The Big News!!

Yesterday on Twitter (dccurry) I announced that today I would be sharing some BIG NEWS! So here it is...

I know some of you might have been thinking Brooke and I are pregnant, no not yet. Maybe it was that we're doing something different in the ministry, no.

The big news was that I got my new Macbook Pro 17 inch computer in the mail ("the purchase of a lifetime" that's pretty much like a new baby) AND that I'm starting a new blog.

If you've followed my blog at all you know that I haven't posted in FOREVER! It was because I was working on this new one.

There are several things that I want to accomplish through my blog and with my other one, I wasn't able to accomplish them. So I am excited to announce CurryStew.org!

Go HERE to learn all about CurryStew.org and the new blog and all of it's changes!!!!

(As of today, I will no longer post to this blog.)

GSM - Gravity

Here's one of the song specials we did last week at the end of our Dear God Series. This is one of my favorite songs and the GSM worship team did a great with it!



GSM "Gravity" from Jeffrey Myers on Vimeo.

Dear God Week 2 - Why do you feel so distant?

This past week at GSM we kicked up the arts package and tackled the topic of "Why does God feel so distant". This was the last night of our Dear God Series and we wanted to end the series in a big way and based on the response from the students and leaders we can put a check in that box. I love when God stretches you to try something new and you do it, and it turns out awesome. (This was the first time this year that we did a live drama, most of our arts packages consists of video and song specials. Sammie Peterson is the student in the medias and drama. Sammie is a middle schooler who has TREMENDOUS talent! You'll want to hire her one day.)

Message: I taught this week, I used Seth Godin's book The Dip as the illustration to talk through the roller coaster journey that we seem to go on with Jesus. I used James 1:2-4 as the kicker verse to help us get through The Dip, and that if we could persevere and get through it God will take us to a new place with him where we will be more "complete, not lacking anything."

The Arts elements: It was a great night and the arts team did a great job of helping us all walk through the journey together. The medias, song specials, and the drama were to walk us through roller coaster of emotions/feelings that we go through as we try to pursue Jesus.

• Before Christ - things just are what they are (Media 1)
• Meet Christ - at some point we rocket to the top of the moutain and everything seems to be going great (Song Special: "I'm so happy")
• The decline - then we hit some point where things don't seem so great and the things that want to happen, don't. It's like we're getting pulled down by something. (Media 2 7 Song Special: Gravity)
• The distance - then we feel the separation from God, like he's turned out back on us. The circumstances we're facing cause us believe God isn't there. (The live drama)
• The Dip - Message
• The other side of The Dip - we made it through and we almost can't believe it (Media 3)
• Worship: We finished with high energy worship praising God that he will bring us through.

Jeff did a post of all the arts elements minus the worship set so go see the flow of the night over HERE on Jeff's blog.

No one is immune to the economy

Having been through this on our staff recently my heart goes out to the Youth Specialties gang (one of the premier Youth Resource organizations known to student ministry).

Read more HERE. Please keep them in your prayers as they have been helping student ministries serve students and leaders better for YEARS!

Teaching to Middle Schoolers in a nutshell

"Put the goodies on the shelf so they can reach them, but high enough so that they have to work for them." - me

(I took a statement from Dave Ramsey and reworded it to work for what I believe to be true about speaking to middle schoolers)

SUPER BOWL THIS SUNDAY AT GSM 6 p.m.

GSM Super B$#% Party Promo from Jeffrey Myers on Vimeo.

video by Jeff.

I know I haven't posted in a while, I got some other things in the works. But students don't forget that the greatest game known to man is being played THIS SUNDAY!

GSM High Schoolers & 8th graders are invited to the big Super Bowl Party - 6 p.m. until the game over THIS SUNDAY at GCC!

Seth Bible's playing a concert at half time that you don't want to miss!!!!
Come join us, invite 10 friends, cheer loud for your team of choice, or pout because the Colts or the Bears aren't it! Whatever is cool with us, we just want to see you there! It's gonna be awesome!

