A few weeks ago I introduced the E.M. Spectrum to my yr 10 classes (14-15 years old) by asking them to produce activities that we would broadcast on our very own online “TV” channel http://www.livestream.com/croesyphysics

Needless to say they were very excited by the idea, especially because they were given complete choice on the type of activities they could create, the groups they were working with and even the software they could use. So, we got activities ranging from News Reports and Revision Songs to Documentaries and Comics. The whole process was highly enjoyable for them, to the point that some pupils who normally would not be that interested in the subject and that would find it difficult to focus on the work given became those who were always working very hard at their project and even came back at lunch time several times to make sure they could complete the activity in time to be broadcast.

Our pupils used a range of sources of information to produce their activities. Many used the internet, but most also checked their facts on Science Textbooks and made sure that their content was both relevant to the AQA Specifications (our examination board) and scientifically sound!

As I mentioned above, all groups had complete choice on the software and format they were using. So, some groups used Photo Story 3 to record short documentary-like videos.Photo Story 3 is very easy to use and very intuitive. It basically lets you choose a sequence of photos and record an oral narration on each frame. Other groups used Songsmith to create lovely revision songs. If you are a teacher, you can download Songsmith free by joining the Partners in Learning Network. Songsmith gives you a choice of musical bases and by singing to the software your voice is recorded and the base is turned into the melody you’ve created. You can then export your song in Movie Maker and add background images, text and effects, like our yr 10 pupils did.

One of the highlights of our show was the News Report created by our pupils using only PowerPoint 2007 and Movie Maker. Michael asked permission to ITV News to use their music and he then produced the most amazing PowerPoint presentation I have ever seen. In this presentation he included the videos created by the other Reporters in Movie Maker and it looked really professional, as well as containing really good Physics. I think the most powerful message we could get from work like this is that we don’t really need to spend thousands of pounds in highly expensive equipment, nor have a state on the art recording studio in our school, because what really makes the difference is the creativity and engagement of our pupils.

Some other groups used Community Clips to record their presentations directly from their computer screen. Community Clips is a very useful free tool from Microsoft Research that lets you record a video of whatever happens on your screen. You can also narrate what’s going on and your voice will be captured by Community Clips. A Good example of use of this software were the instructions made by our pupils on some useful websites for revision, towards the end of our show!

So, how did we broadcast? Well, we used a free software called Procaster that lets you broadcast live directly on your Livestream channel. But the great thing about Procaster, and what makes it stand out from any other free broadcasting tool, is that you can choose to show just your webcam view, your screen, or a lovely 2-D or even 3-D mix of the two. The result looks very professional and the quality and speed of streaming is also pretty impressive for a completely free service. Your Livestream channel is also free and there is the option to let your audience interact with the show and with each other via the chat built in the channel. You can also link the channel to your Facebook and Twitter to maximise advertising possibilities. Our E.M. Spectrum show went live on Thursday 17th December 2009 at 20.30 (U.K. time) but it’s now available on demand in our Croesy Physics Livestream channel. Please, watch it and have fun!

Croesy Physics Livestream Channel

Have you ever used live streaming software, or websites? What was your experience?

We had a very Special Viewer during our live broadcast, Les Foltos, the Director of edLAB
Puget Sound Center for Teaching who commented: “Dude.  Really great.  Or as you said it, Bringing Physics to Life is Amazing.” Les also asked our pupils: “What is the benefit of sharing your work in this online show?” and this are some of their comments.

Michael: the benefits are that we are in control of our learning and the research that we did to produce the “TV show” allowed us to take everything in and understand all about what we were learning.

Niall: some of the benefits would be the new and great technologies and software and being able to watch the show on the internet.

Jess: the benefits are that your parents can see it and get involved with what you’re doing in school. Also, it was more fun knowing that lots of people can see it!

What are you reading?

We want to know what you are reading right now!  Fiction, poetry, journals, magazines, travel guides, computer manuals…anything is news!  Write to me at richardjbirch@gmail.com and tell me what you are reading at this moment, and let me know what you think of it so far.  Remember to list the title, author(s), and publisher if possible too. 

Tell us about the author and why you started reading this piece of text?  Was it a gift?  Is it a text for a course you are taking?  Is it a good read, or does it feel like watching paint dry?  Would you recommend it?  Should it be made into a film?  Are you discussing it in a book club?

Engage us!

Thanks.

