This Generation

I was reading a blog by Josh Griffin who is the high school pastor at Saddleback Church and I saw this video.

This is one of the first videos that I feel really depicts youth, their culture and what they are feeling.  So many times we assume we know what they are going through when in reality their culture is changing at an alarming rate and we wonder how they could possibly be so confused or not have it figured out.  Because when we were their age…we really can’t use that statement anymore.  Anybody who works with teens or parents teens needs to see this video, it is well worth the watch.  All I can say is we need to pray for this generation and take every opportunity to speak truth into their lives by our actions and not just our words.

140 Character Tombstone

If you could write out what would be on your tombstone today what would it say?  Better yet what would someone else write about you?  What if you could only use a 140 characters like you would in a Twitter feed?  Twitter has changed the way that people and companies communicate.  It has changed the way people even blog requiring shorter, quicker posts that don’t lose the attention of our readers.

I think it is an interesting idea though, how do you sum up your life in 140 characters or less?  So I throw this challenge out to you today, 140 characters or less how would my life be summed up?  That’s right I am asking you to write my faux Twitter tombstone today.  What better way to improve in the weak areas than to see what people would say about you today?  Why wait till its over to make the changes?  Make the change necessary today to impact today.

Difference Maker: Shaun King

Ok let’s be honest, we hear all the time that one person can make a difference, but is that just something we say to encourage and motivate people, or do we really believe that?  I completely believe it and I can prove it.  I want to introduce you to Shaun King. He’s a 30 Year Old Husband, Father, Grad Student & Lead Pastor of The Courageous Church (www.Courageous.tv) in Downtown Atlanta, and he is making a difference.

I started to follow Shaun over a year ago as I heard he had planted a church in one of the toughest neighborhoods in Atlanta and I had a chance to meet and talk with him at Catalyst [although I am pretty sure he would have no remembrance of me].  The things that stood out about this man was his humility and his willingness to talk to  someone who is pretty insignificant in the global perspective of the church world.  One minute with him and you can tell his passion and excitement.  I highly recommend following him on his many social networks.  Below is a list of the tweets that he made last night about what is going on in Haiti.  Shaun is using Twitter to mobilize, impact and create an awareness in Haiti and it is incredibly impressive.

• Setting out my Soapbox. About to step on it for a few tweets. 1st my opinions then quotes from leaders on the ground in Haiti
• ALL OF THE EXPERTS ARE DEAD WRONG…..
• When the earthquake 1st hit, thousands of you immediately wanted to go and help BE the solution, be the hands & feet of God…
• But you were told by the experts NOT TO COME. You were told to wait until some magical time when things were much better…
• The experts were wrong. Some probably meant well because they didn’t want you to get hurt or be in the way, but let me tell you what…
• Is missing in Haiti -passionate, hard-working, unskilled, loving, non-experts. They are in SHORT SUPPLY. I mean RARE…
• Consequently, the MAJORITY of supplies are sitting unused & the teams of unskilled non-experts I am advising are regularly…
• 9 days later, regularly the first people to have ever visited orphanages and disaster sites. They ALL tell me that we should have…
• IGNORED the experts. Let me tell you a story that will kill you. The caretaker of the Notre Dame orphanage told @SpenceNix…
• She heard dozens of dying babies trapped in the rubble scream & cry for 5 whole days before they all died. 55 babies died. Nobody ever came…
• One more tweet from me then I want to type you a quote from our team on the ground…
• It is NOT TOO LATE. If you feel CALLED to go to Haiti GO. GO! GOOOO! It is tough work, but GO! I will help you…
• Next tweets are direct from our teams on the ground…
• “The growing feeling here in Haiti is that the BIG ORGS & government don’t really care. It’s like they are here b/c the world is…
• focused here. If they care, little passion is ever displayed. Seems like a job or obligation. Even my sponsoring organization…
• (name of large Christian org) pretty much just set up a tent, gave us a vest and stickers and said go. No support. No passion. No questions…
• Large amounts of supplies are just sitting in boxes everywhere. I have seen them there for days while hurting people & doctors…
• Need them. This has opened my eyes wider to the wastefulness of large charities and benefit of small, nimble, passionate groups…
• I have been in Haiti for 6 days and I still have not seen one large Red Cross presence. I honestly think social media has…
• Saved more lives since the earthquake than all but 3-4 great organizations here now. Passion. Relationships. Technology has changed…
• the game. We saved so many lives today and it was just us doing it bro.” <<<<<End of quote
• Thanks for listening.

