Month: July 2012
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Ten Things I Want to Teach My Daughter
Read More: Ten Things I Want to Teach My DaughterMy daughter is about to turn two. A friend of mine recently asked what ten things I would want to pass on to her. That’s a great question. Here’s what I was able to come up with… 1. To know that she is created by, loved by, and forgiven by God through Jesus Christ. 2.…
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Protecting Children in Church from Sexual Abuse
Read More: Protecting Children in Church from Sexual AbuseEvery so often, we’re reminded of the importance of security and the screening of children’s ministry volunteers. Just yesterday, this story came out about a 57 year-old man from Largo, Florida who got busted for possessing child pornography and having chats online with kids about sex and cannibalism: http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/25/justice/florida-puppeteer-porn/index.html Here’s another detail to his story…
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Eight Original Corny Jokes
Read More: Eight Original Corny JokesI’m currently falling in love with corny jokes (also known as bad jokes, laffy taffy jokes, and pun jokes). Why? Because they’re great for kids! And I love working with kids and making them smile. I had fun writing these new ones (my wife gets the credit for the third one). Why did the girl…
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Pastor Profile: Mike Nortune
Read More: Pastor Profile: Mike NortuneThe latter half of last week through the weekend, I had the privilege of ministering with Pastor Mike Nortune of Life Church East Bay in Concord, CA (Bay Area). Mike took the time to show me around San Francisco (my first time) and treat me to a Yankees vs. the A’s game at the classic…
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Could You Turn Down 15 Million Bucks?
Read More: Could You Turn Down 15 Million Bucks?Delilah was a sell-out to the Philistines. Like Judas, she accepted money in exchange for betraying someone very close to her. But I recently discovered a detail that blows my mind about the story of Samson. The Philistines offered Delilah the equivalent of 15 MILLION dollars in today’s money (see the IVP OT Bible Background…
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Diabolo, not Diablo
Read More: Diabolo, not DiabloThe oversized yo-yo that’s not connected to the string is called the Diabolo. Some people mistakenly think that the name comes from the Spanish word for “devil”, which is diablo. But the case is quite to the contrary. The Spanish word came later etymologically, since “Diabolo” comes from the Greek for “throw across”. Check out…
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The Persistence of a Puma
Read More: The Persistence of a PumaDave Ramsey speaks of “gazelle intense.” I like to think about the persistence of a puma, as shown in this video, which is among my favorite all-time YouTube videos due to the illustration it makes. Whether you’re juggling, serving in ministry, or building a tower out of Legos with your child, NEVER GIVE UP!
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Age Discrimination in the Church
Read More: Age Discrimination in the ChurchWe are surrounded by many forms of prejudice and discrimination in church and society. One that I see first hand is age discrimination in local churches. This applies to both younger people and older people. Let’s start with the younger people: Prejudices Against Kids in the Church: 1. Even though 50% of people who profess…
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Uncle Charlie: Shine On
Read More: Uncle Charlie: Shine OnUncle Charlie’s newest CD project, “Shine On” is a spectacular high-energy worship set for kids of all ages. As a personal friend of Charlie (who didn’t ask me to blog about this), I am proud to say that I was the second person to receive a copy of this CD (his mother was first). We…
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You Are Creative
Read More: You Are CreativeI believe God made humans in His image (Genesis 1:27). One the the defining characteristics of God is His creativity, primarily because He created the universe out of nothing (ex nihilo). So clearly, part of our “imago dei” involves being creative beings. I think one of the best ways to worship God and reflect His…
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What’s Up with the New Facebook Favicon?
Read More: What’s Up with the New Facebook Favicon?A favicon is that little icon that your browser shows when you bookmark a page. I’ve had Facebook bookmarked for some time and I just noticed yesterday that instead of the small “f”, there is now a small blue triangle with one point facing in the left direction (like an arrowhead pointing left). I tried…
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Why I Teach the Bible to Children
Read More: Why I Teach the Bible to ChildrenWhen I was a child, I wanted to grow up and be a scientist/inventor who played professional baseball (and worked as an archaeologist on the side) with a family and a dark green Bonneville (I’m not joking). Well, I got the family, but really nothing else in that list. I have somehow landed a life…
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Popular Posts
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“Holy Fools”: Exploring the Journey of Calling for Christian Variety Performers
I am happy to announce that my PhD dissertation has been published to ProQuest, an academic database for published research. I have made the dissertation open source, which means anyone anywhere can access the full content free of charge. Here is the full dissertation: https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/holy-fools-exploring-journey-calling-christian/docview/2622316783/se-2 Please share far and wide. I am very much excited…
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The Easiest Large Group Game Ever
This is probably the easiest large group game ever invented. If you can think of an easier one, please let me know in the comments. Heads or Tails! This game of heads or tails involves EVERYONE in your large group. It is actually better the larger the group gets. There is an elimination factor to…
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Merry Christmas from the Joyners!
Greetings from our family in Richmond, Virginia! We are thankful for you, our friends and family. We are also thankful to the Lord for His gift of the love to us all this season. This past year has been a roller coaster of experiences and emotions, specifically regarding our spunky little Annie, who is now…
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Book Release! Incredibly Bad Dad Jokes
I have been writing down my original Dad jokes for several years now, but recently they dramatically increased. While the past five months of my life have been the toughest for me as a Dad (with Annie’s medical crisis), the Dad jokes actually came out in full force during this season. You see, in my…
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A Children’s Ministry Poem
From the mouths of children come questions galore about heaven and angels and Satan and more. They speak what their hearts say without holding back, so the wonder of God is something they never lack. Oh God, who are you? Who inspires the minds of little ones many, so that they may find this Jesus…