Category: student ministry

Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard (Review)

On By pastorjonathanIn books, leadership, student ministryLeave a comment

Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (Affiliate link) is an awesome book and a great resource for those who are in the position of motivating others to change.  We  all have things in our life we want to change.  We may want or feel the need to change our physical health, or personal organizational habits.  Maybe the need is greater or the goal is bigger and we are trying to effect change in the health of our community or how we organize our corporation.  Switch takes on those challenges and provides an excellent study on the patterns of change and who to institute them in effective ways.

While this book isn’t a motivator or change agent in and of itself, it does provide a great resource for anyone who is interested in making change happen.  Near the End of the book the authors state,

We can say this much with confidence: When change works, it tends to follow a pattern.  The people who change have a clear direction, ample motivation, and a supportive environment (Switch, 255).

By evaluating these three strategic pieces to change and motivators in each area the authors are able to offer great council on setting things up for change.  This is one of the better books I have read this year and one of the best I have read on the subject of motivating people.  My personal copy is dog eared with a couple of dozen notes written in the margin.  It has proven to be of great value to me, I hope it is a good value for you as well.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy of If you are interested in purchasing a copy of Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard (affiliate link) the retail price is $26.00 (hardcover), and is worth every penny. I purchased my copy at Amazon.com for $14.95 (affiliate links). I gave it five stars.

A Student’s Unspoken Plea

On By pastorjonathanIn spiritual disciplines, student ministryLeave a comment

This is a you tube version of a video we showed the students tonight.

The Newest Song on My Ipod

A Satire on Youth Ministry

Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are (Book Review)

On By pastorjonathanIn books, student ministryLeave a comment

Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are is a great book geared especially for teenagers.  Alex and Brett Harris Have done it again!  There first book Do Hard Things was an amazing book that challenged teenagers to get out of their comfort-zones and begin rebelling against low expectations that people have of teenagers and really begin to do hard things.  I read it in one sitting and was thrilled when I heard that they had another book coming out.

This book like the first challenges teenagers to step out and rebel against low expectations.  Start Here however is smaller, more concise and shares a lot of practical insight and perspective from the lives of teenagers who are “Doing Hard Things”.  It is choc full of knowledge on how to go about doing the difficult but good things.  Alex and Brett share from their own experiences as well as from many of the teenagers who have logged on to their blog and shared their insights.

Start here is a great follow up book for anyone who has read Do Hard Things.  It is also a great stand alone book for teenagers who are tired of the status quo and wanting to get out of their comfort-zones and attempt great things.  I found it highly motivational and inspirational.  My job now it to put it into as many teenager’s hands as will read it.  Thanks Alex and Brett for rebelling against low expectations and challenging our teens!

I really liked this book and highly recommend it to teenagers or anyone with teenagers in their life, including parents, teachers, and student pastors.   Start Here is an excellent resource. The retail price is $12.99 (Paperback), and is available at places like Amazon.com for $8.76. I gave it five stars.

Disclaimer:  This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.  There was no requirement to give the book a good review.  Just to review it and tell you what I really think.

Girls Life Application Study Bible (NLT)

On By pastorjonathanIn books, student ministryLeave a comment

The Girls Life Application Study Bible is a great Bible for pre-teen and teenage girls.  The cover has a leathery feel and is a purple with the imprint of a pink butterfly and flowers.  It is quiet feminine in its appeal.  My wife and daughter (4 years old) were both very interested in flipping through the Bible once it arrived in the mail. The editors and artists who worked on this Bible have certainly done a great job of getting the reader from the cover into the pages of Scripture.

The Bible is full of great insights and articles that catch readers on a surface level and draw them into the text of scripture for an answer.  (Can I just say that it is refreshing to finally see a publisher put out a Bible that challenges teen and preteen girls to see what the Scripture says!).  Included all throughout the text are girl-specific applications.  The New Living Translation is a decent translation to read (especially for girls who are in the preteen age range).

I would highly recommend this Bible to teen and preteen girls who are wanting to grow in their relationship with God.  This is also a great Bible to hand to a girl who is a new believer or someone who is otherwise unfamiliar with the scriptures.  It is apparent that the Bible was designed not only to have a feminine appeal, but to be very user friendly as well.

The retail price is $29.97 (Imitation Leather) and is worth every penny. It is also available at places like Amazon.com for $19.78. I give it 5 Stars and would give it more.  It truly is a great Bible for teen and Pre-teen girls.

