the Wolvertons in Europe

One season comes to an end...

2011-05-10T14:44:00.003+02:00

What did that guy say, the writer of Ecclesiastes? Everything has a season? While we've been thrilled to serve in various capacities to different youth ministries overseas, it now appears that particular season of life is winding down for us. We are truly thankful for all of you who have faithfully supported our project through your prayers and generosity over these last 5+ years, and we hope you take great comfort in knowing that people throughout Europe and beyond have been touched through your willingness to get involved in something larger than yourselves.

Please don't hesitate to stay in touch with us, and we wish you all the best as you continue to live out God's Story for you, the Story for which you were uniquely and wonderfully made...

Read this...really!

2010-09-03T18:20:00.004+02:00

If you're involved in any type of ministry where you're trying to bring the gospel to a previously unreached group of people (whatever their ages or culture), I think you gotta read this post by David Watson that was forwarded on to me from a colleague. Really. One of the quotes:

'We should be mentoring leadership to redeem their context, not adopt a foreign expression of a redeemed foreign context. We should be teaching process from leader to leader and generation to generation, not blind adherence to limited doctrinal responses from Scripture to address local and temporal issues...The moment I move to telling them 'how', I am to teaching them to sweep the floor my way with my broom instead of allowing them to build from Scripture to Principle to Practice in a way that is relevant to their context.'

If you're still doing things the same way you've always done them but the group you're leading has changed (different generation, different culture, whatever), my guess is that you'll benefit from Watson's post. And maybe gain some fresh insight into why Paul took off after a couple of years to let God work it out in those early churches...

A couple of notes...

2010-06-23T19:10:00.002+02:00

In honor of the World Cup, check out this article in the NY Times which reports on the Amsterdam Ajax team camps for boys. The author, Michael Sokolove, does a good job of noticing how the overarching cultural lean toward pragmatism drives the process...

I asked Martin Jol, the coach of Ajax's first team, if it was difficult for him to nurture young players knowing he would lose them just as their talent blossomed. "I think that is the purpose of Ajax, to develop players and bring them up to the first team as young as possible," he answered. "And then we sell them, not for peanuts but for a lot of money."

The more substantial criticism is that Ajax has become too mercantile and coldblooded. "I feel like they've lost some of the spirit of the place," John Hackworth, the former U.S. youth coach, told me. "What made them so great, these heroes they create, now go on to stardom so quickly somewhere else."

It's a balancing act of measuring the kids' performance and potential, and at the end of each year there's a no-holds-barred assessment. Every spring the kids who don't make it get sent away and are not allowed to return, and when one of the teens is asked how he feels about his coach at the camp getting fired, he says, "The football world is a hard world. He has made the decision to send boys away. Now he knows how it feels." It's well worth the read, and gives insight into why Dutch ministries to youth which try to embody and teach Matthew 5 face some tough challenges...

Then click on this article on DutchNews to see the result of giving folks too much space. It'll make you rethink all those times when you said, "I just wish everybody would leave me alone!"

Two bits...

2010-03-10T13:37:00.004+01:00

Wondering how to keep a ministry focused and energized? Check out this NYTimes article by a former VP at Microsoft to discover a couple of things to avoid (like infighting and a lack of innovation). It's a good reminder that we always need to be preparing for the road ahead...

Then here's a great Lent article by Ross Douthat who wonders if the American experience of religion is turning into a 'kind of mysticism [which] is more likely to be a pleasant hobby than a transformative vocation.' His thought is that an aimless spirituality cheats us out of the 'promise of religious practice: that at any time, in any place, it's possible to encounter the divine, the revolutionary and the impossible - and have your life completely shattered and remade.' Food for thought as we approach Easter...

The genius of mashup...

2010-02-03T13:06:00.006+01:00

Click here to be taken to a video/music mashup site that for my money borders on pure genius. And here's the application for everyone involved in reaching the next generations: what are the elements in your current environment that could be re-assembled to achieve something amazing and new? I think valuable bits and pieces are everywhere, so the question becomes whether we're creative enough to put them together to achieve a uniquely effective end result...

Another perspective...

2010-01-29T11:30:00.003+01:00

Remembering the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz (click here to read - registration with NYTimes website required)...

For a quick browse...

2010-01-13T13:59:00.011+01:00

Click here to see a recap of the Barna Group's studies from 2009. The bottom line is that, well, things are looking great for spirituality in America but not so much for the Christian faith. Hmmm...

Then you can click here to read Russ Douthat's article in the NY Times on the need for open and free dialogue about religious beliefs: "If you treat your faith like a hothouse flower, too vulnerable to survive in the crass world of public disputation, then you ensure that nobody will take it seriously. The idea that religion is too mysterious, too complicated or too personal to be debated on cable television just ensures that it never gets debated at all." Applying this conviction to youth ministry could lead to some very engaging (and I think significant) conversations.

Over here is a report from a Disney-funded study of tweens in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain. The goal was to understand the next generation (the study calls them XD's), and here are some of the study's conclusions:

"Fundamentally different to previous generations due to its digital upbringing, Generation XD - children born between 1995 and 2001 to parents of Generation X - has witnessed more technological developments than any other generation and never known life without digital entertainment, mobile phones or social media channels...What's interesting though, is how they are embracing both cutting edge technology and traditional family values in their approach to life. While David Beckham does inevitably get a mention, fame and celebrity are secondary to family and they aspire to be vets and teachers rather than singers and celebrities, which is both surprising and encouraging. Indeed, Generation XD is remolding the traditional definition of youth as we know it."

'Remolding the traditional definition of youth as we know it'? Seems kinda strong, but read it for yourself to see if it's justifiable.

And then finally here's a brief mention of Miep Gies, the Dutch woman who hid Anne Frank and preserved her diary (without reading it) hoping against hope that the young girl would return home to claim it. She passed away on Monday at the age of 100 years and was the last survivor of the group who hid the Frank family. An excellent reminder that sometimes it only takes a couple of people to change the world forever (click here for her main website)...

Signs of the times...

2009-12-09T13:57:00.003+01:00

In this NY Times op-ed piece, Ross Douthat critiques what he calls the 'high-handed, often undemocratic approach to politics that Europe’s leaders have cultivated in their quest for unity.' The way he sees it, the European political establishment works by forging a consensus only within itself and then assumes it can handle any populist backlash that develops (like the recent ban on minarets in Switzerland). The result of such an approach, says Douthat, is likely to be a 'long period of tension, punctuated by spasms of violence, that makes the Continent a more unpleasant place without fundamentally transforming it.' It's an insightful piece for those wondering which dynamics are shaping the future of Europe...and the absence of one particular societal institution should be glaring...

Ahem...

2009-12-02T12:44:00.005+01:00

A couple of articles worth passing along...

First, now that the massive collider near Geneva is firing up and on the way to smashing atoms for all its worth (here's the story in the Toronto Star), check out this NY Times article on the problems they've been having getting it up and running (like a bird dropping crumbs on a critical part). These difficulties have led some physics theorists to posit that a 'malign influence from the future' is at work - seriously. Makes me wonder if reading this article together could lead to the greatest small group discussion ever...

Then second, for more straightforward types, this commentary on a study released earlier in the year which showed that most children raised unaffiliated with a religion later choose to join one. You can find the original study released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life here, and notice that most people who started attending religious services later in life said they went because their spiritual needs were not being met. Sounds like a wonderful opening for some intentional communication by strategic church leaders...

It's golf tournament time!

2009-06-26T17:24:00.005+02:00

Hard to believe yet it's true - on Tuesday, July 28th we'll have the fourth annual Wolverton/GEM Golf Tournament near Greenville, SC. For details and registration info, just click on the images to make them full size, and to download the registration form just right-click and then click again on 'Save as...'. It's gonna be a great day and we look forward to seeing you there!

Just for creativity's sake...

2009-05-05T10:35:00.002+02:00

Check this book out. Read it for a while. Then go be creative!

A few quick takes...

2009-05-04T10:39:00.003+02:00

First, an article by Stanley Fish in the NY Times reviewing Reason, Faith, and Revolution by Terry Eagleton in which Eagleton pushes back at 'new atheism'. Quote (from the book):

“If ever there was a pious myth and a piece of credulous superstition, it is the liberal-rationalist belief that, a few hiccups apart, we are all steadily en route to a finer world.”

Fish's review is interesting (and comprehensive) enough to make me think Eagleton's book should be on all of our list of reads...

Second, this recent article from Russell Shorto (also in the NY Times) is a look at living in the Netherlands from his American perspective...

This points up something that seems to be overlooked when Americans dismiss European-style social-welfare systems: they are not necessarily state-run or state-financed. Rather, these societies have chosen to combine the various entities that play a role in social well-being — individuals, corporations, government, nongovernmental entities like unions and churches — in different ways, in an effort to balance individual freedom and overall social security.

I especially appreciate (and would agree with) Shorto's take on how the constant battle against water has worked itself out into Dutch cultural identity. Well worth reading...

After the attack on the Dutch royal family...

2009-05-02T21:33:00.001+02:00

Thought this article summed up the whole feeling here rather well after a man apparently tried to ram his car into a bus carrying the Dutch royal family during the national celebration on April 30th...

'A national illusion died in Apeldoorn,' is the headline on a Volkskrant article on the attack. 'We will never see it like this again, a queen and her family, free and approachable... A national illusion died on April 30, 2009... the party of folklore - the only real national day of celebration - has been hit hard.'

'The collection of curiosities in the category 'only in the Netherlands' is one attraction poorer. Foreigners who are surprised by ministers who cycle to their offices, a prime minister eating a herring alone at the fish stall next to parliament - it is all gone,' the paper states. [DutchNews.nl]

Always sad when things like this happen, no matter which country it is...

Hmmm...

2009-03-18T10:18:00.004+01:00

Even though I don't think I'd recommend him as a go-to resource to help you parent your teen, physician Drew Pinsky (most recently of VH-1's show 'Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew') raises some interesting points about our current culture of celebrity watching in this USA Today article:

Q: Let's go back for a minute to this idea of our culture promoting this focus on celebrities. What's so harmful about focusing on celebrities?

A: We should be concerned. It's anathema to what's healthy for humans — interpersonal experiences and being of service — as opposed to preoccupying oneself with extreme, chaotic, dysfunctional behavior and modeling those behaviors and wishing to be part of that and never experiencing a stable family life and not being able to trust other people or themselves. For those who say "It's just fun," why are you motivated to look at those people? Why gravitate to watching their troubles and their pathology? That's not OK. You feel better about your life with their misery. That's not what I call an admirable impulse.

Q: Why do you say teens and young adults are most vulnerable?