Thought it was incredible to hear hands on what is going on in Haiti and see one person making a difference.  How can you make a difference in your circle of influence and in the world?

 

Whole Milk and Asparagus

There are some things in life that I don’t understand and maybe it’s not my place to.  Maybe they are pet peeves maybe they are just my preference.  For example: Why won’t college football go to a playoff system instead of using the stupid BCS system and allowing mid-major teams to ruin the bowl games.  Why do women need to put mascara on while driving?  They can’t get up 4 minutes earlier?  I’m sure you have several things that you don’t understand as well.

Something else, why is it so healthy and promoted to drink whole milk as a kid to strengthen bones and teeth but then frowned upon as an adult because it will make you fat?  Don’t you still need strong bones and teeth as an adult?  Or why when you eat asparagus does it make your pee stink so bad?  Once again things that I don’t understand.

I also don’t understand why you would not become a fan of Fellowship Student Ministries.  So here is your chance to become a fan and stay up to date with what God is doing in our student program.

 

Texting While Driving PSA

I don’t know if you have had a chance to see this yet but it is pretty powerful and makes you think.  What is really the most important thing at that moment? It’s made me think twice this week.

Sexting Video

Parents here is a link that Greg Davis sent to me that you may be interested in.  Greg Davis knows all things technical and is a great resource that you can ask almost anything to about the technology that is out there.  He is also a great resource in how to protect you and your family when it comes to technology.  Greg has his finger on the pulse of what is happening even within the youth culture when it comes to technology.  Click HERE to check out the Sexting Video Blog.

Free Conference_Online

Perry Noble and New Spring Church are running their conference UNLEASH online live today.  Click on the logo to check out the site.

Lala

Do you like music?  So do I and Greg Davis introduced me to this tool that allows my music to be online and available at all times.  It also allows me to download songs cheaper than Itunes and in mp3 format or if I just want to listen to it online I can do so for .10 cents.  Seriously?  How cool is that?

It also allows me to post what our playlist will be for UNITED.  One week prior and three weeks after our UNITED you will be able to listen to the worship sets as well as the opening song we do for each UNITED.  You can follow others on lala and hear what type of music they enjoy and the best part is it is free.  Check it out at lala. I’ve been using this one day but I am really impressed.

Twittering?

By now you have probably at least heard of the social network called Twitter.  If you have ever updated your Facebook status, you can use Twitter. It simply asks the question, “What are you doing?“.   You can read more about it in this post from Greg, as well as check out this brief video which explains Twitter in Plain English.

Twitter is being used by some great church leaders and ministries across the world. One of the interesting things about technology is the way it tends to ‘flatten the earth’ when it comes to communications. You have unprecedented access to people who you never could have just a decade ago.  You can see why Mark Batterson, Lead Pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C., likes Twitter here, here, and here.

Fellowship Student Ministries now has a Twitter account as well.  We will be using this account for quick updates, announcements and other communications of interest to UNITED events and Life Groups.  I strongly encourage you to give Twitter a try. Even if you don’t want to sign up for Twitter yourself, you can still follow FSM by sending the following text message to 40404 ‘follow fsmunited‘  (only drop the quotes).  This will allow you to receive text messages about FSM without joining Twitter.

Here are some good resources to help you understand and get started with Twitter:

• Getting to Know Twitter FAQ’s
  
• Official Twitter Commands
• Using Twitter on your Phone
• Newbies Guide to Twitter

Oh yea, you can also follow Ryan on Twitter also!

Get Connected!

Thanks to Greg Davis, my blog now has integration with Facebook via a new feature called “Facebook Connect“.  By connecting your Facebook profile with my blog, you can have trusted and authenticated social interaction, that you control the settings for.

By clicking the “Connect with Facebook” button on the right-hand side of the blog, you’ll have to authorize (“connect”) your Facebook profile with this site.  You only have to do this once, then future visits to my site you’ll already be logged in via your Facebook account.

If you read this blog via a newsreader or via email subscriptions, please visit the site and “connect“.  Other interactive features that this provides is the ability to easily share an interesting post with your friends on Facebook as well as the ability to automatically share comments you leave on a posted article into your Facebook news feed (you can turn that off if you like).

The beauty of social media is the ability and ease to connect with each other. Facebook Connect allows sites like this one to extend that integration and connection even beyond the boundaries of Facebook itself.  Give it a try and let me know what you think!  (Try connecting and leaving a comment on this post).