MinistryPlace.Net » Ministry

A night of community…

admin — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 20:09:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of being part of a community outreach that our church hosted last week. We called the event “Fireside: A Night of Community”. Overall I think the event went really well.

The leadership team put together a chili cookoff, we had Jeff Anderson (@JeffAOfficial for those of you on twitter) lead us in some music, and Roger Bear from Baptist Collegiate Ministries in Terre Haute bring a message.

It was a really great time. People heard the gospel, several unaffiliated people from the community showed up, and several churches (including a house church plant) took part. One local church who has youth ministries that night, just brought their whole group.

I enjoyed Jeff’s ministry through music. He is one of those rare people who you partner with for events that has a real servants heart. It oozes out of his music and lyrics. He has a real heart to see the lost come to know Christ in an intimate way. He understands it is about God and not him. He does not waste opportunities to share Christ from the stage.

While not a typical revival service, I hope to see fruit from it in one way or another. It may be in service, evangelism, or deeper community relationships – I cannot wait to see it…

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North Central States Rally

admin — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:20:34 +0000

I have been blessed to be part of the Southern Baptist Convention North Central States rally in Indianapolis, Indiana this week. We have had some amazing opportunities to learn from some amazing leaders.

Some that we have heard from:

@RickHowerton from NavPress

@EdStetzer from Lifeway Research

Yale Wall from State Convention of Baptists in Indiana

Tim Saddler from Illinois State Baptist Association

Grab some audio of the main sessions here

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Scheduling for 2012…

admin — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:46:49 +0000

I have been blessed by the church where I serve to have the ability to spend a couple weeks each year blessing another church or ministry.

I would love the opportunity to partner with you. I am available for Camps, D-Now Weekends, Revivals, Outreach Events, Youth Worker Training Sessions, or any other ideas you may be working on for Speaking and/or Leading Worship.

Here are some examples of the topics I speak on:

Who’s Your Daddy? – a closer look at God as a loving father.
Best practices for keeping your kids/teens safe online.
Technology in Ministry – it’s not just for the youth pastor anymore….
What churches are missing by largely ignoring the internet…
Our kids are safe at church, right? Best practices for child/teen safety
Open Source, Freeware, and what it means in Ministry…
Technology: Worship enhancement or Worship distraction?
The least of these: reaching out to the unchurched in uncomfortable, yet Christ-centered ways…
Mandated Reporting and implications on ministry. and others upon request…

A little about me:

I am a Youth Pastor with 12 years experience in both full-time and bi-vocational roles. I have worked in the Information Technology industry since 1997, and currently own my own Web Design and IT Contracting Firm in Indiana. In 2004-05, I worked for the State of Missouri as a Child Abuse Investigator, before transitioning to Full Time Youth Ministry. In 2007-2009, I helped start and administrated Common Ground Community Youth Center in Odessa, Missouri, a multi-denominational effort that reached “street kids” with no church affiliation. I have led youth in worship settings for the last 8 years of ministry.

If this doesn’t fit your needs, please remember me and pass on my info to other youth workers.

Thanks for your time, and hope to connect with you soon.

Brent

Contact me Here…

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Do you use TV’s In your Youth Facility? Then Check This Out…

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 17:57:55 +0000

We are looking at some options that will improve and better utilize the space in our Youth Room. One of these options involves replacing a 32″ Tube-Style (CRT, Old School, etc.) TV on a rolling stand with a Wall mounted LCD. I stumbled across a site that calculates the difference between different sizes of displays. It is called Displaywars.com.
I Then used the info on this site and taped out various dimensions on the wall until we got to the needed size…

For example, here is my comparison…. (Keep in mind we use a lot of 16×9 format DVD’s…)

Hope this helps you.

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Top 10 Android Apps for Ministry….

admin — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 20:45:09 +0000

Shortly after iOS 5 came out, I made the jump back to Android for my daily use device (Long Story) and went to work.
Here are some of the Apps I use in ministry on a daily basis in the ministry at FBC:

10. Google Docs (Free) – With every update, Google improves what you can do on your Docs with an android phone or tablet…

9. QuickOffice ($) – Works great to open attachments, including PDF files

8. Google Reader (free) – This is a great way to follow and categorize RSS feeds.

7. Evernote (free) – I use this to catalog, organize, and share ideas.

6. B&N Nook/Amazon Kindle (free) – I have a Nook (am working on replacing it with an iPad2), and these apps work reasonably well to catch up on reading while in waiting rooms, etc…

5. WordPress (free) – I use this to maintain several sites and blogs. It improves with each update.

4. CloudPrint (free) – This is a great app to implement Google CloudPrint from your phone or tablet.

3. GrooveIP ($) – I use this to make free calls over wifi or 3G using Google Voice, making it a reality to lower the minutes on my voice plan.
If you use 3G, it does use the data on your plan. It can even integrate into your dialer.