Sexting Surprise: Teens face child porn charges

MSNBC.com Headline reads: "Sexting Surprise: Teens face child porn charges"

The article reads:

"In an unusual legal case arising from the increasingly popular practice known as “sexting,” six Pennsylvania high school students are facing child pornography charges after three teenage girls allegedly took nude or semi-nude photos of themselves and shared them with male classmates via their cell phones.

The female students at Greensburg Salem High School in Greensburg, Pa., all 14- or 15-years-old, face charges of manufacturing, disseminating or possessing child pornography while the boys, who are 16 and 17, face charges of possession, according to WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, which published the story on its Web site on Tuesday..."

The rest of the article.

(I posted this simply for awareness for all you parents. The world is changing fast. Note the ages of the students.)

Calling all "Boomers"

Hey Boomer Gen you might want to check this out.

David Bohl gives 5 areas he would suggest for your ongoing education:

1. Health

2. Finances

3. Career

4. Relationships

5. Leisure

Go HERE for the rest of the story.

Dear God Week 2 - Why does God love me when I make so many mistakes.

Last night was week 2 of our "Dear God" series and it proved to be a great night.

One of our awesome volunteer leaders, Sarah, taught on Grace this week and nailed it. I have to admit this is a relatively tough topic to teach middle and high schoolers about because the concept of unconditional love is SO foreign to most of their world. I mean, intellectually we can understand it but I've found in my own life that just because we can understand something doesn't make it accessible for digestion. This is why we can go to church for 30 years and nod in agreement at everything the pastor says but still live like we've only been going for 3o minutes.

Anyway, that is the great challenge we face, I want every one of our students to walk away from GSM every week with something tangible that they can take, apply, and use RIGHT THEN....this week was no different. So I asked Sarah to help our students understand Grace.

In a nutshell what I was asking her to do was take the topic of Grace, clothe it with the Truth that God's love is without condition and present that to a generation where in most of their everyday lives everything is conditional. Sounds fun huh?! She did great.

Message in a sentence: Quit trying to earn your place in heaven and start resting in the promise God's grace is enough. (Spoken from Sarah)

Main Verses:

• John 8:1-11 (the adulteress woman)
  
• Romans 5:5-8 ("...While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.")
  
• 2 Corinthians 12:9 ("My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness...")
  

Sarah's thought from last night:

For me, the message was literally living out what Mark said this weekend. Give God what little you have and the capacity to do what he wants with it. I had no clue how I was going to answer the very question I've been asking. But that is the beauty of grace.
From our students' end, I think we had several walk away challenged in new ways. Talking with some of our middle school girls, I was blown away by the fact that they were taking notes on their phones, asking where to get the book I quoted from and what passages they could study in Scripture to learn more. I've never had a group of students respond with so much hunger. I loved that they didn't want answers, they wanted resources. I think some of our students are really starting to grasp the fact that our walk is a journey and our growth is a process.

Arts Elements: We did "By grace you have been saved" by Shane and Shane as a song special.

Series Bumper between Worship set and the message:



Call to Worship Video: This rolled right after announcements into the first worship song, no breaks. The band kicked in at ~45 seconds into the clip which made for a killer intro to the first worship song.

ModBook Pro is gaining some ground

If you like Mac's and you're a presenter of any kind (preacher, teacher, professor) you'll want to look into this. I've had my eyes on what new Mac's were coming out this year because I'm about to buy one for myself and I've had my eye on this for about two months now. I won't be getting this one because I prefer the full keyboard traditional style of laptop but I figured it was worth letting you know about.

Introducing the new standard for excellence in tablet computing. The Modbook Pro.

The 15.4-inch Modbook® Pro is the ultimate tablet computer. Constructed from a unibody Apple® MacBook® Pro base system, Axiotron’s Modbook Pro combines blazing speed and power with new cutting-edge hardware and software features. From its sleek aluminum enclosure to its innovative tablet tools, the Modbook Pro reimagines the tablet computing experience.

