The world would be a better place if more people were into poetry. Appreciate this:
Free Music Friday 01 // Ryanhood – The World Awaits
Welcome to the the first ever Free Music Friday! Featured this week are Folk Rock duo Ryanhood. You can download their album The World Awaits for free from Noisetrade.com. If you like Jason Mraz, Simon and Garfunkel, Jack Johnson or Playjerise you might like to check them out (see a long list of influences/sounds likes on their MySpace page).
FULL ALBUM DOWNLOAD | Band website | MySpace | Facebook | Twitter
Got an idea for Free (+ legal) Music Friday? Leave it in the comments. Are you a band? Think I might like your music? If you send me your album and let me give away at least one mp3 for free, no promises, it might be featured! Contact deets.
Chuck Norris doesn’t turn 70…
…70 turns Chuck Norris. It’s his birthday today (Wednesday). While the round-house kicks are pretty impressive, the coolest thing about him is that he’s a Christian.
What’s your favourite Chuck Norris joke? Bonus points for original Chuck Haikus (5-7-5)…
OK Go – This Too Shall Pass – Rube Goldberg Machine version
OK Go took YouTube by storm in 2006 with that treadmill film clip receiving over 50million views. They’ve just realeased a new vid that might get even more! It’s brilliant. Check it:
The original film clip they made of this song is pretty good too.
Fight The Youth Ministry Stereotype
From the makers of Hotel, Hotel comes the latest rap video from the Simply Youth Ministry Conference. Jake Rutenbar is the rapper and Josh Griffin is his sidekick.
Here are the rules:
- Don’t be so messy
- Don’t be competitive at sports
- Spend a little less time playing video games
- Spend a little less time trying to be cool
- You must avoid irresponsibility
#1 – guilty, #2 – guilty, #3 – I hate video games, #4 – I know I’m lame, no pretense here, #5 – I think I’m pretty responsible
Can you think of any other rules to help fight the youth ministry stereotype??
I Thought I Could Dance
I was introduced to So You Think You Can Dance (Australia) on a recent holiday. Up until that point, I thought I could dance. It’s not the first time I’ve deluded myself claiming sporting ability: when I was 11, I thought I was in the top 1000 tennis players in the world. My world came crashing down when I lost 6-0 in my first tournament. I was probably lucky to scrape into the top 1000 in my suburb!
My world, likewise, came crashing down when watching this exciting TV show. I now realise that the shopping trolley, sprinkler and big-fish-little-fish-cardboard-box don’t really cut it as dance moves. I’m a lame dancer. BUT it’s not all bad news! After watching So You Think You Can Dance, dancing has now gone up a notch in my books. It’s now on notch 1. Visually spectacular!
Although we don’t have a TV, I’ve recently discovered you can watch full episodes on the channel ten website. Check out the vid below. It’s incredible. Issi (my favourite) and Robbie dance a haunting number to Regina Spektor’s Samson:
- Longer version – Watch WITH all the commentary
- Shorter Version – Watch WITHOUT all the commentary
ps – they film this sucker at my favourite cafe – The Carriageworks in Eveleigh
Who has the most street cred with teenagers?
I’ve worked as a School Teacher. I’ve worked as a Youth Pastor. I’m currently working as a Youth Worker. School teaching is the most secure and structured of the three. Youth pastoring is the most exciting, being able to preach Jesus without holding back. Youth working is wild, unpredictable and sometimes dangerous. My recent observation: of the three roles, Youth Workers have the most street cred with teenagers.
Lots of the crew I work with as a Youth Worker are rough nuts. That means that, when they turn up to school, they are often getting in trouble from their teachers; in the unlikely scenario of them stumbling into a church, they may feel judged by the Youth Pastor; they have a passionate hatred and paranoia toward the Police. But Youth Workers? In between dropping f-bombs*, they show signs of great respect toward Youth Workers.
This was illustrated a few weeks ago during a conversation I was having with a 17 year-old. I was in a team of 3 youth workers and 2 security guards on a late night Street Work shift. In the conversation I found out that this guy had left school at age 14. I asked him if he had a job, but he lost it a couple of years ago. I then asked him what he gets up to during the day. He hesitated, but then confidently and with a smile said: “Ummm… oh, I can tell you, you’re a Youth Worker… I smoke bongs all day!”
While Youth Workers may have street cred, in the end, all local government Youth Work can offer hurting and broken teenagers is a band-aid. Ultimately, my hope is that broken teenagers will turn to Jesus knowing that he loves them.
I know there are plenty of Youth Pastors who read this blog – I’d love to chat to you sometime about how to reach some of these rough nut kids that rarely come to your programs.
*dropping f-bombs = swearing at you