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Exhausted

Posted on: 03/29/10 9:43 AM | by Jonathan McKee

The Skit Guys, sign language, 21 hours to fly coast to coast (yeah, it shouldn’t take that long), a whole lotta kids… these were the elements of this past weekend. Wow… I’m tired!

The weekend started at 6AM Friday morning with a mechanical failure that left me sitting on a plane on the Sacramento runway for 2 hours. Eventually, United Airlines gave up trying to fix it and returned us to the gate exactly two minutes after the door shut on another flight just two gates away that would have also brought me to the East Coast. By this time, I had had no chance of hitting my connecting flight in Chicago. The chances of getting to Maryland by the end of the day were looking pretty slim. And I was scheduled to speak to over 3,000 kids at 9AM the next morning.

I scanned flight itineraries and looked for any hopes for getting to the East Coast. After an hour of researching flights, sweet talking ticket agents (buying them Starbucks), I somehow secured a seat on an overbooked Friday afternoon flight that would land in Chicago around 8PM with high hopes for a late Baltimore connection. Over four hours later (yeah… sitting in the airport) I boarded a plane to Chicago, knowing that getting from Chicago to Maryland would be another feat.

Once I landed in Chicago, the Baltimore flight had been delayed and looked slim, so I began searching the terminal for any remaining flights that brought me within driving distance of Maryland. Next thing I know I was squeezed on a Washington Reagan flight where I landed at 11:30 PM, was picked up just before midnight, and driven 3 hours to my destination in Ocean City. I went to bed at 4AM and set my alarm for 8AM.

Saturday I spoke to the huge crowd at 9AM, then did my all day seminar in two chunks with a quick nap in between, ending at 11PM. I slept for 6 hours Saturday night, spoke again Sunday AM, finished training immediately after and then was driven 3 hours to the Baltimore airport. 13 hours later I was back home.

Whew! I’m tired just typing it all!

30+ hours of travel aside… the weekend was a blast! The event was put on by Metro-Maryland Youth for Christ in the huge convention center in Ocean City. 3700 chairs were set up and it looked pretty packed.

The programming on mainstage was smooth, with bands like Hawk Nelson and entertainment like the Skit Guys. If you aren’t familiar with Tom and Eddie, you should check out their website (SkitGuys.com). Hilarious! The kids loved them. They always do a great job. Side note: The two of them joined me for a quick training video as one of the new resources we’ll be launching on our Training Tools page in the next month. Fun stuff.

Funny, when I gave my keynote to the big audience, the lights were so bright I could only see the first two rows. But when the audience laughed, you quickly realized that there were thousands in the room! I gave a message on getting alone and getting real with God. I recorded it. We might make it available for an upcoming podcast on our free podcast page.

I also did my CONNECT training workshop for a few hundred of the youth workers and led them through the stickynote training. What a fun group. We premiered our brand new “six types of kids” training video that no one has seen before. They loved it. I’ll be sharing that with you guys soon too.

Another funny moment on stage both during my keynote and in my training workshop was when I noticed that there was a lady assigned to do sign language during my talks (there were a few deaf people in the audience). I started watching her when I would say certain words- fascinating stuff. I finally just walked over to her during my training and started having fun with her. You see… one of my training videos referred to someone as being a “turd.” So I asked her, “How did you sign turd?” The audience laughed… she said that she just spelled it. So every time I said something weird or off the wall, I kept looking at her to see how she would sign it… sometimes I even added adjectives to see what she would do. We had a great time! The audience gave her a big hand for putting up with me!

I’m home now, I’m exhausted… but what a rewarding weekend! God is so good!

Thanks to Metro Maryland Youth for Christ for putting on that fun event. They did a phenomenal job!

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Top 10 Signs You’re Turning 40

Posted on: 03/19/10 2:45 PM | by Jonathan McKee

So Thursday was my 40th birthday. Funny… I don’t feel older today.

Although if I’m honest, my body has been telling me, “Hey Jonathan! You’re 40!” for the last year. I’ve gotten more running injuries in the last year- my back, my hip… heck, just the other day I was running and my ankle started hurting. I don’t even know what happened. It just hurts. Why? Does it know that I’m 40?

My 40-year-old body aside, I had a great b-day! I threw a little contest on the blog and by 6:49 a.m. Pacific time, all 15 prizes were awarded. Wow… those of us on the West Coast have to be early risers to get the worm! Thanks to all those who participated. Over 30 people got the answer by the time I posted the winners.

