OhhhBama

The truth is that these bumper stickers stay the same and only the faces change every four years. Don't be a sucker :p

Soaped Up

This TV at the doctors office was strategically placed by an open door to the receptionists desk. I had a feeling that these Soaps were not specifically for my watching enjoyment.

Coffee Woes

Do yourself a favor and get a power bagel from Einstien with peanut butter but save yourself the trouble and go get coffee from somewhere else unless you like swill.

Are you a PC or a MAC?

Calnect 4

Caloway got bored while playing me in a game of connect 4 so he walked away and told me I could play "one player".

The Real Thing

I might have had my head in the dirt but this is the first time I had seen a coke machine where you could pay with a credit card.

Oh Target.. *sigh*

You would think that a brand new Target store would have 'non-touch' flushing mechanisms.

Youth Ministry 3.0

I just got finished with this book by the president of youth specialties - Mark Oestreicher. I was taken back at his honest report about students and church. According to Mark 8 of 10 students in the church after graduation never return.. never. It isn't possible to sum it all up because it was one of those books that doesn't start repeating itself after the first chapter. If you are in youth work I highly recommend you stop what you're doing and go get a copy of this book. It is depressing and highly hopeful all at the same time.

Mark says that Adolescence used to be from 14.5-16 years of age giving our grandparents back in the holler a whopping 15-18 months to prepare for full on contributing adulthood. Today adolescence starts as early as 10.5 and can go into the mid to late 20's. That is a 15-18 year prep before a "kid" feels as if she is really contributing to society.

Youth Ministry 3.0 is as you guessed it opposed to YM 1.0 and 2.0. Not that these "paradigms" of youth ministry weren't appropriate for their times but have become outdated and widely practiced amid dramatic drops in effectiveness.


1.0 driven by a need for Identity (who am I?), formed after turn of the century (1900's), main model - proclamation and correction.

2.0 driven by a need for Autonomy (What will I contribute?), formed around 1960's-new millennium, main model - discipleship and positive peer groups

3.0 driven by Affinity (to what and whom do I belong?), formed after new millennium, main model - community and mission.

The need for identity and autonomy are still very present but are formed through students having their answers to affinity answered. This is about the 10th time I have heard that people today are in need of two conversions instead of one. First a conversion to belonging, second a conversion ot believing.

The only problem is that if we institute this new paradigm as a program we will be left very disappointed because it will be viewed as "forced community". This new outlook on relationships will in one part be very positive for the church because it is forcing us out back into our community to establish REAL relationships with those disconnected from real Christian Community.

WHO-DEY REVOLUTION

A buddy of mine got this bumper sticker for me. Notice that it found a home on the dart board.. thanks Jason! Call me stupid but I will be a Bengal til I die. I know we haven't won a playoff game in 17 years, Mike Brown won't hire a GM, and Marvin Lewis has yet to build that Raven-esque defence but that does not matter to me. I love my Bengals - WHO-DEY!

Don't You Just Love Spring?

This lovely lump found in the corner of our Walmart parking lot.

Death by Pocket Lint

The last few days I've had some ups and downs with my athsma. I was gettting into my car and needed a puff so I grabbed my inhaler out of my sweatshirt pocket - took the cap off and took in a deep breath only to have my air cut short by a piece of pocket lint. I have no idea how it got in there but needless to say it litterally took my breath away.

Cheap Gas

..... this one's still brewing.  I get back with it.

Smell You Later

This weekend we took the students to Columbus Ohio where we joined about 6,500 other students for Dare 2 Share; a conference that trains and equips teenagers how to share their faith.  I have been going now for ten years and see it as one of the most important training sessions we attend.  While in the hotel I found myself riding the elevator quite a bit just checking on everyone.  The elevator was a little old for my likings so I tried the stairwell after about 14 trips.  I was thrown back a few years to the stairwells at Baptist Bible College.  I think nostalgia is best represented by smell.. especially that of a musty dorm room stairwell.