the other night we had our live nativity at church. it was great fun, partly cause i was not in charge, seeing people get dressed and all ages of the church getting together. then seeing people slow down or honk as they drove by to take a look or pull into the parking lot to pet obama and mccain llama's. it was crazy. it reminded me of years ago when i attended the children's service back at my home church where it was what i felt was a bethlehem experience. so i naturally loved this recent asbo jesus, not so peaceful night.
youth marketing trends : ministry still applies
the part that caught my eye first was #4, marketing is no longer something that you do ‘to’ youth but ‘with’ youth. sounds like relationships, which should be at the heart of ministry.
last minute toy store : getting filmed by the news
i am actually amazed this photo turned out so well. took with my cell phone which is not the best of cameras, while standing on the front steps doing crowd control.
this is one of my senior hs and college guys getting filmed by fox news helping to take items to peoples cars who were helped by the last minute toy store. i'll be heading back there again today. i'm just running a little late.
i don't know if it made it onto the news or not. this was the article they have online about the last minute toy store.
sex week challenge revist : commentary for umportal
a few weeks back i made a simple commentary about ed young's sex week challenge to his congregation. amy forbus asked if i would expand on my feelings for a commentary for the umportal. i'm never short on something to say so i gave it a go. it will go into print for the reporter next month, but is online now as 'sex challenge misses the mark.'
….
Having followed Mr. Young closely and watched his sermons online, I know he has some good reasons why sex is an important part of a marriage relationship. But his pandering with the news media outlets and their need for one-line quotations only simplified an otherwise complicated issue.
Let me suggest we should not be talking about sex as a “foundation” for our marriages. Before we should be having sex, we should figure out how we are friends with our spouses and others. If we are to “reclaim sex” as
God’s great gift from the seduction of culture we have to start at the deep core, not the symptom. The deep core we need to address is how we are friends in love, not lovers in bed.
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go read more of why sex challenge misses the mark
wrent band : evening with
this evening we welcomed the music and message of wrent. wrent is a group of made up of jennafer & brady who are using their gifts of songwriting & performing to help change the world and bring to light the ills of poverty in the us & world. wrent came to us via one of our youth. they were the worship band for camp kanakuk which one of our families loves. our youth brought up the possibility and i was happy to play host. didn't know much, anything, about the band at the time, but i trust my kids. i liked their sound that i heard over the net. i became more a fan tonight after knowing really what they were about and deeply listening to some of their songs.
looking for a group for your next retreat or event? i'd recommend. looking for a special group with a message for youth to be change for God's kingdom? i would highly recommend.
as is customary, we take a lot of photos.