2011 - Page 12 of 18 - Jonathan's Blog From The Source

Gaining Trust, Connecting, Sharing…

Posted on: 05/5/11 3:10 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Yesterday I shared with you a snippet or two from an interview I did where I was asked about everything from “taking care of visitors to our youth group” to “spiritual growth in today’s teenagers.”

You can catch my responses to those questions in yesterday’s blog, PART I.

Here’s the remainder of my answers during that interview. PART II:

Michael – OK
-What are some of the best ways to gain the trust of new unchurched students?

JONATHAN’S ANSWER:
Go beyond shaking hands and exchanging names. Actually take an interest in them. Sit with them. Invite them to join us in our small group. “We’re going to coffee afterwards- come with us.” “Text me- I’ll text you this week.”

I could go on, but honestly, my entire book CONNECT is devoted to helping us learn how to do this.

Jason – Dallas
– In your book “Connect” you talk a lot about getting to know kids on a one-on-one basis. Do you believe its possible to become so connected with students that they see you more as a peer and you lose your influence in their lives

JONATHAN’S ANSWER:
I think parents struggle with this as well. “If I spend too much time being their buddy, will I not be seen as their parent?”

I wonder if Christ was accused of that when he descended to earth to become human.

There’s no danger in humbling yourself to be relational- to listen, to laugh, to play. The only danger would be if you lower your standards and try to be something you’re not, or allow yourself to do something inappropriate in effort to “be accepted.” This is a twisting of a good thing. There’s never anything wrong with a coach, a parent, a teacher, or a youth worker spending time listening to a kid share their heart, throwing a Frisbee, cheering together at a football game, laughing through a comedy. I bet more kids wish their dads would be there to do these activities. These activities actually earn trust and help the kid respect dad, or coach, or pastor Jason when he has to put the foot down and say, “Sorry, but you’re not going to do that.”

Ashley – WI
-How can we equip and train our youth to witness and share the gospel with nonbelievers in their everyday lives?

JONATHAN’S ANSWER:
I think the reason most kids don’t share their faith is because they have nothing to share.

If we allow God to fill our cup, he’ll overflow it so much that it will spill everywhere and get everyone around us smelling like coffee.

My friend Kierra is so in love with God. She’s not an evangelist by any means. She’s just in love with God. Everywhere she go, she literally “reeks” God. She can’t help but talk about him. She went into a computer store to get her Dell fixed… as you need to do with any PC. A Muslim guy worked the counter. After talking with Kierra for just two minutes, he couldn’t help but say, “You’re really religious, yes?” It’s not because she wore cross ear rings or a shirt that said, “Kiss me, I’m Christian.” It’s because she couldn’t even turn in her computer without talking about how much she prayed that it would be fixable and how much she needed it for ministry, etc.

Next thing she knows, she’s in a conversation about God.

Everybody worships something. Think about it. What do you worship? Movies? Cars? Yourself?

We’ve all met people who worship their cars. All they can talk about is cars. You can’t have a conversation with this person without it touching the subject of automobiles.

Some people are hung up with their own sexuality. They can’t finish a sentence without talking about who they are sexually.

Kierra was that way with God. And guess what… she ended up talking with people about God.

We need to introduce people into a loving God, let them experience who he is so that God’s hope will be overflowing out of them. It’s only then that verses like I Peter 3:15-18 make sense when

1 Peter 3:15 (NIV)
15 But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
So many people miss that in the verse. They concentrate on the “always be prepared” and they miss the golden nugget of how the conversation will start in the first place. “ask you to give a a reason for the hope that you have…”

Why would someone ask you to give a reason for the hope that you have???

Because they see it!

Now that they see it… now talk!

Oh… and as for the question, how can we train and equip… that’s how. Get them to “reek” hope! But yes.. then when someone asks them, “What’s different about you?” “What’s that hope?” then we need to be ready to answer. So read a book like my DO THEY RUN WHEN THEY SEE YOU COMING? Which is all about sharing our faith with “unchurched” people. Or Greg Stier’s “DARE TO SHARE” book. Great ways to articulate your faith.

