Announcing “Shore Youth Ministry.com”

Big news!   I have obtained the domain shoreyouthministry.com.  This blog will now be found over there.  All posts have been moved to that site, so this will be the last one here.

For the 2 people (besides my girlfriend) that read this site, be sure to update your bookmarks.  For those using RSS, here is the new RSS feed:  http://shoreyouthministry.com/feed

Thanks for following me; let’s continue the conversation at ShoreYouthMinistry.com

PlugRug: A Ministry Digg

Tim over at Life in Student Ministry has developed a great new website called PlugRug. Simply put, PlugRug is a Christian ministry version of Digg. Blog posts from youth pastors and ministry workers can be “plugged” to this website. Then users can either “plug” the post more or sweep it under the rug. Overall, this website will be a great collection of ministry ideas and discussion. Tim hopes (as do I) that PlugRug will become a goldmine of youth ministry information. Great stuff!

Saving Websites for Reference

As I explained earlier (see Youth Ministry Hunter/Gatherer), I have been gathering resources, illustrations and ideas for my virtual reference filing cabinet. One problem I have run into is how to save all those great ideas from websites. There are some great youth ministry websites that are chock full of illustrations, ideas, and thoughts. Until now, I have been Copy and Pasting the text into a Word file, then saving the file in my filing cabinet. However, this has been time consuming, which often means I just read the post and never file it. That is until now.

The other day I discovered htm2pdf, a free web-based service that converts a HTML file (website) into a PDF file. Simply paste the URL of a website into the entry bar, click Convert, and the website is converted! You can then open the PDF file right in your browser and save it where you would like. The great part is that the whole website is located in the PDF, not just the text. So say you are inspired by a great post here on A Shore Thing (if I ever write a great post). When you convert the page into PDF, the whole page is seen, so all the pictures, links, and comments are saved as well.

Overall, a great web service that has already helped me save some great ideas from the Web.

Lazy Weekend

I am just wrapping up a pretty sweet weekend. On Thursday, we had the Kutless concert at the Tabernacle. My girlfriend and her sister came down for the concert and stayed for the rest of the weekend. We went to the zoo, watched Bee Movie (great movie filled with Seinfeld’s humor), worked on a jigsaw puzzle, and saw Horton Hears a Who (also a great movie). Overall a pretty relaxing and enjoyable weekend.

Youth Min posts will resume tomorrow morning.

Kutless Concert: Wrapup

As mentioned earlier, we hosted a Kutless Acoustic concert on Thursday night at the Tabernacle.  It turned out to be a great event.  Over 350 people came for the concert, including 60 people that bought tickets at the door!  These were great numbers for a off-season event in OC.  I also met some great youth workers in the area.  Overall, a great event.  Next up on the Tabernacle schedule: summer!

Kutless Concert Tomorrow

Most of my focus at work has recently been on tomorrow’s concert at the Tabernacle: Kutless is performing an acoustic concert. Yes, the rock band Kutless will be at the Ocean City Tabernacle on Thursday, March 13 at 7:00 p.m. They will be performing all their hits, along with many tracks from their Strong Tower worship cd. Esterlyn and Chris Taylor will be opening for Kutless. Tickets can be purchased from our website or at the door.

Since this is the off season for Ocean City, it has been rather hard to generate interest in this event. Most of the local youth groups heard about the event, but surprisingly few groups are bringing their students. Recently, I have been learning how difficult it is to host and promote youth events during the off season. Are there any “off seasons” in your geographical location, and how do you deal with them in ministry?

Book Review: Speaking to Teenagers

I just finished Speaking to Teenagers over the weekend. Written by Doug Fields and Duffy Robbins, this book will soon become a youth ministry standard text. Although I don’t foresee this book replacing Creative Bible Teaching as the textbook for giving a Bible lesson, Speaking to Teenagers will become a companion book in many colleges and seminaries.

In this book, Fields and Robbins take the reader through every step of giving a message. And by “every step” I do mean every little detail; the authors make sure they cover all aspects of sermon preparation and delivery. The first third of the book seems a bit weighty, only because it dwells on the philosophy and basis for communicating with students. The last two thirds of the book are the real enjoyable chapters, where the authors provide you with concrete steps to improve your preparation and presentation of a message. Throughout the book, Doug and Duffy weave in personal examples from their decades of experience in youth ministry.

Overall, a great read filled with help and advice on improving your communication. Especially helpful to new and veteran youth workers alike.

Speaking to Teenagers at Simply Youth Ministry

“Fireproof” Out this Fall

Just saw that Sherwood Pictures (the film studio run by Sherwood Baptist Church in GA) is coming out with another movie: Fireproof. Starring Kirk Cameron, Fireproof will be coming to a theater near you this fall. View the trailer to the movie here: Fireproof Trailer.

I really hope this movie receives as much acclaim and attention as Facing the Giants did last year. What a great movie that was!

Bible Switch “Work of Satan”

Found this article the other day describing a hacker’s attack on Bible Gateway.com. For 3 days in July, this hacker adjusted the settings of Bible Gateway’s Bible search to provide different results. From the article:

“… anyone at BibleGateway.com who looked up passages in the King James Version of the Bible was actually presented with passages from the Amplified Bible (and vice versa).”

Now you would think that anyone who knew anything about either the KJV or the Amplified Bible would recognize the difference between the two. The KJV is an older translation written in a “higher English” manner, meaning it sounds old and dignified. The Amplified Bible is a more modern reading that provides a clearer reading in English by using extra words. However, some people blindly relied on the text found on that website, to some disastrous ends.

A presenter at the American Fundamental Baptist Association National Conference used text he assumed was KJV, but was really the Amplified Bible. The article recorded the crowd’s reaction:

More than 11,000 of the 13,000 appalled attendees walked out of the stadium while over 100 attending pastors’ wives fainted in their dismay.

“Good mercy, there was nothing subtle about the toxin that was spewing from his mouth! How Satan was able to deceive him on such a simple verse, I do not know.” (quoted from a witness)

Now I am all about people using their favorite translation or interpretation for their English Bible (mine is the ESV). However, to call the display of God’s Word a “toxin” or “the demonic realm of blasphemy” is way too harsh. Lighten up, people! Be glad you are free to read the Bible in your preferred translation, yet alone read it. Having your own Bible is a luxury too many Christians worldwide cannot have. Be grateful we have the Bible. Don’t worry about the “evil nature” of translations or paraphrases you may not agree with. View the Bible as God’s Word, and treat it as His written revelation to you.

Fighting Five Year Olds

Saw this link on Kurt’s blog, so I had to know myself. Glad to know I could take one whole class of Kindergarten children (20 kids), but no more.