Richard Birch

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000151252277#/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000151252277

http://twitter.com/richardjbirch

Several conversations this past year have had me thinking about writing something about the practice of preaching. I’ve sat with several folks from my church family and responded to questions about my preaching style and habits, and I suppose that what I want to do here is share some of that with you. This is part one of that effort.

Why share thus stuff?

Am I tooting my own horn or flexing my pretentious muscles? I really hope not. But, I think it’s important to talk about things from individual perspectives and experiences. When we do that we find out that we’re not nearly as unique or alone as we tend to think. So, I guess I’m trolling for kindred spirits as I do this, friends trying to make a similar path. I wasn’t trained to preach as I do, so it’s been an odd journey for me to do different things and attempt new methods. Sometimes it has soared with eagles and other times hidden in the mud with worms, but I find that experience far more authentic and life-like than the many idealized preachers of my youth who became more and more distanced from us and God because of a rigid preaching practice until they fell into the worst sins against which they weekly railed. As is probably the case for most church leaders, I am deeply concerned with the lives and souls of the people who look to me for leadership, but I’m also hoping to live the life eternal now and always for myself.

Here are a few things I don’t tend to do…

I don’t ever read a prepared sermon.

If you are trained to do this, and you enjoy it, and you minister with a church family that appreciates it, don’t change a thing! I found that I could not engage my listeners when I engaged the paper. My experience has been that younger generations, unless trained otherwise by seminary or church experience, tend not to respond positively to the sermons being read to them. I think it has to do with the way the younger gens interpret and recognize a couple of crucial things: authenticity and relationship.

Did I just say that written sermons aren’t sincere and authentic? Nope. I said that I’ve found the younger gens, and many from the older ones, are finding a prepared and read sermon to feel less engaging, and therefore not seeming authentic to the life of the speaker. That’s my experience when trying to encode messages for my listeners… and it resonates with me as well.

The idea of relationship is probably even more important and really impacts the idea of a speaker’s authenticity. Younger gens are way more relational these days, and they often hear you or don’t hear you based on their relationship or perceived relationship to you. I believe that to be a fairly true generalization. Many younger folks just aren’t looking for the “power” image in preachers, but instead want someone who can relate to and connect with them at empathetic levels.

Of course the kingdom still has plenty of room it seems for the styled hair, capped teeth and prosperity models who build some of our mega-churches. Cool. That’s no skin of my bald head, not so pristine teeth and jeans. I don’t go into Sunday mornings looking like a slob, nor a poster child, but just me. I’ve found the effort worth the dividends of trust and grace that my church family folks are willing to extend to me.

I don’t like to draw a closed circuit of conclusions.

I don’t think that what I have to say should ever be the final word on something, or that my conclusions are the necessary conclusions for each of my listeners. What? But aren’t preachers paid to think for us, study for us and tell us what the coolest theological trends might be for the day? Aren’t we actually saved by our rightness regardless of our lip service to grace and faith?

I don’t try to complete some of the ideas I’m preaching because I intend for them to be germinal in my listeners. My applications tend to be exploratory. I genuinely invite folks to chew on what I’m saying and give me alternative conclusions or ideas. I’ve been broadened many times by my church folks coming to me with alternatives and additions to what I’m talking about, and I often include those points or reference their thoughts on a following Sunday. The classical form of a sermon that has an introduction, three points and a conclusion is more of “take it or leave it” situation than one in which a person in invited to grow and take their time. Simply put, I don’t expect my listeners to accept everything I say in a message at face value or in the moment of hearing my words… I’ve had a while to play with my ideas and conclusions, digest them and throw them through some tests before any given Sunday morning. It would be un-neighborly not to allow my listeners some time to digest and incorporate the ideas, and improve on them in the effort.

Humility seems to call for a bit of openness and invitation to many of a preacher’s conclusions. After all, I am one person, and God’s Spirit lives in the many persons surrounding me. If I have faith that God’s Spirit is a present, convicting agent in peoples’ lives, then I carry no less of a burden as preacher, but a little different of a burden, one shared with my church folks, not imposed on them.

At the risk of making any comparison between myself and Jesus, which would be a huge mistake for me, I’d ask you to consider how many times Jesus threw some teaching out and then walked off leaving people scratching their heads, frustrated or confused, but also processing and deeply involved in what he had said, though maybe not what he concluded.

I try not to move in a linear fashion through points A to D, 1 to 5, etc.