If you enjoyed this, you can listen to the entire podcast here on the Students and Culture website.

Posted in Faith, Speaking/Training, Youth Ministry Philosophy | | Leave A Comment

Students and Culture Interview

Posted on: 05/4/11 10:19 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I was interviewed recently on the Students and Culture podcast… some of you might have wanted an opportunity to peek in on that interview. For those that don’t have the time to listen to it, I’ve provided some of the highlights of it transcripted below.

Fun conversation. I start by giving a brief (60 second) history of THE SOURCE FOR YOUTH MINISTRY and how it came to be (by accident, actually). Then we chatted about churches reaching beyond their church walls… then I answered the following questions:

– What is the best thing student groups can do to have return visitors?

– If you only had one lesson left to teach a group of students, what would you teach and why?

– What are some of the best ways to gain the trust of new unchurched students?

– In your book “Connect” you talk a lot about getting to know kids on a one-on-one basis. Do you believe it’s possible to become so connected with students that they see you more as a peer and you lose your influence in their lives?

– How can we equip and train our youth to witness and share the gospel with nonbelievers in their everyday lives?

You can listen to the podcast here on the Students and Culture website, or if you would prefer to just read the highlights, here’s a snippet of what I answered to those questions:

Jason – OK asked:
-What is the best thing student groups can do to have return visitors?

JONATHAN’S ANSWER:
First- this question assumes that people are actually visiting! An aside… I think we need to be proactive to think of outreach as reaching more than those who actually DO show up. But yes, let’s definitely try to KEEP the ones that actually DO show up.

Last year a church brought me in to train their student leaders, but I first got an opportunity to attend their morning youth service. The first thing I did was simply sit in the back of the room and observe. I especially paid attention to “the door.” I tell youth workers this all the time. If you ever get a chance to just take a week where you can just sit in the back and watch the door– you’ll learn a lot. It’s fun to watch kids come in and look around. You can almost see what they’re thinking. “Where do I go? Are any of my friends here?” Sometimes, after a moments hesitation, you’ll actually see kids turn around a leave.”

What are we doing to make people think, “I belong!” I’m welcome here. I’m safe.

In my new book MINISTRY BY TEENAGERS, David gives an example of a youth ministry that decided to be proactive about making new kids feel like they belong. They did this with colored name tags, of all thing… our book is full of ideas to do just that.

Noah – KY
– If you only had one lesson left to teach a group of students, what would you teach and why?

JONATHAN’S ANSWER:
It depends on the students I’m talking to. I know that might sound like a copout answer, but I just need to at least know who I’m talking to. For example, am I speaking to a bunch of unchurched kids on campus? Or am I speaking at a Christian camp?

ON CAMPUS- I think I’d give them a talk that basically address the feeling we all get when we’ve tried to find fulfillment in all the temporary thrills of life, and when they don’t work, we finally proclaim, “There’s gotta be more than this!!” Basically, I speak to them about the unfulfilling temporary vs. the permanent love of God that comes through knowing Jesus Christ in a personal relationship.That passage so accurately describes the lies of this world, “lies that sound like the truth.”

AT A CAMP- I’d probably talk about the importance of letting God sit in the driver’s seat of our life- and what that actually looks like. I’m speaking in layman’s terms here. This is actually a lesson on how we need to give the Holy Spirit control. How the fruits of the spirit are not things we are to “TRY” to do, but qualities that flow from us when we let the Spirit in our life- when we “let God drive.” When we let him control the radio… you get the idea.

Noah – KY asked a second question:
– What do you see as the biggest deterrent to spiritual growth in today’s teens?