A: They are the sponges of our culture. Their values are now being set. Are they really the values we want our young people to be absorbing? Do we want them to have a revolving-door love life, or stable relationships? It harkens back to the question of how much are young people affected by models of social learning. Humans are the only animals who learn by watching other humans. Why don't we examine human reality here? Why don't we have that conversation and use it as an opportunity to look at the behavior of people and say "What is it really about? What can we learn and avoid that kind of behavior?" If parents don't intervene, that's where kids go.

Q: What can parents do to protect their kids from narcissistic tendencies?

A: Narcissism has eroded into parenting styles. We, as narcissists, try to parent [through] experiencing the child as an emotional extension of ourselves. We can't tolerate pain for the child — allowing them to be frustrated and to fail. We want to give our kids everything. I'm saying parents themselves have become narcissists, along with the rest of the population. [USA Today]

Raise the issues. Talk with your teen. Be proactive. Get over yourself. Maybe our celebrity-obsessed media is really doing parents and those of us who work with teens a favor by providing an ample supply of fresh 'Aesop's Fables'...

'The coming evangelical collapse...'

2009-03-11T11:47:00.003+01:00

Yep, that's the title of this article in the March 10th online edition of the Christian Science Monitor. Here's the first line...

We are on the verge - within 10 years - of a major collapse of evangelical Christianity. This breakdown will follow the deterioration of the mainline Protestant world and it will fundamentally alter the religious and cultural environment in the West.

One of the reasons? 'A culture of young Christians who know next to nothing about their own faith except how they feel about it.' Whether you end up agreeing with all the points or not, it's definitely worth checking out if you're curious to read one possible scenario for the future of evangelicalism in the States...

Click here to read the article.

Latest Barna research...

2009-03-10T12:54:00.002+01:00

If Jesus were to ask, “Who do you say I am,” the question He famously asked his disciple Peter, He would be disappointed by some of the answers He’d receive from contemporary Americans. A new nationwide survey conducted by The Barna Group among a representative sample of adults explored how many have what might be considered a “biblical worldview.”

It's probably not shocking to anyone who's involved in ministry to American teenagers, but this survey found that less than .50% of 18-23 year-olds line up with Barna's definition of a Christian worldview (even though the sample contained a subgroup which identified itself as 'born again Christian'). I wonder how many of these Mosaics attended youth ministries as they were growing up..?

You can click here to read the whole article.

The joy of serendipity...

2009-03-10T12:37:00.005+01:00

You've obviously got more resolve than I do if you could resist clicking on a Google webclip with the title 'Hamster Jackets Harness Wheel-Running Power'...

I'm just not that strong.

Best quote?

A thousand hamsters wearing the current jacket could charge a cell phone.

Read the whole thing here, and bless you, Georgia Institute of Technology!

An ex-pat's perspective...

2009-03-05T12:18:00.003+01:00

I lived for about a decade, on and off, in France and later moved to the United States. Nobody in their right mind would give up the manifold sensual, aesthetic and gastronomic pleasures offered by French savoir-vivre for the unrelenting battlefield of American ambition were it not for one thing: possibility.

This is from Roger Cohen's article in the NY Times, and I think it's pretty much right on in quickly explaining some of the ways the US and Europe differ in their cultural views on the roles of government and economic systems.

Churn is the American way. Companies are born, rise, fall and die. Others come along to replace them. The country's remarkable capacity for innovation, for reinvention, is tied to its acceptance of failure. Or always has been. Without failure, the culture of risk fades. Without risk, creativity withers. Save the zombies and you sabotage the vital. If America loses sight of these truths, it will cease to be itself.

It's a great read, so click here for the entire article...

What the economic crisis...

2009-03-02T10:32:00.003+01:00

looks like from here in Europe is pretty well summed up in the recent article in the NY Times. Bottom-line? It's a serious test to the EU's ability to survive intact...

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek of the Czech Republic, which holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, tried to ease tensions, insisting that no member would be left “in the lurch.”“We do not want any dividing lines; we do not want a Europe divided along a north-south or east-west line, pursuing a beggar-thy-neighbor policy,” Mr. Topolanek said. [NYTimes]

But with such a large diversity of cultures, histories, and economics among the different countries the national lines are showing through more and more...

Part of the conversation...

2009-01-30T11:21:00.003+01:00

Just in case you've missed it, a Dutch member of parliament will be put on trial in the Netherlands for inciting dissent with his statements. Ian Buruma has written an op-ed piece in the NY Times which gets to the heart of the matter...

In a bewildering world of global economics, multinational instititions, and mass migration, many people are anxious about losing their sense of place; they feel abandoned by their own elites. Right-wing populists like Geert Wilders are tapping into these fears.[NYTimes]

You can read the whole op-ed piece by clicking the link above, or catch up on the background with this article on CNN. In any case, it's just another example of the tensions that are a part of the European context as cultures and populations change...

What gets someone into heaven?

2008-12-27T12:42:00.003+01:00

In August, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life re-surveyed Americans to find out whether they believed religions other than their own could get someone into heaven (this was after a dispute about a similar survey given in June). The result? Right at 65% said, 'Yes.' Not only that, but...

...many Christians apparently view their didactic text as flexible. According to Pew’s August survey, only 39 percent of Christians believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, and 18 percent think that it’s just a book written by men and not the word of God at all. In fact, on the question in the Pew survey about what it would take to achieve eternal life, only 1 percent of Christians said living life in accordance with the Bible. [NY Times]

Even though John Green, a senior fellow at the Pew Forum, said, “The capacity of ignorance to influence survey outcomes should never be underestimated,” I wonder if these results aren't really an important critique about the way American Christianity has been presented these past decades. Could it be that mainly transforming 'transcendance' into 'principles' creates a type of vacuum? Reminds me of Christian Smith's discovery of 'moralistic therapeutic deism'(click the link for one interpretation of Smith's results) through the National Study of Youth and Religion...

Hmmm...so that's why you didn't get my email, eh?

2008-12-19T11:38:00.004+01:00

Ready for this? The average UK teen sends almost 10,000 text messages per year. Really.

"Communicating with one another is one of the most popular hobbies among teenagers today," said Sarah Gavin, global director of communications for Bebo, which has more than 11 million users in the UK. "If technology enables them to do this more easily, then it makes the experience all the more appealing to them." [Telegraph.co.uk]

So how are you communicating with the youth in your program? When I think over the hours I used to spend with clip art books, making copies, shrinking them down, making them bigger, creating the 'coolest flyer ever'... such useful skills, now completely worthless! What are the skills you've perfected that are now of no use whatsoever (we all have them - do you even know what yours are?)? Ready to learn new ones?

Deconstructing 'It's a Wonderful Life'...

2008-12-19T11:05:00.002+01:00

This article may only make sense if you're pretty familiar with the Jimmy Stewart movie 'It's a Wonderful Life,' but it does a great job of peering through the context of the film to see what other messages might just be there...

Lots of people love this movie of course. But I’m convinced it’s for the wrong reasons. Because to me “It’s a Wonderful Life” is anything but a cheery holiday tale. Sitting in that dark public high school classroom, I shuddered as the projector whirred and George Bailey’s life unspooled. Was this what adulthood promised? [NY Times]

Totally worth a read!

Teens - all the same?

2008-12-17T09:48:00.007+01:00

In the continuing debate over what's being perceived as a systematic moral shift among adolescents in the US (evidenced by all the recent attention dedicated to 'sexting' (where teens send scandalous pictures to each other on their cell phones) - sheesh!) take a look at this article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Quote of the day:

Our kids are failing to thrive, in good measure, because the social institutions that used to provide both kinds of connections have weakened in recent decades...Human beings' second "hard-wired" need for connection is -- in the report's words -- a "built-in capacity and drive" to "reflect on life's ultimate ends." Children seem biologically primed to ask "Why am I here?" and "What should I do with my life?" If they fail to find satisfying answers, they may turn to self-destructive behavior. [Star Tribune]

(If you're interested, you can find a good take on this phenomenon in Chap Clark's book 'Hurt'...)

Then YPulse pointed over to a Euro-centric report from a recent marketing event in Belgium...

Here's a general look at what they discovered, and notice how different each country's youth are from each other...

Youthwatching '09 from youthwatching on Vimeo.

Then here are some teens talking about how they use/don't use social networking sites...

European Youth Trend Report 2009 from trendwolves on Vimeo.

Not too long ago I was surprised when someone asked me, 'So teenagers in the US and teenagers in Europe are basically the same, right?' I think it shocked me because what seems most apparent to me are the differences, especially when I try to adapt materials from the North American context to use over here.

When you read the article and look at the videos, I think it's clear the best answer is probably yes and no; yes, they feel the same desire for meaning, but no, their ideas on how to find it are very different...

Cleaning up the Red Light District? Really??

2008-12-08T17:23:00.002+01:00

Click here to see a summary of the latest move to clean up Amsterdam's Red Light District. Although some are wondering whether or not it will really go through, a number of windows have already been closed down and expensive clothing shops put in their place. I think it's getting too difficult to ignore the link between prostitution and human trafficking...at last...

A link to a link!

2008-10-20T12:31:00.002+02:00

Click here to read my new post over at the PDYM website about building a sense of community in an international environment...

In case you're wondering...

2008-10-05T19:47:00.003+02:00

how the American financial turmoil is affecting the European context, click at the end of the quote for a NY Times report on a recent meeting of European leaders focused on the issue. In short? The diversity of the Euro economic zone may make it difficult to adopt system-wide fixes, but the countries are committed to do what it takes to keep financial liquidity in place. Apparently, though, they're not too thrilled with what one leader called the "risks in the American system."

One leader after another blamed what they called "speculative capitalism" for a financial crisis that they said was the worst since World War II. "We want a capitalism of entrpreneurs," Mr. Sarkozy said. "We don't want speculators." [NY Times]

Interesting, though, how everyone ended up in the same soup together...

The tip of the iceberg...

2008-09-26T10:55:00.006+02:00

Wanted to pass on an article that gives a wonderful example of what it's like to do life in a mix of different cultures. And of course, like all truly profound concepts, it comes straight from a kindergarten classroom...as one of our neighbors has said, 'Drunks and children always tell the truth!'

I often think of culture in terms of the “iceberg concept” commonly used in educational studies, with its small visible tip and huge mass below the surface. Most people tend to view only the surface aspects of culture — observable behavior — sometimes known as the five F’s: food, fashion, festivals, folklore, and flags. But of course culture goes deeper than that. It is the other 95 percent below the surface of which we need to be aware.

