Stac’s Place

I Am Not A Cardinals Fan By Nature
Congrats to the Cards! Very few people expected it, but the Cards pulled off a huge World Series win. I was surprised to see both the Tigers and the Cardinals in the WS, but what do I know.
I am a Braves fan from way back [...]

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Committed to Consuming
Marko is going to post his thoughts on Teenagers and Materialism, once he gets permission/clearance from YouthworkerUK, who is running his article in their current issue. I can’t wait to get his take.
At the Austin NYWC (loved it!), Mike Pilavachi spoke about his coming to realize that he had created [...]

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Men’s Retreat = Junior High weekend, only bigger bodies
I spoke for a friend’s Men’s Retreat over the weekend. It’s the first time that I’ve had the pleasure of being the speaker, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. Jonathan said that we ought to plan and treat it like it was a event [...]

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Staff Retreat Day, or “Man, is this my idea of a dream day…”
Actually, this will be a pretty cool day. I don’t know many youth pastors who have it as good as I do in terms of staff leadership. When people call to see if I’d be interested in making [...]

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Cross-town Showdown
We took our middle school ministry on the road tonight. Our local middle schools’ 8th grade football teams squared off in a skirmish for the ages. We have several guys playing on either squad, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to support them and build a little community among [...]

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We’re Piano People Now
We entered a new stage of life today. Kim and I took a ride through the beautiful Pennsylvania countryside to the little village of Marion Center (population 428) with our friend Kim to pick up a piano. We’ll be piano-sitting for the next few years, as she has [...]

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When It Rains…
Oh man, do I love it when God confirms stuff that he’s doing in my heart through people who run into my life.
I met Seth McCoy today. Seth is part of Sonlife’s training team, and he came to town to present the new Enroute, their new approach to the ancient practice [...]

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Corrective Lenses
Our 3 kids had eye doctor appointments this week. Levi got new glasses (his last pair didn’t last the year–broken by that mysterious Not Me kid). I remember getting glasses, when I hit 6th grade. My eyes got progressively worse until they levelled out around 20-450. That’s right. I [...]

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Shane Claiborne is kickin’ my butt
Well, not Shane, really. I’ve been reading his book, The Irresistible Revolution. I find myself laughing, crying, and wishing that I had come to meet Shane much earlier in life. And I am meeting God in the process, and the Spirit of the Living, Loving God is [...]

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Blown Away
It’s sad to say, and more than a little surprising to me, but I got floored this morning at the YS convention.
I’ve been in student ministry for 18 years (counting those 2 years in college). I seriously thought that I had pretty much experienced all that there is to see at the youth [...]

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