JONATHAN’S ANSWER:
We allow ourselves to be distracted by the world’s lies. In Ephesians, Paul talks about what it will be like when we mature in Christ. He says…

Ephesians 4:14-15 (NLT)
14 Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
15 Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church

We get comfy like David (II Samuel 11) did when he decided to give in to laziness- sleep in while his men were fighting. Give into lust- and turn on late night cable tv- women bathing- great view from the rooftops. Feed those desires- invite her over. Give into adultery. Sleep with her. Give into deception- plan a coverup where it looks like Uriah got her pregnant. And finally… commit murder.

I’ll post the rest of it in my next blog.

You can listen to the entire interview here.

Posted in Discussion Ideas, Faith, Speaking/Training, Youth Ministry Philosophy | | Leave A Comment

My Mistake- 4 Soul Surfer Myths Debunked

Posted on: 05/2/11 1:07 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I have to apologize about Soul Surfer.

This is actually an unusual apology. Usually when I’m apologizing about Christian films, I’m apologizing for how lame they are (sorry, just keeping it real). With Soul Surfer, that’s the furthest from the truth. I finally saw the film this past weekend with my family, and we all were completely blow away. It was not only truly inspiring, it was just a well done film. Wow.

I have to apologize, because it took me a few weeks to get this review to you. I was invited to a screening before the release, but couldn’t attend. I sent one of my other guys– a great writer and friend. He thought the film was okay, but a little cheesy. After posting his review, I took some heat.

My mistake was not dropping everything and going to see the film for myself on the day of the release. A film like this can be a really important tool for Christian youth workers and parents and the entire Christian community. I should have jumped in and provided my own opinion on the matter (after all, we’re all entitled to our opinions, and they differ).

On April 13th I posted a more positive opinion of the film from Todd Pearage, my main movie review guy. He loved the film and thought it was a great movie to bring kids to.

Todd wasn’t alone. The film is still in the top 10 at the box office (#7 this past weekend, only beat out by newer releases) and has more than made its money back. Let me tell you, audiences vote with their wallets, and they’re still voting “yes” in regards to Soul Surfer.

So finally, this past weekend, I grabbed my family and said, “Let’s go see this film.”

I’ll be honest. My kids weren’t that excited to go see it. My 17-year-old son even asked, “Do we have to?”

2 hours later, we were amazed. My whole family thoroughly enjoyed it. None of us regretted seeing it. Truly, a pleasant surprise.

Let me address a few myths about this film- opinions you shouldn’t believe:

MYTH 1: “It’s cheesy.” Sorry, don’t believe the hype. Soul Surfer isn’t anything close to cheesy. The producers actually paid for great talent and used an experienced director that did the film justice. More about that in my review of the film that I just posted today.

MYTH 2: “Lame effects.” I had heard that some of the digital effects looked fake. What effects? Honestly. I was looking out for bad effects, some of the ones my friend Matt Furby had mentioned (AnnaSophia Robb’s face digitally added to another surfer’s body), and I didn’t see anything noticeable. You want to see a bad digital effect of that type, go to one of the greatest digital effects films of the last 20 years, Titanic and look at Kate Winslet’s face as she’s running down the hallway of the ship flooded with water. That was a bad superimposed effect (and I still loved the movie). I didn’t see any effects even close to as bad as that in Soul Surfer.

MYTH 3: “Bad acting.” Nope. Not this film. The lead roles were all played by seasoned actors, and the bit parts were quality as well. Some of the guy surfers talked a little bit robotic… but I asked my kids if they thought those guys were bad actors, and they said, “Dad, they’re surfers. They sound like that!”

MYTH 4: “Gratuitous Bikini Shots.” Sorry. I’ve read numerous blogs and opinions talking about how inappropriate it was to show these girls in bikinis. First, consider the source. That being said, listen to my opinion. The film was very tasteful. Yes, there were bikinis. Yes, Bethany wears bikinis in real life. But the shots were tasteful. Hollywood has provided plenty of films with mere “eye-candy” as a selling point. For example, the surfing movie Blue Crush, a film full of “eye-candy” and sexual situations (I actually refer to that movie in this youth ministry programming article, “How to Make Your Movie Night Flop“). Soul Surfer is miles from this. And realize, my opinion is that of a father of two teenage daughters. I don’t let them wear two-piece swimsuits at school, at youth group, around any other teenage crowds. I do let them wear them with their other girl friends at my parents’ pool (when no guys are around to gawk). I’m also the guy who writes articles about the sexualization of young girls and how our society is over-sexualized. Soul Surfer isn’t even close.

