the intersection of life and grace

Here’s a bit of my review of Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors, published at Youth Ministry Exchange:

The central question of long-time youth minister and youth ministry consultant Mark Riddle’s book Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors – A Church Leader’s Guide to Staffing and Leading Youth Pastors asks “Why does your church want to hire a youth pastor?”  Touching on issues of community, leadership, communication, mentoring, and the value of youth in the church, Inside the Mind is foremost a tool for the local church to use in discerning how to build sustainable ministry to youth.

Inside the Mind of Youth Pastors is divided into two sections, the first of which, “Staffing for Youth Ministry”, directly addresses the questions surrounding the choice and reasons to hire a youth pastor.  This includes asking who should be involved in the process, what about the church culture needs to be taken into consideration (and potentially changed), and is addressed to both church leadership and congregations when discussing hiring a staff youth minister.  

Read the rest by clicking here.

In the midst of the New York State budget mess, brought to us by the credit crisis-fueled melt down on Wall Street, the State University system made the decision to raise tuition in the middle of the budget year.  The leaves every student facing a larger bill this winter, even while the institutions themselves are cutting back on services to make ends meet.

One UAlbany student chose to handle his shortfall in a rather creative way:

The e-mail solicitation looked like yet another cyberhoax. It wasn’t.

There really is a Nicholas Szwaba — a bitter University at Albany biology major with a $310 budget gap, courtesy of the State University of New York’s mid-year tuition hike.

But instead of forking it over, the 21-year-old from Staten Island fired up his PayPal account. He e-mailed more than 5,000 people this week, many of them UAlbany faculty and staff, asking each for $5 toward the increase.

And the total reward for his entrepreneurship? Not one cent.

Read the rest of the story here.

For the record, I agree with Nicholas Szwaba – it’s unfair to raise tuition mid-year.  In fact, it may be a breach of the agreement made with each student at the outset of the academic year, upon which their financial aid and attendant borrowing was based.

Apologies for the quiet; it tends to happen whenever there’s a whole lot on my plate.  I will get to the skribit suggestions soon (you can add to the list in the box in the first column to the right, or by clicking here).  But for now, I’ll share a bit of what I’ve been up to these past blog-quiet days.

YM Women

One of the work projects I’ve been most excited about is working with Carrie at YS to support the relaunch of the YM Women initiative on the web.  YM Women is “the ministry of YS that speaks to the personal, professional and spiritual needs of women in youth ministry” – it has existed for a few years, offering some resources and networking opportunities at the NYWC events and by sending resources out via email for use in local small group gatherings.

Last week was the official opening of a dedicated forum section nestled inside the YMX forums (click here to read more), but visible only to females who request access at registration.  Current female YMX forum members need only send me a message and their settings can be quickly updated.

The opening was fun, there’s a great core of users building, and I look forward to seeing the section grow as a resource to women involved in youth ministry.  If you’re a Facebook user, there’s a YMWomen page there to connect with, as well as a YMWomen twitter to follow.

One interesting reaction to the re-launch of YM Women came from some of the men of the YMX forums.  They made the point that men in youth ministry also have unique perspective, challenges and needs they would use some dedicated/private space to discuss.  Some cited known struggles/issues for men in ministry (like pornography), while others raised the much-less-dicussed concern of the feminization of the church/church staff with it’s related potential issues.  I hadn’t considered that in many (likely main line) denominations there could be a situation where a male YP is the only male on the pastoral staff, bringing the possibility of the inverse women in ministry have historically faced.  So, we’ll see what comes of that idea, but I hope it gets traction in a positive way.

Busyness

Irony is one of God’s favorite tools, isn’t it?  I’m working on a writing project on the general subject of busyness during the time period my son’s preparations for college and dorm living need to be completed, and lots of family activity is going on to boot.  He moves into the dorm on Saturday and even as I write is upstairs folding his clothes for packing.  In addition to those preparations, we’ve had a flurry of medical appointments, school shopping trips, the start of Cathie’s swim team practices, and lots more.  This afternoon, Cathie and I will head over to Albany High for her junior (!) orientation the primary purpose of which is advertised to be school pictures, IDs, locker assignments, and probably some rule stating as well.

Of course, none of it fits into my preferred “batch the trips” mode, and yesterday allowed me the frustrating privilege of driving 50 miles to and from these various necessary stops but never getting more than 5 miles from my house.  Mind-boggling.

David Crowder*Band Review

One extremely fun assignment in the past week was the opportunity to review the freshly released Remedy Club Tour CD/DVD set from David Crowder*Band.  A full-length live concert, a complete audio recording of the same concert, and some fantastic bonus features (like learning each part of the song from the musicians in the band, and having the ability to activate chord & lyric subtitles for the concert to play and sing along) made it a fun evening watching with Tim and Cathie (bonus time!).  You can read the complete review and see a promo video here at YMX.

What have you been up to so far this week?

