nothing earth shattering in this book - but it was a refreshing reminder of what it takes to get things done... what it takes to make dreams and passions come to fruition. Do The Work is the kind of book that can be read quickly - which is perfect - because it should be read before anyone is about to begin their next big project. Similar to books by Seth Godin, in Do the Work, Steve Pressfield writes a catchy, easy to digest, in your face manifesto for overcoming resistance in order to create something beautiful.
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this past November, i led a retreat with the youth group and decided to become intentional about taking a simplified approach. i designed a series of mini sessions with the flexibility of adding to or deleting from any given session at any given time. the retreat was dubbed the Q Retreat. the Q stood for Quest - whereas looking at life's big questions involves a 'quest' of sorts, a journey leading deep into one's very soul.
perhaps the deepest question was this "What does your soul look like?"
discussions ranged from 'How to deal with the unbalance of life' to 'Things we search for' and to 'Things that make life complicated'. At one point the students made a list of 'Life's Biggest Questions.' This, no doubt, was most meaningful and impacting.
After a lengthy discussion on the tough questions of life (why do bad things happen to good people?, how do i know God's calling on my life?, what is my purpose? etc.) i showed this video: (a video made In Association with: the Melbourne Skydive Centre)
in other words: it's all about perspective. for the person experiencing human flight the view is simple yet magnificent... the challenge overwhelming yet exhilarating. basically, God is in control. He enables mankind to do great and mighty things. and some things can make our problems look small... from His perspective, there is a plan and that path leads to full life. life's problems may seem big - but God is bigger than our questions, our problems & our doubts.
Later, after a discussion on life's big dreams and a challenge for students to 'dream big' i showed this video:
I concluded by saying "the next time you let life overwhelm you remember... someone is surfing off the coast of California."
it's all about perspective. form God's POV he's got the everything under control. he's got a plan for one and all and his creation speaks of his power and might and order.
life is complicated - but when we utilize our senses to see, hear, taste, touch and smell all that God has for us, our perspective suddenly simplifies our life - even if for a moment... it's a moment given to us by God himself.
it's all about perspective. sometimes a change of scenery is all we need...
(i was listening to iTunes on shuffle this morning and was reminded of this wonderful video)
the video to the Sigur Rós song Glósóli is a captivating piece of art. Sigur Rós is an Icelandic band that has a unique style, a unique sound with unique lyrics. some of their songs are sung by lead singer Jonsi in a sort of made up language often referred to as 'hopelandic.'
the song Glósóli means 'glowing soul'. (from Wikipedia: The name is a combination of gló- from the verb að glóa meaning "to glow, shine, glitter" and sóli meaning "sole." The second element of the name, sóli, shares its grammatical stem with the word "sól", meaning "sun". In combination "glósóli" can be understood as a childish way of saying "glowing sun" or "let the sun glow".)
the song is said to be about a boy who wakes up only to find the sun is gone... the sun has gone dark... so he searches for the sun. the video creatively shows children on some sort of mission - upon reaching their destination - they take a 'leap of faith' and jump.
i think there are many metaphors that could parallel to youth ministry here. 1. a search for hope. 2. taking a leap of faith. 3. trusting that the sun (or Son) is out there to be discovered and enjoyed. 4. the innocence of life 5. a challenge to have a child-liek faith and a glowing soul. 6. faith in something greater than ones self. 7. parallels to Jesus gathering 'fishers of men' to follow him.
how might you use this video or song?
Addendum 1: I remember stumblign across a blog post in 2007 from Tall Skinny Kiwi (an emergent blogger). Click HERE to see how they used the video with a series called THE DANGEROUS WORDS OF JESUS. Addendum 2: i found THIS youth group that tied in the video to a youth worship service - in which they took a deeper look at each of the characters in the video.
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[from a CMS church planting website in England - but i think it can apply to youth ministry. what do you think?
This is a movie produced by church from scratch – part of the growing swell of material encouraging churches to shift to an outward focused or missional imagination.
[Church from Scratch describes itself as a "dirt under the finger nails, living faith sort of church with a network of home-based groups."]
Fundraising is always a touchy subject in student ministries. I borrowed an idea from Adam Cleaveland and it truly leveraged our budget for several items this past summer. The idea is fairly simple. I printed out two sets of envelopes numbered 1 to 100. Inside the envelope was a response card along with a card that listed out the various items we were trying to fund: summer camp scholarships, vacation bible school, mission trip to AL, etc.
I used a sheet of steel roofing in a wooden frame and magnets to hold/attach the envelopes in sequence. I cast vision from the front during our announcement time that we would have the Wall up in the cafe for two weeks only. Members were encouraged to take an envelope for the amount they wanted to donate. (if you took #45, a check for $45 should be included) The beauty of compounding takes 200 envelopes, if all are returned and creates $10,100. In our effort we raised $7,000.
