Friday, Mar 14 – Thursday, Mar 20, 2014 Week #12 Synopsis Back into classes @ Wesley Seminary // Spiritual Life and Leadership Followers used the “What’s in the Bible?” curriculum (it worked really well, but didn’t allow for small group interaction time) Met w/ the local Crisis Pregnancy Resource Director regarding abstinence Had my monthly […]
I was posting some training materials over at wesleyankids.org about a month ago and came across an interview of a man named Dr. Tim Elmore. He had some phenomenal things to say regarding technology and a growing “artificial maturity” he sees among late adolescents and young adults. You can watch the interview here. I wanted […]
Ray Vander Laan is a phenomenal teacher and historian. His understanding of the world of the Bible has impacted thousands of people. I’ve been impacted by him through his “That the World May Know” videos, where he does teaching segments of Jewish history while on location with a group in Israel. I’ve learned fascinating things […]
The Divided Kingdom 1 Kings 10:26 – 12:33 Last week we saw the height of glamour, prestige, and influence in the world for the Israelites. King Solomon is leading God’s people in wisdom and people from all over the world marvel at Solomon’s reign. Israel truly is being a light to all the nations and […]
Every Sunday for the past 11 years we have walked through the stories of the Bible in a linear, chronological fashion in our children’s ministry environment we call Main Street. Back in early 2008, we decided to start recording these weekly teachings for posterity sake as well as sharing with others how we did this weekly […]
I’m feeling convicted and convinced: 1) to be discipled (a talmadin) myself and believe the Gospel by faith more completely 2) to learn, study, and teach the cultural world of the Bible (its ancient culture and the 1st century world) 3) to learn, study, and teach culturally relevant apologetics based on the questions our current […]
Friday, Mar 7 – Thursday, Mar 13, 2014 Week #11 Synopsis Weekend recovery for throat Sunday afternoon Nerf war with students and families Met w/ a Youth small group leader Wednesday early release, met with 8th grade guys and had a Nerf war with them Thursday was a Leadership summit with all of our leaders […]
I got asked to contribute a chapter to a soon-to-be-published book called Pulse: Pumping Life into Your Kids Ministry. Here is an excerpt from the chapter I wrote: Encountering the Biblical Narrative Engaging children in the chronological, linear, and unfolding biblical narrative. “The biblical tale, through the most rigorous economy of means, leads us again […]
About two weeks ago, our area was “blessed” with over a foot of snow overnight (actually more like 16″). This quick accumulation of snow caused a section of our town of Hayward to go black… no electricity. And this blackout lasted from 9pm on Thursday night till around 5pm the next day. Not only did […]
Friday, Feb 28 – Thursday, Mar 6, 2014 Week #10 Synopsis Returned from Disney Trip Throat felt horrible, so I setup a couple of doctor’s appointments Made it through Followers and Youth that week Met with the ENT on Thursday and he forecasted I would need my tonsils taken out Started to feel better source YouTube
Friday, Feb 21 – Thursday, Feb 27, 2014 Week #9 Synopsis Vacation in Florida @ Disney World source YouTube
From the UK, a former editor for Britian’s version of Maxim magazine, called “Loaded” discusses his conclusion that pornography is “the most pernicious threat facing children today.” I asked the teenagers: ‘On a scale of one to ten, how likely would you say it is that boys and girls your age are watching porn online?’ The […]
Friday, Feb 14 – Thursday, Feb 20, 2014 Week #8 Synopsis Technology conversations Sledding Followers Purity 2.0 and Barnebirkie source YouTube
16 billion texts? 3.2 hours on social networks? Send 175 million tweets? Wow. The world has changed. It wasn’t that long ago that smartphones were mostly in the hands of business professionals with Bluetooth earpieces walking through an airport. Blackberry, Palm, and Windows Mobile OS ruled these devices. Now, it seems, almost every cellular device […]
Friday, Feb 7 – Thursday, Feb 13, 2014 Week #7 Synopsis Sermon Retreat in the WI Dells Youth group story in Mark’s Gospel Jump Rope for Heart and playground city vision source YouTube
Friday, Jan 31 – Thursday, Feb 6, 2014 Week #6 Synopsis High school retreat Story of Elijah in Main Street Followers and insults sticking and sermon preparation for the 5th installment of the series: Embracing the Story:Jesus source YouTube
Friday, Jan 24 – Thursday, Jan 30, 2014 Week #5 Synopsis Nerf war a divided kingdom in Main Street Polar Vortex strikes again (no school days) an Eagle Brook visit and a snowstorm and a couple of hospital visits source YouTube
Friday, Jan 17 – Thursday, Jan 23, 2014 Week #4 Synopsis Mark Jalovick’s visit Solomon Builds the Temple in Main Street Followers reconvenes and the Rock Wall becomes a reality source YouTube
I didn’t have time on Thursday to video my weekly reflection, so I took a few minutes on Friday to get it done. I happened to be in my car on the way to a coffee shop to work on some Wesleyan Kids content for the new year. I didn’t want to talk into my […]
I want to take more time in this new year (2014) for reflection. I know reflection is good and I do it often informally in my own head as well as talking out loud with others, but I wanted to try a different, more formalized and regular medium. So I’m going to try, at the […]