Super Bowl Resources

Posted on: 02/4/10 5:59 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Sunday is the big game… and I’m on a plane during the entire thing! (Second year in a row that this happened. I’ll be flying back from speaking at a camp again!)

Well, even though I’m not going to see the game myself, let me leave you with a handful of free resources and articles that you might want to use for Sunday:

THE SUPER BOWL QUIZ:
Every year we provide a “Ready-made Super Bowl Party” complete with our annual Super Bowl Quiz. This is a blast- it’s a quiz that you hand people as they show up at your Super Bowl Party, then you tally the scores during the game- because the quiz asks them questions predicting what will happen during the game (i.e. Who will catch the first pass?, Will Pepsi or Coke have the first commercial? Who will win? etc.) Great fun. We released our Ready-made Party and Quiz in this week’s EZINE here.

KURT WARNER DISCUSSION:
This is a great talk with discussion questions that you can use during half time or anytime this weekend about a true hero of our faith, Kurt Warner, the famed MVP and Super Bowl champion quarterback.

ARTICLE ABOUT THE TIM TEBOW ABORTION AD:
It’s been all over the news. But in case you missed it… here’s the skinny from USA TODAY:

CBS, already likely to score an epic Super Bowl rating given the NFL’s season-long surge in viewership, has picked up new momentum: It will have the most controversial TV ad — perhaps the only really controversial ad — to ever air during America’s biggest TV show.

The 30-second spot comes from the Christian advocacy group Focus on the Family. It features Tim Tebow, who quarterbacked Florida to two college football titles and won the Heisman Trophy and now becomes the rare athlete who goes anywhere near associating with a controversial issue outside sports.

Click here for the entire article.

Enjoy the game! (and save me some hot wings!)

A Video of My Sticky-notes Training

Posted on: 02/2/10 5:54 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Many of you already own my new book Connect or have heard the buzz about my sticky-notes training exercise, helping youth ministry leaders not only take the spiritual pulse of their students, but also keep accountable to reaching them and helping them grow spiritually. Now we have an online video available where you can see me do this training.

We’ll be posting this video for our subscribers next week… I wanted to give you guys the first peek!

This entire exercise and detailed descriptions of the “Six Types of Kids” are laid out in my book Connect (and we actually provide you with the Powerpoint you see me using in this video when you buy the book from us).

More of the Same from the Grammys

Posted on: 02/1/10 9:00 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I don’t think I can say it any better than I did last year the day after the Grammys when I said, “Why are adults surprised that kids listen to raunchy music? Kids are only following their example.”

Last night, the Grammys once again gave us a true glimpse of who and what adults value in this world. And I couldn’t help but chuckle when I found out Beyonce received 10 nominations, winning six awards. This week it’s going to be difficult for Beyonce-fan moms to tell their own little girls, “You can’t go out dressed like that!” After all… Beyonce does it.

And how are moms going to impose boundaries on their teenagers cell phones, when they’ve got Beyonce’s hit song “Video Phone” (currently the 17th most popular video download on iTunes) blaring on the radio, spewing these lyrics:

What? You want me naked?
If you likin’ this position
You can tape it
On ya video phone

David pulled back the covers a few weeks ago here with his expose’ on Beyonce in our Youth Culture Window section of our web site.

Beyonce isn’t alone in her smut peddling. The top songs on the charts paint a pretty bleak picture right now. David’s current Youth Culture Window article about our kids’ daily increase in music saturation not only reveals an eye opening glimpse of some of the songs in the Top 10 right now, but also shares an interesting study about how much lyrics really affect kids. Fascinating stuff!

But I guess America would rather forget all the facts… and just keep awarding these “artists.”

Here’s a few of the awards given last night:

Album of the year
Taylor Swift, Fearless

Female pop performance
Beyoncé, Halo

Rap/sung collaboration
Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West, Run This Town

Rock album
Green Day, 21st Century Breakdown

Record of the year
Kings of Leon, Use Somebody

Country album
Taylor Swift, Fearless

Song of the year
Beyoncé, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

Pop vocal album
The Black Eyed Peas, The E.N.D.

Male pop vocal performance
Jason Mraz, Make It Mine

R&B song
Beyoncé, Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)

Rap album
Eminem, Relapse

Rap song
Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kanye West, Run This Town

Dance recording
Lady Gaga, Poker Face L

Electronic dance album
Lady Gaga, The Fame

Click here for USA TODAY’s complete list of the winners.