Deep culture (below the surface) includes elements such as child-raising beliefs, concepts of self, beauty and personal space, religious rituals and perspectives, eating habits, facial expressions, eye contact, work ethic, approaches to problem solving and interpersonal relationships, moral values, cosmology, world views and personal discipline — to name (more than) a few.

The children that come into my classroom each year have such a variety of life paths. Looking at their cultural backgrounds with the “iceberg concept” in mind has helped to keep me aware of the aspects of their lives that are not in plain view. And the more I work with the students at I.C.S., the more my awareness of these subtle realms increase...[NY Times]

Click the link to read the whole story, and while it's easy enough to see the applicability in an international setting, I would say it also raises a question for those working with teens in a supposedly single culture environment - is there enough sensitivity to the particularities of whatever sub-cultures may be present? Could it be that we are limiting our relational connection because we don't recognize the differences that sit just below the surface?

And the total is...

2008-07-02T14:10:00.003+02:00

We just sent out our update to those of you on our email list (if you don't currently subscribe and would like to, send an email to 'update@taggwolverton.com' and we'll put you on...) but wanted to say a huge thanks to all of you who helped out with the golf tournament. The day raised a bit over $8,000 to take care of cost-of-living increases for our project here, so wherever you are give yourself a pat on the back - you deserve it! Now if the euro would just decide to go down...

A different way of thinking...

2008-07-02T13:57:00.002+02:00

I love to read Seth Godin's stuff because even though he's usually talking about regular ole marketing, his ideas typically are right on for a ministry environment, too. A couple of weeks ago he put an ebook about word-of-mouth marketing on his blog by a guy named Dave Balter. I just finished reading it, and I think it's got a ton of applicability for those of us doing different types of ministry. Click here to go to Godin's post and snag a copy of the book - and as you're reading it, ask yourself whether your ministry is more Numa Numa (quick, good, and gone) or LaCoste (slow, steady, and present)...

Busy little bees...

2008-06-08T23:01:00.002+02:00

I know it's been a while, and we've been running like crazy! I did just post over on another blog for anyone who would like to develop some community ties between youth workers here in Europe (you know, just a small and intimate crowd!!!). If you want to check it out, you can click here...

And the numbers from the golf tournament aren't quite finished up yet, but as soon as they are we'll post them (should be another week or so). Thanks to all of you who played, helped out, donated prizes, brought food - I had a great time just being able to talk with you, and as always it's a very humbling and wonderful thing...: )

More to come...

Golf Tournament info for May 20th!

2008-04-11T13:53:00.005+02:00

A big thanks to Chris Roberts for getting our brochure ready! Now all you need to do is click on it to open it up as a bigger picture, then right-click to download and save it on your computer. Print it out, fill in your information, and give it to a team captain or call one of the listed numbers and you're good to go! Thanks for your interest and I'll look forward to seeing you there...: )

Passing along...

2008-04-09T12:08:00.003+02:00

a few nuggets to ponder on this week ...

1) Try to make this article from Chris Anderson at Wired magazine apply to your ministry (for real). I was just at a conference of the International Association for the Study of Youth Ministry (rolls trippingly off the tongue, doesn't it?!) where part of the discussion focused on teens living with an 'I believe I am happy' mindset. How do you reach them? How do you point to a need they really wouldn't agree they have? And how does a world of 'free' influence what our ministries should look like?

2) Register for online access to the NY Times if you need to for this article - a look at the fluidity and decline of the religious context in America.

3) Check out some significant changes in family dynamics. The research is specific to the Canadian context (which is then expanded by the great folks at the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding), but I believe the trends apply much more widely.

4) Finally, one of the most controversial issues of our day gets definitively settled...

And we also wanted to let you know that this year's 3rd Annual Wolverton Golf Tournament will be held at Southern Oaks in Anderson, SC on Tuesday, May 20th! It's a great way to help out our project using your, um, incredible golfing skills(!), but more than that just a great chance to catch up on everyone's latest happs. For more information, send a note to 'info@taggwolverton.com' and we'll send you everything you need. Hope to see you there!

Just because we haven't posted in a while...

2008-03-06T13:12:00.004+01:00

doesn't mean we aren't thinking about you even when we're away! Here's proof...: )

1) Ever wondered how much truth is in those stereotypical movies about teenage boys (uh, Porky's anyone? Oh sorry - I mean Superbad?!)? Check out this story in the NY Times that links back to a recent survey by researchers at the State University of New York Oswego and published in the Journal of Adolescence. Could it be that they're just looking for relational engagement? Really?

The overall findings are contrary to cultural beliefs that boys are interested primarily in sex and not relationships.

“Let’s give boys more credit,'’ said study author Andrew Smiler, an assistant professor of psychology at the university. “Although some of them are just looking for sex, most boys are looking for a relationship. The kids we know mostly aren’t like this horrible stereotype. They are generally interested in dating and getting to know their partners.'’ [NY Times]

I feel better already!

2) Psychologist Kali Trzesniewski of the University of Western Ontario published a report that compiled information from more than 26,000 students to determine that, in her professional opinion, young adults today are no more self-centered than in the past (despite what some other researchers are saying). She believes the confusion comes in because the timeline of adolescence has changed so much in the last decades that this generational grouping doesn't necessarily match up closely with past correlations between age and stage of life. The article in USA Today then quotes another researcher...

Comparing personality test scores of young people today with scores from 25 years ago is not as simple as it may seem, says Frank Furstenberg, a sociologist at the University of Pennsylvania who studies early adulthood. "It's not enough to compare them at the same age. You need to compare them in the same stage of life. A 22-year-old is not at the same life stage as the 22-year-old a few decades ago."

"They may look more self-absorbed now," says Furstenberg, "because they're growing up later, marrying later and having children later. … Young adults can be very self-absorbed. That doesn't mean they'll stay that way." [USA Today]

This does tend to match up well with what others are noticing about how adolescents today are in a process of age compression where they're exposed to more adult issues at younger and younger ages than previous generations so they tend to grow up faster...or at least they think they have. The truth is that they're actually delaying the onset of adulthood because they feel less ready. So by the time they're young adults they've been exposed to more but are probably less mature than the same age in years past. One of the challenges for youth ministry today, then, may lie in how we acknowledge this cultural trend to help us meet teens where they are but then combat it when it's clearly unhealthy for them...

3) Do you want to be part of a 'nowhere' brand? You should, according to a recent article in MediaPost. The article quotes from an Iconoculture report that shows several companies have transcended their national identities to tap into perceived universal values...

In its survey, based on cultural "fluents" in 17 world markets, Iconoculture identified a few brands that had become "nowhere" brands --so universal that most consumers don't perceive them as having a national identity. Coca-Cola, of course, falls in this category, Yang tells Marketing Daily. "But so does Visa International, and consumers really do believe 'It's everywhere you want to be'."

In addition, the report isolated five brands--Apple, Disney, Harley Davidson, Nike and Starbucks--that have bucked the trend, and are somehow seen as brands that exist on an entirely different global plain, appealing to core values that transcend national identity. "Apple has come to stand for self-expression, for example," Yang says. "Nike has come to mean the ultimate in status, in achievement, and in victory. Harley Davidson is about rebellion." [MediaPost]

The article also mentions that cheaper airfare and the 'cosmopolitan' nature of Gen Y are contributing to the idea of nation brands 'starting to fall apart.'

So we all know what Apple stands for, but the whole 'Jesus-thing'..? I think this article should lead to some interesting conversations on the relative effectiveness of past and present cross-cultural ministry strategies...

Good insight for...

2008-02-14T11:51:00.005+01:00

leading college-age students. Carol Phillips, a marketing prof from Notre Dame, wrote a column in AdAge about working with Gen Y'ers. You need to read the whole article, but in short...

Eliminate ambiguity - set clear goals
Think of time as a 24/7 resource - focus on results, not their process
Combine work with play - let them form their own work teams
Make it worthwhile - let them solve difficult problems
Handle with care - positive feedback works better than criticism
Play to their strengths - global awareness, technology, breadth of experiences [AdAge]

If you reflected these things in your ministry, would it require a lot of changes?

Woven into the fabric...

2008-01-29T10:46:00.000+01:00

of life here on the continent. Wednesday is the 75th anniversary of Hitler's rise to power, and the NY Times has a pointed article on the way Germany is continuing to try to deal with it's past history...

The experience of Nazism is alive in contemporary public debates over subjects as varied as German troops in Afghanistan, the nation’s low birthrate and the country’s dealings with foreigners. Why Germany seems unendingly obsessed with Nazism is itself a subject of perpetual debate here, ranging from the nation’s philosophical temperament, to simple awe at the unprecedented combination of organization and brutality, to the sense that the crime was so great that it spread like a blot over the entire culture.
Whatever the reasons, as the events become more remote, less personal, this society is forced to confront the question of how it should enshrine its crimes and transgressions over the longer term. [NY Times]

(Don't forget that registration is required to read the article...and I gotta quit linking to articles in the Times!)

The gradual shifting of power...

2008-01-28T14:10:00.000+01:00

This is a fascinating article in the NY Times which takes an interesting stance on the way globalization is changing the different balances of power. The quote?

Twenty-first-century geopolitics will resemble nothing more than Orwell’s 1984, but instead of three world powers (Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia), we have three hemispheric pan-regions, longitudinal zones dominated by America, Europe and China. As the early 20th-century European scholars of geopolitics realized, because a vertically organized region contains all climatic zones year-round, each pan-region can be self-sufficient and build a power base from which to intrude in others’ terrain. But in a globalized and shrinking world, no geography is sacrosanct. So in various ways, both overtly and under the radar, China and Europe will meddle in America’s backyard, America and China will compete for African resources in Europe’s southern periphery and America and Europe will seek to profit from the rapid economic growth of countries within China’s growing sphere of influence. Globalization is the weapon of choice. The main battlefield is what I call “the second world.” [NY Times]

The author goes on to explain what he means by the term 'second world' and how he believes America specifically can navigate through such changes (but it's obviously applicable to the other two zones as well). It's a long article, but well worth the read - then go and try to decide how cross-cultural ministries can reflect some of these changes in focus, reach, and practical implementation...

Ahhhh - so now it's back to normal...

2008-01-23T14:30:00.000+01:00

Much as I love Christmas and all that (ask my kids how early I start listening to Christmas music!), it's nice to be getting a bit back to normal. So here are a few things I've noticed that came across my desk over the last couple of weeks...