I’ve traveled quite a bit out of town lately and earned some comp days, so I took my birthday off. My wife Lori and I hung out, went out for a nice Jonathan-inspired dinner (pizza and wings… they were awesome!), and then when the kids were asleep, we laid around on the couch eating German-chocolate cake (my choice as well) and watching TV.

Good day.

Lori is so amazing!

I was clicking through my blog and saw that last year I was ranting about being 39. Ha! In that blog I linked the EZINE that I sent out to our subscribers in March of 2000 when I was turning 30. Funny… back then I thought that 30 was old! 🙂 Anyway… in that newsletter I shared the Top 10 Signs That You’re Turning 30. Hmmmm. I remember 10 years ago. I had a 2, 4 and 6-year-old. Wow… that seems like a LONG time ago. My Top 10 list would look a little different now. No more diapers and Little Tykes playground structures.

Yes, my list might not look like everyone’s list… I got married at 20 and had my first kid at 23. Because of our “lifestage,” most of our friends are 5 years older than us. So my Top 10 Signs I’m Turning 40 is pretty personal to me… but here goes…

THE TOP 10 SIGNS I’M TURNING 40!

10. I exercise more, eat less, weigh more… and care about it less!

9. I don’t lean over and pick something up unless it’s really important. Leaning over or squatting down takes an overwhelming amount of energy at age 40. I am constantly calculating “risk vs. reward.” A pencil? Nope. The dog can just chew it. A $20 bill? Maybe.

8. My bills, my hairline and my cholesterol count are all way higher.

7. My tolerance for teenage attitude… way lower!

6. I now get up twice every night to go to the bathroom… up from once a night, starting at age 30. At this rate I’m just going to save time by sleeping on the toilet at age 60!

5. My car insurance just tripled because I’ve got a 16-year-old boy with a license. Isn’t there someone cheaper I can insure… like a crop-duster?

4. I don’t want to go to my annual physical anymore because my doctor warned me that at 40 he was going to begin checking something else. (He patted a box of rubber gloves and smiled when he told me that!)

3. Whenever I get a new cell phone, I just give it to my kids to set it up for me (Now when my wife calls, Darth Vader’s theme music plays)

2. I eat several different cereals, but they all have the word “Fiber” in the title.

1. Two words: Large Print.

Wow, I sound like a decrepit old man!

Sigh… life at 40.

Posted in Humor, Personal | | Leave A Comment

40th Birthday Giveaway

Posted on: 03/18/10 1:04 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Well… my 30’s have just ended. It’s now March 18, 2010 and I am officially 40-years-old.

That’s right… I’m now old!

So to celebrate, I’m going to give away some presents to the first 15 of you that can answer one question! The answer is something that my blog readers probably will be able to gather from previous blogs. (WE ALREADY HAVE WINNERS… SEE BELOW)I’m going to halt on posting comments until I get all 15 winners who answer correctly. Here’s the question:

QUESTION: What is one of the best presents that I would enjoy receiving through the mail?

Hint: It’s a food, and it’s around $20, but shipping is expensive. I’ve received it as a gift before in the mail and have ranted about it several times in this blog. You need to be specific.

PRIZES- The first 15 people that answer get their choice of the following:

– I’m giving away 2 brand new DVD’s of the Sandra Bullock film The Blind Side, coming to DVD on March 23.

– I’m giving away 9 sets of the Touched by an Angel Inspirational Collection on DVD- the FAITH and LOVE DVDs (2 DVDs).

– I’m giving away 4 of my new book CONNECT: Real Relationships in a World of Isolation.

Tell me the answer and the top two prizes you prefer. First come, first serve.

And those of you outside the U.S…. I’m sorry, it’s just too dang expensive to mail to ya. So I have to limit this one to the U.S. subscribers.

WINNERS: Yes, we already have winners! Some people didn’t specify which prize they wanted, so I went by “first come first serve” … and those that followed intructions and specified what they wanted got dibbs on that prize. Blind Side was definitely the most requested- bummer that I only had two copies to give away, then my book CONNECT was the second most requested- only 4 of those, then the Touched by an Angel DVDs (no comment). 🙂

Here they are. If this is you, email me at [email protected] with your mailing address.

