Here are the links to the articles/blog posts I’ve written in October:
@cmbuzz.com Wrestling… Discipline… Responsibility???
@wesleyankids.org “FUN Is Not A Four Letter Word”
Technology Usage in Church (infographic)
I like technology, and it’s insanely connected with almost everything we do in our lives in 2011. “Church” is something many of us do in our lives, so it is safe to posit that technology will be a part of it somehow. What the “somehow” looks like is hopefully thought through wisely, but definitely not because it is something to be feared.
Determining if whatever technology thing desired is a want or need is important. Too often, we want all things technology because it is new, cool, and will solve all of our problems! We have to make decisions wisely… just like my wife and I do when we want or need something technological.
Jesus Feeds 5,000 Men (+ women & children)
Jesus feeding the 5,000 is a well-known story. It’s difficult to mess up, and, at the same time, introduce anything really new.
With this in mind I used this opportunity to give the Main Street students some perspective on where we were in the New Testament; particularly the books we are pulling the stories of Jesus from: the Gospels. I had them all grab Bibles (either their own, or the ones we have available in the room) and turn to the location of the story, as well as the beginning of the New Testament. I talked about how the life of Jesus is recorded from 4 different angles and perspectives: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
Then we read the story of Jesus’ feeding the multitude miracle and walked through the text expositionally. It was really worthwhile.
Jesus Feeds 5,000 People [y3_w09]
Story Lesson (302.49kb, pdf)
Audio File (8.92mb, mp3)
Video Link (10.30.11 @ vimeo.com)
Video Link (10.26.08 @ vimeo.com)
Copper Falls Hiking Adventure | Fall 2011
On Sunday, October 16, we took the Followers students and most of their families on a bus ride to Copper Falls State Park in Mellen, WI. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day and the students had a blast hiking and exploring.
Their favorite thing seemed to be dumping HUGE rocks off the bridge!
source YouTube
Bullseye // Game
Bullseye
We played this game @ msy on Wednesday, October 26 with a
- single-shot nerf gun
- 5 suction-cup darts
- a whiteboard marked up with targeted prized areas
Fun times!
source YouTube
graphic Bullseye-Game.jpg [107kb, JPG]
Social Media Explained
I like how this graphic pegs the various “perspectives” and uses of each particular social media platform.
The middle school pastor in me likes that it’s a little “potty” humor-ish!
HT ChurchMag
Trunk or Treat | 2011
Another successful year of “Trunk or Treating” @ Hayward Wesleyan! We topped last year’s numbers by about 30 candy-goers. Our “official” count was somewhere around 1050 students (not counting their parents in tow!).
We repeated the same location and traffic flow as last year. In order to contain the large line of people, we wound them through our long hallway and out the back entrance to the church into the back parking lot where all the cars and trunks were located.
There seemed to be a more excited and anticipatory buzz among the trunk volunteers this year. I don’t know why, nor do I have anything specific to pin my sense on… it just made things really enjoyable!
Last year we ran out of candy. This year we did not. I attribute our preparedness to our early candy donation push. For whatever reason, we didn’t ask for candy donations until really late last year. Thus our stash that supplements our trunk volunteers was not able to keep up with demand! This year, we got the candy donation announcements in really early (like the first Sunday in October), which allowed for 5 weeks worth of candy donations. We ended up with a half-bin of candy leftover, which is just amazing considering how much candy we went through that evening! And I didn’t have to scurry over to Walmart and drop hundreds of $$ on candy!
In addition to the early candy donation push, we had a great return of trunk volunteers from last year. Several families have been involved since we began back in 2006, but many new families have since joined this annual tradition. We had a couple of new trunk participants and they were just plain shocked how much candy they went through and how unprepared they were!
Really, really good times!
Here’s a link to the Trunk or Treat 2011 Promo video.
source YouTube
So Many Friends That I Broke Facebook (video)
YouTube video description:
At 12Stone Church we’re in the middle of the Culture Shapers Series. We’re talking about how culture shapes us and how we shape it. As we’re approaching the Technology week of Culture Shapers we couldn’t help but have a little fun with the most popular social networking site in the world, Facebook.
HT More Than Dodgeball
source YouTube
Jesus Does Some Miracles #2
This past weekend in Main Street, we recounted more miracles of Jesus. He healed:
- Jairus’ daughter
- a bleeding woman
- 10 lepers
- one leper
I kind of set the students up this past Sunday. It was awesome! Every week we rotate either singing or playing a game. This week was the game rotation. So we played an activity called: The Dot Game. The kids were playing against me and I had a different student come up to the stage each time it was the “kids” turn to draw a line between the dots. About 15 students were able to draw lines and each of them received a piece of candy regardless of what happened (win or lose). I lingered by each student after I gave them candy giving them a chance to say “thank you” (but they didn’t know what I was doing).
It was a thing of beauty… the students had no idea they were being taught a lesson while we were playing this game. Later, when we reached the story of the 10 lepers who asked to be healed by Jesus, who in turn told them to show themselves to the priests, and along the way were cleansed, I shared with them that the story says that the 10 lepers were so happy and took off home, while one of the lepers returned to Jesus to say “thank you.” I asked the students if it was difficult to remember to say thank you. Then I took them back to the “Dot Game” and revealed to them that I gave them each an opportunity to say thank you, but no one did. The room was eerily quiet and the point hit home.
I encouraged the students that God’s people look like (and really are) thankful kind of people… and they should be too! Cool, eh?
Jesus Heals More [y3_w08]
Story Lesson (254.46kb, pdf)
Audio File (12.39mb, mp3)
Video Link (10.23.11 @ vimeo.com)
Video Link (10.19.08 @ vimeo.com)
A Magazine Is an iPad That Does Not Work (video)
YouTube video description:
Technology codes our minds, changes our OS. Apple products have done this extensively. The video shows how magazines are now useless and impossible to understand, for digital natives. It shows real life clip of a 1-year old, growing among touch screens and print. And how the latter becomes irrelevant. Medium is message. Humble tribute to Steve Jobs, by the most important person : a baby.
Don’t Mess w/ Mom @ Dinnertime!
No… this never happens… does it?!
A New Ministry Volunteer Training Welcome Video
What a great idea!
HT [kidinspiration]
source Vimeo