1) A new study, Decade of Data (based on a survey of 3,000 consumers via telephone), reveals that young adults have drifted away from personal interaction when choosing leisure activities:

Since 1998, the number of young adults participating in team sports has decreased from 19 percent to 13 percent.
The amount of time spent with computers has drastically increased, from 8 percent to 21 percent.
The number of young adults going out to the movies has decreased from 13 percent in 1998 to just 3 percent in 2008.
The number of adolescents staying home to watch television or rent videos has increased from 24 percent in 1998 to 32 percent in 2008. [MarketingVox]

Okay, but how many who were going out to movies in groups in 1998 have now just decided to invite their buds over to their house with surround sound, big screen, gaming console and digital media tricked-out rooms? I agree that there are changes underway which may be leading to more individualized entertainment options (thus the decrease in team sports), but I'm not so sure it means that adolescents are interacting less with each other...

2) A University of Southern California study finds that parents are getting a bit more nervous about their kids' activities online...finally! You can read the report online in it's entirety, but here's the money quote...

“In general, opinions about the Internet remain overwhelmingly positive,” said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the Center for the Digital Future at the USC Annenberg School for Communication. “But after seven years of tracking the impact of the Internet, we are also seeing evolving trends which show that adults view some aspects of going online by children to be as troubling as their use of other media -- or even potentially dangerous.” [Center for the Digital Future]

Ya' think?! I, for one, hope that parents realize that letting their 7-yr-old go to Google and type in their mishmashed spelling of whatever it is they think they're looking for or letting their 14-yr-old have unrestricted access to MySpace might be 'potentially dangerous'. Really it's a bit shocking that they're coming so late to the party. I'm fine with children and students on the internet, BUT I think the best approach lies in talking, filtering, and monitoring to try to ensure their emotional safety.

3) Another article in the NY Times (registration required but its free) about the ongoing debate on whether or not the teens of this day and age are really are more narcissistic than their parents were. Great quote...

In other words, the minute-by-minute Twitter broadcasts of today are the navel-gazing est seminars of 1978. [NY Times]

If you don't know what an est seminar is, you can check this out (and I guess if you don't know what Twitter is, you can click here). The point is basically that every teen is a bit narcissistic in this phase of their personality development, and thankfully most of the time it passes.

4) And finally, I have to confess this brought a smile to my face. McDonald's is pulling their ads from the report card jackets in Seminole County schools in FL because parents (and others) felt like it crossed some kind of line that should keep kids from being targeted by advertisers in their schools [AdAge]. But I used to love going as a kid and showing your report card to different places to get a free Coke or whatever - I thought that was the deal! And what about all the businesses that pay for a sign in the outfield or on the scoreboards to help defray some of the costs for the school districts? Something tells me that if it was a vegetarian deli or organic grocery store placing those ads and offering a freebie nobody would've said a word about it (for 10 years prior to McDonald's sponsorship, Pizza Hut had done it with no complaints whatsoever). Ah well - the passing of another of the joys of my youth... : )

The Dutch and their tulips...

2007-12-22T13:40:00.000+01:00

Check out this story on Wired mag's website of a new Dutch island to be created in the shape of a tulip! There's even a picture mock up but I didn't want to spoil the surprise by showing it to you here, so if you wanna see it you better click...: ) How fun would that be to build?! A perfect example of the Dutch saying (loosely translated, of course) - 'God made the world but the Dutch made Holland...'

No need to re-invent the wheel...

2007-12-21T10:25:00.000+01:00

so here's a great post from Ypulse (a teen marketing and media company) that sifts through the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report on teens and social media. The study is conducted in the US, but also reveals trends that appear to be similar here in Europe as well...

Girls dominate "content creation" when it comes to blogs, photos and social networking and boys dominate when it comes to shooting and uploading video. This makes sense since girls are much more into socializing and staying connected 24/7, etc. Most of this content is about keeping that conversation going vs. blogging about politics or art. That said, I was happy to see that:

- 39% of online teens share their own artistic creations online such as artwork, photos stories, or videos

- 33% of online teens create or work on webpages or blogs for others, including friends, groups they belong to or school assignments

- 28% of online teens have created their own blog, up from 19% in 2004, and almost completely driven by the popularity of blogging among girls

- 27% of online teens maintain their own webpage 26% of online teens remix content they find online into their own creations

- Some 35% of all teen girls blog, compared with 20% of online boys, and 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys

- Boys, however, do dominate one area - posting of video content online - online teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online somewhere where someone else could see it

All of the above efforts build skills essential for tomorrow's workforce. Oh and you can now up the 2004 stat of teens being content creators from 57 percent of online teens to 64 percent.

They are creating content for an audience, i.e. the validation factor. Linked in to teens' core need of seeking attention and validation, which they get online through comments.

- Nearly half (47%) of online teens have posted photos where others can see them

- 89% of those teens who post photos say that people comment on the images at least "some of the time."

- Teens who post videos report a similarly large incidence of feedback, with nearly three quarters (72%) of video posters receiving comments on their videos.

Yet, they are picky about who they want validation from, i.e. mostly from their friends (at least when it comes to profiles/photos).

Some 66% of teens with social network profiles restrict access to their profiles in some way and 77% of teens who upload photos restrict access to them at least "some of the time."

- In contrast, 58% of adults who post photos restrict access to them in some way.

- A smaller percentage of teens who upload videos (54%) restrict access to them.

Pew also validates the notion that social media is replacing email as teens' primary form of communication and that in fact, many teens have several digital ways to stay connected a la the multi-channel teens:

- 70% talk daily with friends on a cell phone

- 60% send text messages daily

- 54% instant message

- 47% send messages daily over social network sites

- 46% talk to friends on a landline phone

- 35% spend time with friends in person daily

- 22% send email every day to friends

- Nearly two-thirds (63%) of teens now have a cell phone and for teens who have them, they are the premier communication method for talking with friends.

- Among teens with cell phones, 55% say they use them to talk with friends every day. [Ypulse]

And this all begs the question of how well the youth ministry you're involved in uses technology as a tool for connection. How about some Gen Y'ers helping to coach and lead in this area by providing templates, software helps, tips, a blog, whatever? Working smarter, not harder...sometimes I think we may spend too much time trying to figure out how to create everything ourselves instead of trying to figure out who to get help from - whether they share our particular goals or not...

A sure sign of the apocalypse...

2007-12-12T10:14:00.000+01:00

Are we too focused on the wrong things in our society? Just click here and know that our doom is certain...

I'm a total geek myself...

2007-11-29T12:15:00.000+01:00

but I still find myself a bit conflicted about this whole issue of kids starting to use technology (cell phones, wired toys, etc.) so young. Do we really need for our toddlers to think that if it doesn't have a screen it's not any fun?

Donald L. Shifrin, a pediatrician based in Seattle and the spokesman for the academy, said tech toys cannot replace imaginative play, where children create rich narratives and interact with peers or parents.[NY Times]

It's crazy 'cuz we're having to navigate through this for our own household. As a total Legos fan, I still think unstructured playing is the best...right? But what's the reality of where we are in our cultures? And then the follow-up question for youth ministry is can we teach/lead teens in a way that's engaging but relies less on technology as an over-arching strategy? Sure, send the bulk SMS'es for information, but don't rely on them to build true relationships? I don't know where it's all leading but it sure feels like relationally disengaged engagement...

Generational views...

2007-11-15T11:06:00.000+01:00

Check out this from 60 Minutes to see some clips about the millennial generation entering the workplace (guess what? Office managers are telling them that yes, they really do need to wear undergarments that stay, well, under their clothes...) and have fun figuring out the implications for churches(!), then flop on over to this PBS site with the documentary Generation Next 2.0 for more to think about. Looks like today's teens have an even more difficult time finding their identity due to the sheer amount of information they're swimming in...

A chunky post...

2007-11-06T10:21:00.000+01:00

So much info, so little time! Here are some things that have gotten my attention in the last two weeks...

1) In the music industry's struggle to achieve a new business model there's a great case study for everyone who wants to be in the same ministry for more than 6 or 7 years. Whether you want to or not, you will have to re-vamp, re-tool, and change. So here's a good article on the NextGreatThing that mentions Prince, Madonna, and Radiohead as pioneers who aren't afraid to challenge the norm with great ideas. The interesting thing to me is that those artist's ideas (which are working) feel counter-intuitive...

2) An article by Christian Smith (the author of the huge National Study of Youth and Religion which surveyed adolescent faith trends in American teens) on what he's calling 'emerging adulthood' for 18-30 year-olds. He says it's...

a new, distinct, and important stage in life, situated between the teenage years and full-fledged adulthood, [which] has emerged in our culture in recent decades—reshaping the meaning of self, youth, relationships, and life commitments as well as a variety of behaviors and dispositions among the young. [Christianity Today]

He finishes the article by saying...

How does or should American Christianity speak to emerging adults as people and emerging adulthood as a cultural fact? How can the church faithfully speak the gospel to 18- to 30-year-olds? The answer is surely not for the church to fall all over itself to quickly reconstruct its message and practices to somehow become more "relevant" to emerging adults. But oblivious disregard for emerging adulthood and the larger meanings and challenges it raises for church and culture surely won't do either.

If you're working with teens (no matter the context), it's worth a read. Also makes me wonder if this is a developmental phenomenon also at work in Europe...

3) As a good follow up, and in the light of all the backlash against 'Generation Me' coming up, here's an article in the American Prospect by Courtney Martin (herself a twenty-something) offering a bit of explanation about why her generation appears apathetic (in short - too much information). Whether you agree with it or not, it's good generational insight...and it lines up decently well with MTV's study on 'What makes 12-24 year-olds happy?'.

4) In honor of this week's elections back in the States, here's a glimpse from a survey conducted by PRNewswire of who would be president if teens and twenties had their say...

5) Now over to the increasing dialogue between atheists and religious folk. Stanley Fish in the NYTimes reviews two books - one from a religious studies professor who 'lost his faith' and one from a celebrated atheist who apparently 'defected' to the other side. In reviewing the books, Fish gives excellent summaries of both sides of the discussion...

5) And finally, what your handwriting says about you! New research is proving the importance of children learning to write quickly and automatically because 'evidence is growing that handwriting fluency is a fundamental building block of learning.' [Newseek] I still remember that C in my fourth grade handwriting class... now my life is all starting to make sense...

The Innocents Abroad...Part 2

2007-10-19T16:38:00.000+02:00

Just two pictures to finish up the adventure. To the left is one I snagged when we took the guys to Amsterdam and started out with a visit to the Van Gogh museum since it's our favorite and you can move through it pretty quickly (although apparently not quickly enough for one who's single name shall remain nameless!)...