Mostly, linear communication leads to two great evils: 1) alliteration, and 2) lazy listening. I’m doing my part to kill both practices in the world. Seriously, I can remember in one of my earliest preaching class experiences when the teacher was trying to help us grasp the finer points of outlining our messages and ended up with sub-points A) thru Q) on the board under his second main point. No kidding. It forever altered my perception of the job of a preacher.

Of course, I don’t think that everyone who practices alliteration is evil or dumb, I’m just wore out on the five P’s of this and sixteen J’s of that. Alliteration takes valuable energies that could be much better spent in service to the church and the world. I involuntarily tune out the moment I see sermon notes that have five blank lines all beginning with a capital “U:” because we’re getting the five great U’s of uber discipleship. OK, I don’t just tune out, my mind changes channels and rips off the tuner knob. And, though maybe not all preachers are crass enough to say it out loud, I simply preach the way I want to listen. That’s why not every preacher is right for every listener. I usually say it another way… if I’m not comfortable and enjoying myself, then I bet my listeners aren’t either.

And I think linear messages can lead directly to lazy listening. You know what lazy listening is right? That’s like when someone listens through a whole sermon, shakes hands afterward and compliments the preacher, and immediately moves on with life with nothing better than hopefully a subconscious plant to later haunt them. Lazy listening engenders no questioning of what the speaker just said, it engenders no curiosity or creativity, and it certainly never leads to interrupting the speaker during the message.

I think that classical American preaching set out to do two things, to inform and to convict. So my grandparents were trained to sit and receive information during a sermon and maybe be convicted to do something. These two movements were the meat and bread of persuasion. My grandparents’ generation really believed that they should listen to a sermon because it was good for them to do so, sort of like eating broccoli was supposed to be a good thing.

Later, some preacher with too much time on his/her hands decided to plant a joke in their sermon, and the modern preacher was born… now we’re going to inform, convict and make them like us, too! How liberating and exciting for a tired preacher! Critics of this new paradigm shift invariably call this the “entertainment” model of sermonizing. The more jealous they are of a preacher’s ability to be liked is directly related to their time spent calling it entertainment, even though that preacher is usually still playing the same old game of informing and trying to convict his/her audience. So, my parents were trained to sit and listen, but they really lived for the next humorous story or tear-jerking anicdote. They were willing eat their broccoli, but now demanded some melted cheese on top, because really!

Listen, I’ve done all that! I’ve laid out my points, I’ve brought the Reader’s Digest to bear on important topics, and I’ve tried to bring folks down front during fifteen verses of Just As I Am with tearful pleas between each verse. But these days I’m more interested in getting people engaged than persuaded. I would be just as happy if one of my sermons made someone go be a student of the Bible in an attempt to prove me wrong then because I was so eloquent. I’d love to think that our circular weave through paintings, scripture and life one Sunday morning caused an artist to think about writing a new song or putting brush to canvas. I would often rather one of my sermons leave you with a big question than a big answer. Why? Because I don’t fear God blasting you for something you don’t know more than I hope for you to seek God in a new way, a new question or a renewed period of reflection.

Then again, someone might do what I usually do when listening to a sermon… often I hear a word or phrase early on and disconnect because it’s sent me off on a grand chase down some rabbit hole of scripture or reflection. I’m always grateful to the preacher for kicking off that journey for me, though I probably didn’t hear their message’s conclusion, much less was I persuaded by it. But I did engage. Folks are welcome to do the same during my sermons.

Really… look again at Jeremiah 31:33-34, especially the second part: “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD.  “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they teach their neighbors, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.” Sounds like the end of preaching as a profession, huh? Maybe it is, or maybe it is a reminder that God wants a lot more engendered in the hearts of all the people than in the pulpits and sermons of the churches. Maybe this new covenant hope has been stalled because we keep wanting folks more focussed on what we’re saying than what we’re releasing them to experience.

I’ll stop here. I’m almost ranting, and that’s not always constructive. Peace!

A zookeeper at the Blank Park Zoo in Idaho listen, learns, engages and talks to a very large turtoise. You (too!) can be successful in social media!

1) Listen – there are lots of “listening” tools that are available online. Check out my post on 12 free social monitoring tools that helps you listen.

2) Learn – take time, watch what others are doing, learn about the tools, practice, try things out.

3) Engage – to engage is to host a meaningful interaction between you (your company) and someone else (a consumer. You can increase your following on Twitter or fans on Facebook if you engage people.

