Tonight was day 2 of man weekend. I decided to play videogames. It was a good night to play NFL Street and ESPN NFL 2K5. Those are two pretty manly Playstation 2 games.
I started by watching NFL Network Total Access. I’ve got to get all my Fantasy Football decisions made before church on Sunday, and the NFL network gives me lots of insight as to who to start this week. Then, I played a few games of NFL 2K5. I hadn’t played in such a long time that I barely won. Then, I took a break to eat dinner. I made some hot dogs, a manly dinner.
After dinner, I played some NFL Street. That’s a really fun game where you get to play in all sorts of situations. I really enjoy playing NFL Street. It’s not your typical football video game. It’s a little different, without losing the football-ness.
I finished off the night watching the movie, Kingdom of Heaven. We bought this movie a long time ago at Costco because it was on sale, but we had never watched it. It’s probably one that Janell will never want to watch, so I popped it in tonight and finished up the night with it.
From Volume 4: Number 1, Fall 2005 of The Journal of Youth Ministry
Don’t Make Jesus Cry: A Qualitative Analysis of Spiritual Autobiographies of Older Teenagers by Delia Nuesch-Olver
I read this article from the Journal of Youth Ministry a few months go, but I am just now getting to thinking and posting about it. Here are some quotes (highlighted) and my thoughts.
“Without a single exception, students told stories from their own lives that underscored the power of mentoring and accountability in their faith journey. To a person, they used language that clearly illustrated their conviction that relationships were of higher importance in the shaping of their faith than programming. In describing their relationships with their mentors, many students use language of ‘family,’ and ‘parent figure when my own parents were not available.'”
It isn’t surprising that mentoring relationships are more important in the formation of young people than programs. I always say in my classes that the programs are an excuse for the relationship.
“Consistently, these older teenagers reflected on the impact made on their lives by adults who went beyond the scheduled youth ministry activities.”
My most vivid memories, both as a member of a youth group and as a youth pastor were the times away from youth ministry activities. Spending time with people will always be more memorable than just “another Bible study lesson”. It truly shows the interest that someone has in you if they want to spend time with you outside the group time.
(more…)
You wouldn’t be able to think about how often people tell me, “So, you only have to work two days a week.” They say this because I have class only two days a week (4 hours per day). They think that a seminary prof only has to work the days that he is teaching. Well, they’re wrong.
I do a lot of other things during the week besides time spent in class. Here are some of those things:
Background reading. Guess what…I read most of what I ask my students to read…and then some. I’m always reading background stuff for my classes. I’m always reading stuff that could be textbooks for future classes. I have to. If I don’t, I’m not up on what’s going on in my discipline.
Grading papers. All those papers, quizzes, and tests that a professor assigns to his students have to get graded. In my case, they get graded by me.
Preparing tests and quizzes. These things don’t self prepare. Someone has to actually make them. That would be me.
Research for upcoming classes. Most of the curriculum for the classes that I will be teaching is in English. I teach in Spanish. My notes are in Spanish. Someone has to translate and adapt this stuff to the culture. That’s my job.
Chapel. We have chapel for an hour every week. Professors attend chapel…most of the time.
(more…)
I spent some time on PBwiki.com this morning, thinking through the possible uses of wikis for ministry. It seems like it could be a pretty useful service for youth workers.
From wikipedia:
A wiki is a type of website that allows the visitors themselves to easily add, remove and otherwise edit and change some available content, sometimes without the need for registration. This ease of interaction and operation makes a wiki an effective tool for collaborative authoring.
In case you didn’t know, youth ministry really should be a type of collaborative outing. We should be working with a team of people (including volunteers, student leaders, and parents). The setup of wikis makes it useful to collaborate with people on different things. Off the top of my head, a few examples of how you could use a wiki in youth ministry are right here:
- Trips: The details for mission trips, camps, and retreats could all be easily handled and reported with a wiki. On a wiki, you could include updated information on where you’ll be going, things to bring, who’s going, and all that other stuff you usually hand out in a parent’s information packet. This information could be available to parents as you get it, if you update the wiki as you plan your trip. Students ans parents both will know all the details easily by going to the wiki page. Also, if you have a team planning these things, all they have to do is update the wiki page when they get their part of the planning done. You’ll have all the info right away.
- Events: If you have various staff members working on an event, you can get them to collaborate through the wiki. For example, the games guy could explain the games they will be using at an event. The worship leader and pastor can collaborate on the theme together, placing the worship order right there for all to see. The snack people could decide who’s bringing what, etc.
(more…)