So let me go on the record. Soul Surfer was amazing. If you haven’t seen it– do. It’s so worth it. That’s probably why it’s making more than its money back in the box office (which speaks loudly for a Christian film). I’m going to be buying this film when it’s released on BluRay.

Check out my detailed review of the film on our MOVIE REVIEWS & QUICK Q’s page HERE!

Posted in Entertainment Media, Jonathan's Rant, Movies | | Leave A Comment

Lame Tweet Guy

Posted on: 04/29/11 2:03 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I think I’m going to reward some of you for Tweeting. (Wow, that sounds really weird without context) Yes, let’s have another little contest where I’ll give away a choice of any of my books in print. More on that in a minute.

Call me a hypocrite, but I’m really not much of a Tweeter. Yes, I have a Twitter page that I tweet on about once a day… but that doesn’t mean I like it! I think some people do like it. I can see the excitement of it in some of the people I follow. But I gotta admit, I’ve never been a fan of tweeting stuff like, “I’m mowing my lawn now!”

So I’ve tried to be good with my Tweets. I’ve tried to make them either funny, or informative or announcing something pretty cool. But all along, part of me still wonders, am I just that guy who’s saying, “Gotta go gas up the car now!”

This gave me an idea. My daughter Ashley and I started coming up with some really lame tweet ideas. “I just shaved.” or “I just pet my dog.” This gave us an idea!

I won’t take ownership of this… but I’ll just tell you this. There is now a guy out there in Twitterland called LAME TWEET GUY. (Hmmmmm. I wonder who he is!) 🙂 Here’s some of his tweets so far:

I just changed a lightbulb.

Buying some new socks.

Just filled my dog’s water bowl.

Trimming my nose hairs.

Eating corn right now.

I’m going to the store to buy some romaine lettuce.

You can find LAME TWEET GUY by popping on my Twitter page here— then you’ll see him in my list of all the cool people I follow (I only follow 17 people). What can I say. I really enjoy LAME TWEET GUY’S tweets! He’s way more entertaining than me!

Oh yeah… THE CONTEST!!!! Okay… simple. I’ll give 5 people a choice of any of my books in print by simply beginning to follow either LAME TWEET GUY or me. Just follow one of us, or both of us (If you don’t have a Twitter page, take a few seconds and sign up, it’s simple and free), and you’ll be added to the running to win a book. I’ll draw 5 winners randomly next week and post them in this blog.

Well… I gotta go mow my lawn now.

Posted in Books, Contests | | Leave A Comment

Leadership Lessons from the Shirtless Guy

Posted on: 04/27/11 3:52 PM | by Jonathan McKee

My dad sent me this video, a great little piece about “leadership” and, more importantly, how a movement is made. Dad and I are always looking out for good leadership discussion and training pieces for our NEW BREED training workshops.

This is a great little tool (regardless of how shoddy the camera work is) to provoke discussion at a leaders’ meeting.

(CLICK HERE if you don’t see the embedded video)

I love the following three statements. These would be great to hand out on a piece of paper to your leadership team and simply ask: Agree or disagree? Why? Are there scriptural truths to back up this idea?

1. Remember the importance of nurturing the first few followers as equals. It’s about the movement, not you!

2. It was the first follower transformed the “lone nut” into a leader.

3. We’re told that we all need to be leaders, but that would be really ineffective. The best way to make a movement, if you really care, is to courageously follow and show others how to follow. When you find a lone nut doing something great, have the guts to be the first person to stand up and join in.