I was clear in the promoting that this was a "special" opportunity and should only be contributed to if it was above and beyond their normal support (we've learned that when special offerings are taken, many times members just shift their giving, which isn't helpful because it creates shortages in the general and building funds).
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http://youtu.be/w7pMDEcZ17Y
I used this video to open a message on Ecclesiastes. Using visuals along with the Scripture helped the students connect with the poetic nature of the text. It wouldn't be too hard to make your own version of this using other Scriptures. If understanding a text is what is important in your message, and it is difficult to understand or interact by hearing alone, we need to find ways to make text stand out.
LOST BLOGGER ENTRIES: a series of ministry and worship related blog posts ideas] What is your calling in life?
here are three great videos from Rick Mereki - an Austrailian film maker. these short 1 minute films were used for an Australian travel agency. but they are brilliant and creative. i used them as part of a youth worship service on 'Understanding Your Calling' (becoming the person God called you to be).
http://vimeo.com/27244727 willingness to learn new things will help you connect with God's purpose for your life.
i also tied in the Bethany Hamilton story from I Am Second. you don't have to be perfect in order for God to use you - in order to fulfill your calling, etc.
White Owl (full lyrics) - a powerful animated video by folk musician Josh Garrels
carry visions from above into the places no man dares to follow Every hollow in the dark of night Waiting for the light Take the flame tonight
... Like a messenger of peace, the beauty waits be released Upon the sacred path you keep, leading deeper into the unveiling As your sailing, across the great divide
...
possible themes:
journey; purpose; carrying the light of Christ into a dark world; learning to trust; learning to rely on God
a great video telling the story of creation and the fall of man.
painting by Scott Erickson. (anyone who has been to NYWC or DCLA will recognize Scott's work)
for more info or to purchase an HD digital download of this film - check out Prolifik Films
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Television is a drug. from Beth Fulton on Vimeo.
http://vimeo.com/10857606
This an amusing video about our addictions to technology - notably television. it's rather funny and catchy... will definately hold a teenagers attention. This could be used as part of a lesson or talk on priorities, unplugging, time management, slowing down to recognize God's presence, etc.
We are none of us alone.
Even as we exhale, it is inhaled by others.
The light that shines upon me, shines upon my neighbor as well.
In this way, everything is connected to everything else.
In this way, I am connected to my friend even as I am connected to my enemy.
In this way,there is no difference between me, and my friend.
In this way, there is no difference between me, and my enemy.
We are none of us alone.
[i created this for a youth worship service with the theme of 'baggage'. i used the video to help students understand that they are not alone. that when they walk with Christ together - they are connected... the joy and the pain is shared by all - and we can give our burdens over to Jesus. we don't have to go it alone. side note: this idea was originally inspired by a Dec. 2007 episode of the television show LIFE - which enjoyed a brief 2 year run on NBC]
[LOST BLOGGER ENTRIES: a series of ministry and worship related blog posts ideas]
it's a simple video about one of the most dangerous jobs in the world: guys who climb thousands of feet to repair radio antennas. yes, the video is a bit long (7 min. 27 sec) but i felt intrigued the whole time. the POV camera mounted on the helmet of the repair man made me feel like i was climbing thousands of feet above the ground. i nearly lost my stomach a few times.
this video might work well with a lesson on FEAR or RISK or PERSPECTIVE or STRESS. things could always be worse!
Every Second Counts!
thee videos are unique and creative. they could be used as a tie in to a discussion on making every second count or on the beauty of life. Luke 12:27 comes to mind as well: "consider the lilies..."
99 cents via the Kindle. very interesting... a series of short essays and stories about Jesus and his 'narkyness'
i really enjoyed this book. it's easy to read and very thought provoking. it's a series of 72 essays, anecdotes, stories, pictures and challenges.
I think this book would serve as a great discussion starter for any group that wanted to grow deeper in their faith walk. i would hope it might also compel readers to action. i am eager to share this book with others, so that we might discuss it and live it.
it's super simple. super easy. short segments make for easy reading and re-reading. a great book that is worth your time.
if you've read anything by Seth Godin, you'll no doubt appreciate this new book, The Icarus Deception. If you're not familiar with him, this book would be a great start. this book is about the art of creating something of value - something new that matters.
i really appreciated part five: To Make Art, Think like an Artist. To Connect, Be Human. This is a book that many would think is for anyone working or living in the business world - but there are so many usable parallels to what Seth is writing about in this book, especially in Part Five, that is practical on so many levels, no matter what you do or aspire to do. I like the connection between making good art - and thusly connecting with others as a result.
I highly recommend this book. I underlined a lot and took a lot of notes.
the way i listen to music has changed. to be honest, with the addition of Spotify (and now Spotify Premium) to my listening habits, as well as SiriusXM and even internet radio, my music consumption has changed.
i don't think i purchased as much music this year - at least not from iTunes - although i did purchase some via Amazon.com, much of what i listened to this year was via Spotify. I'd routinely use the Shazaam app on my iPhone to 'tag' certain songs that i liked and heard on SiriusXM, then i'd build playlists of said songs in Spotify or on iTunes.
