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I have a unique job. I help edit/write curriculum for churches. In the Teacher’s Guides for teen teachers, one of the sections is called “Inspiration for Teachers.” The name of the section pretty much speaks for itself. It’s used to motivate and encourage teachers to keep on teaching even when things are going rough.

I deal with those lessons every single day. Every day I read, edit, and sometimes rewrite the “Inspiration for Teachers.” Here comes the unique part: What do I do when I become discouraged with ministry, life, etc?

The obvious answer seems to be “Pay attention to what you’re editing!” True, but at times it’s difficult to take my work and make it reality.

I was recently reminded of a book I read several years ago called Your First Two Years in Youth Ministry by Doug Fields. I read the book while I was going through a very discouraging time during my youth ministry internship. The principles that I read then still apply today in many facets of life. Here they are:

DEALING WITH DISCOURAGEMENT
1. Welcome Christ’s suffering
2. It’s okay to question God’s calling on my life
3. Discouragement isn’t necessarily a sign of spiritual incompetence
4. Keep first things first – my relationship with God

PRACTICAL STEPS TO BATTLE DISCOURAGEMENT
- Be confident that you are not alone
- Find an experienced and neutral mentor
- Find an upbeat friend outside of youth ministry
- Realize that not everyone will understand you and your ministry
- Take a day off
- Schedule solo time away (Take a day out of each month to sit and reflect and get recharged)
- Clear the piles (Clean the piles of junk off your desk at least three times a year)
- Get some sleep
- Begin a discouragement journal
- Begin an affirmation file
- Make a personal comitment to last

Maybe someone will find this helpful.

(Special thanks to http://desireatheresa.blogspot.com for posting this info)

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“LOL Idk brb”

Does that look familiar? If not, it’s time to enter 2009. If you have a phone or have been online for a brief second, you’ve seen that language.

When we text, use Facebook, and update Twitter, we’re likely to use “cyber language” (or abbreviations) to say what we want to say. It’s been happening online since AOL introduced their Instant Messenger.

However, is it possible that using these abbreviations is damaging our intelligence, or even stunting our intellectual potential?

Maybe you think I’m being ridiculous, but consider the facts. Many teens (and adults) spend more time on a computer for leisure than for work or school. It’s very rare for people to use proper spelling and grammar when sending a text, updating Twitter, or posting a new status. Granted, some people do, but not all.

People chat in “shorthand cyber slang” that produces “sentences” that look like “just wanted 2 say ur great i luv u ttyl lol.”

I can’t help but think with so much time spent online and texting, this HAS to crossover into other areas of life. Hopefully most adults have had enough grammar ingrained in their minds to avoid this problem, but with teens it’s a very real issue.

Do teens know when to use there, their, or they’re? What about you’re, your, and ur? (One of those doesn’t belong.) Do they even care? Maybe not.

Sometimes I wonder if our advancements in technology are actually advancing a need to dumb down the rest of society. Why read a book when you can take a quiz that tells you what classic novel you are? Why watch the news and think about difficult issues when you can watch “real life drama” on Gossip Girl?

Are we becoming dumber from all this? Idk.

Earlier this year, a survey was conducted in Britain to see what books people lie about reading. The results are listed below:

1. 1984, by George Orwell 42%

2. War and Peace, by Leo Tolstoy 31%

3. Ulysses, by James Joyce 25%

4. The Bible 24%

5. Madame Bovary, by Gustave Flaubert 16%

6. A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking 15%

7. Midnight’s Children, by Salman Rushdie 14%

8. In Remembrance of Things Past, by Marcel Proust  9%

9. Dreams from My Father, by Barack Obama 6%

10. The Selfish Gene, by Richard Dawkins 6%

Jonathon Douglas, the director of England’s National Literacy Trust, had this to say about people who lie about literature:

Research that we have done suggests that the reason people lied was to make themselves appear more sexually attractive.

People like to be seen to be readers. It makes them look good.

They said they were prepared to lie about what they’d read to impress people, particularly when it came to potential partners.