Posted in Leadership, Speaking/Training | | Leave A Comment

Jonathan… or Snookie?

Posted on: 04/26/11 12:11 PM | by Jonathan McKee

“Well… I’m cheaper than Snookie!”

Yeah, that’s probably not a great place to set the bar. 🙂 (more on Snookie speaking in a moment)

As most of you know, I do quite a bit of speaking and training around the country, usually not more than twice a month away from home (simply because I don’t want to be the “deadbeat dad” speaker guy). So here’s a glimpse inside the life of someone who travels speaking and training. Each of us do it a little bit differently. But two things have never changed for me in the last 10 years: my price for a training or parent workshop, and the way I book.

1. MY PRICE: For the last 10 years, I’ve never raised the price of my workshops. Gas is more, flights are more… but Jonathan is still $2,000 total for workshops, that includes all travel… everything. All that money goes 100% to our ministry and the free resources and training we provide. My board and I have made an effort to keep that price as low as possible since “equipping” is a huge part of our vision. (My “speaking” and “keynote” prices are a little more, but training is always only $2,000.)

But every once in a while I get someone who doesn’t understand the price. They wonder why I can’t fly from California to Alabama and speak for a week for $300. I’ve even been told that if I had more faith, I’d speak for free.

Sigh.

Well, earlier this month Jersey Shore’s Snookie was booked to speak at Rudgers for a price of $32,000… and parents were outraged. I don’t blame em.’ That’s $10,000 more than annual tuition there! (Fox News).

Even though most people actually find my prices cheap, I’ve had several experiences where people tried to book me and were surprised at why I’d be $2,000 to come in and train. I simply tell them to feel free to call some of the other people who do what I do and check prices. Usually I get a call back in a day or two with a, “Okay… you’re cheap. Let’s book you!”

2. NO AGENT: For the last 10 years, I’ve never used a speaking “agent” because I really like the personal interaction and communication with the people that I’m ministering with.

About 15 years ago I was the guy booking speakers and bands. Every time, without exception, that I had a problem with a speaker or a band… it was because of miscommunication. “Your agent said that…” or “I thought you were supposed to…”

In my book about programming events I spend a whole chapter talking about booking speakers and another chapter about booking bands. Those chapters are filled with hilarious stories of miscommunication and disaster. Let’s just say, I always want to make sure that those of us doing ministry together are working as a team together.

WHAT ABOUT YOU? What are some of the experiences you’ve had good and bad with speakers/trainers?

Posted in Personal, Speaking/Training | | Leave A Comment

Gaga’s Judas

Posted on: 04/25/11 8:38 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Gaga is at it again… poking at what’s sacred.

This time it’s her new song, Judas, a song where basically she conveys that she identifies a little more with Judas than Jesus.

Where did Gaga get this idea? She tells the Washington Times… from God.

“I feel like honestly that God sent me those [“Judas”] lyrics and that melody,” Lady Gaga said, crying. “When you feel a message to give to the world and people are shooting arrows through it … there’s no way for something that pure to be wrong.”

(Click here for that entire article)

David wrote an entire YOUTH CULTURE WINDOW article about the song this week, including some great questions we can ask our kids. Take a peek here.

The song isn’t doing that well. It went #1 on iTunes when it was leaked, but I’ve been watching it sink for the last week. It was #2, then 4… then #8 over the weekend. As of this morning (Monday), it’s #14.

Hmmmmmmm.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Music | | Leave A Comment

Connection Between Pop Music and Depression

Posted on: 04/19/11 12:58 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Earlier this month USNews.com posted an article with some fascinating findings about the connection between pop music and depression.

I encourage you to check out the entire article, but here’s just a snippet:

…in terms of media exposure, the more they (children) listened to music (via MP3 or CD players), the greater the likelihood of having major depressive disorder.

When the researchers divided media exposure into four levels, ranging from least to most exposure, they found each increasing level of music exposure was associated with an 80 percent increase in depression risk.

