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Heath Ledger, Jim Elliot
Mark Altrogge, from The Blazing Center (sic), has written a post comparing two men who both died at the age of 28. Heath Ledger (1979-2008) and Jim Elliot (1927-1956).
Here’s an extract:
Youth Ministry Vision Talk
Casting vision is an important aspect of leading a youth ministry. The following are 6 tips I sent to a friend who asked for some advice in writing a vision talk for his youth group kick-off talk. (I’m guessing they are applicable in any ministry).
- Keep it big. Help people see the size of the vision.
- Keep it small. Help people see how they can be part of it in their own way.
- Don’t tackle too much. You might refer to each purpose, but you wouldn’t want to explain each in length.
- Remember your audience. Have something younger have something older. eg “if you’re in yr 7 it might look like this”, “if you’re in yr 12…”
- Remind people of the gospel. The cross of Jesus ought to drive all of our preaching and ministry.
- Get people pumped!
1 warm fuzzy to the first person to name the location of the Thai Restaurant in the above picture…
Web Watch Wrap #3
Welcome to Autumn! 3 Random Autumn decisions follow. 1) I decided yesterday that Autumn is my favourite season. Spring came a close 2nd. The decisive factor was that Autumn leads into winter and Spring leads into Summer. I like Winter better than Summer… You can always put more clothes on – but there’s only so many you can take off!! I like the leaves too. 2) I also decided to finish my first week of Bible Skool by filing all of my paperwork. Good start. 3) I also decided to write more book reviews on this blog this year. I read lots of books – I think I’ll read even more this year. Stay tuned.
WEB WATCH WRAP: my bookmarks through del.icio.us. You can subscribe to them via RSS or just keep an eye out on the left sidebar. Here are the latest 10:
Driscoll on Emerging and Emergent
Download this article (pdf) now! It’s one of the best articles I’ve read on the emerging church. Check out some of his other notes & resources + the sermon on the emerging church (I haven’t listened to it yet).
Mark Driscoll helpfully traces something of the beginnings of the emerging church, what it looks like now and some thoughts on the future.
He describes 3 different types of churches:
- Church 1.0 is traditional and institutional
- Church 2.0 is contemporary (currently the dominant model in the US)
- Church 3.0 is emerging and missional.
Should women pursue men?
Mark Driscoll was asked this question during question time in his sermon on “dating”. If you are a single man – watch the clip below to see his answer. If you are a single woman – watch it. If you are married – watch it so you can encourage your friends!
Driscoll says that the most under-represented demographic in churches are men in the 18-34 age bracket. Mars Hill Church invest much of their energy into reaching these men. In a culture and context where young “men” spend on average 2.5 hours on video games per day – it’s time to man up!
The sermon is very good – check it out on the Mars Hill Church website (it also has links on how to do it in iTunes)
Here are some more clips from the sermon and question time:
- Too young to date? (sweet answer – bolder than I’ve ever been with teenagers!!)
- Am I ready to date?
- Mars Hill Men Die
- Hook Up, Shack Up, Break Up
- The Bubble Suit
John Piper Live
I’m currently listening to John Piper preach live at The Resurgence Text and Context Conference… in Seattle!! They have set up a live video stream.
Justin Buzzard is live blogging the event. Here are his first 6 posts:
- Text & Context Conference, Live Blogging?
- Text & Context Conference: Sunday Service @ Mars Hill
- Text & Context Conference: Free Books
- Text & Context Conference: Tim Smith, Building Missional Worship Bands
- Text & Context Conference: Session 1, Mark Driscoll
- Text and Context Conference: Session 2, C.J. Mahaney
- UPDATE: Text and Context Conference: Session 3, John Piper