I did an interview this afternoon with Erwin McManus, the pastor of Mosaic in LA, in connection with his new book Wide Awake.  The book is great (and it’s looking at you from the picture on the right), and the interview and a review are forthcoming on YMX, but here’s the message Erwin McManus asked we spread around:

We’ve learned that Barnes and Noble is displaying Wide Awake at the front of their stores.  I’d love to ask people to buy the book from them, as a way to say thanks to this big, secular company for just wanting to get people involved in the spiritual conversation.

So, if you’re interested in the book anyway (and you should be!), why not pick it up as a holiday weekend read from your local Barnes and Noble store?  And, please tell your friends the same.  And, at B&N, tell them Erwin McManus sent you to say thanks.

As soon as Cathie and I saw the promo spot for the new ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teen, we put the show’s premiere date on the calendar so we’d remember to watch together.  That calendar entry now repeats for each Tuesday at 8 pm, I’m hoping that we’ll have many meaningful moments of dicussion about the real issues the kids at Grant High School will play out on the screen.

I wrote a review of the premiere episode for YMX, here’s a taste:

Amy has a problem.  It isn’t that she plays French Horn, either.

“I had sex, and it isn’t like what you think, all romantic and stuff.  I didn’t realize what was happening, until, like, 2 seconds, and it was over.”  The words, “It was just some guy at band camp,” combined with the pained look on her face is how her besties realize she’s not only done it, she’s pregnant.

So begins The Secret Life of the American Teenager, a new series from ABC Family, starring Shailene Woodley (The OC) as Amy, along with Molly Ringwald and Mark Derwin as her parents; Josie Bissett, John Schneider and a host of young talent.  It airs Tuesdays at 8 pm and began July 1.

Amy’s story is definitely Juno-esque, but Secret Life has a story all it’s own.  Secret Life takes the viewer into the social whirl that is Grant High School, complete with all the types (band geeks, athletes, rebels and even Christians) and struggles, sexual tension and drama that is the teenage world.

Read the rest here at YMX.

A few things on my fingertips this sunny Thursday:

This morning’s readings were simply awesome in combination. While I generally read them, I don’t usually have that cumulative wow reaction.

The photo to the right is from my back yard. See the bumble bee busy at work? (click for larger photo)

Tim got a great job yesterday. He’ll be working as a mac specialist at the Apple store in Crossgates Mall, and no, he can’t give you an iphone… or an ianything else. He goes tomorrow to fill out all the employment paperwork and arrange training dates.

I’m super excited for my friend and fellow-YMX owner Adam, who’s landed a tailor-made position for his giftedness at Youth Specialties. Lots of fun and excitement in store there! If you think of it, pray for Adam and Kristen (and their really cute kids) as they make the transition from church staff life in Romeo, MI to the new gig in San Diego, CA. I know they’d appreciate it (especially for the sale of their house).

Last night’s Mets game was full of energy and grit, like the team played last season before September. That was two nights in a row. I don’t know if it’s “a turn around” but I sure hope there are more games like that and fewer like the majority of this season to-date! If you want to see highlights, video is here.

Cathie’s started physical therapy after the long-awaited orthopaedic appointment to check out the click in her shoulder and crunch in her knee. Prayers for effective treatment of them both (each having to do with misalignments and muscle tightness), decrease of pain, and the ability to train for swimming.

Like a lot of people, I’m fairly disgusted about gas prices and how they are impacting the prices of everything else. I check the local average prices a few times a week to see if there is a “good” price at a station on a route I need to travel. This morning, the local area’s average price is stable (for the first time in a while) at $4.07/gal, compared to $3.15/gal a year ago. I’ve noticed a few oddities lately, too, like Mobil stations which are always $.10-.15/gal higher aren’t always higher anymore. In fact, the high prices are pretty even across the board. One bit of trivia I learned today, though, has me really annoyed! Did you know that in NY state, there are between $.59 and .67/gal in taxes (varies by county fuel sales tax). We’re third in the nation in gas taxes behind CA and CT… what a deal. :/

I’ve got a pile of great stuff to finish writing and a bunch of follow-up to do for YMX! I need to get to work on it!

Adam and I got an email telling us that YMX is somehow mentioned in the May 08 edition of Christianity Today (on page 73) and we’re eagerly anticipating seeing what it says.  If you get the magazine can you tell us about it?

(local-to-me people, if you have it and would be willing to let me see it when you’re finished so I can scan it, that would be much appreciated)

I am guilty of blog neglect! I’m sorry, really. I think about blogging more than I actually have time to write out what I’m thinking!

The past week or so has been filled with events for/with family and friends, on and offline community happenings, getting adjusted and organized in my inherited role of editor at YMX, and even a little bit of spring training baseball. Filled being the operative term. A few thoughts about some of the above:

Tim’s participation in the Empire State Wind Orchestra at the ESYO New Music for a New Generation festival this past weekend was amazing. There were 9 world premier performances of 9 commissioned works with 9 composers in attendance to speak about their music. If you listened to a recording you would have no way of telling that every musician was between the age of 12 and 18. They worked so hard, and performed so beautifully. An added bonus was having friends join us, and seeing another student we know through church perform with the Empire State Youth Orchestra, which will do a performance tour in Europe in the months to come. The only downside to the entire experience was the 5 hours in the extraordinarily narrow, barely padded, straight wooden seats in the acoustically-pristine Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.