In contrast, exposure to print media was linked to a lower risk for depression. With each increasing level of exposure to print media, depression risk dropped by 50 percent.

TV, Internet, and video game exposure was not found to have a statistically significant association with depression risk one way or the other.

You can read the entire article HERE for context.

One thing I really like about the article is the fact that they acknowledge the chicken or the egg dilemma (my wording) with this kind of study. In other words, are songs making kids depressed, or are depressed kids listening to more music to cope? The article basically contends, we don’t know which… but there’s a noticeable connection.

As a guy who has three teenagers of his own, works with junior high students, and studies pop culture for a living, here’s my own observations:

1. Music affects our kids way more than they think. If you’ve read my blog for even a few months, you’ve seen me cite the research over an over again.

2. Parents need to do a better job at monitoring the time our kids spend saturating media. Don’t take it from me, don’t take it from Dobson… take it from doctors at the Kaiser Foundation or The American Academy of Pediatrics. The research is overwhelming: we need to take notice of anything that takes up this much time in our kids’ lives. And we also need to set healthy media boundaries. I spend a whole chapter talking about this in my parenting book.

3. Consider a media fast. Call me extreme, but I’ve seen it work. All three of my kids just left for mission trips this week, mission trips that required each kid to choose something to fast from for one month. My son Alec, by his own choosing, fasted from video games for a month, my 15-year-old Alyssa fasted from TV and any music that wasn’t worship music, my 13-year-old Ashley did the same. This is the second year they’ve done this fast and the results were amazing. We spent more time in conversation and Bible this past month than in years. THE KEY: This was kid driven. They chose what they needed to fast from. I don’t recommend that all parents try to get their kids to fast from media for a whole month. But as parents build solid relationships with their kids and talk about these issues, they can easily suggest that the family tries a one day fast? Maybe a week?

Last week I was hanging with a junior high kid who I had been noticing some odd behaviors from. While the other kids were hanging out and talking with each other, he was isolating himself and listening to his iPod. I chatted with him for a while, then later, when he had his ear buds in, I asked him, “Hey, whatcha listening to?” I put my hand out like I wanted to see his iPod. He hesitated, then handed it to me. He was listening to Eminem (explicit in more ways than one).

I was talking with my daughter Ashley about this experience a few days later and she asked me, “How come you always want to see a kid’s iPod, Dad?”

I smiled. “Because the iPod is the window to the heart.”

Posted in Discussion Ideas, Entertainment Media, Music | | Leave A Comment

Movies Reflecting Our Culture… Good and Bad

Posted on: 04/18/11 3:16 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I don’t know about your kids, but teenagers in my area are off school this week for Easter break (Yeah, I’m calling it Easter Break!), and many of them are heading to the movie theatres for a variety of choices. So Todd and I kicked it into high gear last weekend and did a handful of movie reviews & quick Q’s for you guys, each complete with discussion questions to dialogue with kids when the movie is over.

One of the most interesting youth culture phenomena’s in the theatre right now is the brand new scary film, Scream 4, simply because the Scream films have always been on the cutting edge of pop youth culture. This new film falls in suit, trying to truly represent the Facebook and smartphone generation. But the trait that David and I observed the most out of this film was this generation’s increasing desire to see MORE!

David and I wrote our Youth Culture Window article this week about this film for that very reason. Here’s just a glimpse:

…The nefarious Ghostface has returned after 10 long years. But this time, the killer is playing by new rules.

Scream 4’s premise of “new decade, new rules” might just be more accurate and foretelling about pop culture than you realize. Today’s blockbusters have to go to a new distance, more extreme in every way. Today’s kids want more… and our culture is willing to provide it.

What compelled Wes Craven to return and add to the Scream trilogy after over a decade? (Besides money!)

According to Internet buzz, Wes wouldn’t even consider a 4th Scream without a script that was “as good as the first Scream.” But this time, the challenge was even greater. Create a fourth film that feels as fresh and representative of today’s young people as the first film did for teenagers in the 90’s.