And for our last picture here they are in Dam Square in the heart of Amsterdam. If you look right in the middle (over Cash's shoulder), that shiny spot is a 'living statue' where it's someone all painted up to look like metal or somesuch and then they bow and move when you walk close by. Supposedly there's a festival made up of hundreds of these folks in Arnhem...spooky!

Anyhoo, the guys survived a week of changing schedules, trains, krokketen, patats, fritessaus (it's not mayonnaise - really!), trams, markets, windmills, diseased pigeons, cheese, long walks (favorite quote of the week - 'I've been stranded before and haven't had to walk for this long!'), traffic jams, pitch-black beaches, blown amps, rain, wind, the orgelman and yes, even living statues and enjoyed every minute of it (mostly!). Thanks for coming over to help out in so many different ways and let's do it again soon! : )

The Innocents Abroad...Part 1

2007-10-04T19:49:00.000+02:00

Alrighty then - the pix thus far...: )

Gotta start with arrival on Monday 'cuz there's nothing better than the sleep-in-a-cramped-seat-overnight feeling when you cross the Atlantic (you'll have to ask Cash for his three letter description of the seating arrangements...).

Then here we are with the students during music workshops on Tuesday at the Europese School of Bergen - we had a lot of fun with some great teen musicians!

Hey look ma - famous! Holding up the paper announcing the workshops in Wednesday's Heiloo paper (the Uitkijkpost).

Then another hang out with teens at the Europese School today speaking about 'The Influence of Faith on Art' with a little bit o' pickin'.

In the video from this morning we say jetlag is over but I'm not sure it really rings true...

More to come in the days ahead...: )

Stumbled across...

2007-09-27T11:11:00.001+02:00

A couple of cool pictures I took going up to meet with the youth guys at B et hel church in Friesland (a province of the Netherlands) up north. The road actually takes you over the famous Afsluitdijk that the ingenious Dutch built to close up the harbor that leads to Amsterdam from the North Sea.

Amazing process - so on the right hand side of the road is the salty North Sea, on the left is the now freshwater Ijsselmeer. And then in the other picture is an example of the way they set the rocks in place (they also used willow switches as a part of the base). Amazing.

It's the little things, darlin' (apologies to Robert Earl Keen)...

2007-09-25T10:23:00.000+02:00

Wanted to pass along some little things I've stumbled upon in the past few weeks as the new season's getting rolling...

First, for those of you working with teens in the States...

A new study from LifeWay Research reveals that more than two-thirds of young adults who attend a Protestant church for at least a year in high school will stop attending church regularly for at least a year between the ages of 18 and 22.

"Lots of alarming numbers have been tossed around regarding church dropouts," said Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, the research arm of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. "We wanted to get at the real situation with clear research – and there is some bad news here, no question. But, there are also some important solutions to be found in the research. When we know why people drop out, we can address how to help better connect them."

Well worth reading the entire article, but I especially resonated with Stetzer's last statement because I believe this point is universally applicable whether you're working in the US or Europe or wherever...

Stetzer noted, "There is no easy way to say it, but it must be said. Parents and churches are not passing on a robust Christian faith and an accompanying commitment to the church. We can take some solace in the fact that many do eventually return. But, Christian parents and churches need to ask the hard question, ‘What is it about our faith commitment that does not find root in the lives of our children?’" (LifeWay)

The mother of all questions. And after 60+ years of focused youth ministry (especially in the States), is this really where we are now?

Second, Rick Rubin (the guru-daddy record producer who's produced albums for everyone from the Chili Peppers to Johnny Cash to Neil Diamond) has been hired as the new co-head at Columbia Records to try to help them turn around their dismal business model (and yes, I'm listening to MP3's as I write this!). Here's his take on the current organization...

"Columbia is stuck in the dark ages. I have great confidence that we will have the best record company in the industry, but the reality is, in today's world, we might have the best dinosaur. Until a new model is agreed upon and rolling, we can be the best at the existing paradigm, but until the paradigm shifts, it's going to be a declining business. This model is done." (NY Times)

The best dinosaur. The best at the existing paradigm. But the times are changing, and a static organization reflects what happened in the past - not what's happening in the present. Great reflection for us now in our different contexts of emerging generations and globalization...

Third, in local news, Amsterdam has just finished up a deal to supposedly close almost 1/3rd of their legalized brothels by buying the buildings that lie in the city center's red-light district. 18 buildings for 18 million euros. Or less windows for less money (there seems to be some confusion about the deal). Click here to read about it in the UK's Guardian - complete with some very interesting thoughts from the locals. Is this really a cultural shift?

Fourth (and finally), it appears another attempt to reach teens here in the Netherlands just finished up. For the last 5 years or so, there was a thought that teen churches could help bridge the gap between the established mainline churches and the next generation. This article (in Dutch) reports on the closing of the teen church that started the movement, with one of the leaders of a group saying, 'It's time for something new.' Click here to check it out and work on your Dutch...or copy the text from the article and then go to Alta Vista's Babel Fish site to paste it in the box and translate it into a very strange English version. : )

Last night's Teen Choice Award winners in the US...

2007-08-28T11:37:00.000+02:00

See the list for yourself on USA Today. And then give in to your despair (Fergie? Really?!)...

A few quick clips...

2007-08-27T13:17:00.000+02:00

Been busy (of course) with the year starting back up and all, but here are a few quick bits for you to click through...

1) After posting about McDonald's as an example of effective branding (whether to good result or bad), I had to pass along this NY Times article detailing the Golden Arch's attempt to sync better with the European market.

McDonald’s is introducing healthier foods and items that cater to regional tastes, like caffè lattes. Hoping to attract more young adults and professionals, in addition to its core customer base of children, the chain is also adding amenities like Internet access and rental iPods.

“Reimaging is essential in the competitive world of retail,” [Denis Hennequin, president of McDonald’s Europe] said. “We need to avoid aging faster than our customers.” (NY Times)

I would say reimaging is also essential in working with teens...

2) MTV and the Associated Press in the US did a research study attempting to discover which factors play a part in the happiness of American teens. General happiness, relationships (including relationships with parents), religion and spirituality, fortune and fame, and technology are all addressed. It's definitely worth reading the whole article, but here's the blurb on teens and spirituality...

44 percent say that religion and spirituality are either a very important or the single most important thing in their lives, with more than one in ten reporting the latter. And those for whom religion and spirituality play a bigger role in life tend to be happier. 80 percent of those who say spirituality is the most important thing in life say they are happy with life in general, compared with 60 percent of those who say that spirituality is not an important part of life at all. (CNN Money.com)

Naivete, cultural valuation, or something more?

3) This comes out every year, and I still like to check it out! Beloit College produces a list of characteristics they call 'The Mindset List' to help their profs remember some of the cultural and historical markers for the students they're trying to lead. This year's freshman class, for example, never knew the world with a Berlin Wall, a jailed Nelson Mandela, or a hand-cranked car window. To read the list, click here.

Alright, and now if you're still looking for something to do, go check out LineRider - simple, cool, and crazily addictive! : )

Everything tastes better with a brand!

2007-08-13T15:56:00.000+02:00

Had to do this quick post. Gave kids chicken nuggets, french fries, baby carrots, milk, and a hamburger wrapped in McDonald's packaging and asked them to rate it. Gave them the exact same food unwrapped and had them rate that food. You know where this is headed, but yes, they rated the McDonald's wrapped food as tasting better than the other.

"This study demonstrates simply and elegantly that advertising literally brainwashes young children into a baseless preference for certain food products," said Dr. David Katz, the director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn. (Forbes)

But to me here's the kicker - don't we all function this way? Even us 'adults'? Don't we all tend to have certain biases toward one brand/company/ service provider over another based on our experience? And maybe this should help us realize that we can (in fact) create loyalty, trust, and willingness in the folks we're leading? The core issue of this study doesn't really change based on whether or not you like McDonald's food - the core issue is that every time you go to a McDonald's you can pretty much know what you're going to get. It's a consistent experience whether you go to one in New York, Vienna, Zurich, Amsterdam, Toronto, Moscow or wherever. The goal of Mickey D's is that every contact you have with their restaurant is supposed to be the same. One of their top values? Consistency.

So here's the lesson - consistency is good! Branding is good! Just because we prefer one brand over another doesn't mean that our choices are 'baseless preferences' (like the quote above says). Our choices are complex, multi-tiered rationales that can be altered by our experiences. For those in youth ministry, here's the question - can the students we work with expect a consistent experience with us whether they go on a trip, get involved in a weekly program, do a small group study, or whatever? If we set and maintain consistent values that come through with excellence, then our 'brand' can become something they trust and prefer, and hopefully give us a starting point from which to build relationship.

Get ready, part II

2007-08-02T11:22:00.000+02:00

In YPulse yesterday (which is a great source of info on youth and youth trends), they mentioned this story on how fewer of the millennial generation (GenY) are working as teens. Here's the quote...

Fewer than half the nation's nearly 17 millions teens ages 16-19 - or 48.8 percent - had or wanted jobs in June, according to data released July 6 by the U.S. Department of Labor.
That's down from 51.6 percent the previous year, and a significant drop from 2000, when 60 percent of 16- to 19-year-olds were participants in the work force.

Reminds me of the quote by Francis Schaeffer that our highest values will become 'personal peace and affluence' - are we there yet?! Or is this just the natural narcissistic nature of teens that will get pounded out of them as they become adults?

Get ready...

2007-07-31T12:37:00.000+02:00

A change is coming that the business world seems to be gearing up for - the entry of GenY'ers into the work place. This article from the NY Times just barely scratches the surface of the issue, but it makes me wonder if evangelical organizations are also intentionally readying themselves for the upcoming hand off. It seems to me that many of the baby boomers in leadership in the States may not have considered leadership as something to intentionally pass along - so now how will they motivate and lead a generation they may understand even less than the GenX'ers? Favorite quote describing GenY'ers from the article is by Mary Crane, the founder of a Denver-based consulting firm and part of a new crop of experts teaching companies to navigate generational conflicts....

“They have climbed Everest and excavated Machu Picchu,” she said, “but they have never had the experience of showing up for work at 9 a.m.”

Welcome to the brave, new world! : )

Everything you 'know' is incorrect?

2007-07-26T16:57:00.000+02:00

Interesting map of the US showing religious affiliations. Seems that the belief in a southern states 'bible belt' may not be so true anymore. To read more about the group that did the study (the Glenmary Research Center), click here.

2007-07-10T12:22:00.000+02:00

So often where the followers of Jesus should be leading the way, we seem to be missing in action. Yesterday was a double whammy for me because I first ran across an article in the NY Times discussing Russian President Putin’s corp of teenage supporters called ‘Nashi’ (Russian for ‘ours’). Right now they’re claiming 10,000 teen members and almost 200,000 participants. Here's the quote from Vladislov Surkov, who has developed the majority of the Nashi policies...