Events for family also include Cathie’s upcoming 16th birthday, and the planning of a party for her, along with supporting her as she works as a key member of the New York State Prayer Breakfast planning team. Not to mention that only a few weeks later Tim will graduate from CBA with plenty of school-related hoopla in addition to another ESYWO performance and the CBA Wind Band Spring Concert. Oh, yes, and he’ll need a party too! I get the feeling that once it’s April, I’ll not take another breather until June!

As I mentioned some time ago, I was selected for the jury pool for grand jury. I have to report on Wednesday to see if I’ll be serving. While I certainly don’t mind doing my civic duty, to be chosen for this particular jury means serving every Wednesday for 2 months. Selfishly, I’m hoping not to be chosen so that we can go on the vacation we planned to visit friends on the kids spring break (oh yeah, that’s in April too!).  I refuse to try to wrangle my way out of it, so if my honest answers to whatever comes up aren’t sufficient to disqualify me… sigh.

A short time ago Tom called with 2 bits of news.  The first made me happy as Tim, Cathie and I will get to go to the MAAC Championship game tonight thanks to a co-worker of Tom’s giving us their spare tickets.  The second, is that our governor, who ran on a platform made entirely of ethics and reform, is at this very hour admitting his personal involvement in a high-priced prostitution ring.   Is that really what you meant by reforming NY politics, Mr. Spitzer?  And to think, I thought you might be for real.

According to WTEN.com the Albany County Legislature has some disturbing business on the agenda for tonight:

Albany County Could Take an Official Stance on Iraq War

Posted: Feb 11, 2008 01:09 AM

The Albany County legislature is expected to consider an anti-Iraq War resolution at a meeting on Monday.

The resolution, co-sponsored by Legislators Phil Steck and Doug Bullock, calls for Albany County to officially oppose the Iraq War.

Legistlator Steck says he hopes the resolution would send a message to Washington that local lawmakers have a clear and strong opposition to the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq.

The meeting is set for six o’clock Monday night at the Albany County Courthouse.

Are you kidding me?! We’ve already left a message with the Clerk of the Legislature for County Legislator Brian Scavo, District 7, whose phone number is NOT listed in the directory of legislators. The main phone number is 518-447-7168.

It is NOT the business of the Albany County Legislature to make foreign policy. It is the business of the Albany County Legislature to manage county-level policy, programs and budgets, regarding such items as elections, transportation, social services, the county nursing home, roads and services, as indicated by the list of legislative committees.

HT to Mark Williams, WROW radio.

Came across an odd headline in today’s Times Union:

Theory of evolution still divisive
As Charles Darwin’s birthday nears, debate over his ideas continues

According to the article, Albany Mayor Jerry Jennings will proclaim Tuesday, Darwin’s 199th birthday, Darwin Day. (You thought February 12 was remembered for Abraham Lincoln, didn’t you?)  Meanwhile, there is a piece of legislation afoot in the NY State Assembly to have the day recognized statewide. Additionally, there are various celebrations and forums planned around the region at places like the State Museum, the Unitarian Universalist Society and other humanist and religious congregations with the intent “to have sermons and other discussion to show that “religion and science are not adversaries.”

Of course, the article focuses on Darwin’s “Origin of the Species” making only passing mention that it is the fundamentalists who are the ones pushing the theory of Intelligent Design, completely overlooking the fact that there are a number of scientists who not only believe intelligent design to be as valid a theory as evolution, but who are not bible literalists (meaning, a belief in a literal 6 day creation).

That very subject – scientists and the theory of intelligent design – is the subject of a forthcoming film called Ben Stein’s Expelled.  The premise of the film is that in spite of credible research on the theory of intelligent design, there is a concerted effort among scientists and educators to exclude it and present only the theory of evolution.  Click the image to the right to see the trailer.  From the movie’s website:

For decades now, Neo-Darwinism has maintained a stranglehold within public education, suppressing all other theories on the origins of life – especially those that hint of a “designer”.

Oxford professor Richard Dawkins, an evolutionary biologist and author of “The God Delusion” states,

“Certainly I see the scientific view of the world as incompatible with religion.”

Your students are being bombarded with such propaganda throughout their education; despite the fact that MOST Americans do NOT believe we’re the result of “random chance”.

Well, FINALLY help is on the way.

EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed, is an upcoming feature film in which host Ben Stein (Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) goes on a quest to expose the suppression by science’s anti-theist elite, and unveil new scientific facts that may suggest evidence of intelligent design in the universe.

Part of the problem for Christians who want to enter the debate is we don’t have our facts right, which is incredibly important for any real discussion in the realm of science. In this instance, like so many others, to those coming from the scientific perspective “God said it, I believe it, end of discussion” is not going to make a millimeter of progress. In addition, such an argument gets all Christians written off in the discussion.  This film, along with a number of other resources available on the subject of intelligent design, can help to stem that trend.

Is this a salvation issue?  Not for a believer, but learning to articulate your faith coherently may play a part in the salvation of someone else.  Is it something that makes Christians look silly when we can’t speak intelligently about our own beliefs?  Yes, and you can make a difference!