schedule | More Than Dodgeball

Josh GriffinMore Posts Book Review: 10 Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing

I found out while I was reading 10 Stupid Things That Keep Churches From Growing that the author Geoff Surrat, was coming on staff at Saddleback the next week. If what he’s written is any indication of who we’re getting, I’m super excited. Taking a swift turn from his thought-leading Multi-site church books, Geoff takes on the common mistakes church leaders make in an effort to serve the church. Right out of the gate, he had me with his “the pastor has to do everything” trap – and I fondly recalling taking on everything and in the end everything suffering. Lots of great stories, mistakes and failures punctuate the points on how to be effective in ministry. I could have lived without the cartoons and layout, but the book is solid nonetheless. Welcome aboard, Geoff, we need you more than you know!

JG

Add Comment December 25, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts INSTANT GIVEAWAY: Soulprint by Mark Batterson

Fun special event RIGHT NOW exclusively here on MTDB!

You can win one of 25 copies of Mark Batterson’s new book, Soul Print: Discovering Your Divine Destiny. All you have to do is be one of the first 25 people to leave a comment on this post with at least your email address in it. Multnomah Books will use your email address to get your address and send you a free advance copy of the book – well in advance no less, it doesn’t come out until January 18th, 2011. Enter now and instantly win!

In Soulprint, Mark pours the contagious energy he’s known for into helping you experience the joy of discovering who you are and the freedom of discovering who you’re not. The wonderful fact is that your uniqueness is God’s gift to you–and it’s also your gift to God.

A “self-help” book that puts God at the center rather than self, Soulprint encourages you to recognize and explore the moments of your life that determine your future. Along the way, you’ll find that you’re not just turning the pages of a book. You’re turning the pages of your remarkable, God-shaped, world-changing life.

UPDATE: It took just 26 seconds from the time I posted this and Twittered it for them all to go! Holy smokes – and thanks to everyone who stopped by!

JG

48 View Comments December 20, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Almighty Bible Giveaway Winners!

Congratulations to the winners of the Almighty Bible Contest last week – you left comments to win and 3 of you just did! Congrats to the following comments:

18. Greg Rhodes, 31. Jerry Varner, 78. Tpitty

Your Almighty Bible will be shipped this week!

JG

Add Comment December 18, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Why Conflict Is a Good Thing

This week during HSM’s end of year meeting I encouraged my team to be better at conflict. Being the people-pleasing giant that I am … it doesn’t come naturally to me either. I’m OK with letting some things go or not saying the last 10% in an effort to make peace and keep friendships. The challenge is to rethink how avoiding conflict doesn’t help – in fact actually it hurts relationships. Here’s why a little dose of conflict might be good in our youth ministry culture:

Conflict allows people to grow
Observations and constructive criticism left unsaid is a missed opportunity for someone to grow. When you avoid conflict you marginalize someone’s growth and cap their leadership. Say the tough things so they keep getting better and as a team you become more effective. Not saying it is selfish, especially if it is done to preserve your position or status.

Conflict kills the undercurrent of negativity
The worst part about avoiding the tough conversations is that you’re still going to have the easy conversations with someone else about that person. Too much avoiding people and addressing problems leads to isolation, dysfunction and eventually loss. Keep the team happy in the long run by having a few painful days among the way. The long view of health will push you to push for it on a daily basis.

Conflict follows Jesus example
Jesus wasn’t afraid of conflict. Neither was Paul, Peter and other leaders of the early church. Conflict makes sure we stay on task, onboard with the vision and forces us to truly love and care for each other and the church.

It is never easy … when it is you’re probably broken. But it is a necessary part of leadership.

JG

4 View Comments December 13, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts The Almighty Bible Giveaway

I reviewed The Almighty Bible last week – they’ve given 3 copies of it to MTDB to giveaway! Sweetness. The first 100 commenters are eligible – I’ve picked out 3 numbers at random between 1-100, so enter by leaving a comment and if you win they’ll ship it to your door!

JG

82 View Comments December 6, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts Book Review: The Almighty Bible

This isn’t a normal book review for me but from time to time I divert from typical reading to check out something fresh. I was given a few copies of The Almighty Bible (physical copies, though the book has also been released as an app on the iPad and iPhone) to read over and see what I thought. To be honest, it was quite a bit better than I expected – especially since I’ve never really connected with the Anime Bible or the the Bible in graphic novel format.

The Almighty Bible pulls no punches and is honest with the Scripture it depicts and it delivers the first two books of the Bible with vivid art. The recommended age is 8-14 years old, and my 9-year old son will be getting this copy of the Bible tomorrow and I’m eager to see what he thinks. I enjoyed reading the Bible in this format, and as an adult/parent appreciated the attention to the accuracy of the translation as well as the presentation. If you’re looking for a different way to get younger students into the Bible, this might be something to check out, especially as a Christmas gift this holiday.

JG

7 View Comments December 2, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts 4 Days to Get the Weekend Service Ready

Creating a compelling and inspiring youth group service every week can feel like an impossible task by itself. If that wasn’t enough, as soon as you’re get done with it, you collapse in a heap for a day off and get ready to do it all over again in just a few short days. Defeating the weekend beast every week is no small task, and we’ve recently been discussing a new strategy to get things accomplished in such a short turnaround time. Our services are on Saturday and Sunday, so you may have to adjust the actual days to fit your context. Either way, here’s the new model we’re working from this season:

Delegation (Tuesday)
What are the tasks that need to be doled out to make sure our youth group meeting is a success? For that matter, what are we even doing this week? Make sure that all of the projects, videos, music, humor, handouts all have an owner – pass out tasks and be confident that your busy work on the front end will help things go smoothly in the end. I would love to see a program sheet and a bunch of people starting to move on their assignments at the end of the day.

Do (Wednesday)
This is the day to get things accomplished. Shoot the video. Buy the prizes. Test it out. Whatever needs to happen for the weekend, DO it on Wednesday. This week, I’ve got a student writing their testimony, a volunteer editing a video and a draft of my sermon coming along.

Done (Thursday)
Everything has to come together on Thursday. Get the bulletin done, the student outline finished, slides made, videos selected and ProPresenter setup. Handouts are copied, packets are made, anything that was ordered has arrived and is sorted, ready to go. By the end of Thursday I’d love for things not to just be dialed in but DONE. This week … well, that’s today, so hopefully I’ll get the sermon done and can followup on everything else that is spinning at the moment.

Dream (Friday)
You’ve got to make space for greatness – so instead of letting Friday become the uncontrollable chaos of to do lists and last-minute service details, force yourself to get things DONE a little early so you can DREAM. If you have everything dialed in, you can work to get ahead and be intentional to find more time for people and spend time wisely on programs.

JG

2 View Comments November 18, 2010

Josh GriffinMore Posts I’m Not a Morning Person Video

Played this video as an illustration of how I feel about morning people during the talk about our daily routines with God. Students loved it – not sure of the source, but enjoy it if it fits with your talk sometime soon.

JG