4) Talk – once you have accomplished steps 1-3, you can begin to talk with expertise and authority. Too often we talk without engaging or even listening. It is usually by way of a press release or a marketing video. Most meaningful Twitter interactions are not about free products or about the world’s first technological innovation, it is usually a conversation.

Follow these steps and you’ll find yourself social media success!

Best Spots to Propose in Washington, DC
Personally, I love the concept of being the romantic. With Valentines Day approaching, I think back to the best places to propose. I can think of 5 off hand that are ideal. Most have something to do with just being creative.
Read More

I am in participating in the one word at a time blog carnival, which is being hosted by Bridget Chumbley this week. Today’s word is Church, and as I’ve written quite a few blogs on that topic, I’ve decided to just to a repost. One of the topics we wrote on about a month back was community, and that was also a repost…it was original the post that followed this one in “my thoughts on the church and the Church” series…

======================

the role of the church, the way i see it…and once again, by church i mean the congragational gathering…is for community. we were made for relationships…God is relational, we were created in God’s image, therefore we are relational beings…we were not created to go through life as loners, and we are not meant to walk this Christian walk alone. Side note a bit: I’m not saying you can’t be friends and have relationships with people who aren’t Christian, but I think there’s something powerful and build-up-ness about having friends/accoutability partners who have the same basic beliefs/morals/world-view as you do.

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled blogpost: Joshua Davidson chose Peter to be the rock that His church would be built upon, but he didn’t send Peter out alone, he had 11 other guys doing it with him (yea, I remember what happened to Judas, they replaced him with Matthius remember?)…and they garnered more and more people to walk with them along the way…even Paul when he went on his many mission trips wasn’t travelling alone…he often went with Barnabas and then there was John Mark and there were times during the travels when Dr Luke would pop in for a spell…and even when he was travelling alone he would always stay with other Christians in the area.

So, as I see it the church (congregation) isn’t there to play babysitter and make sure you do your homework and eat your vegetables…we do the gathering thing for the community – to love one other, share with each other, encourage one another, rejoice with those who rejoice, and cry with those who cry.

As I said in part 1, I don’t think it’s the church’s job to come up with “witnessing/outreach” things for us to do, I think it’s up to me, when I see a need to fulfil that need and then when we meet on Sunday I share with my family what happened the past week, we either celebrate together or mourn together. We share in each other’s lives, pains, etc. We praise God together, we seek Him together and on behalf of each other, we encourage each other to live a life worthy of the calling we’ve recieved, we have the enGAGE pizza together at Gino’s, then we go out into the world and live out that calling by being a witness to those who haven’t seen the light yet. That is your ministry/calling/witnessing…being a light to those who haven’t seen it yet…and it is not necessarily going to happen in mission trips and in street evangelisms and organised outreach things, it might just happen through you living out your everyday life in a way that in “whatever you do, whether in word or deed, [you] do it all in the name of our Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the father through him”.

which leads me to thoughts on the church in Acts…that will be part 3

=====================

Do stop by the blog carnival and read the other posts…

Something for Walt & Co during the holidays, over at Engage, the line about any left overs sums up the dish, but what is surprising is how many people cook like that nowadays, for real.

Image : http://www.flickr.com

A great many of us have dated men who seem to have the urge to move after stage meetings and take a more serious commitment. Many women are therefore by their dating of frustration because they see no hope of their expectations are met.

However, although there is no magic that you can do to make your man suddenly becomes crazy about marriage, there are some simple steps that will help change the tide. Help him understand that marriagenot entail the loss of precious things.

There are several reasons which make men tend to avoid the issue of engagement, one of them being the fear of losing some of the things they love. One of the things a man would not want to lose is their freedom.

Therefore, if you want your boyfriend to consider marriage seriously, you must show him that you will not stifle his freedom. For example, do not plan your life around him. It has its own space at times. When aman sees that you do not bind to you after marriage, it will be more interested in making a lasting commitment.

Do not be available all the time

As you give your boyfriend more space to enjoy his freedom, you must also arrange your own schedule, you'll need to plan things that take you away from him. Make your plans entirely on your own, including the necessary finances.

Be discreet

Here's a sure way to your efforts to backfire is to introduce the idea of marriage as your own idea. You will be more effective if you urge him to quietly thinking on the topic in its account. It is mainly for this reason that you should avoid discussing the issue at all. In announcing that it will simply put on the defensive.

