I work with junior highers

Admit it, you know it's funny. you can buy it on amazon. Look how expensive it is.

SNYDER

Use your ingredients

This video was done for the high school ministry at Saddleback Church. This was done during the 40 days of purpose. The guy in the video is Shaun Blakeney. He is the High School pastor at Saddleback. He is an amazing leader and an excellent communicator. Also, one of my best friends. The video was shot and edited by one of my students at the school I am a chaplain at. You can check out some of his other projects here.



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Bless her heart

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Tis the season

Why is it always so hectic between Thanksgiving and Christmas? I am pretty certain we bring it upon ourselves. What are some things you are doing in the next month to slow down?

how to be innovative

I found this article and it is really good. It's the 7 habits of highly innovative people. Here is a glimpse.
3. Take Risks, Make Mistakes - I believe that part of the reason why we create self-imposed inhibition is due to our fear of failure. Expect that some ideas will fail in the process of learning. Build prototypes often, test them out on people, gather feedback, and make incremental changes. Rather than treating the mistakes as failures, think of them as experiments. “Experiment is the expected failure to deliberately learn something.” (Scott Berkun). Instead of punishing yourself for the failures, accept them, then take your newfound knowledge and put it towards finding the best solution. Live up to your goal of producing the best result, but understand you might hit roadblocks along the way.
“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”
–Thomas A. Edison
You can check out the rest of the article here.

SNYDER

Open Source

With the technology we have today and how easily accessible it is. Open source is the new thing. Why wouldn't you as a church give away the things you have created to help churches who do not have the resources to make their own all the time. There are a lot of churches giving away their stuff. Lifechurch.tv was definitely on the front end of this. They have all kinds of free resources and are working on ways to give away a lot of their other resources. There is a new website World Wide Open that looks pretty awesome. Check it out. You might start turning more towards Open Source. I mean it makes sense that if we are the Church then we should be sharing what we are producing. I am a huge proponent of giving away your resources and this looks like a good step in that direction.

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home sweet home

Mariah was discharged from the hospital. She has some ulcers and will be on some medication for about a month. She is so happy to be out of the hospital.

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so you counted, now what

I read a lot of blogs. Maybe too many. I got in trouble for reading too many blogs at my last job.. Blogs weren't looked upon fondly, but I digress. Some blogs I read mention how many hands were counted for salvation. Now I agree this is a great number, but I want to see follow up on these hands or how this is done. I know churches are different. But I want to know what churches do to follow up. I know a lot of churches give out bibles and some other materials. Who at your church does this follow up? And how is it done? And what is the the churches next step to help these new believers out?

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what the ulcer

It's been a long 24 hours. My wife had to go to the emergency room last night because of stomach pains. Come to find out she has a couple of ulcers in her tummy. A little medicine will take care of it. But they couldn't figure out what it was. so it was a long night and day today. Thank goodness it is easily fixable. She still has a little pain. Some prayer would be great. Thanks so much.

SNYDER

Everything is Spiritual

Bits and Peaces

We made this video over a year ago when we were teaching on the P.E.A.C.E. plan. Hince the play on the word "Pieces".

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Hershey's and Church

So when I woke up this morning the very first thought that hit me was wow church should be a lot like the Hershey's Bar, simple. Now I really have no idea why I thought that or if it even makes sense. The way I see it. You don't see much marketing for Hershey's Bars. Should there be marketing for churches? Or, the Hershey's Bar is simple. There is not a lot to it. It's just chocolate. Do we as youth ministries rely on to many programs or events just to keep students busy? why do we do all these events and rely so much on programming? I have heard a couple of churches say we need to get a way from programming and be way more relational. They say this, but don't do it. Do we not do it because we are afraid of losing students. Maybe you need to lose students to make your ministry more healthy. Is the risk worth the reward?
So, instead of being a chocolate bar filled with all kinds of other candy that actually in some cases make chocolate bars worse, we need to be like the original Hershey's bar. Plain and simple. Like I said, who knows what my thought meant, but I am going to think about this some more. Let me know what you think. Am I crazy or does it make a little sense.

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Welcome to the blog world

3 of my very good friends who are youth pastors have started blogging. Jon Goolsby is the JH pastor at 2nd Baptist Church in Houston,TX. Another one is Terrace Clayton he is the JH pastor at River Pointe Church in Houston, TX. And finally, Adam Young. He is the youth pastor at Lifechurch.tv's Stillwater Campus. All three of these youth pastor's are unbelievable guys and unbelievable leaders. I know I will be checking out there blogs quite often. Check them out. Love you guys. Keep up the good work. Miss you all.

SNYDER

Worship House Media

Worship House Media is a great website to find some resources you can use in your ministry. They already have some holiday stuff available. They are definitely ahead of the game. Another cool thing about this site is that you can submit media products you have created. hey also have a free section. Check em out if you are in need of some resources.

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Media and Technology

In this day and age media and new technology can be used in ways we have never thought of to reach our youth. What are some ways you are using Facebook and Myspace. Are there any other social networking sites your students might be using? What is youth ministry going to look like 5 years from now?

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I need a niche

I have over 100 posts. but I am so random. So I am going to make my new niche ministry and media. Mainly youth ministry. This is going to include technology also. So however this happens, hopefully each post will have to do with youth ministry and tech/media.

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Mariner's Church - Irvine, CA

This is our new church home. My wife, Mariah is the small groups coordinator for the junior high ministry their. She loves her job and we love where Mariner's is heading. We have been here since mid August and love it more and more everyday. Mariner's is a Willow Creek Association Church. So it is a little different than the purpose-driven model we are use to. If you are in the SoCal area check it out.

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Saddleback Church - Lake Forest, CA

Where to begin. Saddleback is an amazing church. I first heard about Saddleback while reading "Purpose Driven Church. And learned even more first hand as an intern for 2 years in the junior high ministry under the incredible leadership of Kurt Johnston. 95% of my friends in California work in student ministries there. If I could I would go back again to be an intern just to learn. If you are reading this and looking for an internship I recommend checking theirs out here. If you have any questions about saddleback please ask.

SNYDER