blog… http://bit.ly/oa0tv

Guy Day 2009

Yesterday we took some guys on Guy Day. (Girls also had a day going on at the same time.) We had a day full of fun guy activities. This was a great connect-level event. Many of the guys did not know each other before the day began. By the end of the day that had changed. There are an amazing amount of memories from the event which included: Volleyball, In & Out Burger, Ultimate Frisbee, Laser Tag (my user name was Sparkle Bunny), BJ’s Pizza and then a minor league baseball game where we made up about 1/2 the crowd, but brought all of the fun.

Here’s a video I shot on my phone of a Guy Day competition which took place at the fountain in front of BJ’s Pizza. The winner got a personal-size Pazookie (large cookie covered in ice cream).

Lesson Helpers: World’s Strictest Parents

Today I caught an episode of MtV’s World’s Strictest Parents. The one I caught was pretty cool, but I can’t judge a series by one episode. Take this with a grain of salt, but I see a lot of potential for using clips of this show for teaching.

The premise of the show is to take 2 troubled teenagers who are strangers and put them in a house with strict parents who will whip them into shape in a week.

What I liked about the show:
– It showed how messed up students can be when they’re doing their own thing in an undisciplined lifestyle
– It addressed that people are heading down the wrong road
– The storyline of the show is how 2 teenagers’ eyes are opened to how much better life can be on a different path
– At the end of the show, the parents show up & the kids make commitments to live differently

What I don’t like about the show:
– The teenagers are only in the new disciplined setting for a week – not long enough for true character change
– Christianity was brought into the show, but in a kind of dorky, watered down and stereotypical way

How I will likely use clips:
– I will likely show the first part of this show to illustrate a life out of control as a springboard for discussion
– If I find an episode that doesn’t make Christianity look dumb, I might show an entire episode followed by a discussion about God’s way
– I could even use the commercial breaks as a natural stopping point to discuss each segment of the show and what we can learn and apply to our lives based on what happens

Click here to watch some clips of the show on YouTube

Life Lessons: God Never Changes

A friend of mine, Charles, works for a food distributor. One of his best and oldest clients canceled its coffee order. The complaint was that the coffee had changed. It didn’t have the same flavor it had over the years. Customers were complaining about the flavor.

Knowing nothing had changed with the coffee, Charles paid a visit to the client armed with a container of his coffee. They made a pot and served it. Floating atop the coffee was a film and some suds that shouldn’t have been there.

Charles asked if they had recently changed the detergent they use for their dishwasher. The answer was yes. A quick read of the directions for the detergent revealed they had been using too much of it. The detergent wasn’t fully rinsing off the dishes, causing the film and suds. The problem wasn’t caused by the coffee, but by the restaurant making a change.

Application for teaching:

– God never changes. When things go wrong in our lives, we can be sure that God did not mess up or change.
— We need to evaluate how we’ve changed or strayed. Maybe we haven’t been faithful to his guidebook, the Bible
— He could be moving us in a new direction for our benefit or the benefit of others

– We can be sure that when we stray away from God’s plan for our lives, we won’t get good results. When we get back in line with God’s design, life has a way of working out
– We can also be sure that when we are living God’s way and life isn’t what we’re expecting, God’s got something better in store than we had imagined

The Perfect Cheer

Our high school ministry hosted a comedy night recently. I shot this video of one of the skits using my phone. Good stuff. Super fun night.

High School Ministry Sweet Hand Slap Video

Two of our high school staffers got into a sweet hand slap fight tonight. Their pain, our gain. Enjoy!

Currently Interviewing for Youth Ministry Opportunities

I have begun a search for a youth ministry staff opportunity. While I’ve loved my 10 years at Saddleback Church on staff and as a volunteer, I’m hoping for a position where I can once again serve on the staff of a youth ministry. My preference is to work with high school students or as the lead youth worker overseeing both the high school and junior high ministries in a full-time capacity.

Here are some “wish list” criteria of where I’d like to serve:
1. I’d love to serve on a multiple-staff youth ministry
2. I would consider a satellite location of a larger church
3. I’d be happy either being the lead youth worker or working under a youth pastor
4. The church would be open to the Purpose Driven model of ministry
5. I would consider churches without a multiple youth staff if there were volunteers willing to enthusiastically serve in the ministry

Here’s a link to my resume
Resume – Microsoft Word format
Resume – Adobe PDF format