Anyone have something they need to confess?

From www.examiner.com

Looking for a good way to spend your Wednesday nights?

A few months ago, several friends introduced me to a book called Crazy Love by Francis Chan. I had heard about the book, but didn’t know much about it. However, my friends told me it was life-changing and turned their lives upside down.

One of the friends that told me about the book, Eric Puschmann, told me about a small group study he wanted to start with the book. It sounded pretty awesome to me.

 On Wednesday, I was really excited to see this has become a reality. Beginning June 3, Eric will be starting a group study of Crazy Love on Wednesday nights at 6:30 PM at Cofer’s Chapel in Nashville, Tennessee.  

This is open for anyone. Eric, being the awesome guy he is, can actually get the books for us for only $10 each. That’s a saving of like $65 off the cover price (not really). Now, this is not a gimmick or ploy to steal you away from your local church. If you’re involved with your church on Wednesday night, stay faithful to that. But, there are many people out there looking for some way to get involved with something like this.

If you’re interested, you can get more info or even sign up at Eric’s blog: www.pastorpusch.com

Pride is a dangerous thing. It causes some to boast, some to refuse to admit their failure and faults, and all of us to falter in sin.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea-bites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.” 

Do you agree with Lewis that pride is the root of all evil and sin?

Several weeks ago, I finally purchased Alan Moore’s graphic novel, Watchmen, after putting it on the back-burner for several months. The novel, credited by Time Magazine as one of the Top 100 novels of all time, has received much attention lately with the new Watchmen movie debuting this Friday, March 6, 2009. Within a couple hours of reading, I knew why. I started reading the novel on Friday night, and by Sunday afternoon I was halfway through the 400+ page comic book.

The novel, which takes place in the mid 1980s, is seemingly outdated. It talks of conflict with Afghanistan and Russia, problems with Nixon, the assassination of Kennedy, and other issues that were way before my time. However, Moore’s captivating writing is undeniable. After diving headfirst into the book, I was extremely excited about the movie. I even happened to have 2 sneak preview passes to see it early.

Things started to change for me as early reviews rolled in. I expected the movie to stir up a great amount of publicity, and it did and has, but not exactly for the reasons I was hoping. 

Here’s what some critics and reviewers have been saying about the movie:

Anthony Lane, New Yorker: Nobody over twenty-five could take any joy from the savagery that is fleshed out onscreen, just as nobody under eighteen should be allowed to witness it. You want to see Rorschach swing a meat cleaver repeatedly into the skull of a pedophile, and two dogs wrestle over the leg bone of his young victim? Go ahead. You want to see the attempted rape of a superwoman, her bright latex costume cast aside and her head banged against the baize of a pool table?  

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: Snyder fills the screen with eye candy. [There's]  brutal murders, dismemberments, attempted rape. The sex is graphic, the violence more so. 

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Snyder’s biggest impact is felt in the action sequences, which are also the film’s weakest scenes: overstylised, repetitive and pornographically violent. 
Snyder rides roughshod over such subtleties: ‘Watchmen’ may be the nastiest blockbuster ever devised. It luxuriates in snapping bones and literal explosions of gore. It’s here that the gulf between comic and movie becomes most clear: Gibbons’s drawings were often shocking, but they served a purpose. Snyder employs violence for the rush, and while this approach is sometimes brutally effective, it’s also deeply crass.

Joe Lozito, Big Picture Big Sound: To keep his audience interested, Mr. Snyder has made the film alternatively cheesy (the 80s dialogue, a gratuitous sex scene) and brutally violent (the opening fight, in particular, goes on far too long).

I could list many more reviews that say similar things, but I think you get the point. The movie inevitably uses extreme violence and extreme sex/nudity to bring in its audience. While some may argue the movie is only staying true to the book, those who have read the book know this isn’t quite the case. Zack Snyder took many liberties to make the movie as gory and sexual as possible.

