Moralistic Therapeutic Deism-

Here is some really interesting stuff!

http://www.christianpost.com/news/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion-6266/

I'm diving into this one when I get back! I think it's short of the Full Gospel, but big stuff to tackle. I want to here push back and thoughts

Vacation

I'm going on a cruise with 7 other close friends for a week. I'm pretty jacked. Time for R and R. Good conversations and lots of FUN!

We r who we r... Dancing Machines!

Yesterday I completed my 5th and final dance of my late winter dance run. The last dance was a four hour set for the Sadie Hawkins dance in Watertown, MN. Girls ask the guys, it's always a surprise. Bellow is my set for anyone who is interested. Most were radio edits, or personal edits to make a few of the songs appropriate for a school setting, 3 hours and 58.5 mins....

Dynamite	Taio Cruz
Love Like Woe	The Ready Set
DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love (feat. Pitbull)	Usher
Do the John Wall	Troop 41
Magic (feat. Rivers Cuomo)	B.o.B
Cupid Shuffle	Cupid
Could It Be You (Punk Rock Chick)	Hwood
Grenade	Bruno Mars
Teach Me How to Dougie	Cali Swag District
Who Dat Girl (feat. Akon)	Flo Rida
The Time (Dirty Bit)	Black Eyed Peas
Hold It Against Me	Britney Spears
Back to December	Taylor Swift
Rude Boy	Rihanna
Sandstorm	Darude
We R who we R - Safe	Ke$ha
Don't Stop Beleiven	Journey
Satisfaction	BENNY BENASSI
More	Usher
Crank That (Soulja Boy)	Soulja Boy Tell 'Em
Pretty Girl Rock	Keri Hilson
Down (feat. Lil Wayne)	Jay Sean
Black and Yellow	Wiz Khalifa
Whip My Hair	Willow
Bless the Broken Road	Rascal Flatts
Low (feat. T-Pain)	Flo Rida
Firework	Katy Perry
Pon de Replay (Radio Edit)	Rihanna
Hey Ya	Outkast
Billie Jean	Michael Jackson
Your a Jerk (Electro Remix)	Hoodfellas
Yeah 3X	Chris Brown
Bass Down low	Dev
Higher (Bonus Track)	Taio Cruz & Travie McCoy
Just Dance	Lady GaGa & Colby O'Donis
Pretty Boy Swag	Soulja Boy Tell'em
Everytime We Touch (Radio Mix)	Cascada
Break Your Heart (feat. Ludacris)	Taio Cruz
Lost In This Moment	Big & Rich
Aint going down till the sun goes up	Garth Brooks
Yeah!	Usher featuring Lil' Jon & Ludacris
Airplanes (feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore)	B.o.B
SexyBack	Justin Timberlake
Sweet Caroline	Neil Diamond
Club Can't Handle Me (feat. David Guetta)	Flo Rida
I Like It (feat. Pitbull)	Enrique Iglesias
Check It Out (Main Radio Mix)	will.i.am & Nicki Minaj
Just a Dream	Nelly
Tonight (I'm Lovin' You)	Enrique Iglesias
Thriller	Michael Jackson
Stand By Me	Ben E. King
Ridin' Solo	Jason Derülo
Hands in the Ayer	Flo Rida
All I Ever Wanted (Radio Edit)	Basshunter
Somebody to Love	Justin Bieber
Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) [feat. T-Pain]	Pitbull
Ring of Fire	Johnny Cash
Hero	Skillet
I Gotta Feeling	Black Eyed Peas
Arms of an Angel	Sarah Mclachlan
Love Like Woe	The Ready Set
Magic (feat. Rivers Cuomo)	B.o.B
DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love (feat. Pitbull)	Usher
Dynamite	Taio Cruz
Happy Trails	Roy Rogers
I Don't Want To Miss A Thing	Aerosmith

Toys

Some would say, Youth Forum is now in the ministry of toys.  We find really cool stuff for youth groups to use, get enough of it so that 20-30 people can enjoy it at one time, try to convince youth ministry friends and colleagues to rent it from YF dirt cheap to enhance their regular programing. Some of our most recent purchases are:

4 orignal x-boxes that can play Halo against each other

Multiple Copies of Banana Grams

DJ Laser that covers an entire room in laser dots.

All of this stuff is really cool. At least cool to me. But I can't help wondering about a bigger conversation that is happening in Youth Ministry conversations: Is using toys to draw teens into a youth group healthy, beneficial, practical and theologically responsable? This is a question I'm chewing on quite a bit. It also has major implications for the YMS ministry Youth Forum started last year. I'm going to take a few days and really mull it over and hack out some thoughts for this blog.

My gut re-action is: if a toy creates an environment that a teenager wants to be in, that they might not otherwise consider, it becomes a vehicle for the Gospel and discipleship. As long as the means doesn't become the end. In other words, toys can not become our God. God must be our God. Having focus and balance on the right things is key. I will pushing against these thoughts in a later post, but I'd love to hear your opinion...

Things to consider: is this really secret materialism? Are we cheeping the power of the Gospel on it's own? Is the risk of losing focus to great? Is this simply only "in the world" thinking? Did Christ use toys, the disciples, Paul, early church leaders?

Join to conversation! When you were in high school, were you involved in a Youth Group? What got you there? Did you stay? Did you stay long term? Why?

To those friends in ministry, do you use toys? In what capacity?

Yes, I am still alive.

Dear blog-o-sphere friends. Yes, I'm alive and thank you for you concern. Looking back at my last blog post of request for petitions of prayer about surviving a crazy night of lock-ins and then silence from me, I too might have wondered if this should be a cause for alarm... Hahahaha, only on the internet. 

We'll now that I've made it through lock-in season. I'll be getting back in the habit of posting again regularly and I've got some great topics to cover. I've been to the front, I've got some war stories to tell, some thoughts to ponder as a group, and some obscure references to make. 

Keep those rabbit ears positioned just right because it's time to get tuned it.