“We have to admit that for a long time we did not have any youth policy at all,” Mr. Surkov said in a rare news conference last year. “Sooner or later, we realized, we had to.”

Obviously Putin’s realized the importance of providing direction and leadership to teens (although the current debate is on his motivation for doing so). Then last night (the only time in 10 months over here!) I see an Oprah Winfrey program about adults who have taken the lead in providing light and life to youth (some were underprivileged, others were underachieving). One man even took over an area of Harlem in New York City and raised $42 million to build a school and health clinic.

So how do we compare? Are our visions big enough, radical enough? Do we have ideas that are so good that they meet our culture’s needs in an obviously excellent way? I do know some youth ministers that are doing a great job at this, but even they would admit they are the exception - and most of them function with way too little support. If we want different results (like actually having a lasting impact on our culture), we're going to have to be more creative. Good enough really isn't...

Good quote...

2007-07-03T11:46:00.000+02:00

Just got back from a week of language school at Regina Coeli in the southern part of Holland and it was great! Not a miracle mind-meld (which would've been nice!), but still a great setup. It did reinforce my belief that learning a new language is a bit like attacking a giant with toothpicks, but at least now I've got some seriously cool toothpicks...

And in case you needed a little devotional thought for the day...

"When I saw others straining toward God, I did not understand it, for though I may have had him less than they did, there was no one blocking the way between him and me, and I could reach his heart easily. It is up to him, after all, to have us... our part consists of almost solely in letting him grasp us."
- Rainer Maria Rilke

Simple to get, hard to live in...

Finally!

2007-06-18T16:50:00.000+02:00

The truth is out - the Pussycat Dolls really are bad for you! I always thought so, but here's the proof I've needed...

Researchers from Sussex University interviewed girls to measure their levels of self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and mood. The results found the group who watched music videos exhibited the greatest increase in poor body image compared to the others. "Additionally, the findings showed that girls with both high and low self-esteem were equally vulnerable to the negative impact of music videos on their body image," researcher Dr Helga Dittmar said. [click here for the whole story]

Hard to measure up when the standard is so limited...that's why I'm waiting for pasty and thick to come back in to vogue!

Teens in UK have fewer close friends...

2007-06-08T11:21:00.000+02:00

A sad statistic, really. The percentage of teens in the UK who say they have no close friend to confide in has risen in the last 20 years from 13% to 18%.

The apparent decline in close friendships among teenagers over the past two decades will add to concerns that the quality of childhood is also diminishing. Stephan Collishaw of the Institute of Psychiatry, author of the YouthTrends study, said the research was at an early stage, but described the findings as "worrying". (Guardian)

Sounds like an open opportunity to talk about developing a friend who sticks closer than brother...

An interesting take on the Amsterdam coffee shops...

2007-06-07T15:33:00.000+02:00

Is Amsterdam going to have to close some of it's (in)famous coffeshops? Could it be??? Click here for the article and wonder what the world would be like...

Mucho thanks!

2007-06-07T15:25:00.000+02:00

Don't think that's the exact Dutch phrase, but we've just finished up finalizing the results from the golf tournament and it looks like it raised right at $10,400! How cool is that?! So a huge thanks to all of you who played, volunteered, or donated prizes - and we hope you're enjoying your chocolate as an incredibly small token of thanks! : )

Just for fun...

2007-05-08T13:30:00.000+02:00

Found these in my digital camera... : )

Some pix from Vienna...

Here's the square in Antwerp...

This generation...

2007-05-08T12:06:00.000+02:00

Click here for a glimpse of a short movie called 'Millennial' in which some millennials describe their generational characteristics and life with technology. Tremendous implications for ministry in there, some of which show up in this NY Times article on the 'new' discovery of faith on college campuses. Most interesting quote...

At Berkeley, a vast number of undergraduates are Asian-American, with many coming from observant Christian homes, said the Rev. Randy Bare, the Presbyterian campus pastor. “That’s new, and it’s a remarkable shift,” Mr. Bare said.

Always great to see how spiritual life pushes through...

And then this article for all of us who've worked with teens and wondered when it's 'bad enough' to attempt more direct intervention. One of my first reactions when hearing about the tragedy at Virginia Tech was to think of all the adults who had come across Cho's path and would now feel guilty for steps they had not taken. Here's what one professor emailed to some colleagues in the aftermath...

“There was violence in Cho’s writing — but there is a huge difference between writing about violence and behaving violently,” he wrote. “We could not have known what he would do.”

How much tumult is normal adolescence and when does it become a sign of a deeper problem? It's a tough question for everyone who works with youth, and even after 17 years in the trenches I'm not sure I'll ever be able to know the exact answer...

Like a broken record...

2007-04-24T10:27:00.000+02:00

it just goes on and on, but if you wonder who wants our kids...

“The teen market has exploded in terms of size and direct spending power,” said Michael Wood, vice president of Teenage Research Unlimited, who estimated that today’s teenage population stood at 33.5 million. “The fastest growing power is the younger market, 12 to 15, accounting for 50 percent of the overall teen market.”

Fifty percent of the entire teen market?! In the hands of 12 to 15-year-olds?! You can read the whole article here, but doesn't it seem just a bit scary that our young teenagers are being chased so aggressively for their disposable income? And for sure you don't hear much talk about corporate responsibility as those corporations shape the values of these adolescents...

If you've ever wondered...

2007-04-19T11:15:00.000+02:00

how and why some things catch on while others don't, Duncan Watts has an article in the NY Times about his research to measure how we influence each other to think something's good or not. If you're interested in how they did it, click here, but if you just want to get to the bottom line, here's the conclusion...

Even if you think most people are tasteless or ignorant, it’s natural to believe that successful songs, movies, books and artists are somehow “better,” at least in the democratic sense of a competitive market, than their unsuccessful counterparts, that Norah Jones and Madonna deserve to be as successful as they are if only because “that’s what the market wanted.” What our results suggest, however, is that because what people like depends on what they think other people like, what the market “wants” at any point in time can depend very sensitively on its own history: there is no sense in which it simply “reveals” what people wanted all along. In such a world, in fact, the question “Why did X succeed?” may not have any better answer than the one given by the publisher of Lynne Truss’s surprise best seller, “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” who, when asked to explain its success, replied that “it sold well because lots of people bought it.”

Thoughts? Applications? Does this let us off the hook if we're trying to implement something that doesn't work? Any spiritual component to all of this?

Taking a gander...

2007-04-16T17:02:00.000+02:00

at some things worth clicking on...

1) Top of the list is this Newsweek discussion between Rick Warren (pastor of Saddleback Church and the author of 'The Purpose Driven Life') and noted atheist Sam Harris. A great read, and a great conversation from which to glean some insights...

2) A couple of clips that show the machinery behind the current approach of blending advertising with entertainment ('That's right - now you, too, can have your very own advertainment!') while marketing to a younger and younger clientele. Makes me long for the day when we teach media literacy in our classrooms and churches...

3) Then there's this article on the Dutch approach to keeping the peace in Afghanistan from the NY Times that highlights some of the cultural values over here in the Netherlands...

4) And I'll finish with this quote from another USA Today article on adolescents; 'Adolescents are at an age where they do not have full capacity to control themselves...' : )

Did you know?

2007-04-03T11:04:00.000+02:00

Not really sure if most parents understand the amount of time teens are spending with video games. Harris Interactive reports that eight in 10 American youth (81%) report playing a video game at least one time per month, with nearly all boys (94%) claiming to play. Those numbers to me don't seem like that big of a deal. But this one does: the average 8-to-12 year-old now plays 13 hours of video games per week; while the average 13-to-18 year-old plays 14 hours of video games per week. That's a pretty big chunk of their entertainment/free time. But I understand - I remember turning off our Atari and seeing all of those little aliens in my sleep! : )

Some serious back and forth

2007-04-03T10:35:00.000+02:00

Ran across this TIME magazine article showing the conversation between a psychologist (Robert Epstein, the author of a new book The Case Against Adolescence) and John Cloud (who wrote the article) about whether or not teens are in turmoil. Incredibly interesting, especially when you follow their different use of statistics. The net result? Looks like you can prove that teens in the States are better off and worse off than before (makes me wonder what youth workers who've been around a while would say?). Click here to take a look...

Had some...

2007-03-26T15:40:00.000+02:00

interesting articles come through in the last couple of days...

1. Wondering why your teen acts kinda crazy sometimes (like you used to?!)? Take a look at this report discussing the way hormones affect judgement...

2. While the percentage of people staying out of church in the States has stayed almost the same since 1994 (around 33%), the actual number that percentage represents has risen to almost 100 million. Click here for the study from Barna...

3. If you want another reason to feel more guilt as a parent (and who wouldn't want that?!), read the NY Times article today about a direct link between how much time a child spends in day care and how many problems they have in school...

4. And for those of you wondering if there's a unifying teen culture that spans the globe, check out YPulse's take on a report from the Kairos Foundation (short answer: it depends!)...

Gotta question...

2007-03-19T17:27:00.000+01:00

Can we have a discussion about the ramifications of setting up Conservapedia (as an alternative to Wikipedia) and GodTube (as an alternative to YouTube)? What's the balance between staying in the cultural conversation (even though it may be a bit uncomfortable) versus removing yourself to create a place for people with similar ideas? Does intentionally copying a good idea set up a good dynamic? Interesting...

Description of twenty-somethings...

2007-03-08T12:10:00.000+01:00

Interesting summation...

“They have less brand loyalty,” said Lori Singer, a vice president for global marketing for Coty, referring to 20-somethings. “They don’t want to feel that they are being marketed to or spoken at. They are much more empowered, but they are unshockable. They have seen everything from 9/11 to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears without underwear. They see everything instantaneously that goes on in the world.” (Click here to read the entire article)

Any insights how this applies to churches?

Quick clips...

2007-03-08T10:56:00.000+01:00

It's been really busy around here the last couple of weeks (a Benelux meeting, folks over to visit) but I wanted to make sure everybody had a chance to take a look at some of these links while they were still timely...

1. A release by the American Psychiatric Association says we're damaging girls' self-image and healthy development with all of our culture's overtly sexualized media and entertainment...

2. In a somewhat related story, Delta Zeta sorority at DePauw University gets accused of asking some of their members to leave because of their appearance...

3. A research group (Harris Interactive) gives specifics on how tweens and teens use different means of communication (cell phones, landlines, internet, social networking sites, etc.) to stay in touch...