You'll also want to note the fineprint: "The Axiotron Modbook Pro is an aftermarket modification of the MacBook Pro manufactured by Apple Inc. This modification of your MacBook Pro will void your existing Apple warranty. After modification, Apple or its authorized service providers will be under no obligation to repair your computer. Your Axiotron warranty will replace the previous warranty. Only Axiotron Authorized Service Providers are authorized to service and repair your Modbook Pro."

Check out the website: THE NEW MODBOOK

Steve Jobs takes leave of absense until June

Repost from Macworld:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs told employees that he will be taking a leave of absence until June to deal with lingering health issues. Chief operating officer Tim Cook will handle day-to-day operations in Jobs’ absence.

Jobs informed employees of his decision in an e-mail sent Wednesday.

“Unfortunately, the curiosity over my personal health continues to be a distraction not only for me and my family, but everyone else at Apple as well,” Jobs told employees. “In addition, during the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought.”

Wednesday’s announcement comes a little more than a week after Jobs released a statement revealing that he was dealing with a “hormone imbalance” that had affected his health, including causing him to lose weight through last year. At the time, Jobs said that the treatment required to combat the condition would be ongoing over the next few months, but that he would inform the board of directors if he felt he could no longer fulfill his duties as CEO.

Read the full article HERE.

50 Youth Marketing Trends for 2009: Part 2

Here's Part 2 of the post I started HERE.

The ones I'll focus on:

• #27 Organizational DNA.
• #29 Grass roots = Grass Routes (this one ties directly into The Starfish and The Spider)
• #30 Customer Service
• #35 Prove you are worthy
  

The ones I'm intrigued by on this list:

• #33 is youth marketing a mindset or department
• #39 Sell your values
• #43 Levi's Effect - being a youth icon means nothing if you are unable to maintain your relevance.
  

PART 2: 50 Youth Marketing Trends for 2009 by Graham Brown mobileYouth.org

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: blyk djuice)

Repost: Does an iPhone make you less productive?

I'm not really sure about this but here's an interesting post from Mike out of Oklahoma City who seems to have a case for Blackberry over the iPhone, you can judge for yourself. After having a Blackberry for 4 years, I still vote iPhone any day.

Article:

The slick iPhone with its glass face and its touchscreen capability was the answer to all of our productivity prayers, right? I won't argue, iPhones do have a lot of functionality but is it really making you more productive or is it just giving you more stuff to look at and more diversions to play with?

Let's look at a few reasons why an iPhone may undermine your productivity instead of help it.

• App overload - ...there are useful apps and tidal waves of time-killers. What was the big news about iPhone applications of late? Not a breakthrough in scheduling or a great to-do list, but an application that makes bodily function sounds. The abundance and ease of loading of these apps, which is part of the appeal of the iPhone, opens the door too easily to torpedoing your productivity.


• Games, games, games - The second prong of the application trap is the abundance of games. If you are using your smartphone in the place of a Nintendo DS, then the iPhone’s games are for you. But, if you are using your phone to keep you connected to the office, then you don’t need a great motocross game, you need editable documents and spreadsheets.


• Pocketbook drain - Hand-in-hand with productivity is financial discipline...Too many apps can add up in a hurry.


• It’s not Google - The iPhone is the fancy new car in last year’s showroom, but what about the Google Android, which is still in its infancy, and ready to grow the branches. If you’ve become more productive thanks to the cloud computing offered by Google Documents, Calendar or Gmail, then it may be worth waiting to see what Android looks like when it grows up.


• Fumbling around - Let’s face it, touch screens aren’t for everyone. Writing up an e-mail should be easy. The surety offered by a BlackBerry’s buttons – especially on its new Bold – makes it quick to send an e-mail and keeps the frustration out that comes with misfingered buttons.

Now if you are an Apple enthusiast, it’s understandable that the iPhone was in your pocket as soon as it went on sale. But have you gotten it as a phone, a media player or just a toy?

There wasn't much more written about it but read the full article Here.