And that’s exactly why we’re writing about this film in our Youth Culture Window section this week, because the filmmakers made a special effort to try to capture and reflect today’s young people. Time will tell, but Scream 4 will probably achieve both.

After reviewing the film, I (Jonathan) admit, I’m torn. On one hand, I admit that the film accurately portrays much of this young, cocky and desensitized generation. Yet, on the other hand, the film itself is a perfect example of the very irresponsible, imitatable opus that has helped mold these young people to what they have become.

Click here for the entire article. (The film took second in the box office this past weekend.)

Todd and I reviewed the film together, each of us giving it a “Skip It” score. In that review, we discuss scary films in general, and I share why I think films like Scream 4 were merely “gratuitous.” I give three examples of this unnecessary display of violence, teenage partying, and an unrealistic and unattainable image-standard for young girls. You can click here for that review.

Todd and I reviewed more theatrical releases, you can check them all out on our MOVIE REVIEWS & QUICK Q’s page. Another noteworthy movie was the new Russell Brand and Helen Mirren film, Arthur. This film really surprised me. Here’s a snippet of my Arthur review:

I’ll be honest. There were about 20 reasons I really wanted to dislike this film, the biggest being Russell Brand, the raucous British comedian who is a terrible role model to young people and hasn’t had a good film yet. I figured that Arthur would be more of the same: a warped premise, and dirty humor to fill in the cracks. I was concerned because the film has been marketed to the younger generation (including Brand’s appearance on American Idol, a myriad of funny previews during popular teen programming, as well as the PG-13 rating. Teenagers are going to watch this one!), so I decided to review it.

I was blown away.

I really wanted to hate this film. No, let me rephrase that. I reaaaaaaaaaally wanted to hate this film! But I just couldn’t. In actuality, it was really good!

In that review, I go on to talk about the redemptive message in that film. I was shocked how vivid the film presented the message that “temporary” thrills like money, partying and alcohol just don’t fulfill the big hole in our heart. Yeah… it’s that blatant. Insert altar call here!

So pop on our on our MOVIE REVIEWS & QUICK Q’s page and you’ll see our reviews and Q’s of other films like Hanna, Rango and Soul Surfer reviewed by us as well (And here’s my blog with even more on Soul Surfer). I hope that our “QUICK Q” questions continue to be a good resource to you as you talk with your kids about what they watch.

Posted in Entertainment Media, Movies, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Pray for Us

Posted on: 04/15/11 2:06 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I’d really appreciate your prayers for my family, especially this weekend. All five of us are doing ministry in different directions… and one has a 103.5 temperature! (More on that in a minute)

Last night I dropped off my wife Lori and my 8th grade daughter Ashley at the church, and they embarked with our church’s middle school group for a three-day missions trip to the poor areas of San Francisco. They’ll spend the next three days helping out the homeless, the addicted, as well as aids victims. My other two kids have done this trip in years past—amazing. Imagine a junior high student literally washing a homeless person’s feet. It’s a life-changing experience. Lori has gone with our church for the last 3 years.

This morning, I left for Kansas to teach one of my CONNECT workshops, and my son Alec left for his weeklong trip to Southern California where he’ll be working with the homeless, engaging conversations with people on the street, and serving the poor—another great missions experience. As a senior in high school, he leaves early (today), where my daughter Alyssa leaves Sunday—then they both minister for the week.

As of last night, Alyssa had a high fever. She’s missed two days of school so far. She’s so bummed… she’s been looking forward to this Easter Break missions trip all year. She’s hoping to get better by Saturday night so she can leave with the rest of the high school team (about 70 kids) Sunday a.m.

So Lori and I left my parents with a sick kid. Nice, huh?

Please pray for my little Alyssya’s health (okay… she’s 15… but she’s still my little Lyssy).

I also appreciate your prayers for Lori and Ash in SF, me in KS and Alec in Southern CA. I look forward to what God is going to do!

Thanks for your prayers!

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