Jonathan McKee, Author at Jonathan's Blog From The Source

Speaking in NJ, DE, IL and More

Posted on: 07/8/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

This week my daughter and I are hopping on a plane Wednesday to fly out to PA and speak at the third and final Student Leadership Conference for 2013. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there.

Then we drive just across the river from Philly into NJ where I’ll be training youth leaders Saturday night (the 13^th), preaching Sunday morning, and teaching a parent workshop Sunday afternoon (the 14^th). If you’re in the greater Philly/West NJ area… please come join us (more details here).

If you’re looking for an opportunity to bring me to your city to speak, train or do a parent workshop, consider looking at these upcoming cities where I’m already booked… I could save you travel costs Continue reading “Speaking in NJ, DE, IL and More”

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Blocking Unwanted Web Sites

Posted on: 07/2/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

“What can I do to block my kids from wandering onto bad web sites?”

That’s the gist of the question I hear at least once a week and at every one of my parenting workshops. I just heard it from multiple youth workers (who happened to also be parents) last month at the Student Leadership Conference 2013 in Dallas.

The answer is never simple, because many parents are searching for a miracle pill, and unfortunately, that’s not what their kids need. I don’t blame parents—it would be nice to have some magic guardrails keeping our kids on course as they navigate today’s tumultuous waters. But the truth of the matter is, our kids need to learn discernment. Life is full of distractions, and young people need to learn to press on when the beautiful voices of the Sirens attempt to lure them to steer into the rocks.

But discernment isn’t learned instantaneously. We’re fools to think that our 8-year-olds, our 11-year-olds, and yes… even some of our 15-year-olds… are ready to meander through the red light district (like what they might find on the iTunes video charts) without wandering into trouble. So what can parents do to block off some harmful distractions during this vulnerable stage of teaching our kids discernment?

After my recent Lure of the Glowing Screen workshop, a youth worker named Robby asked if I had heard of blocking content at the router level. I had heard a little, but am no expert. He told me about a free resource he uses Continue reading “Blocking Unwanted Web Sites”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Parenting, Sexuality, Smartphones/Cell Phones | | Leave A Comment

The Paradoxical World of Teens

Posted on: 06/28/13 2:57 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Marko just wrote an amazing article for our parenting page this week about the paradoxical world of teenagers.

If you have a young teenager in your home… you probably have experienced this.

Here’s just a snippet of that article:

They want to be treated like adults, but have the opportunity to act like children. This has enormous implications. They’re caught in an in-between world. They know where they want to go: they know they want to be treated like adults, to have more freedoms, to make more decisions on their own, to not be treated as if they were 4th graders. It’s important to talk to young teens with an adult voice, and to begin the move to a come-alongside perspective.

But at the same time, they are still very much children, and need Continue reading “The Paradoxical World of Teens”

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Google Glass 101

Posted on: 06/27/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Are those some new bizarre type of reading glasses?

No… those are Google Glass, the newest attempt from Google to take the next step into the future of technology.

I can’t think of Google Glass without the recent Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” report coming to mind… Continue reading “Google Glass 101”

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5 Years of Miley

Posted on: 06/25/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

“Yikes. Now she is getting crazy.”

“Miley? Knock knock… U still in there… (broken heart icon)”

“She’s trying way too hard and it’s embarrassing to watch.”

Those are the top three comments on Miley Cyrus’ new We Can’t Stop music video on iTunes today. Even many of her fans seem to have lost hope in her. I read 20 comments and less than half were good.

I can’t say I disagree with her “fans.” Miley is a young woman with enormous potential, but her standing as a role model for young girls is rapidly morphing from Hannah Montana to Lindsey Lohan. It’s been sad watching Miley’s moral decline over the past 5 years (scroll to the bottom of this post where I provide quick-links to Miley’s antics over the past 5 years).

It’s hard to even describe Miley’s new We Can’t Stop music video. USA TODAY’s Patrick Ryan says it well Continue reading “5 Years of Miley”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Jonathan's Rant, Music, Sexuality, Youth Culture | | Leave A Comment

Motivating Young People to Get Involved

Posted on: 06/24/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

WHY do young people get involved?

HOW do you get them involved?

What should we NOT do, when trying to get young people involved?

In this short and highly informative YouTube video from last year’s The Summit conference (from Youth Cartel), DoSomething.org’s Marah Lidey gives us examples of how they have engaged literally hundreds of thousands of young people to Continue reading “Motivating Young People to Get Involved”

Posted in Church, Leadership, Speaking/Training, Youth Culture, Youth Ministry Philosophy | | Leave A Comment

Students We Call “Orphans”

Posted on: 06/19/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I always enjoy hearing from youth workers who used the free “Connect” training we provide on the FREE TRAINING TOOLS page on our website. Also referred to as “The Sticky-notes Training,” this little exercise is a fun training where you hand each of your leaders a stack of sticky-notes, encourage them to write down the kids they know and then stick them up on a wall on my “Six Types of Kids” graph (a process I outline in my Connect book, and provide a free ppt and video demonstrating it on our website).

A youth worker named Dave just tried the “sticky-notes” exercise with his team and discovered a group of kids they called youth ministry “orphans.”

Dave writes:

I bought your book Connect a few years ago when it first came out and used the accompanying powerpoint training with my staff and interns back in 2010. It was very effective stuff. As you know it is so easy to get caught up in the “doing” part and underemphasize the relational part of stumin, and that’s where we found ourselves Continue reading “Students We Call “Orphans””

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Teenage Tech Advice

Posted on: 06/17/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Last week I had the privilege of teaching at Doug Field’s 2013 Student Leadership Conference in Dallas (the next two are in July). Wednesday night when I arrived, I interviewed a bunch of student leaders, recording their answers for my “Lure of the Glowing Screen” workshop.

I asked these student leaders the following question: What advice would you give to a young person if they just got a new iPhone for Christmas?

Here are some of the answers I received:

“Don’t drop it!”

“Don’t let it become an idol in your life. You need to honor God first.”

“You gotta be careful with Continue reading “Teenage Tech Advice”

Posted in Entertainment Media, Internet, Leadership, Smartphones/Cell Phones, Speaking/Training, Travel | | Leave A Comment

Man of Steel Tickets

Posted on: 06/11/13 10:46 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Summer movies are always fun, especially when they involve super heroes… and free movie tickets! So you’re gonna like this.

I’ve got two movie passes for anywhere in the US to the new Superman movie, Man of Steel, opening this Friday night, June 14. And just for fun, we’re throwing in two Man of Steel t-shirts and key chains (yeah… we’ve gone full nerd!) More on how to win that in a second. (WINNER POSTED- see below)

If you don’t win the tickets and nerdwear, you can still enjoy some free resources from us. We’ve just posted a few things Continue reading “Man of Steel Tickets”

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