Dear God Week 1 - What is my purpose?

Every now and then a student will come and talk to me really frustrated with life and because I'm a visionary the conversation most always get to a place where they say something like, "well DC you talk about having a purpose all the time, what is MY purpose?" and of course I answer, "I don't know!" After having a ton of students ask God the same thing it gave us the perfect opportunity a way to walk through life whether you know your purpose right now or not.

The fact that we planned this series after the "Square Peg Round Hole" series (November) we were able to bypass the long discussion about using your SHAPE to move you closer to understanding God's purpose for your life. So this week I jumped right to one of the primary way God uses to guide us and direct us...he will give us a VISION. Not necessarily a dream, although it could happen in a dream, but a specific big picture.

I used a quote from Andy Stanley that proved to be extremely helpful:

"As the vision gets clearer, the options get fewer, and the decision gets easier."

The Prop: A puzzle.
The Application: It's pretty hard to do a puzzle without the lid to the box. You can do it, but it's much easier with the lid. Why? Because it gives you a specific (clearer) big picture vision for where the pieces should go. It doesn't tell you exactly which piece goes where, but you have an idea of where the colors/shapes/images go. For most people, the pieces to the puzzle are worthless if they don't have the lid to the box.

Many times students who don't have a specific big picture vision for their life end up going with the crowd because they have nothing better to say YES to.

I spoke out of Nehemiah 6. Nehemiah was a guy who was on a mission to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. No matter what the request Nehemiah said, "I'm doing a great work, I cannot come down." (Side note: that should be the battle cry for anyone doing a great work.) That's saying, what I'm doing now is so great that I refuse to be sidetracked, derailed, or pulled away from it for any reason.

My prayer is that our students, and any student for that matter, understands what it means to have a specific big picture vision for their life and as they pursue that God-sized vision they would consistently say Yes to anything that helps get to that vision, and No to anything that gets in the way of it.

Week 2: Why does God love me when I make so many mistakes? (We're teaching on Grace)

"Dear God" Series Started last night at GSM

We kicked off our Dear God series at GSM yesterday.

A month ago we had the students write letters to God beginning the letter "Dear God," then finishing the letter asking him anything they wanted to know. Then during a song special (arts element) we had all the students bring them to the front and set them on the stage. Then we prayed for all the questions and asked God to answers them in his time.

We gathered all the cards and broke them into categories based on the responses. We then took those and put together this 4 week series highlighting the 4 most prevalent questions the students were asking.

Here's some easy wins about doing this series:

1. It's hitting an immediate felt need. Considering we gathered the information last month, these questions are red hot, which means life change and impact potential go way up.
   
2. The content drives the series. Around GSM we have different things that drive our weekend series. What I mean by that is we usually focus on one thing that will be the driving force throughout the entire series. For instance, sometimes it's a biblical story/passage that we'll repeat and re-emphasize in different ways throughout the series, sometimes it's a practical application prop (our next series will have that), sometimes it's the elephant in the room, and sometimes like this series it's the topics that drives everything. This series doesn't have to have a lot of bells and whistles the content captures and keeps the attention of the students. (With that said, with Jeff & Seth running our Arts we'll always have some bells and whistles!!)
3. We're asking God to help us answer the questions the students most desire to understand. I've discovered that students want to live right, they want to know how to navigate life in the way that God intends, some of what they need is the answers to their questions so that they can know what to say yes to and what to say no to. This generation of students doesn't want to be told what to do and they don't want more information, they want an experience with God that breaths life into their innermost convictions. (This will be a blog post at some point. unless I forget)
   

Week-by-Week breakdown:

Week 1: Why am I here? (Purpose)
Week 2: Why does God love me when I make mistakes all the time? (Grace)
Week 3: Why do bad things happen? (Evil and Suffering)
Week 4: Why does God feel so distant?

I'll write more on the individual weeks later.

(We took the idea & title of the "Dear God" series from HSM @ Saddleback and made it our own. Thanks Josh and team for the great idea! We're already seeing fruit.)