Here’s a great video from our friends at the Fuller Youth Institute describing the split between generations that characterizes many (most?) churches in America. I love the controlling metaphor of sitting at the dinner table – reminds me of Jesus’ description of the Kingdom feast in Matthew 22. For more compelling statements on integrating generations within the church and the role that youth ministries can play, visit Sticky Faith.
The greatest sermon in our nation’s history was not preached in a church…
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 13,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 5 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
In 2011, there were 39 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 96 posts. There were 213 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 40mb. That’s about 4 pictures per week.
The busiest day of the year was July 15th with 1,246 views.
The Most Viewed Posts were:
- Three Lessons Youth Workers Can Learn from The Social Network
- Senior Weekend – Generational Integration in the Church
- Why We Do Missions – Worship is Service
- Woodleaf Summer Camp
- Costa Rica Missions Trip
The top referring sites in 2011 were:
You can follow me on Twitter HERE to receive notifications of new posts.
You can subscribe to this blog and receive new posts directly to your inbox by entering your email in the box on the right hand sidebar.
Thanks for reading!!
Floor of examination room 8 at Sage Veterinary Hospital, home for 3 weeks.
To put a twist on a classic Robert Plant lyric, I’ve been out of the game for a while. I’ve hopelessly neglected my blog this past fall. I halfway expected it to be gone, somehow lost to the dungeons where all disregarded blogs wind up. But it’s still here and one of my resolutions for the new year is to be more consistent, even when writing is the last thing on my mind. For most of the fall, sitting down and putting a few thoughts together simply seemed to much. The fall started out well enough but turned out to be one of the most trying seasons of my family’s life. In order:
More than anything, we learned to rely on God when we had nothing left. We’re grateful to have our family healthy together at the start of this new year.
At work, our ministry hired a new staff person to oversee Small Groups and Leadership Development. Jacque Becwar was the High School Pastor at Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa for 4 years and now joins us at MPPC. Total stud whose made an immediate impact. Blessed to have him on board. If the image above encapsulates my life experience this fall, the pic below will be the enduring image for me from our Fall 2011 Student Ministries staff:
So, all in all, grateful for this past fall, trials and all, and looking forward to a great 2012…and hopefully some more blogging.
Thanks for reading.
Merry Christmas! One thing’s for sure, the birth of Jesus is the most profound, meaningful, and enduring story in human history. Because of this, humanity will continue to find new and creative ways to tell Christ’s amazing entrance into our world. Here are a few new ways of sharing the timeless story along with a few classics:
Children of St. Paul’s Church, New Zealand
Christmas 2.0
Christmas in 50 Words
Facebook Christmas
Linus shares Christmas
The Christmas Story, music by Michael W. Smith
Woodleaf loves Taylor Swift
Woodleaf speaker Dave Wilson setting up the week:
Club skit (leader hiding under the table)
End of the same club skit (fake head at the end this time)
Singing It’s Amazing at club
Woodleaf loves Taylor Swift
Woodleaf speaker Dave Wilson setting up the week:
Club skit (leader hiding under the table)
End of the same club skit (fake head at the end this time)
Singing It’s Amazing at club
