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Archives for December 2015

‘One Second Ahead’ by Rasmus Hougaard [Saturday Morning Review]


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The premise of One Second Ahead is an interesting one: the practice of mindfulness can create a one-second delay between action and reaction, thus allowing you to move from impulsive behavior to rational choice. This one-second delay, writer Rasmus Hougaard argues, can create a ‘competitive difference’ and enhance your performance at work and in your personal life.

The book lists a loooooong list of areas (16 in total) where mindfulness can make a positive difference and gives practical steps for each, ranging from handling emails, to creativity, communication, and sleep. It also discusses 8 mental strategies to achieve positive traits like patience, joy, and the art of letting go.

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Facebook Addiction Disorder. Yes, That’s a Thing [Infographic]


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How the times are changing. Facebook Addiction Disorder is now, apparently, a thing.

We all know how compulsive people can get about social media and Facebook especially. We’ve all witnessed awkward situations where folks were more focused on their phones than, say, their children, friends, or even the pastor speaking in the front of the church. A friend of mine always refers to Facebook as Facecrack, because of that addictive power. [Read more…] about Facebook Addiction Disorder. Yes, That’s a Thing [Infographic]

5 Things A Youth Pastor Might Want for Christmas


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Getting into the Christmas season we often see lists of things people are going to want or need under the tree. With help from fellow youth ministers, I’ve come up with a list of 5 geeky things a Youth Pastor might want in the next year personally or for their ministry. Now This list is in no way exhaustive.

When I reached out to youth pastors to see what they wanted I got lots of “Big Dream Answers.” For example: the ability to pay off student loans, a new house, a new car, or even just a car with under 200,000 miles on it. I was amazed at the reasoning behind all of these. Most simply want to pour more money into their ministries, to do more with their ministries, or to give back to their community. I thank all those awesome youth pastors for what they do. And without further lolly gagging around, here’s five things you could get for your youth pastor in appreciation this Christmas—in no particular order:

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Failing on Stage: Holiday Survival Tips


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I’m in front an audience most of the week. In fact, between Sunday and Friday, I probably spend about twenty-six hours in front of a group of people, if not more. Sometimes, this makes for a fun and enjoyable week, but other times, it’s exhausting, especially when something goes wrong.

Of course, “something going wrong” is a very broad category of incidents, including oratorical flubs, technical difficulties, and a whole host of other issues that can only be described as “supremely bad luck.” Since the holidays are fully upon us and since some many of us are going to have even more pressure than usual placed upon us, I thought I’d offer a few words of wisdom about how to fail gracefully in front of your church.

What follows are three short anecdotes with a bit of wisdom drawn from each that will hopefully help you prepare for the holiday season.

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Are You Drowning in Too Many Good Ideas?


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A little while back I looked down at my RSS reader (yes, I still use RSS) and saw that after missing a weeks reading I had 200 or so items to read and most of the time I just skipped through them and read only a handful. Then I looked at the 12 or so podcast episodes waiting for me to read, the inbox badge shined red and I hadn’t even checked Twitter or Facebook.

It would be difficult if these had contained a mixture of great, okay, not so good blog posts and podcasts, but over the last few months I had started pruning the inputs into my life, especially in these two areas. As such, the vast majority of blog posts and podcasts are useful and relevant to me. And that’s the problem, I had too many great inputs.

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