4. A book ('Unhooked') opens the debate on how female college students pursue their relationships and whether or not the current environment of 'hooking up' brings emotional pain...

5. As a follow-up to the Wired article 'The New Atheists', click here for an article in the NY Times covering similar ground (a renewed push to look at the science of religion)...

6. Good stuff - a 15-yr-old's desire to help fight modern-day slavery in it's various forms...

7. Europe stuff - the continued heated debate over immigration in Holland, angry Danish youth (again), and what to do when your van carrying 2 tons of hash wrecks...er, make that 3 tons of hash...

That should be enough to keep you going for a bit...and if you're a youth leader, there's gotta be enough material up there for at least a semester's worth of conversations!

One of the cool things...

2007-02-20T16:06:00.000+01:00

about being in Europe is living where there's really neat old stuff everywhere (sorry for the extremely technical vocabulary!). For example, they just found the remains of a Roman road (made of lime) outside of Utrecht about 45 minutes southeast of here. The Romans came into the Netherlands around 53 BC under Julius Caesar and may have used the road as part of their military campaigns. Click here for the article.

Someone to look up to...or then again...

2007-02-20T15:49:00.000+01:00

In case you didn't get a chance to see it, here's the Newsweek story about the notorious young ladies of today's Hollywood giving girls a 'less than positive' expression of femininity. At the end, the article gives a nod to the importance of parental examples - which still ranks as the highest influence on teen behavior. Click here to read it...

Here's the latest...

2007-02-13T11:48:00.000+01:00

Barna statistics on how Americans put their values to work - and guess what? We're all just as conflicted as the rest of us! : ) Click here for the report...

I meant to pass this along...

2007-02-13T10:53:00.000+01:00

when I first saw it, but better late than never! An excellent article in Wired magazine about some new discussion on atheism's validity. Click here to read it in full (definitely worth your time), and here's the last paragraph...

The New Atheists have castigated fundamentalism and branded even the mildest religious liberals as enablers of a vengeful mob. Everybody who does not join them is an ally of the Taliban. But, so far, their provocation has failed to take hold. Given all the religious trauma in the world, I take this as good news. Even those of us who sympathize intellectually have good reasons to wish that the New Atheists continue to seem absurd. If we reject their polemics, if we continue to have respectful conversations even about things we find ridiculous, this doesn't necessarily mean we've lost our convictions or our sanity. It simply reflects our deepest, democratic values. Or, you might say, our bedrock faith: the faith that no matter how confident we are in our beliefs, there's always a chance we could turn out to be wrong.

Read the whole thing for a great resource to start conversations on the nature and validity of 'truth'...

Hey, y'all come on over!

2007-02-04T15:56:00.000+01:00

Saw this article about businesses and rockers using the Netherlands as a way to minimize their taxes...and yes, even ole' U2 moved some bits and pieces here and is catching flack. Favorite quote...

Sun offered the following blurb about the country’s accommodating tax laws: “Let’s face it: ask foreign companies why they’re really located here, and nearly everyone will reply that it’s because of the favorable tax ruling. The combination of this with the country’s political stability, well-trained labor force, their linguistic skills and international attitude as well as the stable infrastructure for roads and telecommunications — this is why we’re here.”

Just another reason to pack up and move yourself on over to a place with almost 2 hrs of sunlight each week in the winter...: )

Twee...

2007-02-02T16:12:00.000+01:00

I was gone last weekend at a conference for older youth called Radical, so it's been catch-up all week. Here, though, are a couple of things that caught my attention...

'It's all about me...'
A continued push for self-expression and self-determination is taking over the world, thanks to American Idol...or is it just that American Idol makes the best use of this nearly-universal human desire to be heard? Click here for the NY Times article...

'Beyond the Ultimate'
And then for those of you in the States, get ready for the Super Bowl (or check it out after the game), by clicking on this website profiling the coaches for the Colts and the Bears, Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith.

PS - And for those of you wondering if we're learning any Dutch at all, the title for this post is the Dutch word for 'two'...as in 'two' things! Oh yeah, that's right - after 5 months over here we can count to 'two'...we've got this language thing down! : )

A quick take...

2007-01-25T15:45:00.000+01:00

Some things I noticed this week...

First, check out this story on our next generation's top priority - having money. Here are a couple of quotes...

"Our kids have absorbed the cultural values of more, easy, fast, and fun."

And...

Parents are spending 500 percent more money on their kids than just one generation earlier.

Makes me wonder if we are we setting our kids up for a potentially disappointing encounter with adulthood by getting them used to a lifestyle of consumerism that for most will be unsustainable...

Next, move on to this article which describes how science is charting the brain's response to brands it has a familiarity with (no surprise to those of you who like to shop - it's a positive one)...

And finally, a place to let children be children... in a virtual world created by the BBC. This article makes me love my LEGOs all the more! : )

Tough call...

2007-01-22T11:53:00.000+01:00

Seems like there's a growing debate of how to best keep middle school students on track socially and academically - shift them back down into elementary school, or move them up to high school earlier (in the 6th grade).

For my childhood years in Indiana, the setup was elementary through 6th grade, then jr. high for 7th - 9th, then high school 10th - 12th. I tend to think that setup hits the right developmental breaks even though the majority of students I've worked with over the years were in a middle school system (elementary through 5th, 6th - 8th together, then 9th - 12th ). And can you imagine trying to sell parents on a 6th-12th grade school in this day and age? I think there's too much fear of bullying and predation for that to gain much momentum - some parents have even told me they feel 6th graders and 8th graders have too much of an age difference to be together...

But here's the defining quote that I think nails the problem...

[S]ome middle school experts argue that school reconfiguration is a costly distraction from what adolescents really need: smaller classes, an engaging curriculum, personalized attention and well-prepared teachers. “Creating schools with varying grade configurations, K-8s and 6-12s, will not guarantee that middle-grades teachers and students will be successful,” said Patrick Montesano, who runs a national middle school improvement program at the Academy for Educational Development, a nonprofit organization.

Click here to read the whole article in the NY Times.

'We have you surrounded...'

2007-01-19T14:30:00.000+01:00

School libraries, non-profit foundations, and multi-national companies (like GM, Toyota, and IBM) are making a move toward involvement in massive online games like Second Life (and Teen Second Life). It seems like just the next step in the continued push to merge entertainment and 'real life' into one experience...any pointers for youth ministry in all of this?!

Oh yeah...

2007-01-19T14:18:00.000+01:00

Almost forgot the best part of the trip - our stay at 'Hotel Surprise'. The first picture shows what they advertised online, the second shows what actually exists...surprise! Needless to say, our two night reservation quickly became a one night reservation...

It's not really falling down...

2007-01-19T14:04:00.000+01:00

Not much blogging this week - we were trying to get back to normal after a whirlwind trip last weekend to London. It was great fun, really quick, and the weather was perfect - gray and rainy...

If you live in the Birmingham, Alabama area...

2007-01-11T11:13:00.000+01:00

Check out a cool, student-led initiative that's bringing different Birmingham student ministries together - it's called Unite or Die and their first gathering will be on Saturday, February 3rd (click here to take a look at the MySpace page for all the info). It's a great idea that has a lot of community momentum behind it, and appears to be reproducible in any community context...

Teens in the States...

2007-01-10T12:31:00.000+01:00

If you're looking for a snapshot of teens in America, click here for the Harrison Group's latest offering. Two things that stuck out to me in their findings were 1) that teens are a market worth $195 billion (huge!), and 2) that they want to be 'known for their character'. A missing piece, though, are teens defining the character traits they would like to be known for...that would be interesting...

The EU's newest members...

2007-01-03T12:25:00.000+01:00

Click here for an interesting article in the NY Times today about Romania and Bulgaria entering the EU. Also provides a bit of background to the current discussions on expanding the EU and the role of immigration...

Looking ahead...

2007-01-03T11:42:00.000+01:00

We hope all of you had a great Christmas and New Year's! For us it was busy, kinda felt the same, and then again not really at all - but a very sweet time nonetheless... : ) And of course the Dutch fireworks on New Year's eve were CRAZY - a constant barrage for half an hour with smoke rolling through like a fog!

To start off the new year, here's a wonderful devotional written by Kelly McFadden from the folks at HomeWord which we couldn't have said better ourselves...

Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.’ In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.—Deuteronomy 1:29-33
After living in England for a year, I had a new appreciation for rowing. One day, we convinced a friend to take us out on the boat to give it a try. We were assigned positions within the boat, and our coxswain was seated ready to guide and steer us through the River Thames. We learned how to stroke and move our bodies in rhythm with the other rowers. The hardest part for me, however, was not being able to see where we were going. My job was to row, it was the coxswain’s job to watch where we were headed. “Life’s a lot like rowing,” a friend once told me. “You only know where you’ve been.”

The Israelites had traveled through the desert for more years than they probably wished to count. Spies had been sent up to the land – the Promised Land. The journey would soon be over. Upon returning, the men reported that the people were larger and stronger, and the people of Israel were scared. They cried out to Moses and asked why God had brought them there to die. Then Moses said something that I often have to remind myself of: The gist of what he said was: Quit looking forward and being paralyzed in fear. God will fight for you! Look at all He has done in the past. He carried you in your time of need, He guided you in the darkness when you couldn’t find your way and was with you in the light when things seemed easier and clearer. Trust in the God of blessings who sees all and knows all.

We may not know what lies ahead, but we know where we have been. Wherever you are in your journey, whether a time of light or a time of darkness, God is with you. As the Israelites demonstrated to us over and over, it is often too easy to forget how God has carried us in the past when challenges face us ahead.

If you find yourself wondering where God is, or becoming paralyzed with fear over what is next, hold tight to this: The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in _______. (Fill in the blank.) God will carry you as He has done before, as He always will.

So here's to looking backward and moving forward in 2007!

An alternative to drug therapies...

2006-12-22T13:38:00.000+01:00

The NY Times reports today that the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry is recommending good-hearted, clearly defined discipline (rewards and punishments) as a treatment option for children who are diagnosed with ADHD rather than turning immediately to the use of psychiatric drugs.

"We are at a point where families who bring in a child ought to get a Chinese menu of treatments that are backed by some evidence, including not only medication but psychosocial or family interventions," said Dr. John March, a child psychiatrist at Duke University."Not to do so when we know some of these therapies work is, in my opinion, simply unethical. Then let the family choose which one they want."

The article has some great insights (for example, give clear instructions like 'Please put the toys in the box,' rather than the questioning 'Would you put the shoes away?'), but my favorite is when one of the parents compares parenting an ADHD child to learning how to drive a Mack truck! For the full article click here.

New poll shows parents have...