Justin Ross- BLIND SIDE

Rick Acred- BLIND SIDE

Heather Plazak- CONNECT

Jason Ruis- Touched By and Angel

Matt DeMateo- CONNECT

Susie Daggett- Touched By and Angel

Chris- Touched By and Angel

Kevin Becht- Touched By and Angel

Fred- CONNECT

Janine Graybill- CONNECT

Aaron Vance- Touched By and Angel

Jared Stewart- Touched By and Angel

Jenny- Touched By and Angel

Samantha- Touched By and Angel

Adam- Touched By and Angel

Happy Jonathan’s Birthday!

Posted in Food, Personal | | Leave A Comment

10 Years of Free Resources

Posted on: 01/18/10 2:28 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I can hardly believe it, but 10 years ago today I sent out my first resource “EZINE” newsletter from my little website, back then, called JonathansResources.com

I used Alexa.com’s “Wayback” machine to look back at what our site looked like 10 years ago (pretty cool little tool). Here’s what it looked like:

Pretty cool huh?

You can actually get on that page and click around here. I love the little pics on the front page, the game page, etc. Wow… I hardly remember those.

Tomorrow I’m going to send out a “retro” EZINE to our subscribers… I’ll be sending them a copy of the first EZINE we ever sent. You can actually still see all those old EZINES on our ARTICLE ARCHIVES page from the ARTICLES & FREE TRAINING drop down menu of our current site at www.TheSource4YM.com … just get on that archives page and scroll to the bottom to our first article on January 18th 2000.

For those of you new to us, back in 2000 I worked for Youth for Christ and volunteered at my church. I started JonathansResources.com as a fun little hobby simply because I noticed that hardly anyone was providing truly free youth ministry resources on the internet for free. Some people had websites with a few freebies… but no sites dedicated to totally free youth minsitry resources. So I gave it a shot.

It grew to be such a hit, and at the same time my speaking and training was taking off, so in 2003 we started TheSource4YM.com and went full time speaking, training, and providing free resources on the net.

The rest is history!

Posted in Internet, Personal, Youth Ministry Planning | | Leave A Comment

Getting my Butt Kicked in the Pool

Posted on: 01/12/10 6:25 PM | by Jonathan McKee

My wife is a stud!

Lori is a swimmer. She’s always been a swimmer. And the place where she regularly swims laps offered a free month to our whole family, so we signed up.

So last week, my whole family got in the pool with her to do laps. Guess how many I did before having to stop and rest?

Yeah… pathetic.

When I was in high school, I remember 10-lap warmups and then about 100 laps at any given practice. Fast forward 20-something years. I did just 10 laps that day.

Today I did 8 laps for my warmup before resting. I just had to beat 4. Then I did 20 laps total. Only 20 laps! What the heck!

Now… some of you might be thinking, “Jonathan, you’re a cheesy slob. Get in shape!” But allow me to retort. Lori and I try to bike or run 3 to 4 days a week. My runs are usually 5 miles, and my bike rides are 15 to 20. So why am I sinking in the pool?!!

Lori is biking, running, and doing 90-lap workouts in the pool.

Add to the humility… my kids all put me to shame. (I do not like the pool of shame!) Alyssa (my 14 year old) is doing 70 lap workouts with Lori. The other two are beating me on any given lap.

Wow. Swimming’s hard!

Posted in Family, Personal | | Leave A Comment

Nashville, TN

Posted on: 01/8/10 5:15 AM | by Jonathan McKee

I’m at the airport right now getting ready to board a plane to Denver, then onto Nashville. I’ll be spending two days there teaching my Connect Workshop to a group of youth workers and taking them through my “sticky-note” exercise. John, the youth pastor at this particular church, bought each of the members of his team of volunteers my brand new Connect book, and now he’s bringing me out to train them how to connect with kids.

I’m really excited about this weekend for several reasons:

FIRST… when I get to Nashville, John is taking me out to get some authentic Bar BQ. For those of you not familiar with “real Bar BQ,” I warn you, someone from TN might just set you straight. From my last few trips to TN I learned that Bar BQ means only one thing: pulled pork on a bun. There’s only one question they ask you. “Do you want slaw on it?” (Which I always answer, “No.”) The first time I was in TN and someone mentioned Bar BQ, I said, “Bar BQed what?” They replied, “See, out there in California y’all think that Bar BQ is a verb. Bar BQ is a noun and it means one thing: pulled pork on a bun.” So I asked them. “What is it that I do to my burgers then when I throw them on my Weber grill?” They told me, “You grill them.”

Funny, in Texas they informed me that the TN folk got it wrong. Yes, Bar BQ is a verb, but it means the slow cooking of any meat. So now I get a kick out of asking people what Bar BQ means in their state.

Just added: Joseph just linked this video in the comments below to help us clear up any confusion on Bar BQ… hilarious!

(click here for the video if you don’t see it embedded above)

SECOND… the second thing I’m excited about this weekend is that I just love training adults, and that’s all we’re doing this weekend– training adult youth workers. Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy sharing the WORD with students. But I think of it this way. The last group of students I spoke too had about 300 of them in the room. The last time I trained adults there were a little less than 200. But when I trained those 200 adults, I could see the excitement as each of those adults left the room, excited about connecting with maybe 5 or 10 students. Do the math. If each of only 150 adults makes an impact in just 5 kids that year… that’s 750 kids impacted this year… not including any students that they’ll go on to impact in the future. I love equipping adults to love kids and share Christ’s love! This weekend will be dedicated to that!

THIRD… I’m training tonight (Friday), then Saturday, then hopping on a plane Saturday afternoon and getting back to my family by Saturday night, going to my own church on Sunday a.m. Love it when that happens!

Gotta go… about to board. Hmmmmm…. already thinkin’ about that Bar BQ! 🙂

Posted in Humor, Personal, Travel | | Leave A Comment

Phoenix to Sacramento

Posted on: 12/30/09 4:32 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Ah… the good ol’ I-5.

California residents know what I’m talking about… one of the most boring drives in the nation. The Interstate 5 running North and South in California! Forget any pictures of California you’ve seen in the movies… the I-5 is as boring and desolate as they come. Every other state I fly into has greener and prettier pastures.

It’s 5:30 a.m. right now, and I’m about to launch on a trip from Phoenix, AZ (visiting my wife’s family) all the way to Sacramento. It will be about 14 hours with quick stops. We’re gonna to it straight (with help from my wife and my 16 year old driving here and there). We start on the 10 going West, and in about 4 and a half hours, jump on the 210 cutting over to the 5… then it’s 5 all the way home!

Sacto here I come!

Jonathan

Posted in Family, Personal, Travel | | Leave A Comment

It’s About Time!

Posted on: 12/23/09 1:02 AM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s been a long haul… but my new book is finally in stock!

Those of you who have been my blog subscribers for a while now have been following the progress of my new book about engaging in one-on-one conversations with kids, a book titled CONNECT. Well… it’s finally released! I just got copies yesterday, and those of you that pre-ordered the books… they are in the mail.

CONNECT is my 7th book. It’s all about mentoring kids in one-on-one relationships. It deals with everything from how to talk with kids when you first meet them, how to engage them in spiritual conversations, and how to disciple believers. The book also provides a training exercise that youth ministry leadership teams can do together to take a spiritual inventory of their youth ministry and keep their leaders accountable to connecting with kids.

After teaching this material at a training workshop for a couple years now, I’ve decided to make my ppt training available to anyone who buys the book uniquely from us (click here for more about this).

I’m really excited to see this book finally arrive. If you missed the excitement, you’ll want to read my earlier blog about what happened with the first printing of the book. Well… we have copies of the book in stock now… a great gift for all the adult leaders on your youth ministry team! 🙂

Posted in Books, Personal | | Leave A Comment

Cookies So Good You’ll Cry!

Posted on: 12/21/09 10:48 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Okay… last year I opened a door to something that can’t be closed. It was around last Christmas, and I shared a blog about my hot wife baking cookies in the kitchen… the best cookies in the Milky Way! These are a recipe from my wife’s friend Dixie, and I promise you, your taste buds have never experienced this kind of pleasure!

In this blog last year, I gave you the recipe for these cookies. In the weeks to follow, I began getting emails… with DROOL on them! That’s right… e-drool! They are that good!

Those of you that tried them last year, feel free to comment!

Guys… bake these for your wives or girlfriends or mother! They’ll ravish you with love! I dare you to bake these cookies! Once you try these… you’ll never go back!

Here’s the recipe. It makes a huge batch!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Dixie’s Recipe

2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
4 cups flour
5 cups oatmeal
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
24 oz. chocolate chips
one 8oz. Hershey bar
3 cups chopped walnuts (optional)

Cream together- butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside.

Using a blender, grind all of oatmeal into fine powder (do a small amount at a time). Pour into a LARGE bowl. Next, grate chocolate bar and combine with oatmeal. Now add flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda to same bowl and mix well. Combine creamed ingredients and dry mixture (here’s where the stirring takes some real strength, a strong spoon… and a big bowl!) After well blended, add chocolate chips and nuts. (and this is where I eat a bunch of the dough!)

Make golf ball size cookies. Place 2” apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for about 9-11 min.

Oh yeah… you are gonna thank me later for this!

Posted in Food, Personal | | Leave A Comment

My Friend Todd

Posted on: 12/17/09 10:18 AM | by Jonathan McKee

If you’ve been a subscriber to my blog or a visitor of our website for even a short while, you’ve heard me talk about my friend Todd Pearage. Todd is not only one of our writers, he is also a youth worker out on the front lines. Or… was…

A little while ago Todd lost his job as a youth pastor.

Yeah… Merry Christmas.

I’ll give you the ugly details in a minute. But first let me brag about my friend. I met Todd years ago on a speaking trip. One of the things that first drew me to the guy was his eagerness to grow and learn everything he could about youth ministry. Fast forward a couple years and Todd began volunteering for our ministry at www.TheSource4YM.com writing curriculum (the brand new Miley music discussion featured on our front page right now is one of his) and doing occasional movie reviews. Now he actually manages our movie review page and has joined us on numerous THE SOURCE PODCASTS, including our annual movie review podcast (the third of which will premier this weekend on our web site).

Our readers have really enjoyed what Todd has offered over the years. After Todd’s “Skate Church” podcast, we received great feedback from people that appreciated Todd’s insight as a guy “out on the front lines” trying to make an eternal difference in the lives of kids.

I wish our little non-profit had the money to hire Todd full time. I feel lucky to have him just a few hours a week.

Needless to say, Todd is having a rough Christmas this year. Please pray for Todd, his wife and his two children.

Unfortunately, Todd’s old church had no idea what they just let slip through their fingers. When they hired him years ago, the head pastor wasn’t even in the hiring process. Long story, but the church was “between pastors.” The group that hired him assured Todd that they were looking for someone “contemporary.”

Todd came into the church, and despite the volatile leadership above him, Todd was a phenomenal youth pastor to those kids. I got a chance to see his ministry first-hand on a few occasions in my travels.

I’ve had plenty of friends lose their jobs in this economy because of downsizing or budget cuts. Todd didn’t lose his job for any of those reasons. Todd got “let go” by his church because he was too “contemporary” (the very thing he was hired for). When Todd first got the job, leadership changed, and they didn’t like “contemporary” any more. A couple examples:

1. He brought in Christian bands for concerts.

2. He didn’t wear a suit on Sunday morning.

Todd is the most humble guy. The “suit” story illustrates this. Todd didn’t have a suit. The “current” pastor told him that was okay. But one week a guy in the congregation with deep pockets told the pastor that Todd should be wearing a suit on Sunday morning. That week, Todd was told by the same pastor to buy a suit.

Todd did, without complaint. I happened to call him when he was shopping for it and he told me the whole story. I (being true to my Irish roots) flipped out. “You’re serious!!!!”

When Todd was eventually “asked to step down,” Todd didn’t make a scene at all. Todd went quietly. The whole situation really has me torn up.

Within two weeks the new pastor hired his best friend’s son.

Hmmmmmm.

Todd is the second guy I’ve personally seen land blasted by the church in the last year. In both situations, there was no reason to “let them go,” there was no “sin,” and it definitely wasn’t because they weren’t performing their job well …it was simply bad leadership. Regardless, both my friends exited humbly.

I know Todd will be hired by another church soon… he’s an amazing youth pastor. In the meantime, he’s doing odd jobs to pay bills, writing for us and for Interlinc. Please keep Todd in prayer.

David and I recorded a special podcast with Todd that we’re going to air in January, talking about “transitions” in ministry. I look forward to you all hearing that. In the meantime, I encourage you to all listen to Todd and I this weekend when we release our third annual movie review podcast on our PODCAST PAGE.

Posted in Church, Personal | | Leave A Comment