Tim Schmorrow–My Last YAN Article

My last Young Adult Network article is up. Also, check out the discussion boards!

The article features a good “friend” of mine, Tim Schmorrow. Check it out, dude.

UPDATE: the article has been replaced with the new one.  I will post my articles as soon as I’m sure that I’m allowed to.  Thanks!

Trends and Churches. My recent article.

I have been writing for the UM GBOD Young Adult Network for a few weeks now.  Each week I’ve sent a question, based out of the article, to the discussion board.  We’ve had some wonderful discussions!  I’ve also “met” some great folks.  One of which is a young student pastor in seminary, Mellisa.  Check out her blog.

The response to this particular article has been quite varied.  I expected that it may have been a bit edgy, possibly not well communicated; however, I think it’s alright.  It has gotten people talking on many levels and opinions.

Here is the link to my article.  Please check out the discussion, too.

This is what Rev. Logue had to say regarding the article.

Episcopalian Church Planting?

I’m guilty.  I never thought that the Episcopal church was progressive (not in a political way, but in a “change for Christ” kind of way).

King Of Peace Episcopal Church is in my community.  It is a relatively new church start-up.  I was introduced to this church when I was a high school drama teacher; I taught the pastor’s daughter!  It wasn’t until I attended the funeral of a young man in the community that I realized the power and annointing that was on this church.  The Rev. Frank Logue was a channel for the Holy Spirit during this service.

Rev. Logue has been involved in more than one new church.  This is an exciting thing that I didn’t realize was happening right under my nose!  We’re going to spend some time together this week (maybe next, depending on schedules).  With his permission, I would love to share some of his thoughts with you.

Episcopal church planting…God is amazing!

Read Rev. Logue’s blog, Irenic Thoughts.

Churches, listen to the marketing buzz…

      “What has been will be again,
       what has been done will be done again;
       there is nothing new under the sun. ” –Ecclesiastes

In marketing, the loudest voices point out the mundane and obvious that gets overlooked.  Seth Godin suggests that sometimes things get “broken” because they were fixed at one time but later the culture changes and it breaks again.  He is focusing mainly on marketing.

I have seen alot of parallels between what is going on in marketing blogs to the struggles we are having in church blogs.  Shall we study each other and take each other’s advice?  I suggest you spend some time at Seth’s blog, and some others including Creating Passionate Users and Gaping Void.  Watch out for some language.  If you can handle it the ideas are great.

Create our lessons with blogging?

I absolutely love this idea! I think I will try to utilize it as we develop our speaking/teaching plan for the next year!

Brian Russell, professor of Old Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary writes:

“Pastors can also use their blogs to post ideas for future sermons and sermon series. We can then invite our congregations to participate in the process of sermon preparation. As we all know, the best messages are born out of extended prayer and reflection upon the Scriptures. Why not sketch out three month’s worth of preaching topics and Scripture passages and post this on-line? Encourage your people to unleash their creativity in terms of movie clips, song selection, artistic expressions, and illustrations. You will be surprised how much stronger and influential your preaching/teaching will become by inviting and employing the input of the many. Your congregation will also be impacted more profoundly by the teaching because it will have a greater sense of ownership of the messages.” –Realmealministries.org

What if me and the Youth Ministry leadership team (adult and student) were to blog out ideas about subjects and specific lessons? Wouldn’t it be awesome to invite people to add creatively to the lessons in ways that Mr. Russel writes about? How much more exciting would it be to teach a lesson if it had been in communal preperation for a few weeks or months?!?

Young Adults Network

The General Board of Discipleship of the United Methodist Church (insert breath here) has just begun a website called the Young Adults Network! .

Julie O’Neal, Manager of Faith Formation, Leadership Development, and Resource Coordination with Young Adults. describes it best :

“The goal of the network is to help keep young adults connected to each other and to the church in one way or another. Many of the components of the network are guided by the hopes, dreams, visions, goals, thoughts and nitty gritty ideas of the young adults themselves. The target age for this network is 18-30, although it does focused work with those who are about to enter this age group. This network is not limited to United Methodist participants and contributors. Many young adults are interested in and explore inter-denomination and inter-faith relationships and we welcome those perspectives in this community to enhance the dialogue.” –Julie O’Neal, Welcome to the Young Adult Network

Please check it out! As an added treat for you and me, I will be contributing some articles for the YAN during the months of September and October!!!

**Updated.  I just got word that I’ll be contributing in Sept., so I changed it here!

UMC Web Offerings

Did you know that the United Methodist Church has an amazing network of websites? I’m going to start a series of posts about some of the different websites that we have, including the South Georgia Conferenc website. To start you off, take a look at these!

South Georgia Conference website.

United Methodist Church website.

Bulk Mail; Bulk Woes

I have learned 3 very valuable things today about the church.

1. I hate this machine:

2. Mailing a letter to 300 people takes about 2hrs and 57 minutes and $41.00 more than sending an email to 300 people.

3. Mrs. Christy is the most talented person ever.

Study Shows Lonliness on the Rise

An article from the Washington Post claims that "social isolation is growing." A study conducted by leading university sociologists says that American's are getting lonlier.

"Americans go on 60 percent fewer picnics today and families eat dinner together 40 percent less often compared with 1965, he said. They are less likely to meet at clubs or go bowling in groups. Putnam has estimated that every 10-minute increase in commutes makes it 10 percent less likely that people will establish and maintain close social ties"

I wonder how many of these isolated and lonely people exist around me. I wonder, on any given Sunday, how many of these people are sittiing in the pews of my church and other United Methodist Churches around the United States. I remember Jenny Jackson-Adam's sermon from this year at the SGA Annual Conference. She was preaching on Luke 19:1-10, the story of Zacchaeus in the tree. Zacchaeus was lonely and in pain–in order to see Jesus, he climbed up in a tree. No one saw him but Jesus. Rev. Jackson-Adams called us to look around us and see how many people around us were hiding in trees and call them out of there. How many lonely, isolated people are "hiding in trees" around you?

Isolation and the Internet:

"But University of Toronto sociologist Barry Wellman questioned whether the study's focus on intimate ties means that social ties in general are fraying. He said people's overall ties are actually growing, compared with previous decades, thanks in part to the Internet. Wellman has calculated that the average person today has about 250 ties with friends and relatives."

The internet is an amazing tool for connectivity. How can we use it? How can we also keep it from being substitute to real human connection?

Students & Internet: What are they doing? How can the be safe?

My last post was a slightly editted version (just so it would make sense out of context) of my last church newsletter post. I had no idea the kind of discussion it would start! People are truly concerned and want to know more! I am rarely more excited than when I can be a part of an emerging discussion like this!

Parents, I know you are concerned about MySpace. It is my hope that I can help you find any information that you need to make your home safe. Here are some wonderful resources on web safety:

Netsmartz, SafeKids, SafeTeen, and MySpace safety tips.
I also realized that there are alot of questions about what MySpace, blogging, and other terms even are. Here are some links for you:

Blog

MySpace

Web 2.0

Wiki

There's so much more that we could discuss, but I'll stop here for (hopefully) easy digestion. Please, let me know what questions, comments, or concerns you have. (Just click "add a comment" at the top of this post).