Archives for January 2010

Super Youth Pastor v. the Planner

When last we saw our hero he was on the edge of insanity with a strange man named the planner threatening a painful series of tests that may well cost his sanity. The light blinded him. SYP blinked at its brilliance. "None of that now, I must see into your eyes and I cannot do that when you continue to close them. I do not wish to use force, but you must cooperate." SYP remembered now, the voice was the shadow, the Planner. He was looking into his eyes because they are the gateway to the soul, or some such thing. The light was back, but this time he stared right into it. He tried to … [Read more...]

Warm Hands, Warm Heart (Guest Post)

Earlier this week I received an email from Andrew Powers. I have to admit I think I might have been insulted just a bit, but only my pride. It reads in part Nick, I don't know if you've ever considered having a guest poster for your blog, but I have a request -- would you be willing to have me as a guest poster? Please? I would post this on my own blog, but I reserve my blog for more serious thoughts that I have about living for Christ, and hesitate to post satire. Apparently my blog is much better suited to ... less serious thoughts? All kidding aside, once I decided I wasn't insulted … [Read more...]

Feeling Generous?

I haven't done a geek post in a while and there is a law in which I will lose my geek card if I don't write about the latest Apple product. Now I am not an apple fanboi, but they do make some great products. More than that they have an incredible PR department. We want to love the look and style because they convince us we want to. Look back at the first iPod or iMac. By today's standards it looks clunky, but when it came out we believed it looked like a curvy sexy future. Each iteration of their product convinces us we need that new sleek look. Still, the product behind the design is … [Read more...]

Operation Haiti

I briefly mentioned Operation Haiti last week along with a tale of extreme vomiting. If you missed out we are donating half of the money spent in the snack shop over the next month and a half. We are also taking up donations for the Haiti relief effort. I have two really cool updates to this plan. Last Wednesday I asked a student to design a poster. I got an offer from one of the newer teens and Saturday she brought in the sketch. It looks great. More than that she told me something else she wants to do. She makes bracelets and is planning on making them with a cross and letter beads "O," … [Read more...]

Relativity in Practice

If you are a geek you are likely to get the title, if not let me say that among many things, Einstein's General Theory of Relativity predicts a shift in perceived time in relativistic environments. That probably didn't help you but I'm not really here to teach you science. Saturday morning we had out Angel Food distribution. We had double the orders as compared to last month and we were busy. I didn't get much time to pay attention to anything that was going on. I ran all over the whole morning fixing one thing or another. We didn't really have a huge number of problems, but trying to keep … [Read more...]

10 easy steps to identify a false prophecy

If you attend a church that is even slightly charismatic you are likely to hear someone say something to the effect of "thus sayeth the Lord." Of course if God is talking then we better listen, but how can we tell if the message is from God? This can be a tricky proposal because if we aren't particularly close to God then we won't have that "I can feel God talking" sensation, and let's face it, if God is telling us something there is a good chance that it involves us being a bit too distant. Now I can't guarantee a message is from God, but I can usually identify the ones that are not from God. … [Read more...]

Epic hurl

Warning, this might make you a bit queasy ... or worse. Youth last night went well enough. We had 50 students but only 43 signed in. I'm redoing the sign in sheet now that we are doing small group break outs. I am asking my small group leaders to get anyone who hasn't signed in to sign in. The students seem to enjoy the small groups, but they have been wound up pretty bad. I don't know why it happens but after Christmas break and summer break. Anyways, I took a couple students home and when I dropped the last one off I started feeling ill. By the time I got home it was getting pretty … [Read more...]

I love discipline (not what you think)

Children can break your heart, and sometimes the worst part is educating them. I strongly believe in discipline over punishment. We do use punishments as part of discipline, but not in place of it. I might spank one of my kids or give them a time out, but before I talk to them. I try to make sure they understand why the punishment is happening. I also talk afterward so they will remember. Sometimes discipline takes different forms. My kids have picked up some very frustrating habits from school. They learned to offer their friendship for favors, "if you do this I'll be your friend." They … [Read more...]

My not too twisted giveaway

It seems most people are interested in books for a give away, but I can't do a plain Jane, boring book giveaway. Instead I am giving away a book with a nice little twist. The book is Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change by Paul David Trip. It was recommended to me as a giveaway book earlier this week. I warred a bit on giving away a book I currently had or a handful of books that are very high on my "must buy" list but this book jumped out at me. It is well reviewed and the subject is something I've been wrestling with quite a bit. … [Read more...]

The Power of Christ for the Hopeless

So last week was a horrible day followed by a great service. This week I was exhausted all day and felt I had a mountain of work to do but it was much better than last week. The service went great tonight. I did the second part in the "Power of Christ" series that follows what Jesus did in Matthew chapters 8 and 9. Last week was about the broken and diseased and this week was about the hopeless. We did small groups for the first time tonight. That went over very well. We had 5 groups with right about 10 students per group. I am planning a series on Sex and Relationships next month and the … [Read more...]

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Archives for January 2010

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