On SiriusXM, most of my listening consisted of channels 33, 34, 35 & 36. (33 is New Wave; 34 is Lithium - grundge from the 90's; while 35 is XMU - indie rock and 36 is Alt nation). XMU fulfilled the majority of my music time this year (or at least since April, when we got 6 months free of SiriusXM)
So i listened to a lot of new music this year - but out of that, i'd say that i listened to more singles than albums. But none-the-less, here is a list of my favorite albums of 2012 - in no particular order.
Of Monsters and Men - My Head is an Animal Metric - Synthetica Bear in Heaven - I Love You, It's Cool Grizzly Bear - Shields Cloud Nothings - Attack on Memory The XX - Coexist Mumford & Sons - Babel The Lumineers - s/t DIIV - Oshin Tame Impala - Lonerism Loscil - Sketches from New Brighton Sola-Mi - Nexus Josh Garrels - Love & War: B-Sides & Rarities Dum Dum Girls - End of Daze Beach House - Bloom Alt-J - An Awesome Wave First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar
Did I forget to tell you that He loved lilies? It is well-known and much overlooked fact of His life--as known and overlooked as the lilies He loved. And it's a puzzling fact, too. Why lilies? Why especially lilies?
Maybe He loved lilies for being white, the way many people love roses for being red. Maybe it was because of the brilliant green of their long, slender stalks or the glorious, darker green of their leaves. Maybe He loved them because their blooms looked like trumpets and their leaves resembled swords. It could have been their simplicity, it might have been their commonness. It may have been because of all of that and it just as easily could have been because of none of that at all. But it seems like He loved them.
In the Sermon on the Mount--a sermon that predated the birth of Christianity, a sermon so profound and timeless that it would endure throughout the history of Christianity and would (in fact) shape and distinguish the character of everything Christian--Jesus pointed to lilies as examples of a splendor superior to that of Solomon's. He considered them to be better dressed than kings--lilies, that is (and a lily is one of the most naked flowers known to us). He did not apparently blush or stutter when He commanded His flowers to consider them. He gave that command with the same authority that He gave the command to "let your light so shine" and the command to "turn the other cheek." It is an astonishing command maybe because lilies are astonishing flowers or maybe given because Jesus was an astonishing man.
After all, He had a certain fondness for sparrows and did not consider their care and feeding beneath the dignity of God--though God's care and dignity (Jesus would assert) is beyond the comprehension of men. It was God's Spirits that led Him into the wilderness where He fasted and spent forty days (Mark tells us) "with the wild animals." It is easy, considering this attitude about lilies and sparrows, to imagine (and yes, this is imagination and certainly not revelation) that He spent that time romping with those creatures, not cowering from them and thus in His person, partially fulfilling Isaiah's prophecy about a "peaceable Kingdom of the Branch."
If this was the whole picture of Christ, we could easily write Him off as the nature lover with a heavy Hebrew orientation. But this is where the love of lilies throws us a curve--He loved men. It was to the end that they might be saved that He came. This man who looked at flowers and loved them, also looked at an arrogant young human and loved him. He who romped forty days with the wild animals, spent and worked three years with yet a more savage and brutal species--man. He who rejoiced in God's providence for sparrows miraculously fed a crowd of 5,000 people on one occasion and 3,000 on another. His attention and affection was not won by the attractive and the beautiful--His glance and His love made things and people attractive and beautiful. The touch of His hand would give sight to the blind and from the hem of His garment flowed healing.
And even if someone would (and why should they) doubt the accounts of His miracles, I can testify myself I had never seen a lily until He showed me one. I had never heard a sparrow until His voice unplugged my ears. I had never known love until met Him...and He is love.
So, all those things He did that we call "miracles" became believable to us because Christ, who performed them, operated out of love--and love (His love at least) has a height and depth and breadth and length that reach beyond the dimensions of mere reason. And while reasons my be found within His love, no reason would be able to contain His love. It is possible that He loved lilies because He is love and that He feeds sparrows for the same reason. It is possibly that the evidence of His divinity lies in that love--that in light of love, miracles seem sort of unremarkable. If God can love me, the rest will follow. And Jesus Christ is, for me, the evidence of God's unreasonable and unsolicited attentiveness, His unearned favor, His incomprehensible love.
“Our goal is not the victory of might, but the vindication of right — not peace at the expense of freedom, but both peace and freedom, here in this hemisphere, and, we hope, around the world.” – President John F. Kennedy in his speech to the nation on Oct. 22, 1962
50 years ago, our nation and our world were on the brink of something catastrophic. The Cuban Missile Crisis spanned 13 nervous days in October 1962, in which Nuclear War with Russia (and WWIII) seemed eminent. Then President John F. Kennedy gracefully and cautiously navigated us through it, and disaster was avoided.
Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way by Steven Pressfield
