like a fire

Those crazy guys over at Simply Youth Ministry have broken the teen barrier. It seems they have come up with a new way to communicate to teens called “txt”ing. I did some research and it seems that the mobile phone companies have been holding out on us. Apparently, most cell phones can send and receive short messages in the form of text (for those uninformed, text is another word for words or letters). Not only that, but unbeknownst to most youth leaders, the teens have known this for quite some time and have been using this technology to communicate secretly all the time. In fact, there are several plans that they are undertaking using only this technology.

The good news, at least for us youth pastors, is that SYM is helping us be more relevant (for a small fee) by providing a service to “txt” teens we know and work with. For just 10-40 dollars a month, youth pastors can communicate the teen way. This is actually a bit of a tradeoff, though. On the pro side, you don’t have to get into the other techonology that most people don’t know about yet called the “cell” or “mobile” phone. On the con side, you have to deal with another very new techonology called the “internet” or “World Wide Web” (don’t worry, it has nothing to do with spiders).

So you will have to make up your mind for yourself. I will say that SYM has a great track record since making available the “web site” in a box. I also look forward to the new technologies that SYM may tackle in the future. There are so many possibilities with some hints at things to come like:

“peer to peer” file sharing - you could sent the notes from you sermon to your kids at home on there computers. This probably won’t be feasible until much later when most homes have computers and the “internet”.

“MMOG or Massive Multiplayer Online Game” - this one is really out there but I think it is possible. One day (probably in the distant future), people are going start playing games online. When they do, they will get more for their experience if they play with a lot of people online all at once. I could see people getting together in groups, maybe called clans, and playing together. What better place for your youth group?

“Social” or “User Generated” content - this would be really cool. What if your youth group could host a site where teens could make their own user pages and put information about themselves, maybe even pictures. Again, this won’t be feasible until probably 2112 because people will have to have computers in there homes, but I think it is a possibility.

Having said all this, if you are a youth worker in the US and have never heard of any of this stuff (and your not Amish) then you might want to check out some of this stuff. If you do know about this stuff, forget about this whole article and continue doing what you have been doing all along. And if you need to send a “txt” message to many people all at once (and can’t do it from your Facebook account) then head over the Tim Schmoyer’s blog and get the lowdown on how to do it for free with txtsignal.

UPDATE: txtsignal is a pay service. For a free ride use Broadtexter.

I spent some time this week hanging out with some guys and playing Halo. It was a lot of fun, but something always happens at some point in these sessions where I feel really condemned. I don’t know if it is the nature of the game, the nature of this younger generation or if I am just too sensitive, but something about this turns my stomach.

Basically, I just not as good as most of the people I play with. I don’t mind loosing all the time, but I don’t like being played with. I REALLY don’t like it when someone who has the skill to beat me when we are equally matched with weapons gets the shotgun and the rocket launcher and doesn’t even give me a chance. That seems like overkill to me.

But my real issue is about fun. To me, it just isn’t fun to play with someone who is that much better and isn’t gracious about it. If your that much better, do you have to vocalize how bad I am ll the time? Is that fun? If your that much better, do you have to get in a tank and kill me as I spawn? Is that fun? Apparently it is loads of fun to some people, and I just wonder why. For those of you who don’t play Halo, here is an analogy of what I am talking about. I am 37 years old, about 200 pounds and I can handle myself in a fight. If I where to get into the boxing ring with a 10 year old it would most likely be a slaughter. The analogy would be me getting into a boxing ring with a ten year old, wearing a kevlar vest and full battle armor, carrying a knife and an uzi. It seems a bit cruel.

So I had this conversation after playing the other day with a couple of people. I got absolutely no response to the question of fun. None. Last night, I played on Xbox Live and had the same experience. Knowing now what I do, I think I can let it go. I certainly have more fun when I am in a game and get killed so much. But I really wonder about the kind of fun we learn through some of these games. Not that this is any different from many other none video games out there.

This week I am hanging out with the Yamia team. Yamia (pronunciation unsure, might be Y? Amia?, or yummy-uh) is the team of people who direct the youth ministry for the Anglican Mission in the Americas. It sounds a bit prestigious when said that way, but it is really just some people who want to change the way youth ministry is done in the Anglican church.

Why change? Well that is a long journey through a minefield, but that never stops me. Basically we want to see ministry change from a numbers-centered, event driven, game playing marathon of Mountain Dew and Twinkies, to a more transformation driven, presence driven, disciplines driven pilgrimage of sustained effort. Did I miss offending anyone? It really isn’t that simple, but that is a general idea.

I will post some of our highlights, but it will likely be developing more of the previous.

More than just a REALLY cheesy song, Greg Stier is tackling the now hockey phrase to redeem its meaning in the church - and doing a pretty good job of it from where I sit. The idea is as simple as it sounds (we are supposed to be both) but this is beyond that concept into a Biblical model that is easily communicated and understood. Check it out and be blessed.

nt: Tim Schmoyer

I must be grumpy, because I seem to want to rant about the things going on around me. First, I offend most of my staff with the “conspire” post and now I will probably offend most of the youth ministry blogging community with this one. Well call me grumpy, but I really just don’t like this:

“You’ve committed yourself to more Bible reading plans than you care to admit and you’re 187 chapters behind in your latest attempt. If this sounds familiar, then the One Minute Bible for Students is what you need to get back and stay on track.” - blurb for the book

I definitely understand the need for baby steps in taking on new disciplines, but this seems to say to me that I am really asking too much of myself or my students to commit to reading the Bible more than a minute a day. This really fits the attitude of, “C’mon, that’s really asking a lot of someone to do something like that and actually be committed to it.”

Honestly? I spend more time than that brushing my teeth everyday (well almost everyday). I spend more time bathing, more time looking int the mirror, more time wondering if I like carrots, or just day-dreaming. I certainly spend more time doing the “important things” of life, like watching TV and listening to music and updating my Facebook page. How could I be expected to keep up with that too?

OK, this is a rant, and I certainly understand and appreciate what Doug Fields and his staff are trying to do by making the Bible less daunting and more accessible to people. It’s not really their fault that we are lazy, unappreciative, uncaring babies who can’t feed ourselves. This one just stuck in my craw. Thanks for listening. It took me about 5 minutes to write this so I guess, with continued effort, I could write the 5 minute Bible in 365 days. Wait for it… wait for it…