One Note: Amazon has it listed as Girls Life Application Study Bible NLT (Kid’s Life Application Bible: Nltse), it is not really a kids Bible, the publishers recommend it for girls age 11 and up (and I would heartily agree with that recommendation).

Disclaimer: As a blogger I received a complimentary review copy from Tyndale House Publishers through the Tyndale Blog Network program.  There was no requirement to give it a positive review, just for the reviewer to call it like they see it.

Book Give Away!!!

On By pastorjonathanIn books, student ministry4 Comments

I have an extra copy of Alex & Brett Harris’ new book new book, Start Here: Doing Hard Things Right Where You Are. It is an awesome and amazing follow up to their previous book Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations.  Both books are amazing and great books that I would put in the hands of any teenager, parent of a teenager, student pastor, etc. who would be willing to read them. I’ll be posting a review of Start Here on Monday of next week (March 15, 2010), it hits the shelves the next day (March 16th, 2010).

In the meantime you can win a copy before it hits the bookstores! Just leave a creative and convincing comment below on why you deserve the book. I’ll draw from the most creative and convincing comments and announce the winner (in the comments section here) on March 15th. If you win I will need to be able to contact you via e-mail (so make sure you fill that part out when leaving a comment).

Since my review is not out yet.  Here is a tidbit about the book…

At the age of eighteen, Alex and Brett Harris wrote Do Hard Things—and launched a movement that would change a generation. Young people around the world were ready to be inspired, ready to move beyond complacency, ready to rebel against society’s low expectations.

Now the highly anticipated companion book, Start Here, answers the questions Alex and Brett have received from thousands of teens on their worldwide conference tour and popular online community: How do I get started? What hard things does God want me to do? How do I keep from getting discouraged or burned out? What is the best way to inspire others?

Filled with stories and insights from Alex, Brett, and other real-life rebelutionaries, Start Here is a powerful and practical guide for young people who are ready to take the next step and blast past apathy. Let the rebelution continue.

You can also follow Alex & Brett on their website and blog…  TheRebelution.com.

All the Disciple Now Posts in One Spot

On By pastorjonathanIn discipleship, leadership, student ministryLeave a comment

3 Keys to a Good Disciple Now Weekend

Disciple Now Themes

Reflections on Disciple Now 2009

Student Ministry in General

Top 5 Disciple Now Themes of All Time

On By pastorjonathanIn discipleship, student ministry4 Comments

In the last decade I have been involved in well over 20 Disciple Now weekends as either the host, guest leader, or guest speaker.  Many of the Disciple Now’s we hosted in conjunction with other student ministries.  Here is a list of my favorites and a few ideas I have for the future.

Top 5 Disciple Now Themes of All time

1. Different by Design – Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

2. Pilgrim’s Progress – Introduction to the Journey

3. Authentic Faith – Show me your fruit

4. Back to the Basics – Spiritual Disciplines

5. The Body of Christ – Unity

Five Disciple Now Themes for the Future

1. Hunger for the Harvest – Longing for the World to Know

2. Resident Aliens – Following Jesus in a world that Doesn’t Follow Him

3. Kingdom Come – Until all have heard

4. Dangerous Discipleship – What following Jesus Might Cost You

5. Never Eat Undercooked Meat – How church works

Are you a Forward or Backward Thinker?

On By pastorjonathanIn Just Thinking, Ministry, student ministryLeave a comment

Have you ever stopped and wondered why you think the way you do on a particular issue?

In my line of work I come across lots of people who have strong opinions.  Many of them are passionate about their opinions.  Sometimes the opinions people are most passionate about are the one’s they have changed their mind on. For instance if you grew up in a republican or democrat household and change sides as an adult.  Maybe you went to church and learned about God, but when you were introduced to a college science class things changed.  Beliefs were challenged and you didn’t have a good answer to whoever was challenging your beliefs so slowly (or suddenly) you changed your opinion and grew passionate about proving people who held your former position as wrong.

Sometimes we are backed into believing something simply because we are confronted with an ideal that conflicts what we were taught growing up.  We don’t know how to answer the conflicting ideal and end up embracing it.  We didn’t search for a solution, we just embraced a competing truth claim that stood in opposition to ours because we could not defend our inherited claim.

Sometimes we move forward into a new position.  This takes place when we evaluate competing truth claims and examine the arguments that someone brings against our ideals and we scrutinize their competing claims with the same scrutiny they have shown ours.

