13 Statements and Questions to Drive Your Youth Pastor into Early Retirement....

...or perhaps more aptly titled, "13 Statements and Questions to Drive Your Youth Pastor into Quitting and Taking a Job at Starbucks."

The title was shamelessly lifted from a post on "13 Statements and Questions to Drive Your Pastor into Early Retirement," and I figured a companion post on youth pastors ought not to be far behind:

1. "Why have all those unchurched kids been hanging around our church?"

2. "The budget's just too tight this year...but we're working on getting you on board full-time next year!"

3. "Why don't we ever do a [insert name of popular program or event] like [insert the name of a larger church with a larger youth ministry down the street]?"

Too Good Not to Share: Reverend Fun

If you've never checked out Reverend Fun by Dennis Hengeveld, I recommend you head on over and read a few of the cartoons, especially the "Best Of" page. Sometimes Dennis really nails it, as he does with today's offering:

The Seven Sins of Game Leading

A great video on how not to lead games from The Source For Youth Ministry:



Thanks for the video, Jonathan and team! By the way, if you've never checked out their website, it's well worth your time to do so.

How to Win at Rock-Paper-Scissors

This is a great instruction sheet from www.flowingdata.com on how to win at rock-paper-scissors every time. We do a lot of variations on this game for icebreakers with students, so I just might show this the next time we play it:

The Sacred Sandwich: Emergent Candy

Hee hee! From the Sacred Sandwich (make sure you head over and check out the comments in the original post):

26 ways in which doing IT Support is better than being a pastor

I ran across this post, and it's hilarious. Here are a few of my favorites:

1. People come to you for help — instead of assuming that, if you really knew your job, you would intuitively know they needed help, and come to them without being asked.

7. When you identify viruses, spyware, unwanted popups, and crashes as "bad," and target them for elimination, the folks you help don't accuse you of being harsh and judgmental.

18. When you discover a new, better, more effective way to accomplish the goals you share with the folks you help, they're happy — not angry at you because it's different from "the way we've always done it."

Check out the whole list from the Pyromaniacs blog.

David Crowder in Costco?

No, it was just my friend, Chad. This was recorded on my iPhone at the local Costco. What began as a quick trip to Costo to order a cake (and try some great samples) ended with a time of worship. Featured is our Chad Holladay our Student Pastor for grades 6-8.

Blog: The Sacred Sandwich

I recently discovered the blog, "The Sacred Sandwich: Illustrated Journal for Small Town Christians in the Big Bad World" (sacredsandwich.com) and I look forward to perusing it regularly. Here's a bit of a "taste":

The blog's also got some pretty insightful stuff, too. Enjoy!

Zits Cartoon: Facebook

As I've said before, I love Zits. The cartoon, that is. Here's another pretty good one on Facebook and parenting:

Telegraph (UK): Why Apple is Catholic and PCs are Protestant

Hee hee! Check out the article:

I wrote an article for the Daily Telegraph this week in which I talked about a crucial aspect of Apple’s appeal: the way good old Steve Jobs relieves us of the burden of installation and other tedious tasks by making his designers and engineers do the intermediary work for us. No Protestant work ethic for straight-out-of-the-box iPad users! We leave that to PC customers, who peruse their tiny-print instruction manuals as intently as Calvinists poring over their well-thumbed Bibles.

The Onion: God Hinting At Retirement

Very funny. Check out the whole article when you get a chance:

THE HEAVENS—At a press conference Tuesday, God Almighty, our Lord and Heavenly Father, gave his strongest indication yet that he might soon step down from his post as the supreme ruler of all things.

Following a routine address during which God confirmed the recent extinction of several thousand species, the Divine Creator fielded questions regarding rumors of his possible retirement.

"I've been at this a long time," said God, ∞, the all-knowing, all-powerful being who has presided over the cosmos since forming it from sheer nothingness nearly 14 billion years ago. "And the truth is, this was never something I planned on doing forever. Lately, in fact, I've begun to wonder if I should move on sooner rather than later."

And, as often happens with satire, there is some profound truth mixed in:

"This place pretty much runs itself by now," the Lord said. "And besides, how many people still notice I'm around? To be frank, I'm not even sure I'm much more than a beloved figurehead at this point."

Out of the mouths of potent bulbous vegetables...

Reverendfun.com

Reverend Fun continues to be one of my daily visits. Enjoy this one:

Bad Vestments Blog

I needed a laugh. This blog provided it. I admit, it made me nostalgic of my days in the Episcopal Church. I also admit that there were times I would see a clergy come into view during a processional and think to myself, "Really?"

One of my favorites from the Bad Vestments Blog:

Hat Tip: youthblog.org

Comic of the Day

From Zits:

Great Zits Cartoon

I love Zits. The cartoon, that is. This is a pretty good one:

Youth Ministry Planning

As I continue to plan with our leadership team the spring schedule, this comic is good for a laugh and timely reminder:



Hat Tip: Tim Schmoyer

Biblical Illiteracy

From Here:

The situation may have comic possibilities for Leno, but for preachers working to craft a biblically based sermon, the situation is confounding. If parishioners can't follow references to significant people, places or things in the Bible, they may miss or misunderstand the whole message. Tony Campolo, founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education and author most recently of Red Letter Christians: A Citizens Guide to Faith and Politics, recalls referring in class to the book of Proverbs and hearing a student ask, "Do we have that in our library?" Wallace Adams-Riley, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia, says biblical illiteracy is such a big problem that a lot of ministers "don't even know where to start."

Much of my philosophy of ministry is based on Ephesians 4:11-13, and so in many ways I view being a coach as part of my role as a youth pastor. In a lot of ways, studying the Bible is like practice. It has fantastic merits in its own right and can often be really enjoyable. Some of my favorite memories in college soccer were having a great time working hard at practice (maybe the fact that my playing time was also very minimal contributes to this). However, practice requires discipline and sacrifice. How does a good coach get players to practice? By creating a culture where good practice is valued. Yes, many tools help, but in the long run, punishments (running extra sprints), rewards (also known as bribery), or other enforcers will fizzle out.

So, how do I create a culture of practice and discipline in youth ministry? I'm honestly not sure. I suppose by highly valuing it myself--one of my favorite coaches I've ever had ran every run and sprint with us. And by continually teaching students to value it. If I say I want students to learn how to be learners--especially of Scripture--but I don't build our ministry to help them be successful in that endeavor, then anything I say up from up front about it is moot.