Archive for Culture
Letter From a Former Modesty Challenged Teen
Modesty, just say the word and teenage girls look at you like you are ridiculous. Ask a girl why she wants to get her belly button pierced, wear a bikini, or why she has so many low cut shirts and high cut shorts and you are likely to hear, “they are cute,” “it’s all stores [...]
Responding to Evil & School Shootings
Today at Deer Creek middle school here in Littleton, CO another school shooting took place. We have several students in our ministry who attend that school including the daughter of our Junior High director. What should we do now? How do we deal with this? The truth is, I don’t really know. There is a [...]
Helping Students Find Happiness
What is happiness? Before you read any further take a moment and try to define happiness. Tomorrow I am going skiing at one of my favorite resorts in Colorado. I love to ski, I love the feeling of powder running over my skis, hitting my ski pants, and even occasionally smacking me in the face. When I am going down the side of a mountain on a powder day, I am happy.
Why I Told My Kids About Santa
My son is four, so we haven’t really talked about Santa much. This year our church had Santa come into his classroom on Sunday. Santa is nowhere to be seen at our house normally, so his only exposure is tv, the mall, and last Sunday morning. On the way home we had a conversation about [...]
Annual Christmas Rant
What do you think of when you hear the word Christmas? (pause) There are several things that come immediately to my mind, stress being the first. I need to make a confession before we move any further, I am somewhat of a scrooge. It is not that I am some kind of kill joy, actually [...]
Giving Thanks
Thanksgiving has come and gone for 2009. I wonder, when the turkey is gone, the family has gone home, and it is time to get back to normal (if you call putting up Christmas stuff and figuring out how to buy all those presents normal) will the thankfulness be gone?
This was a good Thanksgiving for [...]
Youth Ministry needs to Push Back
I am anticipating that this blog post may get some negative reaction. Still I think it is important. This morning I watched some commentary on the “Jon & Kate Plus 8″ television show. I have never watched the show and I am not sure what the actual circumstances are in that [...]
Understanding Your Context
A lot is made of understanding our cultural context. There are magazines like Relevant and people like Walt Mueller who help us in that area. There are web sites about how to use movies, music, Facebook and other cultural phenomenons to further God’s kingdom. To all of them I am thankful, and [...]
Learning to Use Ministry Models
My Freshman year at Oak Hills Bible College in Bemidji (otherwise known as Buuurrrmidji), MN I began my paid youth ministry career. I was hired (along with the woman who is now my wife) to do youth ministry in a small town. At the age of 17 I began a quest to change [...]
Essential Elements of the Gospel
Occasionally I try to put myself in the shoes of a non-believer who is “checking out” God and this whole “religion” thing. I wonder what goes through their mind as they drive into a parking lot full of cars at a place they at one time thought they would never [...]