The best way to make a man think the marriage of her own is to avoid discussing the subject in any way. In addition, you must remove any indication of> The commitment, such as bridal magazines. This way, your boyfriend will think more about marriage.

Completing his thirst for the hunt

Men are naturally born with the spirit of hunting. Therefore, when you give him something to chase you, you take it more seriously. For example, you should not be at his disposal all the time. Instead, you must give him the chance to miss. In the process of running behind you so that you do not slip out of hisfingers, the man decides to commit.

There are specific steps you can take to influence your friend to stop his reckless nature and thinking of committing.

Tags : tw-washington tw-visa http://guide-staplers-tackers.co.cc/ http://lee-ji-woo.co.cc/blog/

Venezuela and Cuba will sign agreements on 285 joint projects totaling about $3.2 billion at an upcoming summit of the regional ALBA trade bloc, RIA-Novosti quoted Venezuelan Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez as saying.

According to Ramirez, the documents were agreed during the work of the 10th Cuban-Venezuelan intergovernmental commission prior to the ALBA summit in the Cuban capital, Havana, on December 13-14.

“In 2000, we started the work of the intergovernmental commission with 17 projects worth $30.5 million…and now we will sign 285 joint deals totaling $3.185 billion,” the Venezuelan minister said.

He added that the trade between Venezuela and Cuba has reached $8.7 billion, mainly in the health, education, agriculture and energy sectors.

Over 40,000 Cuban experts are working in Venezuela to help the poverty-stricken Latin American country improve its health care and education systems, Ramirez said.

ALBA, or the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, was founded by former Cuban leader Fidel Castro and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2005 and now comprises nine members — Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Dominica, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda.

Bookmark & Share

Spent 3 hours talking and handing out socks to the homeless today.

Asking questions, if they would allow:

1. How long have yo been homeless?
2. Where do you spend your nights?
3. Do you have a safe place to store your belongings?
4. What is the number one thing you need?
5. What is your daily income?

We did our best to scout the area, starting on Barstow and Blackstone and worked our way south to the Pov house and F street camp. I had never seem anything like that before with my own eyes. Life changing to feel nearly 800 people without any clue what tomorrow will hold for them.

It’s a rough and tumble lifestyle they are forced into. It seems to me that some are homeless and legally hustle everyday, while others have given up and live handout to handout.

Top 5 things I discovered today:

1. The average income of a homeless person is about $25 dollars a day if they beg. On a good day =$50-80.
2. Teenagers are their largest threat not the Fresno Police.
3. Some homeless have absolutely NO luck.
4. Anything you can give them will help.
5. The Fresno homeless prevention system is a FAILURE.

One man worked an 8 hour shift construction gig yesterday only to find out he was being paid $9 for is efforts.

Top 5 issues the homeless face:

1. Lack of address.
2. Lack of money.
3. Lack of DRY housing.
4. Lack of food.
5. Lack of storage.

The general consensus seems to be that the government takes to long to solve an individual case. Which makes since, it (gov’t) is deigned to work on a macro scale not a micro. Will who is paralyzed has had to wait since May to hear back from the organization that is issuing his disability. Shame on you.

After we spoke and mentioned our position on the issue and the jobs we will create to help them. I fielded a question from a gentleman “How many jobs will you have available for us?” Jesus F. Christ! That hits hard, as in any startup we expect a fast profit but slow growth. This is why multiple businesses in the shape of mirco-franchises are the answer.

–

Homeless Engagement #20

Big press (at least in the Blogging world) this week is Square launching a novel new way to accept credit card payments for small and mobile businesses. Using what is effectively a credit card skimming device and some smart new software anyone with an iphone/android phone/any phone with a headphone socket can take payment from their users.

Potentially the best part of the device for owners though are the setup charges. Designed for the small guys there is no setup fee and very limited ongoing costs. It also packs some smart security measures, such as pictures of the card holder coming through so you can be really sure it is not a stolen card. While this is great for little companies (think of the sandwich man coming round who can finally take card), we had more thoughts of pop up shops. Now it is really easy to make a small boutique stall at a local market a pop up shop for your brand, adding a sense of secrecy and surprise to the people who find it and really putting home a brand connection to users. Great tech, I hope it spreads fast.

Want more engaging Social Media Relationship Marketing strategies & systems?

Here’s the latest on what I can do for you:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/e3c/2009/12/04/maximizing-your-business-opportunities-with-a-virt

I’d love your feedback & comments! If you like it, please do share it with your friends!

