I’ve been seeing videos from a service called Xtranormal pop up here and there and wanted to check it out. This could have some cool youth ministry applications.
Here’s what they say about the service on their site:
Xtranormal’s mission is to bring movie-making to the people. Everyone watches movies and we believe everyone can make movies. Movie-making, short and long, online and on-screen, private and public, will be the most important communications process of the 21st century.
Our revolutionary approach to movie-making builds on an almost universally held skill—typing. You type something; we turn it into a movie. On the web and on the desktop.
Is what they say as easy as it sounds? Well, you’ll see rather quickly that I’m no J. J. Abrams, but I was able to quickly — in about ten minutes — throw together this little video for your viewing pleasure. All it takes is typing in a script, dragging and dropping in some physical reactions, picking the background scene and music, and clicking publish…
Kind of fun, huh? Youth group announcements, anyone? Give it a try!
Does measuring success in youth ministry = playing the numbers game? I’m a firm believer that the fruit of ministry does NOT boil down neatly into how many warm bodies are in a room at one time. Numbers are important, though, because numbers — in this context — are people. Hopefully, these “numbers” are lives that are being influenced.
Measuring this kind of influence isn’t easy. How do we know when we’re growing? When we’re succeeding?
I suppose it comes down to… (I’d better stop and think here. I’m supposed to be a paid “professional”. I should know the answer to this.)
…Jesus.
Jesus showing Himself larger in a student’s life than the influences of the culture.
A student becoming the hands and feet of Jesus through outreach, serving, and loving people that everyone else rejects.
A student that desires daily communion with Jesus.
Jesus living through a student that stirs up some old, religious thinking.
A group of students that have Jesus‘ heart for others more than they are interested in getting self-gratification out of a weekly service experience.
A group of students who value worshipping Jesus, not just by singing songs, but with their lives.
Student’s who have given their lives over to Jesus on Mondays and Tuesdays, not just Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights.
Students who don’t just pay lip service to the words of Jesus, but act on them.
Lives that have been transformed and set free by the incredible, extraordinary love of Jesus.
Numbers are good. They help us to measure things. But numbers aren’t everything. I’d much rather have Jesus.
At next month’s gathering we’ll be discussing YS Marko’s book “Youth Ministry 3.0″. Click on the banner below for an interesting review of the book from Dan Kimball…
They’re aren’t really any typical weeks – every day is completely different from the last.
Youth ministry is called on most at both ends of the spectrum – when things are good and when things are really bad.
Youth ministry pays extreme. Extremely little.
We minister in extremes – when marriage is at an extreme, and the kids are about to face their parents’ divorce. When a life is at an extreme, we’re at the emergency room or performing the funeral.
Youth ministry is focused on essentially an extreme age group – when students are figuring themselves out and parents are at the most challenging point in relating to them.
Youth ministry is about asking a student to give over total control of their life to Jesus – an absolute extreme.
We ask students to be baptized, to demonstrate their faith to their friends, family and the world at the time when peer-pressure and image are the most crucial in their life.
Extreme pressure and expectations – from senior pastors, staff, parents and from yourself.
Extreme hours, extreme emotions, extreme work. Youth ministry seems to be about pushing everything to the limit. So why would anyone want to do it? Seems like a nice, safe, well-paying nine-to-five is more what people look for in life.
Join us @ 8:30 am on every first Wednesday of the month at the Alternative Fuel Coffee House on 620 Main Street in Rapid City. Come early and get some coffee; we’d love to meet you there!
The first hour of our gatherings are focused on youth worker fellowship and prayer and, starting at around 9:30 am, we shift to a training / discussion time. All are welcome.