2006-12-20T10:01:00.000+01:00

a difficult time knowing how to talk with their kids about the tough subjects. Check out this article for some insights into parent/teen communication (or lack thereof), and also some ideas on how to have significant conversations with your students. The article also includes a great quote: '[M]any parents feel like they have to choose between peace and parenting, but that's not true...'

Just in case you thought you never won anything...

2006-12-19T11:54:00.000+01:00

take a look at the latest issue of TIME magazine - you are now the official person of the year! Click here to read the article and be sure not to miss the significance of what's being said...I'd love to see your thoughts on some of the significant implications...

The finished product!

2006-12-15T16:44:00.000+01:00

And here is the result of all the hard work of the guys with the Christmas tree in Alkmaar...it seems sewer holes really DO work!

Just released...

2006-12-15T16:11:00.001+01:00

The US Census Bureau's new report just came out and had some interesting tidbits buried inside. Here's a quote from the NY Times on one of the discoveries...

Mr. Rutherfurd said time spent [watching television, surfing the internet, listening to the radio, reading, or going to the movies] increased to 3,543 hours last year from 3,340 hours in 2000, and is projected to rise to 3,620 hours in 2010. The time spent within each category varied, with less on broadcast television (down to 679 hours in 2005 from 793 hours in 2000) and on reading in general, and more using the Internet (up to 183 hours from 104 hours) and on cable and satellite television.
How does all that listening and watching influence the amount of time Americans spend alone? The census does not measure that, but since 2000 the number of hobby and athletic nonprofit associations has risen while the number of labor unions, fraternities and fan clubs has declined.
“The large master trend here is that over the last hundred years, technology has privatized our leisure time,” said Robert D. Putnam, a public policy professor at Harvard and author of “Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community.”
“The distinctive effect of technology has been to enable us to get entertainment and information while remaining entirely alone,” Mr. Putnam said. “That is from many points of view very efficient. I also think it’s fundamentally bad because the lack of social contact, the social isolation means that we don’t share information and values and outlook that we should.” (NY Times)

And then the report also says that in 1970, 79 percent of first-year college students were hoping to find a meaningful philosophy of life. In 2005, though, 75 percent said they were just hoping to be financially well-off.

Distracted and materialistic?

For all of you nice people out there...

2006-12-12T15:35:00.000+01:00

who help out with charitable organizations in the States, thought this checklist of charitable deductions might come in handy. Notice the mileage deduction and some special hurricane relief rules. Check it out here.

Just in time for Christmas...

2006-12-11T17:04:00.000+01:00

While I was down at the library in Alkmaar trying to write our latest letter (which should go out soon), I saw these guys trying to place this HUGE tree in the middle of the square. Coolest part was the crane for sure, but second coolest was how they were trying to get it to stand up - cutting the trunk to fit in a sewer cover! They worked for at least 2 hours and still hadn't got it quite right, so hopefully this week I can snag a picture of the finished product...

Further confirmation...

2006-12-04T16:30:00.000+01:00

that our culture isn't helping our kids any. An article last week on AP said 'tweens' (8 to 12-year-olds) are having too much exposure too soon and can't process the complexity of the world they find themselves in. In other words, they're growing up sooner - and probably too soon for where they are in their adolescent development. Click here for the full story...

Before going shopping this year...

2006-11-30T17:55:00.000+01:00

Newsweek published an article studying the effects of violent video games on the adolescent brain. In summary? Not good (which I don't think will come as a surprise to most folks), but some of the specific findings are interesting...

If you're interested, click here for the article.

An interesting report...

2006-11-28T09:40:00.000+01:00

So who has the most impact on our culture? The Barna Group just released a report with some clues...

A new survey conducted by The Barna Group found that the most positive feelings Americans had toward 16 public figures, including politicians, entertainers and ministers, were awarded to actor Denzel Washington…

In today’s celebrity culture, even the most well-known ministers remain relatively obscure. Perhaps the best example of this phenomenon is Rick Warren. Pastor of a megachurch in southern California and author of the bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life, he has appeared on countless radio and television programs and on the cover of numerous magazines in the past several years. His book, with sales exceeding 25 million copies, is reportedly the biggest selling non-fiction book in U.S. history (with the exception, ironically, of the Bible). Yet, despite such accomplishments, Mr. Warren remains unknown to most adults in this country. Three of out every four adults (72%) say they have never heard of him, including two out of every three born again Christians (63%). Among those who recognize his name, he has an average favorable-to-unfavorable ratio of 2:1. (In contrast, several other individuals evaluated had ratios of better than 10:1.)

Another example is James Dobson, the Christian psychologist whose radio program regarding family matters reaches the largest audience of any religious personality. Almost six out of every ten adults (57%) said they had never heard of Dr. Dobson; in fact, nearly half of all born again Christians said they did not know who he was. Among those familiar with Dr. Dobson, 27% had a favorable impression and 8% had an unfavorable view. However, among evangelical Christians – the small but well-chronicled segment that is clearly Dr. Dobson’s core constituency – his rating was 69% favorable, 4% unfavorable, and 21% who had never heard of him. (The other 6% did not have an opinion of him.)

T.D. Jakes, recently labeled by a major news magazine as the next Billy Graham, is also a megachurch pastor and considered by many to be the most influential African-American clergyman in the country. That would surprise most Americans, however, since two out of three (68%) say they have never heard of him, a view echoed by 55% of all born again Christians. In total, 22% have a positive impression of him and 4% have a negative impression.

Tim LaHaye, a former pastor and political activist turned author, was a co-author of the best-selling fiction series of all-time, the Left Behind series of books. Despite his writing success and 40-plus years in public ministry, three out of four adults (73%) have never heard of Mr. LaHaye, a view common to two-thirds of all born again adults (63%). He has a 13% favorability score and a 5% unfavorable rating. Among evangelicals, he fares much better: 42% favorable and 6% unfavorable.

Joel Osteen is pastor of one of the largest congregations in the country, and is the featured speaker on the most widely watched religious teaching program in the nation. His most recent book was also a multi-million selling hit. Yet, Mr. Osteen is an unknown commodity to two-thirds of the adult public (67%), and is unknown even among a majority of born again adults (57%). His favorability ratio is 3:1, based on 18% favorable and 6% unfavorable sentiment.

George Barna, who directed the research study, commented that the low awareness of the Christian leaders evaluated coincides with other recent studies showing that Christianity is losing its grip on American culture. “You cannot make a difference in someone’s life if you do not have entrée in that life. In our society, even clergy compete for people’s attention and acceptance. One of the reasons that the Christian faith is struggling to retain a toehold in people’s lives is because even the highest-profile leaders of the faith community have limited resonance with the population.”

If this study is true, and if you believe cultural influence comes through relational presence, then this report raises some interesting questions. If you’d like to read the whole article, click here.

Another helpful link...

2006-11-25T11:09:00.000+01:00

My brother-in-law just fowarded this decently accurate Wikipedia page describing the results of the Dutch election, so click here for a pithy summary...

The day after a Thanksgiving abroad...

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We hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving yesterday - for us it was a typical Thursday schedule (mandatory swim lessons at 7 am, then to school by 8:30, then home for lunch at 12:00 noon, then back to school at 1:15, then back home at 3:15) except for a couple of things - first, we had a Canadian friend staying with us while her parents had to be away for a couple of days; second, we had a friend from the States studying abroad in England coming in to see us for a few days; and third, deep in our hearts we knew (although nobody else around us acted like it) that it was really Thanksgiving! : ) So Suz cooked like a maniac to assemble an awesome dinner using 'alternate' ingredients and it was GREAT. As a matter of fact it was so good that we were all sad when we got full... So we hope wherever you are you had a great day as a reminder that we all have something to be thankful for!

Another big event this week was the Dutch elections on Wednesday the 23rd. Here are a couple of different takes on the results (here's one in the Guardian, a UK paper, here's one from the Globe, a Canadian paper, and here's one from CNN), but it appears there will be a certain measure of difficulty in assembling a coalition government (click here for an explanation of the system of government in the Netherlands). And by all accounts it continues to show the importance of major issues like immigration, economic development, and social programs.

So now it's on to the weekend and the arrival of Sinterklaas here in our town of Heiloo tomorrow (he came to the country from Spain by boat last Saturday for all the kids to watch on tv). It's a part of the Dutch holiday season, and since I don't understand it enough to be able to explain it(!) you can click here to read all about it. But have no fear - Santa Claus also makes an appearance on December 25th...let the holidays begin!

The start of the holidays...

2006-11-11T21:18:00.000+01:00

Today was St. Martin's day and we had a blast. For a full description of the holiday click here, but basically the kiddos wait until it's dark and then carry around lanterns and sing songs to get candy. Kinda like Halloween, but based on a nicer remembrance...St. Martin was a kind and generous church leader who shared his cloak with a lonely, cold beggar he met on the road. When we all went out tonight it was around 50 degrees, dark, and the wind was howling so it seemed a perfect night - all of us probably could've used an extra cloak, too!

Even though I was in Dublin for meetings the first part of the week, I ran across an interesting article in Time magazine to pass on...

It's a question nearly as old as the Testaments: How can church leaders forge a lasting bond with young people?

Youth ministers seeking clues will find many in the results of a new survey of what teens want from church. Pollsters from Barna Group, which tracks teen religious activity, asked 2,400 teens to rank the reasons they attend worship services. Gaining a better understanding of what they believe and making a connection with God topped the list, followed closely by wanting to volunteer to help others and to spend time with friends. Also registering as "very important" factors, though to a lesser extent, were classes studying the Bible as well as issues surrounding religious faith.

When coupled with conclusions of scholarly research, a pattern emerges. "The amount of freedom and opportunity kids have in high school to express and wrestle with doubt, the mysteries of scripture and its applicability to the problems in their own lives is related to the maturity of their faith [as young adults]," says Kara Powell, executive director of Fuller Seminary's Center for Youth and Family Ministry...

Just more confirmation we need to present a full-functioning model of faith to teens if we want them to mature. The article's worth a read, so for the full deal click here.

And for those of you who are wondering how to get a double bed box springs out of your Dutch house after the movers have left it there, here are a couple of pictures for instructional purposes...

Nobody got hurt, and we even got the window back in. You can tell we like our cultural learnings to be hands-on... : )

I usually don't do this...

2006-11-03T20:21:00.000+01:00

but you need to check out these two websites. One is called The Watchmaker and takes a great look at the complexity of our world, the other one gives you the chance to find out how rich you are (for real!). Ahh yes - the internet! A great technological achievement dedicated to the advancement of humanity...by bringing us the Star Wars kid!