Some might not see this as an issue, but there is a huge issue at hand. I had a recent discussion with my boss, Jonathan Yandell, about movies that use extreme violence and sex. He mentioned that movies used to only use one of the two elements, not a combination of both. However, as times have changed, people seek both elements when they go to movies. The scary thing is, a mindset that craves and enjoys graphic sex and graphic violence is the same mindset that is found in serial killers. The craving starts out small, but the desire keeps increasing and increasing until it reaches a level of absolute sex and violence.

No one would dare argue Watchmen is a wholesome movie, but how many people are actually thinking about how the movie affects them? How many people realize how the mind reacts to seeing extreme violence, sex, and nudity on screen?

For those who would say “It doesn’t affect me” I would say 1 of 2 things to you: 1) You’re lying or; 2) You’ve become so numb and desensitized by violence and sex that it doesn’t bother you anymore. That is a scary thing!

So who watches the Watchmen? Not this guy!

Well, the decision has finally been made. For those of you who were interested in reading a book as a group (or something like that), we finally have a title.

The book will be A Mind for God by James Emery White. 

For those of you that aren’t familiar with the author, Dr. James Emery White was Read more…

Recently, I’ve been reading Philip Yancey’s book, Prayer: Does it Make Any Difference? While it took me awhile to get past the first four chapters, the book has started offering me some incredible truths about prayer.

Maybe the greatest lesson I’ve learned is from Yancey’s own feelings of inadequacy. If a man as intellectual as Yancey doesn’t have it figured out (and is not ashamed to admit all his shortcomings and failures involved with prayer), then I don’t have to have it all figured out either.

While I would love to write about everything the book has taught me, I wanted to include a short excerpt from the book. The except is in fact not even from Yancey. The information is from a footnote by David Maims in Yancey’s book. Here’s what it says:

Checklist to Make Sure Prayers are on Target:  

1. What do I really want? Am I being specific, or am I just rambling about nothing in particular?
2. Can God grant this request? Or is it against God’s nature to do so?
3. Have I done my part? Or am I praying to lose weight when I haven’t dieted?
4. How is my relationship with God? Are we on speaking terms?
5. Who will get the credit if my request is granted? Do I have God’s interests in mind?
6. Do I really want my prayer answered? What would happen if I actually did get that girlfriend back?

I apologize for leaving my blog idle for 2 days. I’ve been home sick, but now I’m back in the office ready to finish out the week!

Well, if you read my last post, you know I’m trying to set up some kind of network where several of us (or thousands of us) can actually read the same book and try to dissect it and learn from each other.

I also mentioned that I had a book in mind. However, I did not think the first 2 people to reply with interest would be 2 people who have already read the book. The book I was thinking of was A Mind for God by James Emery White. But if I’m not mistaken, Derek and Matthew have already read the book.

So, I’ve gone back to the drawing board and come up with a few more ideas. Read more…

So I have this idea, and it might be crazy and it might not. I either expect to receive many responses, or none at all (except for my sweet girlfriend and people who are just going to post because I said I expect no responses).

Anyway, if you read my blogs, you know I enjoy reading. You also know I have trouble staying focused on one book. My mind, life, and interests race all over the place, and so I have trouble staying committed to a book. Therefore, it’s difficult for me to finish a book.

Well, many of you have admitted to the same thing. So, I have an idea that might help us all stay focused on reading, and also learn more from what we’re reading. 

Without sounding too much like Oprah, I think it would be cool if me and whoever else wants to started reading the same book(s) and then used this blog or some other online source as a way of discussion. 

I’m not talking about sitting around in a circle and crying over Mitch Albom’s latest. I’m talking about taking a book, that particularly encompasses higher level thinking, and discussing it. More than likely, it would be a book that is either written from a Christian worldview, or maybe even a book that attacks it.  I’m not really looking to bring in fiction. If you want to discuss that, you can go down to Borders on Tuesday night. 

If you’re interested, let me know. I’ve already got the first book in mind. 

I’m thinking that I will give the book title within the next week, and then allow about 10-14 days for people to pickup/order/borrow the book. Read more…