Let wonder replace worry

Rick Roll

Possibly the biggest internet phenomenon of 2007 would be the “Rick Roll.”

In case you never had the pleasure- a Rick Roll is where a link to the video for Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” is disguised as a link to a false story or video. From now on anytime someone is misdirected to  unexpected content, it will be know as this I am sure.

Well guess what I saw on FOX News? Rick Astley himself talking about Rick Rolling. I guess he got Rick Roll’d or something.

That just makes the whole thing not as cool anymore. Where was Fox this time last year? With them covering it, I am going to say that the Rick Roll has peaked, and its 15 minutes of fame have expired.

Here is some more info on the whole phenomenon.

Rice Bowls

A couple of weeks ago, I heard about an organization that sends free rice bowls to groups willing to raise money to give food to a network of Christian Orphanage in India, Haiti, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Rice Bowls has raised millions of dollars over the past several years by having people put their loose change into these small rice containers.

This has got me wondering what would happen if I ordered a bunch of rice bowls, passed them out to students and told them to collect change from friends at school. Not as a church fundraiser, but as nothing more than an opportunity to give food to kids who need it.

I bet each student would fill their bowl in a couple of days- a week max.

Halo, Rock Band, and Student Ministry

When Halo 3 was released last September, a couple of churches in town began having Halo tournaments. There was quite a debate in the blog world about if we should use a game to draw students that they could not legally purchase because of the rating.

I have never been comfortable with the idea of playing Halo (or any game like it) at a church sponsored event. Away from church, fine-I actually play it with them-but I'll never have a Halo night. I guess I want church to be different. They shoot each other in Halo all the time at home, why come to church and do the same thing?

I am having a junior high game night Friday to kick off Spring Break. I have ordered a couple of boxes of Finger Rockets and rubber chickens. We are also playing Rock Band.

So why play Rock Band at church and not Halo? I know it may sound inconsistent, but I just see a huge difference between having Rock Band as a part of an event and having a Halo tournament.

• Rock Band is about team work and community building. 4 people working together for a common goal.
• Girls play Rock Band. Halo is a guys game. I can't think of one girl who plays Halo at home without guys around.
• Rock band is easy to learn. Someone who has never played before can pick it up in a few minutes.
• No guns, violence, or blood to worry about.
• I don't have to get permission from every parent because of a "M" rating.
• Any member of the church could walk in at anytime and look at the big screen and see 4 students working together, not killing each other.

I know there are many youth ministries who use Halo all the time. The parachurch organization here in town plays with junior high guys once a week. They do this because they frankly have to draw a crowd or risk losing their funding. It is true- Halo gets kids through the door. But following that logic, free beer would also get kids through the door.

If Halo works for your ministry and good things are happening because of it, keep it up. As for me, I'll stick with Finger Rockets and Rock Band. 

This will be my first time using Rock Band (I just finally found it in the store today) so this weekend I'll post about how it goes.

Lots of Links

I updated the links on my blog this afternoon. (Plus gave it a new design.)

Of the 140 feeds I follow, I've included 51 links so far. (I left out all of the political, technological, and culture blogs.) They are all ministry blogs that I have followed and enjoyed for sometime.

I consider these 51 people friends in ministry, even though I have never met most of them. I am fairly confident that if I were neighbors with anyone on the list we would swap house keys and share tools with each other.

If you are in ministry and take the time to read this blog, make sure you are on the list. If I have left you off, let me know and I'll enter you into the consideration process. That rigorous process takes a couple of seconds. If you are in ministry, particularly student ministry, I am interested in following your journey.

And you get an additional link online. We both win.

Our First Easter

I promise to not make this a blog of Jaxson stories, but a couple of pictures are ok, right?

Save the Children

Here is a bizarre story I ran across today.

A school in Essex, England has taken all of their public photo's and put a smiley face over that of the kids. Representatives of the schools said that all this was in order to protect the identity of the children from pedophiles.

Just a little over the top?

I am all for saving the children. As much as I know I probably should, I don't think I could ever muster up even an ounce of compassion for anyone who has ever hurt a child. No matter how much they ask for forgiveness. It is worse than murder in my book.

But this is a little creepy.

I guess the thing I don't understand is if this is a concern, why have pictures of children online anyway? You might as well pose some life size dolls publish that online.

Having pictures of kids with weird smiley faces covering them up does not make much sense to me.

I wonder what our church website is going to look like if this catches on?

Friday Night Lights

I was excited to read today that Friday Night Lights has been picked up for a third season. I had about decided that the show was doomed.

While it is true that the second season dragged a little, season one should be required viewing for anyone who works in youth ministry. It gave such an incredible look into the lives and struggles of teens today.

Is Global Warming Real?

Interesting article on Global Warming.

Global Warming scares me. It is surprising how many regulations and taxes are being proposed for something no one fully understands.

I wish everyone would read the great Michael Crichton novel "State of Fear".

Engaging Culture (Really Cheap!)

Anyone in youth ministry should know how important it is for us to keep our finger on the pulse of pop culture. Why? Because this is the world students are saturated with every day.

Besides a list of websites I am subscribed to, another thing I do this is have subscriptions to Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. These 2 magazines keep me up on everything happening in the world of music, movies, television, technology, celebrities, and many other things.

Right now at this link you can get a year of Entertainment Weekly (57 issues) for $10.

Go ahead, charge it to the church account. It sincerely does help me to minister more effectively.

Kids don't like Cd's

I read an article on Ars Technica today titled "Kids don't like Cd's: iTunes Store now #2 music retailer" and found a stat that shocked me.

According to the article, 48% of US teenagers did not buy a CD in 2007.

The thing that I found shocking is that means 52% of teenagers did.

Who are these kids?

Of all the teenagers I interact with on a daily basis, I cannot imagine one of them walking into Wal-Mart (still the #1 music retailer) with a $20 bill and walking out with a CD. Paying for a whole CD when you only like a couple of songs is a completely foreign concept to them.