The Threads Blog

Is it too much to ask for a travel mug that doesn’t break, leak, burn my hand, etc.? I’ve gone through about four travel mugs in the last three weeks - am I really that hard on my coffee-holding friends? Not asking for much - well, maybe a little sympathy, or a place to vent…

I have the privilege of speaking at various conferences and events around the country. When leading a lab or a breakout session, my teaching topics usually focus on young adult ministry. However, I also venture occasionally into other topics related to Christian living, leadership, teaching, technology, culture and trends, and more. Below is a description of a lab that I’ll be teaching at an upcoming conference for young singles. It should be fun.

I’m stuck with a “hard” decision. Let’s just be honest for a bit here and expose my struggle: the thing that I’ve been wrestling with the past few nights out to the ether of the internet: should I, or shouldn’t I, buy a PlayStation 3? This shouldn’t be such a spiritual struggle, should it? I mean… it’s just stuff, right?

Do you ever hear a song that just messes you up? The kind of song you cannot keep from listening to over and over. I am not one of those guys who will listen to a song and just click the repeat button and annoy everyone in earshot of me by the same song playing steady for an hour or more. BUT I find myself clicking the back button every 4 minutes and 36 seconds until I realize I have listened to this song about 40 times and I begrudgingly allow the next song to begin. Recently I got to hang out with Shane and Shane while they were coming through Nashville. Even though it was early in the morning, I got to hear a song from their upcoming album which will be released next week. From the first time I heard them sing “Beg” to the hundredth time I have played it, I still get messed up. Before we go on any further, you need to go hear it for yourself. Because it is not out yet, you can hear a preview on their site www.shaneandshane.com

Have you ever noticed how many questions you run across that don’t have clearcut answers? Here is just one of the many; I have spent the weekend thinking about it myself, and frankly, came up empty. There are so many variables to consider, I simply don’t know how to respond. But even if the answer is too elusive to be had, I think the conversation is still important.

I have always respected Erwin McManus. He’s a guy that has a heart to reach the lost, to bridge the nations & to have kingdom impact in place of ‘church growth.’ I’ve heard him say before that they have actually shut the church doors, change strategy &/or moved to a new location at times when they felt like the ratio of Christians to non-Christians in their services was getting too lopsided. I doubt you’d find many pastors willing to go that far.

Just got finished flipping through the latest Catalyst Monthly newsletter and read a great feature article entitled “No Members, Only Missionaries” by McManus. I’ll leave you to read the whole article by yourself (it’s excellent), but here’s an excerpt. I can almost see his voice raising and his adrenaline flowing when he gets to this point in the article. Good stuff…

Don’t you hate it when you get stuck doing something over and over again that you know not to do? I’m talking about ripping the inner cereal bag with too much force, so it tears vertically and goes everywhere. Or hitting your shin on the table every time you sit down, so you have a permanent bruise. It’s messy, frustrating, and often painful. Each time you do it, you try to remember not to do it ever again.

Lately, I’ve realized I have a bad habit that I seem doomed to replicate. This is what happens…

I have a 20-something friend who is a short-term missionary in Spain. Her mission is to plant house churches in the midst of a collegiate community, because in her words, “most of these people would never think about setting foot inside a church.”

If you want to know the truth of it, very few set foot inside a church in Spain, period. For the most part, churches there are dusty museums that are a reminder of a world that existed in the distant past.

If Protestant churches in America don’t take the results of the Church Dropout Study and the Young Adult Study seriously, this current reality in Europe is going to be our future.