2. Document Scanner ($) – Smartphone cameras have finally gotten to the quality to enable the camera to capture photos as PDF Documents. It works well

1. Bible (YouVersion) (free) – How can I not put the Bible first? But really, YouVersion is the best Bible App I have used in many years of smartphone use…

What are ones that you use that are not on the list?

Bonus:

Would you like to go to an Android Tablet for free??

You can get an Asus EEE Pad or Moto Xoom for free!

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Ministry Tech Tip : Website Prep

admin — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 19:00:55 +0000

If you are using a website in your lesson, always test it on every price of hardware you will be using it with before teaching…

Example: last night, we were planning to use the “restricted nations map” from voice of the martyrs, but the android tablets we were using did not have adobe flash player installed. My fault for not checking… Oops!

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Question of The Day: QR Codes

admin — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 14:35:05 +0000

Are you using QR Codes in your ministry? If so, what are you using them for?

Some Ideas:

In our youth ministry, we use one on a label pointed to a GOSPEL presentation.

Personally, I use one as my Twitter profile pic, that points to MinistryPlace.net (See Image..)

I would love to hear what you’re doing….

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Thoughts on Communion….

admin — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:47:23 +0000

Dr. Rodney Reeves (Dean of the Theology School at Southwest Baptist University) had some interesting thoughts on Communion posted at his blog, A Genuine Faith.

…One of the clearest places where we should find eternal hospitality is at the Lord’s table, a banquet memorial where we proclaim the Lord’s death till he comes. The reason we come is that we are hungry–hungry for mercy, hungry for friendship, hungry for help, hungry for hope. There is no place for the self-righteous, the insiders who think they belong there. Jesus came to help those who are sick, and as in the days of old, there’s a bunch of sick people in the world….

[Full Article Link]

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Question of the Day?

admin — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:04:31 +0000

If your church were to suddenly have to turn all leadership to those age 25-35, would your church be in deep trouble? Why or Why not?

What is your church doing to retain, train, and grow leaders in the 18-40 age group? What are you doing that works well? What doesn’t work in your context?

Why would your church not want to target a generation of 78 Million people (in the US)?

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I know you are out there…

admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 16:58:47 +0000

I know you are out there.

Maybe You are a Youth Worker that has been told you are too young/old/boring/playful/whatever to effectively serve in youth ministry. Maybe you have been sucked into church politics without even knowing it and you are now paying the price. Maybe you’ve been bullied by a youth parent/deacon/elder/Sr Pastor/whoever. Maybe you fantasize about what youth group would be like if “that kid or those kids” suddenly stopped coming. Maybe you want to hang it up, go work 9 to 5 in a cubicle somewhere. Maybe you have the feeling that nothing you are doing in your church matters, or you made a mistake coming to the church where you are serving.

Maybe you feel horribly inadequate and ill-equipped to deal with all the junk that is thrown into the laps of your teenagers and families. Maybe you have felt the constant pull between church expectations and building deep relationships between spouse and your children.Maybe you’ve had that deep feeling tearing away at you that something is not matching somewhere between your beliefs and what your church is teaching. Maybe you have that desperate wish to tell someone you are not “fine” ; that you are really dying and wasting away inside, your soul is screaming for something, somewhere to give.

I’m not going to tell you to just suck it up, or that it will get better. It really may get worse first, in a way you can’t even imagine. I’m not going to tell you to count it joy, that you are doing something right. While Biblical, it is the wrong time to hear it.

I will tell you I have been there. I will tell you that you cannot walk through this alone. I will tell you that the longer you hold it in, the worse it will be when it finally comes out (because IT WILL, one way or another). I will tell you that you are not the only one who has ever experienced this. I will tell you that I will gladly talk, pray, cry, or whatever else to help you walk through this.

Youth Workers, we are in this together. It is not God who wants to see us like this, but the enemy that seeks to kill, steal, and destroy.

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