2 Videos of note.

This one is super nerdy, but I can't help my self. It's such a cool idea. Would love to do something like this sometime. 

Backstory from the video's creator: In 2009, Casey Pugh asked thousands of Internet users to remake "Star Wars: A New Hope" into a fan film, 15 seconds at a time. Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they wanted. Within just a few months SWU grew into a wild success. The creativity that poured into the project was unimaginable

#2: Nostalgia Time. Listen with CC one for best effect. 

Some interesting odds and ends.

1. I think brotips.com has some good advice on it. It's not all good and It's not all clean. But, it's got some good gags and a few gems in there. I wonder what Solomon would think?

2. Right now there are so many irons in the fire at work, it's hard to keep up. Sometimes when there is so much to it's hard to focus. I have to work really hard to get things done and keep up. It's all good stuff. The curse of a dreamer.

3. Ricky Rubio has got some mad skills. No look passes.

4. Had a self revelation. My over active imagination often makes me think that I've communicated more details then I think I have. Sometimes this puts me on different pages with other people. Going to work on curbing this. I need one of these to make people jump in.

5. Goal this year. Once a month, hack out a blog post.

6. It's easy to get caught in own little mazes and not see the big picture. This has been my life as of late. If I had a prayer request. It would that God would remind to listen more, talk less; especially with him.

7. Hopping to go back to Disney World this April.

NYWC Post #1

I just returned from NYWC and there are quite a few things stirring in my soul. I'm going to be flushing some of those ideas out on this blog. Before the conference I penned a few questions I wanted to wrestle with durring the weekend. I also asked 3 fellow journeyers to pitch in some thoughts: Johnny Davy - my traveling partner for the weekend, Alex - my brother and Kelly - my ministry accomplish. Here is the list we came up with for Youth Forum and myself:

1. How does Youth Forum serve the Summer Festival Team? Right Now? 3 months? 6? 1 Year? 3?
2. What is the vision for project Utah?
3. What is the long term vision of Youth Forum?
4. How can we better promote camp?
5. Camp topics? Fun Idea Topics?
6. What is good database software?
7. How do I regularly become challenged theologically?
8. What does personal bible study look like for me?
9. What are you going to do for the teaching at Link
10. What does ministering to post-modern christians look like?
11. What is YF SWOT right now?
12. How do we minister to hurting young people, with out sacrificing main streamers
13. How can we continue to use new technology to connect with teenager?
14. How do we have meaningful conversation with over stimulated youth?
15. What do you do with confirmands who should not be confirmed?
16. How do we change confirmation to more like the early church?
17. What is the role of morality for christian and non-Christians? Summer Fest Team?
18. How do we show family love in a team setting? How to we heal outliers?

This is what rattling around in my head over the weekend. It was great. Glad to be back. I will be processing a lot of these on the blog?

Executive Committee Celabration

Tonight, I had the chance to have a very fancy dinner with a group of people who've I've grown  rather fond of spending time with, the Youth Forum executive committee. This a group of people who've thrown their arms around me and want to see our ministry succeed. They are very smart and have invested a lot of time, energy, love, prayers and patience with me. If you are in ministry - find people like this. It's so life giving to be invited to be a part of a community of Jesus people who are so faithful and so in tune to what God would have for us. They are the shoulders of giants which this camp generation stands on.

They insisted that I read Dance, Children, Dance: The story of Jim Rayburn founder of Young Life

The book sounds pretty foundational to understanding the movement that Youth Forum spawned out of.  I've been quite burnt out on reading, but need to follow through with this one. I will post some thoughts on it in a future post.

God is faithful. For such a time is this. Can't wait for what will soon prove to be a crazy year of following God.

Welcome back Koter

3 months to the day since my last post. Life happens, well more accurately camp happens.

Camp is no longer the dominating force in my life for a few months. I hope to start blogging again. I have some crazy stories to tell, some thoughts to try and flush out, some programing to share and a heck of a lot of rambling to do.

My buddy Dan just got hired at Tout, a new social media company - kinda of like video twitter. It's pretty dang cool. www.tout.com

my tout is http://www.tout.com/u/tonyducklow/

dan's is http://www.tout.com/u/danweinand

Draft of the Summer Bucket List

Last summer, I started the tradition of creating a bucket list of things to do before Summer kicks the buckets. Between memorial day and labor day, I will try and accomplish as many things on this list that I can.

2011 Summer Bucket List - Draft 1

1. Hold a newborn baby

2. Watch a horse race 

3. Ride a roller coaste

4. See a movie on a roof top

5. See a theater production in the outdoor

6. Go to a baseball game in the rain

7. Call a friend you haven't talked to in 3 months

8. Watch the Sun-Rise

9. Go on a picnic

10. Try at least 3 new non-chain restaurants 

11.  Pay for the person behind you in the drive through

12. Get an autograph of a celebrity

13. Get 50 Postcards from 50 states

14. Learn a new parlor game

15. Order off the menu at a restaurant

16. Wine Tasting

17. Drive in Movie Theater

18. Watch Wizard of the OZ With Dark Side of the Moon

19. Play Chess in a park

20. Drink a Pina Colada and get caught in the rain

21. Get on TV

22. Slow Dance in the moonlight

23. Respectfully attend the funeral of stranger

24. Volunteer for a day at a food shelf

25. Milk a cow

26. Cut someone else's hair

27. Tip a canoe

28. Watch a season of a show your parents liked

29. Ask your grandparent to tell you a story

30. Make a Sculpture

31. Make a treasure map to find something you buried

32. Visit someone else's church 

33. Tell some jokes at an open mic night 

34. Rent a bike from NiceRide

35. Design a T-Shirt 

36. Do someone else's laundry 

37. Start a squirt gun fight

38. Go to a pot-luck

39. Find a new hobby

40. Throw an unplanned party

Right now I have 40 things on this list. My total list will have 50. Any suggestions for the final 10? Also anyone want to join me!

Discipline Adoption

One Saturday a month, I meet with a small group of guys to talk about issues of purity, discipleship and being in relationship with Christ. We're reading through the book:  Disciplines of a Godly Man. The study group is awesome and chalk full of pressing conversation. The content of the book is valuable discusion foder. Hughes makes a few good points, but sometimes the practices that he preaches are too conservative for my tastes. In my humble opinion, his perspective of  discipline can get in the way of experiencing the fullness of Christ. One particular passage, on relationship with women outside of a spouse is particularly troubling for me. I'll blog about that passage at a later date. That being said, I think reading books you don't agree with for discusion groups is valuable practice.

Out of our groups discusion from this Saturday, I felt convicted to spend more time memorizing scripture. The truth of scripture is something that I want to become core to my identity and to be something that I can cling to in all moments of life. I'm going to start memorizing one verse of scripture every month. Many people who start this goal go for one a week. I think doing it in a bit longer time frame for me will do two things:

1. Make the goal attainable. One week sounds like a burn-out rate.
2. Let me really chew on one piece of scripture for a month.

At my friend Mike's suggestion, I'm going to change my default page in my web browser to the piece of scripture I choose as a subtle reminder to read that passage, as well as making it easily accessible to read

My first verese will be:

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  Romans 5:8 NLT

Thoughts on other verses for the year?