Back in May, Matt Johnson sent us a great video of his experience at BeachReach, giving us permission to put it on our site. I’ve been waiting for a while to post it to this blog, but today is the perfect day because I now have the 2010 BeachReach dates to share with you. You can choose between March 6–12, 13–19, and 20–26. Go ahead and clear your calendars to join us during one of those weeks. Registration will open soon (sign-up for the newsletter to be the first to find out when registration opens). … [Read more...]
Tips for Simplifying the Daily Grind
Most people spend way too much time on mundane tasks. With a little forethought, you can expedite the routine and use leftover energy for things that really matter. If we could, we’d all probably hire a personal assistant to help with day-to-day hassles, whether it’s yet another trip to Target for cereal and cleaning supplies or tackling that seemingly bottomless basket of laundry. But since most of us don’t have a Hollywood salary, we’re stuck taking care of life’s must-dos ourselves. With a few quick … [Read more...]
Four Keys to Keeping Young Adults
People leave the church. The dropout issue is well known and discussed widely. Perhaps less known is the high rate of young adult dropouts. Our research reveals that over two-thirds of 18-22 year-olds leave the church. In the short, four-year transitional window of teen to adult, the church loses the majority of its students. Most of the dropouts do not leave their families during this time. Most of the dropouts do not leave their social networks during this time. Most of the dropouts do not leave the educational system during this … [Read more...]
Young Marrieds in a Young Adult World
I vividly remember what it was like to serve on a summer camp staff the summer after I was married. On a team of about 20 young adults, there were only two married couples. My wife and I had been married around six months when our summer started; the other couple was maybe three or four months further along their marital journey than we were. In all honesty, I didn’t mind the juxtaposition all that much. I loved my wife and looked forward to sharing my life with her, much more so than going to sleep every night in a room with a … [Read more...]
A Candle Wishes Birthday
One Christmas, Jenny Williams sponsored a child from the Angel Tree program. Like many of us, Jenny gathered gifts for her little girl and took them to the Salvation Army. After staring at the packages for all the children, Jenny thought beyond December. She worried how Angel Tree families made it the rest of the year. Specifically, Jenny wondered how disadvantaged children celebrated birthdays — a big deal to every child. “If the parents are financially struggling during Christmas, birthdays probably present hard times as … [Read more...]
Does Sunday School Work for Young Adults?
Dale Bynum, the associate pastor for adults at Oakwood Baptist Church in New Braunfels, Texas, asked me a very good question at a conference last week that you may be asking yourself: “Does Sunday School work for young adults?” In a word, yes, but there are plenty of issues you need to meet head on if your church is going to truly be successful in meeting the spiritual needs of 20- and 30-somethings through the use of Sunday School. Here are just a few: Are you willing to make your classes relational? An important … [Read more...]
Mentoring--It’s Just the Two of Us
The yard was entirely overgrown as I stood on the curb of an inner-city home with Charlotte, a woman I barely knew. We’d frantically exchanged e-mails the day before—tying up loose ends to a local mission project for our church’s community groups. Other than those e-mails, I knew little of her. But for the moment, our joint purpose was to keep a woman from being fined for violating metro codes. It wasn’t until the next morning at church that we had a real conversation. She piped in, “Listen, I’m … [Read more...]
STORY Event in Chicago--Get the DISCOUNT code!
The Threads team is very excited to be partnering with an upcoming event called STORY. STORY is a first-of-its-kind conference for communicators in ministry on Thursday, October 28-29, 2009, at the beautiful Paramount Theater near Chicago. Hundreds of church leaders, pastors, teachers, artists, and authors are coming to learn from some of the most effective communicators of the Gospel—the greatest story ever told. Featured speakers include: Donald Miller Nancy Beach Dave Gibbons Stacy Spencer Ed Young Mike Foster Chris … [Read more...]
International Justice Day
To coincide with International Justice Day, our friends at Mocha Club have released a powerful video that we wanted to pass along. Take a moment and watch. In addition, Mocha Club has just launched a brand new website. Check it out as well. … [Read more...]
Women’s Small Groups: Finding the Delicate Balance Between Head and Heart
It all began with a seemingly innocent question: “Does anyone have any prayer requests?” An hour later, the prayer requests were still going strong. For many women’s small groups, this is a common occurrence. Prayer requests and even Bible study time can often turn into long-running therapy sessions in which women unload the anxieties and worries of their weeks onto a sympathetic group of listening ears. While this is certainly a healthy function of a body of Christian believers, it becomes problematic when it … [Read more...]
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