What are your favorite tips & tricks?

To your success,
Christine
–
Christine Elisabeth Hueber
ChristineHueber.com
Engaging Social Media Relationship Marketing Strategies for Thriving Entrepreneurs
+1 530.582.8091 Direct, Pacific Time

Connect with me further:
Facebook: http://FaceBook.com/Christine.Hueber
LinkedIn: http://LinkedIn.com/in/ChristineHueber
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/CEHueber
Everywhere: http://XeeSM.com/ChristineElisabethHueber

Where do you want to go next with your business? I invite you to discover how my engaging Social Media Relationship Marketing expertise enables you to get there …with ease!

If you’ve been around Promise Land Student Ministry in the past few weeks, you’ve likely heard three words: Transform, Connect and Engage.  These words describe the direction that the student ministry is headed over the next few years as we seek to find the transformation that Paul talks about in Romans 12 become a reality in the life of our student ministry.  So in the next three blog posts we will consider each of these terms and what they mean for ou student ministry.

This is the final blog post summing up our Transform, Connect, and Engage series.

9 Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11 Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” 20 To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Romans 12:9-21

Engage

As we have been breaking down Romans 12, we have seen in verses 1-2 the transformation that must happen daily in a Christian’s life.  We have seen in verses 3-8 that we must be connected in the body using our gifts to build up the church.  And lastly, we will look today at verses 9-21 and the importance of engaging our community with the Gospel of Christ.

Obviously to engage someone means confrontation, but not necessarily the negative kind.  It means we must confront people with a balance of truth and love, the truth of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation and the love of God evident in our words and deeds.  Verse 2 of Romans 12 mentions “God’s  perfect will”.  God has a perfect will for all people to come to Him in worship through Jesus Christ.  That cannot be compromised, for anything outside of that will is imperfect.  So people need to know that they do not meet God’s perfect standards and must therefore come to Him through Christ.  It also means we have to be clear about what is right and wrong.  Verse 9 tells us to love good and hate evil.  There is no line to walk on between the two.  But in verse 21, Paul makes clear that we do not overcome evil with more evil (hate, gossip, condemnation, rejection), rather we “overcome evil with good”.

In this sense, the way we engage the world with truth is through our love.  We share the Gospel with them because we love them and want them to be saved.  We call sin “sin”, because we know how dangerous it is and we want people to avoid it.  So while we make the truth known, we do so with love in our hearts and in our actions.  But don’t forget, this love begins in the church.  As verse 10 says if we cannot love each other as brothers and sisters, how can we share the love of God with those outside the church?

This love we share is more than just our words, it is also our actions.  In verse 13, Paul talks about contributing to the needy and  giving a place to stay to those who need it.  In other places we find Paul talking about  visiting the sick, helping orphans, loving widows.  The church should be on the forefront of reaching out to the  needy.  If we do not live out the love we claim to have in our words, we look like hypocrites to the rest of the world.

Finally, this love extends to non-Christians, even our enemies as made clear in verses 14-18.  Love for our enemies is essential because it exemplifies the great grace and love God has shown us (I John 4:11).  The Bible teaches that we were once “enemies of God”, but while we were still enemies and sinners against Him, He loved us enough to adopt us as children through the sacrifice of His son Jesus Christ.  People can’t wrap their minds around that kind of undeserving love, and so we must exemplify that for the rest of the world by loving our enemies.

So to close this series out, what do these three things, Transform-Connect-Engage, look like in a student ministry?

First, if we are going to be transformed we have to surround ourselves with influences that transform us into the image of Christ as God desires.  This means we dig deep into God’s Word, study it, memorize it, and apply it.  It means we emphasize prayer, our communication with God, and we do it as a group frequently.  As we are being transformed, we must be so passionate about knowing God through His Word that we are not just studying it at church but thinking and talking about it at school, at lunch with friends, and at home with family.

To help with this transformation, we must also get connected so we can build each other up in the faith.  We need to enjoy each other’s company as brothers and sisters in Christ.  We need accountability partners with other students who will encourage us and be honest with us.  We need small group discussions so we start really thinking out our faith in a group setting and knowing how to talk about it.  And we also need to get connected to those not in the student ministry, especially the older generation, where we can find great mentors with great wisdom.  We should also partner with other church groups in our city and beyond to see that the body of Christ is bigger than just PLBC.