For instance: Imagine growing up hearing and believing that all smurfs are blue.  You have never seen a smurf, but you know that they are blue.  Then someone shows you a purple smurf.  Your view of smurfs is forever changed.  However, you don’t examine the purple smurf (or asking questions like, How did the smurf become purple or are there smurfs of other colors as well?).  Instead, you reject the assumption that “all smurfs are blue” as a complete lie, you demonize the people who told you smurfs were blue, and you join a group that promotes the awareness of the purple smurf.  You have reacted to the assumed falsehood of “all smurfs are blue” and embraced a competing claim “all smurfs are purple.”  You have in effect backed into your position.  You didn’t go looking to see why you would have been told about blue smurfs, how this smurf became purple, or seek to know if there was a broader category.

Moving forward into your thinking requires examining competing truth claims and evaluating the validity of both claims. You may be actually viewing a blue smurf through rose-colored glasses. (The smurf is blue, but the red tint of your glasses causes the smurf to appear purple.)  Maybe when smurfs are sick they turn purple.  Maybe there are purple smurfs, but there are also blue smurfs.  This is searching for the truth.  This is moving forward into a position.

Now what about your thoughts on God?  Are you reacting to competing claims or are you intentionally looking for truth?

The Bible in Magazine Form for Teen Girls?

On By pastorjonathanIn books, student ministry, WomanhoodLeave a comment


Revolve 2010 (Biblezines) Published by Thomas Nelson is a Bible ( the NCV New Testament) geared to look like a teen girls magazine.  To be honest, I had a difficult time even embracing the idea that a publisher would take what many consider to be sacred writings and reduce them to the lowest level of print publication to display them in magazine form.  The literary genres seem to contradict one another.  How do you take the timeless Word of God that has stood the test of centuries of debate and cover it with the trappings of a magazine that emulates popular teen girls magazine?  Thomas Nelson in conjunction with Revolve did it.

I did my best to put my presuppositions out of the way and really examine this book.  There were a few aspects of this “biblezine” that I really liked.  One was that each book of the bible seems to have at least one section designed challenge the reader to go deeper with God’s Word.  Some challenges call for reflection, bible memorization, etc.  Each section also had a little background info to introduce that part of the New Testament.  However, these appear as just token helps amidst a flood of other insights that thought they are harmless are out of place.  There are adds for books, music downloads, quizes, etc. that one would expect in a teen magazine and maybe that is where I struggle most with this.  Even though it’s “the Bible,” I have a hard time seeing where Jesus fits between the “Guy 411: Chad Eastham dishes the dirt on dudes” and “Celeb drama-trauma: Stellar Kart’s most cringe-worthy moments.”  The gospel just seems trivialized as the filler between gossip and advice columns.

I work with students, many of whom are teenage girls who this biblezine is marketed toward.  My real concern is that through the packaging this book is more teen magazine than actual bible.  I want as many people to follow Jesus as possible and for that to happen we must be culturally relevant.  However, there are parts of our culture that need to be confronted not imitated.  I pray for and challenge my students to be culture changers not imitators.

The real scoop is this, teens don’t come into a right relationship with Jesus Christ through bible magazines… they come through the blood of Jesus Christ.  Most often that happens when other teens step out of their comfort zones to share the “411 on Jesus” with their friends.  My impression of Revolve 2010 (Biblezines) is that it is more of a hinderance to the gospel than a help.  I hope I’m wrong.

Revolve 2010 (Biblezines) is a teen magazine with the Bible in it, I really don’t recommend it. You may disagree.  The retail price is $16.99 (paperback), and is available at places like Amazon.com for $11.55.  I gave it two stars.

Disclaimer: As a blogger I received a complimentary review copy from the Thomas Nelson’s Book Review Blogger program  (http://brb.thomasnelson.com/ ).  There was no requirement to give it a positive review, just for the reviewer to call it like they see it.

True Love Waits

On By pastorjonathanIn dating, discipleship, Ministry, parenting, student ministry1 Comment

I had the opportunity to speak to a local Christian club on the topic of “True Love Waits” and thought it would be great to share my observations here (seeing as parents, student pastors, and even occasionally students stop by here from time to time).

Warning: This content is mature in nature. Parents this may be a good guideline for you to have “The Talk” with your kids.  If they are in upper middle school they probably have heard a lot about sex and it doesn’t hurt to have a Biblical perspective.

You can get a PDF copy of my notes by clicking the following link:  True Love Waits.

A few other places that might be helpful: