Alyssa’s Top 10 Uganda Pics

Posted on: 03/11/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

About a month ago I wrote about my 17-year-old daughter Alyssa leaving to Uganda for a two week missions trip (funny side note: last year I wrote a post about how my daughter will have no rules when she turns 17½. Guess where she was the day she turned 17½? Playing with little kids in Uganda.) It was such an amazing experience for her– everything from the worship with brothers and sisters across the globe, to the rush of children who would come up to greet her everytime she stepped out of the van (some who had never personally seen anyone with white skin before).

She’s back, she had a great time, and I told her to share some of her pictures that represented her time there. So here’s 10 random pictures she chose Continue reading “Alyssa’s Top 10 Uganda Pics”

Posted in Personal, Travel |  | Leave A Comment

First Launch

Posted on: 03/8/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

This coming Sunday I’m teaching a brand new parenting workshop at a church just outside of Milwaukee, based on a parenting curriculum Doug Fields and I are co-authoring.

This all started with a series of blog posts I wrote about setting guardrails. These articles springboarded a discussion between Doug and I, and next thing we know we were collaborating on this new curriculum for parents, which is in its final edits and will be released in May, just in time for when we both teach at the FAM Conference.

It’s been really fun working with Doug. It’s no secret he’s creative and brings all kinds of wisdom and experience to the table, but he’s also Continue reading “First Launch”

Advice to Small Group Leaders

Posted on: 03/6/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Last weekend I had a great time with Doug Fields, Mark Matlock and Megan Hutchinson training 700 youth workers at YSPalooza in Chicago!

One of the sessions I taught was “How to Lead a Small Group without Losing Your Mind.” This was a fun session where I offered 5 tools that help small group leaders (one of them was duct tape).

Before the session, I went around with my phone and filmed people in the lobby, asking them, “What advice would you give a newbie small group leader.” I synced my phone with my laptop really quick, threw the responses together using iMovie (gotta love Mac) and showed the crowd what advice they had to give to newbie small group leaders.

Here’s that video Continue reading “Advice to Small Group Leaders”

My Baby in Uganda

Posted on: 02/15/13 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

As I’m stepping on a plane to NC today for a weekend of teaching, it’s actually my second trip to the airport within the last 24 hours. Yesterday Lori and I dropped off my daughter Alyssa, my dad and my mom at the airport where they joined a team of 21 people from our church who are going to Uganda to serve for two weeks.

I’m so excited for Alyssa… and a little scared.

I know I shouldn’t be worried. Our church has sent teams to partner with these Ugandan churches for years now. It’s an amazing time where Christians from different countries learn from each other and worship alongside one another. My dad is going to be training hundreds of Ugandan pastors, my mom (a CSUS professor) will be teaching at a women’s conference, and my little Alyssa (17) will be helping where needed and using her awesome photo skills to Continue reading “My Baby in Uganda”

A Simple Little Contest

Posted on: 02/12/13 1:17 PM | by Jonathan McKee

WINNERS POSTED AT BOTTOM NOW.

I’ve got an exciting speaking schedule in the next few months, starting with the East Coast this weekend at this church in Raleigh, NC. I always like to let you know when I’m coming to your area, and I can do that more efficiently when I know where you’re from.

So here’s a quick and easy little contest for those of you in the U.S. You simply update your subscription profile information… and I will draw 3 random winners and give them a copy of one of these 3 new books from YS. So….

IF YOU ALREADY SUBSCRIBE TO MY BLOG: Just scroll down to the bottom of the email you receive from any one of my blog or eZine posts, and you’ll see the words “update subscription” underlined at the very bottom of the email. Click on that and you can add your name and zipcode to your subscription (zipcode is a brand new field we added, so I’ll know who has updated preferences by looking at the new zipcode entries).

IF YOU HAVEN’T YET SUBSCRIBED TO MY BLOG: Then click HERE and enter your email address, subscribing to my blog and/or our other free newsletters. Once you do this, then check your email inbox and you will receive an email with a button that says, “Yes, subscribe me to this list.” Once you click that, it will take you to a page that has an option to “Manage your preferences.” Click there. YOU MUST add your name and zipcode to those preferences to enter the contest.

That’s it. It’s that simple. I’ll randomly draw 3 winners one week from today, AND I’ll let you know if I’m ever coming to your area.

Here’s some of my upcoming trips this spring:

Raleigh, NC: If you’re within driving distance of Raleigh, NC… I’ll be flying there this weekend, speaking in the morning services at Highland Baptist Church Sunday, then teaching my Parenting the Texting Generation workshop from 2:30 to 4:30 (more details on their website here).

Then my spring calendar really starts to get crazy. See if I’m coming to a city near you:

March 1-2, 2013 (Chicago, IL)
Youth Worker Training, YS Palooza Chicago

March 10, 2013 (Hartland, WI)
Preach, Parent Workshop, Westbrook Church

March 15-16, 2013 (Des Moines, IA)
Leadership Training, IGNITE Youth Leadership Conference

March 17, 2013 (Norwalk, IA)
Preach, Parent Workshop, Fellowship Community Church

April 6, 2013 (Fridley, MN)
Connect Workshop, Grace EV FREE Church

April 7, 2013 (Fridley, MN)
Preach, Parent Workshop, Grace EV FREE Church

April 12-13, 2013 (Philadelphia, PA)
Youth Worker Training, YS Palooza Philly

April 14, 2013 (Philadelphia, PA)
Preach, Parent Workshop, Ridley Park Presbyterian Church

April 15, 2013 (Sewell, NJ)
Parent Workshop
, Gloucester County Community Church

May 5, 2013 (Kingsburg, CA)
Preach, Parent Workshop, First Baptist Church

May 12, 2013 (Carmichael, CA)
Preach- Mother’s Day, Christ Community Church

May 16-18, 2013 (Azusa, CA)
Parenting Workshops, the FAM Conference, Azusa Pacific University

June 12-14, 2013 (Irving, TX)
Youth Leadership Training, Student Leadership Conference 2013

CLICK HERE TO REQUEST TO BRING JONATHAN TO YOUR CITY

WE HAVE SOME CONTEST WINNERS:
The following three are the randomly selected winners. If this is you, use the comment feature of the blog to tell me which book, of the three books linked, that you want. It’s first come first serve, I have one of each book to give away. I’ll email you and confirm address, etc. once I see your response.

WINNERS:
Rodrigo Morales

Renee Jones
Nancy Chao

Coming to Your City

Posted on: 01/10/13 12:17 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I’m starting to book some travel for my upcoming speaking and training, and I found a few gaps in my speaking calendar where some of you might want me to speak, train, or do a parent workshop at your church… for no travel cost.

Here’s some of the upcoming openings I have:

CHICAGO- March 3rd
I teach at YS Palooza on March 1 and 2, but don’t have anything booked for Sunday. So if any of you greater-Chicago area churches would like me to preach and/or teach one of my parent workshops… or train your adult leaders… I can stay an extra day.

DES MOINES- March 17th
I teach at a Youth Leadership Conference called IGNITE on March 15 and 16, don’t have anything booked for Sunday. So if any of you greater-Des Moines area churches would like me to preach and/or teach one of my parent workshops… or train your adult leaders… I can stay an extra day.

PHILLY- April 14th
I teach at YS Palooza in Philly on April 12 and 13, but don’t have anything booked for Sunday. So if any of you greater-Philly area churches would like me to preach and/or teach one of my parent workshops… or train your adult leaders… I can stay an extra day.

SOUTHERN CA- May 19th
I teach the parenting track of the FAM Conference at Azusa Pacific University on May 16-18, but don’t have anything booked for Sunday. So if any of you Southern California area churches would like me to preach and/or teach one of my parent workshops… or train your adult leaders… I can stay an extra day.

Email me at [email protected] if you would like to talk about one of these dates. Let me know what kind of teaching/training you’d like me to do, and what’s in your budget. All the money from these workshops goes directly to providing free resources and training for youth workers around the world.

No Voice

Posted on: 11/5/12 9:48 AM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s been a long time since I’ve lost my voice… but it’s gone!

This is a scary thing for me, especially when I’m scheduled to speak. It happened last Wednesday night about 8:00 PM. I spiked a fever and my throat started hurting. Thursday morning I woke up with a sore throat and a raspy voice. I worked for a few hours that morning… because I’m a man! Men don’t get sick!

By noon, I admitted I was mortal, tapped out, and went to bed.

My biggest fear was Continue reading “No Voice”

Highs and Lows

Posted on: 10/16/12 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

This past weekend Lori and I packed up my girls (Alec had to work) and took them with us to the National Youth Workers Convention (NYWC) down in San Diego, about an 8-hour drive south of us.

As always, the weekend was rewarding on so many levels… here’s just some random highlights for me personally… and a lowpoint.

MY HIGHS OF THE WEEKEND:

Lunch with Greg Stier: Our first day there, the four of us connected with my good friend Greg Stier for lunch. You have to know Greg or have heard him speak to understand what a blessing he is. Greg ministered to the four of us more than he will ever know in that hour lunchtime.

Worship on Sunday morning: On Sunday morning, NYWC provided a 1 hour worship service featuring the band Brilliance, with David Gungor, who apparently is Michael Gungor’s Continue reading “Highs and Lows”

Flying Pie Pizzaria

Posted on: 10/7/12 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

As a true lover of pizza, I have to give a shout out to a small little place called Flying Pie Pizzaria in Boise. Tonight I ate there for the second time, and the experience actually surpassed my expectations… which wasn’t an easy task, because I loved the place the first time.

Last year was my first trip to Boise. I flew out for the weekend to preach in a small downtown church and teach a parenting workshop. Matt, the youth worker, booked me again this year to come speak to the congregation and do another workshop.

When he booked me I told him, “We’ve gotta go to that cool little pizza joint again!”

So not even an hour after I landed Continue reading “Flying Pie Pizzaria”

A Serendipitous Moment

Posted on: 09/17/12 3:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

The day was taking a severe turn for the worse… how could this possibly turn out well? But 2 hours later I was experiencing manna from Heaven. (My Twitter followers know what I’m talking about—they heard me chiming in about it last night.)

I’m writing this post from a Chicago hotel room. That’s not good, because I’m supposed to be home right now.

It started at speaking trip in Detroit this weekend. I had a great time teaching my Connect workshop to a network of Detroit area youth workers on Saturday, then preached Sunday, then taught my Parenting the Texting Generation workshop Sunday afternoon. The people were great… but I started feeling under the weather as the weekend progressed… not much I could do, so I just slept plenty and kept at it. Needless to say, I was pretty excited about flying home Sunday night.

After my final workshop, I got to the airport, checked in, arrived at my gate, and when it was time to board… Continue reading “A Serendipitous Moment”