Lastly as we are being transformed more and more into the image of Christ and becoming more and more connected as the body, we must take the love and truth God has given us and engage our world with it.  We must get outside the church walls and make Jesus known in our community, our country, and other countries.  We need to exemplify God’s love by helping and serving the needy in our community.  And we especially need to consider how we can engage our schools with the Gospel of Christ, since our schools are the biggest mission field most of us will ever be on.

Pray for these three things to start taking root and taking hold so that when someone looks at the Promise Land Baptist Student Ministry five years from now they will know that each one of us has presented ourselves in perfect obedience as a living sacrifice to God for His glory.

There is a distinction between conscious and subconscious action and I love this thought because it allows us to see the difference between the things we do through awareness and the others that are done through unawareness.

Consciousness means that we are aware or awake to everything within our space. Sub consciousness is anything below this type of awareness

Subconscious actions are the things we do without thinking or pondering, we just do them; they are automatic. These are the habits, behaviors and underlying beliefs that move us through life automatically. I refer to these as our default mode. There is an interesting correlation between habits, behaviors and beliefs. They all signify similar things. Habits and behaviors both are based on the word have. Habit comes from the Latin word haber which means to have. Behave when broken down be/have also means to have. These are the actions that we take without thinking. These actions dictate our choices and ultimately the outcomes of those choices. Beliefs mean to have or to hold dear yet these are not necessarily the subconscious actions, but the underlying beliefs driving those actions.

Conscious actions are the actions we take on an awareness level. This is where we are fully aware of our choices, experiences, surroundings, outcomes and etc.

The beauty of these two action types is that they are both necessary for our advancement.

Conscious actions can become subconscious actions. In other words, if you perform a positive or negative conscious action long enough, you will master it and it will become automatic or subconscious. If you would like to create new positive habits, the key is to repeat this new behavior long enough consciously for it to become subconscious. Our goal is to create enough positive subconscious actions that these positive subconscious actions put our body into the mode of creating the things we would truly like to have in our lives rather than accepting those negative things that are already there.

Conscious action vs. subconscious action

Subconscious action is the action you take that is automatic. This is your current behavior or default system. Conscious action on the other hand is the awareness system wherein you are actually choosing on a moment to moment basis what your decisions and outcomes will be. Both actions are committed meaning that you Do them.

I want to clarify the distinction between Commit and Engage. To commit means to perpetrate or to perform. Engage means to make a pledge or promise. In America we swap the meanings of these two words. We use engage as though it were the action part of our statement and commit as though it were a promise. When we engage we promise and when we commit, we act. To know what you are committed to, look at what you do. What you do is what you are committed to.

Subconscious actions are usually more committed than conscious actions. What I mean by this is you are more likely to perform a subconscious act than a conscious one. Conscious action can carry the same commitment, but it takes more focused energy and effort.

If we would like to create new habits, behaviors and beliefs, we must first determine what those new behaviors will be. When we have determined what the new behavior will be, we must look at the current behaviors. If we don’t know where we are, we cannot get to where we are going. By knowing our current and future behaviors, we can begin to create a clear path from one to the other.

Once we have established the two points, the next step is to create a pathway from the one to the other with actions that we know we will act on. In goal setting, I have witnessed many people who set goals that are too lofty for their current accomplishments. In most cases these people will go back to their default mode; what they already do and the goal will fizzle and fade. The reason I tell my clients to set actions and promises they know they will engage, is because I want them to succeed on a consistent basis long enough that these conscious behaviors change into subconscious, automatic ones.

When people are left alone, they will usually go back to doing what they are comfortable with; even when that behavior is damaging to themselves and those around them. We were put on this Earth with 7 billion other people for a reason. It is so that we don’t have to change by ourselves if we choose to get assistance. My service is as valuable as it is to my clients, because I work with them and coach them on a consistent basis long enough that their new choices become subconscious or automatic.

A lot of people are afraid to look anything less than expert. Experts become experts through practice and adaptation. YOU can become expert in any area you choose if you will perform consistently and for a long enough period for that to occur. I will iterate the one vital key to your successful change;  “You need to suck at something long enough to get good at it!”

If you have struggled to make these changes on your own, email me and as my gift to you I will show you how this process works. Don’t worry, I won’t be pushing my product on you or forcing you to get into something you don’t want. I truly love to see change occur in people’s lives and you deserve to change if that is what you want. If this is not for you right now, share this link with someone you feel would benefit from this type of change.

2010 is fast approaching and most of us set new goals. I am tired of people setting goals and then not reaching them because they let low self-esteem and absurd, fear based “shy and humble acts keep them from that end.

The world needs people who are unafraid to charge forward into positive change. I am done watching people succumb to the power of negative talk. You have the power to change right now. You can change or you can go about doing what you have always done. If you choose the latter, nothing will change; you will continue being broke, fat, depressed, addicted, relationship less or any other negative behavior that you are currently acting on. Is that what you want?

If it is not what you want, I can assist you in creating the positive change you seek in your life, but only if you stand up for yourself.

Choose up!

Nick

Nick@ntsmodevations.com

www.clearpathtraining.com

If you’ve ever wanted to see a living art icon in the flesh, now’s your chance.  Not only will you get to own a piece of memorabilia, but you may also – by chance – get your book signed by one of the most popular “Pop” artists of modern times, Jeff Koons.

Written by Art Forum’s Scott Rothkopf, featuring conversations with curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and paintings of Jeff Koons, this five-pound book centers around  a kaleidoscope of whimsical characters including inflatable monkeys, geishas, birds and the revolutionary Liberty Bell. It’s kind of like a cartoon for grown-ups, considering that I’ve always perceived Mr. Koons to be a “big kid” himself.

Jeff Koons: Hulk Elvis is currently available for purchase here.

Who: Jeff Koons

What: Book signing of Jeff Koons: Hulk Elvis

When: Thursday, December 17^th from 6 to 9PM

Where: Gagosian Shop

988 Madison Avenue

New York, NY 10075

For more information, visit: Gagosian.com.

If you’ve been around Promise Land Student Ministry in the past few weeks, you’ve likely heard three words: Transform, Connect and Engage.  These words describe the direction that the student ministry is headed over the next few years as we seek to find the transformation that Paul talks about in Romans 12 become a reality in the life of our student ministry.  So in the next three blog posts we will consider each of these terms and what they mean for ou student ministry.

3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Romans 12:3-8 (ESV)

 Connect

In verses 3-8 of Romans 12, Paul makes clear that we are all members of one body, the body of Christ, with different functions to perform in the body.  Just as the human body has legs that do one thing and arms that do another, the church has Christians that perform one ministry and other Christians that perform another.  But all Christians in the church are intended to be connected and unified in the single purpose of making the Gospel known throughout all the world.  One guy might do that by teaching a Sunday School Class and another might do that by maintaining the church grounds.  But they each have that single purpose in mind, to build up the body of Christ so we can do the work of Christ.

To be the body of Christ successfully, we of course have to first be connected and unified in our purpose.  If our human body had arms wanting to do one thing and legs wanting to do another, we’d have a problem.  And so part of being the body is getting connected with each other and keeping each other on the same page.  It’s important to see that throughout the New Testament, the church is never described as just a club or a mob of people.  It is always a body, a living, breathing organism connected to the control center of the brain (aka, Jesus Christ) being unified in it purpose.  And so connection is essential.  First and foremost, connection to Christ is essential.  If part of our body lost its connection to the brain it would be unable to function with the rest of the body.  And so we must be seeking together to know Christ more and be more intimately connected to Him everyday.  But the connection to each other is essential as well.  If we lose an arm, that arm becomes useless.  And so no part of the church body can perform its intended function on its own.  We must be working together, encouraging each other, building each other up in the faith.

But we also need to recognize that we have different functions.  We would not expect our arms to perform the work of our legs, and vice versa.  And so we should not expect certain talents and spiritual gifts from people who do not have those gifts, and we should not be jealous about another’s person’s gifts instead of using our own.  W are all different, with different personalities, gifts, talents, and abilities, and God expects us to use our unique gifts to their fullest potential as a part of the unified body.

Lastly, while we work on this connection and unity in the group, we must realize this connection must extend outside of the youth group.  Just as a teenage guy in the church is a part of the body of Christ so is an 85-year-old man.  And so these two people, though vastly different in generation, preferences, and activities, must work together as brothers in the body of Christ, not against each other.  Our differences, even our age differences, are meant to help the body, not hinder it.

So as we seek to become connected, we must spend time getting to know each other.  We must start being honest with each other about our spirituality and seek to hold each other accountable.  And we must seek to be fully connected to the body of Christ, not just part of it, by reaching out and building relationships with members outside of the youth group.